The Ed Show for Wednesday, September 24th, 2014

THE ED SHOW
September 24, 2014

Guest: Barbara Boxer, PJ Crowley, Lawrence Korb, Heather Hurlburt, Joe
Cirincione, James Traub, Michelle Patterson


ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening Americans and welcome to the Ed Show
live from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Let`s get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There can be no reasoning,
no negotiation with this brand of evil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CENTCOM has confirmed that there were two airstrikes
overnight against ISIS target.

SEN. TIM KAINE, (D) VIRGINIA: If we`re going to engage this mission, we
got to do it right or not do it.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: If you wanted something, you
work for it.

LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: The surest way to tyranny is to
give a president an unfettered war power.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning, witnesses say there were two more...

KAINE: The President shouldn`t be doing this without Congress.

WILKERSON: In the last decade or so, we seemed to be willing to do that
with great liberality.

KAINE: Congress shouldn`t be allowing it to happen without Congress.

BOEHNER: This is a very sick idea for our country.

OBAMA: The future belongs to those who build, not those who destroy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight, folks. Thanks for watching.
We start tonight with breaking news.

At this hour, American jets are in Syrian airspace. Military officials
have told NBC news of the United States and Arab partners are undertaking
additional airstrikes at this hour against ISIS in Syria. The operations
are ongoing. There are no immediate details but we will bring new updates
as we get them.

This afternoon, President Obama chaired a special meeting at the U.N.
Security Council. He is the only American President ever to do so. The
Security Council passed an anti-terror resolution that compels countries to
prevent and suppress the recruitment and travel of terrorist to foreign
conflict areas. After the binding resolution passed, President Obama
stressed its importance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: This resolution will strengthen cooperation between nations
including sharing more information about the travel and activities of
foreign terrorist fighters and it makes clear that respecting human rights,
fundamental freedoms and the rule of law is not optional, it is an
essential part of successful counterterrorism efforts. Indeed, history
teaches us that the failure to uphold these rights and freedoms can
actually fuel violent extremist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: You know, if the President is not going to get help from
Congress, if they`re going to stay on vacation, he`s just going to go to
the U.N. and get what he`s got to get. The passing of this resolution
comes at a perfect time. Today, an Algerian extremist group with ties to
ISIS has reportedly beheaded a French tourist who was abducted on Sunday.
The President addressed the murder in today`s Security Council meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Today, the people of the world have been horrified by another
brutal murder of Herve Gourdel by terrorist in Algeria. President
Hollande, we stand with you and the French people, not only as you grieve
this terrible loss but as you show resolve against terror and in defense of
liberty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Acts of murder like this like we`ve seen today is why an
international coalition is hellbent on destroying ISIS. The ramped up war
on terror, no doubt, is in full swing with new airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
not only at this hour but previously today. Earlier today, the President
addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. His main focus was
rallying global support for fighting ISIS and extremist groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The brutality of terrorists in Syria and Iraq forces us to look
into the heart of darkness. There can be no reasoning, no negotiation with
this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is
the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a
broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The President made clear. We are going after criminals not
Muslims. That`s why we are bringing the fight to Syria. President Obama
told the general assembly, problems in our global society contribute to
extremism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: And we have not confronted forcefully enough the intolerance,
sectarianism, and hopelessness that feeds violent extremism in too many
parts of the globe. If young people live in places where the only option
is between the dictates of a state or the lure of an extremist underground,
then no counterterrorism strategy can succeed, but where a genuine civil
society is allowed to flourish, where people can express their views and
organize peacefully for a better life then you dramatically expand the
alternatives to terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The President had a passionate message for young people in the
Muslim world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Here I`d like to speak directly to young people across the Muslim
world. You come from a great tradition that stands for education, not
ignorance, innovation not destruction, the dignity of life not murder.
Those who call you away from this path are betraying this tradition not
defending it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The President made the case. In order to fix terrorism in the
long term, deep-rooted problems in the Middle Eastern society have got to
be addressed. Meanwhile in the short-term, President Obama made clear ISIS
can expect the full force of American airpower.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We will use our military might in a campaign of airstrikes to
rollback ISIL. We will train and equip forces fighting against these
terrorists on the ground. We will work to cut off their financing and stop
the flow of fighters into and out of the region. And already, over 40
nations have offered to join this coalition. Those who continue to fight
for a hateful cause will find they are increasingly alone for we will not
succumb to threats, and we will demonstrate that the future belongs to
those who build not those who destroy it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: That speech was backed up by airstrikes today against ISIS and
they are continuing at this hour. Five new confirmed strikes took place
Tuesday and Wednesday. A mix of the United States fighter and bomber
aircraft carried out strikes in Syria and Iraq. According to CENTCOM, two
strikes west of Baghdad destroyed armed vehicles and a weapon`s cache, two
strikes southeast of Erbil destroyed ISIS fighting positions and a fifth
strike in Syria destroyed eight ISIS vehicles near the city of Al-Qa`im.

Today, CENTCOM has conducted 198 airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and 20 in
Syria. After almost two months of airstrikes, Americans maybe wondering
just how long is this going to take. Some experts are predicting it could
take sometime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HAYDEN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: The headlines are right, this is
going to take a long time and even if this goes swimmingly, I`ve said
before, three to five at least.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why so long?

HAYDEN: Just because of the nature of the war and the nature of the target
and frankly the nature of our strategy.
.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHULTZ: With this level of military action, a lot of lawmakers are
questioning whether the President of the United States has the legal power
to act. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia questioned the President`s authority
saying, "In this instance, they allowed the President to say, ISIS is the
bad guys and I can go after them even though there has been testimony that
they pose no imminent threat of action on the United States. If the
President just gets to do this without Congress, then we will be embracing
the Cheney preemptive war doctrine which I think it just brutally wrong."

Now, the Cheney war doctrine that the Senator from Virginia is talking
about is a 13-year-old law passed after 9/11. To go to it directly, the
use of force authorization clearly states, "The President is authorized to
use all the necessary and appropriate force against those nations,
organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or
aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th 2001." You can
make the legal case if the President`s legal authority to attack ISIS under
this law is shaky at best.

Last night on this program, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson speculated some
faulty intelligence could have been used to make Congress happy and give
the stamp of approval.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILKERSON: I`d like to see the intelligence that we went on. I`ve seen a
lot of intelligence in my 40 years in the government and a lot of it, I
didn`t trust. I would suspect that we threw Khorasan and their immediate
plans for an attack against our homeland and there so that we could appease
the Congress more or so than the intelligence actually shows that. That
disturbs me. When I see people doing what we did in my administration with
regard to Iraq`s WMD, that disturbs me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Under the War Powers Act of the Constitution, only Congress can
declare war. Question? Is this a new war or a big counterterrorism
exercise? The 2001 loophole has members of Congress and the American
people divided on whether the President is within his legal authority to
wage a long-term air campaign in Iraq and Syria. Clearly, lawmakers, they
must not think it`s a crisis.

Congress is not going to be in session until after the election.

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question, should the President have asked Congress for authorization for
military action in Syria? Text A for yes and text B for no to 67622.
Leave a comment on our blog at ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring you the results
later on in the show.

For more, let me bring in Senator Barbara Boxer of California who sits on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, good to have you with us
tonight. This is a...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: ... This is almost round the clock operations in Syria and
moments ago, Reuters reported that the new airstrikes will target oil
facilities controlled by ISIS. What`s your reaction and is this what your
expectation was?

BOXER: My reaction is the President is taking the fight to ISIL and I`m
really glad he`s doing it. And the age-old debate about, you know,
Congress` role versus the President, that will go on. And I think it`s
very important we write a new resolution and I`m working with my chairman,
Chairman Menendez, to do just that because it will come out of our Foreign
Relations Committee.

But Ed, you know, if your house was on fire and you and your wife were
home, you`d run outside, you get the hose, you put out the fire. You
wouldn`t discuss your insurance policy and how much it covers, either the
loss that you`re going to anticipate, you`ll do that later. It`s very
important.

But I respect those who are -- I think saying the President should do
nothing but I couldn`t disagree with them more than I do. They are wrong.
This is a threat.

My goodness, I`ve seen intelligence, yes. But the American people have
seen the videos of the beheading of two innocent American freelance
journalists. So we know what we`re up against.

SCHULTZ: OK. So you want a new resolution and the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee is working on that?

BOXER: Yes.

SCHULTZ: Are you OK with the President...

BOXER: We are.

SCHULTZ: ... OK. All right. Are you OK or satisfied with the President
waging a multi-year air campaign in this counterterrorism effort alone or
is this a new war?

BOXER: I looked at this counterterrorism Ed and I voted for that, you
know, resolution back in `01. There were two resolutions, one go after al-
Qaeda and any affiliate. ISIL is an affiliate. This new group is an
affiliate and the other was boots on the ground, war in Iraq, I voted
against that but the one the President is relying on is the one I voted
for.

Would I like to see it looked at again and we`re fine? Of course I do.
But it seems to me to get off into some kind of debate while we are under
threat, and we are. Let`s be clear about that.

And, you know, I said to John Kerry when he came before our committee, you
know, and he said, "Well, we would love to have a resolution." I said, "I
agree with you but knowing how things go here, you can`t even pass a
resolution saying Happy Mother`s Day without a big fight, without a
filibuster, without politics." So I said, "I hope you will move forward to
protect the American people."

You know, that is in the constitution, that the President has that right
and he is doing it. And I just wonder sometimes about my friends in the
Congress who say, "Look at me, look at me, I`m more important" -- and
let`s, you know, focus it back on the Congress. We have a war resolution
that talks about going after terrorist. We are working on another one and
in the meantime, the President has set for us a strategy, a new paradigm.
He talked about it in a speech which I thought was brilliant.

One, we`re not going to allow a safe haven for terrorist who threaten us
and the world but we are not going to occupy anymore. We`re not going to
occupy land and we`re going to do it with the world. Good for him and good
for us if we back him. And if we don`t back him, I think that would be
dangerous for the American people.

SCHULTZ: Senator, if you`re OK with the resolution and law that passed in
-- after 9/11, why do you need a new one?

BOXER: Well, I think the President had said also. It`s 11-years old,
approximately. We`ve got to take a look at this and we can make it better
but I`m not -- but what I am saying is while we`re working on a new
resolution I don`t think the Commander-in-Chief can sit back while we have
an offshoot of al-Qaeda planning to take out the Dornier aircraft. You can
just imagine all of the pundits and all of the President`s enemies saying,
"Oh my God, he sat back and waited for them to write a resolution and they
went after one of our planes".

Ed, you know, the President is doing it right. He is using the authority
he has. I think he`s on strong grounds to use it. He is seeking from the
Congress new authority and I believe he is doing it the right way. He`s
not putting American boots on the ground, and by the way, you asked a good
question.

What would I like to put in that new resolution? I would say, I would like
to take the President`s strategy and put it into the resolution where we
will not allow safe havens for terrorist to threaten us but we are not
going to be occupiers and put our combat boots on the ground and we`re
going to do this with the world. That`s the kind of thing I`d like to
shape.

SCHULTZ: Senator, finally tonight and I appreciate how candid you are in
all of this and on point, and I agree. I think the President -- there are
no easy options here.

BOXER: No.

SCHULTZ: Unfortunately, there are going to be innocent people who are
going to be killed. Is that just war? I mean when innocent people start
getting killed, how do we know that isn`t going to come back and bite the
United States or any coalition in the opposition rendering judgment or
inflaming the Middle East?

I thought the President`s speech today was very important. It was a
generational pitch to young people explaining to the Muslim world...

BOXER: Yes.

SCHULTZ: ... the younger demographic that this is not who we are. We`re
going after criminals. We`re not going after the Muslim faith. But when
innocent people get killed, that jades the opinion of a lot of people, are
you nervous about that?

BOXER: Well, of course we are all nervous about that. But I can say,
that`s why what the President is doing, for the first time with the Arab
nations, these Sunni nations are standing with us on this because this
threat, you know, cannot go and we cannot sit idly by while this threats
moves ahead. And it`s tragic when you have any collateral damage, and so
that`s why we try so hard to pinpoint of what we`re doing. But we know
that these terrorist will hide among the populace. Yes, it`s very
dangerous and that`s what you need the whole world and what the U.N. said
today was so critical taking a stand against terrorism.

I want to say this. Ed, I watched the President and I read his speech,
every line of it. I hope all Americans will read that speech. It just
shows that the world has changed and we`ve got to look at it in a very
different way and the United States needs partners and that`s what this
President stands for and I think it did take him time to come up with a
strategy but I see it as a long-term strategy.

SCHULTZ: OK. Senator Barbara Boxer, great to have you with us tonight. I
appreciate your time so much. Thanks so much and obviously we`ll come back
to you for your opinion.

Joining us now is P.J. Crowley. He is a former United States Assistant
Secretary of State for Public Affairs. P.J., the President goes to and
chairs the U.N. Security Council today. What impact do you think this will
have? I mean if he`s not going to get cooperation from Congress and
they`re out until after the election, he really didn`t have too many other
options. How important do you think this binding resolution is?

P. J. CROWLEY, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS:
Well, I think it`s very important. International cooperation certainly has
improved over the past, you know, 12 or 13 years, you know, more countries
recognized that violent political extremism is a threat to them as well as,
you know, to the West and to the United States.

We still have work to do. You know, military action as we`re seeing has a
role to play as you were just talking with Senator Boxer, you know,
ultimately the most decisive aspect of this because this is a conflict
within Islam are the decisions made by Islamic communities around that
world. They have to determine that and reject the vision that, you know,
groups like the Islamic State advanced but, you know, a challenge for the
United States, the West and other countries is to try to, you know, cut off
funding. On the one hand, very difficult since the Islamic State is for
the moment, you know, self-funding and also try to prevent, you know, ISIS
from attracting more recruits from around the world.

SCHULTZ: All right. What about Putin? Putin is against airstrikes in
Syria. So how is the State Department going to handle any kind of
relations with Russia at this point?

CROWLEY: Well, the United States is trying to cooperate with Russia where
it can and we do have overlapping interests, fighting terrorism is one of
those areas. I think Putin is all for combating, you know, the Islamic
State. We disagree over on the role of Bashar al-Assad in that. Putin
wants to protect him. The United States wants to see someone else leading
a much different, you know, Syria. Russia...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CROWLEY: .. and United States are cooperating on the current Iranian
negotiations so you cooperate where you can and you manage profound
differences that do exist obviously over Ukraine which the President spoke
about today as well.

SCHULTZ: OK. P.J. Crowley, appreciate your time tonight. Thanks so much.

Coming up, nuclear ambitions. Iran links its nuclear talks with the West`s
fight against the Islamic terrorist. Rapid Response Panel joins me to
discuss.

Plus, we have breaking news about the faith of the leader of the terrorist
group Khorasan.

It`s a busy news day. Keep it right here on the Ed Show. We`ll be right
back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Reuters is reporting U.S. officials
believed the leader of the terror group Khorasan was killed during
airstrikes in Syria. NBC News has not independently confirmed that report.

Now we`re learning more about the group and their plan to take down
passenger planes through undetectable explosives. NBC`s Pete Williams has
the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE WILLIAMS, NBC CORRESPONDENT: For months, the U.S. has been nervously
watching as the Khorasan terror group developed their plan to smuggle
explosives on the passenger planes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were tracking it very carefully. We had
intelligence suggesting that they were moving far along in their plotting.

WILLIAMS: The only public kind of it (ph) came this summer, new security
rules requiring passengers to show that their carryon electronic devices
would power on. Special attention was paid to laptop computers because of
intelligence indicating the group was testing a bomb design that hid
powerful explosives in laptops. But information about the terror group
behind that concern was closely guarded.

REP. PETER KING, (R) NEW YORK: I`ve known about it now for several months
and it was top secret and classified, basically we were not allowed to talk
about it publicly.

WILLIAMS: Officials say they do not believe that a specific airline flight
time or even country had been chosen but concern about the potential threat
was very real.

JEFF PRICE, AVIATION SECURITY EXPERT: I think it`s very possible they
could have done this and that`s why I`m sure the United States decided to
intervene now because it`s much better to catch this in the planning
stages...

WILLIAMS: As for the terror group ISIS, officials and many of the world`s
major cities including the U.S. now worried the group`s sleek propaganda
could inspire a low-grade attack such as another beheading.

WILLIAM BRATTON, NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: That`s an area that we`re going
to have spend a lot more time concentrating on. How do we interrupt that?
How do we -- if you will find ways to keep them from spreading the hatred
and venom that they become so known for in the violence that they celebrate
in grace...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The Department of Homeland Security and FBI have sent
intelligence reports to local law enforcement officials to be on the alert
for acts of retaliation in response to the recent airstrikes but the
Department of Homeland Security has not raised the country`s threat level.

Let me bring in Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American
Progress and Former Assistant Secretary of Defense and Heather Hurlburt who
was the Program Director for the New America Foundation.

I bet many Americans are probably wondering tonight why wasn`t the threat
level raised, and do the American people deserve to know this kind of
information in threat and potential harm is out there? Lawrence, your
thoughts on that?

LAWRENCE KORB, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, they should
have been told that they had this group in Syria with about 100 people who
have been plotting attacks in the United States and the western world. But
the key thing is they did share it with all the intelligence agencies and
Homeland Security so they were on the watch for it but I think most
Americans were dumbfounded when they were attacked while we were
theoretically going after ISIL which just wants to control territory not
come after other countries.

SCHULTZ: Heather, how much of a threat is Khorasan to the United States in
your opinion?

HEATHER HURLBURT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Well, Ed we`re
only starting to learn and it seems clear that on the one hand they aspire
to be a big threat. They`ve got kind of the most talented al-Qaeda alumni
if you will who`ve got a little alumni reunion cell going in Syria.

On the other hand, it seems clear that the reason the threat level wasn`t
raised is that Washington was confidence it could deal with them before
they pose an actual threat to any actual Americans. So, you know, should
you change how you live your life? No, absolutely not.

SCHULTZ: Well, if the Reuters` report is correct that the head of Khorasan
has been killed in an airstrike and if the group was small, is this just a
bunch of hoods that know how to hurt people or is this a real credible
threat to the United States? I mean, I`m almost somewhat confused as to
exactly what we`re up against here.

KORB: Well, it could be a threat but it`s not just Reuters, the Khorasan
group themselves said they were killed. But again I think we thought, you
know, we got that a lot but we did get rid of al-Qaeda, so there are lot of
others that come up.

But as Heather said, these are a lot of people who had a lot of experience
in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq and so they`re not a bunch of amateurs
but I don`t think they`re anywhere near being an imminent threat that you
need to worry about. And I think if they were, we wouldn`t have waited
until now. I think the fact that we were going after ISIL, they decided,
"Well, as long as we`re doing that let`s go after this group as well".

SCHULTZ: How good is our intelligence Heather in your estimation? I mean,
if we`ve known about this for months and we`ve already killed the head of
Khorasan -- if that Reuters report is correct, this would be probably
labeled pretty damned good progress so far, wouldn`t it?

HURLBURT: So, on the one hand this was clearly pretty damned good progress
on this particular group but as Lawrence said because you have folks
popping up and you will continue to have, you will never have zero people
who want to hurt the U.S., who want to hurt Americans. And so, the
question is always not where is our intelligence strong but where is it
weak, what are we missing, what dots, if you think all the way back to
9/11, are we not putting together?

So, you know, people should feel good that we understood this but remember
we missed ISIS all together. So, there`s no cause for complacency which is
different from panic, right? There`s no cause for complacency and no cause
for panic.

SCHULTZ: How important, Heather was today`s message from the President to
the U.N. and this binding resolution? Does it have teeth?

HURLBURT: So, the President`s message at the U.N. today has two parts that
are very important. One is recognizing. It can`t just be the U.S. and
second is that it can`t just be bombs. Like I said, the long-term solution
is decreasing as much as possible the number of people who take it into
their heads that this kind of extremist violence is a good thing to do with
their lives.

And number two, making it more difficult for them to execute any plan that
they have. So -- however good they are, we`re better and bringing the rest
of world along on that and signaling, as you`ve said it before, that the
U.S. is not at war with Islam, that this isn`t about Muslims, that we
understand that Muslims are the biggest, the biggest victims here. Muslims
are under threat day to day in these countries in a way that Americans
absolutely aren`t. So that`s the key methods for today.

SCHULTZ: What did you think, Mr. Korb of the President`s message today?
It was almost an explanation as to younger people in the Middle East that
you can still have hope that we`re not bombing you, we`re going after
criminals. And I think President Obama`s -- one of his most -- one of his
biggest strengths is that his ability to persuade and to bring people
along, the fact that he chaired that U.N. Security Council meeting today.
Put that all together.

In perspective, what does this mean along with this message?

KORB: Well, I think you saw Obama at his best today. It was back like,
you know, the campaign of hope and change when he talked to the young
people in the Arab and Muslim world and he talked about, you know, what`s
your religion stands for and what these people do. You know, you`re a
religion of peace not killers.

And I thought, you know, that to me was the most effective thing because in
the long-term, the struggle within the Muslim world and between the Muslim
world and other parts of the world will only be won when young people do
not keep getting attracted to this. And you see -- the problem you have
with ISIL as you keep getting people from all over the world coming to join
them.

SCHULTZ: Desperate people do desperate things, no doubt.

Lawrence Korb, Heather Hurlburt great to have you with us tonight. I
appreciate your time.

Coming up, Iran plans to keep its nuclear program intact. Their
negotiation is very interesting. Rapid Response Panel weighs in.

Plus, talking about Benghazi, it never gets old, to conservative trolls.
The actor once known as Hercules lands in Pretenders.

You`re watching the Ed Show. Stay with us, we`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. We loved to hear what you think so
we`re going to reverse today`s Ask Ed.

Today the Ed Show team took on the streets in New City, asking people what
they think about the airstrikes in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we should strike Syria and demolish ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beheading people, we`re back in the Dark Ages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m all behind what we`re doing to eliminate that
threat worldwide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The airstrikes were justified.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that something needs to be done. I`m not sure
that is the right thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think the good thing is that it`s a coalition
that everybody is on board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think we need to be there at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully all it will take is airstrikes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t roll out troops on the ground. We want to win
this one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m glad that we`re taking care of it now even though
we should have done it sooner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re a little late.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it`s a very serious, very cumbersome situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are some caring Americans out here that wants
things to stop and be peaceful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mind your own business. Get out of there. We have a
lot of problems at home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It probably will define Obama`s administration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep on tracking, Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Stick around. Rapid Response Panel is next here on the Ed Show.
We`ll be right back.

KATE ROGERS, CNBC MARKET WRAP: I`m Kate Rogers with your CNBC Market Wrap.

Stocks climb across the board. The Dow end a three-day losing streak
adding 155 points, the S&P is up 15 and the NASDAQ gains 46.

New Home sales soared last month hitting their highest level in more than
six years. Sales jumped 18 percent much more than expected.

And Walmart shares rose nearly 2 percent today as the world largest
retailer announced its teaming up with Green Dot to offer customer low-cost
checking account.

And that`s it from CNBC, your first in business world wide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. In the shadow of world leaders
gathering at the U.N. General Assembly and talks of defeating ISIS, Iran
has a different agenda. It wants to keeps its nuclear program intact.
Iran is negotiating with six world powers to meet a November 24 deadline
for a long-term agreement potentially ending sanctions on Tehran in
exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister on Sunday.
Here is what he said after the meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is a fight for the region.
Every country in the region is deeply threatened by this and that includes
Iran, includes Lebanon, includes, you know, all of the neighborhood and it
is absolutely fair and appropriate for the world to expect that that region
will fight for itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Iranian officials have said Tehran would be ready to work with
western powers to stop Islamic State militants but it`s pushing for
sanctions to be lifted on the country. The country wants to be able to
enrich uranium. Enriched uranium can produce material for bombs but Iran
denies it wants nuclear weapons.

The number of uranium centrifuges in the country is at a sticking point in
all of these negotiations. Iran reportedly has more than 19,000
centrifuges. Around 10,000 of those are optional -- operational.

Iranian officials say that they would like the United States to show
flexibility on the number of centrifuges Tehran could keep under any long-
term agreement.

The United States has proposed Iran reduce its number of centrifuges from
19,000 to 1,500 in return for lifting economic sanctions. Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani has questioned the legality of the airstrikes
against Syria by the United States.

Joining me tonight on our Rapid Response Panel Joe Cirincione, President of
Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation and also with us James
Traub who was a columnist for foreignpolicy.com and fellow at the Center on
International Cooperation.

Gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. Joe, you first.

You have recently visited with the Iranian President Rouhani. What`s his
negotiating strength on this issue at this point as you see it?

JOE CIRINCIONE, PLOUGHSHARES FUND PRESIDENT: Well, I had dinner with the
President last night in New York and Foreign Minister Zarif. There`s about
25 of us, former officials, former diplomats -- a very candid discussion,
top questions, and some good answers.

We were struck by his pragmatisms. The President Rouhani is striking
similar to themes to those you heard from President Obama today. That is
we can make a deal -- making sure Iran only uses its nuclear technology for
peaceful purposes, that`s put in place a vigorous inspection regimes so
that we can catch any breakout if there is one, and let`s use a deal on the
nuclear technology as a stepping stone to cooperation on this other vital
issues.

A lot of the discussion has moved on from a year ago when it was solely on
the nuclear program. Now there are bigger threats, bigger challenges in
the region, I think both presidents want to make a deal.

SCHULTZ: But Joe, aren`t they using the situation right now to their
advantage. How do we know we can trust them?

CIRINCIONE: Well, it`s -- a mutual pressure. Yes, we want Iran`s
cooperation in fighting ISIS. You want boots on the ground, the revolution
in regard of boots on the ground. They are fighting ISIS in Iraq but Iran
is also threatened by ISIS. They need our help.

They don`t have the kind of airpower you`ve seen in the last couple of
days. So, these developments are actually pushing the two nations together
towards cooperation. There is a deal to be reached yet they have 10,000.
We want to cut that number of centrifuges in half.

So where is the magic figure? Do they have to be completely...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CIRINCIONE: ... eliminated or can they just be disconnected? I don`t
believe plumbing is going to come in the way of a deal to stop Iranian`s
nuclear program.

SCHULTZ: Mr. Traub, how much of a gamble is this going down the road to
possibly lifting sanctions when obviously Israel doesn`t want the United
States to do that, to alienate the Israelis and to jeopardize or, you know,
would it make that a little bit more unstable? Your thoughts?

JAMES TRAUB, FOREIGNPOLICY.COM COLUMNIST: Yeah. Well Ed, I think you
brought up a very important point which is I couldn`t agree more than I do
with Joe, which is that both leaders are clearly deeply invested in getting
a solution to this problem. If it were left to the two of them, we
probably would already have a solution. We certainly would have one before
the new due date of November 24th.

Each one though of course is pulled by various lobbies and pressures of
people who don`t want to have this deal. And so I think the really tough
questions is going to be not only on the American side. Yes, you`re
absolutely right. It`s certainly the Israelis are extremely nervous about
this and they see the good deal that Joe described as form of capitulation
as do many members of the United States Congress, Republican and
Democratic.

The Iranians are subject to almost the exact the same really symmetrical
kind of pressures and I think what we`ve been hearing in recent weeks is
that the -- on the side of the Iranian hard-liners, there`s a belief that
the American need for cooperation allows them to cut a much better deal.
That puts Rouhani under pressure because that`s mean the deal that he wants
looks bad to them.

SCHULTZ: Well, it`s more complicated by the hour, the complexity of this
issue with the Iranians and the negotiations I mean this is the most
movement we`ve seen. It`s an opportunistic move I think on the part of the
Iranians. What have they done in the last 30 years that would lend us to
believe Joe, or Mr. Traub, may I ask you?

TRAUB: Yeah.

SCHULTZ: . They lead us to believe that all of us sudden they could be an
honest broker on this.

TRAUB: Well, that`s a question. You`re right. It`s a genuine gamble.
The gamble is, first of all, that the Iranians have tremendous national
interest in solving this problem.

Iran sees itself as a great world power and a great world civilization.
And they`ve humbled themselves by their dedication to a nuclear program.
It`s really had a true -- devastating effect. They want to get out of
that.

At the same time, let me say a second thing which is, A, they want to get
out of that and B, Rouhani is a different kind of person. One, he is
really dedicated to this and two, unlike some of his predecessors...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

TRAUB: ... has influence with the clerical establishment. He is more able
to drive a bargain.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CIRINCIONE: Let me just cut...

SCHULTZ: Well, Joe, Joe -- but in the middle of all of this Joe, here you
have Rouhani is questioning the legality of whether the United States
should be hitting Syria or not?

CIRINCIONE: Yes, Ed. That`s some of the guests -- As some of the guests
on your program. This is what`s so interesting. When he talks about this,
he`s not pointing the figure of blame. He is not castigating. This is not
the former leader Ahmadinajad you -- attacking the United States. This is
a leader that has serious differences with the U.S. approach as has -- not
too different from some of the guests on your program and that`s what`s so
interesting about Rouhani`s visit this year as opposed to last year.

It`s not the same electricity. It`s not the same excitement. It`s a
normalization, we are seeing U.S-Iran relations start to normalize.

SCHULTZ: All right, Joe Cirincione, James Traub, great to have you
gentlemen with us tonight on the Ed Show. Thank you so much.

Still ahead, conservative politics infiltrate one Colorado school until
students -- they take a stand. You`re watching the Ed Show. Stay with us.
We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. We have breaking news at this hour.

United States and Arab partner warplanes just returned to base after a
successful offensive. Pentagon officials tell NBC news the airstrikes hit
ISIS controlled oil refineries. These were 12 separate modular facilities
that produced up to 500 barrels of oil a day. This is considered a major
hit against ISIS and it`s black-market flow of money.

The organization netted a report at $2 million a day in profit from selling
oil seals through out the region. Now with many of its oil facilities
destroyed, the group is missing its biggest source of income.

We`ll continue to follow the story. We`ll be right back here on the Ed
Show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is the story for the folks who
take a shower after work.

A conservative-led school board in suburban Denver wants to rewrite
history, the board scrubbing educational materials that encourage or
condone civil disorder. On Tuesday, hundreds of students organized to show
the board exactly what civil disobedience looks like.

Students from at least seven Jefferson County High Schools took part in
walkout protest over proposed changes to the way advanced placement history
is taught in the classroom.

Board Member Julie Williams said the current curriculum has an emphasis on
race, gender, class, ethnicity, grievance and American-bashing. This is
just the latest in the series of protest against the Board.

Since three conservatives newcomers took office in November on Friday after
the Board approved a new system and tying teacher raises to evaluation.
Teachers` Union members called in sick, forcing two high schools to close.
The group`s attempts to rewrite history and strong-arm the Teachers` Union
has gotten them one fan.

The Koch family funded Americans for prosperity in Colorado. In April, the
group`s state director called the Board`s election an exciting and hopeful
moment for the county and the school district.

Folks this -- should serve as a reminder that every election counts. The
county school board election might not sound exciting but it has very real
consequences for future generations.

Joining me now is Michelle Patterson. She is the President of the
Jefferson County PTA.

Miss Patterson, good to have with us. Tell us, your son was a part of this
and what do you think really motivated these students to gather the way
they did on social media and stage this mass of walkout in protest?

MICHELLE PATTERSON, JEFFERSON COUNTY PTA PRESIDENT: I think it was a
combination of things. It think it`s -- the kids are seeing poor treatment
of their teachers and I think when the children learned about the
censorship effort of the new school board, I think they decided that maybe
they had had enough and that they wanted to speak out for what they believe
is right.

SCHULTZ: What position does this put the board in right now. These are
elected officials.

PATTERSON: Well, I mean the conservative majority, they are in charge and
so -- and they can make whatever decision they like but I think what has
been missing from a lot of press reports is that this is not just about
A.P. History. This committee would have the ability to look at all
curriculum at any grade level and present it to the Board -- present to the
Board anything that they find objectionable.

And then the Board would have the chance to look at their objections and
take potential action. So it really opens the door wide to censorship and
the JEFFCO PTA is definitely opposed to that.

SCHULTZ: OK, so this is an ideological push for education in suburban
Denver by conservative groups. The kids are recognizing it. They walked
out, what`s the next move?

PATTERSON: Well, we`re just going to have to wait and see what this Board
does. We really don`t know. We`re just -- we`ll keep putting out
information and we will keep fighting for what we believe is right for our
children.

SCHULTZ: All right, Michelle Patterson, I appreciate your time tonight.
We`ll follow the story. That`s what protest looks like. Kids are paying
attention.

That`s the Ed Show, I`m Ed Schultz.

Politics Nation with Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now.

Good evening, Rev.

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