Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles EVERYBODY, I AM MARTHA MacCALLUM AND THAT IS WHERE THE STORY BEGINS. HERE IS HOW GENERAL JACK KEANE AND FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA SEE THE SITUATION PLAYING OUT IN THE WAKE OF LAST WEEKEND'S ATTACK ON THE SAUDI OIL FIELDS. >> IF WE DON'T ACT, OR IF WE DON'T ACT STRONG ENOUGH, IT'S GUARANTEED THAT IRAN WILL CONTINUE. >> I THINK IT IS GOING TO DEMAND SOME KIND OF RESPONSE. THE IRANIANS WOULD RESPOND TO THAT KIND OF STRIKE BY ATTACKING OUR FORCES IN THE REGION. SO WE COULD SEE A WAR. >> Martha: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TULSI GABBARD HERE IN MOMENTS THINKS THAT THAT ADVICE WOULD BE A GRAVE MISTAKE AND SHE CRITICIZES THE PRESIDENT FOR THIS TWEET WHICH SAYS THAT THE U.S. "LOCKED AND LOADED" AND THAT WE ARE WAITING TO HEAR FROM THE SAUDI KINGDOM AS TO WHO THEY BELIEVED WAS THE CAUSE OF THIS ATTACK AND UNDER WHAT TERMS WE WOULD PROCEED. THAT WAS FROM THE OTHER DAY. SO THEN AFTER THAT, SECRETARY POMPEO MADE IT CLEAR THAT THE UNITED STATES BELIEVES THAT IT WAS IRANIAN WEAPONS THAT WERE USED -- THERE IS PICTURE IN "THE NEW YORK POST" TODAY, AND THAT THE ATTACK CAME FROM THE NORTH, NOT FROM THE SOUTH, WHERE THE REBELS IN YEMEN ORIGINALLY CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY. TULSI GABBARD DID NOT MINCE WORDS. IF SHE HAS FIRED BACK AT THE PRESIDENT ON TWITTER THIS WAY. >> FOR YOU TO THINK THAT YOU CAN OUT OUR PROUD SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN TO THE PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA IS DISGRACEFUL. YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS ARE OF A TRAIL OF MY AND SISTERS IN UNIFORM, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, AND OUR CONSTITUTION. MY FELLOW SERVICE MEMBERS AND I, WE ARE NOT YOUR PROSTITUTES. YOU ARE NOT OUR PIMP. >> Martha: THOSE ARE OBVIOUSLY VERY STRONG WORDS DIRECTED AT THE PRESIDENT, THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF. CONGRESSWOMAN, DO YOU STAND BY THOSE? >> ABSOLUTELY, I DO. TRUMP'S INTENT WAS MADE VERY CLEAR WITH THAT TWEET. AS A SOLDIER, I TOOK AN OATH AS WELL AS AS A MEMBER OF CONGRESS. AS A SOLDIER I TOOK AN OATH TO SUPPORT AND DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. NOT THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA, NOT ANY OTHER FOREIGN POWER. IF, FOR SOME REASON, THAT'S NOT WHAT TRUMP MEANT, THEN HE SHOULD COME OUT AND SAY THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT AND CLARIFY IT, BUT HE HASN'T DONE THAT. >> Martha: IT DOES SEEM LIKE A RATHER LITERAL INTERPRETATION AND I DON'T KNOW, SO PERHAPS THAT IS WHAT HE MEANT, BUT LET'S LISTEN TO WHAT THE PENTAGON SAID TODAY BECAUSE I THINK THAT THIS MIGHT SHED SOME LIGHT ON SORT OF WHERE THIS IS COMING FROM. WATCH THIS. >> WE ARE GOING TO ALLOW THE SAUDIS TO MAKE THE DECLARATIONS ON WHERE THEY BELIEVE THE ATTACKS CAME FROM AND ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY. >> Martha: WHEN I READ IT, THAT WAS MORE THE TAKE THAT I HAD ON IT, THAT THIS IS AN ALLY -- AND ANOTHER YOU DON'T AGREE THAT THIS IS A GOOD ALLY, BUT SOMETIMES NOT ALL ALLIES ARE PERFECT, IT'S HONESTLY VERY COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP, BUT THAT BECAUSE THE ATTACK WAS ON THEM, THERE WOULD BE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHERE IT CAME FROM AND THEN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT HOW WE WOULD RESPOND. NOT THAT WE WOULD TAKE ORDERS FROM SAUDI ARABIA ABOUT HOW WE WOULD RESPOND. >> WHILE A COUPLE OF POINTS HER HERE. FIRST OF ALL I THINK TRUMP'S TWEET WAS VERY CLEAR AND IF HE DIDN'T MEAN WHAT HE SAID THAT HE SHOULD CLARIFY AND ACTUALLY SAY WHAT HE MEANS. AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT THE WORDS ARE USING BECAUSE THEY CARRY A LOT OF IMPACT. SECONDLY, THIS IS ABOUT SOMETHING BIGGER THAN JUST A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUDI ARABIA OR HAVING AN ALLY WHO IS NOT PERFECT. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A COUNTRY THAT IS CONTINUING TO DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY SUPPORT AL QAEDA. WE JUST DESERVED AN 18TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THAT AL QAEDA ATTACKED US ON 9/11, THE DATE OF THAT EVIL VISITED OUR COUNTRY, KILLING THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS. SO I DON'T TAKE LIGHTLY PEOPLE WHO SAY, WELL, YOU KNOW, SAUDI ARABIA, THEY ARE NOT THAT GREAT, BUT WE NEED THEM. LOOK, SAUDI ARABIA IS CONTINUING TO SUPPORT OUR ENEMY, AL QAEDA, IN PLACES LIKE YEMEN AND SYRIA. >> WHAT THEY WERE DOING EVERY ARE SPENDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO PROPAGATE THIS EXTREME IDEOLOGY THAT'S FUELING TERRORIST GROUPS LIKE ISIS AND AL QAEDA. >> Martha: A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO AGREE WITH YOU AND THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO PROBABLY DISAGREE WITH YOU, BUT ALSO TAKE YOUR POINTS TO HEART IN TERMS OF THAT EXPO NATION, BUT THERE ARE ALSO PEOPLE WHO LOOK BACK AT THE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE SAID IN THE PAST AND SORT OF SEE THAT THERE ARE KIND OF TWO CAMPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THAT YOU HAVE IRAN AND SYRIA WITH THE BACKING OF RUSSIA AND THAT YOU HAVE THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL AND THE SAUDI ARABIA AND THE UAE. THEY SEE YOU MORE IN THE CAMP THAT IS ON THE SIDE OF IRAN AND SYRIA AND THEY QUESTION THAT, CONGRESSWOMAN, WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THEM? >> THERE WRONG. THERE WRONG. I'M NOT AN ANY OF THOSE DIFFERENT CAMPS, I AM IN ONE CAMP AND ONE CUP ALONE AND IT'S THE CAMP OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND I TOOK AN OATH AND I PROMISED TO BE WILLING TO PUT MY LIFE ON THE LINE TO SERVE AND PROTECT OUR COUNTRY, TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF OUR COUNTRY, SO THAT IS MY SOLE FOCUS.