inspiration. 90 years old today. by the way, just cause, this sunday is father's day, we are going to be airing something very special. 41 american notables are coming something to bring you a very unique portrait of george h.w. bush, the 41st president of the united states. u stories you won't forget, "41 on 41." thanks for being with us, we'll start now with wolf. >> i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we want to welcome our viewers from the united states and around the world. this is a cnn special report, iraq in crisis. 30 months after military convoys left iraq, the white house is now being drawn back in as a result of brutal terror grips that have routed iraqi forces in several major cities and now moving closer and closer to the capital of baghdad.

ice sis the islamic state in syria have taken control of mosul, the second biggest city. only moments ago we heard this from president obama. >> what we've seen over the last couple of days indicates there's a degree to which iraq's going to need more help, is going to need more help from us and going to need more help from the international community. so my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them. i don't rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either iraq or syria. >> we're following all angles of this crisis. our senior international correspondent, arwa damon, and

jim sciutto here in washington and chief international correspondent, christiana amanpour will be giving us a bigger international picture. arwa is there for us. these al qaeda inspired ice sis fighters are dramatically moving now and a lot of u.s. trained iraqi military forces, they are simply collapsing in the face of the defenses by these ice sis forces. what's going on? >> reporter: wolf, the iraqi security forces have not been putting up a fight. we saw mosul fall really quickly with estimates around 800 ice sis fighters managing to drive out two brigades of the iraqi army and tikrit, saddam hussein's hometown showing what appear to be hundreds of individuals described as members of the iraqi security forces being detained by ice sis, the iraqi government saying it does

now have tikrit under control, another key city as well and the oil rich city of kirkuk and ice sis taking over some cities and villages of that province before kurdish fighters very well-known as being a formidable fighting force by their own right, being the main entity that managed to drive ice sis out of kirkuk, now saying they are the ones that are largely in control. the dynamics in mosul very interesting. overnight, one strike by the iraqi government on a military base to the south of the city. we spent all day on the border talking to residents who were fleeing actually describing life as being fine. they say, yes, there are masked gunmen roaming the streets, ice sis fighters. they're not really bothering us, they haven't been carrying out mass execution and haven't been looting and pillaging and some people even saying they were going back because they believe

ice sis, when they told residents to return. a lot of this going back to sectarian tensions, predominantly sunni areas and residents telling us they were going to go back because ice sis at this stage, to them, was a better option than being under the control of the government shia prime minister nori al malaki. >> stand by, i want to bring in christiane. it looks to the outsider at least this could be another civil war in the making between the largely shia backed iraqi government versus the largely sunni ice sis or thesis or al q insurgents moving in, similar to what's going on in syria. what's your take? >> there is absolutely no doubt it is blowback happening in iraq and vice-versa, what's going on in iraq is going back to syria. this is part of a whole. as you know, mosul is only 100

miles from the syrian border. what i'm being told by a senior u.s. commander, it is hard now to avoid the conclusion that this is the beginning of the partition, the dismemberment of iraq. so not quite the civil war scenario but could start where arwa is splitting off, this isis dominated western part of iraq, fallujah, ramadi, anbar province and those kinds of areas and then the shiites heartland of baghdad and on south. this is what people are incredibly worried about. i'm also told by a former u.s. commander, they always warn these hard won gains the u.s. achieved with the surge and training of iraqi forces over the last decade or so, these were all quote reversible under situations when there was no supportive u.s. forces. that is what we're seeing now. he tells me he does not believe they are capable of pushing isis

back, they don't have the logistical ability and as arwa says they don't have the desire to fight for the maliki government, what i was just told right now. >> standing by, jim sciutto, you just heard the president of the united states saying all options, referring to military options are on the table. i suspect the iraqi government, prime minister wants the u.s. to fight these militants. i know the united states does not want to get back involved military. >> we know tiraq has asked for air strikes, confirmed last night and we are options on the including firepower. i was told the focus is now increasing the enhancibility of iraqi forces to respond to this on their own, which has been the

strategy to this point. the trouble is we have seen these iraqi forces not perform so well in the last 24 to a 48 hours. what can dyou do short of air strikes increase that ability in the near term. we have a number of weapon systems in the pipeline now, f-16 fighters and ap patch cach helicopters approved by the u.s. you could accelerate them in and give them more power from the air and they did one air strike today. and giver them more options going forward. those assets become more vulnerable as well. we saw the isis forces pick up humvees and other weaponry, it looks like, so they claim, we have seen a lot of pictures of that. what are the risks if they get their hands on a helicopter. these are the other risks involved. and we have seen air strikes we saw in afghanistan, it can cause civilian casualties and lose support of the civilian population. n none of these quickly change the

calculation on the ground. that said, you hear from the president and other members of the administration, they've been surprised how quickly this deteriora deteriorated, looking for ways to help. this may mean they consider options at this point they weren't happy with. maybe that includes air strikes and other things. remember, we saw when the administration considered air strikes in syria and turned away after the use of chemical weapons. how different is the calculus here? we'll have to say. >> you know the iraqi forces, largely shiite, but some sunnis, the accusation is in mosul the second large ethcity est city i they simply abandoned their positions and took off with that hardware and hundreds of mill n millions of dollars may have been in the bank, the second largest city of 2 multimilliille taken over by these al qaeda inspired insurgents. what gives any confidence the iraqi military no matter what the u.s. does, will stand up to

these insurgents. >> number one, i've been told they don't expect u.s. strikes to take place and as jim pointed out, it could make the problem worse byfestering resistance if it gets worse and what they will do. the question is also, it kind of gives the line seriously undermine the u.s. administration's claim it has li left behind forces that are capable of taking care of themselves and their country. you've seen that hasn't happened in iraq and people are incredibly worried what might happen in afghanistan when the u.s. pulls out of that. those forces are not ready, no matter what the u.s. and others say, they are not ready and this is an absolute example of that. in terms of trying to figure out how to change what's going on, on the ground, allawi sa said -- don't forget he won the most votes back in 2010, he couldn't form a coalition and

malaki did. this is what's happened, he thinks and i think everybody thi thinks, the only way to change this is by trying to move forward military but also cha e changing politically. he's talking about trying to get some kind of leadership council of national unity, in including malaki, but not led by malaki, to try to figure out a political way forward that's inclusive and can inspire these armed forces to actually fight for their country. >> i will very quickly guess, you've studied isis in syria, you know what they're capable of doing, the brutality, the strength they have. is it really realistic to assume they can move further south and go into baghdad? >> reporter: that would be very difficult at this stage, wolf. the iraqi security forces would gather all their power to make sure they prevent that from happening. a couple other things to bring up quickly you mentioned bri briefly, isis is not an entity just operating in iraq, it grew out of the islamic state of iraq

expanding into syria and now as an al qaeda spin-off, it controls more territory than al qaeda ever did under the u.s. military. the other key issue christiane was mentioning there as well, the only solution out of this is going to be political. we have this broader sunni-shia war that is happening, a divide growing even greater. if any nation syria or iraq, both countries closely inter-2009ed wiintetwined will have the ability in the future they have to put aside their various differences and own agenda and truly try to build a nation of national reconciliation so that the vacuum that exists allowed into these like isis to grow and thrive is no longer there, wolf. >> a very difficult assignment. thanks very very much, guys. arizona senator, john mccain, is calling for immediate u.s. action, when it comes to iraq.

on the u.s. senate floor earlier today, he said the president should replace his entire national security team and put retired army general david petraeus in charge. here is more of what senator mccain says. >> iraq is a far away place. but ask any intelligence leader in this country and that leader will tell you that this poses a takeover of iraq and the iraq-syria area, which is now the largest concentration of kd al qaeda in human rights is a direct threat to the united states of america. at least take immediate action to try to break the advances of isis across iraq today. >> soon after that, the house speaker, john boehner, accused president obama and his administration to quote taking a nap, when it comes to iraq. much more about the bitter political battle now brewing over the sensitive subject.

gloria borger will join me later this hour. just ahead, our special report continues, extremists in iraq press their offensive towards baghdad. taking a close look at what areas they now control. i'm their mom at the playground and i'm his mom at the dog park. the kids get trail mix, and here's what you get after a full day of chasing that cute little poodle from down the street. mm hmm delicious milo's kitchen chicken meatballs. they look homemade, which he likes almost as much as making new friends yes, i'll call her. aww, ladies' man. milo's kitchen. made in the usa with chicken or beef as the number one ingredient. the best treats come from the kitchen.

iraq is only slightly larger than the state of california. for generations it's been fractured by deep ethnic and political divisions especially among the minority shiites.

and the historic rivalries are very much at work as militants launch crippling offensives across the country. here to show us how this is p y playing out on the ground. the insurgents have been active for months. how much ground did they gain? >> a pretty good bit. i will mark off the border between iraq and syria. all the red is basically either controlled by the insurgents or heavily contested by them. this matches fairly well to the collection of the sunni population. yes, they are a minority in this country but they have been able to prey off the fact these people feel they have been marginalized at best, brutalized at worst, by the shiite majority under president al malaki. mosul, the second largest city, insurgents have been able to get a toehold in places like tikrit.

not that the local population like the insurgents a lot they have so little faith in the centralized government, they allowed them to move forward. who is the islamic government, iraq and syria is comprised of very skilled fighter, and 10 years ago, saddam was toppled and the people were disbanded. there was a question where do these people go? so many of them were blocked out of the government by the new w laws and regime there. thiss is where they went and joined up with many people angry about the centralized government and informed this to impose sharia law wherever it goes. it stands for the islamic state of iraq and syria and not only tells you they are an islamic state but where the want it. look at this line i drew,

they're not drawing it. if you want to know what they're after in simple terms, this is it. they are looking for a nation. a nation of their own that spans these borders that is an islamic state and that they control, wolf. that is one of the reasons this is such an explosive and worrisome thing to people over there because they start saying once again in the middle east you can see national boundaries changing if this goes on unche k unchecked. >> if we were to get that gi graphical area -- the gi graphical area you just described, this is a nightmare scenario right now. isis grabs more territory, some iraqi troops simply turning and running, throwing away their weapons, taking off their unifo uniforms. joining us now for more analysis in new york, ""time international"" editor, a former baghdad bureau chief and also joining us cnn national anchor,

michael holmes who spent a lot of time covering the conflict in iraq. a lot of people blaming nuri al maliki, so predictable, he never reached out to the iraqis and sunnis and this vacuum created and isis now moving in. what do you say about the theory? >> he not only didn't reach in, did exactly the opposite, going into power promising he would be inclusive and share power with sunnis and kurds and he's done precisely the opposite. sunnis see him as a sectarian shiite saddam lite, if you like. he has not only arrested them in the political process, not sh e shared oil revenues with them. that anger and resentment. let's talk about anbar province and others not even familiar with americans. i was there in january when isis

took over that area. why were they able to do that? because the tribal leaders saw their enni's emy's enemy as the friend. they don't like him. they're mad at him. disenfranchised. when the extremists wanted to put a foothold there, they said, why not. they don't like isis. they don't like being governed under islamic law and histor historically through the ages, sunnis do not like being told what to do. in this case, they're in a situation they see al malaki as a risk option. these are too, crucially, wolf, the same tribal chief the u.s. reached out to in 2006 and 2007 ba became the sons of iraq, awakening, turned on al qaeda and that changed the insurgency when the americans were able to win them over.

nouri al malaki has done the opposite >> and the alliance he led the shiites and also iran shiite dominated further complicating it from the u.s. privilege, did the u.s. go in there in 2003 and try to forge a democracy only to see iraq become such an important strategic partner with iran? >> indeed, not only here in the u.s. where people are asking that question, many iraqis you have to remember, iraq fought an eight year incredibly bloody war with iran and a lot of those sunnis fought in that war and veterans of that war. nothing annoys them more than the fashlct that malaki is reacg out to the former enemy, the country that has so much iraqi blood on its hands, metaphorically speaking, nothing upsets the iraqi sunnis than the idea iran is the closest ally of

the government in baghdad. >> we know they supported the sunni regime. do you expect they will help nuri al maliki's leading in baghdad? >> it's not a simple matter of rolling tanks across the border, they're fighting against an negative army, not a conventi conventional war. for another, i think it would antagonize a lot of iraqis, not just sunnis. the bulk of saddam hussein's army was made up of shiites and hundreds of thousands died in that war with iran. they don't share a lot of love for each other. it's very different from the personal ones iraqis make. if they get involved in the fight, a lot of iraqi shiites i think would turn against malaki

as well. >> thanks very much, o. >> transforming a few terrorist cells into the most dangerous group in the world right now. when we come back we profile this group isis as it marches across iraq. [ man ] look how beautiful it is. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. i did a little research.

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million people in the south threatening to capture more and more iraqi territory. there are fears that this group, the so-called islamic state in iraq and syria, could establish a haven and attack against the united states. what do we know about isis? what do we know about its leader. brian todd is following this part of the story for us. you've been studying it in recent days. what do we know about isis and its leaders? >> speaking to u.s. officials about this man an experienced and enigmatic figure, called the world's most dangerous man by "time" magazine, the new bin laden. he is as you said the leader of the islamic state of iraq, isis we've been calling them and born in 1971 in iraq. according to information on an jihadist website. he has a phd in is islamic studies in baghdad and formed his own loose group before joining al qaeda after the u.s. led invasion in 2003.

in 2005, he was captured by u.s. troops and held for four years at a prison camp in southern iraq. he was released there in 2009. right now, wolf, he has a 10 million dollar bounty on his head from the united states. a record in "the guardian," to tell you how brutal he is, he publicly executed people suspected of aiding the u.s. led coalition forces in iraq. he is known as a man of real brutality. not a lot else is known about him at this point. we're digging, trying to find more information about him. very mysterious guy. >> why does the core al qaeda, central al qaeda we're all familiar with think this group, veri this individual is even too extreme for them? >> really because of the sheer violence, they're ruthless. take an s.w.a.wath through mosu has a reputation for killing people. what's interesting he tries to keep a low profile maybe to gather support in the militant

ranks. he's very much different from the previous leader we know previously in iraq who liked to make videos. this guy is known as the invisible sheikh. reports say he wears a mask on his face when he goes to meet other militants or prisoners. likes to keep a low profile, brutal, nonetheless, a very dangerous man. >> when the u.s. killed al kauai, they thought that's the end of the violence in iraq. and talking about obama's failed foreign policy. the political fallout for the white house. our special report. crisis in iraq continues right after this. replace your laptop?

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offer ends june 13th. and download our free lennox mobile app. lennox. innovation never felt so good. welcome back to our special report. crisis in iraq. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. critics of president obama's foreign policy are laying the blame of the crisis in iraq clearly on the obama administration's doorstep. here's what house speaker john boehner said a little while ago. >> it's not like we haven't seen this problem coming for over a year. it's not like we haven't seen, over the last five or six months, these terrorists moving in, taking control of western iraq. now, they've taken control of mosul, they're 100 miles from baghdad? what's the president doing? taking a nap. >> then he quickly left that

podium after saying the president was taking a nap. only moments later, the president talked about the crisis but in the oval office, saying it underscores the need to partner with other countries in the middle east. >> that's part of what the counter-terrorism partnership fund that i am going to be calling for congress to help finance is all about, giving up the capacity to extend our reach without sending u.s. troops to play whack-a-mole wherever there ends up being a problem in a particular country. that will be more effective, more legitimate in the eyes of people in the region as well as the international community. but it's going to take time for us to build it. in the short term, we have to deal with what clearly is an emergency situation in iraq. >> the u.s. is not going to send troops simply to play

whack-a-mole. gloria borger and senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. what do you hear about what the president might do. he actually said in that meeting in the oval office, all options, referring to military options, i assume, are on the table. what are you hearing? >> reporter: wolf, we can take one military option off the table even though the president said, while he was sitting there with the australian prime minister, he's not ruling any option out. i did talk to a senior administration official who said no boots on the ground. that is not being considered. but that the president, i've been told by a senior administration official in the last few minutes, is considering some sort of air support, some sort of air strikes to turn the tide against these isis militants in iraq. you heard the president sort of answer that. he wasn't specific about whether he would approve air strikes or not but i'm hearing from an administration official if you listen to what the president said he basically answered that question, so, yes, he is considering that. it does add some clarity at this point as to what this administration is now considering when it comes to

dealing with this violence that has exploded in iraq for the last 24 hours, there have sort have been hints u.s. officials were looking at air strikes, the iraqis would welcome air strikes, now the president s saying in the oval office earlier today, yes, he is considering that. at this point they are not going to put boots on the grounds in iraq. that is not being considered. keep in mind, wolf -- and gloria can talk about this. this is a tremendous political dilemma for this president. this is a president whose political career is based on the fact he opposed the war in iraq. he defeated hillary clinton as we all know, during the '08 campaign, during the primaries because he opposed the war in iraq and she didn't. he has been adamant his administration is about ending w wars, not starting wars. so to come to this point for this president i think speaks a lot, wolf. >> gloria, hillary clinton, in her new book, has basically said being in favor of the war in

2002 and 2003, was a mistake. this president didn't want the u.s. to get involved in iraq then and i assume now. >> don't forget she was for a arming the rebels in syria. there's a difference between her and the president on that. a lot of people are saying right now, in fact, if we had done that, you would have stopped these terrorist groups from g w growing because now they have a haven in syria. toll jim's point, the vice president has been on the phone this morning with malaki. we don't know what their conversation was about. i'm sure it was a difficult conversation. this is a presidents who foreign policy is in transition. he's trying to have a lighter footprint in the world. his legacy issues are out of iraq, out of afghanistan, killed osama bin laden and i made the world a safer place. given what's going on in iraq, mosul was a real strategy blow

to president's theory of foreign policy. now, they find themselves in a difficult situation, where either they have to give air support, as jim points out, and they have their left flank s saying, no, no, we don't want to get involved and they also have people then questioning what they're doing in afghanistan, whether it's the right thing to do to withdraw completely from afghanistan, whether it's the right thing to engage with iran, which is what we're trying to do and whether we did the right thing in syria. so suddenly, with this news, all of it seems to be unraveling or un >> ling unspooling to a certain degree and they have to try to get it back on the spool. >> a tough dilemma for the president of the united states and politics in washington pretty bitter right now to begin with. thanks. jim acosta, thanks to you at the white house. up next, as the militant group marches across iraq, this political battle in washington

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as the terror group isis marches across iraq, john mccain saying the obama administration should have seen this coming and basically said, i told you so. >> there is a group of people, along with myself and the senator from south carolina, that predicted every single one of these events because of an american lack of reliability and american weakness and the president of the declaring conflicts are at an end when they are not. exit from iraq and exit from afghanistan without a strategy and without victory.

>> democratic congressman from california joining us now on the house intelligence committee. how do you respond to that kind of bitter criticism from mccain saying the obama administration failed in its withdrawal from iraq and should have negotiated some status of forces agreement to keep the u.s. troops there. >> you're always predicting the worse, sometimes you will be right. when things don't go that badly no one remembers you predicted it would go that badly. it's an oversimplification. the situation in iraq is dire, no question about it. at the same time, keeping a fume american combat presence in iraq i don't think made sense. what's more, we couldn't get the iraqis to agree to want to have us there, they wouldn't protect our troops if we kept them there, from liability. there was really no question we had to get out of iraq. what's so vexing to me about this, this is a problem of malaki's making, not our making.

malaki so sidelined the sunni population and driven them into the arms of isis, until that changes i would be loathe to make major commitments to the iraqi government. certainly we have to help them with material support. in terms of going beyond that, until this own iraqi government makes changes, i don't see an end to this horrible situation. >> you're right, the government of north korea north kor nouri al mallaaki didn't enter into and agreement preventing the troops from immunity of prosecution and mccain saying, you know what the president didn't really want to stay there, never wanted to be in iraq to begin with and looking for an excuse to get out and as a result didn't negotiate seriously with the iraqi government seriously about an immunity agreement to which you say? >> the president didn't really want us there to begin with and think the president has been

vindicated in that respect and t mccain and the administration has been proved wrong as to forces in iraq. we did try hard. although iraqis some privately wanted us to stay, many did, publicly they weren't willing to sell to it the population, ultima ultimately, they weren't willing to deliver the agreement. now of course they have buyer's remorse. again, quite apart from whether we kept troops there, if malaki was going to continue to sideline a huge segment of his population, they were going to have this problem. i do think we ought to help them with material support but it ought to be conditioned, even that ought to be conditioned on malaki changing the nature of his government to be more inclusive of the sunni population, otherwise, it doesn't matter how much military force is applied, they will have this problem in iraq. >> congressman, we're getting breaking news into cnn from our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. she has now confirmed bowe

bergdahl, the army sergeant a prisoner by the taliban for five years in afghanistan and pakistan, he is now about to fly back to the united states from the military hospital in germany to san antonio, to a military hospital there. i don't know if you have heard about this already, but you are familiar with that very bitter exchange the defense secretary chuck hagel had yesterday with the congressman from florida about why he was staying, bowe bergdahl was staying so long. what's your reaction now that he is finally now about to get on a plane if he hasn't yet boarded that plane, to fly back to the united states? >> i think that's very positive. it means his condition both physically and mentally has stabilized sufficiently for him to come home. i know his family, i'm sure, desperately wants to see him. it's positive. wolf, i think you're right. i watched that exchange. i found it with jeff miller, my colleague, utterly perplexing.

i'm not sure what the indication or intimation was that the administration was trying to hide him for some reason. i think secretary hagel is exactly right, we will let the doctors decide when he's ready to move and only the doctors. >> one final question, congressman, before i let you go on iraq, do you support u.s. air strikes against targets in iraq, negative targets in iraq, would you support that? >> i'm not prepared to support it at this time. i am priorepared to support grer material support to them which may include nouri malik

particular lear -- when we have a government in nouri maliki that proves to resistant, bringing him into his government. so no, i'm not prepared to support that. >> congressman, alan schiff, thank you so much for joining us. the failed policies in iraq, but who is really to blame? i' speak to fareed zakaria and get his take on what is going on. and for many, it's a struggle to keep your a1c down. so imagine -- what if there was a new class of medicine that works differently to lower blood sugar? imagine...loving your numbers. introducing once-daily invokana®. it's the first of a new kind of prescription medicine that's used along with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. invokana® is a once-daily pill that works around the clock to help lower a1c. here's how. the kidneys allow sugar to be absorbed back into the body. invokana® reduces the amount of sugar allowed back in and sends some sugar out through the process of urination. and while it's not for weight loss, it may help you lose some weight.

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we'll see how much progress in the hours and days to come. but once again, bowe bergdahl coming back to the united states shortly. it is already being called the third iraqi war. this time it is a brutal group that is waging war on iraq. let's get perspective from our fareed zakaria. so what is going on in iraq, fareed right now, because it seems like almost overnight, this terrorist group, isis, this islamist state in iraq and syria has moved from syria into iraq and is making dramatic progress from their perspective. >> reporter: you know, part of it is not as unexpected as it seems, wolf. this group has been making some progress. associated groups have been making progress over the last few months. military analysts have been warning of these kind of things, but the basic condition is this.

the government has persecuted the sunnis. as you know, any discontent has grown within the population. as you know, the population has gotten more and more discontent, joining up with radical groups in syria, these are a few thousand people. but what is stunning is that a few thousand people, well organized, well armed and now with $500 million in cash that they looted in mosul, they're able to make so much trouble for a government, nouri maliki's government has somewhere between half a million and one million people in its army. >> it is amazing when you think about it, how these u.s.-trained, u.s.-armed iraqi military personnel, at least in mosul and other parts, in

fallujah, why are they doing this, fareed? >> because they are corrupt, inefficient, and they do not have the same determination that the opposition does. you know, we saw this in vietnam with the south vietnamese government. when a government lacks legitimacy, when a government is not inclusive, the opposition is much more determined, much more ruthless than the government. and what nouri maliki has done is undo almost all the good that general petraeus did in iraq with the surge in 2008. the surge was mostly a political operation where you were bringing the sunnis back into the fold by bribing them, by promising them jobs, by doing all kinds of things to include them. nouri maliki reversed almost all of those measures and then went

after the sunni elites, went after the vice president, the finance minister, so what has happened almost all the gains after the political surge were lost. the sunnis feel excluded and now are mounting this terrible opposition. the key thing, you understand well, the shiite are the majority in iraq, so they thought they could address this sunni minority easily. but in the broader middle east it is the sunnis that are the overwhelming majority and all the support that isis is getting. these groups that are now marching is getting from saudi arabia, from turkey, because in the middle east in general, the sunnis made up almost 80 or 90%. and it was the shiite who was the more minority. >> and the united states must make a major decision now, does the u.s. get involved militarily? what do you think? >> i think with the current government in iraq it would be a mistake to offer major support

like air strikes. because ultimately i don't think nouri maliki can put this back together again. i think what we should demand is a national unity government. nouri maliki stepped down as prime minister. a more conciliatory figure taking his place. bring in sunnis as well. under those circumstances i think that the united states should support. but not this government. >> all right, fareed, thank you very much. fareed zakaria joining us. up ne they're cool. these deals are legit. yeah, we're cool. she's cool. we're cool. priceline express deals are totally legit. check this, thousands of people book them everyday and score killer deals. now, priceline is piling on even more savings with its summer sale. so grab your giant beach towel and enter code summer14. look at me enjoying the deals.

iraq's foreign minister is calling the takeover of the city of mosul a major setback and says it raises concerns after so many fighters turned and ran. my colleague spoke to him. >> definitely, this is a serious situation. and this is what we in iraq have all along warned everybody. the war, our neighborhood, the arab countries, that this situation, you cannot contain it. we are seeing over the last couple of days what we meant in stating those statements. >> iraq's foreign minister also mentioned how oil played a major role in the takeover by isis militants, the area contains the

largest oil refinery, they also looted the banks, stealing, perhaps a billion dollars in cash. that is it for me, i'll be back in "the situation room." for our viewers here in the united states, "news room" with pamela brown starts right now. this is cnn breaking news. and i'm pamela brown in for brooke baldwin. and u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl is scheduled to be back in the united states overnight. great to have you here with us, dr. ritchie, first off if you would, tell us what did bergdahl have to do? what did he have to show in order for him to be transferred back to the u.s. from the hospital in germany where he has been recovering? >> so the decompss