million stadiums destined to become unkemped mausoleums some day. brazil and croatia are currently tied 1-1 at the half. tonight on cnn, the event that changed the course of american history, a new installment of "the sixties" tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. that's it for "the lead." i turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >> jake, thank you very much. happening now, breaking news. marching on baghdad. a ruthless terror group holding an iraqi city vows to close in on iraq's capital. president obama says iraq needs help and he's not ruling anything out. will the u.s. have to go back in to iraq? humanitarian nightmare a. crisis on the u.s. border as

thousands of children entering the united states on their own facing very tough conditions. we're going to hear what the federal government is doing about it and what one state is threatening to do about it. they are threatening legal action. and birthday jump. you may look frail, he may look 90, but a president of the united states celebrates his birthday by leaping out of an aircraft. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." [ gunfire ] we begin with the breaking news. shock and awe in iraq. this time coming from terrorists. american contractors are now being evacuated from an air base near baghdad as a brutal extremist group holds a major iraqi city and is battling to take other cities, vowing to march on to the capital of baghdad, trying to regroup and

starting to fight back, president obama says iraq needs help and he says he's weighing on possibilities. our top experts and correspondents are standing by. let's begin with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she has the very latest. barbara? >> president obama was never exactly a fan of the war in iraq but now he's facing no good choices about what to do. iraqi troops now under control of the islamic group, the islamic state in syria known as isis. the terrorist's next target may be baghdad. they cannot let the capital fall. u.s. combat on the ground have been ruled out, but beyond that, there is no agreement what to

do. >> military intervention could take an al qaeda that is now badly divided and reunite them against the number one american infidels. >> and we will look at all option in this current near-term situation. >> reporter: one defense official says that the pentagon is developing options and capabilities to kwauquash the fighters if president obama orders action. the u.s. is again considering air strikes by manned or remotely piloted aircraft but the idea has huge challenges. pilots would be at risk and drones must have a precise target. >> are the fighters intermingled with populations? are there concentrations of fighters or are they scattered across an urban area?

>> for now, the official line, the u.s. will keep training forces. $15 billion in u.s. weapons have already been delivered, including 300 missiles, thousands of machine guns, flares, sniper rifles, m-16s and m-4 rifles and apache helicopters are scheduled next for shipping. but with some u.s. supplied vehicles to iraq already in isis' hands, there are serious questions if it the pentagon shifts more weapons, can the iraqis hold on to them? one defense official, wolf, telling me about all of this saying, we weren't surprised. it was always a question of when, not if something like this would happen. wolf? >> it's a crazy, crazy situation that's developing right now, extremely dangerous. i'm going to get back to iraq in a moment but i understand you're

getting new information about sergeant bowe bergdahl. what are you learning? >> wolf, just a few moments ago in to cnn, we learned that bowe bergdahl at this hour is in the air flying on his way back to the united states. he left the military hospital in germany on his way to another military hospital for further recovery in san antonio, texas. he is expected to land around midnight time at that base in texas. wolf? >> let's hope for the best on that front. barbara, thanks very much. president obama says iraq will need more help but he says the obama administration is not ruling out any options, although one top u.s. official is making it clear that the u.s. is not considering sending troops in. let's go to our white house correspondent michelle kosinski. she's got the very latest from there. michelle? >> reporter: hi, wolf. the president himself called this an emergency situation, saying that they are weighing options, evaluating requests. we know that those options include air strikes, that the

iraqi government has been asking for but emphasizes they do not include boots on the ground. the u.s. is prepared to accelerate and intensify its support. here's the president today. >> iraq is going to need more help. it's going to need more help from us and it's 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. >> reporter: so not ruling out anything except sending american soldiers back to iraq. and it was harsh criticism from sources you might expect it from, senator john mccain saying he needs to fire his entire security staff and speaker boehner saying that this has been a problem brewing for more than a year, we've seen it coming and what has the president been doing, he says, taking a nap.

the administration would not respond directly to that criticism but reiterated the steam that we've been talking about in some call the obama doctrine, that the u.s. can't be doing something all the time and that countries like iraq need to take responsibility for their own security. wolf? >> michelle kosinski, thanks very much. let's dig deeper right now with former pentagon official colin cowell, former nato supreme allied commander and the former u.s. ambassador to both iraq and afghanistan and nicolas kristoff of the "new york times." explain in a nutshell why iraq has exploded like this in recent days. >> you're talking to me, wolf? >> yes. >> so you have a combination of -- it's partly related to what has happened in syria and

you had these extremist groups coming from syria and used that basis to push into iraq and then you have the kurds seized the oil city there. the army has fallen apart because the government of al maliki had overreached in certain years. everything that has been in the works has come together in the last few days and all of iraq at this point is simply just fragmenting. >> because colin, when you think about it, this iraqi army, hundreds of thousands of troops, largely u.s.-trained, largely u.s.-equipped, the second largest city in mosul, their job is to take responsibility and what do they do? they take off their military uniforms, put down their guns and run away in the face of a

few terrorists coming in. what is going on? >> it's not just a few rag tag bands. we're talking about thousands of seasoned fighters. but you're right. the forces are about 600,000 strong. they were trained by u.s. forces. but frankly, for a lot of the last few years they have been doing checkpoints, not counter insurgency and they are exhausted. >> i think a lot of the blame goes to nuri al maliki. he has refused really to bring in iraq sunni population into that regime. he wants it to be a shiite-led government, period. >> well, he's had a hard time in the last several years to work with sunnis and kurds. there was always a problem between shia and sunni and now there's a disagreement with the kurd. so to solve this problem, i think there's a need for the new

leadership in iraq to work with the political forces because the military action alone isn't going to be sufficient without a political strategy and leadership that can mobilize and motivate the soldiers. >> general, the president, the commander in chief has a major decision to make right now. does the united states get involved militarily in iraq? no boots on the ground, as they say, but should the u.s. start launching air strikes, start providing intelligence, start providing a lot more equipment? is this the u.s.' responsibility now? >> i would say the clarity here is to do what? what do we want to do? and i think it should be measured. we ought to be very careful. i think the iraqis may get some spying here and be able to really take on isis as it advances. i think there's some weaknesses in isis.

i met some very good iraqi commanders and so i'm -- i think we ought not to panic here. we ought to wait to see what the iraqis do and i think our support ought to be not troops on the ground. i think it should be intelligence, it should information that we can give them. i would caution against their strikes. >> because nick, as you know -- and you've written about this. you've been there. i spoke earlier in the day with fare fareed zc fareed zakari. as long as maliki is in charge, it doesn't make sense for the u.s. to get involved militarily. i heard another comment like that from adam schiff, a member of the military intelligence committee. >> i think that u.s. military

assistance in some form may be necessary to make a difference but it's not sufficient. the central part of the resolving the crisis is sharing power and maybe it is possible for maliki to stay in power in part but he's got to share it and power has to fall from the middle and we've got leverage to help make that happen and if that does happen, then perhaps air strikes may be useful in conjunction with that. but simply to provide military assistance of one form or another without that happening, i think, would not achieve anything. >> colin, what do you say to senator mccain, senator lindsey graham blaming him for the troops that withdrew, saying this is all predictable. >> i don't think the intelligence committee was predicting at the end of 2011.

the truth is president obama was willing to leave 3 to 5,000 forces behind. >> would that have made a difference? >> it might have. it might have strengthened the logistical backbone of the iraqi security forces and counterterrorism support and air support but the fundamental thing is we wanted to make sure they had the same protections that the bush administration issued in 2008 largely because they believed they were in a stronger position. the iraqis wanted us to stick around but weren't able to pay a political role for it. >> general, what role is iran playing in all of this? >> a significant role. our withdrawl made them more dependent on iran and now the syrian opposition siding with maliki's opposition. so i think the role of iran is important. i agree with nick, that any role

that we play in terms of assistance has to be conditional on a political deal, even if it requires a different leader in baghdad. that's absolutely necessary for any military option. >> i don't think we'll see a different leader any time soon, do you? >> nor do i. but i think it's going to be central that the iraqis do this. we cannot always come in and bail out at the 11th hour. the iraqis have got to get some organization here, politically, militarily, diplomatically. and i think the kurds are going to play a key role in all of this. >> there's relative calm, peace in kurdistan. hold your thoughts. we're not going away from this subject. let me thank you for this portion of our somehow, colin, nick, ambassador, guys, thanks

very much. new information emerging on the humanitarian crisis on the u.s. border as thousands of kids are crossing the border without their parents. why one u.s. state is threatening to sue the u.s. government. and what's the best way to celebrate turning 90? look at this. a former u.s. president shows it's never too late to jump out of a plane. we asked people a question,

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they are facing neglect, alleged abuse and a very uncertain future. the homeland security secretary is trying to do something about it. pamela brown is joining us. it's a heartbreaking situation we're seeing. >> it really is. it's a humanitarian crisis. jay johnson shot back today at the growing course of critics over his agency's handling of this crisis, saying that the administration is doing everything they can to provide for the influx of children at the border and video released by the government proves it. but pictures we obtained tell a different story. tonight, new images of illegal immigrants crossing the southern u.s. border and packed border patrol facilities, crammed into cages, forced to sleep on the floor without enough supplies to go around. they have come from el salvador and guatemala and colombia.

this woman tells us that some who are caught are released with money and a bus ticket and a date to appear in immigration court. >> translator: i heard people are getting passes to stay, she says. others are not. >> reporter: thousands of women and children every day, many of them risking their lives to escape violent gangs back home. >> translator: i just want the best for him. there is not a day the gangs don't kill someone. >> reporter: hammered by the press today, a defensive homeland security secretary jay johnson admitted u.s. border facilities are not safe for children. >> frankly, it is also hazardous to send a child into south texas to a processing center. a processing center and a number of us have seen them ourselves, are no place for children. it is not safe. it is not a desirable situation

and i would encourage no parent to send their child or to send for their child through this process. >> reporter: johnson says border patrol agents are doing everything they can to care for the immigrants, especially the children. this video was shot of undocumented children at a federal housing facility near the mexican border, showing kids exercising, playing, and eating. >> those folks are being released with a piece of paper in our streets. >> reporter: congressman from texas who provided cnn with these images says 1200 immigrants are crossing into texas every day, as many of them as 400 children. they are being told to report to immigration court days later. >> if you look at south texas as a valley, over 8,000 have been released in the last couple of months. we estimate that probably in this year so far they have released 30 to 40,000 people in

our streets. and i think the american people need to know what is happening. >> and dhs said today it will investigate the allegations of abuse and the acl filed a complaint about that yesterday. in the meantime, tonight, text attorney general greg abbott is requesting $30 million to immediately deploy state to the border. the projection is that 60,000 undou undocumented children will cross the border, ten times more the undocumented children from 2011. >> some as young as 6, 7, 8 years old without parents crossing into the united states. pamela brown, thanks very much. state and local officials say they are overwhelmed by the influx of these undocumented immigrants, especially the kids. and one state is now threatening dire action. joining us is mr. horn.

i have a copy of the letter that you've written jeh johnson. you've asked in a formal demand that they immediately cease and desist in transporting alien families into arizona. what's wrong with sending some of these young kids that face horrible conditions in texas, what's wrong with providing them some more -- some better conditions in your state? >> there are two things. kids that were sent to a warehouse and i'm going there on monday to see what the conditions are along with our child protection personnel but the other thing is, adults were sent to a greyhound bus station in phoenix and then just left there in 100 degrees temperature, told to report somewhere for processing in 15 days and this is -- this is wrong. the border patrol are supposed to guard and control our border. they are not supposed to transport people that they catch and send them on a long bus ride

from texas to arizona. it's normally the job of the coyotes to take illegals and bring them into the interior of the country, not the job of the border patrol. they should be stopping them there and either detain them or send them back to the country of origin. instead of sending them back to the country of origin, they are sending them to arizona. >> coyotes are the people who bring them into the united states. >> right. now the border patrol is moving them around. >> let's focus on the kids. i'm sure you agree this is a heartbreaking situation, 7, 8 yoerld-year-olds being sent from across the border from not just mexico but honduras and guatemala. what do you say about those that end up in texas? >> they should be making whatever effort that why they are detained that they are being

treated humanly. some have not showered in nine days, treating in conditions that are not proper. i'm going down there on monday to inspect it myself and bring child protection people with me to see if the kids are being humanely treated. but the problem has started because they adopted a policy of not expelling the kids but of -- if they get across the border, they go to a border patrol agent and surrender, the border patrol agents said they used to chase them and now the kids chase them because the policy is if they surrender, they get to stay and that word got down to central america so now you have something like 90 something thousand kids that have come across and that's the unintended consequence of not protecting our border. >> what is fueling this? the kids may have a father who is in the united states and the mother may be in central america but the mother says, tell them the border police that your dad

lives in knew, new york, clevel they will take good care of you. >> yes. the father may be here illegally and the kids come over and the poll tea of the obama administration is to let them stay and the problem with that, that may seem humanitarian if you have a few but the word gets out, it becomes a magnet and all of a sudden you've got 90,000. that's the consequence of not enforcing the law which is if people are not here legally, they should be sent back to the country of origin. >> but what if it's a 7-year-old, even if the kid is from honduras. >> you would send them back to the mother in honduras. >> so put them on a plane and fly them back to hon dur radura? >> i think it's better to do that than a flight to phoenix. >> and you would expect the federal government to pay for all of that, right? >> yes. right now they are transporting them to phoenix. the federal government has no business transporting illegals

from texas to arizona. they can detain them in texas. they can send them back to their country of origin but they have no business transporting them to our origin. that's the idea of smugglers, get them across the border and then get them into the interior where they can hide and now the federal government is doing that. they need to cease and desist. >> i suspect you're going to get some reaction. you haven't gotten any reaction to your letter yet, right? >> i haven't yet. it just went out this morning. i hope we do. >> general horne, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. now speaking exclusively to cnn, what gop candidate dave brat is telling us about the election that took down one of his parties' most powerful leaders. next, tense, nail-biting moments as the oldest living u.s. president george h.w. bush jumps from a helicopter to mark his 90th birthday.

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just days after pulling off one of the biggest congressional upsets in american history, dave brat is now speaking exclusively to ynn about the election that took down house majority leader and sent shock waves through washington. joe johns is joining us from richmond, virginia. share with us the details, joe. >> reporter: wolf, we're on the campus of randolph mcacon college. we saw him going in and out of his house in the area and he was mum for the most part but he gave cnn a snippet of the problem of immigrant minors surging on the southern borders. you remember that immigration was something that helped propel him into the primary. >> the first thing we need to do, we have a disaster on the

border right now, a humanitarian disaster with kids. we need to close down the border and i'll just leave it at that for right now. >> reporter: you know, on the campus, a state of shock with the realization that both candidates in the general election in november are professors right here at randol randolph macon. i spoke to the provost and he can't believe that he's running. >> i thought the elevator was not going to the top floor, that this wasn't going to make it, it might be a foolish endeavor like i think the entire rest of the world, we were all wrong. >> reporter: so it's all in the history books now. the faculty and students are hoping for an on campus debate between brat and the democrat.

>> joe johns joining us down near richmond, thanks very much. let's discuss what is going on with political commentary ryan lizza and also correspondent for the new yorker magazine, gloria borger and john king. speculation that kevin mccarthy will move up but maybe somebody from the tea party would get the whip position. >> they are fighting for the number two spot which is the majority leader. mccarthy is john boehner's choice. i don't know if it helps kevin mccarthy. he has his vote today. today is not the election. the question is, the older members the established members, those who have community

chairmanships, they are going to go with boehner's guy. there is a speaker from ohio, number two from california. what about the southern base of the political party? what about the rural base of the republican party? convey to broker a deal to get them to number three and do it peacefully or do they have a rough and tumble fight? that could have repercussions down the line. >> you can't underestimate how personal these races are. they are about political promises that have been made to members years ago or current political promises and kevin mccarthy has now probably locked up a lot of votes because of pre-existing relationships. so you really don't know how these things are going to turn out. it's nice to say we need a red state guy in there because the tea party has to be represented, the conservative wing has to be represented but this is a lot about personal, political payback and promise. >> you know, it's interesting that the tea party is getting a

lot of the credit for this huge, huge upset although the tea party, all of the various groups really weren't involved in this huge, huge upset. >> that's true. the national groups didn't really come in. if you think about what the tea party represents, this was the most authentic tea party because it was grassroots phenomena in the district and talk radio hosts seem to have given a boost to brat. in a sense, that's what the tea party has represented and they should be prouder of this race than any other. if they get one of these leadership spots, this will be the most important tea party victory since 2010. >> that's right. >> they don't have anyone or at least they don't feel like they have someone representing them in the house republican leadership and now you have a growing base of leadership at the bottom of the house and perhaps one at the top. that's a big victory. >> you know, i keep saying eric cantor was sort of the tea party guy in the leadership, and then

they felt like he deserted him because he supported ending the government shutdown and now there's going to be issues with john boehner. >> john, how does this impact folks who are watching? >> that is the key point because these elections are usually like a classy elects in high school, who worked the crowd the longest. they are not usually about ideology. >> they are about relationships. >> kevin mccarthy sends birthday cards and calls up people when they are sick. that's how nancy pelosi is. it's very rare front and center but it is now. how much pressure or leeway does john boehner have to bring i am gra immigration to the floor, what other issue comes up in which washington would normally find the best deal and compromise, the more pressure there is to say no, to not be governing.

>> being look, it's not as if these people worked well together before this happened, both democrats and republicans and within the republican party there have been major rifts between boehner's leadership team and the rank and file. i don't think it's going to work any better after this no matter who is in the leadership but i do think immigration was a big issue. >> i think that issue compromise is the biggest one. if there's one issue that unites all of the tea party folks and divides the conservatives from the establishment is how much do you believe that the parties should actually compromise what the other party -- >> all right. ryan, gloria, john, thank you. when we come back, george h.w. bush jumps from a helicopter to mark his 90th birthday. the breathtaking video is coming up next. plus, the breaking news, american contractors now being evacuated near an air base near

baghdad as the crisis in iraq escalates. stay tuned for a special report right at the top of the hour.

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that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. very tense nail-biting moments today. lots of us were on the edge of our seats watching a former president, george h.w. bush marking his 90th birthday skydiving. it's not the first time he's

done it but today's jumps with all of the twists and turns may have been the most riveting of them all. let's bring in cnn tom foreman. it was scary. i watched the whole thing. i must say, it was pretty frightening. >> it was fascinating to watch the whole thing. look, considering how frail he's looked in some public appearances recently, this really was a remarkable achievement but it wasn't so much a leap of faith on his part as a leap of fun. 90 years in and more than 6,000 feet up, the former president jumped at a chance for a birthday freefall tweeting it's a wonderful day in maine, in fact, nice enough for a parachute jump. his granddaughter jenna knew what was up coming up and down. >> we all thought it was a bit ambitious, but we are all thrilled, even my grandmother that he's following through with that plan today. >> reporter: strapped to a member of the all veteran parachute team, the 41st

president rode it out like a pro. he was shot down out of a plane in world war ii and jumped again on his 75th birthday, his 80th and his 85th as well. greeted on land by his whole famous family. >> i wasn't worried in the least bit. >> happy birthday. i think it's awesome an 85-year-old guy jumping out of ha plane on his birthday. >> reporter: a poll shows 58% of the public has a favorable opinion of him. that beats both his son, george w. bush and president obama that falls below his successor, bill clinton. on this birthday, however, it was all politics aside. maybe his landing was not poetry in motion but the 90-year-old president clearly enjoyed some down to earth fun. >> a rough landing but a big,

big day and the white house tweeted in response to that earlier tweet from the president, hope you enjoyed the view, george. wishing you a very happy birthday, 41. directly from barack obama. >> we wish him a happy birthday, too, of course. he's fine and smooth. >> we'll be covering it when he's 95. >> let's hope. thank you very much, tom foreman. this sunday, happens to be father's day, be sure to catch 41 on 41. 41 american notables coming together to bring you a unique coverage of the the 41st president of the united states. that's this sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. coming up, a situation room special report. americans are being evacuated from iraq. president obama weighing all options. is iran weighing its options to cake advantage of the chaos?

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cp cnn is getting rare exclusive access to one of the secret service members that was there when jfk was shot. >> clint hill the is the only one still around that was on or

in that vehicle. his recollections are very jarring and he says every day he is reminded of them. he is an 82-year-old grandfather that blends in with tourists at the k the kennedy grave site. >> i was there when he was killed. >> november 22nd, 1963, he is a young secret service agent in the motorcade. his responsibility that day was to protect the first lady. after being hit by one bullet, he jumps on to the limo, but didn't make it before the second shot. >> there was a hole in the skull and i could see into the brain cavity. i immediately assumed it was fatal. >> his sense of guilt .

>> i lived in the basement of my home, i drank heavily and smoked terribly for six years >> he did an interview with "60 minutes." >> i have a great deal of guilt about that. and if i turned in a different direction, he would have made it. >> the fact that i broke on the camera, while on tv, probably was the best thing that happened. because from that point later on i realized that i had to change what i was do and i rekcovered. >> he believes it would have been better if he had taken that bullet. >> what's it like shouldering that burden for 50 years. >> a sense of failure and guilt comes in. you realize that if you had, if i had been able to make that

difference, the united states would have been a different place. it was that close. >> clint hill went back to dallas several years ago, retraced all of the steps and angles, and came to the conclusion there was no way he could have gotten to john kennedy in time to save him. he still lives with that guilt and he has made peace with it. >> what does he think of the conspiracy theories? >> he says they're far-fetched and ridiculous. they say there was three shots fired. one gunman that fired them, lee harvey oswald. >> this note to our viewers, catch our episode tonight only here on cnn. coming up, a situation for a special report on the terrorist onslaught going on right now in iraq. an extremist group for al qaeda. hows to march on baghdad.

we're taking a closer look at the man behind the terror.

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ask your doctor if crestor could help you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. happening now, a "situation room" special report. iraq under siege. terrorists threatening to march over dead bodies on the way to baghdad. settling old scores. iraq is bombing militant and the government is asking for help from the united states. will military troops be dragged back into an iraqi nightmare? >> they're going to need more help from us and the international community. >> it's not like we have not seen the problem coming if over a year. what's the president doing? taking a nap. >> and sergeant bowe bergdahl is coming back to the united states

right now. we have the letters he wrote while he was a prisoner. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." >> we begin this hour with the breaking news. the terrorist onslaught in iraq is moving closer to baghdad right now. mill assistants seized two stra te strategic areas. we have our analysts and our correspondents standing by with the latest on this exploding crisis, and what it means for the united states and the world. first let's go to our chief national security correspondent. >> wolf, tonight we're told that u.s. contractors are being evacuated from a military air base just north of baghdad.

there was a planned delivery of f-16s later this year. this is just the latest sobering sign of the militants growing momentum carrying them closer to baghdad. >> reporter: on the ground and from the air, iraqi security forces in a desperate attempt to retake northern cities now under the control of islamic militants. many are not proving up to the task. they paraded police through the streets. and in an oil-rich city, they took over military outposts abandoned by the iraqi army. three years after ordering u.s. troops home from iraq, today

president obama acknowledges they need more help. >> they need more help from us and the international community. we're working around the clock to find out how we can provide the most effective assistance to them. i don't rule out anything. >> what that new assistance will be remains unclear. iraq asked for u.s. air strikes. u.s. officials say they're to discussed on developing options other than just training and equips security forces. some republican lawmakers could barely contain their anger at the administration's response so far. >> the president should get rid of his entire national security team, including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, bring it others who won the conflict in iraq, including ambassador crocker and turn this situation around. >> many iraqis are not willing to wait, an estimates 500,000 have fled seeking safer ground

in controlled areas. bill fallon says any lasting solution lies with iraqi's shiite prime minister bringing together iraqi shiite and kurds to fight for their country. >> many of their forces are pretty well trained by our folks and the inato allies before we left. >> it has been a massively devicive iraqi leader. if they are to face off this threat, they need a true unity government, and he might have to go to make that happen. it needs an educator response or there are real questions being raised now about how the country survives intact. >> thanks very much.

let's go to iraq right now for a first-hand look at the fighting. arwar damon is joining us. from erbil, iraq. what are you seeing farce a threat? >> we have that audio tape that released from the spokesman from the islamic state of iraq, and syria saying they're advancing on this stage that would pose a much bigger challenge than taking over. certainly the soldiers there, one would hope would put up a better fight other than just dropping their weapons, shedding their uniforms and trying to escape the battlefield. we were here at a check point, the last one along the main highway, and people are still continuing to flee that city.

interestingly, wolf, the vast majority of them were not fleeing because of the fighters they said were there. they were kind of intimidating, parading around, but for the most part they were leaving the population alone. on the other side, people were beginning to trickle back. they put out a statement asking residents to return, and some people we spoke to said well, so far, they're not going around executing individuals, carrying out those mass executions, and they felt as if at this stage it was a better option than that of the prime minister's forces being on the ground instead. and it shows how deep the sectarian divide here really is bearing in mind it's important to bring this up, and that even though it is a key organization we're talking about, but this is

not just their operation. they're also taking a stand against the shiite government rule. >> yeah, it is really a civil war. we could potentially see what is happening in syria spilling over into iraq right now. be careful and we'll stay in close watch with you. still ahead, the top terrorist behind the terrifying videos. new details on the man called the new osama bin laden. we also have video showing american-trained iraqi troops surrendering in droves, surrendering without a fight at all. what is going on? stay with us. our "situation room" special report continues.

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videos like this one gave the world a horrifying glimpse of the terrorists now fighting for control of iraq. they believe he could be the next osama bin laden and perhaps even more brutal. what are you finding out, ryan? >> she about 43 years old, many americans could not pick him out of a line up, but she considered to be the most dangerous terrorist in the world and he is leading a brutal campaign in iraq. >> some call him the new bin laden.

his mission is to fight for a takeover of iraq and syria. much about him is a mystery, but not his brutalness. >> an extremist fighter. who would execute rivals. >> he is seen as the man behind the capture of iraq's second largest city, mosul and now pushing toward baghdad. he was called insubordne int. >> he is becoming a federal figure, and his organization is growing ever more popular. >> a counter terrorism o fish says he is based primarily in syria and is well known as his

predecess predecessor. some call him the invisible man. >> he disguises his identity, wears masks and turbines. according to this biography, he got a ph delasia dutrieuille in islamic studies. american forces had him in custody for four years. he may have built ties with other jihadists. he was freed in 2009 and within a year was the leader of iraq east al qaeda affiliate. what is his future? >> if he is able to hold on to territory in northern iraq for an extended period of time, he

could eclipse his predecessor in the movement. >> to do that he has to survive. all three of his immediate predecessors were killed. and right now he has a u.s. bounty on his head of $10 million. wolf? >> what are you hearing, can he take baghdad? >> one analyst says he doesn't believe he can. there is tough forces there that will fight him and keep him from moving into the city. we also have the iraqi security forces and of course they were the ones that let them get this far in the first place. >> thank you, let's talk more about this battle for iraq. joining us, ken polluck. and chris hebin who is a former u.s. navy seal.

what happened to the iraqi military? so many of them were trained by the united states, all of a sudden there is a large battle going on. they have two million people there, athey put down their weapons, take off their uniforms and they surrender. >> i think they were truly frightened and they didn't have the backing of the u.s. government or boots on the ground next to them. when the men that trained you are fighting with you, that imboldens you. they were defeated at the onset of the con flekflict and they f. we have seen it in other battles in iraq and afghanistan. that should have been fully supported with special forces guys on the ground. no question about it. >> that was clearly not going to happen. i want you to both listen. here is the vice president of

the united states, joe biden in 2010 at the tile of the u.s. pull out from -- getting ready for the u.s. pullout from iraq. listen to his optimistic assessment. >> i'm very optimistic about iraq, i think it's going to be one of the great achievements of this administration. you will see 90,000 american troops marching home by the end of the summer. you will see a stable government in iraq moving toward a representative government. i know all of the major players in all of the segments of that society, it impressed me. i have been impressed with how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences. >> that was a pretty optimistic assessment from joe biden, reminded me of the assessment we heard from president bush in 2003, and dick cheney, about how

things were great and things would be fabulous after saddam hussein neither of those worked out. >> setting aside 2003, in the case of 2010, what i think the obama administration failed to recognize is they were and are a classic civil war. what happened in 2007, 2008, and 2009, the united states put a cast over iraq and held the bone together while it was healing. there was progress, but it wasn't nearly enough to be able to sustain itself without that cast of the united states. >> but you know this, you studied the history of this region. the hatered, the violence, it has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years, and for the u.s. to think they can go in there and stop that, that was

with hindsight clearly naive. >> when you have communal identities, you have power sharing and federalism. you need cknow since we left, w need is the ability to heal the relationship to share power, to work together, that we encourage that was not sustained. >> we're hearing the president convene this top national security advisors today, he wanted a meeting on iraq and they have to make a major decision right now. does the u.s. once again get involved militarily in iraq right now. if the president said you are the u.s. ambassador there in baghdad, what would you tell them? >> i would say you need to move on three tracks. track one, we have to help the iraqis deal with threat from

isis. it could grow into a threat for iraq, the region, and the united states. but to succeed with that mission, military effort is not enough. we need to work on the political track. pressure the iraqi leaders to have a truly unity government. power sharing, federalism, and the third track, humanitarian support and assistance. >> chris, you're a former navy seal, you think if the u.s. introduces ground forces, and the white house says that's not on the table right now, but if it was, would it make up of a difference given the hatred and brutality and what has been going on for so long? >> i think it would make a difference initially to stem the tide of what's happening right now. we would get stability, stop the forward advance. and stabilize everything.

i completely agree with that three-pronged mission that needs to happen going forward. absolutely 100% agree, but we need to stop what's happening right now. we game them a battle plan. we said at such and such a date and time we'll remove 90,000 of your adversaries. that gave them plenty time to lot and plan. he had a very good plan and it's in effect right now. >> thank you, we'll continue this analysis and story, unfortunately, it is not going away. just tahead, the latest on sergeant bergdahl. and we're getting more information about why he left his base and wound up as a talib taliban prisoner, stand by. ♪

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breaking news, the pentagon now confirming that sergeant bergdahl is on a military aircraft now heading home to the united states from germany. there is many questions about his state of mind when he was serving in a prison. we have exclusive new reporting to share with our viewers. specifically letters that he

apparently wrote, what are you learning? >> two late letters, one sent i 2012, one in 2013. in one of them he is aware of the investigation into his disappearance, and he urges his parents to tell those in dc they have to wait until all of the evidence is in. he complains about the security on his base and the orders he got as a soldier and said the situation was not safe for him or the afghans working with them. >> he starts rambling at times and you point out his handwriting is not necessarily consistent. >> it's hard to put yourself in the mind-set of someone that would be in captivity. we know that he was held under harsh conditions. sometimes in a cage, often without light. even so the letters are strange.

the handwriting doesn't match, and he goes off on a tangent talking about math, god, the weather, but u.s. officials that have seen them and talk to the bergdahl family, the family says that there is enough in both of them that tells them bowe really did write these. we will have to wait until he comes back to the states, meets with them, and eventually speaks to the public to find out if these were really what he was thinking at the time. >> can we draw any preliminary conclusions about his state of mind? >> the letters do match the pentagon investigation into the unit where he was stationed. he said there was a leadership problem and there was a safety problem on the base. that said they're saying that's not a reason for walking off of your base. yet, one thing that the pentagon

and bergdahl seem to agree on is please wait for all of the evidence before you judge him. >> and they're deemed to be reliable and authentic? >> yes, and the letters that i read from his family back to him cover a lot of the same subjects. this is like the back and forth in the bergdahl family. >> it is encouraging he can now leave the military hospital in germany. he is getting in later tonight i think into this military hospital in san antonio, that is an encouraging sign that he can make this transfer. >> yes, pentagon officials say this next phase can take anywhere from 24 hours to, for some of the detainees, up to five years before he is ready to talk to the public and tell his side of the story. >> kimberly, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> you can always follow us on twitter, go ahead and tweet me,

tweet the show, please be sure to join us again tomorrow here on the situation room. watch us live or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. that's it for me, thank you for watching, i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." now let's go to "the cross fire." >> we're debating the decisions that president obama has made in the white house. tonight, on "crossfire" as iraq falls apart, who gets the blame? on the left, stephanie cutter. on the right, newt