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 gingrich.

will chaos in iraq lead america back to war? tonight on "crossfire." >> welcome to "crossfire." i'm stephanie cutter on the left. >> i'm newt gingrich on the right. >> isis maintains full control over the second largest city of mosul. we saw refugees continuing to flee. isis also trying to gain more control over the oil rich city there and they're being pushed back. and also saddam hussein's home do hometown. with the support of other former

insurgent groups and this is very much a sunni versus shiite dynamic brought about because of the prime minister. this is certainly the most challenging situation that iraq has ever found itself in in recent history. >> thank you, in the crossfire tonight, guests with different views of the crisis in iraq. disbanning the iraqi army set the sunnis against the shiites, caution cannot become disengagement. as we just heard, isis fighters are capturing more and more iraqi cities. we have no choice at this point. the united states must quickly begin air strikes.

the alternative is to accept that iran will come marching in and dominate iraq and syria. we need a new strategy that is not benign neglect. >> you know what else is wrong is the fact that we went to the war in iraq in the first place. can you finally admit it's a mistake? >> no, it wasn't a mistake. >> i think a world without saddam hussein is better. >> yes, but there is better ways to do that. adam smith of washington state and rick santorum, he is the author of "blue collar conservatives" what would a president santorum be doing today to change the situation and avoid some of the mistakes that newt pointed to 11 years ago. >> i say the problems that we're confronting right now is the fact that we exited without an exit strategy, no stable government in place, without a continuing -- >> what would you do today?

>> the problem right now is we don't have a lot of options. i think newt's idea of providing some support for the government, i do not believe we should be sending troops to iraq. i think that is not a viable option right now, but we should be, just like we should have at the beginning of the syrian conflict, helping out folks who are standing against the al qaeda types -- >> and the president already committed $14 billion in military aide, helicopters, f-16s, bombs, it's all part of the package they currently have, there is a system going on. >> the iraqis asked for drone strikes and were turned down. >> do you think we should give those to them without al-maliki making any changes? >> one of the big problems with this administration, is they have been unsuccessful, and the prior administration, getting

the iraqis to come to the table and do anything to make a, if you want to say bipartisan sunni-shiite collaborative government. at this point we need to hold back al-qaeda and support the government in doing so. >> this is a group that al qaeda said was too extreme, too crazy. that is a tough standard to meet. the iraqis lost for the first time in january. do we wait until we lose baghdad? until the iranians come in? how long does the president have to wait? >> he has not been waiting as stephanie pointed out. he has been giving a substantial amount of aide, and we did not just pull out of iraq because

the president made a decision. they would not sign a status of forces. they will sign what we're calling a bilateral security agreement, president bush was able to get a three-year deal and the iraqis said no more. we had to go. aide was the only way to help first of all, second of all, if you don't have a better government in iraq. a few droen strikes are not going to make any difference. the many, al-- al-maliki government is responsible. >> he can go to the iranians and say send in the revolutionary guard, as they already have. >> and he may well do that and iran will have to make that choice, but for the u.s. to insert ourselves militarily, without a reliable partner, we have to have a reliable partner, i'm willing to look at that one

thing. if we're looking at isis, if there is a place we can effectively strike them, it can be syria, that is something that i think we should look at, but a full scale commitment to the government? >> that is an interesting point. the president asked for a $5 billion counter terrorism fund from congress, and i that is something you would support, and dealing with isis that's the type of agility we need, would you support that? >> i think we need to devote more resources to this problem. the problem is in syria and the fact that we have been inactive in syria and doing what we are should have done and what i talked about in the campaign and that is going into syria early in the process so that it didn't fester and it has, and it has bled over to iraq. >> would you work with your fellow colleagues in the house and the senate to get this $5

billion count eer terrorism lev passed. >> i'm not involved in the day today level like adam is, but iran is read, able, and willing to step in. >> just for a second, a $5 billion program is for north africa. >> it's not just for north africa, it's counter-terrorism. >> let me just say about the situation in iraq and what is going on, and if we should have been more involved with syria up front, i think we should have been. this is a full-scale shicivil w. the any notion that the u.s. could have pick policies that would have stopped it underestimates the problem. we could have made smart choices, but saying if obama had acted differently we would have been fine -- >> we have a $14 billion

program, we're doing a lot, but it's not helpful, we're about to add a $5 billion program to the $14 billion program. isis gets stronger over month -- >> let me help you with your confusion. number one, we need to try to contain the situation. that is trying to help them the best we can, that's the motion of trying to find them and take them out if possible, but the implication it's all because of obama's policies, the civil war that's going on is beyond the ability of the united states to put one policy in place to fix it. >> we had better develop a strategy pretty soon, because you're now seeing a group which is self declared worse than al qaeda taking over power in eastern syria and western iraq

with no strategy. if i could just very briefly, john boehner captured this today as far as i was concerned, look at what he said, i think it gives you a flavor of where a lot of us are. >> it's not like we have not seen in the last five or six months these terrorists moving in and taking control of western iraq. now they have mosul and they're 100 miles from baghdad. >> i don't think the president has been napping, but doesn't it current you that the crisis began the first time they took fu folushia. >> okay, boehner says that, if he wasn't taking a nap, what else could he have done? it is what we have done.

i'm not saying that, you know, this is a perfect situation, i'm saying you can criticize the situation, but what's lacking for me is here is what i would have done. >> wait a moment. >> when we come back, we'll dive into this. >> i promise, wait, i want to play something john mccain once said, do you remember this? >> the old beach boys song -- >> first, today's "crossfire" quiz. what was the peak level of troops in iraq? we'll have the answer when you get back.

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. welcome back.

today iraq is begging for air strikes to stop isis. a group was kicked out of al-qaeda because they were considered too extreme. now they are moving towards baghdad. no one is suggesting american boots on the ground yet. u.s. troop levels in iraq peaked at 157,000. some of my republican friends like to forget they pushed us into iraq to find weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist. and what do we get for that? extremism like we have today. he was one of the few that opposed the war. too many republicans never met a crisis they didn't want to turn into a war.

every candiate since 2012 would have gone to war including two that are here tonight. there are people out there calling for troop commitments in iraq, permanent troop commitments in afghanistan. syria, egypt, and the list goes on and on. where do you draw the line? what should america's foreign policy be with the limited constraints on us? >> it should be to focus on making sure america is safe. and when you have elements in that region of the world who are attacked and threatened to attack us in the future, then we have an obligation to make sure that doesn't happen, that's why -- >> so syria, iran, iraq -- >> i think our obligation is different. we need to protect america, so we have an obligation to contain the threats. we don't have an obligation -- it's not even on obligation, it's the ability, you pointed out how much troops we had in

iraq. iraq war or not, saddam hussein was not going to last forever. the sunni and shiite split was coming. how do we contain that -- >> it's not just that, it's radical islam. you're talking about isis, yeah, they're a radical group. they're no picnic, and we're talking about not going to war with iran, but we're talking about stopping them from getting a nuclear weapon. >> is iraq -- >> they had not -- >> we have stopped them. >> in my opinion we have done very little. this temporary agreement is just not even a speed bump. >> it's more than we have ever had. >> setting aside iran -- >> after we talked iraq, iran shut down their nuclear program because they were afraid of the united states. >> so we just have to invade another country?

>> no, i'm showing strength is important and we have not shown it where it matters. >> how would you show strength? what country would you like to invade. >> no one suggested -- >> back up, start with the first part, how would you show strength. >> what the president did when he ran for office in 2008 -- >> i'm still waiting. >> he said we're getting out, it is the wrong war. you send a message to the iraqi and iranian government. and terrorists were out -- >> so how many troops would you like us to have in iraq then? >> you're asking a question in a vacuum that was created by president obama. >> our assuming our military presence, the u.s. military presence in a muslim country is going to make us safer. the president and i disagree with that presumption. i think we have ample evidence to prove that. >> i'm not too sure that you do in afghanistan. we have not been attacked since

9/11 in a serious way here in this country. i think there is evidence that in fact a lot of -- >> i don't have any problem with >> i don't have any problem with going into afghanistan and taking out al qaeda. but the notion if we simply stayed there forever, afghanistan would be a peaceful place. >> i'm not suggesting that. >> then what are you suggesting? >> we have to have some sort of security agreement to make sure that the taliban and other things -- >> i think the ramp-down in afghanistan makes sense. >> let me frame this differently. we found out a little while ago that undersecretary clinton, boko haram was not a terrorist group. we now know they are. in fact, the original base camp was called afghanistan because their model was the taliban. now recognizing there is a threat across the whole region in virtually every single country. and the question becomes, and i'm very sympathetic to how hard this is.

the question becomes what is the strategy prospectus with isis? isis is not an iraqi problem. it is at a minimum an iraqi-syria problem. but i don't know how you contain a group if you start with the idea you're going to contain a terrorist organization. >> well, let's hear from the congressman. >> i'm going to in one second. i don't know how you can contain a group because it's phrased as containment that could be in charge of a huge territory theoretically containing while they control it. >> there are areas, as you mentioned, this is a wide swath problem, mali, libya, nigeria we've heard about. the best to contain this is we have got to build up local partners. that's why i kind of agree we should have done better in terms of identifying the syrians we could work with. and there were a bunch of countries, we're in there now in mali. the special operation very easily good. i understand your question ran us out of time. but the point is we partner with local nations.

we have a small footprint. this notion of dropping in the u.s. military in large numbers is not the right approach. >> no one has suggested that. >> i keep going back to the fact that we're not suggesting that and then you don't suggest anything. >> i suggest it pretty directly. >> the president has a strategy. and that is the strategy. working with local countries in small numbers. >> the strategy was getting out that was the strategy. not continuing. >> unfortunately, this will be good for another two segments. stay here. we want you at home to weigh in on today's fireback question. does the u.s. have an obligation to help the iraqis? tweet yes or no, using #crossfire. we'll have the results after the break. we also have the outrages of the day. i'm outraged about 60,000 children coming across our border with no obama administration effort to stop them. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel,

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welcome back. now it's time for the outrages of the day. i'm outraged about the increasing lawlessness along the u.s.-mexican border caused by the obama administration's decision to stop deporting young illegal immigrants. one official tells cnn he expects 60,000 unaccompanied children will cross the border this year. 60,000. holding centers in texas can no longer accommodate them. at a facility in arizona, children are sleeping on bare concrete floors. the border is completely out of control. yet president obama repeatedly has promised he would do something about illegal borders. >> we have strengthened border security beyond what many believed was possible.

>> the president needs to stop bragging and get the border under control before children start dying. >> tonight sergeant bowe bergdahl is being flown to a military hospital in san antonio. but i'm outraged by some of the stupidity of some republicans who are making light of his medical condition. just listen to this. >> you're trying to tell me that he is being held at landstuhl, germany because of his medical condition? >> congressman, i hope you're not implying anything other than that. >> i'm just asking the question, mr. secretary. >> i'm going to give you an answer too. and i don't like the implication. >> answer it. answer it. >> this guy was held for almost five years in god knows what kind of conditions. we do know some of the conditions from our intelligence community, not from by the way bergdahl. this is not just about can he get on his feet and walk and get to a plane. >> congressman miller is implying that bergdahl wasn't somehow in need of medical help after five years being held prisoner by the taliban.

he was implying that bergdahl was staying at a military hospital in germany because the administration was somehow hiding him. you know what? we're americans. regardless of the circumstances of his capture, he was still an american soldier, caught on the battlefield and tortured in captivity for five years. he deserves our respect. there will be time to get answers to the many questions. but let's get him healthy and home first. john mccain said recently that spending five years in isolation will take a long time to recover. congressman miller, maybe you can set aside your partisanship and listen to a guy who knows a little bit more about this than you do. you could learn a lot from him. let's check on our fireback results. does the u.s. have an obligation to help the iraqis? right now 32% of you say yes. 68% no. how would you two have voted? >> i would say no. it's a more complex question than that. but an obligation, i don't believe. >> i think obligation, i think we have an obligation. it's in our security interest in helping an ally, in this case maybe, but obligation is too

strong. >> thanks to adam smith and former senator rick santorum. the debate continues online at cnn.com/crossfire as well as facebook and twitter. from the left, i'm stephanie cutter. >> from the right, i'm newt gingrich. join us next time for another edition of "crossfire." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. next, breaking news at this very instant. sergeant bowe bergdahl on his way back to america. plus who breaking news. terror in iraq. militants taking over major cities, headed toward baghdad tonight. americans being evacuated at this hour. and george w. bush taking another birthday plunge. let's go "outfront." >> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett on "outfront" tonight. we begin with the breaking news. sergeant bowbe