i'm wolf blitzer reporting there washington. we welcome our viewers from the united states and around the world. the situation in iraq is quickly deteriorating as al qaeda inspired militants move closer to baghdad. there are reports of roadside be headings of iraqi soldiers and police. and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee. it's a situation being closely watched by the white house as the obama administration

considers various options to help the iraqi government. president obama said this about potential u.s. military involvement in iraq. >> we will not be sending u.s. troops back into combat in iraq, but i have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support iraq security forces and i'll be reviewing those options in the days ahead. i do want to be clear, though, this is not solely or even primarily a military challenge. over the past decade, american troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to get iraqis an opportunity to claim their own future. unfortunately, iraqis leaders have been unable to overcome too often the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long ben simmering there. and that's create td vulnerabilities within the government as well as their

security forces. so any action we may take to provide assistance to iraqi security forces has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by iraq's leaders to set aside sectarian differences, to promote stability, and account for the legitimate interests of all of iraq's communities. and to continue to build the capacity of an effective security force. we can't do it for them. and in the absence of this type of political effort, short term military action including any assistance we might provide won't succeed. >> joining us now, jim acosta, christiane amanpour, and arwa damon. she's in the it northenorthern country. the president says he's considering various options but what exactly is on the table based on all the information we're hearing? >> the information we're hearing is that the president is

considering air strikes either through u.s. warplanes or drone strike. but he wants his national security team over the next several days to draw up these options and that the decision won't come overnight, it will take a few days. he wants to send a message to the iraqis that they need it get their act together. he wants the government, nuri al hal al maliki, to start unifying the country. he doesn't want to throw good money after bat noting iraqi security forces are melting away in the face of the militant fighters with isis. but at the same time, i thought what was very striking is is that the president taking questions before hopping on marine one with mrs. obama. at one point he was asked whether he feels reluctant to get involved in iraq. and the president said this is something that he wants to think about very carefully. but when i went to a senior administration official and asked whether or not the

president was showing apprehension there, or whether or not this was really a case where the president wanting some planning from his national security team, this official said to me, no, this is about planning. and so at this point, it appears this white house, this administration, this president is moving toward some sort of military action in the coming days. they just don't know what it is at this point. >> president clearly saying he doesn't want the united states dragged back into a situation in iraq. and it's all up to nuri al maliki. you get the job done, show us you're sincere and then maybe we'll help you out militarily. but if you don't do that, the united states is not going to get involved. that was the basic bottom line message he was sending directly to baghdad. at least from my perspective. what do you think? >> here's the thing. obviously they're desperate to get some kind of political unity and political functionality in iraq. because it's true, part of this

problem has been the lack of ability of nuri al maliki to unite the country. former iraqi prime minister told me yesterday and i was nearly go gob smacked, i asked why they dropped their equipment and fled, 30,000 in the face of 800 militants. and he told me they had nothing to fight for. i couldn't believe what i was hearing. but apparently they don't believe in their government and the isis people have been able to overrun a key economic and major hub there of hoe mosul. and he's on his way to try to see whether he can use his unique abilities to try to draw some kind of unity leadership. and the president's security staff severely underestimated the readiness of the iraqis once they pulled out in december of

2011. they underestimated, they did not expect this kind of trouble to brew in the intervening years. and yet we've been reporting for years the catastrophe of these constant suicide bombs, people dying, people being killed, this bloody mess that has been in iraq every since the u.s. has pulled out. that plus leaving the syria mess to fester. because what has happened is isis came from iraq into syria, got strong, went back into iraq. and they want to join that start of syria and iraq into a caliphate. so top commanders are telling me you'll never be able to fix iraq if you don't somehow stand up an army of the moderate opposition in syria now and try to pacify that country. and then of course you have this issue of afghanistan. very soon on a time table, the u.s. forces will be out of afghanistan. and people are saying hang on, you told us that the iraqi forces were up and fine when you

left iraq. now you're saying the same thing about afghanistan. are we going to see that place tumble into disarray like we're seeing iraq. so it's very, very linked and it's very dangerous and poses severe strategic threat to the united states of america. >> certainly does. arwa damon is in northern iraq. seeing these troops in mosul and elsewhere by the tens of you thousands simply taking off their uniforms, running away in effect, sort of reminded me when u.s. troops went there kuwait into iraq in march and april of 2003, the so-called elite republic card unit, hundreds of thousands supposedly loyal to saddam hussein, they just gave up, they ran away, they said they won't die for saddam hussein and the u.s. moved quickly from kuwait into baghdad. but what is going on, why are

they so disloyal to nuri al mali maliki? >> reporter: we also have to look at the areas where the troops were operating. and that is mostly in something of a sunni beltway where they don't perhaps necessarily feel as if they have the need or the desire to want to fight for a government that frankly very few people amongst the sunni population feel the need to want it die f to die for to say the least. but also iraqi suecurity forces might not feel that they have the support that they need from baghdad as the isis fighters have been advancing towards baghdad, hitting areas like duyala. they have been encountering more resistance from fighters that iran has been sending over, as well. several units with the special revolutionary guard to try to

bolster the iraqi security forces. the forces in baghdad do tend to be incredibly loyal to nuri al maliki, so it's highly unlikely in the event that should the sunni insur against city make their way to the capital, they will come across that same kind of scenario. to saadd to what is being discussed, nuri al maliki is a man the u.s. banked on for a second term despite numerous advice and warnings from various sunni and kurdish leaders who predicted that he would end up being as some have been calling him a shia ge a dak at this tim tore shia dictator. and back then he did try garner. support that he made certain pledges and he did just the opposite and con sosolidated po around himself. in part creating the situation that we have right now.

so if america is going to be gambling on this man who has been going back on his word throughout iraq's recent history, then held have to be very careful and make sure that they have another pressure point that they can apply to him and on his government. >> one of the deep concerns i've heard from officials here in washington, the president himself mentioned it as he was getting toward board ready to b one, a fear that these isis terrorists will go after shia shrines in iraq. we see iranian elite republican guard troops have moved in to try to help with this problem, other problems, as well. what would happen if these isis terrorists blew up a shiite shrine? >> well, we saw something like that back in 2005 and 2006 when samarra, the main mosque there,

this historic golden dome, was attacked by islamic militants and that set off two years of vicious civil war, sectarian war between sunnis and shiites. and eventually led to president bush doubling down at the urging of advice of jgeneral petraeus the surge. it worked, but it was also political. they got the sunni tribes onboard, as well. and things got a little bit better and then the troops were pulled out and the u.s. has no more leverage there. so if indeed this becomes an attack on various shrine, that will be very bloody. it's not -- i'm into tnot sure what's going to happen. i'm told they feel this what this is about is the dismemberment of iraq, the kurds taking kurdistan and keeping it. the terrorists taking this very

strategic western part of iraq and the maliki government baghdad on down to the south. and most of the shrines are in the south. so that is the real danger here. and it has all sorts of implications. if you cut up and break up iraq, it has secretary tear yap implications, implications with all the actors around not only iran but others, turkey. i mean, it is going to be an all mighty mess, you including economic, major economic implications because of where the oil is. so this is a major problem. and we have to understand the connection. the connection is vital. first of all, the connection being in syria where all these people have for the last three years been able to fight and do

theirs tod s todas toda s tod dastardly business there. it has taken everybody by surprise. >> all right. guys, thanks very much. coming up, much more of our special report. the crisis in iraq. is the u.s. going back to war this iraq to stop the so-called isis terrorists? what would air strike look like? plus president obama says military action alone won't solve the crisis. gloria borger will join us to discuss the president's dilemma.

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welcome back to our special report, crisis in iraq. we welcome our viewer in the united states and around the world world. the president has been meeting with his top national security advisers, the white house just released this official photo from the oval office. you see the president and vice president, general martin sde dempsey, susan rice, dennis mcdonough, so the president met with them earlier today just before he made that statement in which he ruled out sending u.s. troops to iraq, but he certainly didn't rule out other military action, possibly including air strikes and drone strikes for that matter. it looks like the united states may in fact be seriously studying those options. the aircraft carrier george h.w.

bush will be moved into the persian gulf. all designed to provide the president with options for possible air strikes. tom foreman is joining us. what kind of strikes are we talking about? because there are various options out there. >> the president is talking about precise and effective strike. and that is really tricky. when you start talking about big things like f-18s and cruise missiles and b-1 bombers, you're talking about very robust delivers of force that normally go after very robust targets, things like air fields and command and control structures and supply lines. and there is no indication that's sthat isis has any of those things. even as they have them, we don't know where they are. the intelligence on the fwrougr about this group is very scattered. so what do you do with all this big power if you have no idea where to place it.

>> what about gun ship, air to ground missiles. they could be effective if you have appropriate targets. albeit the terrorists have sort of gone into heavily populated areas. >> as you know from your experience, this is one of the key tactics of groups like this. when you start talking about a group like isis, it wants to be in population centers wihere thy are surrounded by civilians and sensitive targets, mosques, hospital hospital hospitals, schools. that's where they're living. and again all that of that makes it hard to bring in big power and hit them. and there are still several thousand americans in the country. so you have to watch thout for them, as well. >> if isis is so powerful, don't they have certain staging points, supply headquarters, other facilities that could potentially be targeted without fear of innocent civilians

getting killed? >> we have to be careful. these things can take on mythical row portions. isis is dearly doing well right the now, but that does not make it a full on army. even if they're behaving that way in any sort of fashion, one of the concerns is that one of their staging areas would actually be over here sort of on syrian/iraq border which as you can see sort of cuts right through the middle here. the problem with striking over here is they treat this border as if it doesn't exist. when they're over here on the syrian side, if u.s. forces were to strike them, while it would serve interest over here, it would also serve the interests in damascus, bashar al assad, which the u.s. does that want to help. so it becomes sticky. it th this is one more visitation of the problem we've had for decades, using a conventional

army to fight an unconventional foe. and that's precisely what isis is. >> why the president said he needs several days to weigh all the options out there. he doesn't want to get dragged in to the another conflict in i. and he says military action alone won't fix what is wrong in iraq. we'll talk about the president's response, what it means for his overall foreign policy. our special report, crisis in iraq, continues. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet?

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. welcome back to our special report, crisis in iraq. president obama says he's weighing a range of options right now. but he's also putting treasure on the iraqi government at the white house just a little while ago, the president said the crisis is a reality check for iraq's leaders. >> we can't do it for them. in the absence of type of political effort, short term military action including any assistance we might provide won't succeed. so this should be awake skrup call. iraq's leaders have to demonstrate a willing nos make hard decisions and compromises on behalf of the iraqi people in order to bring the country together. >> gloria borger is here with me. that was a pretty blunt message to nuri al maliki. we're not going to do anything unless you get your act together. >> and i think they're sick and

tired of him to tell you the honest truth. i think what the president is saying is look, we have a lot of leverage here. we have asked you in the past to have more outreach, to have more of a coalition. and what we're saying to you now, because you didn't do that, this is what is happening on the ground and don't expect us to bail you out again if you don't do what we ask you to do. so the president says to the american public, look, these things take a few days to decide what to do. and if he does decide to do something militarily, he said he wants it to be precise and targeted. so i think he also needed to come out there to tell the american public we're working on it, but i'm not going to jump into something up i knntil i kn exactly what i'm getting in to. >> he knows it's easier to get involved with the military action than to get out of the military action. >> you really can't overstate exactly what is on the line here for the president. i mean, we have such a huge

investment in blood and treasure in iraq. overwhelming majority of the american public says iraq wasn't worth it. now it's as if everybody is living a bad dream and hearing the names of the cities we heard about so much during the iraq war. and the president is walking this really fine line here saying, look, i'm not going to send troops back on the ground. but this is an important region to us. the iraqis are responible for their own security. we spent so much money training these security forces who are running away, right? so the president has to figure out a way to walk that line and say this is important, this is what we're willing to do. we didn't make our investment for nothing. so we do have leverage here. so hold on. >> he's getting pounds, though, by his critics. john mccain saying he should fire all of his national security team, bring general petraeus back in. >> that's right. and again, it is does speak to

president's legacy and the question of whether we should have armed the rebels in syria, whether a complete withdrawal from afghanistan in 2016 is the right way to go given what is going on in traffic. so there are lots of questions that will no doubt be raised. but the one fact that remains for thisrd is th president is t american public overwhelming does not want to put boots on the ground in iraq and he said he has no intention of doing that. >> and he said it will take several days to decide what if anything he will do. but there is a window to nuri al maliki to act or not act. thanks very much. up next, as president obama weighs options in iraq, we're learning more about some of the problems that have developed there, the insur againinsurgenc these political leaders in baghdad, why are they not responding to what the u.s. says they need to do. our special report crisis in iraq continues.

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baghdad. the u.s. and iraq are looking for ways to stop them. let's bring in our senior international correspondent, nic robertson. also joining us jim sciutto and michael holmes. nic, i understand you just spoke to a sunni tribal leader who represents a lot of those fighters involved in the battles right now. what are you hearing? >> he's a political representative from the council of tribal sheikhs in iraq. the reason that's s isis fighte made such a gain is that there was an agreement and plan that they would get the support from the sunni tribes. they have completely different agendas. isis wants a counter faith. the fry balance leader what they

want is a more representative government in baghdad that they want to take the fight to baghdad, they're confident that they can take the fight to baghdad, baghdad is their aim. they don't want to storm into the city, they say they want to negotiate, they want a government of national unity to be formed. but they are doing this side by side with these isis fighters. the tribal leader said we've been capturing and letting go many, many iraqi army forces. he said this is not the way that al qaeda operates. this is the way the tribes operate. he said that he believes they have the upper hand over these isis fighter and that if isis starts turning radical islamists, they will turn their guns on isis. it's unclear which way this hundred fol will unfold, but he is clearly deeply troubled that irans that put troops into iraq. he feels the situation could turn into a sectarian blood

bath. yesterday he felt confidence, today this news has made him very worried about the situation because he knows that this is prove case and he also says it shows the true colors of prime minister nuri al maliki that is really siding with iran. the world should wake up. one other point on this tribal leader. he was one of those working with u.s. marines to force out al qaeda only a few years ago. he wants to talk to americans. he doesn't want american air strikes on his tribal fighters. they just want he says a national government, unity in iraq right now. >> nickrobertson, stand by. michael holmes, you covered the war for many years. nic makes a good point. some of these tribal leaders, they did eventually work with general petraeus and other u.s. officials to ease the crisis over there as part of that u.s.-led surge, but a lot of it involved cash. u.s. taxpayer dollars.

the u.s. paid off these sunni leaders thousands, millions of dollars in fact in hard cash. and once that cash dried up, the support for the u.s. seemed to dry up, as well. explain what happened there. >> and nic's point all incredibly valid. back in those days, al qaeda was in sort of the beginnings if you like, the genesis of isis, as well. when the u.s. went in and engaged these tribal leaders, did bring them into the fold if you like and, yes, they did pay them, too. you had the sons of iraq, the awakening as it was known. they turned their guns on al qaeda and that chankd aged and impacted greatly the course of the insurgency. enter nuri al maliki. the shiite sectarian leader who within days literally hours of the u.s. leaving iraq back in 2011 started rounding up his

sunni political opponents, persecuting sunnis to the point and importantly, too, going back on an agreement to keep paying those sons of iraq. they were get building $200 a month each. stopped paying them. and completely shut the sunnis out. that's where you get the deep seeded anger. maliki has locked out everyone else. they're angry. they have now working with isis to beat back al maliki and the shia-led government. if you get this -- they will tell you this. they don't like isis. they don't like being governed by islamic law. and they certainly don't like being told what to do. they will turn on isis if the situation is right and that situation requires politics, not guns. >> let me bring jim sciutto in. john scary e kerry is saying it

he up toot government in baghdad it do the right thing. listen to kerry. >> security is a priority obviously, but make no mistake, this needs to be a real wake-up call for all of iraq's political leaders. now is the time for iraq's leaders to come together and show unity. political division fueled by ethnic or sectarian differences simply cannot be allowed to steal from the iraqi people what so many have given so much for over the course of the last years. >> so one of the ropfof the rea president wants to careful it more carefully, needs several more days to consider various options, he doesn't want to be dragged in to something. in effect what he and kerry are say, it's up to maliki to show they are ready to do the right thing. >> long term solution requires a political solution and truly inclusive government. the trouble is events may

outpace that aspiration. you have these forces and as nic was describing with their sights set on baghdad about that so what can do you in the meantime. and that's the decision the obama administration is faced with thousand. we've talked about air strikes, intelligence sharing. recognizan recognizance, possibility of a u.s. advisory role. with y but each option has its own limitations and dangers. they didn't like air strikes because this doesn't change the dynamic on the ground. good for going after individuals, drone strikes in pakistan, but not in terms of changing the ultimate calculus war fighting on the ground. intelligence sharing, that is already happening. you can ramp that up. one of the issues with recognizance is that these guys

are operating out in the open. so what does that add. another option as well is accelerating some of the military aid in the pipeline here. f-16s, hell fire missiles, apache helicopters, useful but also a danger, as well. u.s. evacuating american contractors from a base north of baghdad, those guys were there to train the iraqis this advance of the arrival of the f-16s. imagine if the f-16s were already there, they might have been lost asset, as well. so each has its limitations and

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for the tennis shoes that got torture tested by teenagers. the internet of everything is changing manufacturing. is your network ready? president obama says he's weighing military options to help resolve the crisis in iraq, but he says the long term solution must be a political and diplomatic solution. >> this is a regional problem and it is going to be a long term problem. and what we have to do is combine selective actions by our military to make sure that we're going after terrorists who could harm our personnel overseas or eventually hit the homeland. we'll have to combine that with what is a very challenging international effort to try to

rebuild countries and communities that have been shattered by sectarian war. and that's not an easy task. >> jamie rubin served in the clinton administration. he's joining us from london. president says there is a need to diplomacy. is this heading toward some sort of diplomatic peaceful solution or will there be all out civil war this iraq along the lines of what we've seen in syria? >> well, i think what we're going to see civil war in iraq tip for some time. and we're seeing the combination of civil war in iraq and civil war in syria create this broader conflict between sunnis and shiites. if diplomacy will succeed, what you eventully had was a breakdown in the politicses of baghdad. without america as a moderating influence, when we had forces on

the ground, we were able to moderate the policies of maliki. and with the rise of the sunni terrorists in syria, these two things together created a vacuum in which civil strive returned. the only way to turn it around is to get some of our sunni friends back in the game. that means jordan, saudi arabia. right now we have an awkward bedfellow. we're on the same side of tehran. we're working with the maliki government trying to persuade them to take steps to improve their relationship with the sunni community. meanwhile, maliki's government is getting help from tehran, from revolutionary guards forces perhaps going inside iraq. so it's a very awkward situation for the united states. >> speaking of awkward, not only

is iran supporting nuri al maliki going after these isis terrorists, but assad is going after them, as well, because they represent a serious threat to his regime. i want to read to you what hillary clinton told the bbc about the situation in iraq. she says, i agree with the white house's rejection and reluctance to do the coops of military activities that the maliki government is requesting. that is not a role for the united states. she wants basically for fr what i hear her saying, she wants the u.s. to stay out of iraq militarily. >> i don't know what she specifically meant, but presumably the air strikes called for by maliki were in the newspapers when she was asked the question and i suspect what the president is doing is putting aside the specific maliki request and saying, okay, i have two military challenges, one, i don't want these al qaeda affiliated terrorists to create

a base from which they can then attack our friends and our personnel in the region and ultimately our homeland. so what military steps, drones perhaps, will i need to take the way we have done it in yemen, in afghanistan, pakistan area. and then the second military challenge is what happens if this sunni force starts to sweep into baghdad, will we do anything. i think what hillary clinton is saying, like the president, public focus ought to be on why this happened. and this happened because maliki stopped working and mole rating h moderating his policies. if he doesn't sduturn that arou iraqi will break up in to a kurdish piece, a sunni piece, and the largest shiite piece. so it's up to maliki to change policy on how he treats, how he deals with and how he works with

the sunni community. >> do you think he will? >> i'm skeptical. because right now, he's in a fight for his life i suspect and he'll rely on the iranians and waiting to see what the united states does. so i'm concerned. >> jamie rubin, thanks very much to joining us. >> thank you. we've looked at the various u.s. options. but what about the americans actually inside iraq right now? how many american citizens are working at the u.s. embassy in baghdad? how many u.s. contractors are there? how many u.s. military personnel? we'll get apan estimate of all those numbers when our special report continues. thing that yoe pizza place. how do you win, dad? because i used the citi thankyou card and got two times the points on alllllll of this. well, and spending time with you guys of course. that was a better answer. the citi thankyou preferred card. earn two times the thankyou points on entertainment and dining out

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welcome back to our special coverage of iraq under attack. president obama says diplomacy is an important option to end the bloodshed and avoid an all out civil war in iraq. she's here with me in our studio. first of all, how many americans, american citizens are in iraq right now whether diplomats, contractors, non-governmental experts. dual u.s. iraqi citizens. do we have an estimate of how many are there? >> the state department has about 5300 personnel in iraq. >> diplomats and their families? >> no, we're talking about 2,000 americans but the wider of that could be these dual citizens. you have nationalities. other countries. these are contractors. security personnels.

the diplomats, about 2,000 u.s. civilians from various agents. you have the u.s. agencies from international development agriculture, a lot of programs the u.s. was working with iraq. >> these were the people attached to the u.s. embassy in the green zone. the huge $2 billion embassy that the u.s. built there that was going to be the largest embassy in the world. >> it's still the largest embassy in the world. it's about ten times the size of a u.s. embassy. it was the size of the vatican and it was built as a fortress to withstand this type of violence. >> there are americans outside of baghdad too. some have been evacuated from mosul under the control of these isis extremists if you will. do we have any idea how many americans are in iraq right now? there's concern that they may have to be evacuated. >> 2,000 americans in iraq overall. most of them are in the u.s. embassy in baghdad but you have

u.s. conciliates in the south but also in the north where isi is really gaining a lot of ground. so that's a very big concern about getting these people out right away. >> options are being considered if evacuations need to take place. >> they're doing that now. >> thank you so much. just ahead, a look at the fighters taking on suni militants. then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪

welcome back to your special report, crisis in iraq. the lightning fast advances by militant suni fighters has taken almost everyone by surprise but the extremists have not succeeded everywhere. here's itm reporter jonathan. >> outside kirkuk iraqi troops were filmed trying to help the islamists advance but it seems

they didn't try for long. somebody filmed the iraqi soldiers fleeing. many of them in civilian clothing and apparently leaving behind this military base as a playground for jihadists from the islamic states of iraq. from this footage, we can count 14 abandoned tanks. so it was that kurdish fighters moved in to occupy kirkuk. the city the kurds long claimed as their capitol. they argue that they're the only force for stability in this region because so much of the iraqi army has collapsed. but the temptation for the kurds is to hold on to kirkuk come what may. because they always wanted it as part of a future kurdish state

and that's what might happen here if iraq does indeed collapse. >> jonathan from itn reporting. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. for our international viewers amanpour is next. newsroom with pamela brown starts right now. i'm pamela brown in for brooke baldwin on this friday. nice to have you with us. this is special coverage of a horrifying scenario. a deadly battle for baghdad getting more likely by the hour. radical islamists are pushing toward the capitol after capturing one city after another in just a matter of days. the question no longer seems to be whether the u.s. will jump back into the fight but when and how involved will they be? that is the big question. we have just learned the u.s. is sending in a heavily harmed aircraft carrier keeping the