individual for from the community. >> i won the college of science deans award. >> i knew you could do. >> it generation hope has really helped me believe in myself. they prepare us to have the skills for the future and we can pass those skills on to our kids. >> i'm motivated by the potential that's out there that's untapped. i want to be able to help each and every one of them achieve their own success. >> that's it for us tonight, i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. "ac 360" starts right now. >> good evening, welcome to "ac 360." we are live tonight from baghdad. it's 3:00 in the morning, tuesday morning, here in baghdad. curfew is under way here. curfew started at midnight. the city is largely quiet at this hour. the streets empty except for checkpoints which are still up throughout the city manned by iraqi government forces as well as militias.

volunteers who have signed on to try to fight isis. the group isis still some 45-minute drive outside of the city of baghdad, defenses here have been strengthened. we are also just getting word that hundreds of u.s. troops, u.s. forces are going to be deployed to this city, to iraq. president obama has notified congress that up to 275 u.s. armed forces personnel will be sent here to provide support and security for the u.s. embassy here in baghdad and for americans who are in iraq in the event of an evacuation. the president says that force will be equipped for combat and will stay in place until the security situation improves. it has been a day of dramatic developments to tell you about this evening. the united states is also considering everything from unarmed surveillance flights to air strikes to help hold this country together and stop the violent offense at being carried out by militants from the islamic state in iraq and syria. a lot to talk about. joining me now live are chief national security correspondent jim sciutto and jim acosta.

jim, let me start with you. what do we know about the u.s. forces deployed here? >> we know that over the weekend teams totaling about 170 began arriving in baghdad. their role as you mentioned to provide security for the u.s. embassy there. one of the largest in the world. another hundred still outside of baghdad but ready to go in if needed. their specialty is in airfield security. why is that important? if a full evacuation was ordered, you need that airfield secure to fly those people out. remember, these are not combat troops. they're not there to fight the battles against isis they're there to provide security for thousands of americans who are in baghdad. >> jim acosta, i understand that president obama is meeting with his national security team at the white house tonight. >> that's right, anderson. it's possible that meeting has just wrapped up. in just the last several minutes we have seen secretary of state john kerry, secretary of defense chuck hagel, the chairman of the joint chiefs martin dempsey and

the attorney general eric holder all leaving the west wing within the last several minutes from what i understand from talking to a white house official. the president is now down to what they're calling a fundamental set of options, air strikes are still on the table but no combat troops on the ground, anderson. >> do we know what those air strikes would consist of? are we talking about manned aircraft or droens or do we not know? >> at this point they're still debate whether to go with warplanes or drone strikes. if they decide to do a strike at all, anderson. another option they're looking at, they're looking at expanding the existing security training that is under way in iraq right now by u.s. military forces for iraqi security forces. that apparently may get ramped up. that's one of the options on the table. >> that would obviously be more of a long-term fix or attempt at a fix. jim sciutto, what are you hearing in terms of possible u.s. options? >> well, one option we know of is the idea of bolstering the

advisory force that is already in iraq. you have about 200 people in the u.s. embassy compound there who advise and train the iraqi military, an idea on the table would be to send more advisors in there, not to be in the field, say, with iraqi combat units fighting these isis militants but to be at home base in effect in the embassy and helping the iraqis coordinate their military response. that is one of many options on the table and it's the kind of decision the president has to make tonight. >> jim, also, jim sciutto, what are you hearing about -- there's been a lot of talk today about the u.s. possibly working or consulting with iran. what do you know about that? >> this is what we learned about that. the deputy spokesperson for the state department confirmed this on our air a short time ago that talks takes place right now in vienna between u.s. and iran and our european partners over

iran's nuclear programs but u.s. officials met with officials to discuss the situation in iraq. they said they were very brief and they did not discuss any military coordination. so the idea of air strikes to help defend iranian forces on the ground, not that. but the shared goal that neither iran or the u.s. wants iraq to descend into civil war and we're also told that the u.s. made it clear that they don't want iran taking sides in the sectarian conflict. of course the government of al maliki, shiite, iran, shiite, those forces on the ground helping shiite militias. what the u.s. does not want is iran to get involved but worsen those -- that ethnic divide. they want something that's more broader based and helps keep the country together. >> although numerous reports saying that a top iranian paramilitary commander has been in baghdad with a number of his officers to try to help coordinate the iraqi response. and, jim acosta, the white house

is going out of their way to say that there would not be any military cooperation between iran and the united states, correct? >> that's right. the incoming press secretary made that very clear on air force one with reporters earlier today. there will be no military coordination between the united states and iran. they're having enough trouble just dealing with this nuclear issue. yes, as jim said, they're talking on the sidelines but this is no sort of new military cooperative chapter between the united states and iran. that's just not going to happen, anderson. >> all right. i want to bring in retired major general james spider marks, former commander of the u.s. army intelligence center. general marks, in terms of air strikes if that is an option the white house chooses, talk about the options between manned aircraft and drones and can you do that without having u.s. personnel on the ground in forward operating positions sighting targets, guantanamoering intelligence? >> anderson, you can. you can execute that type of a

role without u.s. forces, air force personnel, or army ground or marine ground personnel up close to where you expect the impact area to be. you can do that from a distance. those would probably be either highly defined mobile targets or fixed targets. clearly the advantage of unmanned aerial vehicles is you don't have a pilot at risk and you don't have to then have the additional capability of the search and rescue capability that has to be robust and has to be present in case there's either a maintenance or a downed aircraft problem and you've got to go rescue that pilot. so clearly it can be done and it can be done without forces on the ground but it's not like close air support that we would see where forces are clearly in very close combat and you're trying to achieve distance between those two through close air support. >> i mean, a couple of the problems that a lot of people here have talked about is that in a number of these cities,

particularly cities they have taken over, they're very enmeshed with the civilian population. so striking targets in those cities, in mosul, in tal afar, a city they took over today, that would be difficult. are there clear training grounds, areas that they could target? >> well, you clearly have what's called a collateral damage problem when you're going after targets where military and civilian targets are interwoven which we would see in places like badge ji and tikrit and mosul. yes, there are isolated targets along those lines of communication s communications. realize isis has displayed itself as a conventional force. it has self-propelled artillery. as a result of that, in order to support that you have to have ammo stockpiles and things like that, anderson. so, yes, you can go after targets that won't have a cde, or collateral damage estimate that's high, but would be very, very low and you want to strike those targets. that would stop the momentum of

isis. >> general marks, i appreciate you being on tonight. jim sciutto, jim acosta. again, no decisions yesterday made by the white house in terms of ratcheting up any kind of u.s. involvement other than those 275 u.s. forces we talked about. i want to bring you up to date on the latest on the violence in country in iraq. state television reporting the iraqi air force killed more than 200 militants today in its own air raids northwest of fallujah. impossible to independently verify that. they say they destroyed a convoy of vehicles carrying isis fighters. meanwhile, new images are coming to light from isis purporting to show the executions of iraqi security forces. we're going to have more on that later in this hour, incredibly disturbing videos. isis gained control of another city today, two more villages northeast of baghdad over the weekend and has threatened to march on baghdad in its bid to establish an islamic state stretching from iraq into northern syria. as we said, hay ear 50 or so miles from baghdad itself.

our senior international correspondent has spent the past few days in iraq. in terms of -- let's talk about these videos that have been released by isis. incredibly disturbing videos purporting to show mass executions. it's impossible to verify numbers. they're saying some 1,700 people that they've killed, lining them up, shootsing them in ditches but clear they is designed to exacerbate the sectarian tensions in this country. >> absolutely. i mean, this is designed so that any shi'a person in this country that sees it sees a sunni man with a gun killing a shi'a man. that's going to enrage those sectarian tensions that already exist. baghdadi, who commands isis, want this is kind of thing. he wants to enrage the shi'as because he wants them to attack the sunnis because that will radicalize the sunnis and there are sunnis out there relatively

moderate sitting on the fence, that would drive them towards isis, towards baghdadi, the commander. and that's what he wants. he wants chaos here. he wants to grow his organization out of it. he doesn't want stability in the capital here. the tribesmen fighting with him do, but he doesn't. he wants those tribesmen to come wholly over to him, not to any other group. >> he wants sunni tribesmen who may be on the fence to feel that they are going to be attacked by shi'a followers here and that they have no other choice than joining isis? >> absolutely. the more that he can entraj population here, the see ya population, with these videos, some of these videos are so horrific and bad and detailed that really they're documented war crimes here. the u.n. is calling these war crimes, potential war crimes. so you have for everyone to see -- this is intentional. baghdadi has had a strategy all along, a quick move towards baghdad. everything they do is with a reason. this is with a reason. enraged -- all those men we saw

on the streets in the weekend lining up to join the fight for the government to go to the front lines, this will make them more angry than they are already. they will potentially perpetrate atrocities themselves. of course everyone's calling for them not to but potentially to that themselves on the other population, the sunnis. it's just pouring oil on fire. >> which is why ayatollah ali al sistani who called up for volunteers to defend this country -- and we've seen huge numbers of volunteers -- he through a spokesman said he wants everybody to exercise self-restraint. clearly he's aware of what the strategy of isis is. arwa, where are you? i wonder what the response is you've been hearing because you've been talking to kurdish person merga fighters who've been able to take over kirkuk and hold other areas resisting isis. what are people you're talking to, what is their response to these videos? >> well, they're absolutely horrified, anderson. understandably.

iraq has been through an incredible amount of violence over the last decade, ever since saddam hussein was ousted from power by the u.s.-led invasion. but will tell you that this level of brutality is something that is novel even for this country. the kurds, they have managed to hold isis at bay, especially critical is their ability to have kept isis fighters out of the oil-rich city of kirkuk, but that doesn't mean isis is not continuously launching operations to try to test the person merga, that's the fighting forces result, but at the same time the kurds are also urging a lot of caution moving forward because of those escalating sectarian tensions that you've been speaking about right there because it's not just ice us. they have the support of the various sunni tribes. they have the sport of various sunni insurgent groups that were active under the u.s. occupation of this country. those are at the end of the day groups that don't have the same

ideology as isis. they don't want to see an islamic caliphate established and they are going to have to somehow at some point in time wherever this country does reach that point be brought back into the political fold, anderson. >> we're going to check in with arwa damon and nick robertson throughout tonight and the week we're here. a quick reminder, set your dvr so you can watch "360" whenever you want. coming up; how isis is getting its message out, the videos we've been talking about. it's a very planned thought out effort behind them. we'll take you behind the scenes and show you where they're getting their money and how much money they have. they might be the richest most wealthy terrorist organization in the world right now. talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. back in the united states, at least two tornadoes touching down in nebraska. the latest on damage and the severe weather forecast for that part of the country. we'll be right back.

i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. [ male announcer ] the mercedeis here.ummer event now get the unmistakable thrill... and the incredible rush... of the mercedes-benz you've always wanted. ♪ but you better get here fast... [ daughter ] yay, daddy's here! here you go, honey. thank you. [ male announcer ] ...because a good thing like this... phew! [ male announcer ] ...won't last forever. see your authorized dealer for an incredible offer

on the exhilarating c250 sport sedan. but hurry, offers end soon. share your summer moments in your mercedes-benz with us. when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place expedia, find yours

large numbers of people here on the move in iraq, fleeing the

fighting, in many cases fleeing the rule of isis. as we said earlier in the broadcast, a city, tal afar, a city of some 200,000 people in the northwest of iraq fell today to the forces of isis, raising even more questions about the capabilities of the iraqi military to stand up and fight, though they vastly outnumber the forces of isis. we have seen in tal afar today and mosul and other towns and cities throughout iraq them running in the face of the well-organized forces of isis. we are live from baghdad tonight. we're going to have the latest here in just a moment but first i want to get you updated on severe weather back in the united states. wolf blitzer has that. wolf? at least one person is dead afterest there two tornadoes touched down in nebraska. severe weather pounds the northern plains. a spokesman for nebraska's governor says -- governor's office says there is damage in at least four towns. our meteorologist chad meyers is live in the cnn weathercenter.

he's got the latest. also joining us on the phone from nebraska, storm chaser ben mcmillan. ben, you took some amazing live pictures, video, of what was going on. i don't remember ever seeing double tornadoes tearing through a -- parts of the united states along these lines. explain what you saw. >> hi, wolf. we started out the day north of columbus and the storms just went very violent rather quickly. almost the fastest i've ever seen storms go from a cloud to a tornado then what happened next was truly historic. we saw a violent tornado translate into two and even three tornadoes at once on the groun ground. >> what did it feel like to be that close to these double tornadoes? >> well, again, i do this professionally. we are always placing ourselves in the safe part of the storm. if you watched in the live stream we were on the western side of the tornadoes and they were moving east-northeast so it's almost impossible for a

tornado to move backwards in a storm system that's moving east. so we were in a safe position and, yes, it was very close but, again, we've been trained how to do this so it wasn't that close for us. >> the governor of nebraska has issued a state of emergency for the entire state right now. have you seen the devastation? have you seen up close the destruction? >> we're on our way and we'll be there shortly and assist with any kind of search-and-rescue we can. just assessing the damage and we'll go from there. >> let me bring chad into this conversation. chad, two tornadoes side by side. you've been a meteorologist for a while. have you ever seen anything like this? >> not this size. i've seen two tornadoes on the ground, but f-1s, 100 mile per hour storms. not these, these were ef-3s. that picture may have been an ef-4. that's almost a 200 miles per hour tornado. probably 160, 175. the weather service will go out there and look at that later on today and into tomorrow.

that's what a storm is right there, wolf. moving up, it's dying now, but there are more storms that could do the same type of thing in the overnight hours. this is what one of the schools looks like in pilger right now. there should be another floor here, it's gone. >> basically the forecast is for, what? more of the same over the next several hours? 24 hours? what are you hearing? >> absolutely. all the way to at least maybe 2:00, 3:00. typically as soon as the sun sets storms are over. we just had a tornado, a large, dangerous tornado on the ground nearer be well, nebraska, just a few minutes ago. now, the storm did miss that town by about a half mile but still it did. and now there will be more tornadoes on the ground tonight all the way through dark. those ones after dark are very dangerous. >> i want all of our viewers in that part of the country to be very, very careful and heed the warnings that you get, chad, been mcmillan, thanks for all you do as well. let's go back to anderson live

in baghdad. anderson? . >> remarkable pictures there. up next, the latest disturbing images coming from isis. execution of the iraq security forces. many images are too horrific to show. coming up, how these militants are sewing fear with this type of propaganda and where they're getting their money and how much money they have. it's going to stun you. also ahead, as the fighting continues, the question looms, is an advance on baghdad possible? isis forces said to be 50 miles outside the capital right now. how will the united states protect its embassy and citizens. i'll speak with the former u.s. ambassador to iraq when we continue. she keeps you on your toes.

you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about

experiencing cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. you need to see this. show 'em the curve. ♪ do you know what this means? the greater the curvature, the bigger the difference. [sci-fi tractor beam sound] ...sucked me right in... it's beautiful. gotta admit one thing... ...can't beat the view. ♪ introducing the world's first curved ultra high definition television from samsung.

could help your business didavoid hours of delaynd test caused by slow internet from the phone company? that's enough time to record a memo. idea for sales giveaway. return a call. sign a contract. pick a tie. take a break with mr. duck. practice up for the business trip. fly to florida. win an award. close a deal. hire an intern. and still have time to spare. 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.

welcome back. we're live in baghdad. the campaign that's being carried out by militants here in iraq is being advertised online by this group isis on jihadi internet forums, on facebook, on twitter. the images that are emerging are frankly horrifying, some purporting to show the, cushions of iraqi security forces and others, mass executions. in a moment i'll speak with peter bergen and former see and fbi official phillip mudd on what isis is trying to accomplish but we want to warn you that the images coming up may be too graphic for some young viewers. howard damon reports. >> reporter: two of the captains have border guard patches on their sleeves. the guard tells them to repeat "islamic state here today." the first two comply, fear on their faces. the third struggles to formulate the words. moments later, this. . he appears to be dehydrated,

barely reacting to what's happening. in the next video he is dead, his jaw blown off. at the end of the clip, the isis gunman proudly declares "we killed a shi'a." this facebook page's profile picture matches the bearded man in the video. he goes by the name abu hamzeh from tunisia. we access it had facebook account before it was taken down. posted on it, these stills of the same execution. and another photograph that shows the other four men dead. they're accused of being maliki's dogs, a reference to iraq's shi'a prime minister. abu hamzeh boasts about how he blew the infidel's heads to held. location, iraq. in another post, abu hamzeh says "send these videos to the shi'a." an effort to foment sectarian rage in what has become a ruthless battlefield. many of the images posted online are too horrific to show. stills posted on an isis twitter account show a shallow ditch

filled with bodies. all accused of being members of the iraqi security forces. often we don't know who the victims are, but in this case we managed to identify the man who could not speak. his name is jafan, 36 years old. a father of two boys and a girl who adored his children and took the job as a border guard to build them a home. arwa damon, cnn, irbil, iraq. >> the look of fear in so many of these people's eyes is just horrific to see. joining me now live is former cia and fbi senior official phillip mudd and cnn national security analyst peter bergen. peter, we talked about this at the beginning of the program but it bears drilling down on and focussing on. isis is releasing these videos in order to not only sow fear among the military of iraq whose morale may be weakened but also to try to increase the sectarian divide. how effective is that strategy? >> i think it's been incredibly

effective. what you're seeing, anderson, i think is -- isis is in a way obviated the 1916 agreement which basically created the border between syria and iraq. there is no border between syria and iraq now. isis is basically in control on both sides. not in every part of the country but they have a state that runs 400 miles from aleppo in the west to mosul in the east. it's the largest amount of territory that that al qaeda has held until the arab world in its history and it's arguably the biggest achievement quote/unquote since 9/11. >> and yet, peter, as you wrote about recently, this is a group, isis, which al qaeda itself, al qaeda central, has distanced itself from because of some of the most gruesome of their tactics. >> sure. i mean, when al qaeda is rejecting you because you're too violent, clearly you're very

violent. but at the end of the day, yes, al qaeda rejected this group but i think it's a distinction without a difference. if you're a shi'a living in iraq, whether it's the nusra front, which is the al qaeda certified group or isis which has not been certified by al qaeda central they both operate in varying degrees of violence, anderson. >> phillip, we were talking on friday on the program and you said you were reserving judgment to see how effective isis fighters were in actually maintaining some of these towns that they had taken. three days later i'm wondering how you see things now on the ground. >> i think we're looking at a limit t set of characteristics. that is some modest geographic gains by isis. the key questions i have are going back, for example 0, to the u.s. surge. what are the tribal councils doing? what are the awakening groups

doing? what do people think? i think isis can continue to take territory but i would be looking a month or two or three down the road saying if they can't govern, if they treat people poorly, if they behead people, can they hold it? and that's not an answer i can give you in three days. >> the tribal councils that you're talking about are sunni groups which are part of the sunni awakening which the u.s. helped fund which really helped turn the tide here in 2006 to 2007. but philip, as you well know, the prime minister here, nouri al maliki, who's a shi'a, has alienate add lot of those groups. stopped paying those tribal councils. so even if some of those sunni groups don't like the methods, the kind of videos we're seeing from isis, do they -- unless nouri al maliki really reaches out to these sunni groups, which she shows no sign of doing over the last several years since the u.s. left, are they really going to come around and turn against isis do you think? >> i think they might potentially to that.

we've seen that in other jihadi situations in places like somalia, for example. but i think you put your finger on the critical problem not fund the united states. this is not in some sense a fight against extremists. a fight against isis. this is shi'a against sunni. saddam was a sunni who oppress it had shi'a. the shi'a are 60% of the population, this is them saying we own the turf now and we'll crush the sunnis. if we choose to intervene, if t united states, it won't be perceived as intervention against extremists, it will be perceived as intervention in favor of a shi'a dictator. >> in fact, some people say the u.s. didn't intervene in syria in support of sunni insurgents fighting against assad and here now is intervening against other sunnis again in iraq to kind of bolster the argument you made. phillip mudd, appreciate you being on. peter bergen as well. just ahead, isis is not only

known as ruthless. it may be the richest terrorist group on the planet right now. we'll tell you where it gets its money. fascinating when you start to trace the money trail. plus, with isis pushing closer to baghdad, 50 miles, about a 45-minute drive away threatening to seize the city to establish an islamic state, a daunting question -- what would it take to evacuate the enormous u.s. embassy here in baghdad? it's massive. thousands of u.s. personnel. a virtual city within a city. i'll show you exactly what we mean. add an adjustable kickstand, a keyboard, a usb port, and the freedom of touch. and, of course, make it run microsoft office, with the power and speed to do real work. introducing surface pro 3. the tablet that can replace your laptop. i'll help you look. maybe you left them in the bathroom again.

it's just the strangest thing... the warning signs of alzheimer's disease, may be right in front of you. it's alright baby. for help and information, call the alzheimer's association or visit alz.org/10signs [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪

take the nestea plunge. my mom works at ge. nothing refreshes like nestea.

president obama has notified congress that as many as 275 american armed forces personnel will be sent here to provide support and security. the embassy in iraq is the largest u.s. diplomatic post in the world. more than 5,000 people work and live at the compound. tom foreman takes a look. top? >> reporter: hey, anderson. if you look at a map of iraq you can see that baghdad is more or less in the middle of the country and if you move into a map of baghdad and you look at the very heavily fortified green zone in the middle there, that's where you will find the u.s.

embassy, protected on all sides by the green zone and on the southern edge by the tigris river. this was built in 2009 at a cost of about $750 million and it's about the size of an amusement park, or 60 football fields all put together and all the way around there are these various checkpoints to keep track of anybody trying to get any sort of access to it. plus this giant blast wall so that even if someone got close, any bomb would bethwarted by th itself. this is overseen by the ambassador steven beekroft who lives inside the compound. there are a half dozen apartments for various people and scores of offices handling visas to security to trade to agriculture. they work in buildings that are hardened against attack and this have bulletproof glass and there are troops there to protect the 5,600 workers inside this

compound. many of these people really can't leave very often without a heavily armed escort so inside they have cafeterias, they have workout rooms, they have a swimming pool, they have tennis courts, they even have a movie theater and the ability to generate their own electricity and water, all part of the cost of doing business in a very dangerous part of the world. anderson? >> it really is a city within a city. tom, thanks very much. i want to bring in james jeffrey, former u.s. ambassador to iraq, currently visiting fellow of the washington institute for near east policy from london. also cnn's political commentator and contributing editor at t an lat tick and "national journal." let me start with you, ambassador. you worked with nouri al maliki up close for a long time. do you think he is capable in this hour of need in reaching out to sunni groups who many people in the united states say that he must reach out to in order to try to bolster his government? >> on the bases of his record,

anderson, i would have to say i'm quite skeptical. >> so what does that tell you about the potential for real change here? positive change here? >> well, he's never faced a situation like this before and the other problem is he isn't the only stubborn sectarian person in iraq. a high percent of those that we had to deal with had views pretty similar to his. nonetheless right now we have to move very, very quickly or this scenario that you've described about baghdad being surrounded by these isis people is going to materialize. >> you think that's very possible. do you think it's possible that baghdad could fall? >> no, it can't fall but it can be cut off. we almost faced that in 2004 with 100,000 u.s. troops and that would create chaos, it could pull in the iranians and it could place all of our interests in great jeopardy. over the longer term, to retake

the sunni areas, that's going to require a government that can do reconciliation and maliki is an unlikely candidate for that. >> peter beinart, for you, you believe that the focus has to be on diplomatic efforts to try to get nouri al maliki to reach out, don't you? >> right. you know, my experience in looking at this is shaped by the fact that i supported the iraq war to begin with. probably the biggest mistake i've ever made in my journalistic career so i'm chastened by that. i think before we go, blowing a lot of things up, we need to figure out whether, in fact, there's an iraqi government that is capable of creating a government that can win back some sunni allegiance. although isis is in the lead, this jihadist salafist group, the reality is that they have the support right now in a lot of other sunni groups in iraq as well. that's part of the reason they believe able to take mosul which is the second-biggest city.

this is not only a fight against an extremist group, it's a sectarian divide in which most sunnis have been deeply alienated from this government. unless we can find a way, probably partnering with iran, of pushing this government towards being much more inclusive, i'm not sure military action will do much good. >> ambassador jeffrey, do you believe that some form of u.s. military action is necessary, at least in the short term, to try to buy some time? >> exactly. that's where i disagree with peter. his formula is absolutely correct for trying to develop stabilization operations in the sunni areas and we shouldn't be bombing sunni areas. but right now what we have is these columns of isis fighters, heavily equipped, you saw a russian tank that they were using in one of your clips, moving around to the north and south of baghdad. that's a military move. it's in shi'a areas in many cases and we have to stop that before we can stabilize the situation, keep the iranians out and ensure that baghdad is not

cut off. >> but how are we going to keep the iranians out? maliki is much closer to the iranians than he is to us. the iranians have been in since the beginning of this government. i'm not against military action under any circumstance but it seems to me we have a certain leverage right now with maliki wanting us to take military action and we should use that leverage to get him to make political decisions. >> that's all well and good but for the moment -- that's all well and good, it's a good idea but for the moment we have a military problem. the iranians have advisors and such. what we don't want is hundreds of -- large columns of iranian troops streaming in because baghdad and largely six million shi'a population is cut off. that's the horror scenario that will turn the whole region in into a shi'a/sunni civil war. >> ambassador jeffrey, i appreciate your time tonight. peter beinart as well. just ahead tonight, how did isis gain so much power so

quickly? where did the money come from? you'll be amazed how much money this group has. their meeting was private, the pictures speak volumes. two grieving fathers sharing their pain. the father of the santa barbara shooter face to face with the father of one of his victims. [ male announcer ] if you can't stand the heat, get off the test track. get the mercedes-benz you've been burning for at the summer event, going on now at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. hurry, before this opportunity cools off. ♪ mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

i got more advice than i knew what to do with. what i needed was information i could trust on how to take care of me and my baby. luckily, unitedhealthcare has a simple program that helps moms stay on track with their doctors and get the right care and guidance-before and after the baby is born. simple is good right now.

(anncr vo) innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

. >> when isis took over the second-largest city in iraq, they broke into the bank and stole an awful lot of money. that's just one of the way they've been funding themselves. we have more. >> reporter: isis struck gold, they robbed the city's central bank taking a large amount of gold and an estimated $430 million. a smash-and-grab like that, some experts predict, could make them the richest terror organization in the world. the council on foreign relations reports most of isis' financing comes from smuggling, extortion and other crimes. isis is even cashing in on oil, selling crude from oil fields they took control of in northern syria right back to the syrian government. the "new york times" reports isis is also selling electricity from captured power plants back to the government, too. >> they also do a lot of the traditional terrorist fund-raising activities -- kidnapping, robbing, thieving, they're involved in the drug

trade, they have money laundering schemes. >> the daily beast josh rogan reports isis has been funded for years by wealthy private donors living in countries the u.s. considers allies -- countries like kuwait, qatar and and that governments know it's happen bug choose to look away. >> the government could have plausible deniability and say they weren't funding them directly. >> now back to the numbers. if you do the math, isis may be worth at least $500 million after la last attack on that bank in mosul. in 2011, the taliban was said to be worth an estimated $70 million to $400 million. even al qaeda can't compete. al qaeda had an operating budget of about $30 million a year before the 9/11 attacks. and all of this cash on hand only allows isis to attract more extremist fighters who are drawn

to higher salaries. big money also helps isis finance large-scale prison raids, liberating hundreds of fighters who then join their ranks. >> isis is a group that can't be negotiated with. the more resources they have, the more aggressive they'll be, the more violent they're going to be. >> reporter: elevating the risk in the middle east and potentially around the globe. randy kaye, cnn, new york. dexter filkins has done an extraordinary job covering the war in iraq have from the very beginning, first for the "new york times" and now for the "new yorker." he joins me tonight. dexter, you wrote recently after watching the last couple days what's gone on here that more bad news is yet to come. can you explain that? what do you mean? >> well, look, it's hard to forecast the future, but you have the makings there for a wider -- a much wider war. i mean, already you have isis, which is not just an iraqi

organization but a syrian one. they're fighting in both places. isis has already done bombings in lebanon against hezbollah, the lebanese group which is also fighting in syria. you've got the iranians who are the head of the revolutionary guard's quds force 1 apparently in baghdad preparing to mobilize the iraqi shiite militias possibly even. there's been report there is's some revolutionary guard already in iraq. the saudis very r already in, the turks are already in. you have the possibility for a much wider conflict here. >> there's a lot of talk, especially among u.s. politicians harks the u.s. has got to somehow get the prime minister here, nouri al maliki, to reach out to sunni groups or kurdish groups but particularly to sunni groups. given his actions since the u.s. has left here, do you see any sign that he's willing to actually do that? >> well, no, i don't. i mean, i think that the hard part now is that, you know, sort

of now's the wrong time to ask him to do that because now, you know, there's -- he's got guerrilla fighters on the outskirts of sign eye fig-- sun on the outskirts of baghdad. now it's difficult to talk and try to make deals and reach out. it was easy to do that two and a half years ago when the american -- when the last american troops left, but what he did, in fact, was totally the opposite. maliki has basically driven us to -- or driven iraq to the place where it is. he's been utterly sectarian for the past two and a half years and one of the crucial roles that the americans always played when they were there was essentially in restraining him and in sort of brokering deals between all the various factions. and without them there, there's no break on him. >> there have been some who suggested that the government that was created here, largely at the instigation of the united states, really required the

united states as sort of an essential part of its dna. do you agree with that? >> i do, actually. that's the evidence. ryan crocker, who's ambassador there for several years, american ambassador there, said to me, you know, the irony is that we built ourselves into the hard drive. and i think that's right. you've basically got these three groups, the shiites, the sunnis and the kurds. they've never really learned how to live with each other. they don't trust each other. the united states -- you know, we came in in 2003, we destroyed the iraqi state, we spent eight and a half years trying to build another one. but we built a system that doesn't work very well. but it worked okay as long as we were there. >> can you explain why a force, a military force, the iraqi defense force which have some 250,000 troops outnumbering isis forces i don't know, 50-1, 100-1, perhaps, how they're not able to stand up to them and

defeat them on the field of battle? >> it's incredible. look, it comes down to morale. i think -- what is it? four divisions of the iraqi army just kind of disappeared up there when confronted by a bunch of guys in pickup trucks. it's pretty pathetic. >> it is. dexter filkins, thanks very much. dexter filkins is the new yorker. the u.s. army announces a crucial steps as it seeks answers to the capture and disappearance of bowe bergdahl. we'll be right back. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines.

and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ . ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ touch down... every morning... ten times! not just... now and then. once more on the rise... nuts to the flabby guys! go, you chicken fat, go away! go, you chicken fat, go! run, two, run (running) (like a tortoise) okay! (too far, and too slow.) now double up, ready!

run two three four... (running) run two three four... (like a hare) run two three four... (now you are) run two three four... (getting there) run two three four... (go you) run two three four... (chicken fat,) everybody sing! (go away!) go, you chicken fat, go! go! go! go! dismissed! narrator: these are the skater kid: whoa narrator: that got torture tested by teenagers and cried out for help. from the surprised designers. who came to the rescue with a brilliant fix male designer: i love it narrator: which created thousands of new customers for the tennis shoes that got torture tested by teenagers. the internet of everything is changing manufacturing. is your network ready?

they're the days to take care of business.. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs.

every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next. thanks for joining us, susan hendricks joins with us a 360 news and business bulletin. >> an army general is leading the investigation into the capture of bowe bergdahl by the taliban. however, the investigator won't interview sergeant bergdahl until he gets approval from his reintegration teams. a 360 follow now. newly released photos show an emotional meeting two weeks ago between the fathers of the university of california santa barbara gunman and victim christopher martinez. 20-year-old martinez was shot to death at a deli. his father told our affiliate

keyt they plan to work together so this never happens again. and the u.s. soccer team and its fans are celebrating at the world cup and here at home. in a stunning finish the u.s. defeated ghana 2-1. anderson? >> thanks very much. that does it for us. we'll be back here in baghdad tomorrow. i hope you join us. cnn's special report "o.j.'s wild ride" starts now. > 911, what are you reporting? >> i have o.j. in the car. >> o.j. simpson on the run. >> the los angeles police department right now is searching for mr. simpson. >> and on the edge. >> he's still alive, but he has a gun to his head. >> was that gun loaded? >> oh, yeah, it was a real good, real bullets. >> and real drama. >> they're going through orange county. >> news helicopters hovering above, as the bronco drives past stunned onlookers. >> people were jamming on their brakes, jumping out of their cars. sometimes in the middle of the