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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  September 17, 2014 2:00pm-4:01pm PDT

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they're less likely to step up. >> they have no confidence that this president will follow through and therefore not going commit. >> that's ridiculous. >> for their own self-interest they're not going to pursue on. >> >> i have to turn it over to wolf if "the situation room." happening now, no combat troops. president obama defends his isis strategy saying the u.s. will not fight another ground war in iraq. i'll speak live shortly with the white house rpress secretary, josh ernest. the terrorists answer president obama with a flashing new video warning that the flames of war are coming soon and new anger in ferguson, missouri, as the police officer who fatally shot the unarmed teenager michael brown reportedly testifies before a grand jury. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com
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president obama is trying hard to ease growing concerns with his plan to degrade and ultimately destroy isis will lead down a slippery slope interest a long, bloody ground war in iraq. the commander in chief said flatly the united states will not have a combat mission there. secretary of state john kerry has been saying the same thing up on capitol hill where lawmakers are ready to approve and pay for the president's initial plan, and in a slick new video, isis is making clear it is ready for whatever the the u.s. military has in mind. our correspondents and analysts and guests including the white house press secretary josh ernest are all standing by and let's begin with our chief national correspondent jim sciutto. jim? >> from the president today from secretary kerry it arc peers the administration has settled on its message about the war against isis, what it will be and what it will not be. it will not be a grand ground invasion like you had in iraq in 2003 and that u.s. troops will
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not have a combat mission, but they may, indeed see combat and be involved in combat and you heard that from the white house podium and if they do they may very well face danger. at central command today the headquarters for all u.s. military option operations against isis. ♪ >> reporter: president obama reiterated his now familiar promise, no u.s. ground troops. >> i want to be clear, the american forces that have been deployed to iraq, do not, and will not have a combat mission. >> reporter: today's pledge triggered by his commander's repeated comments just a day ago that, in fact, there are several circumstances under which the u.s. may need ground forces. >> if we reached the point where i believe our advisers should accompany iraq troops on attacks against specific isil targets, i'll recommend that to the president. >> reporter: administration officials insist vehemently there is foe daylight between the statements. still, the comments alarmed and confused many including some of
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the president's fellow democrats. >> i would not vote for combat troops to engage in war. we are not there to support combat troops in any of these engage ams. >> reporter: today the president's own former defense secretary robert gates said on cbs that mission creep is inevitable. >> so there will be boots on the ground if there is to be any hope of success and strategy and i think by continuing on repeat that the president, in fact, traps himself. >> reporter: a blistering editorial in "the new york times" went further arguing, quote, even though general dempsey's remarks were conditional, the obama administration has turned on a dime in record time and opened the door to deeper, more costly american involvement. today, 1700 u.s. troops are now in iraq at the peak of the iraq war there were nearly 100 times that. >> i assume what the president means when he says no ground
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forces in iraq, he means no organized division or corps of the type that we did deploy to iraq in 2003. this is a different american military operation, and it's primarily an air campaign, but it has to be assisted by some people on the ground. special forces, trainers. >> another message that came clearly from secretary kerry today that this war against isis will be long and it will be hard. he called it a multi-year effort and he got into more of the endgame as well saying that the goal here and you cannot eliminate every single isis fighter and he made the point 13 years after 9/11 the u.s. after many wars has not eliminated every al qaeda fighter. just to clarify pore, what does it mean to declare and destroy? they'll reduce their effort to carry out terror attacks and you won't be able to eliminate it from the face of the earth going forward similar to al qaeda.
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>> with the al qaeda, the new number one, former number two, a man al zawahiri remains at large after helping to plot the 9/11. >> still considered a major threat. >> al qaeda is still a major threat as we heard on capitol hill. thank you very much. the isis terrorists are stepping up their recruiting and propaganda efforts following president obama's vow to destroy isis. a new video is warning that the so-called flames of war are coming soon. brian todd has been taking a closer look. what are you seeing, brian? >> wolf, a u.s. counterterrorism official tells me with this video isis is showing the intent to pursue its quote, violent a nilistic goals. another u.s. official says isis sympathizers, that could help commit a violent act and authorities throughout the country especially in new york are paying close axe tension and marveling at its production value.
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it's got the visual effects of a hollywood blockbuster. the heavy breathing of jihadists in combat, seconds later, they're recoil tradition a blast in stylized slow motion. this is the new isis propaganda video, flames of war. the release less than a week after president obama's announcement of an intensified military campaign against isis. >> u.s. troops under attack, loading a wounded combat into a vehicle. the message here is two different groups. one is to the recruits that they want to draw to the theater saying that this is the kind of action that you'll get. this is the kind of casualties that we'll inflict upon the enemy. the second one is to americans saying if you send ground troops back this is what you're going to get. >> there is a flash frame of the infamous mission accomplished banner of the iraq war, saying u.s. combat troops won't be returning to fight in iraq and this -- >> what do you make of this shaky nighttime drive-by video of the white house. the the message is we're here
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and we can come after you. >> one u.s. official tells us in that section, isis is taking a cheap shot to threaten the west. this comes on the heels of three beheading videos, a combat video and other postings from isis taking the message directly to the west. >> the isis social media strategy is to make sure they keep the steady stream of recruits starting with terr territorial expansion. >> new york commissioner bill brattin says he's concerned with isis' use of social media. >> their level of sophistication seems to be much more sophisticated than the al qaeda level of sophistication. >> a new alert for them, postings of isis sympathizers in arabic discussing how to make simple bombs, the targets, times square and las vegas. while these are not orders from isis itself, they're still taking the threats seriously. >> today you will see a higher police presence in and around times square, in and around mass transit, in and around other
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targets while we assess this information. >> and isis, of course, keeps playing this cat and mouse game with mainstream media sites who keep posting these videos and often managing to quickly get them on to youtube and other media-sharing venues. youtube did take it latest video down, but it was long enough for cnn to capture and long enough for isis sympathizers to view. >> very sophisticated, slick video, 55 seconds looked like a movie trailer as you point out. thanks, brian, very much. we've got break news up on capitol hill where the house of representatives has just voted yes to give the obama administration the authority to train and earning quip moderate syrian rebels. it's a narrow measure that contains no new spending. let's go to the the chief congressional correspondent dana bash. what was the vote, dana? how did the the administration do? >> it was a pretty healthy margin. they got 273 votes and 218 needed and what was most fascinating about this was the split because it was not along
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party lines at all. 85 democrats voted against it. 71 republicans, those could shift when we get the final numbers, but what this shows is there were actually more democrats against the president's request than republicans, definitely not something we usually see and it also shows that this is not something that is falling along party lines. all day long we heard debate on the floor from republicans saying that they were concerned, democrats saying they were concerned and the opposite when you're talking about support, as well. what this means is that this will fold into the larger bill to fund the government and it is going to pass before congress leaves, but the king to keep in mind is that the senate are not likely to take this independent vote and they'll fold it, frankly hide it in a bill to fund the government before they leave town, wofrl. >> and get out of town as quickly as they possibly can. thanks very much. the isis threat is serious and the president has a plan to deal with it and let's go in-depth and josh earnest is
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joining us now. give us your quick reaction and the fact that so many democrats, fellow democrats voted against what the president uponed and how much of a setback is that? >> reporter: well, wolf, we are gratified by the bipartisan show of support for the president's strategy to make sure we are rafrming up our support to syrian opposition fighters so that they can be responsible for taking the fight to isil on the ground in their country. in some of your previous segments you were talking about the the need for boots on the ground and the president is determine that we're not going to put american combat troops on the ground in a combat role in iraq and in syria, but somebody needs to take the fight to isil on the ground in syria and it's the role. it's the proper role for the united states military to train and ramp up our training and assistance in equipping to those syrian opposition fighters that they can take the fight on them in their own country and this is part to deny, and it's the
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strategy that the president has deployed and other extremist organizations. >> why do you have to take any option on the table? why can't you keep the the terrorists guessing? they're boasting that the president said no u.s. combat boots on the ground. why not just say the u.s. will degrade and ultimately destroy isis and say, you know what? we're not going to tell you how we're going to do it. >> wolf, the commander in chief of the america feels a responsibility to communicate clearly with the american public about what it is for the national security and the president believes he has a possibility to be transparent about what our strategy is. the second thing that's important for people to understand is it's also important for the iraqi government and for syrian opposition fighters to understand that this is a mission that the united states military is not going to take on for them. we certainly are willing to support them and there are things we can do to support them in terms of training and equipping them and the president has ordered military air strikes
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and american air strikes in support of their efforts on the ground and ultimately, it will be their responsibility to take the fight on the ground to isil in their own country. the era has passed where the united states will be responsible -- or solely responsible for taking on the security situation of other countries. ultimately, we will stand with our partners in other countries to give them the support that they need and to take responsibility for the security in their own country. >> would you not even use combat ground troops to go in and kill the leader, for example, of isis, al baghdadi or if necessary, let's hope it's not necessary to rescue american pilots whose planes could go down? >> reporter: well, wolf, there's already been one situation in syria where the president has ordered military action. it was reported and it's been widely reported that earlier this summer the president authorized a pretty high risk, military operation to try to rescue american hostages who are being held in syria right now.
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upon that mission was executed successfully, however, it it did not result in the rescue of these american hostages. that is an indication that the president is willing to talk a significant risk and expend significant resources to try to rescue american hostages that are being held there. that's an example of a situation where you have american troops who are going into secure a specific objective, but, wolf, when we're not going to do is we're not going to get back into a ground war in iraq and syria. the president was clear when talking to our service men and women at macdill air force base. >> when he left open the possible they he might have to recommend to the president down the road the use of ground troops, u.s. combat ground troops if, in fact, the air war it itself doesn't work and the coalition doesn't get its act together, did the white house -- did the president specifically know that that was in his prepared statement? >> wolf, what chairman dempsey said is entirely consistent with
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the policy that the president has laid out. chairman dempsey was talking about the possibility that in the future he may recommend to the president that some of the american military personnel who are already in iraq right now could be in a position where they would forward deploy with some iraq security forces. what they will do in that role is they would offer tactical advice to security forces that would take the fight to isil on the ground. you could imagine a scenario where they would be calling in air strikes in support of missions that are being conducted by iraqi security forces, but those american ground troops if they're forward deployed would not be in a position to directly engage the the enemy in combat. they would not put american men and women on the ground in iraq. chairman dempsey did not raise that prospect. in fact, the president has ruled it out. what chairman dempsey was talking about. he was talking about the american troops who were already
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in iraq and who were already there in a capacity to offer advice and assistance to iraqi security forces and what he said is that he can imagine a scenario where he would ask and recommend to the president that some of those advisers forward deploy with iraqi security forces to offer advice and assistance from those forward deployed locations and that's different from a combat role and it's significantly different from the kind of combat role that was carried out during the previous conflict in iraq. so i'm glad you gave me the opportunity to clarify this because it's important for people to understand what the mission is and it's important for people to understand what what dempsey was trying to explain that it was consistent with what the president was putting forth for the american people. >> i know we're out of time, but one quick follow-up. was the president onboard? did he know that that would be in general dempsey's opening statement before congress? >> wolf, the president communicated to chairman dempsey that if it was necessary to forward deploy, that if chairman
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dempsey was prepared to recommend to the president that american service personnel should forward service deploy with iraqi security forces that the president would consider those recommendations on a case by case-basis. that's a conversation that the president has had with his national security team including chairman dempsey. as chairman dempsey pointed out that so far the president has not authorized the forward deploy am of those military personnel to advise and assist security forces, but the president did reserve the the ability to have that option. >> so the general statement was authorized by the white house. it was cleared in advance? >> the general statement made by general dempsey is consisten with the strategy that the president has laid out and it's consistent with the conversations that he's had with chairman dempsey and the other members of the national security team. >> we'll leave it it at that sort of ambiguous final note. >> thank you, wolf. >> be i appreciate the opportunity. >> the proposal to authorize the president's campaign while
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they call us. >> president obama today told troops that the u.s. military's central command headquarters in florida, there will be no u.s. combat ground mission in iraq. the secretary of state john kerry followed up telling lawmakers that the only thing that matters is that isis, in his words, must be defeated, period. end of story. let's dig deeper. joining us our cnn political contributor and danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute. were you surprised by the president's comments, peter, that sometimes it's only the united states that can do this kind of of stuff because back in may when he addressed cadets at westpoint he said the u.s. can't be the world's policeman. >> i don't think he's imagining the u.s. as the world's policem policemen. president obama compared to his critics on capitol hill still favors making more of an effort to get an international
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coalition even if that means sometimes delaying the speed at which america can act and even if it means influence, and we saw that in libya where america played a slately less overt role. i think obama is basically on a pretty fixed place in the political spectrum. he's willing to take military action and he's more concerned about multilateralism. >> peter, that libya, that's a disaster what's going on in libya today. the place is basically run by terror. gadhafi may have been horrible, but the place has been run by terrorists and the u.s. was kicked out. >> i'm not suggesting this was a success story by the obama administration, by any means, and i was using the example that president obama didn't go in it alone. i imagine john mccain would be less focused on the multilateral aspect. >> let me let you weigh in. is the president's strategy on track? will it degrade and ultimately destroy isis some. >> the i think the president has a problem because on the one
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hand he wants to say we won't have any troops on the ground. of course, we've already got troops on the ground. on the other hand he has the secretary of state saying we want to degrade and destroy isis, period. period, except without ground forces. >> the ground forces that would be the iraqi troops that the u.s.s had helped to train over the past decade or so and kurdish forces in iraq and the ground forces in syria since no other arab countries are apparently willing to send ground troops in and no nato ally is willing to send ground troops and including neighboring turkey. the ground troops in syria would be the free syrian army and the moderate syrian opposition. >> i've been long advocating that we should have left troops in iraq to help the iraqis, we wouldn't be in this place now if we'd done those things, but we are where we are. either isis is a threat to the united states or it isn't. if it is then the president has to do what's necessary and not keep telling people what he doesn't want to do. as for as building a coalition,
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that's great, and i believe we always should have a coalition. we've got less than half the countries that george bush had when he went into iraq. thus far, that strategy doesn't seem to be a great success. >> peter, do you agree with josh earnest that what general martin dempsey is totally consistent with what the president's been saying. >> danielle's right. we have boots on the ground and we have 1700 and we'll have more. the debate is actually, if there is a debate between dempsey and the white house is on the narrow question whether you have close, combat advisers, whether you send u.s. troops in with the iraqis to call in air support and even that debate, i think is a false debate because we are going have that. we may have it covertly. remember, in afghanistan, a lot of this had was done under the auspices of the cia so it was covert. i would bet anything that we are going have, for better or for worse, close combat advisers probably under the auspices
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under the cia covertly calling in air strikes, and i think a lot of this debate with combat troops and boots on the ground is a diversion. >> do you agree? >> i do, but it's the president's diversion and doing it for political reasons. this expression has become popular because the president likes to use it and he likes to use it to contrast himself with george bush. at the end of the day this has to be about the mission and the strategy and not about boots on the ground. it is a false argument, but one that the president keeps putting out there. >> do you think, peter, that any of the friendly arab countries in the region and the european nato allies or turkey which is a nato ally will really step up and get involved in a serious way to try to destroy isis? >> maybe the britses and the french will do something militarily, but you have to remember, a lot of these countries don't have effective militaries anyway. the things we want from countries like saudi arabia and gulf countries are other things. there is a division of labor and if you look at the balkans, the
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europeans tend to be better from the softer efforts and training police and the humanitarian missions and there could be different roles for different parts of this effort. i disagree with danielle and there is a fundamental difference between george w. bush and that is that the united states is not going put two big large brigades and divisions in as lead combat efforts and that may seem obvious to all of us and there's nothing wrong with president obama reminding americans that that's true. >> go ahead, danielle. >> think the problem that president obama reminding someone that that's not true is indicating that his focus is on the politics of what's happening and not on the threat of the united states and not on the national security imperative. that's what's worried all of us for the last three years as we've seen isis rise. >> you actually support sending large numbers of u.s. troops to have brigades in iraq? >> peter, i don't think that's the question. at the end of the day, they're not asking whether there should be large numbers of troops on the ground. we're asking whether the president is willing to do what
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is necessary to degrade and destroy isis, and the problem is that apparently he in his own words isn't necessarily ready. >> unfortunately, zee to leave it there, peter, i know we can continue this conversation. i would add one point. saudi arabia has a very large, sophisticated air force. mostly u.s. jet fighters and f-15s and f-16s, if they wanted to they could use the aircraft to launch strikes and clearly saudi arabia is not ready to do so, at least not yet. still ahead, a proposal to authorize the president's campaign against isis with sharp limits and it comes from a democratic senator. we'll speak to him when we come back. we're following a major development involving the ferguson, missouri, who fired the shots that killed michael brown. stay with us. you're in "the situation room."
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along with our cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes and cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin. antonio, what do you make of this report? what's been the reaction that the police officer spent four hours before that grand jury? >> yeah. and so first people were already shocked and arc alarmed that the period of the grand jury had beeneccen itted into last year and to hear that officer wilson had a chance to present his side of the story for four hours yesterday, people were just very anxious right now. we have what we call a fragile piece and people are looking for a resolution and an arrest and indictment pretty soon. >> but isn't it it fair to allow the police officer it to try to make his case? what would be wrong with that? >> well, with the the evidence that we've seen so far in public especially with the six witnesses so far, folks believe that well is enough evidence to warrant an arrest which does not mean there is a guilt implied there, but at least a trial, in a public trial, an opportunity
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for everyone to publicly see the information. this grand jury process, as you know is a prief the at process. it is completely controlled by the county executive who is already a controversial figure here and so a lot of people believe that it's not a fair process right now. in order to maintain the public peace we need to get back to making people feeling good about the process. >> is it unusual that this officer spent four hours defending himself before the members of the grand jury. >> it's very unusual for a defense attorney to allow a client who was clearly under investigation to testify at all before a grand jury. i was very surprised by this development because the usual defense attorney 101 is to not testify before the grand jury. take the the fifth amend am especially if you think it's likely that your client will get indicted. so apparently this is a sign of some confidence or hope that officer wilson can talk the the
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grand jurors into not voting an indictment, but it's a very risky strategy. >> presumably, he's got good defense attorneys over there giving him advice. what's your reaction when he spent four hours before that grand jury? when you go before a grand jury, correct me if i'm wrong, tom, and you're former assistant member of the fbi, your lawyers don't go in there with you. you're in there all by yourself. >> the prosecutor controls the proceeding and all of the staples that he's making over a four-hour period have to match exactly the statements he's given in interviews to the police investigation and interviews to the fbi investigation and if there is a future prosecution and local court or federal court those staples have to match that and the odds of having that many different staples it be exactly the same and if they're not exactly the same that is referred to as impeachable or he's not being truthful or he can't remember and it's a tremendous risk being taken by
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the officer and as jeffrey said, by his attorney not advising him don't do it. >> i want on follow up and i want all three of you to stand by. we have more to discuss and we'll talk about the mood in ferguson. the council meeting turned ugly with protests slipping into the veet. can further violence be avoided? [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman,
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in the investigation. st. louis county council meeting was interrupted by calls for the immediate arrest of the officer who shot michael brown. listen to this. >> the issues that we face are bigger than any one of us. >> where is darren wilson? >> where is darren wilson? >> arrest darren wilson? >> the country and the world are looking to see if we can bridge this divide. >> arrest darren wilson! >> protesters took to the streets after the meeting. this was taken by st. louis alderman, antonio french who is joining us once again with our law enforcement analyst tom fuentes and senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. antonio, what's the mood? they're talking about protests going over to the st. louis cardinals, the st. louis rams, sporting events. what's going on? >> well, there's still a lot of anger and frustration and so just because you don't see the
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large protests we had a few weeks ago it does not mean that people are any less angry or frustrated, but what they are now is a little bit more organized and so they're directing the protests to specific targets. last night was a city council meeting and they talked about taking it to the rams game this weekend and should the the cardinals make it to the post-season to the cardinals games. >> as you know, jeffrey, a lot of these protesters and folks in the community they want the county prosecutor to be removed, to be recused from this case. they say it can't be fair because has own father was a police officer. what do you make of that? >> well, the governor and the prosecutor himself has said they're not doing it and based on what i've seen i did not see that those were necessarily grounds for recusal, but ultimately the proof in the quality of this investigation is going to be what comes out later. was this a thorough grand jury investigation? was it fair? obviously indict ment or no
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indictment, criminal conviction or acquittal, it will take a while for us to know whether this was a competent investigation. >> it would be a huge deal if they did remove this prosecutor at this stage. >> it would be, in the system, the prosecutor's offices and law enforcement are almost always close and have some form of partnership. i know when i was in the fbi, we had close relationship with the strike force attorneys that prosecuted our organized crime cases and that's a natural close relationship to be able to be effective requiring you to work together. >> let's hope the protests, i assume they will continue will be non-violent. guys, thanks very much. we'll continue this conversation. up next, a proposal to authorize the president's campaign against isis while sharply limiting the commander in chief. i'll speak with the legislation's author, the democratic senator from virginia, there he is, tim cain. he's up on capitol hill.
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democratic senator tim kaine of virginia has proposed a bill authorizing the president to use force against isis, but only for a year and limiting any use of ground troops. he's a member of the armed services committee, the budget committee, foreign relations committee and joining us now from capitol hill. senator, thank you very much for joining us. your legislation would not allow any ground troops, repeal the 2002 iraq authorization for use of military force. it would be only for one year, give the president authority to do what he wants to do against isis for a year. the president says he's got the authority to do it. he doesn't need addition
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allegelatialleg legislation. what do you not trust this commander in chief? >> it's a question of the constitutional requirement. i do not believe that the president does have the legal authority to do the full mission as he described to the american public last week. and the white house and everyone agrees that getting congress on board is at least advisable, if not mandatory. so that's why i introduced this resolution today. the resolution supports each of the four pillars the president laid out last week. but with limitations. some drawn from the president's speech, but some from painful lessons. general dempsey testified we cannot be using ground troops because the origin of this mission is to have isil delegitimized by the region willing to stand up against it
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itself with us as supporters. the second limitation, the oamf was open ended forever. this will allow a continuous dialogue going forward. third, as you point out, the repeal of the 2002 iraqi oamf. and finally, a narrow definition of what is an associated force. if we're going after isil, we need to be narrow in our focus. those limitations will be consistent with the president's speech and enable the president to gain bipartisan support. >> i've spoken with the lawyers for the administration. they make the case that isis or isil is really al qaeda. it started off as al qaeda, later changed its name but basically al qaeda and there still is authority from 2001, 2003 in the authorization of the
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use of military force, which the president believes gives him the authority to go after and destroy isis in iraq and syria. he doesn't need addition al legislation. >> could you really be a creative lawyer to stretch the authorization to cover isil? if you want to, but the wording of the authorization says it's to go after those responsible for the 9/11 attacks. isil did not form until years later. officials have said it can extend to associated forces. but isil is not an associate of al qaeda, they're at odds with each other. they've disclaimed in each other. in some parts of syria, they're at war with each other. the president, in may of 2013, gave a speech and he said, we should be taking that
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authorization and narrowing it and refining it and ultimately repealing it. not taking it and stretching it further. that's why i think it's so important to get congress. i think congress is -- there's some differences of opinion, but on the core mission described by the president, i think he's going to have bipartisan support. >> for your legislation, why does he say he doesn't want legislation? the legal argument, they say isis started off as al qaeda in iraq but they changed their name because they wanted to go ahead and create this caliphate in iraq and syria, presumably in lebanon and jordan. and they say the authority is already there. >> we had a hearing in may of 2013 about this question of the authority. an administration witness looked us in the eye and said they thought the 2001 authorization
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allowed war that would go on for another 25 to 30 years. this is no what congress contemplated after 9/11. wolf, remember this, the president came to congress with a draft saying, give me the ability to go after groups to stop them from engaging in terrorist attacks on the united states. congress rejected that wording because they didn't want to hand to the president a blank check. this system works better when we work together for this reason. if congress and the president work together and bless a mission as important, we're much more able to ask our servicemen and women to risk their life on a mission than if we do it without the approval of congress. >> senator, thank you very much for joining us. we'll see how far your legislation goes and see if the president were to sign it into
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law, there's a lot of steps that have to go forward. >> many chapters left here. >> tim kaine of virginia, thank you very much. coming up, a competition between al qaeda and isis. what does that mean for the security of the u.s. homeland? we're taking a closer look at the threat. er ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... we're helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow. transamerica. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.
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on the ground. >> as your commander in chief, i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. >> is the president making a mistake? and is he on the same page as his military commanders? airline threat. officials tell lawmakers al qaeda is determined to target u.s. flights. is it a bigger threat than isis? and in the nfl, adrian peterson won't play this week after all. but who made that decisionsome we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news. fresh u.s. air strikes against isis. the u.s. military reports seven attacks destroying isis units and vehicles including four
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strikes near baghdad. they come as president obama visited the head quarters of the war against isis. we're covering the story and more with all of our reporters and guests in key locations. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr begins our coverage. what's the latest? >> reporter: it was an important visual optic for president obama talking to the troops and to the american people about what the u.s. military will and will not do in the war against isis. a rousing welcome for the president at central command, the military headquarters planning the war against isis. and a promise to the troops. >> as your commander in chief, i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. >> reporter: the president has insisted from the start no u.s. troops on the ground in combat. the u.s. will have other roles as part of a coalition. but his top military adviser said, if that doesn't work -- if
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>> if it fails to be true and there are threats to the united states, i would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of u.s. military ground forces. >> reporter: officials continued to insist ground forces might only be used as advisers in iraq, if iraqi forces meet them on the front line. >> whether in iraq or in syria, these terrorists will learn the same thing that the leaders of al qaeda already know, we mean what we say. our reach is long. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. we will find you eventually. >> reporter: at centcom, obama was briefed on the bombing of isis targets in iraq and plans to extend the campaign into syria. if president obama approves strikes in syria, the initial bombing could begin in days. a major challenge -- striking isis while not inadvertently
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killing syrian civilians. isis has been moving into towns, making precision strikes very tough. >> when you're talking about entering a country involved in a civil war with many, many sides competing against each other, you better have your act together before you strike. >> reporter: isis is showing its firepower. the wreckage of a syrian fighter jet isis says it shot down. now, president obama still has to specifically authorize air strikes against targets in syria. once he does that, if he does that, then military commanders will decide when and where to exactly begin the next phase of the war against isis. >> and knowing his military planners, i assume they already have a bunch of potential targets in syria, if they get the approval of the president. barbara, thank you very much. is the white house making a mistake by ruling out a combat
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role for u.s. troops in iraq? jim sciutto has more. >> clearly the administration is making two distinctions here. they're saying one, this will not be a large ground invasion of iraq. two, they're making a distinction between a combat mission and being in combat. u.s. forces will not have a combat mission, but they indeed be in combat. josh earnest saying that just a short time ago, saying those troops may forward deploy or call in air strikes, they may be advising troops. for folks like you and me who have covered combat before, you don't have to be filling a combat mission in combat to face danger. they will be getting shot at. whether they violates the spirit
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of the pledge the president made, that's for folks at home to decide. >> and the president did get a vote in the house of representatives, authorizing the training of those moderate syrian rebels. >> that's right. it's interesting that you had more democrats voting against it than republicans. a rare expression of bipartisanship, both in the vote for this and the vote against it. and john boehner taking the rare opportunity to vote himself on something he wanted to make a political statement on. >> the president is continuing to i guess, even though he said the u.s. has unique capabilities, to argue what he said at west point back in may, that the united states can't be the world's policemen. >> that's right. he's making two -- again, two distinctions here, saying in this case the u.s. is not acting alone. it has a coalition of the willing that includes partners in the region. so it's not the u.s. working as
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the world's policemen unilaterally. he also makes the point this is not the u.s. just settling iraq's problems for it, but that the president has identified a risk to u.s. national security, that is isis, and by acting here, it's not being the world's policemen, but the policemen for america's security interests abroad. >> there are certainly concerns about isis, but it's not the biggest security threat facing the united states. tell us what you're learning. >> reporter: the biggest threat that isis and other terrorist groups pose is not a large attack, but the homegrown violent extremists who single handledly launch an attack. and right now, isis and al qaeda are competing to be the heir to osama bin laden. from the battlefield of syria and iraq, to the skies over the u.s. officials say the fight to
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protect americans is happening on two major fronts between al qaeda and isis. >> these groups are in competition with one another for attention, for fund-raising, for recruitment. >> reporter: officials say al qaeda and affiliates are still intent on targeting u.s. flights. >> al qaeda core continues supporting attacking the west. >> reporter: al qaeda in yemen is constantly creating bombs that could be carried onto a bomb. >> over the past five year, al qaeda has sought on three times to take down an airplane bound for the united states. >> reporter: officials say they're especially concerned about homegrown violent olent extremists. >> it operates the most sophisticated propaganda machine
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of any terrorist organization. it turns out high quality media and uses social media to secure a widespread following. >> officials worry the most about individuals not affiliated with the terror group, working under the radar online to clot and plan attacks. >> if someone can do it in their pajamas in their basement in a hard way to spot. >> reporter: tuesday, this rochester man was indicted on terrorism charges. he pleaded not guilty, but authorities say he wanted to attack returning u.s. soldiers and recruit people joining isis. so far the fbi arrested more than half a dozen americans wanting to travel to syria. law enforcement forces say there are several open cases, but officials acknowledge it's what they don't know that worries them the most. >> we estimate over 100 americans have traveled to syria to join with extremist groups.
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once in syria, it's difficult to know what happens there. >> reporter: aviation security has been increased at home and abroad and raising awareness in communities vulnerable to recruiting and they're focused on tracking travelers to and from turkey. but the bottom line is, there is no known imminent threat from isis at this point. >> at this point, key words. p pamela, thank you very much. let's talk to republican congressman mike rogers of michigan. thank you very much for joining us. >> great to be here. >> so is al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, a bigger threat than isis is to the u.s. homeland? >> it's a more immediate threat. you can't say it's a bigger threat. we know there are threat streams that aqap, the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, are engaged in this next generation of what they believe is air flight
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attacks. we saw some disturbing trends. they reached out to el nusra and its affiliates in syria. but we should make no mistake, one of the things the 9/11 commission said is that the u.s. intelligence services lacked imagination about putting all the pieces together for somebody getting on an airplane and flying into a building. you look at what isis has. time, space, more money than they know what to do with, and access to jihadists with western passports. doesn't take much imagination to understand the threat. >> i was surprised to hear the head of the u.s. national counterterrorism center testify today saying that al qaeda right now is trying as best as they can still to attack u.s. commercial aviation. how much of a problem is that? >> it's a huge problem. they dedicated themselves to do it. one of the threats that rose up
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with awlaki that was killed in yemen is that he was really focused on this airliner attack. so he did the ink cartridge bomb design. he designed, recruited and implemented the individual who got on the airplane to fly to detroit that was also known as the underwear bomber, that was supposed to blow up over the city of detroit. he had a fixation on it. his successors also that have same fixation. the ones working on those bombs, they're still this and doing it and we know they're reaching out saying we're getting close. that's what concerns us about the al qaeda attack. >> what do you make of this man from rochester, new york, a naturalized american city, born in yemen, now accused of supporting isis.
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the nypd commissioner warning ice else would be more into that lone wolf model. how much of a concern is there that these isolated terrorists could pose a threat? >> they're radicalized through this global network, including sophisticated english, arabic, dozens of other languages where they're targeting americans. people who have transitted yemen or other countries of interest. they're targeting with this extremist message. our fear is it's going to catch. that's what our concern is. i think the fbi director was highlights that. this is a very difficult problem. you don't know when that switch is flipped.
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if you look at the brothers in boston, they couldn't find anything that would allow them to be more aggressive with a united states citizen. that's the challenge. >> yesterday, general dempsey left open the door the possibility of u.s. combat troops might have to make that recommendation to the president. there has been any intelligence assessments that would have caused them to make that kind of statement in his opening prepared remarks that the u.s. might, down the road, have to use ground combat forces? >> this is really the wrong debate. unfortunately, i think the president confuses this issue. listen, what we need to do is say, we're going to defeat isis. that's what we're going to do.
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we're going to do it together with these coalition forces. we don't think it's going to need big units, but it may require our special capability soldiers and intelligence officials going down range, if you will, to make sure that we are effective in what we're trying to do. when you confuse that issue, if somebody is down range and somebody gets hurt, this is why this is a problem. state the objective, lay out a plan to the american people how we're going to do it. today was a first step, this training of syrian rebels, two are fighting ice us and al qaeda in syria, and the assad regime all at the same time. these are folks we can work with and train. >> let me just challenge you on that point. a lot of the analysts, and you're privy to the best u.s. intelligence. a lot of the analysts say the free syrian army, they will in
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fact try to beat back aassad's regime. but they're not really going after isis in syria. >> here is the problem in syria. you have just about every flavor of terrorist that's been created is there. so you have hezbollah, el nusra, el sham. certainly isil. there are other factors. there are groups that have joined with assad and they don't like assad, they just don't like isis more. there is a group of individuals that they understand their challenges. yes, they want to unseat assad, bull they're concerned about this rising tide in the east, given the right circumstances and right training, the right
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help from americans, that might even be somebody down rain helping them be successful. that the a recipe for success. so yeah, you can find a group in there that you would be in shock of an american would walk through the camp. but there are individuals that fit this criteria that can be vetted that we believe we could get trained and get down range to effectively start to begin to beat back and defeat isil forces that are on the move in syria. remember, that's their nest. that's why it's so important to get them there, as well as iraq. >> i don't know how busy you are up there, but i would love you to stick around if you can. we have a major interview coming up, a top kurdish official is getting ready to feet with michelles in the administration and with members of congress. we'll speak with him. mr. chairman, if you would stick
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we're following breaking news. seven new u.s. air strikes on isis targets in iraq coming as president obama vows u.s. troops will not face another ground war in that country. that leaves iraqi and kurdish forces to directly take on isis. can they defeat the terrorists on their own since no other countries in the region or from europe, no nato allies, not the united states are ready to engage in ground operations against isis in iraq. let's talk about that with the chief of staff to the president of the kurdish regional authority. he is here in washington right now. thanks so much for joining us.
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>> thank you for having me. >> i'm very worried about what's going on in iraq. and you live there. do you have confidence that the new iraqi government, the new prime minister will be any getter than nuri al malaki who turned out to be a disaster? >> the new government must be committed to the constitution of the country, and there must be a partnership in the government. if we have that, then we are talking about a change. >> what if you don't have that? because a lot of experts i have spoken to, iraqi sunnis, kurds, some of your fellow kurds, they are not very confident thatt al abadi will be any better. >> haider al abadi alone cannot
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make it. he needs the kurds to be with him. but at the same time he must be committed to the constitution and try to solve the problem, which has been left or has been created by malaki. >> what if he doesn't? >> if he will not do that, that means iraq is going to a different situation, and i am afraid it will be difficult to talk about a united area. >> what would kurdistan do? >> we are going to help him and be part of this new process in baghdad. we hope that we can reach the results. first, we must work together and that is the first step. working together, and then trying to solve the problems. the problems has not only to do with baghdad and the kurds, but we are now facing the terrorists group isis. so we must fight also isis and to clear the country from isis.
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>> how much time does he have, the new prime minister of iraq, to prove to you, the kurds, that he's serious, he wants to unite the country? >> we need the first step from his side. that is not so difficult. first step has to do with the fact that the iraqi government cut our budget, so he must solve that problem. and then trying to have another step towards solving the problem, which has to do with disputed area with peshmerga forces, with oil and gas issues. when hem will have the first steps toward solving the problem, we will be there. if not, there will be a different story. >> there will be an effort by kurdistan i assume to break away. are you setting a timeline which he can prove that he's willing
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to unite iraq? >> we're talking the first place about solving the problem. if he wants to keep iraq united, we must be committed to the constitution and that means to keep iraq centralized and this condition iraq will not function. we must change the situation from a failure state to a functional state. >> how much time does he have? >> i think he's got in the first place, we said three months. so if in these three months he will have -- he can solve some issues, of course there will be a chance for him to continue. >> in the next 90 days he doesn't get the job done, what will the people of kurdistan do? >> if he doesn't do that, we've got various options. one of the options has to do with a political process or position within the political
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process. we must take that into consideration. and second, of course, always we are going back to our people to ask our people about the next step. >> if he doesn't do anything, and i'm not optimistic he will do smig. but say he doesn't do anything in the next three months, will kurdistan leave iraq? >> first, we must give him a chance. >> let's see if he does it. but if he does it over the next three month, will kurdistan, the people of kurdistan leave iraq and create some sort of independent down trip? >> if he cannot manage it, the next three months or six months, then i think iraq will be a different iraq. we are not going to decide about the future of iraq. but if he cannot manage it, iraq will be a different iraq. that means the sunnis and the shia cannot be together in iraq.
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when they will not be together in iraq, you will have a different iraq. >> so a sunni part and shiite part of iraq and for all practical purposes, an independent kurdish enclave that will emerge. >> kurdish independence has to do with the vote of the people. >> we see a vote in scotland about to take place to leave the united kingdom. will there be a vote to leave iraq in kurdistan? >> our people will decide about leaving iraq or not. '9" is up to kurdistani vote. >> is it three months or six months? >> i mean, you see, the first step that must be taken is in three months. if we see positive steps, then he will have a chance. if he's not going to do
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anything, then it will be different. >> in other words, within the six-month period, there could be elections and a referendum in kurdistan to leave iraq. then after that, we are going to take steps to decide how are we going to deal with the political process in baghdad. when we will decide about that, we will have the next step, which has to do with the referendum. >> the pressure is on to do the right thing, to unite the country. we'll see if they can do it. haider al abadi is any better than al malaki. one final question, the huge iraqi military right now, is it doing anything to help protect the kurdish people? >> there is a fact that the
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iraqi army collapsed in june when isis occupied mosul. there are some units of iraqi army, but most of the time, most of the period they are in baghdad and other parts of iraq. so in kurdish area, the main force and sometimes the only force, which is fighting isis, is kurdish peshmerga. sometimes, some units from iraqi army are coming there symbolically to be part of the fight. >> but for ten years the united states trained 200,000, 300,000 iraqi military personnel, armed them, spent billions trying to create an iraqi military and in the face of this threat from isis, they collapsed. >> collapsed and captured all those weapons. >> they now control the second largest city of iraq, mosul. and they're threatening baghdad. the u.s. is bombing ice else targets around baghdad.
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good luck to you and all the people of kurdistan. thank you for coming in. we just heard him say three months for this iraqi government to do the right thing. otherwise kurdistan might have no choice but to have a referendum and break away from iraq. more on the breaking news. the u.s. military's central demand reporting seven new air strikes, including two northwest of iraq's autonomous iraq region. anna coren is there. first, give me your reaction, you've spent a 4r089 of people with the peshmerga on the front lines. we just heard what i see as a direct threat to the new iraqi government, you have three months to do the right thing.
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>> reporter: we spent time with him, and he said just that, three months for iraq to get their act together and provide them with their budgets to divy up the share of oil and gas revenues. these are demands that the kurds need to have met. when we sat down with the kurdish president, he said we're willing to work with the iraqi government, but they have to give us what we want if they expect us to stay with them. there is a push here for kurdistan to be its own entity. to break away from iraq. obvious hi they know it's important for them to isis together to be unified. obviously breaking away would cause many regional problems. but without doubt, there is a
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huge push by the people oval kurdistan to break away. and the iraqi security forces are nowhere to be seen. the operations we're going out with the peshmerga, it is just the peshmerga. the kurdish forces on the ground, taking the fight to isis with the help of those critical air strikes. there have now been 174 u.s. air strikes to state, many of them focused around here, irbil. >> and this huge iraqi military is doing nothing to protect citizens in the north where you are. anna, thank you very much. we'll talk about all of this
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coming up. general anthony zini is standing by to discuss the news of the breaking news. and the owners of the minnesota vikings say they made a mistake on the handling of the adrian peterson abuse scandal. we have details. but i've managed.e crohn's disease is tough, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common,
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iwith something terrible to admit. i treated thousands of patients, risked their lives, while high on prescription drugs. i was an addict. i'm recovered now, but an estimated 500,000 medical professionals are still out there, abusing drugs or alcohol.
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police, airline pilots, bus drivers... they're randomly tested for drugs and alcohol... but not us doctors. you can change that: vote yes on proposition 46. your lives are in our hands. more now on the breaking news. the u.s. military central command announcing it conducted
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more air strikes on isis not only in the north but around baghdad, as well. let's bring in gloria borger and anthony zini. let me get your quick reaction. i think i heard of a threat from this kurdish leader that if the new government of baghdad doesn't get its accused toget s there's going to be a referendum in kurdistan that could lead to the breakaway of kurdistan from iraq. what was your reaction? >> well, i think the -- what you're seeing is not only the kurds, but you would probably see the same reaction from the sunni provinces already, like
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anbar and others. if the new government in iraq can't demonstrate they're going to be inclusive, share resources and revenue, give more authority down to the district levels, you're going to see the splitting of iraq pretty clearly. i think the kurds probably don't want iraqi forces protecting them. they would rather have their own peshmerga armed and protect themselves. there's very little trust left in baghdad. >> what would that mean for the region if iraq split up into a kurdish area, a shiite and sunni area? that's something vice president joe biden was talking about a few years ago. >> i would hope that if they can't quite come to agreement to reform iraq like it was, maybe they can use a model like the united arab emirates, where it's a loose federation. there's some authority within the federal government but a great deal of autonomy down to what will be the sunni south --
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excuse me the shia south, the sunni west and the kurdish north. it's a big step to go to full autonomy and create a separate state for people like the kurds. that could create problems with the turks and others. each of the pieces would have to have sponsorship. maybe it's the west and turkey that would work with the kurds and iran with the shia. but i would rather see iraq stay together. unfortunately, we're still suffering from the agreement, and this is the legacy from the post world war i splitting this region into areas that don't make any sense. >> hasn't made sense for a hundred years. the only reason there was any peace and quiet in iraq, there were brutal dictators that kept everybody cowed. gloria, how is the white house handling this uproar -- >> what uproar, there is no
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uproar. the white house is saying there isn't any difference. that in fact what general dempsey said was fine, which is that you leave all options on the table. but in fact, the 37president ha taken an option off the table. so there is difference between the white house and the military. and i think that this shows it, wolf. no matter how much you try and paper it over, the president uses every opportunity to say, as he did just a few moments ago, wolf, when he applauded congress for arming the syrian rebels, he said in will be no u.s. military personnel in syria, period. >> is the commander in chief giving the u.s. military what they always want, clarity? >> no. listen to what we've heard from the administration. the mission is to degrade and destroy. the president said we will lead
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the effort. the vice president said we will follow them to the gates of hell. then we hear the president say, but we do not have a combat mission in iraq. that doesn't square. how do you lead, how do you destroy, how do you degrade, how do you follow to the gates of hell, which i assume is in syria, and then say we don't have a ground combat mission. and then the parsing as to whether we can find ourselves in combat but it's not a combat mission. this is very confusing. if we're going to destroy them, you're going to have to fight. if you're going to take ground and protect people and drive them out of an area, you need credible ground forces. frankly, i don't see that right now. >> what the white house would say, you're not going to have american ground forces. you might have iraqi ground forces. that's what they say when you ask that question. >> you've seen the iraqi ground forces and how they performed. you have seen the peshmerga, so
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lightly arm and have insufficient combat capability. you heard the debates about who the syrian opposition is, who would get the weapons? so if that is the white house's credible ground force, as a military person, i have some questions. >> and no other country in the region or europe is willing to send troops to help those iraqis, the kurds or the free syrian army. general, thank you very much for joining us. gloria, thanks to you, as well. just ahead, the minnesota vikings succumb to public pressure. details in the latest twist in the adrian peterson child abuse scandal. plus, the extreme kang danger in the western united states. stay with us.
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surprise, a reversal by the minnesota vehicikings, officialy that adrian peterson is being put on the exempt list. the team said peterson would be allowed to practice and play. a decision the owners now call a mistake. but some teammates are siding with peterson. >> i don't think it's fair at all. he should be able to play. he hasn't been convicted of nothing. growing up, that was nothing, man. my mom, she always whipped mel up and things like that. in my culture, that's how i was raised. that's how my mom raised her kids. look at me now, i'm in the nfl. >> let's get some more now from cnn's rachel nichols, joining us with don lemon and jeffrey
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toobin. what happened here, rachel? >> enough people got upset that the vikings were backed into a corner. look, you had sponsors dropping out or threatening the nfl to drop out. you had the governor of minnesota making a statement saying he didn't think peterson should play on sunday. you had a senator from minnesota adding to that. you had a chorus of fans saying that. and finally, they decided to do the right thing. the idea that some of the players in the locker room are putting forward today that peterson hasn't been convicted of anything is speechless logic in the nfl. the nfl regularly suspends players for offenses that are not illegal. you take the wrong supplement in the nfl, something that's sold over the counter, and you can be suspended for six games. so it doesn't always follow that the only reason you get d disciplined in the nfl -- >> but rachel, there is the
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argument -- listen, you have to put a caveat every time you talk about this. i'm not condoning what he did, but he hasn't been convicted. if you take a supplement, there's evidence you took that supplement. >> but adrian peterson came and said he did it. he issued a statement saying he did it. >> he did not say he abused him. he said he whipped him with a switch. if the pictures are accurate, it was abuse. but he's not been convicted. i think he should be suspended, but again, it is a difference because he's not been found guilty. there is some truth to that. >> what about the legal parts of all this, jeffrey? >> the whole issue of his suspension or nonsuspension has no effect on his criminal case. he's now charged in texas and he's been arraigned. those cases are usually dealt with in a plea bargain of some
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kind, but the case is pending. he's now out of football, and we'll see for how long. but the criminal case just goes on as planned. >> how much of a role, don, did the sponsors, those who sponsor nfl play in all this? because there were a bunch walking away from the minnesota vikings. >> you though that song "money, money, money," that's really what it is. it plays a huge role. we're talking about billions of dollars here. the stock and trade of the nfl are its players. so if that player is no longer on the field, the teams are going to suffer, the revenues are going to suffer. but the nfl backed into a corner here. the team owners backed into a corner. they would probably rather not take those players off the field. but they have to because of public outcry. they start to lose fans and sponsors because of it. they've got to do it. >> the other nfl scandal involves ray rice, his
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indefinite suspension. the nfl players' association put out a statement saying the appeal is based on supporting facts that reveal a lack of a fair and impartial process. where does this stand? >> well, the nfl p.a. has made it clear that they are not supporting rice quote unquote or backing his actions in that elevator. what they are complaining about is the fact that the nfl league office seems to be rolling a sent of dice as they decide punishments willy-nilly back and forth. it all seems to be very arbitrary. as a union, they're saying we have policies for this. in the ray rice situation, rice was suspended two games. then this video comes out of the elevator incident and they suspend him indefinitely and the p.a. is saying, wait a minute, you had all that information. there was a police report saying he struck her unconscious. so what's the new information
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here if >> and he told them. >> the nfl strategy seems to be panic. do something, see what the public reaction is, then do something else. they've now done it with ray rice, adrian peterson the same thing. that is not a system that the legal system general supports, and even though these players are deeply unpopular at the moment, their claims may not fail. >> slugging your fiance in an elevator with a fist, that's a crime. >> that is a crime, wolf. but here's what happened. he sat down and he told them exactly what he did. he said, i punched her in the face. and he got disciplined for it. and then once there was backlash from the public, they came back again and disciplined him more harshly. but the argument here is, there is almost a double jeopardy type of quality to this. that they've already been disciplined.
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once you realize you didn't do enough, you go back again. >> it's just hugely disappointing. not only do you expect this to be a process, but if you're a league like the nfl and you consider yourself the place where america gathers, shouldn't you have standards where you don't have to react to everything? >> guys, we're up against the clock. don, you'll have a lot more on this story, 10:00 p.m. eastern. just ahead, dangerous conditions as fires and flash floods threaten homes and lives in the western u.s. we'll get the latest forecast. (woman) the constipation and belly pain feel tight like a vise. how can i ease this pain? (man) when i can't go, it's like rocks piling up. i wish i could find some relief. (announcer) ask your doctor about linzess-- a once-daily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation. linzess is thought to help calm pain-sensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements.
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including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. [ woman ] take the next step. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com. this is humira at work.
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latest. >> bad pictures out there, including the town of weed. this is what it looks like on the map from space. can you see the smoke, it almost covered lake tahoe and into reno right now. the radar out of sacramento is confused. it thinks the rain drops are smoke particles. three big fires, the king complex to the east of placerville so the west of just lake htahoe. and then the happy campfire, over 108 acres, ten fires burned into one here. and this is it. this is the bowls fire, the tragic fire of a loss of 150 homes in this town of weed in northern california. the air and tinder is dry. it hasn't rained in some spots
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for half a decade. and this is what we'll see for the rest of the year. >> thanks very much. that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett outfront starts right now. >> the house votes to arm syrian rebels as ice is reveals a new video and the u.s. warns that commercial flights are a major target for terrorists as lone wolves are asked to bomb times square and las vegas. and police looking for a delusional survivalist. let's go outfront. good evening. i'm erin burnett. the u.s. house of