good morning, america. breaking overnight, attack on iraq. dramatic new video of american fighter jets dropping bombs on militants on the move attempting to capture a key city threatening thousands of lives including many americans. plus, could this dam now under the control of the isis rebels be used as a weapon of mass destruction? out of control, wildfires out west burning homes. residents told to get out fast. >> i lost everything. it feels unreal. >> the new efforts this morning to fight the wall of flames. the new tick warning. how a bite can make you suddenly allergic to red meat. dr. jen ashton on the crazy connection with the warning signs you need to know to keep your family safe.

boy versus gator. a 9-year-old speaks out about the fight of his life, attacked during a dip in a lake. >> i felt its jaw. i felt its teeth. >> how he managed to fight the shark-toothed beast off and the souvenirs to prove it. and good morning. we're going to get to the news in just a moment, but first this is a huge day for us here at "gma." paula faris officially joining us as the weekend co-anchor. having been your friend and having been your friend and your colleague for three years now, i'm extremely, extremely pleased you're here. i know sara haines feels the same way. even ron claiborne. >> i'm very excited. >> okay. >> faris and harris. 15 seconds into the know. we knew that would happen. i'm so thrilled to work alongside what i believe to be the best tv team in all of the world, not just in front of the camera but for all those people

that are working diligently behind the camera, and i'm so grateful for this opportunity. this is going to be a fun ride. >> we're happy to have you. coming up, we're going to do a get-to-know-you session with paula looking back at her career in news, her three years of -- >> do we have to? >> yes, at abc news. we have footage of my play date with paula's three children. >> i was hazed. >> he survived. >> i sur-ed. by her three kids. >> you were wearing a suit. >> i happened to have been coming from the office. i'm going to send you the dry cleaning bills. but first, partner, want to kick us off. >> i sure will. >> i sure will. thank you so much, dan. we start with that breaking news. u.s. warplanes bombing militant targets in iraq. dramatic new video showing those massive explosions aimed at trying to stop the violent group isis from advancing on a city where there are roughly 150 americans, and abc's jon karl has the latest on the mission from the white house where the president is getting ready to leave for summer vacation. good morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, paula.

and welcome to "weekend gma." it's great to see you there. the president leaves later this morning for a family vacation on martha's vineyard, but this will not be your typical family vacation. he is leaving with senior members of his national security team including national security adviser susan rice and will be closely monitoring u.s. military operations over iraq. breaking overnight, the pentagon released new video of the latest air strike in iraq. bombs can be seen as they drop from the sky exploding on a target in northern iraq. american forces have carried out several bombing missions with f-18 fighter jets and drones hitting terrorist arm aments and a convoy moving towards erbil where 150 some american diplomats and military advisers are posted. along with the bombs, a humanitarian mission is under way. military dropping food and water for thousands of members of a religious minority trapped by isis on a mountain and threatened with death.

>> we're in some sense committed to their protection by having gone there and provided humanitarian aid. >> reporter: one key concern, this dam in the city of mosul located some 200 miles northwest of baghdad. the state department confirms it is now under the control of the terrorist group known as isis. not only does it supply electricity for much of iraq, if isis were to open the floodgates, the water could flood all the way down to baghdad including the u.s. embassy. >> they're controlling dams and rivers and roadways. these are all ingredients to a sustained presence for isis. >> reporter: as president obama leaves washington to begin his vacation, he is promising this operation will not be the start of a larger mission, ruling out any ground troops. >> as commander in chief, i will not allow the united states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. >> reporter: in an interview with "the new york times," president obama reiterated that this will be a limited mission telling "the times" that it will

be up to the iraqis to defeat isis. "the cavalry is not coming to the rescue," he said. the united states has no interest in being the iraqi air force. paula. >> i'll take it up from here, jon. thank you. let's bring in abc news military consultant steve ganyard in washington this morning. steve, good morning. from a military perspective, what exactly are we trying to achieve here, and is it likely to work? >> good morning, dan. i think it will work. that's the short answer here. what we're trying to do is prevent erbil from falling, kurdistan from falling, prevent baghdad from falling and so going in with some very limited air power, stopping the advance, being able to hit artillery pieces, convoys, things like that that will stop the isis advance. i think american air power can be very effective here to at least stabilize the situation. >> and how likely -- how long is this operation likely to last? >> well, it's up to the president. you know, i think it'll be just a couple of days before we can stop isis, and they'll know that they no longer can command the roads and move as freely, so i think it's going to be up to the

president. does the president authorize just the static position, or does he authorize strikes that would allow the iraqi military to begin to push back towards mosul and to begin to retake those areas that isis is controlling now? >> so many questions as this story continues to develop. colonel steve ganyard, thank you. >> paula, over to you. >> thanks, dan. and out west the brutal wildfire season is intensifying this morning. more homes burning with others being threatened at the mercy of the whim of the wind. firefighters waging battles on all fronts to try to contain those flames. abc's brandi hitt is tracking this new story overnight. good morning, brandi. >> reporter: good morning, paula. there are several wildfires burning out of control this morning. families saying the flames moving so quickly, they barely had any time to escape. this is the dramatic scene in oregon as firefighters battle a wildfire that has consumed more than 3300 acres and destroyed

cecelia pincock's home. >> i lost everything. it feels unreal. it feels like it's not happening. >> reporter: crews have contained a third of the fire, but 150 residents were forced to evacuate, and more than 700 homes are in danger of going up in flames. meanwhile, firefighters in washington state are battling a blaze that has already burned 400 acres. crews keeping a close eye on the flames as shifting winds could send them towards homes. another fire in northeast washington has forced 40 homes to be evacuated. wildfires have charred more than 480 square miles across the state of washington this season, and in idaho, three firefighters were hurt while battling this fire along the snake river. the 76-square-mile blaze is threatening hundreds of homes there. it's been such an explosive fire season already. many of the large wildfires this year have been starked by lightning but some have also started accidentally. it takes just one spark in these dry conditions for a massive fire to take off. dan? >> so dangerous there, brandi, thank you. now to hawaii which is

paradise underwater right now. hit hard by a rare tropical storm, part one, in fact, of a double-barreled extreme weather threat. the state has not been in a situation like this for decades, and abc's clayton sandell is in hilo, hawaii, with the very latest. clayton, good morning to you. >> reporter: and good morning, dan. iselle is now gone, but there is still plenty of cleanup to be done, and now everyone is nervously watching for julio, now just about 600 miles offshore. this morning, crews are breaking down debris after the first tropical storm in 20 years brought large waves and heavy winds to hawaii's big island threatening the area with landslides as residents dig out of the damage. >> anybody here? >> reporter: iselle's fury helped destroy this structure. powerful gusts leveled hundreds of giant trees that took power lines down with them. crews are scrambling to get the lights back on. >> it was scary. it was scary. >> you don't really experience winds like that here in hawaii. >> reporter: tractors are

helping clear the path for people cut off from the outside world. drivers stranded on roads and tourist destinations turned into boarded ghost towns. >> everything is okay, you know, except for no power, no water. >> reporter: the big island was soaked with rain. some areas drenched with over a foot. this is rainbow falls near hilo on thursday, and this is what it looks like now. this rainbow on maui, a sign the worst had passed, but storm-weary residents and tourists have a message for the approaching hurricane julio. >> stay that way. keep going that way. >> reporter: and for now, that storm is expected to barely miss. and there's one other potential danger here, state officials are warning people to stay out of the storm runoff because wild dead animals can be washed downstream into the ocean, and that can attract sharks. paula. >> wow. thank you very much, clayton sandell, and tracking all this developing weather, meteorologist julie durda of our abc miami station wplg. good morning, julie.

>> paula, now the big concern is hurricane julio spinning just east of the hawaiian islands, just east of the big island this morning. you can see it wrapping around that center of circulation. plenty of rain bands, the big concern for our friends across the hawaiian islands is heavy rain, some gusty winds. that will provide for rough surf. it keeps the circulation of julio just to the north of the hawaiian islands, which is good news but then again it does slow down as we go into tomorrow. big concern for our friends in that area as we just had to deal with iselle, this is just bad news for them. more on the severe weather across the east coming up. >> thank you very much, julie. let's turn it over to ron with developing news. hey there. >> good morning to you, paula. welcome to our merry little band. >> thank you. i love our merry little band. >> so far so good. good morning, dan. good morning, everyone. we start in orlando, florida, where there was a tense standoff between an armed murder suspect and police in that town. deputies were trying to arrest the man who had

barricaded himself inside a house. more than 20 homes in the upscale neighborhood had to be evacuated while s.w.a.t. teams swarmed the area. the ten-hour confrontation ended with the man eventually being taken into custody. this happened late friday night. and an odd legal twist in the death of james brady, ronald reagan's press secretary, who died earlier this week. a medical examiner in washington, d.c. has determined that brady's death at the age of 73 was a homicide. the cause, the gunshot wound to the head that he suffered in the 1981 attempted assassination of president reagan. brady had been partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair since that shooting. it is unclear if the shooter, john hinckley jr., will face new charges now. hinckley was originally found not guilty by reason of insanity. and a frightening scene at a philadelphia public swimming pool. three children playing in the pool were shocked with electricity. this happened friday afternoon. officials are still trying to determine the origin of the electrical current. they say an equipment malfunction could be to blame. the injured children are said to be recovering at a hospital. and this one from miami beach, florida, where a small boat just off the coast

encountered some rough water and waves and began taking on water. two people on that boot were rescued just as their craft sank. they got off so fast, they left behind all their belongings you saw there in the water scattered across the sea. the good news, no one was injured. and not a good start for tiger woods. he missed the cut at golf's pga championship on friday after finishing 6 over par and 15 strokes behind second round leader rory mcilroy. it was only the fourth time that woods has not made the cut in a major championship as a pro. tiger was clearly playing with back pain, which forced him out of the tournament, a tournament, another one just last week. and finally, this is a great story. a 10-year-old girl being hailed as a hero or heroine this morning for saving a 4-year-old boy from drowning. colette crooks, that's her name, and she was at the beach on plum island, massachusetts, with her family when she saw what she originally thought looked like a ball in the water. she dove in to investigate, as

kids do, and she realized it was a little boy unconscious in the ocean, so she sprung into action pulling the little guy to safety. >> i knew something was wrong right away because he wasn't breathing, and he was underwater, and his eyes were open, so i picked him up, and i called help. >> the young boy, he is said to be doing fine. colette says anyone would have done the same thing. i'm not so sure about that, and certainly not any 10-year-old. >> yes. >> quick thinking from a 10-year-old. >> really smart. yeah. >> good for him too. >> thanks, ron. and now to a strange and really startling new warning about tick bites. doctors are seeing a surge in red meat allergies caused by a bite from a bug known as the lone star tick. some people are suffering violent reactions after eating burgers or steaks, some of them even ending up in the er. so let's turn to dr. jennifer ashton. good morning to you. >> good morning, dan. >> this sounds so -- sorry this is not a medical term -- weird but what's the medical explanation for this? >> although it's not a technical term, we don't know. is this really a culinary nightmare or a medical mystery or maybe a little bit of both.

but what happens apparently is you'll get bitten by the tick. the tick then incites an immune reaction to a sugar molecule that actually is contained in meat. right? there's sugar in meat, and then when you eat meat down the road, and we're talking about pork, lamb or beef, not poultry or chicken, luckily, your body sees that sugar molecule, triggers a massive allergic response, and in some cases it can be very, very serious. >> so this is a shortcut to ruining every barbecue you have this summer. >> pretty much. >> and is it a temporary allergy or does it last forever? >> in some cases it can be permanent. and the people who have suffered this type of allergy are not taking any chances. we hear so much about ticks in the summer. this is very different from that deer tick which we know is associated with lyme disease. this is the lone star tick. much larger than a deer tick. originally it was only located in the south but if you look at a map, it's now pretty much half the country. south all the way up to maine. so, again, get those pets treated, and remember to protect yourself against ticks.

>> okay, so but if you start developing symptoms, first of all, what are the symptoms you should look for and what do you do? >> usually happens three to six hours after eating meat, and again hives, swelling, redness of the face, mouth, lips and tongue. you want to seek medical attention and speak to an allergist and get a diagnosis. >> okay. dr. ashton with this weird medical story and that is a clinical term, weird, apparently. we appreciate it. thank you. >> absolutely. >> paula, back over to you. >> and could be devastating for all of us carnivores, as well. >> absolutely. well, from the bizarre to the brave. tnow, he courageous kid who is a big battler and lucky to be alive after taking on an alligator who went after him in a florida lake. abc's linzie janis here with this story. good morning, linzie. >> i'm not sure brave is a strong enough term to describe this little boy. not only did he fight off an alligator with his bare hands, in the aftermath of the attack, he was calm and collected. he battled it out with an alligator and won. >> i just immediately hit it,

and it let go a little, so i -- >> reporter: now amazing us with his tale of victory from his hospital bed. >> first i thought someone was just playing with me, and i didn't know what happened. i reached down to go grab it, and i felt its jaw, i felt its teeth. >> reporter: the 9-foot-long, 400-pound creature forcing him to literally fight tooth and claw. >> i immediately hit him a couple times, and it was slipping, and that's why i got to scratch it. >> reporter: escaping with as many as 30 teeth marks all over his body. >> hey, what's this, and i pulled out a tooth and showed it to me, and i said, oh, well, i want to put it on a necklace so then i could tell all my friends. >> reporter: while on a bike ride with friends, 9-year-old james barney decided to cool off, taking a dip in an area off-limits to swimmers. a popular stomping ground for gators. >> there's a big alligator. he was crawling up the shore screaming and crying.

>> reporter: james barney sr. still shaken by his son's terrifying ordeal. >> i thought i lost him yesterday. it doesn't take much. >> reporter: wildlife officials say more than 1.3 million alligators roam florida waters. this morning the reptile that pounced on james still on the loose, and while officials are on the lookout, young james has one important piece of advice. >> don't go swimming in that lake. >> oh. so, we're told the trappers nearly caught the gator friday morning, but it got away. in the meantime, they closed that park. first time they've had an attack like that in this area, st. cloud near orlando, florida, but he should be able to go home in a couple of days. just incredible. you heard his friends actually, one of his young friends calling 911, also pretty calm. that's incredible the way they dealt with it. >> precious little boy just telling the story. it was like story time. >> this show is filled with brave kids. thank you, linzie.

now to an entire metro area engaged in what appears to be a mass display of forgiveness. these are pictures coming in from the homecoming celebration overnight for basketball star lebron james returning to akron, ohio. when james announced a few years ago that he was taking his talents to south beach to play for the miami heat, people in ohio literally burned this guy's jersey, but now james is returning to the cleveland cavaliers, and abc's gloria riviera is on the story in akron. that is lebron's hometown. gloria, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. well, it may be quiet now, but let me tell you, i think a lot of people in akron are recovering this morning after the massive party thrown at this stadium last night. fans lined up for hours to make sure they got a seat inside, and let me tell you, i asked them, how long did it take you to forgive lebron when you heard he was coming back, and they said right away. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: overnight delirium at the welcome back party celebrating lebron james' return home to the cleveland cavaliers.

>> i'm going to do what makes my city and my state happy, and that's why i came back. i love you. i'm back. >> reporter: for nearly 30,000 hometown fans, words many thought they'd never hear. >> wow! >> reporter: four years ago james ditched ohio to play for the miami heat. he won two nba championships there, but here they burned his jersey. >> i called him a traitor. >> go, lebron. >> reporter: all is forgiven? >> yes. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: off the court james' return has a significance and impact on younger fans. through his foundation, he supports education in ohio. >> these kids, like i will continue to say, are the future. >> reporter: already his return is estimated to bring in an additional $500 million to a local community, and on the court -- >> my number one goal is to win a championship here, and i think it would be the greatest

achievement in my life. i'm looking forward to the challenge. >> reporter: the power forward says he's ready to get to work. >> i swear i missed y'all. >> reporter: the city welcoming his full family back home. >> i smell a championship. >> reporter: you smell a championship. >> i smell it. >> reporter: the future looks bright. gone, a villain, back a hero. well, it was raucous, it was downright fun, but it was also really something to see these kids, 11, 12, 13. you know, they remember when lebron left. they were heartbroken then. now they get a second chance to grow up with lebron james as their hometown hero. they are so proud, and that was really something to see. dan, paula. >> it's amazing to see how quickly they forgive. gloria, thank you. and a little-known fact about paula faris, she actually covered lebron james when she was a high school player and she was an anchor in ohio. >> akron, st. vincent and st. mary when i was shooting and producing behind the scenes. >> and you look the same.

>> that's not part of the contract, i don't think. >> you are our own in-house lebron james. >> not really. no, i am not. i am not. >> let's check the forecast now with julie durda, who comes from our miami station, and i guess they're probably less forgiving about lebron down there. >> hey, we got two championships from him, no problem, right, south floridians. i know how many are agreeing with me. let's talk about some wild weather that occurred over the last 24 hours across the southeast. we saw some very heavy rain, gusty winds, wild weather to lightning strikes, as well. take a look at this video across atlanta, georgia. not only did we have some downed trees, but also again it was just a lightning show across the southeast. seven people were shocked by lightning. wind damage was a huge concern as you just saw from that video and today heavy rain and gusty winds will be a possibility. most of the severe weather will stretch up towards the central plains, but the southeast, it's all about the rain. wish we could hold on to all that rain and send it to the northwest. the pacific northwest desperately needs the rain. unfortunately,

they're not going to be seeing it. they're going to be dealing with dry, very hot conditions and, again, fueling the online, on twitter, facebook and >> paula, tak a >> paula, take it away. >> thank you so much, julie. and coming up on "gma," we have a mystery at sea. did a champion power boat racer believed missing after a crash on the water actually fake his own death? why authorities suspect that he is now running from the law. >> that's a strange case.

plus, becoming forrest gump. check this out. this is tom hanks' screen test for the role. >> so cool. >> now, it's surfacing 20 years after the fact. the big changes he made once he finally got the part. you're going -- this is going to be great to see. and, paula faris, this is your life. we'll see how our new anchor goes from there to suburban soccer mom here in total high fashion unlike dan harris. >> what? >> you were in a suit, dan. welcome to the corner of and "getting major kudos." just look at you. you're being healthy, even in little ways. that's worth celebrating. that's why walgreens created the first program that gives you rewards points just for healthy behavior. so stick with it. you've got a lot of people cheering you on... download the app and start getting rewarded today.

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news special report. crisis in iraq. and good morning to you. i'm dan harris, we're interrupting your regular programming because president obama is about to make a statement about the situation in iraq. as you know, the u.s. has been launching air strikes against fundamentalist rebels threatening to overtake a major city where many americans are living and working. this is footage that came in overnight from the warplanes. the president will be speaking from the south lawn of the white house after which he'll board marine one to take off for two weeks' family vacation on martha's vineyard. we should say this is going to be a working vacation, of course, he'll have members of his national security team with him. you can see marine one behind the podium they've set up on the south lawn of the white house. abc's jeff zeleny is at the white house for us. jeff, i suspect the president is going to come out and try to remind the nation that this is a limited engagement we're in right now. >> you're absolutely right, dan. good morning, president obama i'm told by administration officials is going to do just

that. give an update on what's happened that the u.s. is dropping more food and more humanitarian relief and he's trying to assure people that this is not going to be a long struggle. this is a limited engagement. we saw a preview of what we're going to hear in a moment in an interview with "the new york times" this morning and he says that iraq has to do this on its own, the u.s. will be a willing partner but will not be the iraqi air force so the president is going to attempt to explain this but, you're right. he's going on vacation for a couple of weeks so that's what's happening as well. he wants to give an update before he leaves for martha's vineyard. >> what are you hearing from your military sources about how they feel about the success or failure of the strikes they've carried out thus far, martha. >> reporter: certainly the strikes have been affected. they've hit thing its and gone after artillery and mortar and have been shelling those kurdish troops around erbil. those were successful.

i think they think this really will give a pause, will allow those kurdish troops to regroup to get ready to go after isis, how long that will last is completely unclear. how long the president will allow these -- >> i'm going to interrupt because the president is at the podium. >> -- have served with courage and skill over the skies over iraq. first american forces have conducted targeted air strikes against terrorist forces outside the city of erbil to prevent them from advancing on the city and to protect our american diplomats and military personnel. so far these strikes have successfully destroyed arms and equipment that isis terrorists could have used against erbil. meanwhile, kurdish forces on the ground continue to defend the city and the united states and the iraqi government have stepped up our military assistance to kurdish forces as they wage their fight. second, our humanitarian effort continues to help the men, women

and children stranded on mt. sinjar. american forces have so far conducted two successful airdrops delivering thousands of meals and gallons of water to these desperate men, women and children. and american aircraft are positioned to strike isil terrorists around the mountain to help forces in iraq to break the siege and rescue those who are trapped there. now, even as we deal with these immediate situations, we will continue to pursue a broader strategy in iraq. we will protect our american citizens in iraq, whether they're diplomats, civilians or military. if these terrorists threaten our facilities or our personnel, we will take action to protect our people. we will continue to provide military assistance and advice to the iraqi government and kurdish forces as they battle these terrorists so that the terrorists cannot establish a permanent safe haven. we will continue to work with

the international community to deal with the growing humanitarian crisis in iraq. even as our attention is focused on preventing an act of genocide and helping the men and women and children on the mountain, countless iraqis have been driven or fled from their homes including many christians. now, this morning i spoke with prime minister cameron of the united kingdom and president hollande of france. i'm pleased both leaders expressed their strong support for our actions and have agreed to provide humanitarian assistance who are suffering so much. once again, america is proud to act alongside our closest friends and allies. more broadly the united nations in iraq is acting urgently to help respond to the needs of those fleeing from areas under threat. the u.n. security council has called on the international community to do everything it can to provide food, water and shelter and in my calls with allies and partners around the world i'll continue to urge them to join us in this humanitarian

effort. finally, we continue to call on iraqis to come together and form the inclusive government that iraq needs right now. vice president biden has been speaking to iraqi leaders and our team in baghdad is in close touch with the iraqi government. all iraqi communities are ultimately threatened by these barbaric terrorists and all iraqi communities need to unite to defend their country. this is -- we are focused on the situation in the north affecting curds and the iraqi minorities, sunni and shia in different parts of iraq have suffered mightily at the hands of isil. once an inclusive government is in place, i'm confident it will be easier to mobilize all iraqis against isil and to mobilize greater support from our friends and allies. ultimately, only iraqis can ensure the security and stability of iraq and the united states can't do it for them.

but we can and will be partners in that effort. one final thing as we go forward we'll continue to consult with congress and coordinate closely with our allies and partners and as americans, we will continue to show gratitude to our men and women in uniform who are conducting our operations there. when called, they were ready as they always are. when given their mission, they perform with distinction as they always do and when we see them serving with such honor and compassion, defending our fellow citizens and saving the lives of people, they've never met, it makes us proud to be americans as we always will be. so with that let me take a couple questions. >> mr. president. >> yeah. >> for how long a period of time do you see these air strikes continuing for and is your goal there to contain isis or to destroy it? >> i'm not going to give a particular timetable because as i've said from the start, wherever and whenever u.s.

personnel and facilities are threatened, it's my obligation, my responsibility as commander in chief to make sure that they are protected. and we're not moving our embassy any time soon. we're not moving our consulate any time soon and that means that given the challenging security environment, we're going to maintain vigilance and insure that our people are safe. our initial goal is to not only make sure americans are protected but also to deal with this humanitarian situation in sinjar. we feel confident that we can prevent isis from going up a mountain and slaughtering the people who are there. but the next step which is going to be complicated logistically is how do we give safe passage for people down from the mountain and where can we

ultimately relocate them so that they are safe? that's the kind of cord nation that we need to do internationally. i was very pleased to get the cooperation of both prime minister cameron and president hollande in addressing some of the immediate needs in terms of airdrops and some of the assets and logistical support that they're providing. but there's a broader set of questions that our experts now are engaged in with the united nations and our allies and partners, and that is how do we potentially create a safe corridor or some other mechanism so these people can move? that may take some time because our varying estimates of how many people are up there but they're in the thousands and moving them is not simple. in this kind of security environment. just to give people a sense, though, of a timetable the most important timetable that i'm

focused on right now is the iraqi government getting formed and final identifying. because in the absence of an iraqi government, it is very hard to get a unified effort by iraqis against isil. we can conduct air strikes but ultimately there's not going to be an american military solution to this problem. there's going to have to be an iraqi solution that america and other countries and allies support, and that can't happen effectively until you have a legitimate iraqi government so right now we have a president, we have a speaker, what we don't yet have is a prime minister and a cabinet that is formed that can go ahead and move forward and then start reaching out to all the various groups and factions inside of iraq and can give confidence to populations

in the sunni areas that isil is not the only game in town. it also then allows us to take those iraqi security forces that are able and functional and they understand who they're reporting to and what they're fighting for and what the chain of command is and it provides a structure in which better cooperation is taking place between the kurdish region and baghdad. so we're going to be pushing very hard to encourage iraqis to get their government together. until we do that, it is going to be hard to get the unity of effort that allows us to not just play defense but also engage in some offense. >> mr. president, long wars in afghanistan and iraq with uncertain outcomes. how do you assure the american people that we're not getting dragged into another war in iraq? have you underestimated the power of isis and finally, you

said that you involved international partners in humanitarian efforts. is there any thought of talking to international partners as far as military action to prevent the spread of isis? >> well, a couple of things i would say. number one, i've been very clear that we're not going to have u.s. combat troops in iraq again and we are going to maintain that because we should have learned a lesson from our long and immensely costly incursion in iraq and that is that our military is so effective that we can keep a lid on problems wherever we are if we put enough, you know, personnel and resources into it. but it can only last if the people in these countries themselves are able to arrive at the kinds of political

accommodations and compromise that any civilized society requires and so it would be, i think, a big mistake for us to think that we can on the cheap simply go in, tamp everything down again, restart without some fundamental shift in attitudes among the various iraqi factions. that's why it's so important to have an iraqi government on the ground that is taking responsibility that we can help, that we can partner with, that has the capacity to get alliances in the region and once that's in place, then i think we end up being one of many countries that can work together to deal with the broader crisis that isis poses. what were your other questions? >> did we underestimate?

>> i think that there is no doubt that their advance, their movement over the last several months has been more rapid than the intelligence estimates and i think the expectations of policymakers, both in and outside of iraq, and part of that is i think not a full appreciation of the degree to which the iraqi security forces when they're far away from baghdad did not have the incentive or the capacity to hold ground against an aggressive adversary and so that's one more reason why iraqi government formation is so important because there has to be a rebuilding and an

understanding of, you know, who it is that the iraqi security forces are reporting to and who they're fighting for and some investment by sunnis in pushing back against isil. i think what we're seeing and we will see even further the degree to which those territories under isil control alienate populations because of the barbarity and brutality with which they operate. but, in order to ensure that sunni populations reject outright these kinds of incursions they've got to feel like they're invested in a broader national government and right now they don't feel that. so the upshot is that what we've

seen over the last several months indicates the weaknesses in an iraqi government, but what we've also seen i think is a wake-up call for a lot of iraqis inside of baghdad recognizing that we're going to have to rethink how we do business if we're going to hold our country together and hopefully that change in attitude supplemented by improved security efforts in which we can assist and help, that can make a difference. >> you expressed confidence that the iraqi government can eventually -- you've also just described the complications of the iraqi government and the sophistication of isil. so is it possible what you've described and your am big there is could take years, not months? >> i don't think we're going to

solve this problem in weeks, if that's what you mean. i think this is going to take some time. you know, the iraqi security forces in order to mount an offensive and be able to operate effectively with the support of populations in sunni areas are going to have to revamp, get resupplied, have a clear strategy. that's all going be dependent on a government that the iraqi people and the iraqi military have confidence in. we can help in all those efforts, i think part of what we're able to do right now preserve a space for them to do the hard work that's necessary. if they do that the one thing that i also think has changed is that many of the sunni countries in the region who have been generally suspicious or wary of

the iraqi government are more likely to join in in the fight against isis and that can be extremely helpful. but this is going to be a long-term project. part of what we've seen is that a minority sunni population in iraq as well as a majority sunni population in syria has felt this satisfy -- dissatisfied fr respective governments and that's been a ripe territory for these jihadists and extremists to operate and rebuilding governments in those areas and legitimacy for stable, moderate governing in those areas is going to take -- is going to take time. now, there are some immediate

concerns we have to worry about. we have to make sure that isil is not engaging in the actions that could cripple a country permanently. there's key infrastructure inside of iraq that we have to be concerned about. my team has been vigilant even before isil went into mosul about foreign fighters and jihadists gathering in syria and now in iraq who might potentially launch attacks outside of the region against western targets and u.s. targets so there's going to be a counterterrorism element that we are already preparing for and have been working diligently on for a long time now. there's going to be a military element in protecting our people, but the long-term

campaign of changing that environment, so that the millions of sunnis who live in these areas feel connected to and well served by a national government, that's a long-term process and that's something that the united states with cannot do. only the iraqi people themselves can do. we can help. we can advise, but we can't do it for them. and the u.s. military cannot do it for them, and so this goes back to the earlier question about u.s. military involvement. the nature of this problem is not one that a u.s. military can solve. we can assist and our military obviously can play an extraordinarily important role in bolstering efforts of an iraqi partner as they make the

right steps to keep their country together. but we can't do it for them. okay. last question. >> mr. president -- >> $100 billion in iraq. do you anticipate having to ask congress for additional funds to support this mission? >> currently we are operating within the budget constraints that we already have. and we'll have to evaluate, you know, what happens over time. we already have a lot of assets in the region. we anticipate when we make our preliminary budgets that there may be things that come up requiring us to engage and right now at least, i think we are okay, but if and when we need additional dollars to make sure that american personnel and american facilities are protected then we will certainly make that request, but right now

that's not our primary concern. last question. >> do you have any second thoughts about pulling all ground troops out of iraq and does it give you pause as a u.s. -- doing the same thing in afghanistan? >> yeah, you know what, what i just find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up as if this was my decisi decision. under the previous administration, we had turned over the country to a sovereign democratically elected iraqi government. in order for us to maintain troops in iraq, we needed the invitation of the iraqi government and we needed assurances that all personnel would be immune from prosecution if, for example, they were protecting themselves and ended

up getting in a firefight with iraqis that they wouldn't be hauled before iraqi -- an iraqi judicial system and the iraqi government based on its political considerations in part because iraqis were tired of a u.s. occupation declined to provide us those ainsurances. and on that basis we left. we had offered to leave additional troops. so when you hear people say, do you regret, mr. president, not leaving more troops? that presupposes that i would have overridden this sovereign government that we have turned the keys back over to and said, you know what, you're democratic, you're sovereign except if i decide that it's good for you to keep 10,000 or 15,000 or 25,000 marines in your country, you don't have a choice. which would have kind of run

contrary to the entire argument we were making about turning over the country back to iraqis. an argument not made by just me but the previous administration so let's just be clear, the reason that we did not have a follow-on force in iraq was because the iraqis were -- a majority of iraqis did not want u.s. troops there and politically they could not pass the kind of laws that would be required to protect our troops in iraq. having said all that, if, in fact, the iraqi government behaved the way it did over the last five or six years where it failed to pass legislation that would reincorporate sunnis and give they will a sense of ownership, if it had targeted certain sunni leaders and jailed them, if it had alienated some

of the sunni tribes that we had brought back in during the so-called awakening that helped us turn the tide in 2006, if they had done all those things and we had troops there, the country wouldn't be holding together either. the only difference would be we'd have a bunch of troops on the ground that would be vulnerable and however many troops we had, we would have to now be reinforcing -- i'd have to be protecting them and we'd have a much bigger job and probably end up going up again in terms of the number of ground troops to make sure that those forces were not vulnerable. so, that entire analysis is bogus and is wrong. but gets frequently pedaled around here by folks who oftentimes are trying to defend previous policies that they themselves made. going forward with respect to afghanistan, we are leaving the

follow-on force there. i think the lesson for afghanistan is not the fact that we've got a follow-on force that will be capable of training and supporting afghan security efforts, i think the real lesson in afghanistan is that if factions in a country after a long period of civil war do not find a way to come up with a political accommodation, if they take maximumalist positions and their attitude is, i want 100% of what i want and the other side gets nothing, then the center doesn't hold, and the good news is is that in part thanks to the excellent work of john kerry and others, we now are seeing the two candidates in the recent presidential election start coming together and agreeing not only to move

forward on the audit to be able to finally certify a winner in the election but also the kind of political accommodations that will be required to keep democracy moving. so that's the real lesson i think for afghanistan coming out of iraq is if you want this thing to work, then whether it's, you know, different ethnicities, different religion, different regions, they've got to accommodate each other, otherwise, you start tipping back into old patterns of violence and doesn't matter how many u.s. troops are there, if that happens, you end up having a mess. all right. thanks a lot, guys. >> president obama updating the american people on the latest military action in iraq. he will now head back into the oval office where he will collect his family, the first family. they will board marine one, which you can see on the south lawn which you can see behind him as he spoke and they will

take off for two weeks of vacation. perhaps the most striking moment there, this president who ran for office saying he was going to pull our troops out of iraq and then did so in 2011 now saying that these latest air strikes that he refuses to set a timetable on them and that, "the problem is not going to be solved in a matter of weeks that this is a long-term project" so let me bring in abc's martha raddatz who covers national security issues for us. martha, we could be talking about a month-long engagement for this president who called the iraq war back in 2002 "a dumb war." >> he certainly did, and you can go back and see a lot of statements about positive developments there and that they saw the future of iraq would be bright. i was with those convoys on the last convoys going out of iraq and listening to u.s. administration officials at the time. i think he can't put a timetable on this because he doesn't know what those isis troops will do. those islamic militants.

they have to get those people off the mountain. i thought that was a very interesting point in the press conference there, he has to get them off. they can't just leave them up there and keep dropping food and keep resupplying them so that, indeed, will be complicated. i think he's also talking about longer term, dan. that you can't solve this problem in iraq in a few weeks or even a few months and it probably won't be solved in a few years. this is a long-term project. also striking is that he keeps talking about replacing not just replacing the prime minister but wanting an iraqi government that is inclusive. they have not been able to do that yet. i don't know how they'll be able to do that going forward but they have not been able to do it yet, and that's part of why this will take a very long time and to heal a lot of wounds between the divisions in iraq right now. >> yeah, all of these problems one could argue stem from the lack of political consensus on the ground in iraq, but let's

get it over to abc's jeff zeleny, because the politics here in america are complex too. the president is trying to walk a tightrope between his critics on the left who say he's potentially going to mire us into a quagmire in iraq and critics on the right who say we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place if he hadn't withdrawn precipitously in 2011 and heard the president push back against that analysis quite vigorously in his "q" and "a." >> i think the president, you can sum it up like this defensive on one hand but defiant on the other. he is rejecting the argument this is his fault. he reminds people, he reminds americans that the iraqi government did not sign that joint forces agreement, but, dan, the politics of this are so complicated for this president heading in a midterm election year, a new presidential campaign just along the horizon but one thing is clear, iraq is going to be a part of his legacy and it's going to be with him for the remainder of his time in

office here and not setting a timetable for this saying it's going to take a long time is key this will be with him until the end. >> interesting moment for president obama, no question about it. jeff zeleny, our thanks to you and to martha raddatz, as well who joined us on the phone. that concludes this special report. for afull wrap-up tune in to "world neusnews" later today an return you to regular what the? foster farms chicken gets to the store in 48 hours or less. but it's 4 days to california. there's got to be another way. that could be any number of items, quite frankly. you know if this flight is less than 48 hours? i surwhat?e so.? foster farms. celebrating 75 years. always natural. always fresh. join the celebration at take75.com diverted to minneapolis... i think my giblets are frozen.

live from the kgo tv broadcast center, this is abc7 news. good morning, and thanks for joining us, i'm matt keller in for katie marzulo. we're going to start with a quick look at your accuweather forecast with meteorologist lisa argen. hi, lisa. >> hi, matt. live doppler 7 hd, highlighted the weather fire watch for the mountainous areas today. through the next 24 hours, we could see a chance of showers and thunderstorms sunday night into monday around our own local mountains in the north and east bay. right now it's about the stable atmosphere, low clouds and fog, santa cruz is cloudy now with breezy conditions in concord. up to 25-mile-per-hour wind gusts there and 60 degrees. here's a look at the roof camera where we have gray skies, 37-minute delays at sfo. upper 80s in the inland val list. low to mid 60s the coast and san francisco. while the bay stays seasonal. upper 60s a