arwa, thanks so much. nic robertson, you, too, and ben wedeman, we'll trap into your experience in the area as well. we'll be joined by kimberly dozier, a veteran correspondent wounded in iraq and she'll join our conversation as well. stay with us. we'll be right back. eyes that pivot with the road... ...that can see what light misses... ...eyes designed to warn when yours wander... or ones that can automatically bring the ls to a complete stop. all help make the unseen... ...seen. and make the ls perhaps the most visionary vehicle on the road. this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. type 2 diabetes effects millions of us. and for many, it's a struggle to keep your a1c down. so imagine -- what if there was a new class of medicine that works differently to lower blood sugar? imagine...loving your numbers. introducing once-daily invokana®. it's the first of a new kind of prescription medicine

nick robertson is here, arwa damon, the breaking news tonight. isis forces apparently now having occupied an old chemical weapons facility from saddam's days. nick robertson was there. we actually have video you shot. what year is this? >> 2002 and it was bombed by coalition forces back in 1991 and weapons inspectors, un weapons inspectors were there. when i was there, i was writing about these rusting rows of chemical weapons equipment. again, i was back there with the un weapons inspectors. it must have been an important site because that was the seventh site they visited so it was a key one. iraq was at war with iran and it had been identity lle after tha. when i was there, you have a desert site, sort of 15 square miles, bunkers, semi secure site, some places the wire around the outside was torn down. >> you raised the question before we went on air, which is a good one, if it is isis forces there if they have former members with them or former sunni militias or former saddam forces who does that? >> you have to fight. they are using the stra

arwa damon as well in erbil. the breaking news tonight.forces apparently now having occupied an old chemical weapons facility from saddam's days. nic robertson was actually there. we actually have some of the video that you shot. what year was this that you were there? >> 2002. and it had already been bombed by coalition forces back in 1991. and weapons inspectors, u.n. weapons inspectors had been there in the mid-90s. so when i was there, i was writing about these rusting rows of chemical weapons equipment. again, i was back there with the u.n. weapons inspectors. it must have been an important site because that was the seventh site they visited after they arrived. they went to a lot of sites. so it was a key one. this was the birthplace of saddam hussein's chemical weapons, the heart of his chemical weapons facility. it was at its maximum production in the 80s when iraq was at war with iran. it had been sort of idled after that. again, bombed in '91. when was there you had this desert site, 15 square mile, bunkers. a semi secure site. so

bigger picture, arwa damon, let me bring you in. senior international correspondent and lieutenant general mark hurtling rejoining us this week, commander of u.s. forces in iraq from 2007 to 2009. welcome to both of you. arwa, let me just begin with, you have been to this -- this plant. what was it like? and could these terrorists, could this isis group weaponize the chemicals? >> reporter: well, to start with your second question first, it's highly unlikely that whatever chemical materials have been left behind could in their current form be manufactured into some sort of chemical weapon. that's not to say, though, that it's entirely impossible. frankly, i'm not an expert. but from what we know about the materials that are stored there, this was a site that was visited by the united nations weapons inspectors back in 2002. our own nic robertson going along with them. even back then they were deemed not to be of chemical weapons manufacturing grade in the sense that they were not actually immediately capable of turning these into an

arwa damon for us this morning.hanks, arwa. >> the politics of iraq front and center right now in washington. house speaker john boehner really lashing out at the president, saying the president made a mistake removing u.s. troops so quickly and so completely, also accusing the president of taking a nap on iraq, ignoring the gains made by terrorists over the last year. republicans now calling for air strikes against the militants. the iraqi government calling for the same thing. meanwhile, former secretary of state hillary clinton is also weighing in. she says she is surprised by how effective the militant group isis has been. >> this is not just a syrian problem anymore. i never thought it was just a syrian problem. i thought it was a regional problem. i could not have predicted, however, the extent to which isis could be effective in seizing cities in iraq and trying to erase boundaries to create an islamic state. >> mrs. clinton says what's happening in iraq is dreadful and a deteriorating situation. >> and that

arwa damon, excellent work. stay safe where you are. arwa reporting live from iraq.onel, thank you. ryan cooper, thank you as well. we're not done yet. after this break, we'll run some numbers by you on the terror group that's taken iraq by storm. you will not believe the kind of material that they've been compiling for years on their financing and their human resources. i kid you not. it's like a financial report. and it's pretty sophisticated. going to run it down for you after the break. are the largest targets in the world, for every hacker, crook and nuisance in the world. but systems policed by hp's cyber security team are constantly monitored for threats. outside and in. that's why hp reports and helps neutralize more intrusions than anyone... in the world. if hp security solutions can help keep the world's largest organizations safe, they can keep yours safe, too. make it matter. the porter was so incredibly... careful... careless... with our bags. and the room they gave us -- it was... beautiful. a broom closet. but the best part but the worst part was the s

arwa, let me go to you. i watched your whole piece from last year and the fact that you tracked this man down, ahmed abu khattalah and sat with him in this cafe. he took at issue your tone, it sounded like his fear of talking to u.s. officials would be that it would be more of an interrogation. what do you make of this question, what took the u.s. so long? >> i think one has to look at the groundwork that existed in libya at the time that we sat down with abu khattalah. this was almost exactly a year ago, may of 2013, when we first met him. it was at a time when america's relationships with the libyan government was tenuous at best. there was a lot of anti-american sentiment, and therefore not a lot of support within the libyan security forces, nor within the government in and of itself to actually allow the u.s. to conduct any sort of raid on libyan soil or any sort of attempt to capture him. there were also a lot of concerns at the time that his capture, especially at the hands of u.s. forces, would perhap

arwa damon is standing by, in erbil iraq right now. you actually met this man, ahmed abu khattalah, in libya, more than a year ago. you sat down with him. i want to show our viewers your fascinating report. it aired on cnn september of last year. >> u.s. officials have often suggested that they would be interested in speaking to a man named ahmed abu khattalah about the events the night of the attack. he's really not that difficult to find. we met with ahmed abu khattalah in public at the coffee shop of a well-known hotel here in benghazi for around two hours. he seemed to be confident, his demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon. and he agreed to let us film audio, but not video, of our conversation. he doesn't deny that he was there the night of the attack. [ speaking foreign language ] he claims he didn't even know the americans had a consulate in benghazi. never mind having any information about a specific location. his narrative is unclear and at times seems to b

arwa, thanks very much. nic robertson as well. set your dvr and watch 360 whenever you would like. >>> american faces and europeaners, british, french people being called to wage holy war in the region. this is a recruiting video calling on people to join the caravan of jihad and martyrdom. that's what they call it. the man in it believed to be an american man from florida who blew himself up. >>> later, breaking news, details on the operation capture a suspect in the benghazi killings, and clinton reacting in a cnn town hall. i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there. i make a lot of purchases foand i get ass. lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in th

arwa damon is in erbil this evening. arwa, how quickly are the militants advancing? >> very quickly. if we just look at what happened over the last four days, they managed to bring the fight to about an hour's drive away from the iraqi capital, capturing not just key territory, but also as iraqi security forces abandoned their positions, getting their hands on u.s.-made humvee, various other vehicles, not to mention heavy weaponry and ammunition, erin. >> and why have they been able to advance so quickly, arwa? >> because they're not just fighting on their own. alongside them are also various sunni insurgent groups quite prominent during the u.s. occupation of iraq as well as the sunni tribes. now they don't necessarily subscribe to isis's ideology. they don't want to see a caliphate set up in iraq. but they do believe this is an existential battle between the sunnis and the shias, and they feel as if they have to take a stand against the predominantly shia government in baghdad, erin. >> and arwa, at this point, what is the view from where you are in terms of the vu

and arwa makes a great point about the sunni beltway. getting the local support of the sunni tribal leaders. this is what we've also seen in anbar province. i was in baghdad in january when that was unfolding. why are the sunni tribal leaders giving these guys support is it because of the actions of nuri al maliki who is being a sectarian since he became to power. he's basically cut them out of the equation. it's important and vital to remember that most of the sunni tribes don't love isis. they don't like being governed under those sorts of laws. historically sunnis do not like being told what to do by anyone from saddam through to now isis. but you're faced with a situation where they have been cut down, persecuted, ostracized by a shia sectarian government and now their enemy's enemy is their friend. and so you have them joining together in some ways to fight a common enemy. they do not have the same ultimate agenda despite being of the same sunni faith. when you look at what happened in libya, we had all these tribal militias who tra

arwa damon is in northern iraq. you were there in 2003 covering the war. you've been there so long. how do you think the president's admonition to maliki, shiite-led government in baghdad will play? will they at that time stetake to bring in iraqi sunnis, create a accept blesemblance of a more government that the united states is demanding as a precursor before the understand takes any military assistance? >> reporter: one really just has to look at iraq's recent history and prime minister nuri al maliki's actions at every sipping sg sending sgsingle step of the way. he has made promises that he would be developing apan p clus sif government and he has done nothing except further alienate

we want to bring in arwa damon.n give us more an understanding of who this man is and how he operates as and john what you are seeing what he's been up to the last while. >> reporter: well, we actually met him around a year ago, and it was as barbara was mentioning there in an open space in a coffee shop of a very well-known hotel. he seemed to be confident that a man at that point of being hunted down. he was aware of the fact that the u.s. did consider him to be a person of interest. he was at the time being protected by the one of other islamist groups in benghazi. we did speak to him about the attack on the u.s. consulate. he does not deny being on the scene of the attack. he does fully deny or he did at the time that he was directly involved in any way and that he was in fact the orchestrater, the mastermind of the u.s. consulate attack. he had claimed he had arrived on scene after receiving a phone call from one of the libyan commanders on the ground requesting his assistance, and then that is why he showed up

arwa damon in erbil, that's in the largely kurdish northeast arwa, you met a man who told you how the group isis operates. tell us about that. >> reporter: that's right. he's from mosul which was the first city to fall when all of this began. and he took great risk to come out and speak to us on condition that he remain anonymous and that we disguise his voice. look at his clothes. he's not iraqi. he points out. it's not his real name speaking to us on condition we conceal his identity. his wife and children are still in mosul and could be slaughtered. he just escaped with this video he shot on his phone. he believes the man he filmed is afghan. from mosul to baghdad and jerusalem and speaking in broken arabic and wasn't iraqi. the images a rare glimpse into the murky world of isis and how it solidified its grasp. the kid is giving the isis fighter a kiss. some of the women were even throwing chocolate on them and shouting you saved us from the sectarian army, from maliki's army. because the army had harmed the people. put too much pressure on them. it's those actions that turned the

that's part of what we're seeing unfolding. >> arwa, stay with me now.ing in for some insights here on the isis threat and how to confront it. we can't show the video in its entirety. you have a sense of what's going on. what's the value to isis in showing this kind of thing? it's the very essence of terrorism. >> they fall very much in line with that terrorist doctrine. we're going to show what we normally do to the world. we're going to cause a huge amount of fear that we're going to broadcast. it's the essence of terrorism. >> the essence of terrorism, bob. that's what chris is saying. this is isis propaganda. how do you see the iraqi government responding to this in an effective way? >> well, that's the problem. these people will not surrender. they will not negotiate. they're intent is to purify their part of iraq and syria. there is no talking to them. the iraqi government at this point can completely crush them an drive them back into the desert or hope some mod ral element will take over. i don't see that now. this kind of violence going on there

i want to bring in our nic robertson now and arwa damon.nic, i want to start with you, that vice president biden had a phone call information with nuri al maliki. you've been talking to a lot of sources here on the ground. what are you hearing about the confidence people within the government and elsewhere have in nuri al maliki? >> confidence is low. there are politicians here really don't believe in his own party we're told by people or in conversation with them, they don't think that nuri al maliki is the man to make the compromises. he hasn't shown that so far. the decisions he has taken some people consider will have further alienated sunni politicians here. there are politicians that just don't feel that they can work with him. therefore, how can he really be the man to make concessions and move the country forward. a new prime minister is needed. now the election results from the last couple of months should have been ratified, and therefore that should begin a process towards the end of this month that would determine a new prime mi

arwa, what can you tell us about this syrian attack inside iraq? >> wolf, cnn spoke to the head of the anbar governing council, the provincial council, who said that the syrian air force struck at least three locations inside iraq. all of them along the iraqi/syrian border. the vast majority of casualties were civilians. we spoke to an eyewitness, a resident of one of those areas. the town of al qaim. he describes how he saw the first plane flying overhead. very surprised because they had been watching air strikes happen on the syrian side of the border for a few days. very surprised when he said that plane flew over into iraqi airspace, launching one attack, the first, he says, struck an area where refugees from the iraqi city of fallujah had fled to. the second air strike happening inside a fairly busy marketplace. now, all of this is also interesting, wolf, because the syrian government, for quite some time now, has known exactly where isis positions inside syria have been, and yet for the last few months, its response to then, its actions again

to arwa's point. to arwa's point also, he is not clear maliki will get his act together.it is a democracy. we can't dictate who the government should be. it was a very clear signal that this president would just assume it weren't al maliki. i don't know if his other choices are any better or worse. so he left out the possibility, he said, you know, ma'am can i has been asking for air strikes. he left it out there. she had, you know, we reserve the right to do that. right now we are sending in these 300 adviser. let's see what happened. he doesn't want mission creep but he doesn't want to side with maliki if he gets more of the same. so it is a very delicate dance here with maliki, with what he does with americans and with what he decides to do in the future and he has to keep an eye on intelligence. now he has to have eyes on the ground and is going to have his intelligence in place and see if maliki comes through -- >> how long does the u.s. -- how long does the u.s. wait to see if maliki gets his act together? >> i don't know the answer to that. i think that that is som

arwa damon. >>> coming up at 5:00 p.m.entire hour to the crisis in iraq. we've got a team of cnn's most senior international correspondents. they're going to be with us to break down what is happening there. how it all came to be. what happens now. how dangerous the situation has become. we have three very experienced people who spent many, many years in the middle east covering this war and elsewhere as well. so, do be sure to join us at the top of the hour 5:00 p.m. eastern. we'll break it all down for you, what is happening now and the hesstry that brought us here. back to you, ana. >>> there are a lot of american citizens living and working there in iraq. they're now getting out of the country as the security situation is growing less certain. among those evacuating u.s. contractors who are there in iraq to help the country buy military equipment, in fact. now, alexandra steel is following this angle. how many people are we talking about here? where are they going? >> the state department isn't assigning a lot of speci

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they are taking upwards. >> arwa, thank you, nick robertson, as well. set your dvr and watch 360 whenever you would like. >>> american faces and europeaners, british, french people called to wage holy war in the region. this is recruiting video calling on people to join the caravan of jihad, the man in it believed to be an american man from florida who blew himself up. >>> breaking news, details on the operation capture suspect in the benghazi killings and clinton reacting in a cnn town hall. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. i got more advice than i knew what to do with. what i needed was information i

also joining me is arwa damon, 50 miles east of mosul. in terms of -- let's talk about these videos that have been released. disturbing videos, purporting mass executions. it's impossible to verify numbers. they're saying 1700 people that they've killed, lining them up, shooting them in ditches. but clearly that is designed to exacerbate the sectarian tensions in this country? >> absolutely. i mean, this is designed so that any shiite persons in this country that sees it, sees a sunni man with a gun, killing a shiite man, that's going to enrage those sectarian tensions that exist. baghd baghdadi wants to attack the sunnis, that will then further radicalize the sunnis and all those sort of sunnis in this country who are relatively moderate, sitting on the fence, that will drive them toward isis, baghdad and the commander. >> he wants to grow his organization out of it, he doesn't want stability in the capital here, the tribesmen fighting with them do, but he doesn't. he wants them to come over to him, not to any other group. >> he wants su

prayers for all and banning women from movements outside their home without a male guardian. >> arwa baghdad and in new york, a former fbi supervisor special agent. iraqi military officials are claiming they have been able to make gains today against isis. is that for real? because they seem to make a lot of claims that are hard to actually verify. >> reporter: and that is still the case, anderson. very difficult to actually obtain accurate independent information about what is taking place on the ground. now, according to state television, according to the government, they have managed to make sole gains in takreet and air dropped special commandos into the university premises. in all they are claiming to have killed 40 militants when it comes to the military, the government claiming to have control over it but at this stage conflicting reports about that and the front lines in the province to the west of the capital existing there. at this stage, the government wanting to present an image of being an entity that is under control whose security forces are actually beginning take the

nic robertson and arwa damon.rwa, isis continue to gain ground, what's the latest on their advance? >> the most strategic gains, the capturing of the iraqi border posts along the border with syria. what this means, isis now controls massive swaths of territory inside iraq directly linked to the territory that it controls inside syria. giving it utter freedom of movement whether it comes to, weaponry, military armor, and personnel. this is a key strategic route that they now control through anbar province, the euphrates river valley and gives them direct access to the outskirts of baghdad. andersen. >> nic, going to form a new government by july 1, is there any indication in the short term that that will change the situation on the ground? >> there really isn't, andersen. this is a process that begins, 30 days after the process to nominate a president, then another 15 days to nominate a prime minister, key contested positions. then another 30 days by the constitution to have a government form. we are talking about

arwa is there for us. these al qaeda inspired ice sis fighters are dramatically moving now and a lot of u.s. trained iraqi military forces, they are simply collapsing in the face of the defenses by these ice sis forces. what's going on? >> reporter: wolf, the iraqi security forces have not been putting up a fight. we saw mosul fall really quickly with estimates around 800 ice sis fighters managing to drive out two brigades of the iraqi army and tikrit, saddam hussein's hometown showing what appear to be hundreds of individuals described as members of the iraqi security forces being detained by ice sis, the iraqi government saying it does now have tikrit under control, another key city as well and the oil rich city of kirkuk and ice sis taking over some cities and villages of that province before kurdish fighters very well-known as being a formidable fighting force by their own right, being the main entity that managed to drive ice sis out of kirkuk, now saying they are the ones that are largely in control.

my cnn colleague arwa damon has met this the man. she joins me live now from iraq with much much more. you'll have to remind us who this man is, what he is suspected to have done, with regards to this attack. you were probably one of the first reporters on that outpost. take us through what this means, arwa. >> ahmed abdul khattalah was one of the main suspects in the benghazi attack that killed chris stevens as well as members of his security detail. khattalah was believed by the u.s. to be a leader of the islamist group that's believed to be behind the attack. we met him about a year ago. he did not seem to be acting like a man would was in hiding. he was very confident. we met in a public space in benghazi at a fairly well known hotel at a coffee shop. he was accompanied by a few members of one of the other islamist militias. he was debbing any sort of direct involvement in what took place at the u.s. consulate. he was not denying that he was actually on the scene. he claims to have gone there because one of the libyan commanders

arwa damon is in the north inner bill. isis continuing to gain ground.advance? >> well, the most strategic gains they've managed to make has been the capturing of the iraqi border post along the border with syria. what this means is that isis now controls massive swathes of territory inside iraq directly linked to the territory that it controls inside syria, giving it utter freedom of movement whether it comes to weaponry, military armor, and personnel. this is a key strategic route that they now control through anbar province down the euphrates river valley that gives them direct access to the western outskirts of the capital baghdad. >> and nick with, maliki telling kerry he's going to form a new government by july 1st, is there any indication at least in the short term that that will change the situation on the ground? >> there really isn't, anderson. this is actually a process that begins july 1st. 30 days after that the process begins to nominate a president and then another 15 days to nominate a prime minister. that key contested position. another

. >> arwa damon is joining us. she's in erbil, iraq. arwa, both sides of this conflict, they're trying to boost their numbers right now. give us a little sense of the strategy that's unfolding. >> well, wolf, you talk about trying to boost your numbers. you have isis producing that super slick recruitment video. really impressive when you look at the production value of it. and then of course there's the very chilling statements that are being made trying to lure in various other so-called jihadis from around the world. the language being spoken, arabic and english as well, trying to really reach out to that ex-pat jihadi community. one of the people that are speaking, boasting they have fighters ranging from bangladesh, the uk. on the ground, wolf, isis also trying to continue in its effort to boost its ranks. we're hearing increasingly they are turning back to that fear strategy they've used on so many battlefields that sadly works so well, terrorizing the population into supporting them. also at this stage, given the alliance they ha

arwa, thanks. >> let's take a closer look at the u.s.q at this point. >> joining us now is retired u.s. officer, douglas oliphant. former director for u.s. counsel during the bush and obama administrations. >> so douglas, as international human rights, this is the other thing we're hearing this morning, these rights groups are continuing to investigate reports of atrocities by both sides in iraq of mass killings, of the murder of prisoners. how do those things, coming from both sides, complicate any u.s. intervention? >> well, they certainly complicate things. we know that isis has done these atrocities. they're advertising them, they're reveling in them, they're taking great pride in what they're doing. they could easley be occurring on the other side as well, we don't know that, they're certainly not talking about it. but they have the potential to accelerate the sunni/shia conflict and bring people who otherwise wouldn't participate in this conflict, you know, neighborhood gangs, things of this nature, unorganized militias, into the c

let's begin with arwa. curdish forces in the north appear to be standing their own ground against these isis militants. what can you tell us about the very latest? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. the front lines are moving closer to baghdad with the fight seeming to focus on areas about an hour to the north of the capital. there are fairly significant battles under way between most and the syrian border. as isis was moving throughout this territory launching that massive offensive there really was one force that stood up to them. we can barely see beyond the tree line. they are ready should isi circumstancisis try to advance. the iraqi army abandoned this and other positions even before isis arrived. it's contesting the resolve. they have attacked and we pushed them back. up to 200 fighters armed with the welcomes and vehicles be iraq army used to have. we try to ask people if they saw isis down the road. the first two cars say there's nothing. it's hard to tell if people are afraid. the family in this car

>> arwa damon, be careful over there in iraq. arwa damon., powerful report. >>> as terrorists push relentlessly toward baghdad, president obama says he won't send american troops back into iraq, but how deeply could the united states get involved? joining us now, sebastian junger. also joining us, tara maller of the new american foundation. and a contributing editor at the "national review." sebastian, what should the u.s. be doing right now, if anything, in iraq? >> well, that's a complicated question. i've never covered iraq, but i think a unit like the 173rd airborne, the guys i was with in afghanistan, are pretty well suited to dropping in there and at least carving out a safe area around embassy. but, you know, that's -- i think it really depends on what the iraqi security forces do. >> tara, you've studied iraq for a long time. what is nuri al maliki going to do? because the president basically lectured him today, you've got to take steps before the u.s. gets involved militarily. >> well, i was listening a little bit earlier and based

happen to take that away and that's happening most certainly across the country at this stage. >> arwa, you talk about mosul, the first to fall to isis for s forces, they have a vision of what life should be like. they apparently posted, you know, new rules for the town, women, you know, should stay indoors, no smoking, no drinking, no music, things like that. do we know what life has become like in mosul? have they started to institute their rule of law there? >> they have but perhaps in a more subtle way than we've seen them try to impose their rule of law in syria. for example, they are encouraging people to abide by the rules at this stage. let's also remember that they are trying to keep this relationship that they have going on currently with the sunni tribes and various other insurgent groups as a fairly solid one-and-one that loose arrangement was made to bring these sunni groups together to launch this current offensive. isis was supposed to abide by certain rules and that's not to impose their interpretation on the population, most certainly not to carry out the mass executio

here is arwa damon. >> reporter: isis is also distributing much needed cooking gas to families, even cheaper price than the iraqi government used to. in the nation where the day to day basics are such a necessity for survival, act likes this do garner good will. but isis is also implementing its harsh interpretation of islamist law. obligatory prayers for all, and banning women from movements outside their home without a male guardian. >> arwa joins me now from baghdad. and alli sufan. iraqi military officials are claiming they have been able to make some gains today against isis. that for real? they seem to make a lot of claims that are hard to actually verify. >> and that's still the case, anderson. very difficult to actually obtain accurate, independent information about what is taking place on the ground. now, according to state television, according to the government, they have managed to make some gains in tikrit, saddam hussein's hometown. the government is saying that they launched air strikes and then actually air dropped special commandos into the tikrit university premises

arwa damon on the hunt for boko haram.is week, coming here on cnn. >>> this week also, marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most publicized murders in american history. remember this? >> going to be a lot better tomorrow, believe me. please. we'll let you go up to the house but we need you to throw that out 0 the window. >> o.j. simpson's wild ride, leading to a trial that in many ways changed america. ♪ ♪ ♪ that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ so, if you're what ysleeping in your is youcontact lenses, let's close the gap between people and care. ask about the air optix® contacts so breathable they're approved for up to 30 nights of continuous wear. ask your doctor about safety information as serious eye problems may occur. visit airoptix.c

arwa damon is live. give us a sense of the latest situation on the ground. >> reporter: well, the iraqi's capabilities to protect themselves is being thrown into question. they seem to be mounting more of a defense, resistance as isia and allies get close tore baghdad. 45 minute drive from the capitol. there's debate whether or not the u.s. should strike. that, at this stage, not on the table. it is one of the options president obama is considering with the u.s. sending more manpower and fire power into the region. one of the main concerns, of course, is the sheer brutality of the organization like isis. horrific videos of executions are rising on the internet, posted by isis fighters. in one video you see a bearded man standing over five individuals who were members of the border guard. he's ordering them to repeat things. the third appears to be struggling. he seems to be dehydrated. not fully aware of what's happening around him. he's pushed back. a gunpointed to his neck. in another video, he's seen

arwa damon and jim schutto joins me. these drones, sounds like an escalation.t does it sound like air strikes from the u.s.? >> not for offensive operations, primaimarily for force protecti. you'll have 300 u.s. military advisors on ground if they get in trouble they need a backup as possibility but i spoke earlier today to john kirby, and said listen, you know, if there is a situation baghdad comes under threat, other key assets come under threat, could these be called, you know, into action and he said yes, we're prepared for all missions but that order would have to come from the president. >> this conflict in iraq is linked to syria but word isis has their eyes on jordan, which is a significant u.s. ally and has been up to now relatively stable. >> and that is a legitimate concern, anderson. they have been dealing with problems when it comes to the population. let's not forget that al qaeda and iraq's first leader was of jordan descent, as well. that being said. this is already a region conflict. you have the regional power houses in a stand off in both the

what is the latest on this front, arwa?he country's christian minority has long been subjected to all sorts of horrific violence. especially when iraq's sectarian warfare was raging and now the fears are mounting once again. on a dusty street corner in the christian enclave, they tried to pretend that things are normal. that isis fighters aren't potentially just moments away from slaughtering them. we all have our bags ready if anything happens we will leave, he says. the first city to fall to the terrorist group is right next door. in 2005 there were a series of attacks against churches in baghdad. after that the youth decided to ban together and form their own civilian defense units. that's been going on pretty much ever since. but neither efforts have really intensify ied. they don't want us filming their check points or other measures they put into place. especially isis just a ten-minute drive away. most shops are closed. the owners either fled or don't bother opening. not everyone can afford generators. it's a grim ex

arwa, thanks very much.on in northern iraq. >>> they could be dividing the country into three. deadly conflict, plus the huge blow to u.s. efforts to contain the crisis in iraq. the prime minister of iraq rejecting calls for an emergency government of national unity. was secretary of state john kerry's baghdad mission a failure? i'll ask marie hearth. welcome. >> thanks, wolf. thank ythank you for defendiyour sacrifice. and thank you for your bravery. thank you colonel. thank you daddy. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. nobody ever stomped their foot and aske

nic robertson and arwa damon are both standing by in iraq. i'll also speak with a key iraqi insider. let's begin with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what are you learning? >> would he have, the latest is the pentagon a short time ago announced u.s. military advisors are back on the ground inside iraq. about 130 of them now near the embassy in baghdad and working to set up a joint operation center in the baghdad region with the iraqis. that's 130 advisors there, and another 50 on the way in the coming days, all part of the president's plan to send up to 300 military advisors into iraq. their first job, they're going to stick around the baghdad area for a while. they will assess what the state of iraqi forces are, what the state of isis forces are. iraqi forces as we know up in the north and the west in some sense of disarray after isis has come through. what is the i.c.e. state of play? i.c.e. the latest estimate, there may be up to 10,000 insurgents in this region between syria and iraq. the border having virtually disappeared. peo

arwa damon spent years covering the conflict in iraq. she's joining us now from london. another horrible situation but this time, arwa, iraq's second largest city is in turmoil. >> that's right, wolf. and this is beyond a disastrous situation for the iraqi government and for the security forces that clearly were unable to push back these militant fighters who carried out what is a very coordinated and well-planned attack. within hours, huge swaths fell to the islamic state of iraq and syria, an al qaeda splintered group so fierceless that the taliban has broken away from them. >> translator: all of them have fallen in addition to weapon caches. >> reporter: residents fled on foot. people are walking into the barron countryside. many blame the central government for failing to heed warning that isa was planning this. they have taken over the city of falluja which was rescued from insurgents decades ago. the u.s. once declared that it had al qaeda and iraq on the run and commanders publicly stating that iraq's security forces could maintain, quote, the security gains. many

our arwa damon spoke to him in ben gadzy in 2013 and she's out front tonight with this exclusive. >>ingleader of the u.s. attack in benghazi captured by u.s. forces working with the fbi. u.s. officials had often suggested that they would be interested in speaking to a man named ahmed abu khatallah about the events the night of the attack. he really wasn't that difficult to find. we met with ahmed abu khatallah in public at the coffee shop of a well known hotel here in benghazi for around two hours. he seemed to be confident. his demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed that he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon. and he agreed to let us film audio but not video of our conversation. he doesn't deny that he was there the night of the attack. can you describe in detail that night for us? what time did you get the news? when did you arrive and what did you see? >> translator: is this a journalistic interview or an investigation? >> reporter: it's a journalistic interview. >> translator: the way that you are asking is like an interrogation. >> reporter: what t

and that possibility clearly exists, doesn't it, arwa? >> it does. there's also great concerns about the oil fields that exist in the southern part of the country. yes, that is predominantly shia compared to the rest of iraq, that has been relatively secure. but great concerns the sunni insurgency could make its way down there. or even if they launched one significant impact against one of the western oil companies based here that could potentially send everyone for the exit doors out of iraq, and without that critical oil revenue, upon which the vast majority of the iraqi economy is dependent, this government would find itself in even more trouble than it's in right now, wolf. >> and if that iraqi oil export revenue dries up if iraqi oil production dries up, that's going to raise the price per barrel and people are going to be paying a lot more money for gasoline here in the united states and around the world. bringing the benghazi suspect to justice in the united states, republicans are calling for a detour to gitmo. up next, we'll take a closer lo

. >> reporter: but some wonder why it took so long, when journalists like cnn's arwa damon were able to find and talk to khattala more than a year ago. >> we met with ahmed abu khattala in public at the coffee shop of a well-known hotel here in benghazi for around two hoursdamon were able to find ank hourshours. he seemed to be confident, his demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon. >> reporter: so, how could cnn get to khattala and it took u.s. commandos over a year to find him? >> and in order to do this safely, effectively, efficiently, nobody got hurt, by the way that takes time to plan, that takes a lot of information gathering and we did this in a very stealthy way. >> joining me now to talk about it barbara starr at the pentagon, and chief security expert, jim shoot toe. good morning to both of you. barbara, get to you first, you know how these operations work very well. what else do we know about the unit that captured khattala? >> well, these were army delta force commandos, along with the fbi and delta for

arwa, where are you? i wonder what the response is you've been hearing because you've been talking to kurdish person merga fighters who've been able to take over kirkuk and hold other areas resisting isis. what are people you're talking to, what is their response to these videos? >> well, they're absolutely horrified, anderson. understandably. iraq has been through an incredible amount of violence over the last decade, ever since saddam hussein was ousted from power by the u.s.-led invasion. but will tell you that this level of brutality is something that is novel even for this country. the kurds, they have managed to hold isis at bay, especially critical is their ability to have kept isis fighters out of the oil-rich city of kirkuk, but that doesn't mean isis is not continuously launching operations to try to test the person merga, that's the fighting forces result, but at the same time the kurds are also urging a lot of caution moving forward because of those escalating sectarian tensions that you've be

one of the colonels that defected spoke exclusively to arwa damon in iraq. arwa joins me live.nteresting, and we started off by asking him what happened on that day when isis fighters began pushing towards his position. he does command around 600 men and why did they abandon their posts. [ speaking foreign language ] >>translator: we got a call from the brigade commander saying leave the base, move to headquarters, bring whatever you can with you. when we got there, the brigade headquarters was already taken over. the terrorists were right behind us. >> you grabbed whatever you could as you and your unit were fleeing, so what kind of weaponry and military hardware did you leave behind that's now in the hands of isis? >>translator: 25 humvees, 80 other vehicles and trucks, weapons, 600 callish na could haves, ten sniper rifles, 20 rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, 122 millimeter mortar rounds. >> you say your unit is predominantly sunni, these are predominantly sunni areas of iraq, so there wasn't that desire to fight on behalf of the predominantly shi'a government. but what

and our senior international correspondent arwa damon is standing by in the city of irbil. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, the main road away from mosul, a few line of vehicles, people fleeing the city of mosul. not necessarily because they were fleeing isis. they were saying that the fighters were there but they weren't really bothering anybody. they were fleeing because of the fear of the government air strikes. what was also interesting was kurdish fighters that have gone in and tried to prevent isis from moving forward and recovering some of those vehicles and driving them into the kurdish northern territory. people going back, jake, saying that they believed isis when they said that they could come back and live in peace and they wouldn't be executing anybody and this is really at the core of it, about secretatarian poli that exists here and they believe it's a battle between the sunni and shiite politics and they don't want to be subjected to the kind of alienation to the kind of all alienation that they've been feeling from the government. >> arwa, thank yo

but arwa, let me ask about the u.s. embassy, the largest u.s. embassy in the world, almost like its own city, a compound. what's being done to shore up the embassy in baghdad? >> reporter: well, the u.s. has historically been secretive about its own security measures. we are hearing they are taking out some of the nonessential staff, relocating them as diplomatic speak goes, sending in additional teams to try to ensure the security of the embassy. it's located well inside the very heavily fortified green zone, although at this stage, of course, the green zone's perimeter in and of itself is being protected by the iraqi security forces. although it is a unit that is very loyal to shia prime minister nouri al maliki. there are also, as you have been reporting, preparations under way for an evacuation, should it actually reach that stage. although i can tell you, brooke, if we do reach that stage, iraq will not be able to come back and recover from that kind of violence. >> arwa damon, thank you. i see my next guest nodding, a man who knows the vio

arwa damon is in urbil. watching this happen, it begs the question and we've heard u.s.fficials say they want to avoid. we've heard the president say, we want to avoid sliding into a civil war. but what you're seeing happen, does it meet the definition of a civil war, do you think? >> well it's so multilayered and complex, brianna. you really have this sunni insurgency that is being currently dominated by isis, the islamic state of iraq and syria it most certainly is pitting the sunni population that has been feeling really disenfranchised, by the prime minister's form of governance, viewing his policies as being geared towards the shia majority, his shia base, his politics incredibly polarizing and really ripping this country apart. along sectarian lines. so it looks like it might be sunni versus shia, at this stage. but like everything that happens in this battlefield, again it's a very multi-layered tapestry of different things intersecting within one another. the sunnis that are currently seeming to be fighting alongside isis do not subscribe to their ideology. and s