he spoke exclusively to our foreign affairs reporter, elise labott. >> some people say bowe bergdahl is being swift boated. do you agree with that? did he serve with honor and distinct as national security adviser? >> there's plenty of time for people to sort through what happened, what didn't happen. i don't know all of the facts. >> sound look you're not sure he served with honor. >> that's not what i'm saying, elise. what i'm saying is, there's plenty of time for people to sort through that, what i know today is what the president of the united states knows, that it would have been offensive and incomprehensible to consciously leave an american behind new york matter what leave an american behind nshth hands of people who tortured him, cut off his head, any number of things and we would consciously decide to do that? that's the other side of the equation. i don't think anybody would think that's the appropriate thing to do. >> house members will receive a briefing on that bergdahl swap tomorrow. defense secretary chuck hagel then set to testify on wednesday. question number two fo

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he talked about this in the interview with elise labott in france this week.ant your reaction. >> president obama has already made it clear, he's raising what we are doing with respect to syria. he's increasing the aid to the opposition. there's now a much more coordinated effort with the opposition. >> clearly you and the president have been talking about stepping it up. susan rice said you're providingletal aid to the opposition. are you arming them? >> i don't know what susan -- >> lethal and nonlethal aid. >> we are giving them assistance. obviously, we have told people that, made it very clear. there is a proposal in the congress of the united states to openly do that. and i think she may have been suggesting -- we're supportive of this. >> sounds like you're supportive of arming the rebels now. >> the proposal that came out and the president i believe is of the proposal that passed the foreign relations committee which is to -- >> arm the rebels. >> which is to do that. that's correct. >> all right. cut through the political speak for us, is the u.s. arm

senior international correspondent nic robertson is in baghdad and elise labott in washington. nic, first of all, let's start with you. the militants in baquba? is that right? that's a short drive from baghdad. >> reporter: 45-minute drive from baghdad, michael. iraqi army forces were told to evacuate the big base in baqubah on saturday. they were told to take their weapons with them. they did that. within an hour, we're told, that isis fighters had entered the base. this is very strategically important for them, bringing them closer to baghdad and isis taken another town in the north of the country not far from mosul, like a mopping up operation to keep the momentum going southwards. they raced past the town to get to mosul and then telafar apparently put up some fight. and what's interesting about this is the prime minister drew a line in the sand in samarrah and said isis won't get south than this. they went around and took a town an hour's drive south of there, michael. >> you said they took a bit of a detour around there and left it alone. that, of course, the place of ser

kerry spoke to elise labott. >> we're told that these five can roam around country, pretty vague on whathose restrictions and monitoring are. i mean, tell me about that. and on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most confidence, how confident are you that qataris are able to keep a close eye on these guys? >> they're not only ones keeping an eye on them. >> the u.s. is monitoring them? >> i'm tell you, they're not the only one keeping an eye on them. we have confidence in those requirements. they're violated, then we have ability to be able to do things. i -- >> what kind of things? >> i'm not -- elise, i'm not telling you that they don't have some ability at some point to go back and get involved. but they also have an ability to get killed doing that. and i don't think anybody should doubt the capacity of the united states of america to protect americans. >> you mean you would kill them. >> no wouldn't should doubt the capacity of america to protect americans and the president has always said he will do whatever is necessary in or to protect the united states of america. so these guy

kerry sat down with elise labott and ask how closely will the five released taliban prisoners be watchede five can roam around the country, pretty vague on what the restrictions and monitoring are. tell me about that. and on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most confident, how confident are you that the qataris are going to be able to keep a close eye on these guys? >> they are not the only ones keeping an eye on them. >> the u.s. is going to keep an eye on them? >> i'm just telling you that they are not going to be the only ones keeping an eye on them and there are requirements and if they are violated, we have the ability to do things. elise, i am not telling you that they don't have some ability at some point to go back and get involved but they also have the ability to get killed doing that. i don't think anybody should doubt the capacity of the united states of america to protect americans. no one should doubt the capacity of america to protect americans. and the president has always said he will do whatever is necessary in order to protect the united states of america. so these

. >> jim, you heard secretary of state john kerry tell elise labott that the u.s.ll follow these guys and will monitor these guys and he strongly implied that, if necessary, if they go back on the battlefield, they could wind up dead. >> that's his contention. i think the u.s. is going to do their best to track these guys down. i think experience shows that's difficult once they are on the ground in a country like that. but the u.s. is well-sourced there. they will still have 9,000 troops on the ground at the end of the year. it's a possibility and i'm sure they will do the best that they can do. >> is there a difference between the afghani taliban? we saw the horrible attack on the airport in karachi killing a lot of people. >> absolutely. that was wanton terrorism. it's a different organization. it operates differently. of course the afghan taliban has been engaged and has used the haqqani network over the past few years but the afghan taliban movement has political goals which the pakistan taliban movement doesn't have. >> why would the haqqani terrorists who we

elise labott at the state department.. >>> just ahead, as fighting rages, arwa damon is on the ground in iraq. there she is. we'll go there live. >>> president obama says he won't send u.s. troops back to iraq, but how deeply could the u.s. get involved militarily? >>> and our panel of experts. that's all coming up. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. so what i'm saying is, people like options. when you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. it don't matter, day or night. use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. the point is, you have options. oh, how convenient. hey. crab cakes, what are you looking at? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car

. >> elise labott, thank you. >>> let's dive deeper. joining us now is former national security adviser for iraq and afghanistan under president george w. bush, megan o'sullivan, now an international affairs professor at harvard's kennedy school. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> what, if anything, surprises you most about this deteriorating situation there in iraq? >> well, i think the most surprising element to people, even who have watched this very closely, is how rapidly the iraqi security forces seem to crumble when faced with isi threat in the north. this when we dig deeper is an entirely surprising when we see how much the force was politicized over the last two and a half years. but even still, it was quite a dramatic throwing down of their arms and leaving open the battlefield in the gateway to baghdad fairly open. >> it seemed like a forest fire in terms of how quickly they spread throughout the country. the u.s. is ex-ploploring direc talks with iran. it is an idea that has lawmakers split. listen to what senator lind

on cnn's "state of the union" he suggested to elise labott that the u.s. eturned to the fight. >> elise, i'm not telling you they don't have some ability at some point to go back and get involved, but they also have an ability to get killed doing that. >> reporter: senate intelligence chairman dianne feinstein on cbs said she isn't buying that. >> i heard john kerry this morning say, you know, don't worry about them in dohar. you can't help but worry about them in dohar. >> what of that alleged taliban threat to kill bergdahl if word of the prisoner swap leaked? feinstein said she didn't believe there was a credible threat. >> no, i do not. i've heard of none. let me put it that way. >> reporter: the senior u.s. official says once a prisoner exchange deal was reached with burg dal's captors, the u.s. had to move quickly because of intelligence, other taliban elements might kill him to keep him out of u.s. hands. so far bowe bergdahl has not phoned his parents we are told. u.s. officials are also saying that the fbi indeed is continuing to investigate threat

cnn's elise labott is joining us with the latest developments out of washington. >> reporter: senatort has called for military action from iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons now says it's time for the u.s. to talk to the iranians about iraq. they aren't sure what form it will take, but u.s. and iranian officialtion are meeting in vienna. that can be an opportunity. i think we're talking more an exchange of views than the u.s. and iran teaming up. there are pros and cons for the u.s. both have an interest in a stable iraq but the iranians have a significant influence in the country. nuri al maliki, top iranian commander in iraq this week offering advice to the government. the u.s. is concerned that being se seen to side with iran can make u.s. allies nervous and they don't want to muddy the waters with these nuclear talks. they need to tread very carefully. >> elise, thank you very much. the situation in iraq is bad, getting worse. how do we know? the u.s. is sending more people there, getting marines ready, trying to get people out of the embassy. what do we do next? to