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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Obama Says No Troops to Iraq, Other Options on Table; Background on ISIS; ISIS Claims Control; Bergdahl Returns to U.S.

Aired June 13, 2014 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. We're continuing our breaking news on the crisis in Iraq.

And as the world sees that country fall deeper into the clutches of Islamic radical, the question no longer seems whether the U.S. is going to jump back into the fight, but how, when and to what extent.

CNN has learned that the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush will be moving into the Persian Gulf, but we're also told that does not necessarily mean right away that U.S. airstrikes are imminent or have even been decided upon.

We have also just heard President Obama addressing this glowing crisis on his way to Joint Base Andrews for the trip out West and just what he wants out of the Iraqi government.

Here's what he said as he was about to board Marine One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED: Good morning, everybody. I want to take some time to give and you quick update about the situation in Iraq.

Yesterday I convened a meeting with my National Security Council to discuss the situation there, and this morning I received an update from my team. Over the last several days, we've seen significant gains made by ISIL, a terrorist organization that operates in both Iraq and in Syria

In the face of a terrorist offensive, Iraqi security forces have proven unable to defend a number of cities, which has allowed the terrorists to overrun a part of Iraq's territory, and this poses a danger to Iraq and its people, and given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat eventually to American interests as well.

Now this threat is not brand-new. Over the last year, we've been steadily ramping up our security assistance to the Iraqi government with increased training, equipping and intelligence.

Now Iraq needs additional support to break the momentum of extremist groups and bolster the capabilities of Iraqi security forces. We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq's security forces, and I'll be reviewing those options in the days ahead.

I do want to be clear, though. This is not solely, or even primarily, a military challenge. Over the past decade, American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis and opportunity to claim their own future. Unfortunately, Iraqi leaders have been unable to overcome, too often, the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there, and that's created vulnerabilities within the Iraqi government, as well as their security forces.

So any action that we make take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq's leaders to set aside sectarian differences, to promote stability and account for the legitimate interests of all of Iraq's communities, and to continue to build the capacity of an effective security force.

We can't do it for them, and in the absence of this type of political effort, short-term military action, including any assistance we might provide, won't succeed.

So this should be a wake-up call. Iraq's leaders have to demonstrate a willingness to make hard decisions and compromises on behalf of the Iraqi people in order to bring the country together. In that effort, they will have the support of the United States and our friends and our allies.

Now, Iraq's neighbors also have some responsibilities to support this process. Nobody has an interest in seeing terrorists gain a foothold inside of Iraq, and nobody is going to benefit from seeing Iraq descend into chaos, so the United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it's up to the Iraqis, as a sovereign nation, to solve their problems.

Indeed, across the region, we have redoubled our efforts to help build more capable counterterrorism forces, so that groups like ISIL can't establish safe havens, and we'll continue that effort through our support of the moderate opposition in Syria, our support for Iraq and its security forces, and our partnership with other countries across the region.

We're also going to pursue intensive diplomacy throughout this period, both inside of Iraq and across the region, because there's never going to be stability in Iraq or the broader region unless there are political outcomes that allow people to resolve their differences peacefully, without resorting to war or relying on the United States military.

We'll be monitoring the situation in Iraq very carefully over the next several days. Our top priority will remain being vigilant against any threats to our personnel serving overseas.

We will consult closely with Congress as we make determinations about appropriate action, and we'll continue to keep the American people fully informed as we make decisions about the way forward.

All right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And the president, shortly after taking a few questions from reporters, boarded Marine One.

Some big headlines that were made there, all because the United Nations, at this point, is estimating that hundreds of Iraqi civilians may have been killed in just this short time that it took these marauding invaders to attack or capture several key cities, including Iraq's second largest city, Mosul.

An estimated 500,000 Iraqis have fled, and that includes civilians as well as soldiers.

In the meantime, the people who are burning the cities and killing people and scaring the hell out of the entire Middle East at this point are so violent and so radical that even al-Qaeda doesn't want anything to do with them.

They call themselves ISIS. You may have heard the president refer to them ISIL, semantics. The way they operate makes the days of Osama bin Laden look almost bearable by comparison.

Here is a brief intro into who ISIS is from Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC 360": Brutal, well-organized, and well-financed, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, has rapidly morphed into the world's most dangerous jihadist organization. Its methods so extreme al Qaeda itself had disavowed any relationship with it.

The group seized on the power vacuum left by the U.S. withdrawal in Iraq, the continuing Syrian civil war and the hostility between different Muslim groups to grow in influence and bolster its ranks, becoming a magnet for battle hardened jihadist from around the world.

Its goal is synonymous with its name, to set up an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East, and with the recent advances in northern Iraq, that goal appears to be closer.

ISIS now controls crucial swaths of territories stretching from the Syrian city of Aleppo all the way to the outskirts of Baghdad, and they threaten to advance in the capital itself.

Formed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, ISIS was originally known as the Islamic State of Iraq, al-Qaeda's affiliate there. It was tasked with creating a sectarian civil war to stabilize the country during the U.S.-led occupation, but its current leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has a larger vision for the group.

Al-Baghdadi assumed control of ISIS in 2010 at the age of 39. A religious scholar who claims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, his assured leadership and ruthless tactics have inspired thousands and many call him the new Osama bin Laden.

As ISIS has grown it's assumed the responsibility not just of a terrorist group but of a governing power, often providing food and services to the residents in the areas it controls.

ISIS rules through fear, imposing Sharia law and holding public floggings and executions to keep people in check.

And with each city it conquers it seems its power and influence grows.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Our Anderson Cooper with a brief look at just how brutal these attackers are.

And need I say more than they are so bad that next-door Iran may be willing to join forces in some way with the Americans in terms of battling those very people?

We'll have a lot more on that in ju8st a moment and what that means for all of this, and there will be three people joining us who know more about Iraq combined than I dare say anyone.

Arwa Damon has spent the better part of a decade covering that war; Michael Holmes, 11 years, even ambushed in that country; and Chris Heben, a Navy SEAL who spent '03, '04, '07 and '08 in that country. As a Navy SEAL, he trained his guns against the men who now are fighting. He was one of the people who liberated Mosul. Those men now have it back.

All three of these will weigh in, in just a moment.

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BANFIELD: CNN's continuing coverage of the breaking news, the crisis in Iraq, and our special coverage continues with a very deep bench of seasoned CNN correspondents and experts, beginning with Arwa Damon who is live right now inside Iraq.

She's in the northern city of Erbil, just east of Mosul, which has been taken by these extremist.

Also, Chris Heben is here, a former Navy SEAL, SEAL Team 8, who completed numerous combat deployments to Iraq over many years. He knows this ISIS group. He knows how they operate.

And also CNN's Michael Holmes, our veteran war zone reporter, who has also spent more than a decade in country.

First to you with the news, Arwa, you are inside Iraq, you are on the ground. How close is ISIS to Baghdad?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this stage, the reports we're getting is they have been pushing through, is that they are in Duyala Province, fighting a pretty fierce battle, some 80 kilometers, around 60 miles north of Baghdad, about an hour's drive away.

We're also hearing at this stage that Iran is sending in several units of its special revolutionary guard to try to help the Iraq security forces protect the capital. Coupled with calls from various Iraqi Shia militia leaders calling their former fighters back up to take arms and an even more significant call coming from the most revered Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, telling people that they need to join the Iraqi security forces.

If we look at the territory that ISIS has managed to very quickly gain over the last few days, they are effectively moving through something of a Sunni beltway from the northern part of the country over to its eastern border and trying to push their way on south to the capital, Baghdad.

But this is not just ISIS operating on its own, even though that is the organization that is currently in the spotlight. They are getting support from some very prominent Sunni insurgent groups that were very active here during the fight against the U.S. forces. This is very much being viewed as an existential battle that is pitting the Sunnis, the various insurgent groups, to a certain degree even the Sunni population against Nouri al Maliki's predominantly Shia government and the Iraqi security forces that are also being viewed as a Shia fighting force.

BANFIELD: Chris Heben, if you could weigh in, the president said definitively just moments ago that we will not be sending any U.S. troops to intervene militarily, but he did not rule out any kind of other option. First of all, you have faced down these fighters. You know who they are, how they operate, how they ended up being in the circumstance they're in. What kind of - what kind of other options would be required to make any change in the circumstance that we find ourselves in right now?

CHRIS HEBEN, FORMER NAVY SEAL, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Well, Ashleigh, when he says other options, what he's primarily talking about is - besides, you know, a sectorial-political solution, he's also talking about doing what's called a foreign internal defense mission or a FID mission. SEALS do FID. U.S. Army special forces, i.e. green berets, do FID.

And also government contract agencies do FID where you have former special forces guys, which is what I did in Iraq, Africa, Afghanistan, was go into these countries and train the local armies, the local militias, to be better, to be better soldiers. We equip them. We've already spent $15 billion in Iraq. We might as well throw in another amount of money to helping this cause.

I'm -- the fact that Iran is sending troops, I never thought I'd see that. That's amazing. It also concerns me a little bit as we.

BANFIELD: I mean I thought I would never see a revolutionary guard with American air cover if that ultimately ends up being what it is. And actually Michael Ware - or rather, sorry, I beg your pardon, Michael Ware, another war correspondent. He's worked for CNN.

Michael Holmes, with your 11 years in that country, the ISIS group that we're talking about, Anderson Cooper was very clear about how radical and how brutal they are, but they just set out a new set of rules. And the rules are pretty remarkable. Something that I think even those who know Sharia law best wouldn't imagine. Just take a look at the screen here.

Thieves will face amputations. Banned are all drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Criminals may be crucified. No rival political groups allowed. All women must stay indoors. Those are some of the most strident rules I think many have heard of. Is this the reason that so many of the Iraqi forces are just throwing down their guns and running for the hills because these people are so brutal?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is a classic strict interpretation. And I emphasize the word interpretation of Islamic law. The vast majority of Islam does not work under those rules, as you know.

I think most of them fled because they don't support the government. And, you know, Arwa makes that great point about the Sunni beltway. And this is why ISIS has been able to cover the territory it has with the speed it has because they're getting the local support of the Sunni tribal leaders.

This is what we've also seen in Anbar province. Just - you see Fallujah there on the map, just to the west of Baghdad. Now, I was in Baghdad in January when that was unfolding. Why are the Sunni tribal leaders giving these guys support? Well, because of the actions of Nouri al Maliki, the prime minister, who has been a sectarian, according to Shias a dictator, since he came to power. He has marginalized them, ostracized them. They feel persecuted. The man's basically cut them out of the equation.

It's important and vital to remember that most of these Sunni tribes don't love ISIS. They don't like being governed under those sorts of laws. Historically, Sunnis, particularly in Iraq, 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've been cut down, persecuted, ostracized, disenfranchised 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, if you like. It's interesting, when you look at what happened in Libya, we had all these militias, tribal militias from all over the country who traditionally hated each other, all got together to fight against Moammar Gadhafi. At the end of the war, what happened? They all went back to hating each other.

BANFIELD: Yes.

HOLMES: And this could happen after this, too. But it's important to remember that all these Sunnis do not love ISIS. BANFIELD: In the decades that we've been doing this, Michael, this

kind of is a current refrain, that people switch allegiances pretty darn fast in these regions.

Michael Holmes, Chris Heben and Arwa Damon, excellent work and excellent perspective. Thank you all.

Please stay with CNN for our "Crisis in Iraq." We've got a special report coming with Wolf Blitzer at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

And then also another big story breaking, Bowe Bergdahl back in the United States on home turf. We're going to get the latest on how this controversial prisoner of war is being helped through the next stages of his reintegration, read (ph) family and going home. Imagine that. We're also going to take a very close look at his unusual letters that he sent home while he was a captive for five years, next.

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BANFIELD: After five years in captivity and two weeks in Germany, Bowe Bergdahl is on American soil. And CNN's Martin Savidge is live from Brooke Army Medical Center, where Bergdahl is in San Antonio.

What's the latest, Martin?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he arrived at 1:40 in the morning, the middle of the night. And I'm sure that's not by accident. Want to get away from the glare of the media coverage here. He was transported to the San Antonio Medical Center and that's the building right behind me and that's where he is, in a special room, in a special section reserved just for him. And phase three of what the military calls the reintegration process is underway.

What's interesting is that we had always been led to believe that his family would be here before he was. The family is not here according to the military. The family has put out a notice of their own saying they are wanting their privacy that this particular time. No indication of when that reunion is going to take place and that strikes a lot of people as odd.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: I have felt that to be odd all along, but who am I to judge.

Martin, just quickly, those letters that have surfaced with such bizarre spelling errors that seem so curious. One of them, you know, spelling situation with a c. Is there anything to be made of the -- are they coded? Has anyone said anything about this?

SAVIDGE: Yes, the coding part I can't tell you. It is possible that maybe, you know, you're trained in some way to send a message and that's a way of doing it. However, most of the experts I talk to will say, never trust any letter written by a person who's in captivity. They're simply under too much duress. We've seen it in the past before. You can't make much of them now.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Although the expect the information to be buttoned up where you are, certainly keep us updated when you hear something. Martin Savidge live for us in San Antonio.

SAVIDGE: We'll do.

BANFIELD: Thank you, sir.

And we are flat out of time. Thanks for watching. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer takes over after this break.

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