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At This Hour

Middle East Cease-Fire Ends; U.S. Gives Green Light to ISIS Air Strikes; Yazidis Trapped on Iraqi Mountain

Aired August 08, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Michaela Pereira in New York.

We are bringing you special coverage of two major breaking stories at this hour. First, the cease-fire in the Middle East has gone down in flames without an extended truce. Israel has resumed air strikes in Gaza and says militants have fired dozens of rockets into Israel but the Palestinian delegation says the peace talks in Cairo, that they will keep going. Egyptian mediators say there are only a few issues left for them to work out. In fact, the Egyptians are urging both sides to come back to the negotiating table.

I want to turn to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, who joins us from Washington with the news breaking from Iraq -- Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Let's hope both those sides can get back to the negotiating table and work some type of deal.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has now taken its first military action in Iraq in two years, dropping two 500-pound laser-guided bombs on artillery targets in northern Iraq. The U.S. is trying to fight back the militant group known as ISIS. President Obama authorized the bombing due to a humanitarian crisis. The families of tens of thousands of religious groups are fleeing. Possible slaughter by terrorists. Dozens of children trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq have died. This is the same group that has taken several cities in Iraq, in attempting to establish a caliphate. The FAA here in Washington has issued a notice from restricting U.S. airlines from flying over Iraqi airspace due to this current conflict.

Let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

When you speak to officials there, I know there have been several background briefings with senior officials, what do they say the U.S. end game is right now?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's very good question, Wolf, and I'll get to that. I want to tell you we do have some breaking developments right here in the White House. When you might imagine, when the president takes this sort of military action he's going to be consulting with allies and other world leaders in the region, in the Middle East, he's done that this morning. And just the several minutes, photographers were taken back to outside the Oval Office to capture these images of the president on the phone. He is in this video you are seeing here on the phone with King Abdullah of Jordan consulting with the Jordanian leader about what is happening in Iraq. Also in the Oval Office with the president was deputy national security adviser, Tony Blinken. There were other officials in the room. I wanted to make sure that you were able to see that.

As to your question, as to what the end game is, Wolf, I think that is definitely the question of the day. Late last night, senior administration officials, as you mentioned, held a background conference call with reporters and they explain to reporters, including myself, who are asking questions about what's going on here, is that basically this is going to be a limited operation, limited in scope. They do not have any designs. They say at this point of launching an all-out assault on ISIS, on many different fronts to take out ISIS altogether. That's not what this is about. They say that is a battle best left to the Iraqis.

What they are doing at this point is on two fronts. If U.S. personnel in Irbil are threatened, those military advisers, the president has -- is giving a green light to the military to take out those ISIS targets if they threaten U.S. military advisers in Irbil. This is what essentially triggered those air strikes this morning. The second part, as we've been talking about all morning, those people fleeing into the mountains, in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq, those people are being threatened being wiped out by ISIS. I talk to Ben Rhodes about this earlier this morning. He said the president has given a green light in that scenario as well.

There's going to be a White House briefing with the press secretary later on this afternoon so we'll get more about this then and then the president is still heading to Martha's Vineyard this weekend. He will be talking security advisers with him -- Wolf?

BLITZER: As scheduled.

Jim Acosta, we'll, of course, have live coverage of the president of the White House briefing that's coming up later today. Josh Earnest the White House press secretary will brief reporters.

Let's go to Irbil right now because we've been trying to get a sense of how bad the situation is in that northern Iraqi area. The town of Irbil is right now under siege by these ISIS forces.

And our own Ivan Watson is there. He's in a church full of refugees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to show you what's at stake right now. This is a 40-day-old baby and he is one of an estimated 100,000 Iraqi Christian displaced people, refugees with his mother, and two-year-old sister here. They have fled their home in the last 48 hours and have spent their second night in this church. This is just one family. We're going to try to spin around and show you a little bit of the scene here. There are hundreds of people who have been sleeping in the pews of this church, this is of course a highly symbolic scene. We are in a place of worship.

In this part of Iraq, I have been to a community center, a youth center full of thousands of Iraqi Christians. In the yard of this church, there are more thousands of Iraqi Christians. Everybody tells the same story, that the Kurdish militia withdraw from their families. After they withdrew, these families had minutes to pack whatever they could, find whatever vehicle they could and flee and now they have taken shelter in the Kurdistan region.

The United Nations says some 200,000 people have fled and it's not just the Christians. It's any religious minority that is not a Sunni Muslim, that does not follow this particularly violent and harsh interpretation of Sunni Islam of the ISIS militants. So we are talking about a massive displacement of people and the Christian leaders we've talk to are warning of the threat of genocide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's a real threat right now. Hundreds of thousands of Christians, Yazidis, other minorities, including Kurds, Shiites, they are endangered right now because of these ISIS militants.

Just ahead, the U.S. military has been given the green light to launch more air strike against these Islamic fighters, will that work? Could President Obama go back on his promise not to redeploy troops back on the ground in Iraq? We'll discuss when we come back.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To stop the advance on Irbil, I've directed our military to take targeted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move toward the city. We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in Iraq, including our consulate in Irbil and our embassy in Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: President Obama vows not to send U.S. combat troops about back on the ground in Iraq although air strikes have already just begun. We've heard the words before, no boots on the ground. We know the circumstances though can change in a heartbeat now that the U.S. military has been given the green light to launch air strikes against these Islamic fighters. Can U.S. ground forces be far behind?

Let's bring in our military analyst, retired military Air Force Colonel Rick Francona; and also Suzan Johnson Cook, former ambassador- at-large for International Religious Freedom.

No one really believes that air power alone is going to destroy is, right? LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No, they are too

dispersed, and had he got too many assets and you can't destroy enough of it from the air. This is really a small -- well, they are organized into small units. They have got armor and artillery, but they don't present the large target that can be adequately addressed from the air.

BLITZER: So if the Kurds, the Peshmerga, who are lightly armed, if they can't do the job, who is going to do the job, other than the United States?

FRANCONA: That's a real problem. The Peshmerga is excellent fighters. The Iraqi army have lost a lot of equipment, collapsed, and their leadership is nonexistent. They are hoping they can blunt the attacks altogether. Is has made some tremendous advances. They are on a role. They have the momentum. They have the equipment, and they know what they are doing. So it remains to be seen if the air power can be effective enough to give the Iraqi Army time to stand up. If not, then you raise the excellent point, who does it?

BLITZER: Ambassador, you served in this administration. You know the pros and the cons. You also know that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians, Yazidis, Kurds, others, they are endangered. The president himself, the secretary of state, they have said the word genocide right now. Here's the blunt question to you, Ambassador, if necessary, would you send in U.S. Army, Marine, personnel on the ground to destroy those ISIS forces?

SUZAN JOHNSON COOK, FMR AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: Well, you know what, I'm a faith leader. I've never served in the military. I leave that to the colonel, to those who are military leaders, and we have to put our faith in them to make the right decisions. They know what to do.

But what I can tell you that this is war. It's a religious war, and many lives are being ex-extinct. There are only 350,000 to 400,000 Christians left in Iraq because of the mass exodus. You are talking about a whole ethnic religious group being extinct. You started the last segment with a beautiful baby who is 40 days old. Usually, in the Christian faith, you celebrate the life ahead for that particular child. Right now, this family and child are preparing for death. We are a very grave crisis. We're in the religious war. I'm going to leave the war part in terms of how we go about it to our militaristic leaders.

BLITZER: A fair point, Ambassador.

Rick, you are a military guy. Here's what I don't understand, maybe you can explain it to me. There's a few dozen U.S. military personnel in Irbil right now t there's a few dozen U.S. diplomatic personnel in Irbil right now. He's got to launch strikes to protect them. Why not simply evacuate them from the zone?

FRANCONA: I think it would send the wrong message and right now it's very important that we stand with our Iraqi allies and pulling those people out after we've just sent them up there would send the wrong message to the Iraqi government that we're trying to cajole into getting their act together.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON COOK: Wolf, evacuating means we're running away form the crisis. I think the U.S. is staying we stand very much with all of those who need to be protected. So running away, and evacuation is not the answer, but I do know the United States will do whatever it has to do to protect its personnel and the religious minorities who are at stake at this point.

BLITZER: I think, though, it's fair to say that air power alone will not protect those U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in Irbil right now. You want to protect them, you are going to have to send in thousands of U.S. ground forces, then they will be protected. but many of those ground forces will then be endangered because these ISIS troops, they are well armed with largely U.S. Military equipment they stole from the Iraqi military and they have got a lot of money, hundreds of millions of dollars that they have stolen from banks in Mosul and elsewhere. This will be a real war if that to happen.

Ambassador Johnson Cook, thanks very much.

Colonel Rick Francona, thanks to you.

Just ahead, a religious minority flees Islamic militants and takes refuge on a mountain. We're going to discuss who this group is and why the U.S. is trying to protect them from wholesale slaughter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Back to our top story and our breaking news. We've been talking about the Yazidis in Iraq this morning, one of the groups being targeted by ISIS fighters. A minority religion group living in northern Iraq. Right now, thousands of them, including women, children, the elderly, the infirm, they have fled and are now trap on a mountain top.

Our Michael Holmes has more on their fight for survival.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Islamic State militants have wreaked havoc across Iraq, leaving many Iraqis dead, others displaced, and religious minorities like the Yazidi begging for help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

HOLMES: The Yazidi are descendants of Kurds but consider themselves distinct. They follow an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism, making them a target of ISIS forcing Islam or death throughout the areas it overtakes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We heard sounds of mortars. In the morning, the Islamic militants entered Sinjar. Those who stayed there are now suffering from thirst. They also took the girls and rape them. They said the Yazidis have to be converted to Islam.

HOLMES: Their plight doesn't stop there. The thousands who fled to the neighboring mountains are now stranded without food or water in the summer heat.

JAMEEL AHMED, YAZIDI (through translation): They have blocked the road to the mountains and the road down the mountains. There is no water. People are now dying from thirst. Children are dying and are being buried under the rocks.

HOLMES: With no relief in sight, the Yazidi hope their plea for help does not fall on deaf ears.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Our thanks to Michael Holmes for the profile of those people, to give us a look at who is needing help in Iraq.

Ahead, President Obama calls for U.S. military action in Iraq, this time, after consulting with Congress. Journalist and CNN political commentator, Carl Bernstein, joins us to explain what he thinks the president can and can't do.

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BLITZER: With the U.S. now ratcheting up military action in Iraq against Muslim extremists, President Obama does not appear to be going it alone, at least not yet. A spokesman for the National Security Council says Congress has been fully consulted on all this, not just for days but for the last several weeks.

Journalist, author and CNN political commentator, Carl Bernstein, joining us.

Who knows more about presidential power, the limits of presidential power, than you do, especially today, what is it, the 40th anniversary of President Nixon stepping down. But at what point would the president risk overstepping his bounds right now by deploying at least starting with air power and maybe even eventually, even though he says it's not going to happen, ground power?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think we need to look at the history of the limits and the huge influence of presidential power in this part of the world. Go back to 1980 to '88, the Iraq/Iran war in which we backed Saddam Hussein against Iran, and what happened in Iran during the Carter presidency. We have been very unsuccessful in prevailing with what we want in this part of the world. And what we're seeing now is a huge consequence of the disastrous war that we began in Iraq, under President George W. Bush. So you begin to see all the interrelationships. Our difficulties of having our views hold in the Middle East, where we also have this conflagration. We're looking at Ukraine, the United States with Europe and Putin. We have a world on fire right now. Showing the relevance of the U.S. presidency, and at the same time, the limitations of the powers of the presidency.

BLITZER: As you know, the president, he sent a letter to Congress under the war powers act, notifying Congress what he was doing, authorizing the humane air drop, saving some of the people over there that were in danger, the minorities and others. Does he ask for some sort of congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq right now?

BERNSTEIN: I would say that if he is really going to commit ground troops or something of the kind, certainly. And my guess is he would do so. I know of no intention to do that. We have learned the limitations of our ability to influence events disastrously. He has tried throughout his presidency to limit our involvement in Iraq. We do have a humanitarian crisis. At the same time, we see the savagery of this Shia/Sunni conflict, in which we have become involved over and over. The Russians became involved in it. And it's come to no good for any outsiders. It's very difficult. At the same time, you can't sit and watch these horrors unfold totally without doing something in a humanitarian way.

BLITZER: Even if there are no ground troops deployed, should he get a resolution to authorize air strikes?

BERNSTEIN: I'm not one to advise presidents of the United States. Everything that this president does is criticized in a really unprecedented manner by a Republican opposition that seems sometimes more intent on undermining the president than in really trying to bring the country together on these questions. It's been a huge problem. That's not to say the president of the United States has been deft in everything he has done. But the nature of the opposition to this president -- look, President George W. Bush got Democratic support for his disastrous war in Iraq. This president has not had support from the Republican Congress. And it shows. So we don't have a unified position with which to address these grave questions in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Iraq. Instead, what we have is more continuation of ideological warfare and blame in the Congress of the United States, a totally dysfunctional institution.

BLITZER: And it continues as we speak.

Carl, thanks very much.

Carl Bernstein helping appreciate what's going on.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back in one hour, 1:00 p.m. eastern, more news coming up -- Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, thank you for your work, Wolf.

John Berman and I will back here on Monday.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Ashleigh Banfield takes it away from here.