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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Bowe Bergdahl Returns to U.S.; Crisis in Iraq; Hospital News Conference on Bergdahl; Obama Still Weighing Options on Iraq

Aired June 13, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The big question right now looming, will the U.S. strike militants overrunning Iraq?

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People should not anticipate that this is something that is going to happen overnight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The world lead, President Obama announcing he's holding off on any decision about helping Iraq's security forces beat back Islamic militants, but his mind apparently is made up about one thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You know who is sending in troops? Iran, reportedly, so good news, everyone. The country designated by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terror is stepping over the border to mop up the problem. What could go wrong?

Also in world news, he's waited five years for it, but Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl will have to keep waiting. Bergdahl is in San Antonio, but his family may not be yet. When will they finally reunite?

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD.

We begin with two major developing stories in our world lead. In a moment, we will get to how the Obama administration is still planning to get a plan on whether to get involved in the crisis threatening to swallow Iraq.

But, first, after suffering five years of abuse in the hands of the Taliban, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is finally back in the U.S. at this hour. The man considered the only American prisoner of the Afghan war is at San Antonio Military Medical Center, where right now is a news conference about his condition and what comes next.

Let's listen in. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commander of U.S. Army South, Major General Joseph P. DiSalvo. also Colonel Bradley Poppen, a survival, evasion, resistance, escape, or SERE, psychologist from the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, and from Brooke Army Medical Center, also known as SAMMC, Dr. Colonel Reynold Wohl (ph).

As a reminder, the scope of today's press conference is on reintegration activities here at Fort Sam and Brooke Army Medical -- excuse me -- and Brooke Army Medical Center.

Questions about Sergeant Bergdahl's activities before and after reintegration will be addressed by the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense.

Major General DiSalvo will make a brief opening statement, and then we will go to Q&A for approximately 30 minutes.

Major General DiSalvo?

MAJ. GEN. JOSEPH P. DISALVO, COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY SOUTH: Thanks, Hans (ph).

The United States military is proud that we have honored the covenant we hold with all soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marine and Coast Guardsmen, never leaving a comrade behind.

And, today, we have one back in the United States. As you are aware, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was returned to U.S. control on May 31. He was transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to begin his decompression process.

He remained in Landstuhl for 12 days. And once his medical providers felt he was able to travel, our Army South reintegration team accompanied him here to San Antonio Military Medical Center.

During his stay here, Sergeant Bergdahl will participate in reintegration, a process that will aim to equip Sergeant Bergdahl with the necessary tools to regain appropriate levels of physical and emotional stability to effectively resume normal activities with minimal physical and emotional complications.

Currently, Sergeant Bergdahl is in stable condition and will work daily with medical and mental health professionals. I must emphasize how important it is for everyone to respect Sergeant Bergdahl's and his family's privacy as they go through this process.

The reintegration of Sergeant Bergdahl is a comprehensive process. There is no set timeline for any phase of reintegration. Each phase that Sergeant Bergdahl participates in is a custom event, fitted to his individual circumstances.

This reintegration process is done at Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Houston because the Department of Defense assigned the Department of the Army the lead, and the department of the Army then tasked U.S. Army South with the lead for phase three reintegration. U.S. Army South has received tremendous support from the Department of

Defense, as well as my immediate higher headquarters, United States Southern Command and also U.S. European Command and United States Central Command, who were lead for phase one, the initial recovery, and phase two, decompression and reintegration.

I would also like to thank our experts from Brooke Army Medical Center and the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. They make our reintegration mission here possible.

U.S. Army South has conducted this important mission six times previously. I cannot emphasize enough that reintegration phase is a culmination of Herculean efforts that have taken place over a long period of time across the United States government's interagency and the combatant commands.

This clearly demonstrates, from our commander in chief on down, our nation is committed to never leaving a comrade behind. It is also my pleasure to have Colonel Ron Wohl (ph) on my left and Colonel Bradley Poppen (ph) on my right, both reintegration experts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.

And with that, I would just remind you that when it's time to have your question, once acknowledged with roving mikes, just go ahead and stand up, remind us of who you are and your outlet, and please direct your question to an individual at the panel.

And with that, we will start on the left side of the room.

(INAUDIBLE) the question is yours.

QUESTION: Thank you.

This is for any of you, but especially, I guess, all of you who were with him last night when he arrived. I recognize that you can't talk a whole lot about him because of the HIPAA rules, but, nonetheless, I would ask you, if you could, to describe his mood upon landing.

How did he seem? Was he happy to be home? And how did it appear that he seems to be doing emotionally and physically? And the other half of that question is, I saw in the background that you try to normalize the person's emotions.

Can Dr. Poppen explain to everyone how you do that, especially when you have been in captivity for so long? Thank you.

DISALVO: OK.

First, I was on the ground when Specialist Bergdahl arrived. It was about 0140 this morning, so 1:40 this morning. Basically saw him for 60 seconds. That was about it. He was in uniform, as a U.S. Army soldier, maintained good deportment. We exchanged salutes, and myself, along with an escort officer, went over to the van, which then was part of the three-vehicle combo. It took him here to BAMC. He appeared just like any sergeant would when they see a two-star

general, a little bit nervous. But he looked good and, again, saluted and had good deportment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second part, over to you, Brad.

COL. BRADLEY POPPEN, SERE PSYCHOLOGIST: One critical part of reintegration is psychological decompression.

During that process, we try to return to a returnee a sense of particularly control. In captivity, fundamentally, your decision to make any choice is taken away. So, we slowly increase their chances to make choices and have a sense of control.

We also have them go through healthy storytelling, to be able to tell their story in a normal, healthy manner, with some meaning, to put it into context in their life so that they can move forward.

We also work to normalize their behaviors, letting know that coping skills they used in captivity, although functional in that environment, may not be functional now. But they were normal at the time. And, finally, we help them the returnee develop action plans for the future, so they can prepare for and deal with events that may come up in their life as they move forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Next question.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Major General. My name is Ed Lavandera with CNN. Two questions.

At what point do you integrate with Bowe the controversy surrounding his capture and his release? At what point is that introduced to him, because everything -- every indication we have so far is that he is unaware of all of that?

And then, also, it's been almost two weeks, and, as far as we know, he has not spoken with his parents. Is that out of the norm? It seems that parents who have not seen their son for five years would have at least talked to him by the phone -- on the phone by now.

POPPEN: To address the issue of family support, family support is a critical part of the reintegration process, making sure the family understands the reasons why we do it, the necessity of decompression, that they understand and support that process.

Overall, though, it is the returnee's choice to make that -- to determine when, where and who they want to reengage with socially. And I believe the family understands that process at this point in time.

LAVANDERA: And as far as the controversy around (OFF-MIKE)

DISALVO: The controversy around his disappearance?

LAVANDERA: Right. DISALVO: Anything surrounding the controversy of his disappearance is

not part of reintegration. That will be addressed in an investigation done by the Department of Army after reintegration is complete.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a clarification. You are asking if he's aware of the media reporting about him right now?

LAVANDERA: Yes. At what point...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

I recommend we pass that to Brad.

POPPEN: I will address that.

Again, as we give him a sense of particularly control, we expose them more and more to events and environments that happen around them. So, yes, at some point in time, he will be exposed to the media inquiries to him, what's going on in the world, but, again, during the past five years, he has had no exposure. We want to gradually titrate that to expose it to him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next question.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a moment. Let's -- get the mike over to you, so we can get that on the tape.

QUESTION: I have got a real loud voice anyway.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: My name is Jessie Degollado. And I'm with the ABC affiliate here, KSAT 12 News.

Could you confirm, because I have kind of heard some conflicting reports, is his family actually here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, your question is for?

QUESTION: Whoever can answer that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

DISALVO: No, his family is not here at this time.

QUESTION: Will they be coming? Have they said? Because I also saw a report that they were not planning on coming.

POPPEN: At this point, the Bergdahls have requested that their privacy is maintained and privacy on their travel also.

QUESTION: Very well. Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This would probably be a good time to share a

release that was shared with us by the family this morning.

And if you would like, I will go ahead and read that. It may stave off some of the questions about the family.

"On behalf of the Bergdahl family, while the Bergdahls are overjoyed that their son has returned to the United States, Mr. and Mrs. Bergdahl don't intend to make any travel plans public. They ask for continued privacy as they concentrate on their son's reintegration."

And with that, we will go to the next question.

QUESTION: Hi. This is a little bit of a repeat. And I wasn't sure of whether it's Colonel Poppen or Colonel Wohl (ph) who should address this.

But can you specifically address his condition now physically and then also his condition mentally? And then I had one other question related to that, the -- if you could talk a little bit about whether he has expressed whether he plans to or wants to return to duty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as his medical condition, we received him from the phase two integration team earlier this morning.

Overall, we're pleased with his physical state. He was able to ambulate and walk into the hospital, and seemed to do so in a functional manner.

We allowed him to get settled in to the hospital and into his room, and his environment, and we are going to be planning more comprehensive testing and consultations, stuff that was not done during phase two.

POPPEN: Regarding his mental state, from the SERE psychology perspective, we see people in captivity as fundamentally normal people who have been through an abnormal event.

And they have developed coping skills to live in that abnormal situation of captivity. Our goal is to help them understand how what was functional at that time may not be functional now. So, we don't see them as pathologically damaged. We get a normal person who survived an abnormal event by relying on the internal healthy coping skills and resilience.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over here with the mike.

QUESTION: Anything about returning to duty?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we answered that.

Brad, you want to take that on? And then we will go over here to the left?

POPPEN: The goal of reintegration is to return a soldier to duty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over here on the left.

QUESTION: This is Pooja Lodhia from KTRK out of Houston.

Can you tell us anything about Sergeant Bergdahl's memory of what happened out there? Does he have any memories of the past five years? And, also, has he spoken to any soldiers who he served with? And are there any plans to have him do so?

POPPEN: That's a great question.

We are trying to go through a process of debriefing Sergeant Bergdahl to understand his story. But I would add that, at this point, it is truly his story. And I would defer to him to answer those questions at the time he may find appropriate and the commander find appropriate also.

QUESTION: But in terms of memories, is he sort of talking to people about what happened there?

POPPEN: That is part of the debriefing process, yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: And has he spoken to any soldiers out there?

DISALVO: The members of the debriefing team, of the reintegration team do consist of some soldiers, so, in that aspect, yes.

QUESTION: But are they soldiers who he served with?

DISALVO: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Next question.

Over on the right side of the room.

QUESTION: Juan Lozano with the Associated Press.

Could you say anything about the -- as far as the -- his reintegration process? Is it going to be typical of others that have gone through this? And what sort of kind of any special challenges are -- is he going to face, do you think, that are special to his case?

DISALVO: Every reintegration process is unique.

And, Brad, let me turn it over to you.

POPPEN: As General DiSalvo said, every reintegration process is unique, as is every captivity event.

Our goal is to find out how from Sergeant Bergdahl how he survived this event, what he knows of during the event. I would say it is also unique, in the sense of, we know that Sergeant Bergdahl was the only service member held in Afghanistan, and thus we know he had no contact with other service members, thus denied the benefit of some -- having an affiliation with other U.S. service members in captivity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there a follow-up? QUESTION: I guess, sort of in his case, are his challenges going to be more physical as far as more, like, psychological, mental?

POPPEN: We will be addressing all those challenges.

Reintegration is focused on reading the returnee's physical, psychological needs, as well as going through the debriefing process, and then also reintegrating back into their social life as normal and healthy as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Next question.

REPORTER: Alex Perez from ABC News. This has been asked a couple of times. I don't know who can answer it.

Can you tell us more about his demeanor? Is he cooperating? Is he communicating? Is he excited? Is he sad? What can you tell us about his demeanor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that he has finished phase two, which is decompression, means that he's ready to do more interacting with the debriefers and also with the medical team. So, slowly, but surely it's improving and the rate of progress is solely on Sergeant Bergdahl, the team here, the facilitators, to get him to progress.

REPORTER: And my follow-up would be, is he being encouraged to reach out to his family even though it seems, at this point, he doesn't want to speak with him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, the reintegration is driven at the pace of the returnee. The goal is to provide him the chance to make those decision and particularly in control. He's driving the process at this point in time.

REPORTER: Charles Hadlock with NBC News.

Colonel, is he anxious to talk to his parents? Is there any indication that he wants to or doesn't want to?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, I'll say, we need to protect his privacy and let him make those decisions on his own.

REPORTER: And can -- Major General, can you describe what goes on on a daily basis in reintegration? For instance, what's he going to be doing tomorrow? Is he going to be in a group or is he one-on-one with people? Is he reading -- catching up on history, what's he doing?

COL. RON WOOL, ADMITTING PHYSICIAN, BROOKS ARMY MED. CTR.: I'd be happy to answer that. As you're aware, he just arrived here in San Antonio this morning and the biggest thing like all of us after a long flight, allow him to settle in, take care of personal hygiene and familiarize himself with his surroundings. He is starting to be evaluated by some of our consulting services over the weekend. We will synchronize that both with the debriefing process as well as with medical evaluation, some stuff which was not done in Landstuhl because that was to address immediate needs as well as the decompression process.

REPORTER: I'm Phil Archer with KTRK-TV in Houston.

And I just want to make sure how many of you gentlemen were actually on the plane with him from Germany to San Antonio?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None.

REPORTER: None? OK.

Earlier this week, an army (INAUDIBLE) I believe in Germany said that Sergeant Bergdahl is emotionally fragile. Can you expound -- I guess, this is for Colonel Poppen. Can you expound at all on what that means?

COL. BRADLEY POPPEN, ARMY PSYCHOLOGIST: I would add, once again, from the psychology perspective, we see the returnee as a normal, healthy person who survived an abnormal event. It's premature to talk about emotional fragility at this time. We're trying to get him to recognize that the coping skills that he used to survive this long five-year ordeal may not be healthy and functional now and trying to get him to transition back to a normal, healthy lifestyle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we get the mike towards the back?

REPORTER: Hi, my name is --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: You've been listening to a press conference from Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio about the condition of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. There is obviously limited information that the Army physicians can share and we're now veering into repetitive territory. We're going to monitor the conference for you. If there's new information, we'll come back to it.

But right now, I'm going to be joined by Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, recap what these Army hospital officials have said about Sergeant Bergdahl -- specifically, why he has yet to speak with his family.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is one of the questions to which we have no public answers at this point. The Bergdahls parents earlier today putting out a statement asking everyone to respect their privacy and saying they would not be making their travel plans public.

By all accounts, Mr. and Mrs. Bergdahl are not in Texas, he has not spoken to them on the phone. Officially, of course, what these Army personnel are saying is that the whole process of getting back with your family is really up to the returnee. It is up to Bowe Bergdahl to decide when he feels he wants to reach out and speak to his parents on the phone or have a direct visit from them.

We don't know the answer, Jake. This is something within the Bergdahl family, within Bowe Bergdahl. We just simply do not know why he apparently, by all accounts, does not feel ready to take that step.

TAPPER: Of course, five years in captivity could be very damaging to anybody's psyche.

Barbara, explain what this final phase of the reintegration process will mean for Bergdahl. What is the military doing with him precisely in that hospital?

STARR: Well, it sounds like what they are going to do is more comprehensive medical checks. The last 12 days in Landstuhl a more critical phase, making sure he did not any critical, medical issues that they needed to look after and just basically trying to do that initial stabilization of his psychological and emotional health. I think one of the Army specialists was saying several times, it probably goes directly to the point they're going to focus on here.

The coping skills that Bowe Bergdahl had to use to survive the last five years of his life, alone with the Taliban, in very brutal circumstances, by all accounts -- those coping skills got him through this and now they have to help him learn new coping skills, the more typical ways to interact with people, with society, in the workplace, regain control over his emotional and mental health, regain his ability to make decisions about his life. He's made no decisions in the last five years. It's a skill he may have to relearn so he can recapture control over his own life, Jake.

TAPPER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks.

And that's right, they talk about one of the positions talk about how they view people who had been in captivity as normal people who had been in abnormal situations, and develop those unusual coping mechanisms.

When we come back, with the deteriorating situation in Iraq, what potential military options is President Obama weighing right now? Could it already be too late for Iraq?

Pus, the unrest in Iraq already having an impact here in the U.S. Oil prices on the rise. Are gas prices next? Stay with us. Our money is also coming up.

We'll be right back after this quick break.

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TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Now onto that other major world news story that we're covering this hour, Islamic extremists on the march to Baghdad after seizing the second biggest city in Iraq, the terrorist militia group ISIS, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is threatening whatever stability the Iraqi government could have claimed before the Iraqi security forces, the ones who have stuck around anyway, are trying to fight back. Iraqi military air strikers have killed 70 ISIS militants and wounded 40 others in Tikrit, according to Iraqi state TV. President Obama now under pressure to decide whether to use military force and under fire from conservatives for the way he handled the withdrawal from Iraq in 2007. But other than refusing to boots on the ground, the president is going to keep weighing his options while on a jaunt to Palm Springs this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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 security forces and I'll be reviewing those options in the days ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's bring in our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto.

Jim, the president has something of a dilemma here.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: He has an enormous dilemma. I mean, remember, withdrawing from Iraq is seen by the administration as its chief foreign policy success. And now with Iraq facing a near civil war raises serious questions about that. And as you mentioned, while boots on the ground are not an option, his other military options from air strikes to greater intelligence sharing, to accelerating arms deliveries each carries risk and limitations. And as ISIS advances towards the capital, there's little time for the president to decide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Their victory laps have become daily events parading through Iraqi cities they have overrun, driving American- supplied Humvees and trucks have stolen. With the U.S.-trained Iraqi military quickly being overpowered, today, President Obama said he's now considering options, including military action.

His first step, planning to deploy the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush to the Persian Gulf, a potential platform for air strikes.

OBAMA: Iraqi forces have been unable to defend certain cities, which has allowed the terrorist 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 to eventually American interests as well.

SCIUTTO: Ultimately, President Obama and aides insist that any long- term solution depends on Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki finally welcoming Sunnis and Kurds into his government. But just seven months ago when Maliki visited Washington, the president praised him for doing just that.

OBAMA: We were encouraged by the work that Prime Minister al Maliki has done in the past to ensure that all people inside of Iraq -- Sunni, Shia, and Kurd -- feel that they have a voice in their government.

SCIUTTO: Today's reality on the ground is very different. Many Iraqi Sunnis have joined ISIS. Iraqi Kurds seized oil-rich Kirkuk.

And now, Iraqi Shiite clerics are calling on their followers to join a fight, a civil war in the making. Now, a president whose foreign policy has been defined by withdrawing from Iraq and soon from Afghanistan may be forced back in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way that the administration has handled past situations in this, in particular, the way that it's handled Syria, is not going to be good enough for Iraq. Arguably, it hasn't been good enough for Syria either, and providing marginal amounts of military assistance and maybe some rhetorical support isn't going to change a thing in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: The U.S. has the greatest leverage now to force Prime Minister al-Maliki to make political compromises in exchange for possible U.S. military help, how the U.S. uses that leverage, whether it works, a question. But there is real concern in the region.