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U.S. Considers Help for Iraq Against ISIS; Unclassified Documents Show Nuclear Bomb Incident in N.C.; ISIS Setting Sights on Baghdad; George H.W. Bush's 90th Birthday Sky Dive.

Aired June 12, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: The United States is considering a, quote, "range of options" to help Iraq turn back an advancing terror group so violent al-Qaeda won't associate with it. Iraq says it is open to U.S. air strikes against the militants. And a little more than an hour ago President Obama said Iraq needs help and is not ruling anything out. The militant group known as ISIS is overrunning northern Iraq, taking control over the country's largest city, and threatening to stream roll its way into Baghdad. Iraq appears to be falling apart after a scant two and a half years after the United States pulled out after spending so much money and losing almost 5,000 lives removing Saddam Hussein and trying to establish a democracy there.

I want to bring in Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria, GPS," with more.

I want to start with something House Speaker John Boehner said a couple of hours ago. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It is not like we haven't seen this problem coming for over a year. And it is not like we haven't seen, over the last five or six months, these terrorists moving in, taking control of western Iraq. Now they have taken control of Mosul. They're 100 miles from Baghdad. And what is the president doing? Taking a nap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Fareed, what is happening in Iraq? It's suddenly on everyone's radar, talking about it. But as he alluded to, it didn't just happen out of the blue. This group took over Fallujah six months ago. What is going on?

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS: John Boehner is absolutely right in the sense that we've seen this coming. There have been movements toward Mosul, second-largest city in Iraq, for a while. Here's the fundamental problem. All this is being fed by a Sunni revolt. Iraq is being divided by the Sunni, the Kurds and the Shia. The Shia are the majority in power. The Sunni are the minority out of power. And Maliki's government, the Shia government, has been persecuting the Sunnis, feeding a revolt that has turned into an insurgency. When you have a social basis for a revolt, when the minority feels it out of power that it has nothing to lose and it starts teaming up with al-Qaeda affiliates, engaging in violence, that is a very tough problem to solve. Because at the end of the day, there is just a sense hopelessness and despair. And there are lots of Sunnis around in the Arab world. They are a minority in Iraq but they are a majority in the Arab world. In Turkey and Saudi Arabia, there is money coming in from everywhere. So the core issues is, politically, can the Maliki government, the Iraqi government, bring the Sunnis in? You can do all the military stuff you want. You will have this problem again in six months. And I'm sure that is what the president is grappling with. He has a government in Iraq that can't be defended, whether you use air strikes or anything else, because the fundamental problem is political. It has bred a political opposition that has turned into an insurgency. Now what do you do?

BROWN: It is scary, because it seems like the Sunni extremist group, ISIS, is gaining strength. But in some ways, trial leaders in this town are opting to go with them and take their side over the Maliki government. Because you know the situation is just so horrific there.

Tell us, if you will, what is this group all about? What exactly is it after, and who is financing it?

ZAKARIA: It is a great question. It's not a large group. This is probably a few thousand people. It seems to have originated in Syria. Now if you want to make this even more complicated, in Syria, they're battling the Assad government, which is our enemy. In Iraq, they're battling the Maliki government, which is our ally. When it crosses the border into Syria, it is doing stuff America approves of. When it goes into Iraq, it is doing stuff we disapprove of.

Basically, it is a radical Sunni group affiliated with al-Qaeda in a sense. It's a kind of an off-shoot. But there is quarrelling between the groups there. But very hard-line terrorists, fundamentalists. The money seems to be becoming from similar radicals in Saudi Arabia.

But here is the big deal. In Mosul, they robbed a government treasury of $500 million in cash. In Iraqi dinars, but in cash. They also got a lot of gold. So they might now be the most well-funded terrorist organization in the world. And as you were just pointing out, you can buy a lot of the allegiance of the tribes in this area. So all of a sudden, they may find they have a lot more followers than they had just a couple of days ago.

BROWN: And as we know, they're marching towards Baghdad. We've heard reports of Iraqi forces fleeing, leaving their belongings behind. If they're commandeering the area that they're trying to take over, what is the threat to the U.S.?

ZAKARIA: It would mean more chaos and more complexity. I don't think it means some single dramatic thing. For one thing, I don't think Baghdad will fall. You never know. But remember, the Iraqi army is an army we trained, funded and sustained. It's somewhere between half a million and a million troops. We're talking about 2,000 or 3,000 fighters, not particularly well equipped. So the Iraqi army has got to be able to hold Baghdad. It would be inconceivable to me that they wouldn't be able to do that. But what about the towns around increasingly falling into the hands of ISIS? It adds to the complexity. It adds to the reality that you have chaos in Syria which has no spilled over and created chaos in Iraq. And the United States has to ask itself, yes, this is terrible for us, but if we jump into the middle of this, are we going to make much difference? Do we even know which side to support, as I point out, if we support the Maliki government we're supporting a very repressive government that has excluded the Sunnis. Do we really want to be on that side? This is a very tough one for the president. And it is easy to take pot shots, but the mistakes have been a decade in the making, from the actual invasion of Iraq, on.

BROWN: Not to mention, I'm sure they're thinking about Afghanistan, too, as we draw down our troops there.

Fareed Zakaria, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

ZAKARIA: Thank you.

BROWN: A nuclear accident that nearly wiped part of the state of North Carolina off the map. Haven't heard about it? Well, that is because reports have been classified for nearly 60 years. But today, we're learning more about the two nuclear bombs that did not go off. Stay with us.

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BROWN: We're learning new details about another historic highlight from "The Sixties," the Goldsboro Incident from 1961. That is when a B-52 bomber jet broke in half during a flight and lost its load, two nuclear bombs. Where was it flying at the time? Over the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Eight crewmen were onboard. The plane crashed in this field. Both bombs plummeted to the ground. One was nearly armed and set to explode. But miraculously, neither did. These extraordinary facts were recently declassified and just released by the National Security Archive. And here's a pictures of one of the nuclear bombs. Weighing 10,000 pounds, it could emit 3.8 megatons of gas. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were barely one megaton, just to put it in perspective. The documents say catastrophe was averted because there was a mechanical malfunction within the bombs themselves.

And speaking of "The Sixties, see why the assassination of John F. Kennedy was a key turning point in the decade that changed the world. CNN's special series, "The Sixties," tonight at 9:00 on CNN. Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The president has been hit.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 today.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The whole world is swerved because of his loss.

ROBERT CARO, AUTHOR: America was a different place on the day before John f. Kennedy was killed. The assassination changed the trajectory of the sixties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll remember November the 22nd as long as I live.

CARO: Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you kill the president?

LEE HARVEY OSWALD, ACCUSED OF KILLING PRESIDENT KENNEDY: No, I have not been charged with that.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Lee Oswald has been shot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Information concerning the cause of the death of your president has been with held from you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story has been suppressed. Witnesses have been killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a right to know who killed our president and why he died.

ANNOUNCER: "The Sixties," tonight at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And coming up right here on NEWSROOM, former President George H.W. Bush taking to the skies for his annual birthday sky dive. See the video.

And next, they were labeled as too extreme for al-Qaeda, so just who is this terrorist group wreaking havoc in Iraq? We'll explain, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A terrorist group so extreme they were disavowed by al-Qaeda and now they're storming through Iraq and taking over territory, territory that over 4,000 Americans fought and died to stabilize just four years ago. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, better known as ISIS, advancing on Tuesday and taking over Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. And then, yesterday, moving further south into the city of Tikrit. Now, ISIS is setting its sights on Baghdad.

Listen to this message reportedly posted on line by the terrorist group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't give up a hand's width of ground you've liberated," he says. Only over your dead bodies. And march towards Baghdad because we have scores to settle there."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, is joining me now from Jerusalem,

Ben, you offer a unique perspective because you've been there. Tell me about this group, ISIS. How is this group gaining strength? I can imagine the violence in Syria has helped them in their endeavor.

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly. This is a group that has roots during the occupation by the U.S. of Iraq. Many thought it had been defeated. But it has been reconstituted, reenergized by the conflict, first, in Syria, and now, of course, in Iraq. And as we've heard much over the last two days, they suddenly find themselves in possession of millions of dollars, looted from banks in Mosul, weapons, which they have been able to capture from the Iraqi army, which fled and left many of them behind. Certainly, when you talk to observers and analysts, they are amazed with the speed with which their offensive, which is essentially a blitzkrieg, has taken place.

There is a question of how far they will be able to get into Baghdad, keeping in mind that Baghdad has a large Shiite population, which is unlikely unable to welcome ISIS in places like they were welcomed in places like Mosul and Tikrit. But this represents a serious threat not just to the Iraqi government but also Syria, as well. And here in Israel, I spoke to an analyst, who used to be the chief analyst for the Israeli army. And they are very concerned about what appears to be the emergence of a state stretching essentially from western Syria to central Iraq, which is well armed, well financed, and is in a position to provide training, finance and weapons to terrorists, who essentially could threaten regimes across the entire Middle East, not to mention Europe, as well.

BROWN: Yeah. And, Ben, how is this group, this extremist group, so effective? When you look at the Iraqi troops, Washington has spent $15 billion in training, equipping them. Yet, you see this group taking over, commandeering the cities they're going through. And you alluded to, the soldiers of the Iraqi government fleeing. How is this group so effective?

WEDEMAN: Well, for one thing, you have to keep in mind that the Iraqi government, as it exists today, is widely seen as a sectarian government representing the interests of the Shiite population, in neglect of the population in places like Mosul and Tikrit, which is mainly Sunni. So there was a bedrock of resentment against the government in Baghdad. And therefore, this group comes along with what appears to be real zeal. We're talking about the zeal that some observers here are likening to the zeal of the Muslim fighters in the seventh century when the Arab armies swept across the Middle East. There really is an odd parallel that strikes a chord among many people in Iraq, in Syria and elsewhere, that go back to the seventh century. They do have a determination that seems to be frightening to the Iraqi forces loyal to the government -- Pam?

BROWN: And not just there. We know it is a big concern to the U.S. The Obama administration weighing their options, trying to see how they should deal with this situation.

Ben Wedeman, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

And just ahead on NEWSROOM, as the crisis in Iraq grows, Senator John McCain says that President Obama should replace his security team with General David Petraeus. We'll speak live to a former aide to Petraeus about what options the U.S. has.

Plus, breaking now, Bowe Bergdahl returning to the U.S. tonight. And we're just hearing about some reported bombshell letters the soldier wrote while in captivity. We'll be right back.

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BROWN: Former President George H.W. Bush, celebrating the big 9-0 with a little skydiving. No big deal. Just 90 years old, skydiving. Bush 41 reportedly doing great after his jump near his summer home in Maine. His wife, Barbara Bush, fully onboard with the jump. Bush has actually parachuted seven times, once when he was shot down as a Navy pilot in World War II.

Another one who sky dived there, HLN "Morning Express" anchor, Robin Meade.

All right, Robin, tell us, what is it like to jump out of a plane with the former president?

ROBIN MEADE, HLN ANCHOR, MORNING EXPRESS: Pam, you know what I remember about that day? So many things, obviously. But I remember it was raining and stormy, and we were going to jump on this piece of land we were landing on that was about the size of this postage stamp. There was a church, rocks, water. There was a television camera because we were doing it live on "HLN." I remember we had the Golden Knights who were going to jump in tandem with us. And I remember them being very concerned with our faces pressed to the glass of the plane looking for a perfect spot to jump in between the clouds.

I think it is so indicative of President Bush, wanting to show me his boat. He asked they captain, hey, would you mind tilting the plane so I can show Robin my boat. And he told me he three 300 horsepower engines on it. I said, why do you need 900 horsepower? He said, to beat the guy who has 700. That's indicative of his personality.

And in the interview I did before, he showed himself to be so engaged in the process. But really a strong belief in stepping back when somebody else is in the presidency, somebody else who is in the seat, and letting them do their job. That is why you don't hear him talking about what is going on now, or who the now the president.

You know he's spry at 85 and I'm happy to see at 90 he's ready to jump again. Although, I do have an issue. He promised back then, if he jumped again, I would get to go.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Next time, Robin. And thank you so much. And this Father's Day, a unique portrait of George H.W. Bush, "41 on

41," Sunday night at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

And that does it for me. Thank you so much for being here with me. The next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.