Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Makes a Move in Iraq Crisis; ISIS Seized Control of Iraq's Second Largest City, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl Arrived in the U.S.

Aired June 14, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. Here are the big stories we're following for you this hour.

We're learning new developments about the crisis unfolding in Iraq. Today U.S. defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the aircraft carrier "USS George H. W. Bush" to move into the Persian Gulf, closer to Iraq. That comes as militants in Iraq are threatening to march on Baghdad.

The Islamic state in Iraq and Syria also known at ISIS, has already taken Iraq's second largest to city of Mosul. And video has shown them driving through other towns nearby with weapons. Today, Iraq's government is rushing to recruit volunteer fighters, and Shiite supporters are answering the call in Baghdad, boarding buses ready to fight.

We're covering this story around the world today. Athena Jones is live for us at the White House. Arwa Damon, live in Erbil, Iraq and Nic Robertson live in Baghdad.

Athena, let me begin with you at the White House. What more do we know about the "USS George H. W. Bush" moving?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred.

Well, we know that this aircraft carrier, along with two other ships is expected to arrive in the Persian Gulf by later this evening. Those two other ships, a guided missile destroyer, the "USS Truxton" and a guided missile cruiser 'the USS Philippine Sea." And we know that the order to send the ships to the Persian Gulf, which came from defense secretary Chuck Hagel is meant to provide the president with quote "additional flexibility should military options be required to protect American lives, citizens and interests in Iraq." That's part of the statement from Pentagon press secretary rear admiral John Kirby.

Now as you know, the president is in California this weekend celebrating father's day weekend and also delivering that commencement address, but asked his national security team to come up way range of options for how to help Iraq fight off this insurgent force. Now, they're not going to send U.S. troops into Iraq. No ground troops, but air strikes are among the options that are being looked at, and so this ship, the "Bush" could be used for air strike. They can use its helicopters for evacuate Americans, if needed. And they could use it for intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and surveillance missions. So, this is why those ships are going to be coming into that area.

And of course, the president says he is expecting to get these recommendations from advisers in the coming days and he will be reviewing them -- Fred.

WHITEFIELD: All right. Athena Jones, keep us posted on that. Thanks so much.

Again, the president is at a commencement ceremony in California speaking with all of this being the backdrop. Let's move now to Iraq and the prime minister. They are saying there will be harsh consequences for anyone that deserted the mail tear in Mosul. Arwa Damon is live from Erbil now.

Arwa, you spoke exclusive to a colonel who just defected. What was his explanation?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was one of the first questions that we posed to him. Now, he did want his identity to be concealed, his voice altered. But we started off by asking him why he and his 600 men abandoned their post.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We got a call from the brigade commander saying leave the base, move to headquarters, bring whatever you can with you. When we got there, the brigade headquarters was already taken over. The terrorists were right behind us.

DAMON: You grabbed whatever you could as you and your unit were fleeing. So what kind of weaponry and military hardware did you leave behind that's now in the hands of ISIS?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Twenty five humvees, 80 other vehicles and trucks, weapons, 600 (INAUDIBLE), ten sniper rifles, 20 rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, 122 millimeter mortar rounds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Now, he and his men are mostly Sunnis, and they have been feeling really alienated by the predominantly Shi'a government in Baghdad and by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's polarizing policies. ISIS is not fighting that battle on its own. It is being joined by various other Sunni insurgent groups that were quite active during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. They also have the support of the Sunni tribe which is part of the reason why they have been able to advance so quickly towards Baghdad, but they don't necessarily have the same aim in mind as ISIS. They do not want to see creation of an Islamic Taliban.

But at this stage, they do believe that they have to join forces to a certain degree to defeat what they view as being the Shi'a government in Baghdad, and the Shi'a Iraqi security forces to becoming very much existential battle between Shi'a and Sunni for power and control of Iraq. WHITEFIELD: And Arwa, it seems like no matter your personal conflicts

are as to the reason why you may have defected from the Iraqi army al- Maliki is very seriously sense that message saying, quote, "those who desert and left positions are not safe in their homes."

So, is this colonel or others expressing how fearful they are about being at their homes? That they will be weeded out and they will be punished for defecting?

DAMON: Yes, very much so. Now, he and the majority of those in his unit, he was saying, are, in fact, from northern Iraq, and at this stage, they do feel as if they are far away enough from the grasp of the central government in Baghdad. He was saying that other individuals within his unit that are from central and southern Iraq are very frightened. They've been hiding out in the homes of some residents in this area, but they're fearful on the one hand that the Iraqi government is going to come after them and their families. And they are fearful that ISIS is also is going to be hunting them down. So a lot of concern about that, quite naturally, at this stage as this conflict, really, in the words of one Iraqi politician, moves even closer to being a sheer and utter catastrophe for the nation of Iraq as we know it, Fredricka.

WHITEFIELD: It sure does look it. Arwa Damon, thank you so much.

Let's move on to Baghdad now where we find senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. So Nic, how has this latest violence ignited as sectarian tension? How much worse has this gotten in other words?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's gotten a lot worse. I mean, what we're seeing is ISIS has advanced towards Baghdad, perhaps being slowed down by these Shi'a militias that are being stood up, volunteer forces that are being called for by Prime Minister al-Maliki, by the top Shi'a religious leader in the country, who's never, ever gotten involved in politics before, but is now. So they seem to be blunting the advance.

While they say this is not a sectarian battle, that the Shi'as are brothers with the Sunnis, that is what's happening, and the country is dividing along these, along the Shi'a/Sunni sectarian fault lines. It still has a long way to go yet, but it's hard to say at this time how it can be reversed.

I talked with a Sunni tribesman backing ISIS. He doesn't share they're radical Islamic views. He wants a government of national unity. He's angry with Nouri Al-Maliki. This is how he explained to me what he thinks is happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So who exactly is fighting?

ALI ZAIDAN, SUNNI TRIBAL LEADER (through translator): The people fighting right now are sons of the Iraqi tribes, from all around, regardless of sect. All Iraqis who have been affected by al-Maliki's foreign sectarian policy. They are the ones that bear arms against his politics.

ROBERTSON: What does this mean for Iraq?

ZAIDAN (through translator): We are currently seeking not to enter Baghdad because we want to avoid the bloodshed. We seek to form a caretaker government, made of all Iraqis, so we can prove we are not ISIS and prove that we are not Sunnis, we are all Iraqis.

ROBERTSON: But do you think that this could, where we are going now, could this become a Sunni, Shi'a religious war?

ZAIDAN (through translator): It can, yes, it already began. The Sunni Shi'a war has begun today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Everyone here, Fredricka, is really getting themselves in an emotionally very bad position, psychologically they believe their leader's rationale and common sense or common logic really is disappearing, it is evaporating. And that really bodes ill for the future. However, this battle takes shape in the next few days, Fredricka.

WHITEFIELD: So people in Baghdad have to be very afraid. What are they considering to try to protect themselves or their families?

ROBERTSON: Well, they're looking to these militias. I mean, we saw hundreds of people on the streets today here today, young men, old men, Christian, Sunni, Shi'as, majority Shi'as but they were joining up for these defense forces. So they'll mount defense sources. They have increased security around the city. So people are looking to that to provide them safety and security from attack.

But there has been over the past few years a massive increase in the number of car bombings. You know, six -- a week ago today, car bombs in the city alone. People live in fear all the time, but now that fear is different. It is what if ISIS does come? What am I going to do?

Right now people are stockpiling cooking gas, to cook on in their houses. Heating oil so they can have heat, if that's what they need, food as well. So that's the sort of thing that people are doing. They're looking over their shoulder.

But as things stand at the moment, the south of Iraq really is the vast majority Shi'a. And there's a sense that, OK, you can go to the south and be safe there, if you had to get out of Baghdad. Clearly, that's something people really don't want to have to do. So they are looking to these new militias to sort of provide the bull worth against ISIS' advance, Fredricka.

WHITEFIELD: Making it all the more difficult for anyone to be able to determine whose side is anyone on?

Nic Robertson, Arwa Damon, and Athena Jones, to all of you, thank you. All right, U.S. Senator John McCain says President Obama should fire

some members of his national security team, because of the crisis in Iraq. He says inaction has created a direct threat to the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Our failure to help the resistance in Syria, which I've been begging for, is also one of the cause and factors. As you notice, they're now going back and forth between Iraq and Syria. This is an existential threat to the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITEFIELD: White House officials have condemned the attack on a military transport plane, meantime in Ukraine and warned Russia to stop sending heavy weapons to militants across the border.

Government officials in Kiev say pro-Russian rebels used anti-aircraft machine guns to bring the plane down earlier today. All 49 people onboard were killed. Secretary of state John Kerry called Ukraine's prime minister to express his condolences.

President Obama speaking right now, in fact, at the University of California, Irvine's commencement ceremony. Not likely to comment about all that's taking place in Iraq and what the next move may be, as it pertains to the U.S. But again, yesterday the president saying, no U.S. troops would be sent to Iraq. But his team is considering a number of options, all the while we heard today, from Chuck Hagel, that the "USS George H. W. Bush" is in the region, an inching closer to Iraq. We are going to continue to monitor the president's words there.

All right, meantime, Baghdad is home to the largest U.S. embassy in the world, with thousands of employees. Now, race to get many of them out as militants march towards Baghdad.

Plus, today is Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's second day back in the United States and he is already being moved to the next treatment phase.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITEFIELD: The threat of Islamist militants taking over Iraq capital grows by the hour. But for American contractors working in Iraq the threat hits close to home. Authorities are racing to evacuate many of them already.

Alexandra Field is joining us now from New York. How dire, how desperate is the situation?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Fred, the state department is clearly keeping a very close eye on the deteriorating situation there. They're concerned about security of Americans still in that country. But at this point what the state department tells us is that it has not changed its staffing at the embassy or the consulates. The area we are focused now is Balad, and that is where evacuations of

U.S. contractors continue to happen. Those evacuations are being led by the companies that employ those contractors. This is a response to the deteriorating security condition there.

Our own Anderson Cooper spoke to a contractor in Balad. He wanted to be identified only at Tony saying he was evacuated from a military base in Balad after it came under fire from ISIS. And here's how he described what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY, U.S. CONTRACTOR IN IRAQ: Local national security forces pretty much dropped their weapons and walked off base. Not the Iraqi army. The Iraqi army stayed and did what they were supposed to do. But if it wasn't for the villages on our perimeter, we might not be talking to you right now, because the villagers stood up and helped out the Iraqi army tremendously. They can be very smart and they can be very fast, and they can be very threatening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: And Tony has now been evacuated from Balad. We spoke to his wife here in the states. She is in Texas. She says she has some comfort knowing that he is out of that danger, at least. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLA, HUSBAND IS A CONTRACTOR IN IRAQ: I'll be happy when he's in my arm, but I'm not going to be calm until he's like, way away from there and away from water, and -- everything. I just -- safely on the ground, in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: On Thursday a state department spokesperson announced that companies were leading these evacuations, choosing to get their employees out of harm's way or potential harm's way. They said that profits of getting all of these contractors out Balad would take some time. They aren't assigning a specific timeline to it. And they are not saying, Fred, exactly how many contractors we're talking about there. They are just saying sort of the number is in the hundreds.

WHITEFIELD: OK. And, again, the thousands of employees that say at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, one of the largest U.S. embassies in any country in the world, no evacuation there?

FIELD: No orders from the state department at this point to evacuate. Again, what they're saying is that they're keeping an eye on the security situation there. And they said they have not changed their staffing at the embassy or the consulate, but we know that this is a situation that's deteriorated very rapidly. So clearly, they are closely watching and we can expect that they'll continue to issue whatever guidance is necessary to their employees there.

WHITEFIELD: All right, Alexandra Field. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.

President Obama says he is not sending any combat troops to Iraq, but as we speak, a mission-ready USS carrier is on its way to the Persian Gulf. So just what options are on the table for the military?

But first, in the U.S., less than two percent of teenaged moms earn a college diploma before they turn 30. This week's CNN Hero first became a mom at the age of 19 and now is helping other teen parents get through college.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 17 when I was pregnant with my daughter and 19 with my son.

Ready to get up? Go to school?

When being label add teen mom, there are certain stigmas that you're lazy, you're going to end up living on welfare and working the system. Everybody has their own opinion on what's going to be the most beneficial for you. Often it can feel like a downgrade from what you want to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When a young person discovers a pregnancy, people stop talking to them about college. We saw that we could be that voice, saying, yes, you can go to college. This doesn't have to be the end of your life. I knew from my own experience that college had transformed my life, as teen mom. So I wanted that same success for other young parents.

We're going to get the other rooms set up for the kids.

It becomes imperative for parenting students to have their band of cheerleaders behind them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ended up getting my GPA up to 3.8 which I didn't even believe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We offer training on various tropics.

We are going to talk about balancing school and your role as a parent.

The most important part of our program is the intense one on one mentoring from a caring individual from the community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won the college of science (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew you could do it.

Generation hope has really helped me believe in myself. They prepare us to have the skills for the future, and we can pass those skills on to our kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm motivated by the potential that's out there, that's untapped. I want to be able to help each and every one of them achieve their own success. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITEFIELD: New details this afternoon on the U.S. response to the crisis in Iraq. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the "USS George H. W. Bush" aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf. The mission- ready carrier will be accompanied by a guided missile cruiser and a guided missile destroyer. The order gives Obama quote "additional flexibility should military options be required to protect American lives, citizens and interests in Iraq," end quote.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest on President Obama's options and what could be next for the U.S. military.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as the militants continue advancing towards Baghdad, President Obama is still looking at all military options, except for sending ground troops.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq security forces.

STARR: But the Pentagon repeatedly, not willing to endorse Iraqi security forces.

I'd like to ask again, does the United States military think the Iraqi military can hold? This department, does Secretary Hagel, think that the Iraqi forces can hold Baghdad?

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I don't give up any opportunity not to answer. I take every opportunity I cannot answer your questions.

STARR: The joking no hiding military reality after spending $730 billion on the war with nearly 4,500 U.S. troops killed and 32,000 wounded.

KIRBY: I will just say, yes. We were surprised and disappointed by the poor performance of some Iraqi security force units. They're up in the north.

STARR: Air strikes pose significant problems. There are no U.S. ground troops with up to the minute intelligence to guide air strikes. The militants don't have military bases, command and control centers, or missile batteries to attack, and, therefore, degrade their capability.

Fighters are disbursed in trucks, moving in cities, civilian casualties could occur. One bright spot, this week the Pentagon began drone reconnaissance flights over northern and western Iraq to give the Maliki government intelligence on where militants are located.

But there are still so many holes. The Pentagon says it doesn't know if Iranian fighters have entered Iraq. If the Pentagon can't even confirm that there are Iranian fighters on

the ground, what is the quality of the intelligence? How can you give the president realistic options, if there's so many holes in the intelligence?

KIRBY: Intelligence is never perfect. It's not a perfect science. It nerve hear been. It never will be.

STARR: What the U.S. wants now is for the Maliki government and Iraqi troops to stand up and fight.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITEFIELD: Thanks so much, Barbara.

So what happened to Iraq's army? Why did their forces fall apart at a critical time when they needed to step it up? The former ambassador to Iraq will try to answer that question, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITEFIELD: Iraq's military is claiming today its troops have regained key northern territories from extremist Sunni Muslim militants. A military spokesman says Iraq's forces remain strong and capable against the radicals who have suddenly destabilized the country. But my next guest is characterized Iraq's military as quote "ill trained, badly led and not particularly competent."

James Jeffrey was the U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 2010 to 2012. He is now a distinguished fellow at the Washington institute for near east policy.

Mr. Ambassador, good to see you.

JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Good to be back. Thank you.

WHITEFIELD: OK. So, those are some pretty harsh words. Ill trained, badly led, this after the U.S. spent $20 billion rebuilding Iraq's army? Are you saying they weren't trained adequately or a commitment from Iraqis? Is it the commitment in question?

JEFFREY: OK. As a former infantry officer, I can tell you training is not something you do once. It's something you do continuously. Our plan was to keep troops on in Iraq after 2011, to train the Iraqis on an almost constant basis, rotating them through with American units. We weren't able to do this when the Iraqis decided not to keep U.S. troops on or, rather, to give them legal immunities.

Secondly, you have very, very bad leadership at the top. Generals are selected for their loyalty to Maliki. These are cronies of Maliki and some of his political advisers. They are not competent people, and they do not provide the front line leadership that these soldiers want. It's a sectarian army in some respects. Sunni units in Sunni areas wouldn't fight against their co-religionists and Shi'a units felt that they were isolated. They were beyond the areas that they were willing to fight for and you saw the collapse in Mosul as a result of this.

WHITEFIELD: So, is it your opinion the U.S. just did not get much return for its investment?

JEFFREY: We did not achieve the result of a unified Iraqi state where loyalty to the state as in America is greater than loyalty to one's tribe, one's family, one's federal state and so forth. And that's the underlying problem. It's a political problem, and President Obama was right in citing that and stressing that yesterday.

WHITEFIELD: Earlier today, Iraq's prime minister, talked about the collapse of Iraqi security forces even though he just reported they feel they've r regained some control now, Mosul being lost earlier in the week. Let's listen now from what al-Maliki is saying, and I'd love to hear your reaction on the other end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOURI AL MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): They believed this was the beginning of the end. But we say this is the beginning of their end, their defeat, because it sparked a passion and determination in all soldiers and officers in and in all Iraqi people.

Iraqis came in thousands. We were unable to mobilize all the people who volunteered and wanted to confront this evil organization, which is pushed by foreign forces that do not want good to Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITEFIELD: So Maliki sounding very confident there. Shouldn't Iraq's army be able to take advantage of this ISIS, which is only comprised of a few thousand?

JEFFREY: It is only a few thousand but it has been joined by some of the tribes from the Sunni Arab areas and there were five or six other different groups former Bathos' (ph) and other insurgent groups, that basically were kept suppressed by us and then after we left the Iraqi security forces.

These folks have all sprung up. And I would say that there are quite a few thousand Sunni insurgents right now in the Sunni areas. The danger for Maliki is, these people can take and hold territory, including territory all around Baghdad, and near the Shi'a shrine cities of the south that President Obama mentioned yesterday, Kebab la and (INAUDIBLE). And that can provoke, if they're able to cut off these places, particularly Baghdad that could provoke Iranian entry into the walk and a real disaster, basically a regional civil war running from Iran to Lebanon on the sea. That's what President Obama has to deal with right now and that's basically a military problem.

WHITEFIELD: So then given that, to what extent should the U.S. be any more involved? JEFFREY: Well, once again I differ between the two problems. He said

two days ago that it's not acceptable to have a permanent al Qaeda presence in (INAUDIBLE) f Iraq and Syria. He's right.

But to fix that problem, that is a problem that will take years, just like in western Pakistan and will require political, diplomatic and other actions. Again, he has stressed that in his speech yesterday. But what he's facing right now is, as he said, the momentum of an ISIS force that with military moves can cut off Baghdad, besiege the city, put the people there under pressure.

We saw this against us in 2004 when we had 100,000 American troops. All the bridges around Baghdad were blown and we had difficulty getting supplies in. Good as the American military was. That's a real threat. If that threat materializes he is going to be under urgent pressure to use military force to help the Iraqi's break essential a siege of the Shi'a areas.

WHITEFIELD: Does that mean you feel like it's inevitable that the U.S. would have to engage militarily?

JEFFREY: It's a set of consequences. If ISIS continues its momentum, which they said they would do and despite the news today, they seem to be continuing to gain ground. If the Iraqi security forces can't throw them back and they've shown little ability to do that, ISIS will not take Baghdad and possibly not the towns to the south but will besiege them and put the whole country under tremendous pressure. Then either we go in to break the siege of the Shi'a areas where the Sunni Islamist fanatics should not be in any case, all the Iranians will come in. And I know what I want to see in the Middle East, I don't want to see us acting if unnecessary before the Iranians.

WHITEFIELD: James Jeffrey. Thank you so much, Mr. Ambassador.

JEFFREY: Thank you.

WHITEFIELD: Coming up, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's road to recovery. Two weeks ago today, we were watching his hand over from Taliban and Afghanistan. How's he doing now inside the Texas hospital? A live report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITEFIELD: All right. Today's the second day on U.S. soil for army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. It's been two weeks since that dramatic hand over in Afghanistan when Taliban captors freed Bergdahl.

Friday, he arrived in San Antonio and he is being treated at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. That's where our Martin Savidge is right now.

What's the latest on his treatment and how he's doing?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the military doctors when they gave a press briefing said he's doing pretty good. I mean, given what he has been through. He's only been here a short time. He's still acclimating to his new surroundings, they say. Medical condition is stable. Mentally, they say -- what you might expect after five years of being held captive.

The four things they'll focus on from now on, medically, continue to treat him for after effects of his captivity. They will also continue to work on the psychological aspect. It is likely to be the hardest road ahead. And then on top of that, there is the debriefing that will continue. They want to know where he was, how he fell into the captivity with the Taliban and what allowed him to survive?

That is very unique and could be lessons learned for anyone else who becomes held captive. And then lastly, it's the reunion with family that's really important to the integration -- Fredricka.

WHITEFIELD: All right. Martin Savidge, thank you so much in San Antonio.

Iraq's prime minister is trying to rally troops and volunteer fighters in a struggle with militants, but is he even the right manor t-- man for the job. That's up next.

A young woman uses the tragedy that left her paralyzed to help others in a similar situation. Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains in today's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 14 years old, Sabrina Cohen was your average teenager. She was building a social life, simply trying to fit in. So when a few older boys offered Sabrina and her friends a ride to a party, they jumped at the chance.

SABRINA COHEN, SPIRAL CORD INJURY SURVIVOR: I just remember being concerned with things like not putting my seat belt on, because I wanted to look cool.

GUPTA: Getting into the car and not buckling up was a decision that would cost her dearly.

COHEN: Within minutes they took off drag races down one of Miami Beach's most dangerous streets about 90 miles per hour. The other car lost control, hit the car I was in. We hit a tree and I instantly bake a quadriplegic.

GUPTA: Sabrina spent the first several months in denial.

COHEN: You know, I was more like I'm going to work out and I'm going to walk again.

GUPTA: It wasn't until she saw others in her condition that the reality set in. After several months of grueling rehab and soul searching, Sabrina decided to use her experience to help others.

COHEN: My principal approached me and said to me, would you do the school a favor and talk to the seniors about reckless driving. And that was the start of my mentorship and public speaking and motivational speaking.

GUPTA: She graduated at the top of her class from high school on time. Then she went tout get a dual degree in advertising and psychology from the University of Miami. A few years after college started the Sabrina Cohen foundation.

COHEN: My mental and fitness well-being has always played such an important role in keeping me healthy and active and able to do what I do. So my focus now is to basically allocate funds to people who can't afford to get the best therapy.

GUPTA: And she says leading by example especially when talking to children is key.

COHEN: I think I am an example that life can go on, and you can a full life, as I do.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITEFIELD: A new step in the U.S. response to the crisis in Iraq today, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the "USS George H. W. Bush" aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon said it will give President Obama flexibility should military options be required. That comes after Obama said yesterday he will consider a range of options in Iraq but sending troops back into combat is not one of them.

I asked Fareed Zakaria what the U.S. can do in this situation, and if any of the options are good.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: I think that what the president is trying to do is to force the Iraqis, particularly Prime Minister Maliki to make some political overtures to the Sunnis. Because I think he recognizes at the heart of this problem, what you have is a disaffected population, about 20 percent of Iraq that is fueling and supporting the insurgency.

Remember, Fredricka, the problem is not arms or men. The Iraqi army is about three-quarters million men strong. They have been trained in equipment supplied by the United States for ten years. The insurgents are about 2,000 or 3,000 people. So the fact that they can't, you know, that the insurgents that taking this down tells you that the basic problem is not a military on, it is a political one. The army won't fight. The Sunnis in the area are providing support for the insurgency.

The only way to solve that is political. And I realized that time tables are often that you got to work militarily. But at the heart of this problem, you have a political breakdown, not a military breakdown. WHITFIELD: Now, is this a surprise something like this would happen

or is there a bubbling of problems that sent a signal this is inevitable, this kind of scenario.

ZAKARIA: You know, it was inevitable in the sense it was predictable because we have seen this movie before. This is exactly what happened in '04, '05, and '06 when the Shi'a government in Iraq essentially started persecuting the Sunnis, purging them from office, disempowering them in various ways, and the Sunnis started fueling and funding insurgency. That's what created the civil war in Iraq.

And the solution to it was General Petraeus coming in, a very important set of military moves, but also political outreach, crucially, political outreach to the Sunni community.

The problem of the last three years is Prime Minister Maliki undid all that good work. He stopped paying off the Sunni tribes. He stopped providing patronage to the Sunni groups. He started persecuting Sunni politicians, jailing them, in many cases killing them through death squads and all kinds of mechanisms.

So you're back in exactly the same problem, disaffected minority, moves to insurgency, al Qaeda moves in, and they tacitly support al Qaeda. The solution is General Petraeus solution. They have to show some military strength, but they have to do political outreach.

WHITFIELD: So, it also sounds like al-Maliki was simply the wrong choice, the wrong leader. Or was there a feeling that he was going to be able o appeal to Sunnis, and somehow in your view, you know, he turned on the Sunnis along the way?

ZAKARIA: It is a great question. In my opinion, he was the wrong man always. I met with him before he was prime minister. I wrote a column in "the Washington Post" at the time saying this guy is a Shiite thug, hard line, shows no signs of compromise.

Between us, not between us, I mean, at that time I was called into the White House, and given a briefing that they thought he was a great democrat and he was going to do all kinds of outreach. I think that you have to look at these parties, these Shi'a religious parties. They are hard line religious parties that were funded by Iran for 20 years, and they're showing their true colors. The United States in a sense picked a side in a very complicated sectarian society, and were reaping the consequences.

WHITFIELD: So, wait a minute. And there is a danger for this administration or any administration to take sides in this case. Is this what is in large part keeping the White House or the U.S. military from engaging, making commitment to engage because again, the U.S. would be picking sides?

ZAKARIA: Absolutely. If the United States were to go in full-bore and provide support to Prime Minister Maliki, what it would be doing is acting as the air force for a very sectarian, very oppressive, ruthless regime in Baghdad, which by the way is allied with Iran.

WHITFIELD: So how does this end in your view? What is the next chapter?

ZAKARIA: Unless the Iraqi government makes major political overturns to the vicinities, I think what you are going to see is the defector partition of Iraq. The curds will keep their northern part, which is Kurdistan, the Shi'a will keep the southern part, which is all Shi'a Stan if you will. And in the middle, there will be a bad land, which will encompass not just Iraq but Syria. It will be bad lands ruled by a variety of crazy radical Sunni groups, very messy, very chaotic. And a place where, you know, nobody should go and travel.

And I think at that point the United States' best strategy would be to try to give security and support to the stable parts of the region and just accept that there are going to be some places that are essentially bad lands.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. What an abysmal scenario here we are talking about.

All right. Fareed Zakaria, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

ZAKARIA: Pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITEFIELD: Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is getting a workout of sorts. Today she signs more than 1,000 copies of her new book, a steady stream of admirers, some of whom camped out overnight came to the northern Virginia Costco to meet her as she was also unexpectedly greeted by civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis and U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonya Sotomayor.

And we got a CNN special tomorrow night, it is called "41 on 41," documentary on the life of President George H. W. Bush. Here's a sneak preview --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People ask did you constantly seek your father's advice. My answer is no, I constantly sought my father's love.

OBAMA: What always strikes me whenever I see him is the joy he takes in his family and how much his family loves him. And to have accomplished as much as he has while still investing the kind of attention and care in his family that shows in how they view him, you know, that's a sign of a life well led.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Of course, I want to thank my entire family with this special emphasis on a woman named Barbara.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every parent lives in mortal fear that when their kids grow up they won't want to hang around them anymore and it's sort of like the ultimate validation in life when your adult children still want to hang around with you and his adult children like hanging around with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITEFIELD: Very nice. Watch or set your DVR for "41 on 41" tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN.

Thanks so much for watching and being with me all afternoon long. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now. We got a team.

Ana Cabrera in New York and Michael Holmes here in Atlanta, good to see you both.