Central government claims to be driving them back, the front line is as close as 37 miles from here. Faith in the government remains low. Trust in maliki to look out for all iraqis, shia, sunni, kurds, christians seemingly nonexistent. Against that backdrop, the Prime Minister is requesting and the Obama Administration is considering whether to have air strikes and other assistance. This afternoon president obama met with congressional leaders but not running through a list of possible actions that he is planning to take. Tonight we will run through a list of possible actions. But first, a wrap of the big developments here today. Long live isis these sunni militants chant on the streets today. They now are in control of this city and at least part of its massive oil refinery. Black smoke fills the air as militants are said to have set fires to at least five oil storage tanks. Witnesses say clashes are still ongoing at this, iraqs largest refinery. The loss of the baiji refinery is going to be a big blow for the government here in baghdad. Its one of just three refineries in the country, and its entire output is used within iraq. Its used for domestic consumption. So that means there is going to be longer lines at gas stations in baghdad as people try to fill up their cars and there is just not as much gasoline to be had. Already power, electricity is intermittent in the capital. You dont get it for 24 hours a day. You can hear the humming sound. Those are generators used in businesses and private homes. Most people cant afford to run a generator for several hours every day. So the loss will mean bigger blackout period for many families. It comes as Nuri Al Maliki promised a counteroffensive saying theyll strike back at isis and promising to teach them a lesson after suffering humiliating defeats last week. Iraqi military Officials Say they have retaken the border town of tallafar. Cnn has not independently verified the governments claim. Tonight also announced investigations into some 59 highlevel iraqi police and military officials for allegedly abandoning their posts. If found guilty that. Could be executed. Meanwhile, Kurdish Forces pushed back sunni militants from the outskirts of kirkuk today, further strengthening their hold on the city. They took control of kirkuk last week. [รท the leader of the shia nation warning sunni extremists in iraq that his country is prepared to protect shia shrines in iraq at all costs. These terrorist groups and those supporting them whether in the region or across the world are nothing against the will of the great nation of iraq, he says, and the muslim nation of this land will put them back where they belong. The announcement comes after the head of the qods force met to help the government coordinate a response. Saudi arabias foreign minister in turn said his country opposed any foreign intervention and any interference in iraq, a statement widely believed to be directed at iran. The big question tonight, though, concerned how much and what kind of American Military involvement, if any at all. The only thing the white house ruled out is sending combat forces back into iraq for a look at the other options, were joined by jim sciutto, retired Major General and cnn analyst james spider marks. Jim, let me start off with you this. Phone call we just learned between joseph biden and Nuri Al Maliki, what do we know . He spoke with Nuri Al Maliki, but he also spoke with the president of the kurdish region, the mossad barzani, as well as the speaker of the iraqi parliament. When you look at the read out of this call, you can see the consistent message coming from the administration that is him saying that they talk about potential military assistance for Iraqi Security forces, but always coupled with a political component. He says he was very direct with maliki, saying that this will have to be paired with maliki. eb other minority, the sunnis and the kurds there so that he is acting on behalf of iraqis as a whole and not just the shiite majority of which maliki is a member as well. And its interesting, because we also heard today from general David Petraeus of course who is commander in iraq, the architect that rescued iraq from its last civil war. And he had a similar message in his comments in london saying warning against military involvement in iraq, unless it has a political component, unless it is in conjunction with an Iraqi Government that is acting on behalf of all of its people and not just one minority there. Which exactly was the political component that was supposed to happen in the wake of the surge which Nuri Al Maliki has not followed through on. Jim, the pentagon has put together this draft list of isis targets. It has not finalized that. Is that correct . It has not. What im told is they have a draft list, but this list is always being updated with new intelligence that they have so that it has the latest options for the president. Bury, this list has been presented to the president so that he can consider it. And another thing ill mention. For several days now, speaking to military officials, myself, and barbara starr, our pentagon correspondent, we have heard a consistent message about what those options are. Yes, air strikes, though limited air strikes. In addition to that, the u. S. Sending additional military advisers into iraq to help coordinate iraqs military response. Now, to be clear, these advisers would not be on the front lines where they would be at risk, breaking the president s promise not to have boots on the ground. But they would be in the Embassy Compound where there were already 200 some odd military advisers who act in a similar capacity, bolstering that existing capacity there. And the other component to military options, reconnaissance flights. And in fact were told those reconnaissance flights have already begun. So flying over the isis positions, getting intelligence that the u. S. Can share with the iraqi side. But also possibly use if the president decides to launch missiles or Bombing Missions over those sites as well. General marks, the knack this target list is being put together and refined as events change on the ground, the fact that there are over reconnaissance flights, that might sound like air strikes are eminent. Thats not necessarily the case . This is something that would be done just as planning purpose . Well, it is. Beyond the planning, what it really gets to is the effort that the United States is now taking on with the advisory element of the forces that are on the ground. I mean, the 300 some odd forces that were put on the ground just a couple of days ago really have a couple of missions. One of them is the noncombatant evacuation possibility, and also the advisory role, which has everything to do with targeting. And so the United States in concert with the iraqis in the sanctuary of either the iraqi joint chiefs staff command center or there in the embassy where we have a very large down link capability, where all the intelligence capabilities can come into an intelligence center, where all of that can be fused so that we can hand off targeting data to the iraqis so that they can use both on the ground. And thats being updated and refreshed by these flights. And i would hazard to guess that most of these flights are probably by uavs or drones at this point. General marks, though, if they do send in special Operations Forces, special operators, is it likely, though, that they would really just stay at the embassy . Is that if you really want to get an influence on the Iraqi Military and have them influence the fighting capabilities of a lot of these battalions out in the field, dont these special units have to be the special forces have to be out with those units in bases in the field . Anderson, thats a great question. Yes. Its the difference between what they can do, what the doctrine that theyve been taught, their tactics, techniques and procedures, and what their president. So if there are going to be special Operations Forces involved and advisers at that level, i can guarantee at this point theyre not moving forward to help direct fire or to help maneuver elements or to help use to help indirect fire from ground units that the isf, the Iraqi Security forces are engaging right now with isis. I think at this point theyre providing a top level command and control element into the very highest levels at the iraqi joint chiefs of staff. Hmm. General marks, appreciate you being on. Jim shooto as well. I want to bring in our Nic Robertson now and arwa damon. Nic, i want to start with you, that Vice President biden had a phone Call Information with Nuri Al Maliki. Youve been talking to a lot of sources here on the ground. What are you hearing about the confidence people within the government and elsewhere have in Nuri Al Maliki . Confidence is low. There are politicians here really dont believe in his own party were told by people or in conversation with them, they dont think that Nuri Al Maliki is the man to make the compromises. He hasnt shown that so far. The decisions he has taken some people consider will have further alienated sunni politicians here. There are politicians that just dont feel that they can work with him. Therefore, how can he really be the man to make concessions and move the country forward. A new Prime Minister is needed. Now the Election Results from the last couple of months should have been ratified, and therefore that should begin a process towards the end of this month that would determine a new Prime Minister being announced. There is the constitutional scope for that change to happen. But lot of that is going to defend on Nuri Al Maliki himself. Is he prepared to make the ultimate concession for himself and give up power. Arwa, in the north, youve been talking to christiqycmic areas. A, do they have any confidence that Nuri Al Maliki is the man to continue leading this country . And also, how concern ready they about life under isis . They very much feel, anderson, as if they are the victim of politics. And they believe that the countrys leaders lacked the political maturity that is necessary at this stage to actually move the nation out of this Current Crisis and horrific bloodshed. The Christian Community here, remember, during the years of iraqs sectarian warfare and even afterwards was consistently targeted by insurgent groups on all sides. And that fear is returning to them once again. This town that we went to go visit is only ten minutes away from isis positions in mosul. Mosul being the first city that fell as the terrorist organization was advancing. They have begun to, the christians in this town have begun to arm themselves. Theyre setting up civilian defense units. A lot of shops are closed either because the owners have fled or because theyre not bothering to open. Theyve been cut off for the last four days from electricity, from water. And they are absolutely terrified that no one is going to come to their assistance. And its absolutely heartbreaking to speak to them, anderson, because so many of them will say to you, you know, in the last ten years since Saddam Hussein was taken from power, if we ever had a chance, if there ever was a glimmer of hope, something would always happen to take that away. And that is happening most certainly across the country at this stage. And arwa, you talk about mosul, a city of some two Million People, the first to fall to isis forces. You know, they have a very draconian vision of what life should be like. They apparently posted, you know, new rules for the town. Women should stay indoors. No smoking, no drinking, no music, things like that. Do we know what life has become like in mosul . Have they started to institute their rule of law there . They have but perhaps in a more subtle way than weve seen them try to their rule of law in syria. Theyre encouraging people to abide by the rules at this stage. Lets also remember that theyre trying to keep this relationship that they have going on currently with the sunni tribes and the various other sunni insurgent groups, the former baathists as a fairly solid one and one that loose arrangement was made to bring all the sunni groups together to launch this current offensive, isis was supposed to abide by certain rules. And that was not to impose their own interpretation of sharia on the islamic population and certainly not to carry out the mass executions. Were hearing from sources theyve been told to sort of hold back on trying to impose their ideals on the population. But that being said, they are continuously issuing orders. Most recently, they told all journalists that they are not allowed to film anything unless they have specific permission from members of isis. Anderson . Of course, nic, how long does that kind of liberal rule, if you can even call it that, how isis has put out. Youve heard the claims of mass killings by their fighters. Tonight what almost no one knew about the shadowy organization. How it runs its campaign of terror. Thanks to a remarkable intelligence coup. Well learn a whole lot more ahead. And more details about the raid that captured one of the benghazi ring leaders and there is a big fight going on now about where he should be held, tried for murder. Im on expert on softball. And tea parties. Ill have more awkward conversations than im equipped for, because im raising two girls on my own. Ill worry about the economy more than a few times before theyre grown. But its for them, so ive found a way. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. Ready to plan for your future . Well help you get there. How can a tablet replace your laptop . Start with the best writing experience. Make it incredibly thin. Add an adjustable kickstand, a keyboard, a usb port, and the freedom of touch. And, of course, make it run microsoft office, with the power and speed to do real work. Introducing surface pro 3. The tablet that can replace your laptop. Welcome back. Were live in baghdad tonight. They are less than an hours drive from here. They control iraqs second biggest part of the Biggest Oil Refinery in baiji in territory larger than the state of israel right now. They have rounded up officials, people they consider nonbelievers and apostate. If it is true, it would be one of the worst atrocities in recent memories. When you consider isis is estimated to number only a few thousand in all, you can see why the sunni militants known as isis have inspired such terror. They are the group after all that al qaeda famously considered too extreme in some ways for them. And americas Security Officials worry that like al qaeda, they could eventually target the United States. All of that makes a recent discovery in mosul such a coup. This is before they took over mosul, a window directly inside the organization isis. It was wrote about for the guardian. I spoke about it earlier today. I was fascinated by this article you wrote. And youre the only person i read who found out this information. Talk about the intelligence that was discovered about isis before mosul happened. Two or three days before that dramatic storming into mosul took place, the iraqi forces had gone to the house of someone they had been told was the head of the military council of the isis organization that had been led to him by a courier who had finally broken after two weeks of interrogations, gone to the house, shot him dead and found 162 memory sticks. And on those sticks were an absolute treasure trove of information. These were computer sticks that belonged to isis . Absolutely. They had all the information, all the intelligence about isis. Everything. Financial accounts, strategic leadership, the second tier of leaders as well which is really important to them. While they broadly knew who the Senior Leaders were, they didnt know much about the second tier. They were the guys who were feeding in the new recruits, the foreigners who with coming in from all around the world, from europe, arab, the u. S. And elsewhere. They had at least a thousand informants, i should say, infiltrators into the iraqi institutions. So isis has people have infiltrated the stufgs Iraqi Government. That had been known for a long time. But not to this scale. It had been known they had more or less got into the security establishment. But were talking about the finance ministry, the foreign ministry, every ministry in the country. And that is something that was totally startling, even to the iraqis. So isis has a very wellorganized structure . Absolutely. Not only that, theyre strategically capable. Very, very capable. There had been a sense of an understanding of that, but not the extent that was revealed. These accounts would have passed any forensic auditor. They showed before mosul took place, 875 million in cash alone. Thats a huge amount for any kind of terror group. And 36 million has been from looting antiquities from archaeological digs around the country. The rest had come from commandeering the oil fields of Eastern Syria and selling the oil out the back to the regime across the border into iraq or turkey. And now that they controlled mosul, they were able to loot the banks there as well. So they have even more stockpiles of gold and cash. Straightup cash and gold. Conservatively, 500 million. Military equipment, including 200 sort of armored troop carriers. 50 humvees, five tanks, ammunition rockets, whatever. Conservative