A virginia man was arrested at the scene. Pressure cookers have been used in several terrorist scenes. The incident taking place as people were gather for a memorial day concert. Iraqi forces rising up against isis. Taking the city ramadi showing life after the u. S. Defense secretary questioned their will. All this as we get disturbing reports of mass slaughter in syria at the hands of isis fighters. I want to start with the situation unfolding in ramadi with Senior International correspondent arwa damon live in baghdad. Good morning, arwa. Reporter good morning, christine. That force is attempting to push isis back is made up of the Iraqi Security forces and army and police but also perhaps more importantly they are being beefed up and supported by these Iranianbacked Shia military forces proven to be instrumental in the battle for tikrit. Given the ability for sectarian tensions to rise. They are working alongside the sunni tribes. Those tribes do need more weapons and there are calls on the Iraqi Government to begin an effort to arm them. Iraqis we have been speaking to are bristling at the u. S. Defense secretary that the iraqi army did not have the will to fight. They would counter that by saying they have been fighting in ramadi for well over a year. As far as november they were calling on the u. S. To up its air strikes in the area and also calling on the Iraqi Government to send them more reinforcements. A soldier that we spoke to was saying the issue was not with the soldiers fighting on the ground but rather with their leadership and a fragmented logistical route that left them without ammunition on the frontlines. They would also say the u. S. Perhaps should have gotten it right the first time around when they were the ones training up the iraqi army. Arwa damon for us in baghdad. Thank you. With isis making stunning advances across the middle east the pentagon signaling it is open to a shift in strategy in iraq. Defense secretary ash carter questioning as arwa pointing out the will to fight the terrorists. In an interview with cnn, we get more with athena jones from the white house. Reporter good morning. Ever since the fall of iraq in ramadi there is question if the u. S. Needs to strange the strategy toward isis to the defeat of the terror group. Ash carter is saying one of the problems is with the iraqi forces. Take a listen. What apparently happened was that the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. They were not outnumbered. In fact they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. Yet, they failed to fight. They withdrew from the site. That says to me and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis to fight isul and defend themselves. We can give them training we can give them equipment. We obviously cant give them the will to fight. If we give them training and give them equipment apparent give them support and give them some time i hope they will develop the will to fight because only if they fight, can isul remain defeated. Reporter secretary carter telling the iraqi forces to step up. You have republicans on capitol hill and on the president ial campaign trail calling for 10,000 more Ground Troops to ensure the defeat of isis. Ground troops are not on the table. Christine. Thank you, athena. Secret talks in china with afghanistan and the taliban was orchestrated by Pakistan Intelligence agency. One diplomat called it talks about talks. The goal to get the warring parties to agree to peace negotiations. One week and counting until the bulk Data Collection expires expires. The white house is looking at what they will examine if the law lapses on june 1st. Mitch mcconnell will have a session on sunday night, but it is unclear how legislation can move forward after being defeated in the chamber. Another hopeful coming out in hopes of ending the program. Mike huckabee hopes they should get a warrant to listen in on programs. 225 different terrorists plot over the past year since 9 11 and so far, not one of them has been tied directly to the nsa collection of data. If this is so effective, how come it hasnt resulted in the foiled terrorist plots . The issue has divided the 2016 field with several arguing with keeping the program or a modified version of it to fight terrorism. The investigation into Hillary Clintons emails getting dismissed as petty politics. Hud secretary Julian Castro calling out the republicans on sunday for wasting americans time. You have with the emails a witch hunt. Congress member gowdy is manipulating the witch hunt to manipulate politics. That is why he has a 19 approval rating. We need to focus on more substantive things. I know that out there in america, they care about are you reducing veteran homelessness and providing the impetus for young people to achieve their dreams. Are you making sure america in the 21st century is the land of opportunity. Not whether somebody had emails or didnt. He is one of the names that is often whispered about as a good running mate for hillary clinton. The first round of Clinton Emails was released on friday with no developments. Thousands more expected to be released with no clear timetable. Jeb bush is getting new digs. The likely president ial candidate is having a 3,000 square foot house built for him at the bush family compound in kennebunkport, maine. The nation pausing today to honor those who have fallen defending our country. President obama marking the memorial day by laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldiers in washington, d. C. Eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your moment. The markets are closed for the holiday. Stocks right at record. Dow up 2. 3 . The s p up 3. 3 . The nasdaq is better. Up more than 7 . One of the biggest debates on wall street what is the deal with oil . Bank of america issued a note telling clients now is the time to buy oil stocks. Smart money already doing that. The 50 largest hedge funds bought a lot of oil stocks. Smart move so far. Oil rebounded from 45 a barrel to 60. That is still well below 100. Prices may be headed lower soon. Record rainfall brings deadly flooding to texas and oklahoma. Thousands forced to flee their homes. The damage done and storms still on the way as dangerous situation continue. Thats next. All right. Back to the chaos in the middle east. We are getting disturbing reports of rampaging isis fighters slaughtering soldiers in syria. At least 400 people many women and children killed in the ancient city of palmyra. According to syria and state tv the streets are littered with bodies. Many bodies beheaded. I want to get the latest from cnns ian lee live from cairo. This is exactly what officials feared that that town anybody who was loyal to Iraqi Military or anyone who resisted isis or deemed by isis to be an enemy would be killed. Reporter thats right, christine. That goes with what we have seen all over syria and iraq. Isis militants going doortodoor searching every house for people who sympathized or helped with the government and taking them out. Most times, executing them right there on the spot. We are hearing numbers anywhere from 90 to well into the hundreds of people who have been executed. Now we havent been able to independently verify these executions or the number but we know this is the sort of thing that takes place once isis takes an area. We are also hearing that roughly 600 people have been arrested. These are people that isis accuses of being part of the regime also there. If the past is any indication they will likely be executed as well. Really shows the humanitarian crisis that evolves once isis takes an area. We know that 11,000 people have fled palmyra. Following isis takeover. This is just a short picture, a picture into the wider view and wider chaos and wider brutality that is isis. So ian, what is the assad regimes plan to retake palmyra . Reporter what were hearing are the reports that the forces loyal to the regime and Regime Forces are gathering outside palmyra waiting for the go ahead to start their counter offensive and try to retake the city. Although no date or time has been given. Were also hearing from the Lebanese Shiite militia and Political Group hezbollah who has been supporting the Syrian Government. We heard from their leader hasan rasolla. They are no longer focusing on the border and Al Qaeda Nusra front. We are seeing an escalation of the fighting there as well. Ian lee for us in cairo. Disturbing news out of syria. A deadly weekend of flooding in texas and oklahoma. The Severe Weather leaving three people dead and several others missing with hundreds forced to evacuate their homes. Emergency crews trying to get a handle of the scope of the devastation. Alina machado has more. Reporter we have been to the hardest hit areas in texas. We have seen houses knocked off foundations or tipped over like this one here just by the sheer force of the rising flood waters. We know there are hundreds of homes that have been damaged or destroyed in the area. The debris field here is quite extensive. You can see here and tell just how high those flood waters got just by the debris thats been stacked up right there against the tree. Theres a childs toy wrapped up in that debris. I want to show you Something Else we were told by the people who were here. This happened quickly. A lot did not have time to react. Some had to ride out the rising flood waters in the homes as all of this was happening. There was a truck that normally parks over there in front of where that jeep is turning. If you walk over here look at it right over there. Completely overturned. Just resting. Quite a ways away from where it normally is. Theres no doubt that the cleanup effort here will take a very long time and it will require the help of many people. Alina machado in texas for us. A dangerous situation. Will it get worse in texas and oklahoma . Lets get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for an early look at your weather. Good morning, christine. Great working with you. Texas finally on the dry side but it is over portions of louisiana and eventually to mississippi. Also western and Central Kansas where we have thunderstorms this morning. Things over the next couple hours expected to change. Flash flood watches from Oklahoma City and points south. Here are the models. They have done a wonderful job with accuracy in recent days. Dallas and Oklahoma City and east of austin tremendous rainfall over this region. A couple more inches of rainfall not out of the question. You see places in texas picking up texassized rainfall. A 24hour total of nearly 12 inches. Remarkable when you think how much rainfall that is. Oklahoma city 18. 7 inches has come down in may. For seattle, it would take six months to get what Oklahoma City has seen so far in the month of may. Phoenix, two years worth of rainfall. Houston, it would take five months to get the rains they have seen in just 24 days of may. Thank you. The city of cleveland threatening to erupt. People taking to the streets after a Police Officer was acquitted of manslaughter charges in shooting of two unarmed suspects. People kept the protests peace peaceful for now. Nick valencia has more. Reporter cleveland owe efficient officials were worried. Those demonstrations on saturday were on a small scale. Protesters upset that a local Police Officer was acquitted of two manslaughter charges. Civil rights leaders spoke to the public asking them to people the peace. This is cleveland. Not baltimore. Not ferguson. Reporter there are no major demonstrations planned. City officials hope things remain calm in cleveland. Thanks, nick. 20,000 gallons of oil cleaned up from the spill along the california coast. 80,000 gallons remain in the water a week after the accident north of los angeles. Now officials with plains all american pipeline lp say crews will extract the broken section of pipe from the ground after it finishing draining all the oil out from inside. Dozens of protesters took to the streets in Santa Barbara asking for an end to fracking and pressing authorities to rule out dangerous chemicals to clean up that spill. Tributes this morning pouring in for john nash the Nobel Prize Winning professor whose battle with schizophrenia was portrayed in a beautiful mind. Nash and his wife anlicia were killed in a taxi accident on saturday. Russell crowe tweeted stunned. My heart goes out to the nash family. John nash was 86. An intense search to find thousands of migrants at sea. The pope now weighing in on this crisis. Thats next. Kelloggs® f miniwheats®. 8 layers of wheat. And one thats sweet. For the adult. And kid in all of us. supergrass alright plays throughout kelloggs frosted mini wheats® feed your inner kidult. If you have playdates at your house, be ready to clean up the mess. The kids have fun, but its pretty gross. [door bell] whats that . Its a swiffer wetjet. I can just grab this and just go right to the mess. That comes from my floor . oh, thats disgusting. I want friends over. You want friends over . welcome back. Good morning. A powerful earthquake rocking central tokyo overnight causing the temporary suspension of bullet trains and shutting down runways at airports. The search for thousands of migrants abandoned at sea is intensifying this morning. Indonesias armed forces started the mission on saturday morning. Thousands stranded in the indian ocean with dwindling supplies. They were abandoned by human traffickers. The pope speaking out on the ordeal urging the International Community to help. A landslide vote to legalize samesex marriage for ireland. Ireland once deeply conservative voted 2 to 1 to define marriage between two people regardless of their sex. The vote was called a social revolution. An International Group of 30 female activists crossed the korea border calling for peace. At the helm gloria steinem. The group crossed the demilitarized zone. They were forced by south korean officials to take a bus across instead. A frightening scene at the capitol. The bomb squad finding a Pressure Cooker bomb in a vehicle. What we are learning next. Daves been working on his game. And starting each day with a delicious bowl of heart healthy kelloggs raisin bran. Hows your cereal . Sweet tastes like winning. How would you know what winning tastes like . Invest in your heart health, with kelloggs raisin bran. No crying today. Have iraqis lost the will to fight against isis . A troubling assessment from the white house as the terrorists unleash a new massacre. Live coverage ahead. Welcome back to early start. Im Christine Romans on this memorial day. John berman has the day off. Up first, a big square near the u. S. Capitol. The bomb squad called in to detonate a Pressure Cooker in a vehicle. It was a false alarm. A virginia man was arrested at the scene. The Pressure Cooker bombs have been used in the past. And to the middle east. Iraqi forces are rallying against isis in ramadi. Taking back part of the city one week after it fell to the terrorists. Showing signs of life after u. S. Defense secretary questioned their will. All this as we get disturbing reports of a blood bath in syria as the hands of isis fighters. Lets get the latest with Senior International correspondent arwa damon. Arwa tell us what advances the Iraqi Military has made on the city of ramadi. Reporter well the force they are using to try to push isis back toward the city is made up of yes, the Iraqi Security forces army and police but also this un unconventional force with the military and controversial well given the sectarian dynamics that exist in iraq. In this case they are reaching out and actively employees the sunni tribes. The tribes are very lightly armed. They have been trying to fight isis for some time now and there have been calls and promises made by the Iraqi Government that they will be arming them. This is very critical that the Iraqi Government does actually make good on that pledge at this stage. Quite a few people i have been talking to have been quite upset at secretary carters remarks feeling as if they are unfair and misplaced. Saying it was the americans that at the end of the day that trained the Iraqi Security forces. If there are failures the u. S. Bears some responsibility for that. They will say the structuring of the iraqi army was faulty to begin with. Many of those fighting and dying on the frontlines and seen their comrades dying, say we have the will to fight. The problem is with our leadership and a lack of support from the government in baghdad and the u. S. Led coalition. Arwa do they fear isis could proceed on to baghdad . Reporter well theres this sense of fear because of the psychological warfare that isis has successfully launched. The rumor that isis may have entered an area in baghdad is enough to create chaos and panic. Interestingly, a lot of people do not believe isis is going to be able to take over baghdad the same way it took over mosul and other cities. Why . Not because of the Iraqi Security force, but the people whether they support this or not, do believe iran will not allow baghdad to fall. They are very reliant on the fact that iraqs powerful neighbor would prevent that at least from happening. Of course, it is not an ideal scenario but people say it is all they have and all they can actually trust. Arwa damon in baghdad. Thank you so much for that. With isis making stunning advances across the middle east the pentagon signaling it is open to a shift in strategy in iraq. As defense secretary ash carter questions iraqs will to fight the