Hours after a victory over isis a major setback. The black flag flying over ramadi as the terror group tightens its group, thousands fleeing the city fearing a bloodbath. Iraqi troops led first in the face of a stunning isis military offensive. Now as the u. S. Led Coalition Targets isis from the air, the Iraqi Government is calling on iranianbacked shiite militias for a push to try to retake ramadi capital of the sunni heartland. Meantime learning new detailance a the special ops raid deep into an isis corner of syria. U. S. Troops fought hand to hand with isis terrorists killed a senior commander. Made off with what Officials Say is valuable intelligence linking him to american hostages. Ill talk live this hour with republican senator landsy graham of the Armed Services committee and our correspondents and guests are standing by for full kov respect coverage. We begin with barbara starr. Whats the latest . What are you hearing about ramadi . Reporter wolf the pentagon and Obama Administration calling it a setback for the iraqis but the state Department Already saying it believes that the iraqis will be able to retake ramadi. I think it is fair to say there are a good number of questions about whether that is possible at this point. Whether they can retake it anytime soon. Right now isis digging in. They took ramadi with waves and waves of attacks, carbombs fighters moving in. It was a pitched battle. Ramadi had been under siege for months by isis but this time over the weekend they were able to mass a significant offensive isis military force. Thats what the u. S. Had been saying isis could not do. They were down to moving just in small groups, but not in ramadi. They were able to mass fire power. Now the question is can iraqis even with the help of shia militias move back into this sunni area if isis is digging in minute by minute . Can the iraqis actually dislodge them anytime soon . Raramadi a big city. Half a Million People used to live there in the last few weeks and months 120,000 people have fled ramadi. Barbara, on to another major development. You were the first, you broke the story Early Saturday Morning of an isis raid. Explain what you learned, what happened . Because this is a potentially, a Significant Development as well. Reporter indeed. The man, the pentagon says named abu sayyaf what is his real name . Still many questions about that. The Obama Administration not yet releasing his full true real name. What do we know about him jp who is he . U. S. Officials saying over the weekend he is the isis money man. He ran the oil and gas operations, but indeed, he also had a lot of information, a lot of military intelligence information potentially about hostages. Delta force, Army Delta Force commandos moved in overnight on friday. They went to this site via helicopter with fresh intelligence knowing he would be there. They had him under surveillance since march, but they had very fresh intelligence knowing he would be at that site. It raising an awful lot of questions about what delta force knew what surveillance they had, what information was coming in. They got to the site a big firefight broke out. In the end, abu sayyaf was killed in the firefight, delta coming into hand to hand combat with the isis forces there. Now, they are going through the laptops, the cell phones all electronic media. They seized to see what they can learn what information he had. Perhaps most sensitive at this point what information, if any did he have about the fate and handling of american hostages that were held by isis before they were killed . Our own jim acosta learning that the white house called some of the american hostage families after the raid to tell them that they were looking for this information. Barbara starr, excellent reporting. Vaunk very much. The killing of that isis commander is it a crucial blow to isis and who is runs icesis now . Reporter wolf tonight were told that isis leader Abubakar Al Baghdadi is still a player running daytoday operations for isis but new information ow isis spread its Leadership Structure around and tried to inoculate itself from socalled decapitation strikes. Were told operations like the one that took out sayyaf over its weekend are effective but not fatal. A prize kill for the u. S. Led coalition. Sayyaf say he had a key role in black market oil and gas operations and its military exploits is taken off the battlefield but 23409 eveeven on the top ten list of isis leaders. Whos in charge . Most indications say Abubakar Al Baghdadi the black robe and secrecy obsessed iraqi jihadist only appearance at this mosque in mosul last summer. Last week he released an audiotape calling for new recruits. He was injured recently in a Coalition Air strike it was said. He remains a player still taking part in the daytoday running of isis. The load stone religious figure to which all the mujahadin are drawn, im sure playing a central role in military strategic planning. Reporter if baghdadi were taken out, who would replace him . Abu a la al afri a shod owie operative to take control of daytoday operations. He is said to have been Osama Bin Laden favorite candidate for the top job in isis when baghdadis predecessor was killed in 2010. The u. S. Has a 7 million reward for information on al afri. U. S. Officials say they cannot corroborate reports from the Iraqi Military al afri was kill dmd a Coalition Strike last week. Yore potential leader adnani calling for supporters to launch lone attacks in the we have. Americas bounty for him, 5 million. Analysts say isis positioned itself to not be dependent on a few people at the top. Its been clear even killing the leader of isis and its president sayser Organization Al Qaeda in iraq including abu al zahr zarqawi has not limited them. Reporter losing abu sayyafs ability to run Oil Operations doesnt hurt that much. Theyre lining pockets from several sources. From kidnapping to extortion to brothels to selling precious artifacts from ancient sites that are inside the territory that they control. Reporter and analysts say isis isnt just in syria and in iraq anymore. Its taken its black Market Operations and diversified Leadership Structure to places like africa and south asia. Another reason that experts say decapitation strikes wont finish this group off, wolf. And brian, learning about palace intrigue among the leadership of isis for whos going to really be in control of that terror group . Reporter fascinating. A key reason al baghdadi is at the top of isis from a family with direct lineage to the prophet muhammad. The number two leader the man profiled in the piece, al afri maneuvering to claim the top job. One, by preemping, giving a sermon in the same mosque that al baghdadi gave last summer when he gave that famous sermen in a mosque in mosul that al afri gave a serm tln recently also and also trying to repaint his own Family History to claim that he is also a direct descendant of the prophet muhammad, but not much credibility there and not arab turkman. That might work against him. Fascinating to hear about the palace intrigue. People are under him maneuvering to try to claim that role. And we heard the audio from al baghdadi last week. Reporter right. Joining us from the Armed Services committee, republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina expected to officially announce campaign for president of the United States june 1st. Talk about that later. Based on the information you have how important is this guy, abu sayyaf . I think its congratulations to those who did the operation. Well done mr. President , but at the end of the day, youre going to have to do this every day and every flight for a long time to neuter this organization. What we did in 2007 08 and 09. Went after them every night. By no mean as strategy by itself. Do you know in abu sayyaf ever killed americans . No i dont. I just know he was a key leader in isis organization. We know what works. The surge in iraq in 200708 worked. Put in extra troops partnered with iraqis went after terrorists by the day and by night hit them hard and we killed a lot of them and eventually we got al qaeda in iraq on their knees and if we left troops behind in iraq we wouldnt have this problem today. A lot of speculation this abu sayyaf may not necessarily have been all that important. Only the other day the Justice Department put out a most wanted list of isis terrorists out there, he wasnt included. A lot of isis experts dont even know who this guy was . You know, we killed bin laden and al qaeda didnt go away. The only thing i can tell the American People to get iraq in a better place and to degrade and destroy isil in syria we have to strange our strategy. Theres no other way to do it. President bush faced this problem in 2006. This strategy wasnt working. Came up with a new strategy orchestrated by general petraeus and general kaine called the surge. If this president doesnt adjust a strategy well get hit here at home by the problems over there. Do you know in abu sayyaf actually provided specific information to his wife umm sayyaf also captured . Presumably shell be interrogated by u. S. And iraqi officials . No i do not. Its a good cap can cher a good kill. We have to do it a lot more all over iraq and syria. And we need more American Forces in iraq to help rebuild the Iraqi Security forces and if the shia militia are relied upon to deliberate anbar that gives iran a strong hand in iraq and i worry about a bloodbath in the process of liberating ra maud to have the shia militia do it. Shows how failed the strategy is. Senator, stand by. A lot more to discuss including a disaster in the Anbar Province unfolding. Much more with senator Lindsey Graham, right after this. Virgin islands nice so nice so nice, so nice book five nights to get one free. And 500 toward activities shopping and dining. Thats Virgin Islands nice. So nice, so nice [ male announcer ] after John Huntsman was diagnosed with cancer, he founded huntsman Cancer Institute. To fight cancer in new and different ways like combining 300 years of family histories with Health Records to treat, predict and in many cases, prevent, cancer. With the vital understanding that cancer moves fast. And we have to move faster. To learn more or support the cause, go to huntsmancancer. Org. Were back with republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina member of the Armed Services committee, also officially expected to announce his campaign for president of the United States on june 1st. Senator, the secretary of state john kerry says hes absolutely confident that the takeover of ramadi a major iraqi city in the Anbar Province by these isis terrorists he says it will be reversed in the days ahead. Do you agree with the secretary . I think it can be. At the end of the day, shia militia, if theyre called in to save ramadi that says all you need to know about the state of the Iraqi Security forces. The reason ramadi is important is because its the capital of the sunniarab part of iraq. And what really matters, the sunnis and Anbar Province cannot trust the baghdad government to take care of them. This is a big blow to political reconciliation. If isil is able to defeat the iraqi army and Anbar Province the sunnis no longer can feel theyre part of iraq and thats the big blow here. The u. S. Spent a decade training and arming the iraqi army. They used to have a big force, 200,000, 300,000 troops. The u. S. Spent billions and billions of dollars providing them with the best weapons and most sophisticated training yet this army has turned out to be a disaster. Why . Well at the end of the day, iraq was moving in the right direction in 2011. The military leadership of this country advised president obama to leave 10,000 troops behinds to continue training and partnering. When we pulled the plug, the security vacuum created by our absence allowsed al qaeda in iraq to come back and most of the army is made up of shias and arent going to die in Anbar Province and not in mosul. We had the country on track to political reconciliation security was in a good place, and when we withdrew it wall went to hell as i predicted in 2011. So if we retake ramadi and we retake mosul and we dont leave American Forces behind to help keep this country together it will all happen again, and youll never fix iraq without dealing with syria and we have absolutely no strategy in syria. But the Prime Minister at that time Nuri Al Maliki turned out to be a disaster too. Right . Yeah he was, but the problem was that the American Government the white house, was offering less than 3,000 troops as followon force, not enough to make a difference but when we pulled out he went back to his sectarian ways. Iraq split apart. The security environment deteriorated and everything we fought for, everything that was sacrificed on behalf of the american taxpayer and american soldier, was just squandered by president obama. President bush made plenty of mistakes. Smart enough to adjust in 2006 but president obamas decision to withdraw all forces in the face of sound military advice has come back to haunt us in iraq and syria, and if he doesnt ate just his policy this problems going to get worse over there and eventually come here. You dont accept the notion Nuri Al Maliki was the Prime Minister of iraq at the time rejected u. S. Requests. No. That any u. S. Troops who remained would have immunity from iraqi prosecution . Once he rejeshgtsed that the u. S. Got out . That was a complete absolute lie. I was on the ground talking to maliki and every political leader in iraq, they were willing to have a followon force but the administration got the answer they wanted. The president wanted to keep a political promise to get us out of iraq and he did making it impossible for us to stay when he says otherwise, he is rewriting history. That has come back to haunt him, our country, its destroying iraq. Syrias hell on earth because of his decision to withdraw all forces. He got the answer he wanted wolf. Hes not going to be able to rewrite history here. What do we do Going Forward in the question. Well wed like to get to that in a moment. Look back a moment. More than 1,000 american troops died in that battle for the Anbar Province. Did they die in vain . No. They died trying to give iraq a chance making our lives better here at home. By taking the fight to radical islamists with a goal of not only occupying iraq but hit us here at home. The soldier did their job. They were in a good place. The security environment fundamentally changes, the surge worked. The soldiers are not the problem. Its the Political Leadership of president obama. He created this mess. If you want to turn it around you have to send more american soldiers to train the iraqi army and in a more effective manner and have to do something about syria. You want to be president of the United States. Youre running for the republican president ial nomination. Was the iraq war a mistake . No. I dont think so. I think at the end of the day, if i know now then what i know now, a land invasion may not have been the right answer but Saddam Hussein was firing at american planes patrolling iraqi skies under international law. He was denying u. N. Weapons inspectors access to sites where we thought there would be weapons of mass destruction. He was killing his own people. The biggest mistake we made was leaving iraq without a followon force against sound military advice. Theres two things going on in the mideast that people need to understand. A fight for the heart and soul of the islamic faith. Radical imlawsists are a small minority. We need to decide with the 95 who would live in peace with us to destroy this ideology and people in the middle east are no longer living in dictatorships for our convenience. To those who think this is is a temporary problem or brought it on ourselves, you dont know what youre talking about. We got hit in 2001 two years before we invaded iraq. Didnt have one soldier, an embassy, one dime of aid going into afghanistan and a they hit us anyway, because this is a religious war. Not caused by iraq or libya. But Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9 11. Well he had a lot to do in terms of destabilizing the region. He had invaded his neighbor was violating u. N. Mandates about inspecting items as part of the, ending the first gulf war, was shooting at american aircraft patrolling the skies over iraq as part of a nofly zone he was gassings kurds. I am glad he is gone. At the end of the day, i blame president obama for the mess in iraq and syri