Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20150608 : vimarsana.com

Amassing to lead their counterattack. Now, they say there are in evidence around the city we didnt see that. The furthest they would take us First Western television to get there, into s this this base habbaniyah and we did not see, frankly, a large massing of soldiers there or fighters or, frankly, the preparations you would expect to see in the effect of a large counterassault being larged. What is clear there, and you can see the pictures here they are in a daily catandmouse game with isis. Isis are across the river from their north. The river runs the entire north of that main base and they Exchange Fire on a pretty regular basis there. So many of the Iraqi Security forces on that base caught up in the defense of it from its north and i have to say from being there not a major sense of some enormous offensive being imminent wolf. Well youre an eyewitness account that you had. At the g7 summit in germany today, both president obama and the visiting iraqi Prime Minister haider al abadi, they mentioned the importance of the iraqi city of ramadi, they said the loss of the city to isis last month was just a temporary setback. Where does the fight to retake ramadi actually stand right now . Well its supposed to be happening as we speak. When we were there there was suggestions that the town closest to ramadi on its outskirts was seeing some sort of clashes. As i said earlier, there was supposed to be a semi circle of iraqi forces pro government iraqi forces around the south of that city but we havent seen a substantial move in yet and the condition off that base we were at where this counterassault was supposed to be being prepared certainly in my eyes made that look questionable as a massive imminent move. One of the details that stood out, wolf, were looking very much the u. S. Certainly is, to see how many sunni fighters can get put into this operation. Anbar being the sunni heartland in iraq isis a sunni group but there are many sunnis who wish to kick isis out of their area. Its vital for baghdads government to get them on board. The key question is how many sunnis are involved in this counterattack. We asked that question. We were told on paper by one iraqi official there are 2,000 but in reality there may be 500 or so. We didnt see them ourselves, thats a much smaller number and theyre said to be out in the field. But if thats the case theyre significantly outnumbered by the shia fighting groups we saw in that particular base and its outskirt wolf. And very quickly, the effort to get the Baiji Oil Refinery where does that stand . Thats critically strategically important, obviously. Well mixed reports if you listen to washington they sound more pessimistic than the iraqis for obvious reasons. The iraqis announced they had taken the city of baiji and outskirts around it. Thats all fine and well but the key strategic issue of baiji is it is home to a massive oil Refinery Energy infrastructure. Thats still in isis hands, perhaps a very small number of them. But they have threatened ecological catastrophe if they are forced to retreat from there by using bob bioby traps they set up around the structure. But according to iraqi official they have the area around there and that could be a very effective southern buffer for them if they do as was supposed to be happening about now but is being delayed by the violence in anbar. If they do later try and launch an operation to the north to liberate the city of mosul where isis moved in nearly exactly a year ago now. Wolf . Its been a year already, indeed. Lots of iraqi talk but based on your eyewitness account, at least so far limited iraqi action. Nick paton walsh on the scene in baghdad. President obama points to progress but also the problems in the war against isis. He says the pentagon is now working on new plans to try to speed up the training of iraqi forces but he concedes in his words theres no complete strategy yet. The president met with iraqi Prime Minister Haider Alabadi of the sidelines of the g7 summit in germany and in a News Conference just a little while ago the president gave a rather candid assessment of the effort to degrade and defeat isis. We have made significant progress in pushing back isil from areas in which they had occupied or disrupted local populations. But weve also seen areas like in ramadi where theyre displaced in one place and they come back in another. And theyre nimble and theyre aggressive and theyre opportunistic. So one of the areas where were going to have to improve is the speed at which were training iraqi forces. Lets get more now on the president s assessment of this fight against isis. His meeting with the iraqi Prime Minister our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta is traveling with the president. Jim, the president s critics, clearly theyre likely to pounce on his comment that theres no complete strategy yet for training iraqi forces. Why is there no complete strategy . The u. S. Has been at war against isis for a long time. Thats right, wolf. Roughly ten months now and keep in mind the linchpin of the u. S. Strategy for defeating isis is to conduct air strikes from the air and to train and arm Iraqi Security forces on the ground. So if the cornerstone of this strategy is training Iraqi Security forces it is a curious comment to hear from the president we dont yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the iraqis. As of right now, i suppose they dont have those commitments and its interesting to point out, wolf later on in those comments the president said that while they do have the training capacity in iraq they dont the trainees essentially. Im paraphrasing there but thats what he said. Soez so those two comments seem to be in contradiction. The president says hes waiting on a plan from the pentagon to present to the American People to ramp up this training of iraqis but yet at the same time hes saying almost in the same breath they dont have the proper number of trainees. So this is obviously going to feed a lot of the criticism in washington and it harkens back to what the president said last summer you will recall wolf when he said we dont have a strategy for dealing with isis in syria. That set off another round of criticism of the president s strategy and it comes at a time just remember last week, cnn orc poll nearly twothirds of americans dont approve of the president s handling of the battle against isis. So all of this is not coming at a good time for this president. I will say though that it seemed as if he patched up that relationship somewhat with the iraqi Prime Minister Haider Alabadi. They met on the sidelines of the g7 summit and you heard the president praising the Prime Minister saying hes doing a better job of uniting the country than his predecessor Nouri Almaliki and the president said theres going to be more support coming his way. For the Prime Ministers part wolf, he did say, look he wants to see more support, thats why he came to the alps here to ask for support from the g7. But hes not getting any concrete laundry lists of weapons and training and that sort of thing just yet. As the president said in his own words, the pentagon has not presented him with a plan yet, wolf. Jim acosta traveling with the president. Thank you. Up next, well have much more on the president s antiisis strategy thats emerging. Right now well take a closer look at whats standing in the way. And they call it little siberia because of its remote location. Its also one of new yorks highestsecurity prisons. Yet two convicted killers still managed to pull off a spectacular escape. How did they do it . The hunt to track them down. We have new information. Stay with us. Wish your skin could bounce back like it used to . New neutrogena hydro boost water gel. With hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. For supple, hydrated skin. Hydro boost. From neutrogena. Meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . In fact, america is now the worlds number one natural gas producer. And we could soon become number one in oil. Because Hydraulic Fracturing Technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. Supporting millions of new jobs. Billions in tax revenue. And a new century of American Energy security. The new Energy Superpower . Its red, white and blue. Log on to learn more. [ male announcer ] how do you make cancer a thing of the past . Well. You use the past. Huntsman Cancer Institute has combined 300 years of family histories with Health Records to discover inherited genes for melanoma, breast colon and ovarian cancers. So we can predict and treat cancer. And sometimes even prevent it from happening in the first place. To learn more or support the cause go to huntsmancancer. Org. You total your brand new car. Nobodys hurt,but there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do, drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had a Liberty Mutual new car replacement, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. New car replacement is just one of the features that come standard with a base Liberty Mutual policy. And for drivers with accident forgivness,rates wont go up due to your first accident. Learn more by calling switch to Liberty Mutual and you can save up to 423. For a free quote today,call Liberty Mutual insurance at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. We dont yet have a complete strategy bauds it requires commitments on the part of the iraqis as well. The political agenda of inclusion remains as important as the military fight thats out there. More of what have the president had to say at his News Conference at the g7 summit in germany just a little while ago. He was answering questions shortly after a meeting with the iraqi Prime Minister Haider Alabadi on the sidelines of this summit. Joining us from new york is bobby ghosh, hes managing editor of quartz. Here in washington, the former state Department Official Aaron David Miller Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center think tank here in washington. President says hes waiting for a commitment from the iraqi government, thats why theres no complete u. S. Strategy to deal with the Iraqi Military to arm them to train them. Were you surprised to hear that from the president . Again, given his earlier comment about no strategy for dealing with the Syrian Crisis its fodder for his opponents. Part of what he has to say is right, there has to be a large degree of political inclusion to deal with signsunnis on the part of a shiadominated government, to empower local elements in anbar with more weapons, more training more of a mandate. But to say we dont a strategy three years after the what the pentagon and others have identified as a threat to the continental United States not a great comment. What did you think about that no strategy comment, bobby . Im inclined to cut the president a little bit of slack. I dont usually do. But in this case he was basically communicating the fact that our partners supposedly, in this fight, the iraqis havent got their strategy in order. So we can have a military strategy from the American Point of view but the iraqis are responsible for the political piece and if they dont have that as i said, if they dont have a plan that includes the sunnis for the political space and bringing the sunni tribes in from the cold theres not a whole lot that washington can do without baghdad bringing its game to this. I think bobby makes a fair point, aaron. The president is trying to put pressure on Haider Alabadi and the iraqi government. Get your act together bring in the kurds, bring in the sunnis. Go ahead, have a Strong Military go out there and fight, show a will to fight if you will then youll get adequate u. S. Support, training even maybe even more Ground Troops 3,000 troops are on the ground in iraq right now. Hes trying to put pressure on the iraqis right . He is. But youre dealing with a dysfunctional government which is going to be hard pressed to empower sunnis. The iranians clearly are playing a much greater role theyre not going to support a policy by which their shia constituents are disenfranchised. I think its not one hand clapping wolf. The reality is 14 years after 9 11 we still havent ultimately defeated al qaeda and its derivatives so we have to be real i think, about whats possible here in the longterm against this organization. Its not a terrorist organization only, its now a infrastructure. Its got a polity its got a caliphate. And it seems to me the problem is were seeing it will ultimately present a threat to the security of the continental United States. What do you think, bobby . Is the iraqi Prime Minister and his government going to do what the u. S. Wants them to do get the job done . Or is it going to be nice words but not much action . Well im afraid its probably going to be more of the latter. I dont get a sense from Prime Minister abadis statements or the statements from other members of his government that they feel an existential threat. They seem to think of isis as a problem in the west and anbar, thats anyway mostly a sunni province a little to the north near mosul, thats also mostly sunni. Its a problem among the sunnis. As long as we keep them away from baghdad, were okay. That seems to be the attitude right now and they need to face the fact that this is an existential threat to the state of iraq. And i donter that sense of urgency in the tone of voice and until that comes in as aaron said this is one hand clapping. Unless the iraqis feel that they need to take this threat absolutely seriously, not simply to protect baghdad and the shiadominated south of the country but to retake the rest of iraq and restore the country as a political whole. Until that day comes, this is theres not a lot the u. S. And other Coalition Members can do. I mean retaking is going to involve a much deeper American Military commitment. 3,000 to 5,000 special forces not just providing advice and training but as spotters coordinators with battalions and brigades and that poses a huge risk for the administration. I mean, do we want prisoners of war . Do we want isis captures of americans . This administration is willfully riskaverse on this question. And its understandable. But we ought to drop the notion that somehow were engaged like we were in world war ii and ultimately defeating the japanese and germans. Not going to happen until you get good afternoon nantz and some governments that fill up empty spaces and pursue an inclusive policy. Aaron miller five reasons the u. S. Cannot defeat isis. We heard some of those reasons just now. Thanks very much for joining us. Bobby ghosh, always important to have you on our program as well. Thank you. Just ahead, newly released video shows a deadly confrontation between police and a terror suspect in boston. Well go there live for an update on the investigation. And well show you the video. Ugh heartburn did someone say burn . Try alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. They work fast and dont taste chalky. Mmm. Amazing. Thank you. Alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. If you have moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis like me. And youre talking to a rheumatologist about a biologic this is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. This is humira helping me reach for more. Doctors have been prescribing humira for more than 10 years. Humira works for many adults. It targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contrubutes to ra symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers including lymphoma have happened, as have blood liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Talk to your doctor and visit humira. Com this is humira at work. Ready to leave sticky sunscreens behind . New neutrogena cooldry sport. Micromesh technology lets sweat pass through and evaporate so skin stays comfortable, while clinically proven protection stays on. New cooldry sport. Neutrogena.