A thrilling Double Overtime victory for the Los Angeles Kings over the new york rangers in game five of the stanley cup finals, and now the kings are nhl champs once again. Today saturday, june 14th, 2014. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a saturday morning. Im lester holt. And im erica hill alongside jenna wolfe and dylan dreyer. We do want to get straight to todays top story, the growing cris in iraq. There have been a number of overnight developments. Lets get you caught up at this hour. Two of iraqs biggest cities, mosul and kirkuk have now fallen. Mosul is in the hands of islamic militants while kirkuk has been taken over by kurdish forces. Hundreds of iraqi men are joining the fight to protect their country. They have come to volunteer centers answering a call to defend iraq. Just a few hours ago, irans president offered his countrys help to iraq. Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is in iraq this morning following all of the developments for us. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. Hassan rouhani said that iran would consider helping the United States if the United States was sincere in its fight against terrorists in this country. That could be a change of alliances across the region. Alliances are shifting. Right now we are in the city of kirkuk. This place has long been contested. It is home to about 15 of all of iraqs known oil reserves. Everybody in the country has long wanted it. Now it is held by kurdish militias. Things are changing her rapidly as militants from isis are approaching baghdad. Iraqs second biggest city, mosul, is now under islamic sharia law. Militants from the al qaeda offshoot i d sis decreed all women must veil. Mosul was one of the first cities occupied by u. S. Troops a decade ago. American officials said democracy would then spread from here. And the men the United States trained to fight the isis assault are still surrendering. With no protection hundreds of thousands of civilians are leaving mosul. This family walked 20 miles to sul. Pe mosul. Now this 20 is their home. Omar blames the u. S. Backed shiite prime minister, saying he alienated all sunnis in the country, made them feel second class. Volunteers and aid workers are building tents as fast as they can. There has been a massive wave of people fleeing their homes. The fear here is this is just the beginning. Kathy robinson says the displaced hundreds of thousands need food and shelter. Its dusty, its hot. Theres nowhere to stay, theres nowhere to go. Reporter but this conflict may have changed. The shiite majority awoke. In the holy city of karbala where shia islam was forged in battle 13 centuries ago, volunteers signed up for a new war. Shiite clerics called the faithful to arms. And promised those who died fighting isis a place in paradise. And today strong words from the iraqi prime minister. So far we have not seen much from the Iraqi Government or the Iraqi Security forces. They havent been fighting, they have been dropping their uniforms. Today maliki said that the government and the army will soon launch a major counter attack. Its unclear if the iraqi army will now act or if well just see more uniforms on the road. Lester, erica, back to you. Richard, thank you. President obama is in close contact with his National Security team this weekend as he weighs the u. S. Options for military involvement in iraq. On friday he did make it clear that u. S. Troops will not be sent into ground combat. We cant do it for them. And in the absence of this type of political effort, shortterm military action, including any assistance we might provide, wont succeed. This should be a wakeup call. Retired u. S. Army colonel jack jacobs is an nbc news military affairs analyst, a recipient of the medal of honor and two purple hearts for his service during the vietnam war. Colonel jacobs, thanks for being here. Good morning, lester. The president and his team say theyre drafting responses right now and plans over the next few days. This insurgent push didnt happen overnight. Did the u. S. Intelligence miss that . Why wouldnt plans already be in place for Something Like this . They should be in place. If they werent in place, its because they did miss it. You dont have to be a Rocket Scientist to figure out that maliki has alienated everybody from the instant he took office and Something Like this was bound to happen. Theres been plenty of signs. Theres no reason not to be prepared or have politically boots on the ground is a dead issue as far as the administration is concerned. The only option is air power. Maybe drones, fighter planes. How limiting is that and would that get the job done in terms of holding back the offense. One of the things our intelligence capability. To give information 40 the iraqi forces if they fight. Provide limited airstrikes in order to hit concentrations of the enemy. But these are tactical measures for what is effectively a strategic problem, its not going to change the arc of the conversation on the battlefield over the long term. I dont mean to open a political conversation any way you look at it the u. S. Finger precipitates are on the situation in iraq that led to this at this point. Is doing nothing an option for the u. S. . I think doing nothing is an option. Its a stronger option than putting boots on the ground. If we have boots on the ground there may be limited numbers of people in special operations and training but i dont think that its going to change anything whatsoever. Whats interesting is that you are liable to wind up with a big civil war that will last six months to two years and ultimately you wind up having a blood thirsty desperate in charge of iraq back where we started from. Back where we started from. Eight years of war, 4,000 american soldiers killed. Are we looking at going back, that all that gets erased . Yes. All that will have been erased. You cant make it up. The difference between al maliki and saddam hussein, they are both crooks but maliki is weak. What is going to replace him is somebody as strong as saddam husse hussein. Its a bad completely bad scenario and like i said you cant make it up. If you presented this to somebody making a movie throw you out of the office as being unbelievable. And even more unbelievable is that we may wind up being the allies of iran in trying to get isis off the battlefield. Thanks very much. Appreciate it. There are new developments in ukrai ukraine. We report that a military plane was shot down. Annabell, good morning. Good morning. This was a big military transport plane carrying equipment and provisions and 40 troops and a crew of 9. It was coming in to land at luhansk and shot down by pro russian separatists according to the Defense Ministry reportedly killing all 49 on board. The question is where the rebels get this military hardware from. The Ukrainian Government has accused the russians of supplying it and accusations denied by russia but yesterday the state Department Said it believes several rocket launchers and three tanks no longer used by the Russian Military crossed the border from russia into eastern ukraine. So with this loss of life the largest death toll for the Ukraine Military 18 single instance since unrest began, tensions are escalating again. The newly elected president Petro Poroshenko proposal for peace are not given much chance of success. Thank you. Former p. O. W. Bowe bergdahl is spending his first full day back in the United States today, a day after he returned to texas for rehabilitation. A team of health care and Army Professionals is helping him readjust. Katy tur is at Fort Sam Houston where he is recovering. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Right now he is undergoing what they call stage 3 of his reintegration. Its unclear how long hell be here but in the coming days and weeks he will start to do more comprehensive testing including conversations about his five years in captivity. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is said to be in stable condition after arriving early friday morning. His first steps on american soil in five years, also military transport plane on a tarmac in san antonio. This morning hes at Brook Medical Center whan Officials Say is stage 3 of his reintegration. Decompression, slowly improving. Reporter these letters reportedly written by Sergeant Bergdahl during captivity. Nbc news has not verified the letter but in them he ufrnlged people to reserve judgment. Writing if this makes it to the usa tell those involved that there are more sides to the situation. Please tell dc to wait for all evidence to come in. Senator mccain dismissed you are not free to write what you want so to me that is totally irrelevant to this conversation. Although stage 3 of the reintegration process involves reuniting with family, so far bergdahl has not chosen to contact his parents. Military doctors say a reunion will take place once the sergeant says he is ready. As for being returned to service, Officials Say that is one of the goals of reintegration. And doctors wouldnt go into many details about his state of mind whether he is happy, sad, nervous or excited to be home. One of the things they did mention, though, a small thing really, that he started to request more peanut butter. Right now lester, he does not know, he has not been made aware of the controversy around him. Katy tur, thanks very much. Lets get you caught up on the other top stories. Good morning again. Good morning. The parents of an oregon teen who fatally shot a classmate and killed himselfish ued an apology in a letter. His family of 15yearold Jared Michael said they were horrified and distraught and are deeply sorrowful. They said they had never promoted violence or hatred. After series of incidents where air Traffic Controllers found sleeping on the job, a new government report finds the faa is allowing controllers to Work Schedules that leave them with little or no sleep before an overnight shift. They responded saying its adding limitations to its shift and scheduling rules. Iconic football coach who transformed the Pittsburgh Steelers from a losing team to super bowl champions has died. Chuck noll passed away of Natural Causes friday at his home. Under his leadership the steelers brought home the vince lom boardy trophy six times. Noll was 82. A couple in texas made an interesting decision friday to deliberately burn down their house. And you might too if you were 700,000 home was dangling off a crumbling 75foot cliff. Had they let it drop they would have had to remove it from below. The house was evacuated two weeks ago and condelled. In retrospect they should have bought an apartment in the city. Just my opinion. Just an opinion. Just saying. You may know this veteran anchor first time here. Did you know tom brokaw hails from a town in south dakota, he returned to his roots on friday to dedicate a museum. The dedication was part of a larger celebration marking the states 125th anniversary. And finally, if you stayed up last night, you better than we are here on the desk. The battle of the better coasts, at least this morning goes to the west. The l. A. Kings are kings of the cup. They claimed the stanley cup friday night on their home ice. The second win for the team in three years. After two nailbiting extra periods, the game winning goal in Double Overtime. Finishing off the new york rangers with a 32 win and a 41 series win. A team hasnt won in under six games since like 2007. This is a big deal for the kings. Huge. Tough around here. Its not fun waking up in new york this morning. Were all actually glad that you went to bed. I dont know. Hey, dylan. How is it going . A little bit. Were looking at pretty nasty storms that will develop flew the middle of the country although right now just to the southwest of dallas near san antonio we have heavier downpours and also to the west of minneapolis. But its in this area here where we are going to see some of our strongest storms, so in red from texas up into minnesota, thats where we could see stronger storms today with damaging wind gusts and hail. But in orange here, right through eastern nebraska, North Central kansas and western parts of iyaw and even extreme northwest missouri where we could see some isolated tornados but large hail. Perhaps baseballsize hail in this area and damaging wind gusts so well focus on that area. Also watch out for brief flooding with two to three inches of rain a sun see start to the day so far, including 58 degrees in San Francisco. We should see temperatures comfortably in the 70s as we head to the afternoon. Near 70 around downtown San Francisco and into the north bay well see highs in the low 80s for santa rosa today. Pleasantton and livermore near 80s and 90s today and cooler into fathers day and the beginning of next week. Up next a trip to the ballpark, game of golf or maybe a night out with the boys. Just what do dads really want for fathers day . Well find out next. This is today on nbc. [ barks ] whoo mmm oh, yeah [ whistling ] [ male announcer ] discover your new orleans. Start exploring at followyournola. Com. [ woman ] and i love new orleans the answer to treating your dogs fleas and ticks is staring you right in the face. Nexgard, from the makers of frontline® plus. Its the only soft, beefflavored chew that kills both fleas and ticks. Vets recommend it. And dogs, well, theyre begging for it. Nexgard is for dogs only. And hasnt been evaluated for use in pregnant, breeding or lactating dogs. Reported side effects include vomiting, dry flaky skin, diarrhea, lethargy and lack of appetite. Use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures. Recommended by vets. Loved by dogs. From the makers of frontline plus. First impressions are important. Youve got to make every second count. Banking designed for the way you live your life. So you can welcome your family home for the first time. Chase. So you can. Were back now on a saturday morning. Important reminder fathers day is tomorrow. Thats a good reminder. Gentle subtle reminder. If you still havent gotten a gift for dad, fear not. Jena has insight. Hey, so i gave my dad his first granddaughter so im fully in the clear. But we did ask dad to weigh in telling us what they want come sunday. Here were your options. What do you really want come sunday . I said that. Number one, a day of golfing. But golf, number two, more time with the family. This baby. Three, a lone time with the remote on the couch. Four, a store bought gift and five, not to be outdone the popular hand made gift from the kids. Overwhelmingly, you guys said get ready for the aw factor. Oh, lets go back one. Let me tell you what you guys said. Spending more time with the family, look at her doing her thing. Followed by a day of golf, alone time with the remote and couch. The point is alone time with the family was your winner. We did get nice comments, though, if john grays family is watching all he wants to watch the u. S. Open all day. You go get them, dad. Let us know on twitter using orange room. Alone time with the family. Anybody asking for a fake baby . I know its a doll but support the head, will you. One would think i didnt have a baby to learn from. Amazing how quickly you forget these things. I think time with family is great to have some just time off to spend and enjoy, not have pressure. I agree. I think its nice. I was going to go golfing but i stayed off the course for all of the dads. You are so good. Weve got a lot more ahead including the important lessons two medium cappuccinos lets show em what a breakfast with whole grain fiber can do. One coffee with room, one large mocha latte, medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, two espressos. Make one a double. Shes full and focused. [ barista ] i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, a medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, and two espressos one with a double shot. Heh, heh. Thats not the coffee talkin. [ female announcer ] start your day with kelloggs frosted mini wheats cereal. With whole wheat goodness on one side and a hint of sweetness on the other, its a delicious way to get the nutrition you want. [ telephone rings ] hows the camping trip . Well, the kids had fun, but i think i slept on a rock. The best part of wakin up what are you doing . Having coffee. Ohh. Is folgers in your cup new coppertone clearlysheer ugh sunscreens. Ee. Ohh. Barely noticeable and facefriendly for beach,pool and sunny days. Perfect, no matter what youre wearing. Its so on. Coppertone clearlysheer. Its on. But now were karate parents. One day i noticed her gi looked dingier than the other kids. So i used tide plus bleach alternative and now shes all. Pow she looks as sharp as a serpent strike. [ female announcer ] tide plus bleach alternative. Thats my tide plus. Still to come, a former miss usa who was nearly stripped of her crown talks about getting past one of the darkest periods of her life. 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