Day, today, sunday, june 15th, 2014. From nbc news, this is today with lester holt and erica hill live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Welcome to today on a sunday morning. Its, of course, happy fathers day. Happy fathers day to our dad here in the studio. Lester holt thank you very much, erica hill and thanks and happy fathers day to my father who is also lester, by the way. Makes it easy. Dylan dreyer and ron mott here and nice to have you here and thats because jenna is down in baltimore where she is getting in an Early Morning workout. Shes there with the ravens today as part of our shine a light series running the stairs so the rest of us dont have to. Shes going to be hanging out. Not true. With some of the players from the team, the citys mayor is also there, a bunch of fans, all there as part of our shine a light series so were looking forward to checking in with her a little bit later. Im feeling her exercise vibe. Feeling, it too, burke the calories. Actually winded watching that. Weve got a lot coming up today. Lets get right to our top story, the u. S. Ramping up its military presence in the persian gulf as insurgents send iraq into turmoil. Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is in erbil, iraq following all the developments this this morning. Whats happening. Reporter good morning, lester, yesterday there were big concerns in this country that baghdad could fool perhaps imminently, that militants would march in the city and collapse the government. Now they are somewhat less concerned about this. The iraqi army has finally mobilized. Now there are worries we could be entering not so much a phase where baghdad collapses but a long sectarian fight. One step closer to military involvement in iraq again. The Defense Department directed u. S. Warships to the wulf, including the uss george h. W. Bush. A milt Spokesman Says the ships give president obama additional flexibility should military options be required to protect american lives and interests in iraq. But perhaps they wont be needed because for the first time the iraqi army is fighting back against islamic radicals and antigovernment insurgents, launching air strikes and then distributing the footage. The Iraqi Government is trying to build morale among its troops who until now have been surrendering to the radicals from an al qaeda offshoot, but its not only the Iraqi Government now taking a stand. In baghdad and all across southern iraq shiite militias have responded to a call to arms by their clerics to fight to the death. Its unclear if the ragtag al qaeda offshoot that swept from syria through western iraq with amazing speed can threaten to topple baghdad anymore. But the islamic radicals arent fighting alone. They have been joined by sunni tribesmen and former members of saddam husseins regime. They are all sunnis, its an alliance of convenience against the u. S. Backed shiite government which has kept sunnis from power. The Iraqi Government has asked washington for help. If the u. S. Gets involved in this fight now, its helping to save an ally to top a terrorist groups advance and diving back into a sectarian war. If the United States decides to intervene militarily, it would also be forming a somewhat odd alliance. It would lining up with malaki and also with bashar assad and also with iran, all of them fighting against the same militant groups. It would be a change of policy, to say the least, for the United States. Thanks. With more, heres eric. Lester, thank you. David gregory is moderator of meet the press and joins us this morning from washington. Good morning, david. Good morning, erica. Richard just set up what could be a very odd alliance potentially, and this has a lot of americans scratching their heads as well, the thought that the u. S. And iran could be working together on something here. How would that play out . Well, i think its a potential that the United States government could say to iran, look, we both have a common enemy here in al qaeda. Destabilizing iraq, both want iraq to stay hole. Malaki is your guy, iran. What are you going to do to help and work in common cause here . Mean, the problem is thats a very tough potential ally to work with given what they are doing in syria to ferment some of the violence there as well, so youve got a difficult potential alliance but iran may have kind of the biggest stake here and may be the most powerful figure in iraq right now. This is a tough time for the president , we have to point out, especially when it comes to foreign policy. A great deal of criticism over a lot of decisions have been made and where the iraq decision could be taken. Colonel jack jacobs says this shouldnt have come as a surprise. Should have been plans in price at this point. Is the administration playing catchup or is had caution aary . What youre hearing from the administration is this is iraqs problem, malaki is the shiite prime minister, did a lot to alienate sunnis. The mere fact that sunnis in iraq are so desperate and disenchanted they would hook up with the terrorist outfit tells you something about whats going on inside of iraq. Its his problem to fix, i think is the prevailing view. The question is what role can the United States play to do two things, put pressure on him to do the right thing and to protect u. S. Interests which are significant. Its not just all the sacrifice that america has gone through in iraq. Its preventing a terror state from developing that goes from beyond iraq and into syria that could threaten the United States. Its a very real concern for the United States right now. David, good to have you with us. Well check in with you again for a closer look on what you have on meet the press today. Lester. A bittersweet Graduation Ceremony at Seattle Pacific university on saturday, site of that failed shooting earlier this month. For graduates it was a moment to reflect on their achievements, to remember their lost classmate and to honor the hero who stopped the shooter. Excited graduates, proud parents and pomp and circumstance, but for Seattle Pacific universitys class of 2014, its been a difficult road since a Fatal Shooting on campus just ten days ago. Weve all really come together, and its really a special, special thing. On their gowns ribbons to remember 19yearold paul lee who lost his life in the attack. Two others were hurt. Just the support from everybody else and someone being strong for another person and their friend and their family. That i think has overtaken, you know, the somber tone. And then john meese, summa cum laude. A standing ovation for john meese, the reluctant hero who police say helped stop the gunman, pepper spraying and tackling him as he paused to reload. Meese graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, and the universitys president announced an engineering scholarship in his honor. I am so grateful and very moved by mr. Meese and his courage and his actions. An emotional day, bringing together a closeknit university. Been such a blessing to be surrounded by such an incredible community. Special honor for a guy who stood up and did what he had to do. Really nice to see. Want to get a look at some of the mornings other top stories and ron mott is following those while jenna is down in baltimore with shine a line. Nice to have you with us. Happy to be here. Good morning, everyone. New pictures out of ukraine today as russia and ukraine each accuses the other of escalating the violence there. Russia claims ukraine did nothing to stop the destructive protests at its embassy in kiev saturday. The protests came hours after ukranian military transport was shot down and 49 people aboard were killed. Ukraine blames prorussian separatists for the disaster and declares today a day of mourning. Israel today accused hamas militants of kidnapping three teenagers in the west bank. Israeli forces rounded up 80 palestinians overnight. The teens, one of them holds an american citizenship, disappeared thursday night. Army Sergeant Bowe bergdahl is undergoing medical treatment in texas as the military says a twostar general will lead the investigation into his disappearance. The army did not name the officer who wants to find out how and why bergdahl left his base in afghanistan back in 2009. Philadelphia commuter trains are back up and running this morning after president obama got involved in a transit strike there. Pennsylvania governor tom corbett asked the president to step in when 400 workers walked off the job friday demanding higher pay. Now an emergency board will mediate the conflict between the union and the transportation authority. Whooping cough has reached epidemic proportions in california, and the disease is up 24 across the country. Whooping cough is highly contagious and can be very severe in Young Children and infants. Officials are asking people to get vaccinated. Finally this morning a costco in Northern Virginia would be to be seen and be seen and pick up 100 box Ezra Taft Benson of macaroni and choose. Hillary clinton was there signing copies of her book when Supreme CourtJustice Sonia sotomayor. The two hugged. She said the meeting wasnt planned but she was out shopping. Out getting her 100 boxes of mac and cheese. Ron, thanks. And dylan is here with the first check of the forecast. Craving 100 boxes of mac and cheese. Looking at a pretty nice fathers day but yesterday very strong storms in colorado, kansas and areas like nebraska where we had some very strong storms. Take a look at this video from stockton, kansas, North Central kansas and a storm chaser spotted this tornado starting to develop out that way. We saw some nasty storms. In fact, we did have a lot of storm reports. Ten reported tornadoes, and we also had several reports of large hail all in this area. Eastern colorado, into nebraska and kansas. 103 hail reports. 178 wind reports. Thats your strong gusty winds that cause some of that damage, so today we are still looking at some stronger storms moving into iowa and areas like missouri. They are weakening a bit. No Severe Weather right now. Cloudtoground lightning and heavy downpours. In red in northern texas up in the american and southwestern parts of michigan thats where we could see stronger storms and happy fathers day everyone. Im meteorologist ted florendo. Weve got a Beautiful Day on tap. Four weekends in a row. Four weekends of fantastic weather. Temperatures in the 80s today. 73 bydegrees. Winds slight breeze from the northwest. Look ago head the next seven days. Temperatures shoot up, and so does the humidity. Chance of thunderstorms and 90s tomorrow or tuesday. Erica. All right, dylan, thank. World cup excitement is building this morning, team usa prepared to take on an old rival in ghana tomorrow. On saturday two former world cup champs came headtohead. Italian striker Mario Balotelli poured home his teameds second goal and ivory coast scored two second half goals in over a minute and a half to score a 21 win over japan and talk about a big upset in the next match. Costa rica stunning uruguay, winning 31. So theres plenty of interest for soccer here at home, but when you ask americans who they are actually rooting for in the world cup, you may be a little surprised as nbcs joe fryar discovered. Reporter across the globe world cup loyalty thats nearly religious and in america im a big croatian fan. Lets try that again. Reporter in america. Brazil. Reporter okay. Is anyone here actually rooting for the red, white and blue . Usa, but i really like spain so id be happy if spain wins. Reporter close enough. In all seriousness team usa does have plenty of fans. Usa usa reporter but they are not exactly this years oddson favorite. Even their own koch, jurgen klinsmann, told the New York Times we cannot win this world cup because we are not at that level yet. I cant agree with that. Come on. Going usa reporter americans are playing in a very tough group that includes germany, portugal and mondays opponent ghana, the team that knocked u. S. Out of the past two world cups. I know in america we like to think yes, we can do everything, but we would basically need seven miracles on ice to win the world cup. Reporter a reference to u. S. Hockeys win over the soviet union in 1980 proving miracles do happen in sports. I think that germany, portugal and ghana should be scared. I think the u. S. Will have a good little push. I think they can surprise some people. You gotta believe. Reporter done garber is the commissioner of the major league soccer, the professional league in america and canada that continues to surge in popularity. America is a soccer nation, but that soccer nation really rises around the world cup. Reporter he has faith this world cup will lurene more americans to soccer and to the u. S. Team, and that would be an excellent goal. Gooooal reporter for today, joe fryar, nbc news, los angeles. Weve got dylan over in the orange room with the insight into who you really holding form. Id yell goal but cant hold note for that long. The world cup is supposes to get the most mengsz on social media than any other sporting event. Are americans even potion the question. We posed the question on today. Com and got a lot of responses on facebook. Who are americans rooting for . Holly on facebook, the boston red sox. Im with you but got the wrong sport. And angela said the one that kicks the ball, and amazing to see only 35 of americans are rooting for team usa. Weve got the rest of you who wrote into our survey rooting for all sorts of different places, brazil, italy, germany, with no rhyme or reason. Were trying to figure out why are you not rooting for usa and write into orangeroom and tell us who you are rooting for and why you are rooting for. Guys, who are you rooting for . Team usa. I love here in new york i love it recognizes our huge immigrant population and its fun to see people rooting for the different countries. I get into the spirit. I dont i know thats a copout. I think its really about the map. If you go and watch some of the matches, certainly rivalries, england and argentina that have a history so you align yourself to which ever one youre closer to. Team usa totally. Now to the almost royal visit happening right now in this country. A lot of people rooting just for this. Kate middletons sister pippa, remember her, is on a Charity Bike Ride from california to maryland. Kristen dahlgren has the latest on that one for us. Reporter this isnt just about appearances. Pippas team will be going 3,000 miles meaning she will be on the bike three hours a day for the next week and a half. A lot of people along the route will be hoping to catch a glimpse. Reporter shes the woman who first wowed crowds watching the royal wedding, her figurehugging white dress almost stealing the spot liggett from her sister, the future korean. Now Pippa Middleton is lending some star power to a good cause and a long race across america. Middleton and her brother james are part of a team pedaling coast to coast to raise money for the Michael MatthewsFoundation Named after the youngest brit to ever summit evrest. Matthews died on the descent back in 1999. The charity now provides education for children who dont have access to schools. Ocean side, california, are you ready . Reporter the race across america left oceanside, california saturday, teams taking on a grueling trek from the Pacific Ocean clear across to the atlantic. They will end in annapolis, maryland, a course that crosses 12 states and climbs 170,000 feet. Its about challenge, about reaching out, and seeing how far we can push the envelope and how much we can challenge ourselves. Challenge is nothing new to pippa. She once did a ski endushs race but the bar is high. Remember harrys trek to the south pole . All in all mission success. Reporter pippa is learning fast, being tough doesnt hurt if youre going to fit in with the family. This race happens every year and not everyone finishes so a big challenge ahead. Pippas team will be biking in shifts, but she will be spending a lot of time on that bike for the next few days. Guys . Plenty of people will be looking out for her, too. Kristen, thanks. 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People love people. Its been quite a week at today. Highlighting amazing fathers as part of our special series modern dads. Request. Helping to honor their hard work and dedication to their families with some pretty unforgettable surprises. Heres a look. Id like to have the merrick brothers. On monday it was a tearful Family Reunion for this father of six who hasnt had all children in one room in more than a decade. Whens the last time all of you were together like this in. A long time. Youve been out of country for