[Erin Burnett, Cnn:] Next, President Obama announces American forces are going back to Iraq. The president says they're advisers, but is it mission creep? Plus breaking news, dozens may have been exposed to deadly live anthrax. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is our guest. An OUTFRONT investigation, a police department tonight under investigation for this.
[Unidentified Male:] Get on the ground now! Get on the ground!
[Burnett:] Let's go OUTFRONT. Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, more American troops headed to Iraq as we are getting late word tonight that Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to travel to the country soon. President Obama today promising that troops wouldn't be combat troops saying military advisers will be heading to Iraq to combat the terrorist group, ISIS, that is gaining ground.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States Of America:] We're prepared to send a small number of additional American military advisers, up to 300, to assess how we can best train, advice and support Iraqi security forces going forward.
[Burnett:] Some though are now asking, is this mission creep? In Iraq today the country's security forces are conducting air strikes of their own targeting militants who took control of Tal Afar, one of five major cities that have been completely or partially overtaken by ISIS. The Iraqi army says 50 rebels were killed in those strikes. Meanwhile, mourners laid to rest 31 relatives killed when ISIS militants attacked three villages burning homes, women and elderly among the dead. The battle between militants and Iraqi forces is raging at the country's biggest oil refinery, which was attacked yesterday by ISIS. You can see the smoke. This image is a satellite image. So you're looking down from space and you can see how dark and thick that smoke is from this height. Police say ISIS now controls 60 percent of that crucial refinery. So how involved will the United States get? The entire world needs the answer to that question. Jim Acosta begins our report tonight from the White House.
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] After pulling the U.S. Out of Iraq, President Obama is putting the nation back in. With a modest mission to send up to 300 military advisers to assess the ISIS threat. But this time the president insisted will be different. [on camera]: Are you concerned about the potential for mission creep?
[President Obama:] I think we always have to guard against mission creep. So let me repeat what I've said in the past. American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again.
[Acosta:] To help Iraq combat ISIS militants, senior administration official said the plan is for several small teams of advisers, about a dozen each, to form joint operation centers with Iraqi forces. Discreet and targeted air strikes are still possible, officials say, after surveillance flights gather more intelligence. All in an effort, the president said to prevent Iraq from becoming a safe haven for terrorists.
[President Obama:] It is in our national security interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of Iraq.
[Acosta:] It's a nightmare scenario the president's critics say he should have seen coming when he authorized a complete withdrawal from Iraq in late 2011. A campaign promise Mr. Obama kept despite the risks. [on camera]: You wish you had left a residual force in Iraq? Any regrets about that decision in 2011?
[President Obama:] Well, keep in mind, that wasn't a decision made by me. That was a decision made by the Iraqi government.
[Acosta:] The president maintained U.S. forces would not have had legal protection from Iraqi courts had they stayed.
[President Obama:] The Iraqi government and Prime Minister Maliki declined to provide us that immunity.
[Acosta:] Mr. Obama blamed the violence in part on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki's failure to unite his country, but stopped short of calling for Maliki to step down.
[President Obama:] It's not up our job to choose Iraq's leaders.
[Acosta:] The president is not only in a jam in Iraq, but he is trying to avoid another quagmire while containing a crisis that's spreading across borders and could lead to oil disruptions. Consider the political pressures back home with Republicans complaining he's too soft.
[Representative John Boehner , House Speaker:] And here we are a year and a half later, you look at this presidency and you can't help but get the sense that the wheels are coming off.
[Acosta:] And Democrats worried where the mission goes next.
[Senator Chris Murphy , Connecticut:] If the president is proposing a long-term commitment of military advisers or a more robust presence than simply 300 assets on the ground, then I think he's got to come to Congress for authorization.
[Acosta:] Unlike what happened between the U.S. and Iraq back in 2011, this time around senior administration officials say these advisers who are being deployed will have legal protections while they are on the ground. Meanwhile, senior administration officials are also saying they are not ruling out air strikes on targets outside of Iraq. That includes neighboring Syria. At this point as one official put it, they're not restricting action to just inside Iraq Erin.
[Burnett:] Thank you very much, Jim Acosta. Obviously that is an additional very significant headline, that you're now not just talking about Iraq, but you're talking about another country, Syria. Joining me now Retired U.S. Army General Doug MacGregor. He was a tank commander during a major battle of the 1991 U.S. invasion of Iraq and CNN military analyst Retired Army Major General Jim "Spider" Marks. Good to have both of you with us and we appreciate it. Spider, let me start with you. President Obama said today as he said repeatedly this has become one of these I'm going to say it every single time to make sure people hear me, we're not returning to combat in Iraq. They keep talking about no combat, no boots on the ground. When you hear about 300 American military personnel, it sounds like boots on the ground. What's the difference? MAJOR GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS Spider explaining this in detail, but is this something that Americans these people lives, they're going to be at risk, right? Then would be the risk if something went wrong he'd need to put in more people? COL. DOUG MACGREGOR
[U.s. Army:] Well, they'll be at risk. The notion of adding more, I think, is unlikely. This strikes me as a largely meaningless gesture. It was probably presented to the president as the least bad option of bad options. I think the president was told that he has to be seen doing something. I disagree. I don't think he has to do anything and I don't think he should do anything. But I think that's the basis for this particular option.
[Burnett:] And let me just give the president's rationale though as to why he thinks that the United States needs to do something. He made the case today. Let me play it for you, Colonel. Here he is.
[President Obama:] We have an interest in making sure that we don't have a safe haven that continues to grow for ISIL and other extremist Jihadist groups who could use that as a base of operations for planning and targeting ourselves our personnel overseas and eventually the homeland.
[Burnett:] What do you think about that case, Colonel, that these Jihadist groups could use this as a plan of attack against the United States?
[Macgregor:] Well, let me push back against the notion that these people present any threat to us. You're talking about a few thousand semi-illiterate Islamist thugs riding around in pickup trucks with machine guns. These guys won't build any intercontinental ballistic missiles. They're unsophisticated. They're preoccupied with decapitating Shiites and trying to establish an Islamist state in vast open stretches of empty, irrelevant desert. I don't subscribe to that view at all.
[Burnett:] They do have an annual report where they brag about how many people they've assassinated. A pretty well produced one. I know that doesn't mean or counter everything that you said. But they are organized and sophisticated in terms of media presentation in some ways.
[Macgregor:] Perhaps. I think if you want to secure the United States, you secure our borders, you get control of immigration. You don't invade somebody else's country and then cultivate millions of enemies, which is essentially what we've done in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
[Burnett:] Spider, what's your response?
[Marks:] Well, Erin, let me respond to Doug. And Doug, it's great to see you again. The issue in my mind is the broader notion of a failed state in Iraq. I don't disagree with Doug on several of his points. But if past is prologue, we've seen illiterate thugs that have caused damage to the United States before and clearly the United States has to be leaning forward in terms of its intelligence collection in order to see that threat possibly coming again. And we can't allow that to occur any more than it is right now in Iraq. So the notion of Maliki in exile someplace, if it were to occur, possibly Tehran, really puts us on a path that has far greater challenges. So I think at this point, the notion of pushing back against ISIS is a logical and a measured step that has to take place. And what we're seeing right now, Erin, is certainly intelligence collection and building before we can begin to strike.
[Burnett:] All right, well, thanks very much to both of you. The conversation being had in homes around the country tonight. OUTFRONT next, legacy on the line. This is the legacy for this president. Will his presidency be judged by what happens in Iraq now? Plus, breaking news with dozens of Americans exposed possibly to deadly anthrax. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a live report OUTFRONT. And a glimpse into the future. Just how high will buildings and toilets be?