Iraqis Claim Former Roght Hand Man of Saddam Hussein Killed in Raid; Oklahoma Deputy Apologizes.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Can I just -- let me ask you about that suicide bomb attack. What is ISIS saying, and -- and are all U.S. staff safe and accounted for? Do you know?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, ISIS has claimed responsibility, Brooke, for this explosion, actually two explosions that took place at 5:50 local time in Irbil in the Kurdish part of Northern Iraq. Now, according to Kurdish security sources, first, there was an IED that went off just up the street from the U.S. Consulate. And then moments later, a car sped in the direction of the consulate. Security personnel in the area fired back. It exploded. It killed three people. And it wounded five others, all of them civilians. Now, we understand that none of the guards at the U.S. Consulate were injured, and all U.S. personnel at the consulate are safe and accounted for. But it does represent something of a dramatic security breakdown in a part of Iraq that, until now, has been relatively secure -- Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: So that is Irbil then. Just south of there, another operation in Tikrit. Let's talk about that, this operation by Iraqi security forces killing the top leader we just referenced here. What was he doing there? What has he been doing? And do you know of any ties to ISIS?</s>WEDEMAN: Well, this is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, an old right-hand man of Saddam Hussein. According to Iraqi officials, there was an operation that appears to include both Iraqi military and these paramilitary Shiite forces. They somehow hit a convoy in which Ibrahim al-Douri was traveling. It's not confirmed at this point if this is indeed him. In the past, we have gotten reports that he's been killed and he's reappeared. So his DNA is going to be sent to Baghdad to be checked. Now, this was a man who has evaded first the U.S. and then Baghdad, Iraqi forces from 2003 until today, perhaps. And he had very close ties with ISIS, although he was the head of his own Sufi military organization that functioned in that area. He's a man who does have ties with ISIS, has cooperated and worked with them, but we understand from observers and analysts that ties between his group and ISIS have been -- becoming a little less smooth in recent months -- Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: Had been fraying. That's what I had heard. As so we await the DNA test results, Colonel, many of the ISF defectors who went on to actually join is, you know, in the very beginning were former Saddam Hussein cronies. How would that factor into al-Douri's ability to make friends with them?</s>COL. PETER MANSOOR (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, he was probably leading the charge in uniting the two groups. We had kicked the Baathists and army of Saddam Hussein out of Iraq, at least those that wouldn't reconcile with the new regime. And then during the surge of 2007, 2008, we defeated most of al Qaeda in Iraq and kicked it across the border as well. And in Syria, they joined together. They realized that the enemy of my enemy is my temporary friend at least. What al-Douri brought to ISIS was a real sense of strategy. You could sense that last year as they went first into Anbar province, and then they took Mosul, and then they headed down to Baghdad, that there was real -- a real sense of strategy and a plan behind what they were doing. And I think that's what al-Douri brought to the table. And that's what the Iraqis have now taken off the table with this raid.</s>BALDWIN: That's interesting when you talk about the shared strategy because as Ben was just reporting, from observers, really though also the frayed ties between him and ISIS. And I'm also hearing that he didn't actually believe -- the endgame for ISIS is this caliphate. Right? But apparently al-Douri didn't believe that would happen or didn't believe in that. If he's working alongside these militants, what do you think his -- what was he fighting for, Colonel?</s>MANSOOR: Oh, he wanted Iraq. You can't have a caliphate and have an independent Iraqi state occupying the same ground. That's why the alliance was destined to break down. But it was strong at the beginning when they were fighting. And then as soon as they had something to control, you can see it fraying at the edges and more and more as they're suffering now setbacks on the battlefield. I think this was inevitable that they would fight together and then they would fall apart over who was going to control what.</s>BALDWIN: Colonel Peter Mansoor and Ben Wedeman, thank you both very much. You saw him apologize on scene. Now Robert Bates has apologized on national television for killing a man after he says he confused his gun for his Taser. Today, the Oklahoma volunteer deputy who's been charged with manslaughter broke his silence, speaking to NBC. At one point, the 73-year-old insurance executive demonstrated how actually exactly he was carrying his weapons during this undercover sting operation in which he says he accidentally killed 44-year-old father Eric Harris. Harris ran from these undercover officers, who they say he sold them illegal weapons and drugs.</s>ROBERT BATES, DEFENDANT: First and foremost, let me apologize to the family of Eric Harris. You know, this is the second worst thing that's ever happened to me -- or first -- ever happened to me in my life. I have had cancer a number of years ago. I didn't think I was going to get there. Luckily, I was able to go to a hospital where I had hours of surgery. I rate this as number one on my list of things in my life that I regret. My Taser is right here on the front tucked in a protective vest. My gun itself is on my side, normally to the rear. This has happened a number of times around the country. I have read about it in the past. I thought to myself, after reading several cases, I don't understand how this can happen. You must believe me. It can happen to anyone.</s>BALDWIN: Let's go to Ed Lavandera. He's covering this for us from Tulsa. Ed, he also -- he talked about a lot this morning, but he also responded to these allegations according to sources from "Tulsa World" newspaper that they'd falsified some of his training, some of those reports. How did he respond to that?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the part of the story that has been really under the most intense scrutiny over the last couple of days. And it is this question of whether or not Robert Bates had the proper training to be out there or if that was documented. He was asked about that training, whether he had gone through it. And Mr. Bates says that he is -- was not only trained and properly trained, but he has the proof of that as well.</s>BATES: That is not correct. I have a written piece of paper that a Mr. Warren Crittenden, now in jail for first-degree murder 40 miles east of here in signed off to say I had done a good job.</s>MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": Without getting off on a tangent, you did the training and can prove that you were certified?</s>BATES: That is absolutely the truth. I have it in writing.</s>LAVANDERA: All right, Brooke. Here's where things kind of break down. We have requested -- we requested more than a week ago the full personnel file for Mr. Bates. We were told by an attorney for the sheriff's department that that could not be released for investigatory reasons. The sheriff's department did release a long list of the different course and training courses that Mr. Bates had gone through over the last seven years. But that does not include the field training records and who signed off on all of that. On top of all of that, we had statements from the sheriff, his only public comments he made to a radio station just a couple days ago, when he did -- he acknowledged some of the gun certification records might have already been lost. It was taken by a former sheriff's deputy employee that was the instructor for that gun certification. That deputy has moved on to another job. They say they're trying to get in touch with her. The reporters who broke this story with "The Tulsa World" newspaper say a lot this could be cleared up if these records would just be produced.</s>ZIVA BRANSTETTER, "TULSA WORLD": This can be cleared up very simply by the sheriffs office producing the records or producing the two supervisors who are still employed who our sources say were pressured to sign off on his training and refused and were transferred.</s>LAVANDERA: , So Brooke, the scrutiny around these records and what it all means and what exactly is all there is still very much up in the air as far as we're concerned.</s>BALDWIN: Got to get those records. That'll answer a lot of questions either way. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. Next, the jurors in the Aaron Hernandez trial tell CNN's Anderson Cooper the NFL star's behavior in the courtroom impacted the decision to convict, but the revelations do not stop there. Plus, the parents of Martin Richard, the youngest victim of the Boston bombings, asked the jury in this incredibly powerful piece in "The Boston Globe" this morning not to let their son's killer be put to death. We have more of that. And Dr. Oz under fire by some of his fellow doctors. There is a call to have him fired from the university where he works. We will tell you why.