>> thanks, tony. >> i'm tony harris in new york. that's all the time for this news hour. if you'd like the latest from our program head to our website, aljazeera.com. "inside story" is next on al jazeera america. >> is the united states innovated iraq and overflew saddam hussein more than a decade ago, and then spent years pacifying the country, hoping to leave behind a stable, rebuilding nation. one of the country's main cities has fallen to guerilla fighters, and the baghdad government may be losing it's grip. that's the "inside story."

hello, i'm ray suarez, a brown university study puts the cost of the iraq war to the united states at over $2 trillion. the cost of war project at ground estimates 134,000 iraqi civilians died in the long years of war. add security forces, aid workers, and journalists, and that number leaps to between 176 and 189,000. just under 4500 american troops died. that eight-year american presence brought down the murderous rule of saddam hussein, disbathed the ba'ath party and the army. americans worked hard to rebuild the civil serves and the police. and u.s. left in 2011. after eight years and eight months, unable to reach a deal with the iraqi government for keeping troops in the country.

and today, less than three years later, the weaknesses, contradictions and unsolved riddles, with a post-saddam iraq are apparent. the prime minister of iraq has declared a state of emergency. after days of intensifying violence, some 1300 fighters from the islamic state of iraq, besieged the northern city of mosul. iraqis second largest city tuesday morning. in just a few hours, militants free prisoners from jail, to control key government buildings, and sees key police stations and banks. and many abandon their posts, leaving large swath in the nineveh province in control of them. tuesday afternoon, maliki, made

a televised address to the nation, asking the parliament a state of emergency, granting him additional powers and control. >> we have to declare a comprehensive mobilization and the utmost alert in the political capabilities to defeat terrorism and normal, and all areas occupied by terrorists. >> the isa is a splinter group of al qaeda. and they have risen as one of the most powerful sunni groups in the region. and the insurgents are part of the anti-government forces. the source of the group's financial backing is still unclear. in washington, the white house said it has no plans to send troops, but does plan to send more weapons to help iraqis government. >> this is a situation that's very serious, and we're going to continue our important

relationship in terms of security and military assistance to the government of iraq, but ultimately, there's a responsibility on the part of iraqi leaders to step up to the plate. >> musul is the second big city to be wrested away from the government's control by fighters. this year, the isotook over fallujah, they used weapons previously supplied by the u.s. the latest descent into regional violence further undermines maliki's reputation after years of mismanage many. many iraqis criticize the shiite prime minister over his heavy-handed approach. there's concern that emergency powers would give them too much control, and that could be

difficult to reverse. a state of emergency can only be declared by parliament. and the meeting is scheduled for thursday. >> after the deaths of tens of thousands of iraqis, thousands of americans, and after american taxpayers borrowed and spent trillionser dollars in iraq, is the country started to unravel? i spoke with enron in baghdad. thank you for joining us, for people who are just trying to get an idea of what's going in iraq, let's begin with what the is amick state of iraq and the lavant is. >> fighting on both sides of the border, after the situation in syria deteriorated, they were part of another group that was

split into two, and decided to take not only in syria, but also across the border in iraq. but really, it goes beyond that, back to 2006, when they were really at their height. back then, they were the official al qaeda group in iraq, and they were the islamic state in iraq. they were led by and he did want beheads, live, and eventually, he was killed by the troops. the americans needed to have a group to fight back against him. and they formed a group, a sunni group, americans trained and arms paid for, and they had a tremendous amount of success, and they were able to defeat

them in iraq for a number of years, and since 2011, any al qaeda groups in iraq, but as the situation deteriorates, and they brought the jihad, the holy war to iraq. that's where it comes from. it doesn't come from nowhere, though it feels like that's what happens. there's a history to this. but what we're seeing now, this group is much more resurgent in iraq than in syria. >> now they're in control of mosul, and that's a big deal, one of the largest cities in iraq, but is it more significant, given mosul's geography and the ethnic makeup? >> absolutely. it's a key target because it's in the north. and it's a disputed city.

whether it's iraq proper. for taking over for somebody he goes into the city like that, which is ethnic, and he makes the kurds have to get involved. and the kurdish military forces are on standby now to come in and negotiate with the iraqis. it's one of the points in iraq that could turn the conflict from this low level, but very intense conflict into all out sectarian war. it just needs a spark. they have been trying to go for this spot. not only in mosul, which is significant, a city of 2 million people. and they have done it in samara as well. it's 600,000 people. but it's one of the shrines, and in 2006, that shrine was hit by al qaeda and iraq, and that

spot, sectarian war, which nearly brought this country to its knees. last week, they stead they were going to try to do that again. and here in mosul, it's key buildings in the city. they are taking over banks, and tv stations, so right now, the situation in mosul is unprecedented. we have not seen this iraq until at least 2006. >> is the iraqi state in position to fight back, is the army equipped and professional enough? >> that's a big question. you have to understand that iso were able to come in, and the airaki army was this, but when they got there, they faced no opposition from the iraqi army. they abandoned their positions and they left in iso and for a

long time, maliki has been pleading with the americans to speed up the sale of arms, and intelligence, and he asked for drones to be able to fly over various cities. he has got some of it, and not all of it, and he has for a very long time been saying, we need american help. nobody wants american boots back on the ground. but they are saying that the americans may have left. but they could help us with material. so are the iraqi army trained and developed enough to deal with this? yes, they have been dealing it with for many years. they will deal with any deserters that they have. but you ask military out on this, and you ask ordinary people here. they say well, they left. and we're worried that the iraqi can't deal with this. >> aljazeera, propertying from

baghdad, and thanks for joining us and be safe. >> no problem. >> when we come back, we'll be joined by guests closely watching the situation in iraq and talk about the dangers of neighboring states to the country, and the dangers that a tottering iraq poses to the neighborhood. this is "inside story."

>> welcome back to "inside story," the united states left iraq 2 and a half years ago, and

the country is tearing itself apart. militants from the islami state of iraq and lavant, over ran on tuesday, and maliki declared a nationwide state of emergency. can the government pull the country together? what it means for the capabilities that the groups like the islami state of iraq and lav onto, from oxford, england, a fellow from the middle east forum. in our washington city, james jeffrey, u.s. ambassador to iraq in 2012, he's a fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. and in london, the iraq foundation for development and democracy. what do you make of the fact that a lightly armed group of 1300 men, it's estimated, was able to take over a major iraqi

city? >> well, firstly, i think it points to the weakness of the iraqi security forces to engage in counter insurgency in these prominently sunni arab areas, and i'm very pessimistic myself about how quickly they take mosul from the armed insurgents, and by the way, to say other groups as well claim the involvement in the takeover, but there's one that's a front group for the traditional ba'athist insurgency, and to be clear, other groups are taking advantage of this iso take over. they're taking over other areas, there are two groups, also making security forces, so i

think that it means the weakness in the insurgency, and we have seen that in war fear. >> gus, same question. what does it mean to you that a group like this has been able to take over not just any presidential town, but mosul? >> it means a lot. it's a big, big failure on the part of the government to deal with the situation in iraq, and maliki came to power for the second time in bean. at the time, iraq was almost stable, marginalized, and center for uprising, the americans were taken care of, and the sunnies supported the government. and the shiite did.

after four years, we see things deteriorate totally. and the question is who is responsible for it? it's a process of denial and putting it on somebody else. and maliki putting it on syria. there should be a political slug for iraq. he dismantled, he marched in as a sunni, and he tried to get rid of all sunni foreign to him, some were exiled, and some were imprisoned, and they told me, he doesn't want partners, he wants informers, and that's why they feel they're marginalized.

in 2010, they won with a big majority, 91 seats, but they were denied. so in a way, the arab sunnies are frustrated. they joined the political process, but still they were denied their lawful retains. and then they felt, on the local level, they were marginalized. and unfortunately, the sunni leadership who came to power in the name of the sunni, failed to deliver, and to bring benefit to the sunni themselves, and so widespread not only against maliki and the shiite government, but against their own sunni leadership in government. >> i'm going to jump in there, because i want to turn what you just said to ambassador jeffrey. our guest in london was describing a state that sands from outside, western if you don't know the players and the

labels, it sounds like an ungovernable place. is that the place that you left. >> a, it's not the place i left. and b, while i agree with both of our partners, it's not an ungovernable country. 80% of iraq is either sunni, shiite or arab, and isl is not going to be able to seize ground there, but they can hold ground effectively in sunni areas. this is a dramatic escalation of their capabilities, and it's very serious, and it's a contributing factor. including syria, and training in the discipline of the iraqi forces and equipment, and the treatment of the sunni majority in iraq. but new orleans, we have to have decisive action, or this is

going to get work. >> earlier in the program, when we spoke to khan, he spoke about the kurtz getting engaged. mosul is on the border with the kurdish areas, and if you engage their army, does this become a wider iraqi conflict? >> isl in syria has been pretty careful to maintain a general ceasefire with a burst of kurdish there. and i think that they will be focused on defending those kurdish majority areas, which includes around mosul, and the provinces of the kurdish regional government. they will be challenged because they're not used, but they're a good army, and there are 190,000 of them. and they have tanks and artillery, and they will be

okay. >> is there a confessional character that's a religious identity to the national army, and does that complicate things as you're trying to sort all of this out? >> yes, to a degree. the identity and the security forces comes up. to be sure, the security groups into the armed forces in the nineveh province area. this is particularly desertion, but also on the social media, you see on the security pages, people bringing up and saying, and putting up the slogans, which does not help to convince the sunni population of the army, to defend on the nation as a whole. it's an interest, and also, there has been an issue with a

reliance on the shiite militia, and the better organization to limit to a degree in areas like anbar. so i think some of them were part of the effort we were successful to dislodge isl. >> when we come back, after a short break, we'll talk about what visibility in iran means to the region, and how in places like syria, it means in iraq, more than complicated to fix, this is "inside story."

>> when the dust cleared in iraq, after the iraqis fought the kurds and each other, they were run by a strong regional

government. the majority shiites wrestled for control. and the restless sunni regions struggled to come to terms with an iraq once a minority, their leaders had once called the shots. it's a country after all where americans invested their lines, and the u.s. invested it's treasure for almost a decade. you made it clear in your earlier remarks, that you hold prime minister maliki, responsible for the situation now, but how much did the troubles in syria contribute to what's going in iraq today? >> no doubt, our region is interrealed, and we're effected by what happens in iran and turkey and other neighboring countries, in syria, the syrian regime and iraq together, to

make life through american iraq, and it's through them they smuggled militant groups to fight the americans, and they succeeded in making that difficult for the americans to the extent and thought it's better to leave iraq better than the way they left. the assad regime changes to be a near dictator, he is securing the majority and the americans watching him, not doing much to the extent, instead of helping the moderates sunnies, they led them to their knees, and leaving the ground to the militant sunni, and they created them in other areas. similar thing happened in iraq, in iraq, isl is not only the one

in iraq. it has been cooperating with at least ten armed groups. some of them are mercenaries, but more than that, the isl are the former iraqi officers. and this will tell you what the disman. the iraqi, it is the officers fighting the new officers, and they proved that the old officers are more capable and able to defeat the new army. the new army is corrupt and badly trained, inefficient. and they know this very well. >> an army disbanded by the united states. does the united states have to remain engaged in iraq in order to vindicate the expenditure and loss of life that we have experienced there over the last

decade? do we have to stay there because we were there before? >> no, shas absolutely wrong. that's some costs. basically, what we have to do is maintain our credibility, and it's based on not only the people we lost and how long we were there, but the relationships that we built with so many people in iraq, who rely on us and trust us, because there are so many other people in the world with similar relationships, who rehaven't spent frills of dollars, and thousands to help. but they look at what's happening in iraq and ukraine, and we don't know who is reliable. aside from the important strategic issues directly related to iraq. >> well, the united states is getting ready to send more weapons to iraq, and are weapons what that army really needs? >> i think that the degree needs

to be more if it's used in the right way. the security forces, what they need to do is reform their practices to try to get more local cooperation. for example, the operation, it didn't lead to anything. it just led to hundreds of innocent peopling arrested. and it only stirred up resentment, and the syrian forces with other isl groups. to win the cooperation, so it would help. to be frank, actually, i am given to a degree given to

syria, tribal movements, and rebel movements in syria, and it could be coordinated without troops on the ground. i'm really not so sure. >> i'm going to have to stop you there, but we will continue this conversation over the coming weeks and months ago, and gentlemen, thank you for being with me today. that brings us to the end of this edition for "inside story." thanks for being with us, in washington, i'm ray soares.

>> it's a universal language. >> the latest album debuted at number 1 on world charts. eve is inspired by the suffering she has seen on her continent in darur's refugee camps. >> i had the voice in nigh hea . artist is dedicated to improving lives of girls in africa. the only thing i know as an african person that can education. freedom. >> i knew it was the right thing to do. we did it. >> she speaks openly about what