, director of the washington dc office for the kurdistan regional government. a discussion on lyndon johnson's goals for improving education in the 1960's. part of "washington journal's" weeklong look at lbj's great society. ♪ good morning. monday, august 18, 2014. president obama returns to the white house late last night, taking a break from his martha's vineyard vacation for meetings today. increasingly tense situation in ferguson, missouri. the president plans to meet with eric holder for an update on investigation into the shooting death of an automatic black teenager by a ferguson officer. governor jay nixon announced early this morning that he was deploying the missouri national to keep the area

peace. how do you assess the response so far in ferguson and what do you think about the deployment of the national guard there? if you are in the eastern and central time zones, call in at (202) 585-3880. mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 585-3881. a special one for missouri residents, (202) 585-3882. catch up with us on social media pages -- twitter, facebook, or e-mail us. good monday morning to you. first, headlines from papers. the u.s. and outside the country on the situation in ferguson, missouri. "the saint louis post-dispatch," police again used tear gas on protesters. "the globe and mail" from canada

-- extraordinary circumstances is the headline. state police attempt to calm protesters. you can see one of the pictures from the protests there. to "the denver post," feds take a larger role. holder orders a new autopsy. a report says the teen was shot six times. finally, "usa today," groups in ferguson, the curfew must end. the weekended over by governor jay nixon in ferguson. a picture there as well with demonstrators speaking to captain ronald johnson of the missouri highway patrol, pointed by the governor to take control of the security operations in the city of ferguson, missouri. i want to start by reading from the st. louis piece. the most updated piece this monday morning, moments after

ronald johnson announced that new security steps were planned in ferguson that would not include the national guard, governor jay nixon announced that he was activating those forces. the story goes on to note that johnson, who was put in control of the security of the north county streets last week, claimed a small group of blamed a small group of educators. we are asking for your thoughts and comments. the national guard has been deployed to ferguson. a statement from jay nixon from late last night and early this morning. he said "i joined the people of ferguson and all missourians in condemning the criminal activity that includes firing upon law enforcement officials."

that is from governor jay nixon's office in the middle of the night last night releasing that statement. the national guard on its way to ferguson. we would like to get your assessment of the police response and your take on the national guard being deployed. jake calling in on the line for missouri residents this morning on the "washington journal," good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead. caller: to be honest, i have split my time between st. charles and st. louis for the majority of my life. know too much about the issues in ferguson. to be honest with you, this

thing happened so quick. there is so much history. it kind of feels like a self-fulfilling half as you. what i wish would happen, that people would not have freaked out so bad. the police department -- i know there is the autopsies that are going on, they really have to come together and do a quick investigation and get the information out. i see the situation spiraling even more. it feels like even though the highway patrol on the governor is involved, this really has no direction. i do not want to see people get hurt, you know? you have got to come together and try to figure it out. i do not see too much. host: what is your assessment of jay nixon and how he is handling the crisis? out of keeping politics it in general and just looking at it from that perspective, i feel like he should have been involved a little earlier. we do not know what goes on behind the scenes.

says i have been consulting on this since the beginning. he was not as visible as he should have been. i do not really think that he is going to -- his presence is going to help or hurt things in ferguson. it is just that culture that i continue to read about over there where most of the cops come in, they are not part of that city, they come from somewhere else. the racial split. maybe he could have gotten the ball rolling a little better and have been more verbal. it does not seem like nixon himself is going to make or break the situation. host: do you want to sierra coulter on the ground or even the president go to ferguson - holderwant to see eric on the ground or even the president go to ferguson? caller: there is so much of this on the ground. some places do not get attention, if this is the big thing that has captured attention, i would rather see someone with juice like a president or attorney general

come down here than someone who just wants to get on tv. i think that would be a good thing. honestly, i think the best thing that happened was then taking this out of the hands of the local cops. people have issues with federalism and stuff like that -- if you have people who might have videos or people who are scared of the police, they have got to be able to go straight to the doj and given evidence. this is the only time i have been glad that eric holder is the attorney general since he got in there. peter's,e from st. missouri on that special line for missouri residents. phone lines are open to talk about the missouri governor jay nixon deploying the national guard to ferguson. asking you about the place -- asking you about the police response. the federal response in "the new york times," white house aides have made repeated phone calls to jay nixon in recent days.

we are taking your calls and comments this morning on the "washington journal." david in massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. i definitely think there is a small group of agitators in ferguson. i believe it is the police department. basically, the mishandling of that incident has led to this. they refused to get on the ball and release things in a timely

fashion. when they did, they did it in a way that was downright nasty. yeah, there is a small criminal element. it is the ferguson police department and their actions. talking about the investigation side. what about the response to the protest industry and along waterside? -- the protest in the streets and the law and order site? caller: that is what i am talking about. the investigation, the way they handled it. they are showing their police state mentality instead of protect and serve. host: david from massachusetts. his story on the law enforcement a story on law-enforcement response. police forces are not only turning to military style equipment to take on law-enforcement tasks, sometimes i'm not even trained properly how to use the weapons of war.

the congressman being talked about story that appeared on the sunday shows, lacy clay of missouri. a democrat. he fee is on cnn's "state of the union." [video clip] beginning of this week, st. louis county police and ferguson police were too heavy-handed in the way they interact with peaceful demonstrators. these demonstrators have a right to assemble in a peaceful manner. they have a right to be heard. very confrontational. it should not have been. i think that when captain ron

johnson came in from the missouri highway patrol, then things began to level out. and he struck a good balance. --ween montfort spent an between law enforcement and interacting with demonstrators. problem in ferguson and across this region and across america are that police forces in african-american communities, are not diverse enough. they do not have enough diversity within their force. they do not have a healthy relationship with the african-american community that they are supposed to police. we have to have a national conversation about how police forces should interact with the african-american community, who happen to be paying their salaries and who want to be served and protected, who these

officers are taking an oath to do so. lacy clay yesterday on cnn. asking your response to the news that missouri governor jay nixon s deployed national guard forces to keep peace. jerome in miami, florida. caller: good morning. i think it is a good thing that they put the national guard inside those communities. in miami, we've had a couple riots. using outside forces usually does help in quelling some of the violence. done a lot by people who do not have jobs. the speeches went well and then at night, everything seems to go violent all of a sudden. a curfew should be in place to protect his misses and people-- a curfew should be in place to

protect businesses and people. police, fire, and other civil service agencies need to start who live inpeople those communities. that way they know the people little bit more. maybe the person who saw the person could say oh, i know -- i know the ground there, i know his father and mother. people who have jobs and are living outside those communities do not have any real ties to the community. host: to your first point, were you saying you think there is usually more tension between the community and the local police? and that is why you think the national guard might be more of a calming presence? caller: there's always more tension between the locals -- even your local police are not really local. they come from other areas. host: jerome bringing up the curfew that is in place in ferguson.

jay nixon releasing a statement on that as well over the weekend. saying the reason a curfew was put in place is because we saw a pattern developed over the weekend after hours of peaceful protesting, some individuals to to the streets with the intent of committing crimes and endangering citizens. and that is acceptable. kristin and ashburn, virginia, good morning. host: hi, i'm a first-time caller. i'd like to make a couple points. ferguson,ppening in it is just a shadow of what has really been going on all over the country with the militarization of the police forces. i highly recommend people to the

rmanings of william no briggs, he writes on police brutality across the country. from no-knock, middle of the state:aids also, "police usa," that has been chronicling abuses at the hands of the police state. i am deeply sorry for what has been happening. i think the deploying of the national guard is showing the american public what is coming in this country. we do not mind sending in the military. i am frightened for the future. i pray that people's eyes are

d to the continuing diminishment of our rights as u.s. citizens. in ashburn,n virginia bringing up the militarization of the police. taken on by the editorial board of "washington times." "when cops play soldier." according to the editorial board -- "the degree to which many have becomemilitarized has a threat to public confidence and authority.

the editorial board of "the washington times." also with a story of the arming of the police. accompanied by a chart talking about the defense authorization bill dating back to the 1990's that allow the federal government to lend and self andss property to state local law enforcement agencies, driving the debate around the militarization of modern police forces. the chart notes that the program has loaned out about $5.1 billion worth of property, million in 2013 alone. weapons account for only 5% and tactical vehicles of the 35%. other materials include office furniture, and forklifts. among the weapons that are given out

that chart accompanying a "washington times" story. your thoughts on the response of the police so far. rodney in lee's summit on the line for missouri residents. caller: good morning. say if the perception of the community is that the police are overreacting and very violent, more police presence will not solve the .roblem it seems simple and almost oxymoronic. thank you. were in governor jay nixon's shoes, what would you do? doler: they have to negotiations. they cannot go on with this like

they are doing now. it is not solving the problem. , fear turns to anger and anger turns to resolve -- they are starting a revolution and do not seem to know it. the police are starting a revolution and do not know it. host: romney on our line for missouri residents. also on the line for missouri residents, darrell from defiance. caller: good morning, how are you? i don't think the national guard is going to do a thing to help the situation. i would like to ask the people of c-span, when is the last time you heard of a black cop shooting a white child down in cold blood -- you just don't hear it because it does not happen. it is always these hillbilly white boys who shoot first and ask questions last. they talk to black people like their dogs. all they have to do is charge this dude with first-degree

murder and we would not be having any of this. and themissouri police prosecuting attorney want to do everything they can do to make or to prove that this cop did nothing wrong. and another black man is dead. this is happening all over the country. i don't know why anyone is surprised. every week we hear about another black man shot in the back were shot while he is on the ground or choked to death, and not a thing is being said. host: keith is up next in evansville, indiana. good morning. caller: good morning. aam just calling in to make comment. a good friend of mine was killed by a police officer several years ago. they told him to come out of the and then had come out the police officer jumped out and shot him and killed him. we did not have all that and destroying other

peoples property because of what the cops did. the cop got away with it for the rest of his life. there will be justice. like i said, the cop has got to pay with it. do not tear anybody else's stuff up just because something happened or use it as an excuse. that is my comment. host: a story in "the washington two missouri churches, prayers cannot bridge the divide. one prays for the embattled officer, another prays for the teenager. at one church, they fear they might be attacked by rioters. in ferguson, a congregation spep

a story in today's "washington post." juanita from new jersey. opinion is that at this present time, because of the situation that is going on, i think it may be necessary for officers -- the guards -- ok. but, my point is this. i think that the media like cnn 98%all the heavy media have of the fault of what is going on in that missouri city at this time. if not 98%, at least 50%. you know why?

a famous day -- the media is given to them. all the things going on, the police, throwing against these few -- they are making this outside meaning for what has happened. host: you are saying the media coverage is making the situation worse? caller: to me, 98% but at least 50%. they put all of these shelling and then they come out -- they thenll these showing they come out. then they get the real information about what is going on. then that is when they explained. host: would you prefer that the

media not be in ferguson, missouri right now? caller: i think you have a limit of information. somebody on either both sides. peoplethe activist giving feedback. and then the police. state? -- see? host: how would you organize protesters there so there is only one place? caller: in the beginning you might only get a few people showing up. you have to get leaders of the community to organize this and then have a spokesperson to speak about what is going on. the media is getting in. when they show all the police force, pushing them throwing gas because they need to get -- later, they find out they needed

to get to somebody that got shot. host: a few comments on our twitter page. "i don't think the situation will get better until the officer is indicted for murder." ressmen need to stop funding for deer and rodeo and by body cams." we will be talking about this for the next 20 minutes or so on the "washington journal." i'll be in petersburg, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. the reserve and i retired in 2003. i understand what is going on with the military being implemented, but i'm totally against it. for those who are not oblivious to american politics, you understand -- president ronald

reagan instituted what was rex 84, stating that if there was an uprising from minority groups, they would be detained. also, alexis is hopeful -- tocqueville said america has never experienced eight revolution and will not until the black man rise that. -- rised up. through the institution of slavery in all the things that have happened, our people are very agitated and upset. to keep pacifying them and these murders continue. last year, i would suggest

three books. host: will get onto some other callers. miami, florida. raul, good morning. caller: hey, how's it going. the police officers are trying to do their jobs. have a testimony that michael jobs struggling with the gun or something. they have a testimony that michael brown struggled with the gun or something. i have not heard that on c-span. out: there's a lot coming with the investigation. a lot of details we are waiting to hear about the investigation. what do you think about what we know about the police response? caller: people are trying to their job. they shot at a helicopter, i heard that. it is not like the things happening. miami, florida. "the washington post" covering the national guard being sent to ferguson.

after violent unrest erupts in ferguson, among those who were quoted in that "washington post" cornell, the tauscher a 40 two-year-old who lives blocks from the scene. she said she was furious. she says half of the purchasers are not even from the area. we do not have to many stores anymore because they burn it all. my son ran home from work, he was terrified. it is not a race issue anymore, people just want to vent and loo. -- and loot. natasha cornell, on the ground in ferguson, zürich. missouri.on, approachhen the police minorities, they see them as unemployed, uneducated, high school dropouts, problem makers.

they take out all their aggressions on them. you talking about the situation in your neighborhood, in new york, new york? what has been your experience in new york? i think there should be more income equality in this country. income inequality, they will treat you like a second-class citizen. someone is poor and uneducated and they will keep doing this. that is norman from new york. we will go to data in san diego, california. good morning. caller: listen. i am listening to a bunch of nonsense -- people calling in. google search and you will see that there was a cell phone video of the scene while the kid

was industry, -- in the street dead. black witness was giving testimony. the kid tried to grab the guy's gun, it went off inside the car, he tried to take off. the top told him to stop. he shot him twice in the chest and kept coming. he got about three or four feet closer and he shot him in the forehead. the cop did exactly what he had to do, the kid kept coming at him. what is he supposed to do? he keptred him. -- shooting him. the blackming, witness said this on a video, he had to shoot him and had to stop him. host: dana from california. , oneort about the autopsy of the all caps is done -- one of the autopsies done.

all the bullets were fired into his friend. they do not appear to have been shot from chris range -- from close range because no gunfire was found on the body. that could . "the new york times" getting information about that. lots of details still to come out. we want to hear from you about the police response so far to the announcement of the deployment of the national guard to ferguson. one other piece in "the new york times," this op-ed by charles blow.

"frustration in ferguson." there has also been some violence and looting. police forces in the town responded with outlandish military like presence. more befitting baghdad then suburban missouri. the police response so far a topic that governor jay nixon addressed in his appearance on one of the sunday shows yesterday. he was on abc's "this week" to discuss the situation in ferguson. [video clip] were thunderstruck by the pictures we saw. theovert militarization,

pointed,ling in, guns that brought a motion up. that is why we made the decision to bring in our highway patrol and have a local leader, captain johnson from the community, in that community. a much different face on law enforcement. f while it has paid of respecting the rights of people to greet and speak. host: catching the attention of .everal members of congress hank johnson, democrat of georgia, releasing a bill that he intends to introduce when congress comes back in session. it is the "stop militarization law-enforcement act," available on his website. here.'s a copy of the act t clarence in cleveland, ohio. good morning.

caller: good morning, c-span. i was calling about the situation in ferguson. stole the earlier callers my fire. everybody in the america from the age of 10 to 100 has a cell phone, i am sure this was captured on a cell phone. people in ferguson put the request in, can you be shot while you are in surrender mode? -- thatdeos, you know question is bigger than warning about on the cell phone. that's all i have got to say. host: jarred in bladensburg, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment is, what about the andt for peaceful assembly protests?

that is all well and good. the looting, the getting violent goes very much against the grain of what has worked best in the the civilars -- rights movement, martin luther king, peaceful protests -- nonviolence. there will be an investigation. somebody is going to be proven to be wrong here. the police man, perhaps he will be indicted for first-degree murder. the eyewitness who said the hands were up and the kid was trying to surrender. he should be held accountable. have to be stopped. what is wrong with militarization if after one attempt of a peaceful protest there is a lot of violence? what about the shopkeepers. what about people who feel their safety is at risk? i'd be happy to see armed

militia out in a situation like that. host: do you think the national guard deployment here stokes some of the tensions? or it has to be taken out of the hands of the folks who have been dealing with it so far since the incident itself? i don't think it is an overreaction when there is that kind of violence, to bring out what you need to make sure it does not happen. people often need to have a better sense of where to be and when to be there. where i live, there is routine -- pretty regular -- college kids showing up after best college kids showing up after basketball games. you go down to where the happening is, you might be part of the happening. host: on twitter, "to begin to sell the unrest, see if there is

evidence to charge darren wilson." the president arriving at the white house late last night. one of the other issues he will be dealing with his meetings on the situation in iraq, the u.s. has widened its air campaign in northern iraq. here's a headline from the wall street journal. for the firsts time in support of a kurdish ground offensive to take the mosul dam. that is part of that increased effort -- the president sent a letter to congress yesterday, a war powers resolution, regarding iraq. the letter to speaker boehner,

"the military operations will be limited in scope and duration as necessary to support the iraqi forces to take control of the critical infrastructure site as ongoing campaign against the terrorist group the islamic state of iraq and he wilthe levant." signed by the president in his letter yesterday to speaker john boehner. some lawmakers have been pressing for a war powers vote on what is happening now in iraq over the renewed operations. a headline from "the wall street journal." senator ron johnson was asked about that issue yesterday on

fox news. about whether the administration needs to come to congress to ask for info. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> it is a good sign that obama is going to ask. a couple weeks ago, president obama did invite eight or nine members of the foreign relations and armed services committee to the white house to speak with his counsel about a new authorization for use of military force, which i think is pretty long overdue. they are finding out that trying to act militarily with the current authorizations is pretty tenuous. it is a good sign that president obama is recognizing the fact that he is going to need authority to deal with this new, asymmetric threat. greg palkot, from beheadings,s are live burials, enslavement of women, these are evil people. i'm glad president obama is

finally beginning to act. republicanohnson, from wisconsin, yesterday on one of the sunday shows. talk about situation in iraq and the u.s. military strike there. we will be joined by the director of the kurdistan d.c.onal government's .d office to talk about this issue and u.s. efforts with kurdish forces. five minutes for to continue our discussion on missouri governor deploying the national guard to ferguson, missouri. alonzo in california. good morning. caller: the morning. all, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the young man who was shot. also with the officer and all the people of ferguson, and missouri, by extension. this -- i hate to chuckle about it -- to quote one

of your earlier callers, a media driven story that has a life of its own. i think it is unfortunate. i think everyone needs to take a collective breath if at all possible. i might remind everyone in the audience, it was about a year ago, and i believe it was in missouri, that a young man, a college student from australia was shot in the back by three youths who were just out looking for someone to kill. handled that with a tremendous amount of grace, as did the community. there were no riots surrounding in his homehere or country. i think we can take a lesson from the australian people in

this regard. try to live up to that standard. host: would you say -- when you say this is media driven, how do you solve that aspect of this? caller: you know, a large part of this, i cannot render his name, the msnbc reporter who was in the mcdonald's. i am all in favor. it is a good thing to have the internet and it is a good thing to have cameras. fallout from the this case is that all police officers are required to wear cameras on their helmets, that would be fine by me. that they would agree with that too. some of the officers are honest anyway.

on of the police policeegging on of the in order to have a story to write the next day is what i saw from that reporter. i don't know if that is what happened but it seems like there is a kind of cynical cycle we go through with every one of these race driven stories going back beyond o.j., back beyond rodney king. it exists. every time race is discussed in -- whether the incident in central park or whatever -- host: alonzo in california referencing the shooting death of an australian citizen in the u.s. in oklahoma that happened last year. let's go to alan in ashland, kentucky.

good morning. caller: good morning. thest want to say that in first place, anytime you have police officers coming at you and telling you to stop coming you need to stop. that is common sense. just on the video alone, the guy was aggressive. and then, the guy that testified, the first one they had on camera -- the guy was given what was going on with his little friend that he passed off a cigar box two. i was kind of redundant -- that was kind of redundant. the guy who was part of his plan to rip off the store owner. i do not think they ought to file charges against the police officer. that was doing his job. what they ought to do is take a condoningople who are the fact that he is going in and causing trouble for store owners and everything like that. i don't think it was the police officer's fault. i think he did his job. people need to really take a

good look at all of this and see that it was out of hand here. host: alan in kentucky. willie in nashville, tennessee. your thoughts on the deployment of the national guard to ferguson, which we found out early this morning? that isi have a comment a bigger question. that is -- i don't know if you have read, some of the people who called in earlier, i wish they would read the article on ."parations in "the atlantic so they can understand the systemic and institutional racism that has been in this .ountry since slavery like in levittown, all the houses that were built, none of them for black people. all the redlining in real estate . to today.g us forward let's talk about ferguson and what we are talking about this

morning, the response so far. because of systemic racism. the whole country is the same way. we have got police killing black youth all over the country. host: willie in nashville, tennessee. our last caller in the first segment of the "washington journal." isis,we talk about iraq, and the kurdish people with the director of the kurdistan regional the men's office in washington, d.c. series onpart of our the great society, elementary education and secondary how iton act of 1965 and continues to influence the education system today. we will be right back. ♪

>> here's a great read. c-span's "sundays at eight." a collection of stories from some of the nation's most influential people. the bohemiann lifestyle, i decided to take it. whether it is delusional or not -- i do not think it is -- it and my concentration stopped me being bored and stop other people being boring. it would keep me awake, it would me want towould make enhance the moment. if i was asked what i do it again, the answer is probably yes. easy for me to say. not very nice for my children.

if i say yeah, i would do all that again to you. it would be hypocritical for me to say no. because i didn't know, everyone knows. soviet system in eastern europe contained the seeds of its own destruction. many of the problems that we saw at the end begin at the very beginning. i spoke already about the attempt to control all institutions and control all parts of the economy and political life and social life. one of the problems is that when you do that, when you try to control everything, then you create opposition and potential dissidents everywhere. if you tell all artists they have to pay the same way and one artist says no, i want to paint another way, you have just made him into a political dissident. if you want to subsidize housing in this country, and we want to talk about it, and the populace agrees that it is something we should subsidize, then put it on the balance sheet and make it clear and make it evident and

make everybody aware of how much it is costing. , when you deliver it through these third-party enterprises, whene mae and freddie mac, you deliver subsidies through a public company with private shareholders and executives who can extract a lot of that subsidy for themselves, that is not a very good way of subsidizing homeownership. >> christopher hitchens, and appelbaum, and richard morrison morgenstern, in " sundays at eight." "washington journal" continues. host: karwan zebari is the director of the kurdistan regional government in the united states. based here in washington, d.c. here to discuss the situation in iraq and the role of the kurdish people. yourebari, i want assessment of the u.s. air campaign and the stories we are seeing this morning on the efforts to retake the strategic

.nd in mosul -- dam in mosul guest: let me start off by thanking the u.s. military for stepping up and assisting us and pushing back and repelling the attacks of isis. so far, the airstrikes have been very effective in what they have been able to do. isis was gaining a lot of momentum in a short period of time. the airstrikes have been able to stop that momentum. now we are on the offensive in forces ineshmerga conjunction with u.s. air support and pushing back on isis. i'm sure we will be talking about the dam today, that has been one of the accomplishments as of the last 24 hours to 40 hours that we have been able to accomplish in stopping the momentum and reversing the progress. host: showing our viewers some of the video of some of the u.s. air strikes that have taken place. talk about the importance of this dam, why has it become such

a focus? guest: this is the largest dam, largest infrastructure in the country. there are concerns here, when prices took over, it requires constant maintenance. intelligence sources are telling us that they need to be pouring as much as 600 tons of concrete and steel into these holes sucked up by the oil, by the water, within four days. this requires constant maintenance. if the maintenance is not done properly and on time, it could become a catastrophic problem for the rest of the community surrounding this. the other concern was -- it provides electricity to a large and rough people -- a large number of people. if isis cuts off the power to blows out the grid, a contiguous to rebuild.

a -- a content years to rebuild. there was a concern about isis couldg up the dam, it high up and3 feet down the country, embassies in baghdad would see about nine feet of flooding. the: the other aspect of u.s. effort is the humanitarian effort. can you talk about the latest on that. specifically, how it has affected the kurdistan regional government. influx of refugees have been coming in constantly fussed at the beginning of the year, we had about .25 million refugees from syria. isis started moving into iraq, and thosellujah areas, we saw about 70,000 more. when isis took over mosul and made advances in

we started seeing hundreds of thousands of people. when they took over other towns seeingnjar, we started hundreds of thousands more. right now, anywhere between 1.5 million to 2 million refugees or idp's are seeking refuge and cursed him. that has a lot of load on the regional government's plate. aren on the national -- we calling on the international community to assist us. host: can you explain what the kurdistan regional government is. came about after the first gulf war in 1991 when the u.s. came into the region to push saddam hussein out of kuwait. also, peshmerga forces, kurdish

forces, fought side-by-side pushing from the northern front. and you had the allied forces pushing from the south and getting saddam hussein out of the country. when that conflict stopped and the weapons were stopped in the allies pulled out, saddam came back and massacred the north. 4 million to 5 million people went into neighboring countries in turkey and iran. that became chaos. what the allied forces ended up doing, they created a no fly zone and a safe haven in the , adistan region of iraq semi-aton this region. fast-forward forward to 2003, this is already self governed by the local government. we already had a head start ahead of the rest of the country. after 2003 operation iraqi freedom, you had that country's

dictator toppled and kurdistan gained more autonomy. it is not officially part of the rock -- it is now officially part of iraq. you have a huge representation in the iraqi parliament but you have a parliament in the kurdistan region. host: what is the kurdistan regional government's view of the newly forming government in baghdad? guest: let's look at what is happened in the last few years under the leadership of prime minister al-maliki. prime minister al-maliki hijacked the political process, alienated the kurds, marginalized the sunnis, and consume a lot of power. iraq has not had a minister of defense or a head of the central intelligence agency or the central bank. this led to a lot of the problems that we are seeing with isis and the extremists being able to penetrate through the ranks and control such large

territories and such a short period of time. she stood place in april. there is a new speaker of the parliament who has been appointed from a sunni community. there's a president from the kurdish community. a new prime minister has been appointed within the shiite bloc. are gladave to do, we to see developments on friday that prime minister al-maliki will be stepping aside and willing to give space to the new government. we are optimistic. we have to give some time and space to the new prime minister to put a new cabinet together and bring this country back together. what is important is to make sure that the steps are minister al-maliki -- the steps prime minister al-maliki took are not repeated. it is important that the new prime minister creates a government that is inclusive. this is the only way to bring this country back, if there is a

way. host: if you have questions about the situation in iraq,l specifically the efforts of the kurdish people, we are joined by karwan zebari. head of the kurdistan regional government office here in d.c. republicans, (202) 585-3881. democrats, (202) 585-3880. independents, (202) 585-3882. if you are outside the u.s., (202) 585-3882. , the kurdistan regional government held a demonstration near the white house over the weekend looking for support for the kurdish people in iraq. what does the courtesy and regional government asked of the u.s. right now? we are confronted with a lot of challenges. you mentioned the humanitarian crisis. the country is inundated with

refugees. a region with a compilation of about 5.3 million. today, we have 1.5 million. about tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands are coming in. this has been a huge burden on the krg's leadership in providing and assisting the refugees. this, we have not received a single penny, which we are entitled to from baghdad as a result of the oil revenues. $9 billion --us baghdad owes us $9 billion. there's has not been a single penny from beginning of this year. without that revenue coming in, when we try to offset and make up for the in balance in the theet for exporting oil to international market, baghdad once again under the leadership of prime minister al-maliki threatens an international buyer. that is the most urgent challenge that is facing last

and where we need the community to step in and help out. the other challenge is the security. isis has been able to capture a lot of u.s. military weapons that were given to the iraqi security forces. when isis advanced towards muscle and the iraqi security forces and to police divisions melted away and abandon their weapons, isis took over a lot of the heavy equipment. now what they are doing is they are bringing this heavy equipment and fighting the peshmerga forces, which are lightly armored yet fierce fighters. it does not help when you are outgunned. forces have been running out of a munitions -- out of a munitions. the other challenge is to make sure the government is formed in time and inclusive in baghdad, that is critical. when the u.s. is supplying

arms and trying to fight isis in that theld you say u.s. should go strictly through the kurdistan regional government and avoid the central government in baghdad? guest: when the zone were given to the military, and we know how fears and experience and loyal the forces are. bullet that not a single has called into the hands of crisis as as a result of them depending their post. what is the relationship between the iraqi forces and the peshmerga forces? guest: this is where a lot of the parents came from, but remember i talked about 1991 until 2003, we were self

governed and at the together our , sosocial security forces this is independent of the iraqi military, but within the umbrella of the iraqi military. they are not necessarily controlled by baghdad. these are over 180,000, including reserves that are controlled and only fighting within the kurdistan region of iraq and attacking them borders of the region. the demonstration that took place over the weekend was calling for more airstrikes, calling for the u.s. military beefhe administration to up the capabilities by providing heavy equipment so that we are balanced along with isis. isis has very effective equipment, highly technical, from the u.s. military given to the iraqi security forces. las vegas, nevada.

good morning. good morning. i want to ask the gentleman, since he is afraid to mention israel as being a main supporter all through the years, the israelis have supported kurdistan to break away from the arabs and also control the american government's attitude in that area. kurdistan is not an arab country. you are mongolian and white. you are not arab. you portray yourselves as arab currents but you are not. you are an israeli agent. host: do you want to talk about some of the history there? you are right, the kurds are in indo-european people that come from a different family from the arabs, turks, the jews ,nd others come and persians but as far as being the agents

of israel, absolutely not. iraq, itstan region of a distinct ethnicity. we do have relations with israel but just like egypt and jordan does and other countries has, we see the israeli government as a friend and not necessarily as a foe. being the agents of israel is a misstatement and inaccurate. host: mona in front royal, virginia. on the republican line. to put i just wanted you up a map and show me exactly where kurdistan is. host: we have that. we will show you the regional government in iraq. did you have a action -- question? no, that is all.

i just wanted a map. it is interesting hearing him. host: steve is in chicago, illinois. on the line for independents. the kurdistan regional government is the area in the red and white striped areas in the north eastern parts of iraq. that region is made up of a couple of different provinces of iraq. what are the components of the kurdistan region? greater kurdistan is -- this is divided into four countries. it is the largest population in the world without its own state. is region that i represent consisting of three major provinces. when a isis try to take over the fourth province, care cook, -- to resistey were able

that and keep control. you have got the capital city , and then you have the second-largest city in the region. about 31,000 square miles, about the size of south carolina. peopleion, 3.8 million with its own parliamentary democracy. now we get to steve from chicago. good morning. caller: how are you? commentlike to make a -- we allat guest know that the kurds are our greatest friends in america. we know this. they have fought for us in all the wars that we have had over

there. want to say is one simple thing, from chicago, illinois. . will praise the kurds i have one question. are the kurds getting the serious, real, military armament that they need? thank you, i appreciate the compliment. you are right, the kurds have always viewed the united states as a friend and ally of the region. to this point, despite all the violence happening in iraq, outpacing the u.s. military personnel or contractor has been killed or wounded in the kurdistan region.

the region controlled by the pershmerga security forces. grateful for the american support and liberation of iraq, absolutely. in terms of us fighting for and side-by-side the american forces, that's absolutely true. in 1991, 2003, and we have always considered boots ona forces as the ground. we do not need american forces on the ground. we have the force and capability and the will to do it. however, we need the right equipment so that we can carry on the fight. you cannot find a non-piercing humvee with an ak-47. when they are firing at it it is like throwing a rocket at the wall which does not penetrate. in terms of getting the right equipment that we have been asking for to upset the balance some on the light

munitions and armors have come in, but this is not effective. what we have asked for is more heavier equipment. we have provided a list to the u.s. government, military and there is also a joint operation center operating in the capital city of the kurdistan region, and american joint operation center, and they are assessing what the needs are. sometimes they go to the front lines to assess what the pershmerga needs are. to this point, this equipment has not made it to the front lines where we can go on a major offensive. it's important that the audience a 1000we used to have 500 kilometer border that we shared with iraqi security forces, pershmerga on one side, iraqi security on the other side. now, 1000 35 kilometers is shared with isis and the militants. forces arerga

stretched very thin across the large border, so that is why isis has been somewhat effective. forces that pershmerga are stretched, they find a weak point to attack and then mobilize somewhere else and attack. but what we have to do is beef up the border and then we can go on the offensive and pushback on the advances that isis is making. overnight, the modal dam, that is one of the examples, that the pershmerga forces have been able to recapture the mosul dam. no more isis militants at the dam at this point. host: the caller brought up a strong relationship between the u.s. and the kurdish people. ofld you play in the history the u.s. designating some kurdish parties as terrorist groups, why that happened? part of a longer and broader procedure of how two

political parties have moved into this designation. in 2001, you have the u.s. congress, after 9/11, drafted and voted on the patriot act, which established the department of homeland security. it said any group of people consisting with two or more political party organizations fighting against its host government, regardless of how corrupt or bad it may be, will be listed as unnecessarily tear -- tier two, but tier three. it is a lighter level of terrorist organization. parties in kurdistan were looked into this. 1, like als not tier qaeda. what we have been able to do with the u.s. congress and government is to amend this patriot act. we have been successful so far.

we are just winning for the senate to return to session so that we can vote on the bill and it should be removed by the end of the year. does the designation holder of any kind of arms transfers or any of the effort that you are talking about that you need right now? guest: we have not heard anything, that the designation has interrupted the arms transfer to the kurds, but what has been happening is the kurdistan region of iraq, not being a sovereign country, there is a title x of the u.s. state department past five the congress, that you could not provide weapons to a nonstate actor, a non-sovereign country. what has to happen is these arms countries -- transfers has to go through baghdad to make it to kurdistan. that has not happened and it primeot happen as far as minister malik he has been in power. cut off the budget, not

allowing the weapons transfer to go to kurdistan. now the u.s. is facilitating with other countries, france, germany, italy, to see if we can get some of these arms transferred. it is unfortunate when we have an ally in the region that has to go through this process and all this pain for any arms transfer. patrick is in carnegie, pennsylvania. good morning. mr. zebari is conveniently miss holding -- withholding information from the people in america. it is amazing how the media is manipulated, particularly when it comes to the fact that the turkish government is directly behind isis. saudi arabia is behind isis. you do not have a five-mile-long

syria,coming in from completely in a blitzkrieg military construct taking over the territory on this scale. mr. zebari, if there was any doubt that the kurdistan regional government and mr. zebari is part of a geopolitical power grab, all of this never did -- particularly when use in their it is of children being beheaded and the deception of the american public, who are turning around with our tax dollars and underwriting a system of lies -- host: do you want to respond? guest: thank you for the call. color notcourage the to watch necessarily the american or kurdish media.

turn to other countries that are broadcasting from the scene. there are children absolutely being killed, then being beheaded, and women being enslaved and sold to other parts of the country and other militants in isis. as far as holding back information, this is the reality we are facing. necessarily --t not necessarily to the region, but look at the names of isil. turkey, tel aviv. as far as holding back any key information, i am not sure what information more i can answer. it is unfortunate that some of the support has been coming from outside of iraq and syria. it is important that the support stops. isis is nobody's friend. a question on twitter.

is the u.s. goal to defeat isis or to keep the region free from them? guest: i think the goal is one in the same. the more territory they capture, the more emboldened they will become, the more well they will capture. isis, again, is regional right now. they are focused primarily in syria and iraq. but that is not their aim. the aim is to go broader and gain more control over the region. isis is like a cancerous virus. where itpread anywhere can get its hands on and this has to be stopped. skokie, illinois. john on the line for republicans. caller: what are they doing about stealing people in kurdistan now? host: what is the question? what are they doing

about syrian people living in kurdistan right now? syrians are the christian community living in kurdistan for thousands of years. isis, when they made advances, when they captured mosul, theree those christians and given the ultimatum of converting and paying a tax, or facing the sword. later on they were able to travel up north where they were able to capture some of the northern villages. what we have been doing, they have been under the protection of the pershmerga forces since 2003, toppling saddam hussein, and we have been asking the syrian community to reach out here in the u.s., to their members of congress, to ask for support and protection. we need more support from the u.s. government.

in addition to what has been taking place, give credit where credit is due. we are determined to protecting these minority groups. after this unrest, a lot of these groups have been asking western countries for visas and a silent. that is ok -- asylum. that is ok, but this is their land, their heritage and history. they had a flare to society. we do not encourage all to leave. while we do encourage seeking opportunity, we are determined to protect them. host: you talked about the immediate threat facing the kurdistan regional government. more long-term, is the end goal for the kurdistan regional government to have its own country, should iraq be split up? i'm glad you asked the question. what has been happening in baghdad, we have been trying to

do, -- to become partners in the society. the more we try to work in the framework of the iraqi constitution, the more alienated we became, the more disliked we became in baghdad under the leadership of prime minister maliki. pressureunder intense on the ground, asking why we are still part of the country that does not pay us our share of the revenue when we are entitled under the cuts duchenne -- under the constitution. why are we not being protected? why are we being marginalized? why can't we be part of a government that we hope for? why are we part of a country that we voted for a plural democratic and free-market society? all of these things did not necessarily come to fruition.

why are we still part of the country? but again, it is in the dream of every kurd to have its own independent state monday. in rockville, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i was wondering if the guest u.s. has provided enough aid? it sounds like there is a start on her president of government in a different regions and the religious subgroups of islam. of thisto stay out country, have no americans there. we are giving advice by the way ifphone line so that something goes wrong, american lives are at risk.

let the iraqis and the folks there sort out their own issues. thank you. aid, iin terms of enough assume you are referring to humanitarian and military aid. the demand andd, what is being received on the ground is a reissue of probably 1/10. the main, the u.n. is entity that has been operating on the ground. they are still in the assessing mode. because of the influx of is soes coming in, it huge, they are still assessing where to place them in what they can do. the regional kurdistan government has been doing the grunt work of feeding people three meals a day until there is more help that arrives. equipment, military the right the claimant has not necessarily been received. if it has, it has not been to

the front lines where the pershmerga forces can go on the offensive and protect the people . as far as u.s. forces on the ground, we continue to say, the pershmerga forces are the boots on the ground. operating out of a joint operation center, the u.s. embassies, consulates in irbil. we do not need to see them on the front lines. this is our land to take back, our people to protect. host: mobile, alabama. independents. caller: i do not buy into and out of the propaganda that these people are putting out there. most of the reports coming in from that area [inaudible] irbil, the kurdistan area is where the bombs and the

gas is located, oil pipelines headed for turkey. that is the only reason the u.s. is involved. they have already set up a government there. they had already started stealing and selling the oil. remember, [inaudible] which ended up in galveston, texas. would get into the oil and sell it on the markets -- ast: i will give mr. zebari chance to jump in. let's look at what isis wants.

why is it that they are now putting the kurds and taking this key infrastructure in the country? this is their way of sustaining themselves. that theyard reports can earn about $1 million by taking the crude oil from inside iraq into syria, the areas they control, to a low quality refinery, bring it back to iraq, and sell it to the population. you always need fuel. on top of that, they have their hands on a large swath of the field where the wheat is growing. about 40% of the country's wheat. they are selling that back to the people because people need fuel and bread. eyesis why they have their set on the kurdistan region. the caller is right. this is a legitimate regional democratic government in place, much aligned with what we have

in this country. to sustain themselves and to continue to expand, they need resources and revenues coming in. the kurdistan region absolutely has the largest oil and gas reserves in the region. if they can get their hands on this, it is their dream come true, can continue to sustain themselves. e.b. in lynchburg, virginia. good morning. caller: am i on the air? knows, with any military intelligence, without any aid, no army can function. i know isis is getting money from kidnap people and then they bank. as long as that money keeps on flowing, like vietnam, as long --the supplies keep going,

nbc and north vietnam had enough supplies to defeat the west. if you do not cannot be supplies, they can continue to fight. moneyg as they have coming in, people coming in from around the world, with the ideology in their mind, let's keep killing americans. it will never stop. states, are the kurdish people doing enough to cut off supplies fueling isis? we are certainly doing everything we can in making sure the areas that we have captured, these areas of revenue are taken back. certainly that does not help anybody but lengthening isis. to, the caller is referring kidnapping and offering grandson -- ransom -- some of my wife's own relatives were caught by isis. they asked for hefty amounts of money. the people put money forward and they were directed to six different places. at the end when they got the

money they said to collect your human remains. they were promised that they would be -- it was a 16-year-old boy. of ransom was upwards $60,000. this is exactly some of the atrocities they are carrying out , and they continue to sustain themselves. as is why isis has to be stopped. it is not just a threat to the region but to the international community. host: a question on twitter, why can't the countries in that region form a coalition and consider isis a threat? you cannot necessarily create an army that is effective, highly mobile and keep will in a matter of 10 years. saddam was in power for nearly three decades throughout the 1980's, 1990's, 2000. he massacred our people, the downgraded the institutions.

there is a country where you are basically starting from zero, and the country itself is very rich in natural resources. it is capable of doing the work required, but we need continued support from the u.s. and other allied forces. host: dave is in waiting, illinois. you are on the line with karwan zebari of the kurdistan regional government here in the united states. caller: i have one question. if the kurds are considered our close allies, why are we not giving them the support and the means to fight isis so we do not have to put ground troops out , when we can give them the necessary means to put for us, when they live there? the point we have

been making in washington and in other places around the world. host: who are you making it too, here in d.c.? to the administration, congress, former officials of the u.s. government, certainly, pentagon. we are the boots on the ground, we will do the fighting. we will take care of this, but we need the means do so. -- as ifortunate that gettingrlier, this equipment -- it has to be disbursed through baghdad a red baghdad has been unwilling to do that. it is unfortunate that we have to go buy this when you have people on the ground, capable pershmerga forces that will be doing the fighting. forces are loyal to this cause. we need to take this land back and eliminate this threat. is in carrollton,

georgia. on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i am so sorry that we had gone off the rails there on 9/11. the whole country went off the rails. that is why some of your people became terrorists, but not. anyway, i have a question about reserves.d the oil region?am in your reserves you have, i think that answers the question why you cannot become an independent state, which i think you should be. thank you for the call. it is nowf the dam,

for the most part in pershmerga forces control. about 14 air strikes that took place yesterday from the u.s.. there are no more isis militants left in the vicinity of the infrastructure. however, they have set up some booby-traps and barrels hold of explosives -- full of explosives that will blow up. are is why pershmerga slowly moving in with some of this technology to detect some of these mines and booby-traps, to make sure they are not set off. explosives could threaten the infrastructure and the safety of the dam and gates. if that is blown, that could be catastrophic down the road. that is why pershmerga forces are moving in. this