mr. mcgurk. >> let me just add a couple points. the leadership and command in mosul of these units have all been fired. we immediately were in conversations with iraqi and security leaders in the wake of mosul and recommended a wholesale change in the command. new commanders have been appointed. those are commanders we know very well, they're also quite effective. iraqis just in the past month in terms of fighting units, they have suffered almost 1,000 killed in action, and they are holding the line, and they are beginning to conduct some very rudimentary offensive operations to clear some highways. i will not underestimate the extreme challenge here, but what we saw in mosul was not indicative of the force as a whole. we are finding that the units, many of them, are balanced -- there's about an average -- i was just on the phone with our folks out there today the composition of the force is about 55% shia, about 23% sunni, by and large and what we have found is that within the units themselves there's no fracturing among sectarian

mr. mcduring testim mcgurk testifying on the deteriorating situation since february. it's clear that the situation went from worse to just about as bad as it can get and i'm interested in hearing in how the administration has adjusted its policies since then because the three steps that he outlined for us last time, pressing the government to develop a holistic policy to isolate extremists, supporting iraqi security forces through accelerated military systems and information and intelligence sharing and mobilizing the sunni population against isis have all failed to stop isis and the near collapse of iraq. isis continues to advance its cause of islamic state that runs from baghdad to lebanon and where christians especially are being targeted, eithering fleeing, forced to convert, or be killed. we have been woefully inadequate in our response to this crisis. the committee has repeatedly called on the administration to do more, to get more engaged and to be decisive because it has been paralyzed by inaction. the threat of isis is very real and imminent for iraq and the

brett mcgurk is the deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs where he focuses on iraq. thar for joining us, mrputy assistant secretary. what role did the united states have enforcing maliki's hands? there are reports that you personally may have had a role in that? >> i can assure you, gwen, that those reports are not true. in 2010 i think we were, it was said that we somehow maneuvered maliki into power. now it's said we're somehow maneuvering him out of power. the political dynamics in iraq have really their own dynamic which the iraqis sort through very much on their own. we do play a very active facilitating role between all the political blocs. we encourage them as does the united nations and other partners in baghdad to try to keep to the constitutional time line, keep things moving forward. because this is an extraorderly complex and difficult situation, particularly on the security side but also on the political side. it's very complicated and we serve as neutral brokers when useful. when we can provide an idea to bridge two different ideas and proposals we certainly do that. but it's