. >> woodruff: in the meantime several high profile maliki opponents like former prime minister alawi have sided with hasmi as political and ethnic divisions flare once again now, two assessments from iraqi- americans of the growing political turmoil in iraq. feisal istrabadi was iraq's deputy ambassador to the united nations and is now a visiting law professor at indiana university. abbas kadhim is an assistant professor at the naval post- graduate school. he has written extensively about iraqi shia. with us. i'll start with you, faisel istrabadi, what is going on right now between the prime minister and the vice president? >> well, i think what iraqis are in store for is an attempt by maliki to establish that he is the sort of unchallenged ruler of iraq. at least i fear that that's what's going on. last week, remember, that the vice president hasmi belongs to the political coalition headed by the former prime minister alawi. last week you started having tanks show up on the streets of baghdad in front of the houses of people like alawi who are outspoken critics of the prime minister

. >> woodruff: in the meantime several high profile maliki opponents like former prime minister alawi have sided with hasmi as political and ethnic divisions flare once again now, two assessments from iraqi- americans of the growing political turmoil in iraq. feisal istrabadi was iraq's deputy ambassador to the united nations and is now a visiting law professor at indiana university. abbas kadhim is an assistant professor at the naval post- graduate school. he has written extensively about iraqi shia. with us. i'll start with you, faisel istrabadi, what is going on right now between the prime minister and the vice president? >> well, i think what iraqis are in store for is an attempt by maliki to establish that he is the sort of unchallenged ruler of iraq. at least i fear that that's what's going on. last week, remember, that the vice president hasmi belongs to the political coalition headed by the former prime minister alawi. last week you started having tanks show up on the streets of baghdad in front of the houses of people like alawi who are outspoken critics of the prime minister

. >> woodruff: in the meantime several high profile maliki opponents like former prime minister alawi have sided with hasmi as political and ethnic divisions flare once again now, two assessments from iraqi- americans of the growing political turmoil in iraq. feisal istrabadi was iraq's deputy ambassador to the united nations and is now a visiting law professor at indiana university. abbas kadhim is an assistant professor at the naval post- graduate school. he has written extensively about iraqi shia. with us. i'll start with you, faisel istrabadi, what is going on right now between the prime minister and the vice president? >> well, i think what iraqis are in store for is an attempt by maliki to establish that he is the sort of unchallenged ruler of iraq. at least i fear that that's what's going on. last week, remember, that the vice president hasmi belongs to the political coalition eaded by the former prime minister alawi. last week you started having tanks show up on the streets of baghdad in front of the houses of people like alawi who are outspoken critics of the prime minister

alawi has a favorible rating in sunnis and kurds. he is more popular overall, rating all the people in the country. muqtada al-sadr is more favored among shia than anyone we surveyed. very lowe among sunni and kurds. the issue of the people of iraq being conflicted comes through. the fact that americans have a weird but the partisan split also comes through. one cannot blame the people of iraq from beet -- for being conflicted and divided after years of ruthless rule and occupation and accompanying this, terrorism and ethnic cleansing, the country -- they are somewhat dysfunctional, and the people of iraq are worried about the future. they do not quite see their way through to the future. i will leave it there and we will see what the people here have to say. >> thank you very much. a couple of surprises here, the things we expected and things many of us did not expect. skip was the ambassador to kuwait, and he has a unique perspective on these issues. >> thank you. it is nice to be here today and thank you for your presentation. i w