mission there with alissa rubin and michael gordon both of the "new york times". and fred kagan of the american enterprise institute. >> one thing iran has done very well arguably better than the u.s. is it has had very strong ties to each of the political parties. it has, you will find the leaders of all the parties have visited iran. some of them have houses in tehran. there is a lot of links with the kurds, with obviously with the shiites, the iranians, most of them shiites and with the sunnis. so iran is a constant factor and in communication and very much on top of what is going on in iraq. will they influence it disproportionately is what we can't quite tell yet. >> in iraq after many long years of casualties and difficulties, there has been some success. and i think it's the goal now ought to be to consolidate that succeed ses and also to use what

to the broadcast, tonight we take look at the futu of iraq and t united states mission ere with alissa rubin and micel gordon both of the "new york times". and fred kagan of the american enterpre institute. >> one thing iran has done very well guably better than t u.s. isit hasad ry strong ties to each o e politicalarties. it has, u will finthe leaders of all the parties have visited iran. somef them have housesin tehr. there is a lot of linksith the kurds, with obviously with the shiites, the iranians, most of them shiites and with the suns. so iran is aonstant factor and in communicatn and very much on top ofwhat is going on in iraq. wi they influencet' it disproportionatelys what we can quite tell yet. >> in iraq after many long years of casualts and difficulties, there has been some success. and i think it'sthe goal now ought to be to consolidatthat succeed ses and also to use what leverage we haveo try to influence polical developments in the rit way and that involves arab issue but alsonvolves weighi in if we think there are abuses onthe part of t iraqi government and there is some con