arwa, how bad is the situation in iraq now?reporter: it's as bad if not worse than it has been in years, wolf. many iraqis are understandably incredibly fearful the country is moving down a path that will see the type of violence that transpired here back when the attacks were at their worst, 2005 to 2008, although for many iraqis, tit for tat attacks, violence comes as no surprise. seeing a steady increase f attacks since the u.s. military withdr withdrew, those intensified in the last week. the tension that exists has also been intensifying, in part aggravated by actions of the predominantly shiite government. we have been seeing for months demonstrations in the sunni areas. we have been seeing clashes and right now, especially when we look at what's been happening in recent times, many people are warning that iraq really is at a cross roads at this stage, wolf. >> and for this, the united states went to war, i guess a lot of people are wondering the u.s. lost thousands of troops, so many came home injured, spending a trillio

cnn international correspondent arwa damon, thank you so much. she's in cairo. speaking of syria, i would just like to remind our viewers perhaps the most poignant moment in the entire press conference came when british prime minister david cameron said syria's history is being written in the blood of their people and it's happening on our watch. i'm jake tapper. i'll be back at 4:00 p.m. eastern with "the lead." i'm going to take a quick break now and when we come back you'll be joined by my friend and colleague suzanne malveaux. just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. [ driver ] and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it even pulled strings with the stoplights. my ambulance talks with smoke alarms and pilots and stadiums. but, of course, it's a good listener too. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everything works like never before. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the inter

arwa damon is in beirut. you were in benghazi. you were there on the scene within a few days of the killing of ambassador stevens and the three other americans. we all remember you found together with your team over there found ambassador stevens' diary. just remind our viewers what you saw there. because based on everything i remember talking to you at the time, it was pretty clear to you this was a sophisticated attack. it wasn't some sort of spontaneous demonstration that occurred similar to what occurred at the u.s. embassy in cairo. >> that's right, wolf. pretty much everyone who we spoke to on the scene from security guards, libyan security guards to other individuals who happen to be at the consulate compound during the attack all said that it happened instantly and happened simultaneously from multiple different directions. there was no doubt in their mind that this was some sort of a coordinated complex attack. when we arrived on scene, of course, the consulate was burnt. it had been largely looted. it wasn't secured as a

the bottom line is i was in retail for about 30 years and one of the things i arwas that for everyone person that complains there are nine that simply walk away because they don't think they have a chance to do anything. don't assume because you have handful of people here that it's a unique problem. i would be willing to bet that this is a problem citywide, you know it and there seems to be a need to do something. if your building gets defaced over again, we are not going to work with you, we are not going to consider the number of times you painted it. all we are going consider is the rules say you have to fix it and you didn't fix it period. if somebody goes through a case where they have had to repaint their building five times in the same year, there ought to be a way to come up with it to help them. simply saying that's your problem and it's not our problem which is the approach to be taken, is unacceptable. the city has a right to have a department to work with them openly and honestly to resolve these issues and not dump it on them and send them a bill when they don't respond.