ben connable is with the radcom -- rand corporation.n twitter wants to know more about the random or parisian. can you explain more about these -- think tankoups groups, she asks? don't that's funny, we think of ourselves as think tanks. we are supposed to be providing objective, nonpartisan viewpoints on deep, long-term problems. host: [indiscernible] what do you do there -- what do you do there, specifically? guest: intelligence issues. calling in from charlestown, rhode island, the line for republicans. good morning. this is where the problem started. bremmer went over there and the first time he was there he kicked out the sunnis running the government and they did a pretty good job. malik he gets in there, he is a shiite. he is aligned with iran. the sunnis were a buffer for us. they were the more congealed, the more democratic art of all of it rack. i don't think you should be bombing them now. i really believe that malik he just has to get out of there. he is turning the country upside down. we could not negotiate with him. we co

ben connable is with the radcom -- rand corporation. dd on twitter wants to know more about the random or parisian. can you explain more about these -- think tankoups groups, she asks? don't that's funny, we think of ourselves as think tanks. we are supposed to be providing objective, nonpartisan viewpoints on deep, long-term problems. host: [indiscernible] what do you do there -- what do you do there, specifically? guest: intelligence issues. calling in from charlestown, rhode island, the line for republicans. good morning. this is where the problem started. bremmer went over there and the first time he was there he kicked out the sunnis running the government and they did a pretty good job. malik he gets in there, he is a shiite. he is aligned with iran. the sunnis were a buffer for us. they were the more congealed, the more democratic art of all of it rack. i don't think you should be bombing them now. i really believe that malik he just has to get out of there. he is turning the country upside down. we could not negotiate with him.

. >> retired marine lieutenant ben connable. en harry holzer. and then a reporter with the associated press. your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. washington journal is live every morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. tonight, retired professor and activists-vietnam war d'souza.inesh >> we started out as a outlutionary -- you started in bin laden mode. you sounded totally different today. he talked about teaching, you talked about socratic doubt. what happened to that old revolutionary? >> i feel i still a revolutionary if you mean -- if what you mean by revolutionary is having a fully worked out program in which we can overthrow government and move forward, no, i am not that. but if you mean someone who is willing to dive into contradictions and fight for more stability and balance. i see the need for a fundamental change. to me, the struggle against white supremacy is a struggle that still goes on. it is not over. it is a struggle that still goes on and takes different forms. it is not slavery and it is not jim crow. debate covers were

coming up, retired marine connable. ben georgetown professor talks about low-wage jobs. plus your phone calls and comments. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning, it's monday, august 11, 2014. we begin this morning with the ongoing questions being raised at home by the militants in iraq. does the current threat -- can the earned threat be -- have been avoided if the u.s. had them -- had remained in a rack? some of the better options today , troops in the country? this