this is the road to falluja, the city that american troops fought so hard to take. it has fallen to al qaeda-inspired militants. just one hour from the capital, governmentiraqi control pins. this is as far as we can go. were told the province is not safe. the fighting means this province will not be able to vote, which will further marginalize iraq's city community. politics here has been about exploiting sectarian divisions. the fear is that this election could make matters even worse. unseen,odus largely nearly half a million have fled their homes. few are willing to talk for fear of reprisal, but he's women wanted their story told. their homes have become a battleground. falluja and ramadi have been cursed by god. "since the day we were born, we've had no piece. the government need to help us. what sin did these men, old women, and children commit?" this man says the world has forgotten his country. click the set thing is that this is happening under the very eyes and years of the international community, and we see a country which is systematically being destroy

hello, they are now in falluja. so i've been cnn's got all screwed up than i do not excuse the peak oil at the top. postcode days, baltimore, you i'd tv a beast into which the west. >> host: is really a pleasure to talk to a thoughtful person on the veteran died. i like to think true warriors speculate on ways to add war. can you think of any tactics we who are working for non-violent should be using? you guys have all the resources, but you sound like a great addition. >> host: wait a minute now. i am attacked titian who likes to plug people, not give them money. i am not persuaded -- i am not persuaded that we can do much in nonviolent means of altering other nations. i'm not persuaded we can do much with violence either. i'm afraid we wouldn't have a tactical device. >> host: were you aware if viet, the protest going on? >> guest: yes. poster what was the effect that from your good? >> guest: anger. >> host: what about the draftees? >> guest: i cannot comment on that because marine corps to the end where draftees

the battle there is for control of rama d and falluja. togethert stand rulingsreligious against infidels. >> he points to jihadist coming , andom neighboring syria heavy-handed treatment of sunni minorities has contributed to the unrest. >> first of all, let's talk about the politics. in are the main contenders the election? >> as you know, new rearm a maliki has a lot of -- new rial malikihasn't -- noori al with the of challenges creeping sectarian forces and marginalization of sunnis and kurds. but despite all of these accusations, and he is still the favorite thomas and that is because his block has emerged as relatively stable by the standards of iraqi politics. last year, his blog, which is called state of law, became the largest blog in provincial elections. and before that, in the parliamentary elections, that walk had -- that block had come second. key tos really been the his relative success. having said that, in 2010, the shiite vote was split between rival locks, and there is a chance that a similar scenario could unfold back i

safety of us not barging into falluja or using -- orriminate -- sort of being gung ho in our approach. that is why we have been patient. that is not in our nature, by the way. with the military is doing now is not in their nature. there have been a lot of urging for them to just go and, especially after they tried to close it down and there was an issue of water flow to the south. that is a challenge for us. an obligationis of the government to provide a safe environment for democracy to take place. for thean obligation security of the country, as well. that is a key challenge. displaced, and there are quite significant numbers, to be able to vote. for the numbers of the ramadi province. that is the idea. theirrovince votes for own representative. that is one aspect. they will be getting electronic cards. we are still working on that. even a week before the elections, to be honest. we are still working on that. we know there will be less representation, unfortunately. to go to thenot 2005 scenario, where whole communities are excused. that is an issue for us as well. we are trying to

many residents in the city of falluja are questioning whether the vote set for april the 30th will evenake place >> reporter: the bombed out buildings in the center of fallujah indicate just how ferocious the military operation has been here. the iraqi army has taken positions on the out skirts of the city in attacks with art i will ery shells and other heavy weaponry. it's an operation the military says is designed to root out fighters who belong to the islamic state of iraq. the operation began in january and shows no sign of stopping. parliamentary elections are scheduled for the end of the month. unlike in the left of iraq, there is no electioniering here there are no posters or campa n campaigning how. >> how can we cast votes when they are shelling us? our houses are being destroyed. our hospitals are full of dead and injured. our children can't go to school. no electricity. no water. we can't even sleep at night. how can we vote? >> fallujah is predominantly a city city. many have condemned the government's actions as illegal. they say they are designed to fuel sectarian violence

same sense of who we are and what we do and what we stand was withur country america's marines in falluja, in iraq, and again in the taliban sayingold of march and and in afghanistan. as an institution, we are rededicating ourselves to those timeless as a result discipline. faithful obedience to orders, standards,rence to and concerned and engaged leadership 24 hours a day, seven days a week. these values have defined our core for more than two centuries , and they will serve us well as we prepare for the missions to come in the next decade will stop thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for indulging my opening remarks, and fred, i believe we are ready for questions. [laughter] >> general amos, those were terrific opening remarks, and i want to thank general jones for his introductory remarks. it is a great pleasure to have you here, and thanks to you at the outset and the marine corps for your service through what has been a very long period of deployment. let me get to that first and i will go to the audience as quickly as i can with questions. you talked about resetting the marine corps. y

falluja and so on. assess -- how is the government doing in terms of keeping security they are for the election. how would you assess the ability of the sunni population to participate in this election? >> that is a key challenge. we have responsibility of government to provide elections an opportunity for people to participate. people in of the falluja and not using indiscriminate -- or being dong .o -- gung ho not in our nature. with the military are doing now is a lot of urging for them to go in, especially after it was tried -- after they tried to close it down. that was a challenge. there is an obligation on government to provide safe environment for democratic, to take place -- for democracy to take place. what we have been trying to do displaced, ande others, there are significant numbers for them to be able to vote. coming to each province votes for their own provinces. it a weekking on before the election. there will be representation and we are eager not to go to the 2005 scenario where the co

i was in iraq in 2011 as well and i can relate, although i was not in falluja or sonar city, but we wereving rockets on a regular basis. that may not be technically classified as a combat situation. i guess i could see trauma as a spectrum and see a person's reaction to that trauma as a spectrum as well. this being the most extreme example. i had trouble getting help when i came back from iraq as well when i was at fort hood. access to health care is limited. it is available, but it is not necessarily accessible. stigmaunt of sic .eeking mental health crux you suffered from depression. how did the doctors respond? diagnoses.slew of depression, anxiety, bipolar, personality disorder. a sickly everything but ptsd. and only now that -- with the v.a. are we starting to get through that. i am not unique. positionslot of hesitate to give the ptsd diagnosis. i won't say why it is, but i affects the ability to get help on the outside. >> you are nodding her head around the military's description of ivan lopez not having seen combat in iraq. driver as well, so, i find it hard to believe that a tr

iraq, the descendent of al qaeda in iraq, has not regained -- we know they have regain a foothold in falluja, but the truth is they have regain footholds all around iraq. no one will tell you there are large al qaeda affiliates in syria. that is one of the reasons why we do not want to support the syrian opposition, one of the arguments that has been made. that is a large and powerful franchise, and it has become clear that we have a vibrant franchise in the islamic magreb. the question of whether we have affiliates out there and whether they continue to be strong, capable, is not really in question. that ourquestion policy debates have been focused on is does the united states to need to care? how much of a problem is it for us if these local groups are doing well or doing poorly? that debate has turned heavily on the question of how do those local groups relate to what the administration called al qaeda core, the group formerly around , whatden after his demise is the role of al qaeda core, is a defeated, and is it appropriate to talk about al qaeda core. that is what we are going to talk