this is yet another signal of how badly prime minister malachi has alienated the sunni population. even if malachi leaves, without political reconciliation among iraq's key communities, no amount of military support can make a difference. but on the other hand, if we do not help iraqi government survive and hold territory now, there is a possibility we will not be discussing political reconciliation in a few months because the country could break apart. today in this hearing i hope we can confront this dilemma head on. i hope we can start to identify the right mix of security assistance and political steps that will help get the country back on the right track. i'm open to working with administration to determine what we can do as a nation to help shore up the defenses of the iraqis and encourage political reconciliation among its iraqi leaders. i want to thank you for being here today. i look forward to this hearing and i look forward to us weighing in on what we believe is a most appropriate steps forward. thank you very much. >> thank you, senator corker. let me introduce our fi

this is yet another signal of how badly prime minister malachi has alienated the sunni population. even if malachi leaves, without political reconciliation among iraq's key communities, no amount of military support can make a difference. but on the other hand, if we do not help iraqi government survive and hold territory now, there is a possibility we will not be discussing political reconciliation in a few months because the country could break apart. today in this hearing i hope we can confront this dilemma head on. i hope we can start to identify the right mix of security assistance and political steps that will help get the country back on the right track. i'm open to working with administration to determine what we can do as a nation to help shore up the defenses of the iraqis and encourage political reconciliation among its iraqi leaders. i want to thank you for being here today. i look forward to this hearing and i look forward to us weighing in on what we believe is a most appropriate steps forward. thank you very much. >> thank you, senator corker. let me introduce our fi

this is yet another signal of how badly prime minister malachi has alienated the sunni population. even if malachi leaves, without political reconciliation among iraq's key communities, no amount of military support can make a difference. but on the other hand, if we do not help iraqi government survive and hold territory now, there is a possibility we will not be discussing political reconciliation in a few months because the country could break apart. today in this hearing i hope we can confront this dilemma head on. i hope we can start to identify the right mix of security assistance and political steps that will help get the country back on the right track. i'm open to working with administration to determine what we can do as a nation to help shore up the defenses of the iraqis and encourage political reconciliation among its iraqi leaders. i want to thank you for being here today. i look forward to this hearing and i look forward to us weighing in on what we believe is a most appropriate steps forward. thank you very much. >> thank you, senator corker. let me introduce our fi

but kurdish politicians say malachi has no one to blame but himself.nd the one mention he has been in the hahs eight years and his military responsibilities for the other areas. strong words from kurdish home runs here who are adamant they will move forward, despite warnings by the prime minister that he h not recognize a move towards holding such a referendum. the u.s. military top officer said today that iraqi security forces are capability of defending the city. he told reporters today that the troops train bedty united states will be able to keep baghdad from falling but he says the forces are not strong enough to counter attack and retake territory already captured by sunni fighters. what do you make of the assessment, they can protect baghdad, nothing else. >> that's not going to be good enough. if they want -- get that land back, re-establish commerce, they have to go on the attack. what concerns me is the security forces outnumber six, seven, eight, to one. to go on the attack, usually three times more troops. so i am not sure where that is com

his wife never testified she seen him be rough with matthew or malachi. still attempting to have returned to her custody of her children who had been removed from the home at the time of the trial. if she assisted him in the defense, that could impact her ability to have her children returned. >> there was a long period of time that she was just getting visitation with her children. at that point in time, it was important that justice be carried out, but also important that her children be returned home to her. >> thomas testified that he nearly took the fall for his wife saying my wife was a good wife and i didn't want her to be arrested. he testified his confession was a lie. >> he showed true emotion in the video where it was the opposite in the courtroom. you know, he had his nose up in the air and he ignored all the evidence as they were being shown. >> adrian's appearance, first in the videotape, and then on the witness stand, it was like two different people. very vulnerable in the interrogation. on the witness stand, some of the jurors said he app

but can you tell if there's any leveraging taking place by malachi right now knowing that we are not going to get involved if he is still there? is there any activity that's occurring relative to him trying to leverage as in other ways? >> i think first of all he points out directly that he did very well in the last elections. winning personally 700,000 vot votes. under the constitution he should be given by the new president selected today within 15 days an opportunity to form a government and under the constitutional process i think it will be hard for him to farm it, after 30 days the mandate has to pass to another party. now that's a lot of time to consume doing this. i think as a minimum he's going to want to play this out. he also says in the anti-americans having sent 775 additional forces to iraq are ready to help them out regardless of what happens. again i think i and many others have said under certain circumstances right now striking isil would impose the danger is important but we cannot provide the full gambit, the full breadth of support that they need absolutely a mus

. >> tom, prime minister malachy is an excellent example. certainly what chas freeman was talking about and how players in the region don't fit into those two bins of for us or against us. mr. malachy is for himself. he's trying to do his best to win his third term. he could step down in favor of someone else. he has a very narrow view of what democracy, if you can still call it that, entails which is the majority and the rule and i'm the ruler. and there's no question that his very narrow view of how iraq ought to work has badly antagonized the great majority of sunni iraqi arabs. it has been because of the much broader disillusion with the regime. so he's not a very good partner at all, which isn't to say that we shouldn't continue to do business with him. the thing we have to keep foremost in mind is that the united states has not seen an interest in taking sides in con flikts in this region. >> i think even if those disputes weren't sectarian would still be the case. we heard that before in south vietnam. and what we should learn from ou

>> i think it's primarily malachi and obama. that's what i believe and that's what the books will show. >> we had general anthony zin nil here yesterday. and he told me this about the latest crisis. >> one of the opportunities i feel we missed is when arafat left the scene and abu mazen, mahmoud abbas came in. that was a moment when i think that we, the united states, european union and others could have offered things, developed schools, clinics, investment in the areas. and that might have enabled the people to support fatah and reject hamas. >> is there a responsibility of the united states and israel to provide opportunity for the palestinian people so that more of them don't see violence as the only way out of their misery? >> i think the big part of the problem is hamas. if you look where it came from, it's a spinoff from the muslim brotherhood. it's a radical terrorist organization. it's supported by the iranians. >> right. so why not provide the an alternative? >> you are never -- i don't think you can negotiate a settle

accelerating towards a breakup of iraq because too many of iraq's communities no longer trust the malachi government. and the question is whether there is anything we can do to prevent it. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think we testified clearly in my written statement as well the model is a functioning federalism under the iraqi constitution. so nobody is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. it simply won't work. there is a model within the constitution for this functioning federalism in which you recognize a very substantial devolution of authorities, the principles of local security control, and that is something that i found in my last seven weeks there is an emerging consensus around. and through the process of forming a government, i think the details will be flushed out. i know general austin is discussing some of the concepts as we speak, special restructuring the security forces. don't think anyone is trying to create a strong central government that will retain control all over the country. in fact, i think everybody recognizes now that from the center out you're not go