minister from malaki's own party. >> malaki calling special forces into baghdad's green zone, threatening legal action there. the pentagon saying u.s. airstrikes have slowed but not stopped the progress of the islamic state group and fighters are advancing toward erbil. al-malaki saying he will not go easy. that is the case in baghdad. what does the u.s. have to say about it. >> there's perhaps no better indication of how the u.s. feels than president obama's statement shortly after the nomination of the new prime minister. mr. obama never once mentioned the name of the current prime minister, al-malaki. >> this morning, a power struggle in iraq as a new prime minister is nominated, but the country's current prime minister, al-malaki is refusing to leave out a fight, calling the nomination illegal. >> the appointment has no value whatsoever. this is a daring violation of the constitution. >> in baghdad, malaki supporters closed down two main streets in protest. the u.s. has been pressuring malaki to step aside, with president obama voicing support for his replacement. >> this is an import

malaki could retain his position. the president must ask him to form a new government or he risks violating the the constitution. this comes as iraq battles. >> another u.s. air drop to those in desperate need sheltering exposed in northern iraq. americans have completed four such missions to deliver urgently needed supplies. those on the mountain are from the community that fled the latest sunni advances and have refocused international concern from the threat of the fighters known as the islamic state. meanwhile on the streets of iraqi capital, baghdad heightened security. that it seems because the political crisis has deepened. iraq's prime minister announced he's taking the president to to court as he struggles to hold his job. >> today i'll file a legal complaint to the federal court against the president of the republic for committing a clear constitutional violation for sake of political goals. i'm preferring narrow interest over the interest of the iraqi people. >> the latest report from baghdad that the court

is concerned, that means prime minister al-malaki has to go. malaki has his own ideas. even as this political drama plays out, the u.s. does consider its military efforts in iraq. >> overnight, u.s. war planes struck islamic targets near erbil, those strikes helping to clear the way for kurdish forces to regrain control of the city. islamic state fighters are still in control in most of northern iraq and their military gains have put pressure on iraq's prime minister al-malaki to step aside. he said he's not backing down and threatens a legal challenge against the country's president. >> i warn the iraqi parment, presidency and constitutional court that the president has no right to delay the selection of a new prime minister based on the results of our last elections and that such a violation will lead to more security problems. >> this morning, secretary of state john kerry has a warning for malaki. >> the government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in iraq. our hope is that mr. malaki will not stir those waters. >> thousands

very publicly withdraw their support from nouri al malaki. the deputy assistant secretary for near-eastern affairs, brett mcgurk, tweeting this, wait it's done these days, but saying expressing american support for the iraqi president, not for the iraqi prime minister there. the u.s. has placed a lot of capital in the political process. the president said this is really the key to stabilizing the country, in light of what we are seeing now, do you think they placed too much faith in the political process and what should the u.s. do now? >> i think we probably misjudged maliki, most people thought there would be this peaceful transition to the next government and he served for two terms. now he is refusing to step down. he's done this. this looks very bad, like he is going to refuse to go. it likes like our assessment of mall lack ski incorrect, now we have taken the other side. what have we done? told maliki we are not going to support him, now we are the bad guys. if there is a confrontation there, we have got worry about our own people ther

prime minister malaki is fighting tooth and nail to have his mandate renewed for a third term. i think this is his last card. he has lost everyone, including his allies, members of his own coalitions, the militia establishment. even iran stands against them. he is bargaining very hard. we don't know what he wants. probably he wants immunity from any future persecution, but the reality is the next few days, as you said, are very, very critical. the country is facing a crisis. you have the isis surge. you have the kurds are also inclining to have their own state. you have the sunni insurgency. i hope that there is a government sooner rather than later because the future of the state is on the line. >> so does malaki hold all the cards then? i know you're saying this is the last hand he can play. the u.s. state department made it clear over the weekend saying that he supports the president. if malaki stays put, you have the isis militants standing by to capitalize on any instability on the capital. how complicated does this picture become if he doesn't budge? >> very complicated,

malaki's party won about 91 seats. you would have to have 165 seats to form a government the it remains to be seen whether or not that can happen. i would also add, were we to take a position on such a thing, it would obviously not be in or interests or dramatically affect the process. this is a unique iraqi process with the political dynamics, and the outcome will reflect that process. the new speaker of the parliament is someone no one would pick. he built a very broad coalition among sunnis, shias and won an overwhelming vote. >> has malaki announced positions that would seriously entice sunnis and kurds to believe they would get a fair shake under a third term for malaki? has he publicly announced platform that has serious appeals, makes serious concessions to those other two communities? >> he has a platform that has all those principles in it. it's just difficult after eight years and given a lot of the bad bleak that's developed and the mistrust, that is what makes it difficult. >> so he maas great plat attitude

we can't be seen as fighting for malaki. we see too discredited, too despised by the sunnis. >> lieutenant general mayville said in no uncertain terms air strikes would not break the momentum of isis. >> these strikes are unlikely to affect isil's overall capabilities or operations in other areas of iraq. and syria. what i expect isil to do is look for other things to do. to pick up and move elsewhere. in no way do i want to suggest we have effectively contained or we are somehow breaking the momentum of the threat posed by isil. >> we were talking about the potential for isis to move into erbil. it sounds like that with the air strikes, that momentum has stalled. in terms of bigger picture momentum, an official today saying they are going to look somewhere else. the overall momentum unaffected by this. what's the longer-term play here. >> there have to be boots on the ground. clearly there is no political appetite for that here. there have got to be some boots on the ground. a combination of iraqi and kurdish boots, perhaps

>> malaki will not be able to put together an inclusive government. the pressure is on him to find -- basically step down, the government has to -- parliament has to elect a new government after the elections and it looks -- does not look good for malaki but he's resisting. the shia coalition which has majority in parliament have to decide on an alternative this is going underway day and night right now. >> schieffer: are these kurdish forces up there capable of turning back an attack if these isis people march on urbil? >> isis people march out of their sunni arab hot land that they have taken over in to shia, in to kurdish areas, they can be stopped by combination of people on the ground who are willing to fight such as the pesh merga and airstrikes. we've done this in 2011, kosovo, bosnia, all around the world and it works f. we have other people's boots on the ground in our area supporting them. >> schieffer: ambassador, thank you. >> thank you. >> schieffer: we turn to the outbreak of the ebola virus which is centered in the west african countrie

malaki has been blamed for helping to tear iraq apart.t moments ago, president obama made it clear he has to go. >> the only lasting answer is for iraqis to come together and form an inclusive government that represents legitimate interests of all iraqis and one that can unify the country cease fight against isil. today iraq took a promising step forward in the effort. the united states stands ready to support a government that addresses the needs and grievances of all iraqi people. >> today we learned the u.s. has started arming kurdish forces in northern iraq to fight isis terrorists. u.s. war planes pounded isis positions again today, trying to roll back the militant advance. the navy released this video today of fighter pilots en route to missions around iraq. this video shows u.s. forces dropping humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of refugees. president obama announced a limited mission to save those refugees, but what the american people don't want is to rush back into a full fledged war in iraq. joining me now, congressman adam

the least malaki can do is to let go.ure will help calm the situation down. >> of course, we have had news in the past few days that there's more and more military cooperation between the u.s. and kurdish forces. do you see that as a hopeful sign, particularly for those people who are still facing death on that mountain? >> well, so there are hundreds of thousands of refugees right now in the mountains and in iraq the temperature is about 130 degrees fahrenheit. this is very, very hot. a lot of these refugees do not have water and do not have food. and so, this is a humanitarian crisis. not counting the millions of internally displaced people who have been displaced in iraq in the last ten years. which they're still living in mud homes and with no access to food and rather electricity or water. so the country's going through a crisis at the moment. now, america cannot -- it's an identity crisis, as well. what is iraq? what is a national unity of the country? what america can do right now is to do the minimum intervention

al-malaki into the position he is.s guest: i have known him since 2003 when i was an aide to senior leaders in baghdad and when al-malaki was a relatively unknown and. by 2006, he had risen to become somewhat obscure but powerful and we were facing a critical juncture before the surge in 2006. we had a prime minister who was largely feckless and i urged we needed a new prime minister, somebody who could unite the country and crush the al-qaeda elements and i felt al-malaki was the right man for the job at the time as opposed to some of the other candidates being considered who were much more closely aligned with iran than al-malaki was at the time. >> what skills did he bring in your assumption he would be the right man for the job? really the critical elements were the fact that malkey was not as closely aligned with iran and not as beholden to their intelligence services as some of his political rivals. that was becoming a serious problem by 2006. and since then really. also, the fact that he seemed to be more of ab

that was lost because the sunnis looks at al-malaki and said this guy doesn't represent us. us. he found an increasingly ailientiated population which was willing to turn out of complete desperation to isis. >> yeah. al-malaki. >> that's why we have been pushing the u.s. government if it's going to reengage militarily, it's got to insist on a new form of goverance, one i don't think al-malaki is capable of but one which backgroundad represents all iraqis, not just a narrow slice. >> how much influence do you really think you have in the work of your investigators and everyone works with you at human rights watch? how do you see your influence? >> our inflewents. governments look to us for a very detailed accurate account of what's going on, on the ground. our researchers are there. and they are able to tell the world. governments real thirsty for that. we ask governments to do something about the abuses. sometimes they are reluctant because human rights are not at the top of their agenda. in those circumstances, part of why they listen to us is because the media pause attention

tribals and what we now call e isis united against malaki.is critics say he replaced experienced military generals with ill-qualified friends. >> he put previously a number of his lackeys into position of responsibility. almost all of these defeats on the ground are a result of his wrong headedness in terms of sacking people in the military who knew what they were doing. in terms of the kurds were going to defend mosul, he ordered them out. he ordered his own units in. of course, they ran away. >> reporter: the united states, iran and others once supporters have welcomed malaki's replacement. even the top cleric sending a message it was time to go. but malaki maintains he's the one acting democratically here and playing by the rules, while others violate the constitution. >> translator: america is the host of democracy. how does the american administration go about supporting the president and bypassing the constitution? >> reporter: although he's hanging on and has some public support, he's been far from the unifying leader a fledgling democ

i think isis is not particularly interested in concessions malaki might make and whether malaki will give the sunnis another ministry or something. i think isis has a much more regional game in mind. that's where the united states has to think more broadly how to solve this. >> david, isis is very clear about their goals, and they're very ambitious. >> and they're very effective. one of the amazing things with what they're doing militarily, they're able to move at least 1,000 fighters and they have tens of millions worth of american military equipment that they've captured. the peshmerga, they're the better fighters in iraq and they rolled right through them. they talk about getting and controlling the holy cities in saudi saudi arabia has activated troops. there's talk about baghdad. they can clearly destabilize the region with what they're doing, and no country right now, particularly the iraqi state, has the military strength to stop them. >> thank you all very much for joining me tonight. >>> coming up, more on the breaking news. we will tell you more about isis and their history

. >> malaki wants to keep the job he held since 2006. he went on television to accuse by violating constitution by not appointing someone to the post by sunday. still the senior american official announced on twitter that the u.s. supports masum as a garrenter of the constitution. many accuse malaki as being incapable of forming an inclusive government. he is staying put and news agencies say shi'a forces loyal to him have formed in the capitol. asking nations for weapons to help his fighters. they have taken back territory thanks to air strikes by the u.s. military. president barack obama authorized the campaign last week and says the strikes would stop the islamic state advance and protect american personnel at the consulate. obama is monitoring the situation while on vacation. he called the air strikes a long-term project and will give forces a time to revamp, resupply. the other objective of the u.s. campaign is to prevent what obama calls a potential act of genocide. the militants have executed hundreds and enslaved women in the int

these moves follow some threatening words from the current prime minister, nouri al malaki, refusing, it seems to step down as prime minister, accuse the president of iraq of violating the constitution. again, these are early developments, just coming in, we are confirming as they come in but ominous signs that this political agreement that the obama administration and others have placed a great deal of faith in in terms of way forward in iraq, a very serious stumble here and even more ominous signs of troops being deployed, bridges closed and a possible curfew coming. we are going to continue to follow these developments and give you the latest. stay with us, as we do it is great that we have marine major general -- retired marine major general james williams with us now. general williams, i wonder if i could ask you for your assessment of these moves now, as you see these security forces deployed there. how worrisome a development do you think that is? does it look to you like the beginnings of a coup possibly or just a show of force? how do you read them? >> well, i think it could

even in this administration to keep malaki to the commitments he made. leave any of our forces there or force that issue. look, we are stuck. >> it's hard to end a war. we didn't end the vietnam war when we left. >> the problem politically for the president domestically is he said we're done with this, but we aren't. he tried to put out a framework to explain how the world would work in the future. the realities are intruding on that now. they are controlling them. he's not controlling those events. >> will he go on vacation this weekend? >> we expect he will. i think it could change. they have already announced at the white house today that strangely, he's coming back from his vacation for two days next weekend. no one knows why. >> that could be about immigration. >> it could be about anything. >> last word. what's the future look like in the next couple of days? can we foresee that far ahead? >> it looks bleak unless the iraqis step up. i want to say that part of iraq, i have spent a lot of time. it's an incredibly beautiful part. it looks and feels b

as you notice, at the start, malaki may have frustrated that, announcing he'll file suit against the country's president. mr. obama says there's a lesson here for afghanistan. >> whether it's, you know, different ethnicities, different regions, they have to accommodate each other. otherwise you start tipping back into old patterns of violence, and it doesn't matter how many u.s. troops are there if that happens. you end up having a mess. >> the president says while the u.s. involvement won't be over soon, it also won't continue indefinitely. >> wendell goler, thank you very much. >>> pope francis is calling for an end to the violence in iraq. he said the news in iraq leaves christians around the world in dismay and disbelief. he also expressed outrage house i.s.i.s. is manipulating their faith to target christians and other religious minorities. >> translator: all these facts seriously offend god and humanity. you cannot bring hate in the name of god. you cannot make war in the name of god. >> the pope also offered prayers for the violence in gaza. that's where we go next. right now

malaki let down the people of iraq by cutting the sunnis out.s what left the opening for isis and now rearming the kurds, getting a unity government hopefully in place, there's a lot of work that has to be done there but again, i think politically what's going to happen now, this is all reality on the ground. the political reality is, people in the senate races and people running in 2016 have got to decide, do they want to be in the right of the president or to the left of him? so far everybody who has been to the right of him has lost elections. hillary clinton, romney and mccain. >> i have one minute left. tell me, what do you think a year from now, what could we see as a political transition? malaki giving power. the president saying there's been progress but a long way to go. one year from now, what would success look like to you? >> it depends on what the president does. success would be if we take real, concerted, immediate action to go after isis and their sanctuaries, many which are in syria. it's a good thing the iraqis have moved beyon

malaki not to start tensions. washington and others see the iraqi prime minister as an obstacle to forming the broad base unity government in baghdad they say is vital to confronting islamic state threat. >> one thing all iraqis need to know there will be little international support of any kind whatsoever for anything that deviates from the legitimate constitutional process that is in place and being worked on now. they need to finish that and give a new government an opportunity to be voted on and move forward. >> on the front line in northern iraq, kurdish fighters ready to defend the city of irbil and reports from washington suggest the united states is now directly supplying the kurds with weapons to turn the tide against the militants. >> joining me now from bbc arabic to take us through more of what is happening on the ground in iraq. the political crisis must be a bit of a nightmare for john kerry. where are we in terms of legal process? >> malaki said he's taking the new president to court because he viol

what happens if al-malaki tries to remain in power by force? >> then i think -- the constitution ha has to be resped and days of malaki are over. >> do you think at the end of all this, the kurds busy fighting up north will pursue their claim for an independent state? jew just about the minorities who are suffering in that area being persecuted by the islamic state, we've heard about the yazidis trying to get away, the christians, as well under threat. some european countries are unilaterally providing humanitarian aid. should there be a proper plan for these people? crew clearly. they need to provide more humanitarian aid. there is a substantial number of people coming, but -- christian leaders saying -- to make it possible for them to come back from where they have been for thousands of years, the christians, and others, that should be the focus. make it possible for them to return home, give them the security they will need in able to do that. >> thank you for joining us. >> human rights said egyptian security forces intentionally killed hun

malaki is out. they're given a change. this is a potential inflection point. now, we'll see if al abadi does actually does what needs to be done. he was the spokesman for a while on critical issues for malaki. they're both shia. both very tightly politically aligned. we'll see. but malaki could not do what needs to be done because he's got so many cronies involved in this. that's what happened to the whole iraqi military. they threw out the guys who really knew what they were dog of the he put his cronies in, and then when it hit the fan, they all took a hike and the troops bailed out, too. if the officers run, what are the troops going to do? >> exactly. very good question. defense secretary hagel refers to those troops as the extra are troops we sent in there. i wanted to ask you and our viewers at home on twitter, does this have the earmarks on mission creep back into iraq? >> this has all of the earmarks of the necessary steps that are going to be needed to make up for the misjudgment of not doing what we should have done to wind this thing down once we ac

they welcome al-malaki's departure but said it won't end the crisis. they believe the solution is in a federal iraq where sunnis would be able to governthane their own territories. >> translator: we are ready to cooperate with the new government only if sunnis get their rights. our priority is to stop government attacks against our areas and top disarm shia malitias. they are more dangerous than the islamic state group. we will not fight that group unless our demands are met. . >> for now, the government is relying on those to protect from the islamic state group. they took control of much of "the sun"ni hartland including the oil fields and the iraqi army which abandoned their positions and weapons hasn't recaptured that territory. >> the international community is hoping a united iraqi with defeat. zeina hodr, erbil. >> the ukraine says they destroyed russian militants. the latest on contradictory claims. the panama hotel, ali vvelshi nt from "real money" to explain. become a flashpoint >> joie chen reports live flashpoint: ferguson special coverage

al-malaki says he plans to file a legal complaint.tate department announced via twitter the u.s. supports masum. al-malaki made a surprise statement. >> i warned the iraqi parliament, the presidency and the constitutional court that the president masum has no right to delay the election of a new prime minister based upon the results of our last e leingsz and that such a violation would lead to more security problems. >> meanwhile, kurdish forces have taken two towns back from the group calling itself the islamic state. it's a rare victory after the islamic state group took control of the dam. now they are closing in to the kurdish capital. jane araf is in erbil with more. >> the faerdz of these forces fought for the mountains for decades to try to get rid of saddam hussein. former volunteers are reinforcing to hang on to the gangs the kurds have made. it hasn't been enough. u.s. air strikes launched after the overwhelmed pershmerga withdrew are meant to stop the advance of the islamic state group 40 kilometers from erbil. they are mea

malaki's response was to say, i'm not going.re were concerns that he was going to attempt to stay in power by force. he turned out troops loyal to him around the green zone. and malaki's refusal to step down made the possibility of a political solution to this crisis impossible, right? until tonight. tonight, malaki appeared on live television and announced that he is stepping down after eight years. he said he will voluntarily give up power. he publicly endorsed his rival for truth who was standing next to him. his successor now has 30 days to form a new government. this sudden resolution to this political crisis was in no way a sure thing even 24 hours ago. if you believe that the crisis in iraq can't be solved by u.s. military force alone, that there has to be a political solution on the ground there, then this development in iraq today is a huge, huge deal. and that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. peaceful protests. >>> revelations about the health battle that robin williams was facing in his final days. >>>

malaki needs to go. there is a consensus everywhere.is can't agree on what to replace him with. we have an unstable situation that could pose a threat to us. it's too far for americans to get that excited about it right now except to be very upset by the footage we see on the evening news. i think president obama is making a lot of phone calls. i hope he's getting together an international coalition. other countries, even turkey is entertaining the idea of kurds having more autonomy. and not as worried as they were before about the kurds coming, taking part of turkey for their kurdistan. things are in a different kind of situation in that region. >> you know. some of the biggest cheerleaders of the iraq war are those calling for more action. gop pundit bill crystal said, quote, if you are going to get in big get in decisively now. if you go in incrementally in this way you don't have the effect you want to have on isis. in 2014, why should we listen to the same people who were wrong about iraq in 2003? >> it's apparently impossible to g

prime minister nouri al malaki is refusing to step aside.omething many hope will help heal the rift among the country's sunni, shia and kurdish groups. that is, if he steps aside. >> we don't know what's going to happen next, because mr. al malaki says he's the rightful prime minister and only the courts can remove him. but iraq's president has reported a prime minister designate who has 30 days to try and form a new government. >> nick paton walsh reports the political divide has baghdad on edge. >> reporter: normal has been awful here so long. when they say it's worse than ever, pay attention. we heard the bomb that went off here on tuesday. a survivor filming the immediate panic afterwards just down the road is the family home of prime minister designate. whether he was the target mattered little to these people. hours later, demolishing the checkpoint of the police who did not protect them. shots fired in the air to scatter them. the next day, police there refused to let us film them. making life even tougher to live or for ahmed, any ot

so it's al malaki. >> you think we're blaming al malaki because he's brown?k we always blame our clients. that's what i'm saying. >> that's a generalization. do you think we're blaming al malaki for the mess in iraq because he's brown? >> i think we blame our clients and our clients happen to be brown. so i hope al malaki's -- got a bullet in the head from kennedy. we hadn't failed, we were perfect. the same is true -- >> america has made mistakes, have made mistakes in vietnam. i think the iraq war in retrospect -- hold on a minute. in retrospect the iraq war was a mistake. but there's a difference between making a mistake and doing something that's inherently wicked. anyone else who went into iraq and did this would have reimbursed itself by taking the iraqi oil. instead we've spent all this money in iraq and then we turn over the keys of the oil fields to iraqis, it's your oil, sell it, burn it. and iraq costs us money. imperialists typically go abroad to make money. >> no. you're saying iraq is using it the way it sees fit and shell and mobil has nothing

we have prime minister nuri al malaki giving a new government a chance to 0 get together. aren't we better off this week than last? >> that remains to be seen. the president is using sort of minimal means plus keeping his fingers crossed and hoping every break goes his way. we do have the end of the malaki ear 0 ra, eight-year era, but we don't know 0 if the new prime minister, prime minister abadi will be able to form a government. he has 30 days. will it be competent? is he going to be able to organize the iraqi army? are the kurds going to get the military assistance they need to meaningfully defeat isis? >> how would you answer those questions? start with with the kurds. the french are arming them. we seem to be giving them more weapons. that's progress. >> yes. but remember when isis took over mon mosul, they seized six divisions worth of military equipment. maybe some of it ended up in kurdish hands but most of it they seized. so it's a heck of a gamble to say, paul, let's hope that the french assistance to the kurds is just sufficient for them to at least maintain t

malaki's response was to say, i'm not going.re concerns that he was going to attempt to stay in power by force. he turned out troops loyal to him around the green zone. and malaki's refusal to step down made the possibility of a political solution to this crisis impossible, right? until tonight. tonight, malaki appeared on live television and announced that he is stepping down after eight years. he said he will voluntarily give up power. he publicly endorsed his rival for truth who was standing next to him. his successor now has 30 days to form a new government. this sudden resolution to this political crisis was in no way a sure thing even 24 hours ago. if you believe that the crisis in iraq can't be solved by u.s. military force alone, that there has to be a political solution on the ground there, then this development in iraq today is a huge, huge deal. and that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. but now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> thank you for that update on this historic day in ir

many blamed al malaki for not doing enough to stop iraq's growing violence. >> family members of the disaster were among the 50,000 people at the pope's mass at the soccer stadium. we have a live report about that coming up. >> let's get you more from ferguson, missouri. the fights are finally calming do down. >> unlike the past several nights there were no violent clashes with police thursday. missouri's governor put state police in charge of crowd control to try to simmer things down. >> demonstrators had better things to say about police. >> we almost saw that proven by the heavy response to the peaceful protests. now the response is different. they're allowing them to protest peacefully. these protests all began last weekend when eyewitnesss claim michael brown had his hands up when he was fatally shot by a police officer. the local police department has their own version of events. instead saying brown was going for the officer's weapon. >> eric holder says federal officials are also helping with crowd control. he placed a call to the victim's parents thursday and promised a ful

al malaki is refusing to cede power. this is john kerry discussing the critical role the iraqi government is playing particularly when it comes to the u.s. strategy. >> let me tell you in the simplest terms where the discussion begins. there will be no reintroduction of american combat forces into iraq. that's the beginning of the discussion. this is a fight that iraqis need to join on behalf of iraq. and our hope is and the reason president obama has been so clear about wanting to get the government formation, before beginning to tackle isil and the most significant way accepting the kind of emergency circumstances that have arisen is because if you don't have a government that's inclusive and that works, nothing else will work. plain and simply. >> colonel, this is the key to what you are talking about, to what marie was talking about with the united states playing a support role but this is a fight of the iraqi army. that being an extension of the iraqi government. therefore you need to get the government in place and

initially branding its as illegal. al malaki sent his troops out into the streets. he was pulling them back a little bit, and saying the military should not get involved with politics, just warning about problems if there is confusion on the ground. al malaki watchers are saying you cannot count him out. meanwhile, other developments on the ground about the accident showing how dangerous the situation is in so many ways. the iraqi air force helicopter, is dropping off aid to the starving yazidis on the mountain to the west of where we are now. it crashed when it took off, apparently because there were too many refugees on board. the pilot died, there were many injured, including a new york times reporter, and, yes, more u.s. air strikes today, an unmanned drone hitting the mortar position. they had been targeting the tough kurdish pash mere fighters. they had been doing so much to fight back the isis militants. they could use more help, more arms, including from the united states. and there are more reports they could be coming their way. sean? >> thank you. despite

because our presence would have given us leverage to discourage malaki, prime minister malaki from being sectarian and that would have kept the political process likely on the right track, meaning the sunnis and shia and, of course, working together. and two, i think it would have also assisted with the iraqi forces not fragmenting, not falling apart the way they did when them confronted isis because of the changes in part that malaki brought to those forces. so i think you know, behind sight is 20/20, but my judgment is it probably wouldn't have worked the way it did if we had stayed. >> what do you say to americans who are watching this and they say their hearts go out to the yazidis and christians being slaughtered but this really isn't america's business. what's your message to them? >> well, in the current period, the biggest threat that the world faces at least one of thome is the threat of terrorism. you know, we saw it on 9/11 in the united states. and we cannot, unfortunately, isolate ourself from the world and build for res res america. in order to keep the threat away from the

tougher of malaki the prime minister.to step down after eight years of often very sectarian world alienating the sunni op pew lakes. his success sore also shiite from the same party that will be more responsive and more inclusive figure much more willing to get in bed with him to empower him against isis or isil than they were with malaki. now freedom now to be a little bit more engaged than they felt before. >> schieffer: michael, that leads me of course to hillary clinton and her sort of split with the president this week. as you heard earlier, i think she had a point most of the attention was about the little zinger when she said, don't do stupid stuff is not what called organizing principle. but as you read that interview she outlined her views overall views on foreign policy including we mist have a strategy to deal with these jihaddists terrorists. >> and jeff goldberg who is very good at this she was making argument not just what we saw reported, this was -- had not been sufficiently engaged particularly in syria a

to think we should add more fuel to the fire, we have to get rid of malaki.t. >> does he have to go ffr before change happens? >> before meaningful change happens. we have prevented kurd stan being overrun. the problem in iraq is sunni minority representation. once we left iraq malaki purged the military of sunnis. he's continued to do it. that led to this sunni uprise. nothing to do with u.s. forces leaving. everything to do with al malaki treating the sunni minority. >> that's "the ed show." i'm in for ed schultz. "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton starts now. good evening, rev. >>> good evening, dr. dyson. thanks to you for tuning in. developing news tonight from st. louis, missouri where a heartbroken community is still searching for answers in michael brown's death. late today president president obama put out a statement saying in part, "the death of michael brown is heartbreaking, and michelle and i send our deepest condolences to his family and his community at this very difficult time. as attorney general holder has indicated, the department

earlier this yeek al-malaki ordered troops not to keep him in ower. and a refugee crisis to which the u.s. has been responding in recent days. >>> just in from richmond from julie carey. the prosecuti has rested in the corrui case of former virginia governor bob mcdonnell and his wife, maureen, after weeks of making their case, which mea t defense gets started monday. tomorrow t jurors get a day off. prosecution rests toda defense begins on monday. for now at the live desk i'm scott macan >>> hundreds of children in montgomerty looking for a new place to play. someone t fire to this playgroun nig in german town leaving just a shell behind. >> as zachary kiesch reports some were worried the flames would hit trees and threaten their homes. >> i have no idea what went on here, probably some kids. >> reporte melted plat forms help tell the story. they have lived in this community r more than a decade and calls it safe. her kids grew up playing here. last night there was a problem. >> i was hanging out with my friends and her mom was yelling. we were wonde