this is about maliki, maliki, maliki.night -- the person with the best personal relationship with maliki in the u.s. government is the vice president. vice president is right now traveling in central and south america, which, by the way is his own problem right now. it's a foreign policy problem that's also a domestic problem with the issue on the border. but maliki is just being stubborn. everything i understand about the various phone conversations that u.s. officials have had with maliki is that they are telling him you've got to reform your government. you've got to try to come up with a new way of organizing. a little more unity government. and that he spouts some paranoia, conspiracy theorys. now you understand the next step. now you understand why. let's send john kerry face to face with maliki and see if they can make progress there. that should just tell us alone we can have an idea where the president -- saying basically i'm not making a major military commitment until they know a political commitment can happen

to push maliki out that maliki was our guy. dexter finkins of the "new yorker" describes a 2006 video conference between president george w. bush and advisers like this. american ambassador in baghdad zahyayl turned to the cia analyst assigned to his office, can it be in this country of 30 million people the choice of prime minister is ibraham al jaafari or ali adeeb? i have a name for you, the cia officer said, maliki. while extremists call for a form of reinvasion, the sensible centrist position is to use american leverage to get maliki to step down and get someone else in there. what reasons to we have to believe someone else would work out better? joining me now, former u.s. ambassador to iraq, christopher hill. now dean at the university of denver. ambassador, when the president said it's not our job to pick iraq's leaders, i think that's true as a matter of principle, but that hasn't been the record of america and iraq, has it? >> well, actually, you know, i was there in the 2010 election, and none of us was particularly

maliki has certainly taken actions that can be interpreted as sectarian. and it's not like the opponents have been sending him flowers either. this is a country that has been sending a steady flurry of car bombs, a drum beat since we left in 2010. repeatedly car bombs going off in eastern baghdad targeting religious sites. and they're coming out of sunni arabs. there's a small minority of citizens that have given passive support to these terrorists. it's regrettable, but it does not give maliki time to be gracious and reconciling when he has this not constant attrition of his own citizens. they demand that he do something. you can imagine what our citizens would do if car bombs were going off in our cities. they would demand that the government do something, and all the prime minister has are blunt tools to do this. so he goes around and rounds up all of the sunnies, it's primitive, and it's not helpful but it's all he can do. >> given the situation that douglas describes, was there an attempt to say all iraqis should be against this sort of thing, and pul

not with the cause of nouri al maliki. nouri al maliki hardly has any friends.nifer griffin is back with us from the pentagon i believe. jennifer, i wonder what the level of concern is that -- that the sunnis from iran are going to see this as an opportunity. after all, this has happened in a matter of days, not a month's long build-up that we knew about. >> well, there's a great deal of fear that the shias from iran or that iran itself will try to fill the vacuum. that is what is always the problem in the middle east when you leave vacuums. the other thing to remember, shep, is this is also about oil. iraq has large oil fields that will be very lucrative to -- to those different groups. and they will be fighting over those fields in short order because that will be what will fund this insurgency or fund the government. it's also another point that touched on that's very important is that maliki -- when the americans were pulling out and as they were leaving, remember it was the sunni awakening in anbar province that helped the surge troops that the u.s. sent in

prime minister maliki. douglas, i want to give you the chance. >> this is group, we're now in , reinforced the grievances of one group and the other, and the sunnies are upset that the sons of iraq were not integrated into the armed forces, and the shiites are saying, thank goodness, we didn't integrate the sons of iraq into the armed forces. we're reinforcing the others into a bad place, but what we need, on the sunni side, a leader who can come forward state that to all of his people, we need to integrate into the state. we were implicit the crime into the old regime, and we need to renounce islamism, and we need to move into a minority role in the state as descend. is there anybody in the sunni camp with the kind of reputation and credibility that would do that. >> we had this conversation on twitter the other day. and neither of us came one an answer. we're in a difficult situation right now, isis is fighting in both iraq and syria. certainly in syria, we have the iranians assisting them, and iraq, we a

mill taritary involvement, nuri al-maliki.hat he does not do by all accounts is spend much time on the political reconciliation with the sunni arabs and kurds. >> reporter: after the fall of iraqi president saddam hussein in 2003, nuri maliki saw an opening. he was in exile in syria and iran and finally able to return to iraq in 2003. unlike hussain who was sunni, maliki is sunni muslim. >> we face oppression under the form eer regime. we did not bow then and we will not bow now. >> reporter: back in 2006, the bush white house supported maliki, looking to him to alter the balance of power giving shiites more contreel and weakening the sunnis. maliki had once promised to unify iraq. even welcome sunnis into the government. colonial peter was general david petraeus' officer. >> he used his power to purr see political enemies rather than reaching out and ensuring he could embrace them and bring them into the tent. >> reporter: iraq sunni insurgency has been gaining momentum since 2006. his insurgency was to give maliki and the sh

you write about nuri al maliki.t, you write that he snuffed out the opportunity to build a cohesive iraq. we had more than 150,000 troops here, and we could barely get him to reach out to sunnis, reach out to kurds. do you believe he is capable and willing to do that now? >> well, i hope so, because that's essential for iraq. but you make a really good point here. it's just important to stay for a moment on it. we should never forget that in afghanistan and iraq, even today a majority of people want the freedom to bring up their family in peace, want stability, are happy to get on with their neighbors. this is an extremism that is a significant minority. it's not a tiny minority, i'm afraid, it's a significant minority. it's often financed and armed from abroad. these foreign fighters in this organization, they come from everywhere, including by the way the uk. so when we say is it impossible for outsiders to come and help and stabilize the country, when i intervened in kosovo, yes, it was. so what's the difference

and, also, maliki has got to be more inclusive.got to completely change the way he's treated the sunni and it may be too late. i don't know. maybe he needs to be somebody else. now we've got to move forward. we've got to plan not only on the military side of it but on the political side of it as well because it's clear that the sunnis have been alienated completely by maliki and the way he's handled his position of leadership in iraq. and bit the way, this news of two battalions of the iranian force entering into the fray here, this is very disturbing, andrea, very, very disturbing. it could lead maliki to rely more on the iranians and then the consequences of that are incredible. >> so far we have spent years trying to get maliki to be more inclusive and not be repressive and exclusionay to the sunnis and driven the sunnis into the arms of the radicals. what makes us think with american air strikes and more military equipment from the u.s. that he'll change at all? >> well, he has to or he has to be changed, one of the two. it is

has failed by continuing to allow maliki and supporting maliki while he carried out the formula for exclusion and the formula that's led to the crisis today. over the past two years iraqis have tried peaceful protests, peaceful demonstrations. how did maliki respond? he responded by shooting unarmed protesters, killing over 50 last year. the conclusion for many iraqis that there's no hope in democratic process, these peaceful process, electoral process and they should take up arms. >> cracking down, as you say, on peaceful protests and that led to isis getting a foothold in anbar province. really appreciate your thoughts. thanks so much. >> let's move on to question number four. just how far will isis go? and let's bring in robert mcfadden here joining me on the set. also former special agent in charge at the naval criminal investigative service. thanks so much for joining us. we've just learned that the city of tal afar has now been taken by isis. how concerned should we be with how quickly they're moving and how they show such power? >> of course concern. the blitzkrieg for isis took most e

is this idea that maliki has to go. know, this is the worst thing that can be done to a country that is democratizing, to have people in any other place to call on someone to resign or to pick kings or to overthrow kins. i think the president in his statement today got it right when he said we are not in the business of choosing or picking iraqi leaders. this is the way it should be done if maliki is overthrown from the pressure of outside forces, this will have grave consequences for the prospects of democracy in the country. >> ifill: charles duelfer, as you look at this shakedown, this shake out, do you think that al-maliki has done enough to avoid this impasse? >> the short answer is no, but the problem really was born in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in 2003. i think everyone acknowledges now mistakes in terms of not being inclusive enough of the sunni groups, some of them former baathists and former army, and throughout the succeeding ten years, they have been look for some signal they will have a new ir

you talked about nuri maliki, and any military action tied to maliki. there's no reform that will happen. so if u.s. action is tied to that, it's unclear whether the president is really going to do anything in the days ahead specific. they say all options are on the table. but when you listen to the leaders who are going to be sitting down with the president this hour to decide all this, one of the senate majority leader harry reid. he basically said this is iraq's problem. listen. >> this is an iraqi civil war and it's time for the iraqis to resolve it themselves. those who attacked president obama for bringing our troops home from iraq are wrong and out of step with the american people. >> reporter: so this meeting at the oval office this hour is a chance for the president to take a temperature of capitol hill. from john boehner to harry reid as well as mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi. last year with syria the president said he wanted to seek out congress and get authorization. in the end there was no consensus on capitol hill. appears similar in som

did we press maliki hard enough? were we too eager to leave and soothe the american weariness with the war. >> i think that's true but iraqis fundamentally made the decision. i was in favor of staying and wrote that even as a democrat, in favor of staying. i don't blame president obama fundamentally. i think iraqis made the decision, now we have to reassess and try to forget our past fights here at home and abroad and reassess because the stakes for american security going forward are high enough that we have to be fresh and flexible. it's got to be contingent on the iraqis coming together as a people first. >> michael leiter, what is the terror threat that is emerging because of this group. we've been thinking of yemen as the heart of the terror threat that could eventually threaten the homeland, but what about this? >> it's very significant. the u.s. intelligence community was already worried about isis in syria and westerners traveling to syria. they have more arms and more mb. >> and more european passports. >> a

that would have been disastrous for maliki. he would easily have suffered a vote of no-confidence in the council representatives. he went down there to bosworth and realizes -- he went down to basra and moved his headquarters and commanded and controlled the way only an iraqi could, with four cell phones in front of him. laid onpetraeus advisers, air, attack helicopters, drones, and airborne infantry battalion, logistics. it was that push from the multinational force that allowed the charge of the knights to succeed. maliki is doing sort of the same thing. he has moved his headquarters up to samara. domedme of the golden mosque. he is to defend it. he doesn't have multinational force iraq to back him up anymore, so it's going to be a very dicey affair. 25% army by recent reports is combat ineffective. , thes no trouble support way we had trouble support -- he has no tribal support the way we had it in 2007-2008. first, i agree with john, we shouldn't do anything about it till it terribly until there is a diplomatic and politica

maliki has screwed things up badly.t doesn't mean we can wash our hands of it. >> paul wolfowitz, thank you for coming out this morning, sir. >> thank you. >>> how are democrats gearing up to working with a new republican leadership and where are democrats on the issue of iraq? number two democrat in the house, republican steny hoyer joins me next. >>> first, who is the most recent missouri native to be the president of the senate? first person to tweet the correct answer @chucktodd or @dailyrundown will get a shoutout. are the largest targets in the world, for every hacker, crook and nuisance in the world. but systems policed by hp's cyber security team are constantly monitored for threats. outside and in. that's why hp reports and helps neutralize more intrusions than anyone... in the world. if hp security solutions can help keep the world's largest organizations safe, they can keep yours safe, too. make it matter. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ [ birds squawking ] my mom

he says he was very direct with maliki saying that this will have to be paired with maliki reaching out to the other minorities, sunnis and kurds so they are not just acting with the shiite majority of which maliki is a member. it's interesting, we heard from general david petraeus, the surge that rescued iraq from the last march and he had a similar message in comments saying warning against mill taritary involvement, unless it is in congestion with an iraqi government acting on behalf of all people and not just one minority there. >> which exactly was the political component supposed to happen in the wake of the surge, which maliki has not followed through on. jim, the pentagon put together this draft list of isis targets. it has not finalized that, is that correct? >> it is not. what i'm told they have a drift list but this list is always being updated with intelligence they have so it has the latest options for the president but this list has been prevesented the president to consider it. for several days now, speaking to military officials, myself and barbara starr a pentagon corre

>> yes, i do believe maliki has to go, but i don't know if we have time to wait formal maliki go. at this point, it is crucial that we stop isis. i believe it is important that we do make air strikes, that special operations are on the ground. i would hope they're out trying to be able to call in a tax and give it to the intelligence as to where to attack. maliki is a bad guy, no doubt about it. to stand back and wait formalky to go before we take action, it could be too late. i think we should do both, taking air strikes and using whatever leverage we have to push maliki out. >> i guess one of the real issues here is how did we get here and why is maliki a bad guy? i want to talk with you about that. plenty more to say from congressman peter king. but first, let's get to eric. how did the crisis in iraq get to this point? many say it has everything to do with the government and policies of iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki. eric shawn is joining us with more on that. >> good morning, maria. good morning, everyone. was once iraq's host, but now the u.s. wants him out. nuri al ma

what can nouri al-maliki do. he didn't do anything in tal usualinga -- fallujah, he can't make a difference now. many fear that baghdad will unleash airpower under the city. with a level of uncertainty the kurdish regional government put forces on high alert, bracing itself for a bigger influx of people in the quay to come -- in the days to come. >> to other news. the u.s. launched two drone strikes in north waziristan's area of pakistan. 16 have been killed in the attack. the first in the country this year. pressure has been mounting on pakistan's deposit to launch a ground defensive against the region. washington resumed the program after two attacks in karachi. let's join the correspondent from the capital. >> the u.s. stopped drone strikes for almost six months. why are they back now. what does this mean for peace talks with the taliban in pakistan. >> well, if you notice, the talks were already deadlocked and after the attack in karachi, any chance of going back to rt negotiating table will definitely not be

and it's all up to nuri al maliki. you get the job done, show us you're sincere and then maybe we'll help you out militarily. but if you don't do that, the united states is not going to get involved. that was the basic bottom line message he was sending directly to baghdad. at least from my perspective. what do you think? >> here's the thing. obviously they're desperate to get some kind of political unity and political functionality in iraq. because it's true, part of this problem has been the lack of ability of nuri al maliki to unite the country. former iraqi prime minister told me yesterday and i was nearly go gob smacked, i asked why they dropped their equipment and fled, 30,000 in the face of 800 militants. and he told me they had nothing to fight for. i couldn't believe what i was hearing. but apparently they don't believe in their government and the isis people have been able to overrun a key economic and major hub there of hoe mosul. and he's on his way to try to see whether he can use his unique abilities to t

it is not about maliki. and nothing that the president decides to do is going to be focused specifically on prime minister maliki. it is focused on the people of iraq. >> let's head out now to the white house and white house correspondent michele kaczynski. you see her on the lawn. what conversations are unfolding there encouraging maliki to step down, if any? >> well, that's what people are talking about. i mean top congressional leaders, some top u.s. officials are saying that that's what they believe needs to happen. from the white house's position, though, you really can't get them to answer the question. they went so far yesterday as to say, obviously not enough has been done by al maliki to incorporate all elements of the population within the government. we've been togging for days how al maliki has alienated sunnis, kicked people out of top positions, generally stirred things up that's seen as a major contributing factor to what is going on right now. the white house is not going to stand there and c

these helped him lose support. >> nouri al-maliki won the popular vote. the most seats, but not enough to form alliances. alliances in order to remain prime minister. with the islamic state upping the stakes, pressure from all sides is mounting. >> and we are joined from baghdad. tell us about the rabz of the scoouny groups, have they pledged allegiance to the islamic state? >> well, that will be the key moment for how much legitimacy the declaration has. here in iraq we haven't heard the main groups reaction. some of the smaller groups reacted, and have pledged allegiance to the islamic state for calafat. politically this will be important. as i said in my report, the parliament meet on july the 1st, that's when they try to choose a government. the key post, the president and speaker of the house should and need to be fulfilled in the meeting. this is going to add a lot of pressure on prime minister nouri al-maliki. people are wondering how a group like this has begun, has gotten so bold that not only have they taken up territory, but they've been able t

maliki and people less sectarian and close to the run than maliki. iran then maliki. >> the president said he would be reviewing options from his team to deal with the deteriorating situation and you would not be sending u.s. troops back into combat and he did say that current situation poses a threat and could pose a threat to america and its interest as well. laying out the american interest which demand action. >> the most likely way would be the experience decided to return home. going to be the most frightening prospect, not only for the borders and the middle east, but he sensually these people -- but it essentially these people deciding they have years of experience and they learned a lot and became a more radicalized and bring it home. >> is it going to make what happened in syria or do not happened a more significant cast of the success all barack obama's foreign-policy? >> absolutely. obama came into gaza aid and said i will get that out -- i will get us out of this place and he is doing it. he did in iraq. look what happened. >> michael, w

says, the maliki government to change, maybe pressure maliki out of there.of the diplomatic pressure bill richardson talks about without a presence and a presence has to be partly a military presence. >> bill richardson, you want to respond to that? >> well, i believe that what we need to get iran to do is let them commit some troops. let them put their blood there. also let's find a way for iran to pressure their guy, maliki, the shi'a, to share power. and what should the u.s. do? i think send a high level delegation, maybe the secretary of state, to talk to maliki before it's too late, to set up a coalition government or to leave, or to leave as p.j. said. because he has exacerbated the situation. we want to find ways also in syria to help the opposition there because i think this is a conflagration that is affecting the entire region. >> and p.j. crowley, final question to you. your own boss, hillary clinton, topping president obama in the polls on just about every issue on foreign affairs. 63% of americans believe she would do a good job compared to only

he says he was very direct with maliki, saying that this will have to be paired with maliki .eb other minority, the sunnis and the kurds there so that he is acting on behalf of iraqis as a whole and not just the shiite majority of which maliki is a member as well. and it's interesting, because we also heard today from general david petraeus of course who is commander in iraq, the architect that rescued iraq from its last civil war. and he had a similar message in his comments in london saying warning against military involvement in iraq, unless it has a political component, unless it is in conjunction with an iraqi government that is acting on behalf of all of its people and not just one minority there. >> which exactly was the political component that was supposed to happen in the wake of the surge which nuri al maliki has not followed through on. jim, the pentagon has put together this draft list of isis targets. it has not finalized that. is that correct? >> it has not. what i'm told is they have a draft list, but this list is always being updated with new intelligence that

sit down with maliki and say, maliki, prime minister, you're going to have to transition out of your. we've got to have national reconciliation. otherwise, your country is going to be torn apart. that is the next step. and -- but the immediate crisis is the military one and the most immediate along with it is the iranians pouring into iraq no matter whose side they are on. then you have iran, syria, iraq. all in a line and iranians are realizing many of their ambitions. >> let me ask you one political question because hillary clinton raises it in her book. she expresses regret on her vote back in the end of 2002 in favor of going to war against saddam hussein. she writes this. i thought i had acted in good faith and made the best decision i could with the information i had and i wasn't alone in getting it wrong but i still got it wrong, plain and simple. you voted to go to war against saddam hussein. did you get it wrong then, too? >> obviously. but when the secretary of state against the united states of america goes before the united nations security council and gives compelling ev

they've hit a road block with maliki. part of the president's, what he said last friday is that no military. he's not going to really okay a major military commitment to deal with the iraq chaos if there's not an equivalent if not stronger effort, on the political side by maliki. from what i've heard about various attempts, whether it's vice president biden who personally has a good relationship with maliki, every attempt to have maliki, hey, guy, you have to deal with this political situation. you have to reform your government. you have to figure out how to create a unity government. that he still spouts off conspiracy theorys. he's still a bit paranoid. and that they just don't think they'll get anywhere. so the last ditch effort appears to be sending kerry personally. and, obviously, that means it buys some time and space for the president as he continues to try to figure out what is the most effective military strategy here because there's not agreement on what that is either, ronan. >> certainly disagreement on the

maliki has been very sectarian. with the support of iran. now the whole issue of whether or not we could have stayed in some numbers really is just debatable. on the one hand, many feel that we should have insisted much stronger that we have a residual force there and the argument that comes back is, well, maliki was taking his orders from iran saying under no circumstances could american troops remain. well, maliki is now paying the wages of his sins in the sense that when you take the u.s. forces out, it's almost predictable what's going to happen. it takes time to train an army. it takes time to inculcate certain democratic values and, clearly, maliki has been pursuing a very narrow sectarian objective. and as a result of that, you have the sunni moderates joining with the most radical of all elements in al qaeda now taking towns all over the central part certainly and part of the north of iraq. i think that we're not going to be in a position and don't want to be a position of helping iran simply confirm what's been going on by having a

maliki you know you think of a rock is. as a natural rival in many respects to saudis if you look at the predominance of the shia of versus sunni rivalry oil sales and whatnot. by promoting isis or other kinds of groups like that in the region they're just fanning the flames of already. you know unstable relationships to see when we seeing a redrawing of the map in the greater middle east right now because you know we there are you know there is there there is israel there there are military interest there i mean i'm looking at it basically from up the western world but you know all . on the ground as you pointed out this is a sectarian. conflict for many many people in the region here how is that going to change the map of the middle east here because if we if iraq you know falls apart then it has it's a knock on effect we have the kurds we have turkey it's membership in nato what's happening in lebanon i can go on and on and on you know what i mean how is the map being changed or could be changed. well i think the map is

maliki has to go. i don't think it can happen with maliki in power. and they have to finalize the government at the end of this month and the shias are starting to move towards that direction to a new leader. >> mr. chairman thank you for joining us. >> bob thank you for having me. schieffer: we want to go to aspen, colorado where we are joined by senator joe manchin, democrat out of west virginia a key member of the armed services committee. senator, thank you for joining us. i guess my first question is simple: what could or should the united states do next here? >> our main goal right now is to protect the embassy and the americans we have there. and the president has every right and the responsibility to do that. i'm fine with that. do whatever it takes to protect our people our embassy. and the bottom line is to make sure they are safe and secure. i believe the president has to come back to congress and should come back to congress and there is no appetite for us to get boots on the ground and get back into that country anyway shape or form >> sc

supported maliki, no doubt about that. the man being blamed for the sunni backlash or does iraq's prime minister need to step down? is there a way for that to happen without the u.s. forcing that to happen? we'll talk about that and i'll talk to richard clark, the top counterterrorism officials his warnings about al qaeda were ignored before 9/11 and we're seeing exactly why. we'll talk to him ahead. you've reached the age where you've learned a thing or two. this is the age of knowing what you're made of. so why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain... it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sud

it wants maliki in power. so the maliki government is going to have to choose iran or us.ho what iran will do. it will do what indict for syria, for assad. will send in real troops. will give them real support, tons of ammunition, will be ruthless and will stick around. of course it will then rule them but at least maliki would survive as a puppet, perhaps. with the united states they have to wonder will obama stick with anything? it's the better choice if you're an iraqi, you bring back the sundayiy sunnis. the kurds are willing to help the central government. the united states says if you do this we'll be with you. but the question s-will obama be with anyone. he gives red lines that disappear. he leaves the scene. often he's nowhere to be seen. that's why we're at a critical point. does anyone think they can rely on the united states under obama? >> it's also telling that maliki he didn't go the iraqi military which still large and there are major units still established he went to the shi'ite militias which is a sign that everyone is going to their historical cultural

al maliki, ha that same man, if u.s.s stayed to have them subject to iraqi law and potentially end up getting charged under iraqi law. that was never going to fly. >> negotiate a status of a forces agreement starts with that position. it is hard work to negotiate that agreement and this administration chose to cater to the radical left in his party and the democratic party, used maliki's initial resistance to what should be in that agreement as an excuse to get the troops out. >> it wasn't an initial resistance. it was resistance that went on and on. he ran for office on a platform of having -- >> life is hard, my friend! and the president gets the big bucks for doing the right things! the right thing would have been to -- >> what was the president ments to do? >> to keep our troops there with a status of forces agreement in place! but he chose not to because he found it convenient to cater to the left side of the party that wanted troops out of there any way. >> i was there at the time. nuri al maliki ran for office say

i think maliki has made a disaster for iraq.d have been less a disaster had we maintained a status of force and forced him to include the sunnis, include the kurds. we had an opportunity here to show the rest of the middle east that sunni, shiite, kurd can get together. we had that but president obama squandered that opportunity by not leaving a stabilized force in iraq. you have to to take a look. it's a disaster. what are we going to establish now? are we going totally break it up? this is just a tragedy. it's a snatching defeat from the jaws of victory never had to happen. >> in 2010, you were asked if you supported the troop withdraw plan in iraq. this is what you said. >> i think there was actually a draw plan that was proposed by president bush before president obama actually came into office, and i'm hoping it'll work. i think the iraqi forces are being stood up, and hopefully that will provide the security that iraq needs as a nation to continue as a functioning democracy >> were you wrong in your assessment? >> strategi

you've known maliki for a long time.u have any belief that he is the kind of leader who can bring the country together, who can reach out to sunnis, reach out to kurds? >> no, anderson. he's had plenty of opportunities to do that. and he is doing none of it. he hasn't even been doing this in the last 72 hours when the pressure on him has been so great to do so. and it is clear that his policies are not succeeding. he hasn't showed any kind of flexibilities. at all. i've known him for a long time. i first met him long before he was even considered prime ministerial candidate. and even back then he was very much a shiite partisan, and his policies in government have remained consistently pro-shiite and anti-everybody else. >> bobby, to christiane's point, to hear ahmed chalabi, it's amazing to hear his name back in mix. i remember a time, i think it was 2004 u.s. troops almost arrested him for one of his aides giving information to iran, wasn't it? >> if ahmed chalabi is a solution to the problem, then your country is in f

what is maliki fear? i think if somebody heard what you're saying here, from the political context and it seems so obvious that the leader of iraq would reach out to the community and particularly coming out of the tremendous success of sunnis, rising up and destroying or kicking out the predecessor to this particular group, to isis when they were called al qaeda in iraq. why would it be that he would pursue the policies he did? why would it be he would want to put forth such a partisan approach and ethnically partisan approach in a country that has been that destabilized? >> maliki was in exile for many, many years because he was shia during the saddam hussein years. when he was rounding up and executing and imprisoning lots of leaders and people he thought were not going to work with him in his regime, and when maliki returned to iraq, it was time i think he felt and others around him felt the shia should grab the majority of power. the problem is it doesn't work in iraq that way. in a democratic system

. >> iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki begged the u.s. for help, president obama offered extensive comments on the crisis. >> my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them. i don't rule out anything. because we do have a state of making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either iraq or syria for that matter. >>> meanwhile three plane loads of americans, contractors and civilians were evacuated from a base north of baghdad as insurgents neared. they were there on a training mission for iraqi forces that has been suspended indefinitely. joining us is omar, our correspondent. good to see you. you are in baghdad. i.s.i.l. spokesman taunted nouri al-maliki, calling on forces to move on baghdad. what is the latest in the fighting. is the iraqi military battling back with effectiveness. >> to some degree, yes. not in baghdad. they launched, according to the defence ministry, they launched several air strikes at different targets in the province and main cit

>> i think right now maliki's in trouble. but it's the old saying here, you can't beat somebody with nobody. no alternative candidate has emerged. so i think either he gets a third term or you could have a prolonged period of disagreement which, of course, will further destabilize things in iraq. >> that's tuesday, the parliament, but what about the ultimate iranian nuclear issue? >> well, i think in july when the perm 5 meet again with iran, the pressure that obama will bring to make concessions so you can have a deal is going to be very intense. and that's a point i fear from the u.s. point of view. we've already made catastrophic concessions, munichlike concessions. the president may well make more. and i think in tehran, of course, they would only welcome that. >> ambassador john bolton, good to see you always every sunday. thank you very much for your insight and analysis today. >> u this. >>> meantime, fox news is taking a deeper look at the complicated diplomacy between iran and iraq. chris wallace sat down with former

is nouri al-maliki feeling the pressure here? >> it has to be said that the pressure he's feeling about the national unity or an emergency government is coming from him. what the americans said to prime minister nouri al-maliki is that they wanted the constitutional process to be pushed forward. that they wanted the government to be formed as quickly as possible. nouri al-maliki in his speech on wednesday said this is forcing pressure on us to form an emergency government. those are his words, emergency government. no one else used them. suddenly this has become a thing in iraqi politics. people are saying yes, let's form this idea of a national government. oddly the words come from prime minister nouri al-maliki. muqtada al-sadr is a key shia cleric. he has had problems with prime minister nouri al-maliki in the past. during the elections he was outspoken, saying maybe prime minister nouri al-maliki's time has come. we need to choose an another leadership. now we need to get rid of nouri al-maliki, and need an inclusive governme

anybody but maliki.as driven the sunnis into opposition and set the conditions for isis to take a good chunk of the country and he also set the conditions for a good part of the iraqi army to fall apart because of his sectarian leadership. they need a better leader. >> it is is disheartening. you look at the situation we followed in 2003, 2004, the struggles especially in 2006, sectarian violence. then you look at the fact that the serge. david petraeus did remarkable work. a reporter say they would have put statues up of david pa trets in 2007 to 2009 and to make the sunnis believe they had a reason to live and fight for this government. maliki has taken that all away. what do we do? >> that is part of it. >> how do we continue forward in iraq to help in any way as long as maliki is there? >> that is part of it but part of it we allowed al qaeda there to reconstitute itself in western iraq and taken our eye off the ball when begaty was released from that prison. remember what he said. "i'll see you in n

>> nouri al-maliki sacked top leaders in charge. army in missual, and said they -- mosul and said they failed to carry out the national duty, he is building up, trying to root out rebels from different cities, including tick rit and mosul. with this political development. he feels he has the upper hand. he is emboldened by the increasing numbers of volunteers to protect the importance religious shrines in this country. there are tens of thousands who vowed to protect iraq from what they described as the terrorist campaign to topple the government. >>> al jazeera correspondent omar al saleh, and "america tonight"'s sheila macvicar with us. thank you both. >>> in some cities the iraqi fighters are dropping arms and fleeing. four-star army general jack keen, credited for helping to design the u.s. surge, thank you for being here. in the last few hours nouri al-maliki appearing sunni critics, uncomfortably, awkwardly. is it enough to bring the u.s. into pore of an assertive position militarily, to assist or prop up the government? >> i

maliki's actions are fueling the fire.k more havoc than there already is. he pauses, his voice starts to crack. the country is destroyed. it's lost, he says, disbelieving. after a thousand years it won't come back. his eyes fill with tears as he adds, the city of moz l, once the city of profits, in a day and night it turned into a city of goets and nightmares. >> reporter: and he believes that there has to be some sort of political change, that maliki most definitely needs to go. but he did not believe that's going to help save his country. but at the very least it could begin to ease some of the tensions, perhaps even cause some of the violence to subside. but at the end of the day he says what people really need to focus on is trying to drive a wedge between isis and the other sunni groups. >> be careful over there as well. let's turn back now to the videos that isis wants you to see. the terror group is widening its chilling recruitment campaign reaching out to americans and other werners. our correspondent is doing exc