when it comes to nuri al maliki and how the u.s. has handled him, particularly when troops left, back then he was involved in power sharing, he turned around and did the exact same opposite in 20 hours. why has the u.s. not been able to assert more influence on him. >> i think the u.s. has chosen not to exert influence. it could have done more. in view of repeated broken promises not just to the u.s., but more significantly to the iraqi people, the u.s. has continued to not just support maliki, but to arm him. >> so what does the u.s. do now? the u.s. still a big supporter in a military sense of iraq certainly in terms of equipment and the like. should they be putting more muscle on him? or is there -- what can they do? >> well, they definitely should be putting more muscle on him because they continue to arm him. and i think one thing is seven this is not going to be won militarily. this is not going to be enough to attack and destroy isis if that's even possible militarily. the biggest task is to give the sunni population the vast

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's nuri al maliki.cause as a news organization i can report to you fox nuss can't confirm iraq is not united and on that matter maliki is either lying or horribly, horribly mistaken. but he says the government is striking back but the terror group is reportedly moving closer to baghdad. latest on the ground, baghdad the war in baghdad and it's back for all us lucky americans. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment. i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help. shingles the pain in my tremendouscalp areailot. and down the back of my neck was intense. it would have been virtually impossible to move to change radio

more recently, nuri al maliki did it again, we're not going to let you be there.e have a command and control structure that understands war and understands conflict very well. all of a sudden they also have all of these munitions which were ours, and they have all of these guns which were ours, and they have all of these tanks which were ours. and now they have a command and control structure. >> you know, shep, i wouldn't overestimate the capabilities of isis. they've performed well in terms of taking this territory. i think, frankly, that's more attributable to the fact that the iraqi army hasn't fought. they haven't performed well. >> that's right. >> and in fact, you have these underlying political divisions, as you indicated before, shep, which are fueling a lot of this sectarian conflict. the sunnis in iraq have a lot of grievances against the central government there which they perceive as not ruling in their interests. frankly, there's also disputes between the kurds in baghdad as we've seen in recent days over thing like the regional -- the power of the r

a few months later, iraq's prime minister nuri al maliki took office.ht he shows no signs of stepping down, certainly. in recent parliamentary elections, you remember his alliance won the most votes. under iraq's constitution, he must now form a new government. publicly the white house hasn't said that maliki should absolutely resign. they say it's up to the iraqi people, though they have been critical of his divisive policies. some u.s. lawmakers are saying point-blank he's got to go. cnn's international reporter christiane amanpour joins me along with he covered iraq for a lot of years for "time" magazine. christiane, listening to the president, there seems to be no support for nuri al maliki at this point by the white house. and clearly the white house believes that there needs to be political change here in iraq. >> i think that's really clear. the president has made that pretty clear, going also to say it's not up to the united states to choose who is the government of iraq. but nonetheless, they have lost faith in nuri al maliki, even the presiden

officials, he understands that they want nuri al maliki gone. the question, he says, is how to replace him. who can tell this man he has to go? it can't come from the united states. certainly not publicly. iraqi politicians, even those in nuri al maliki's party can't tell him. the military won't tell him. he feels it has to come from the religious leaders here. there's no sign of that happening. the major battle over iraq's largest oil refinery yesterday. it came out with the isis fighters holding more military on the ground than the government. overnight, we learned the government said in an air strike targeting isis fighters it killed 14 isis fighters. they said what happened at the local hospital. they received 11 bodies and 33 people wounded. they said they were civilians and among those wounded were women and children. john? >> what is it like right now in baghdad, that nation's capitol. i spent a lot of time there when times were tough and it felt like a war zone. is that the feeling you get right now? >> reporter: oh, if you walked in her

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

but lot of that is going to defend on nuri al maliki himself.is he prepared to make the ultimate concession for himself and give up power. >> arwa, in the north, you've been talking to christiqycmìc% areas. a, do they have any confidence that nuri al maliki is the man to continue leading this country? and also, how concern ready they about life under isis? >> they very much feel, anderson, as if they are the victim of politics. and they believe that the country's leaders lacked the political maturity that is necessary at this stage to actually move the nation out of this current crisis and horrific bloodshed. the christian community here, remember, during the years of iraq's sectarian warfare and even afterwards was consistently targeted by insurgent groups on all sides. and that fear is returning to them once again. this town that we went to go visit is only ten minutes away from isis' positions in mosul. mosul being the first city that fell as the terrorist organization was advancing. they have begun to, the christians in this town have begun

nuri al maliki ran for office saying there would be no u.s.s unless they were under iraqi law. we are going around in circles. nuri al maliki -- >> a great excuse for the president to do something! >> nuri al maliki is by all accounts the problem. as soon as u.s. troops left iraq in 2011 -- >> you've had five years to deal with it! >> i was on the border of the kuwaiti/iraqi border and my point let me finish the question. when u.s. forces left within 24 hours, he was rounding up sunni opponents and threatening to put the vice president on trial. why was the u.s. not able, with all of the weaponry and support it's given the iraqis, why was it not able to put their hand on nuri al maliki and said be inclusive the way you promised? look what happened because he did the opposite. >> because we stupidly lost the leverage bra leverage withdrawing 10,000 troops supposed to be there. you cannot give up on the right thing to do and complain you've created a problem and that is what this administration is doing now. it it's wringing its hands because it

make it matter. >>> a statement by nuri al maliki.anslator: and its environment and that was created by internal forces supported in this by outside forces -- and gave rise to groups that are following -- what has happen ed is the troops, the situation in iraq that society has benefited from. and these are rebels and to those who have genuine demands which we respect and will respond to the demands as we have responded to other demands because they are iraqi people and they deserve our support. but what kind of rebels, what kind of tribes that would accept the killing of 400 prisoners, what kind of tribes that will accept the destruction of the country, the institutions and as many stations, banks and offices? what kind of tribes that will accept the killing of 275 from the military academy in cold blood? the list goes on and on. the list of the crimes that do not respect the history and unity of this sect and the tribes. i'm calling on the tribes to distance themselves from this these people. they are criminals and they are supported

the one person who is not say that is nuri al maliki. his actions to date, since the fall of mosul a couple weeks ago suggest he has no interest in an inclusive government. he continues to pursue this very sectarian, very pro shiite and everybody else set of policies. what we saw in your previous segment, this business of essentially ak abandoning, you can call it a strategic retreat, but essentially abandoning the sunni areas to i.s.i.s. and only trying to protect the shiite cities and the oil installation, that, too, sends a message to the iraqi sunnis. nuri al maliki is saying to them, i don't think your cities, your homes, your lives are worth protecting from i.s.i.s. >> that's not good enough for the unity of iraq as we're seeing playing out with these terrorists taking over these areas and the rift that this clearly zek centralized sectarian government has created. what he's not saying, if i'm hearing you correctly is what's newsworthy here. if we continue to not hear that important message from nuri al maliki, then what? >> then y

a few months later nuri al-maliki took office. he shows no signs of stepping down.is alliance won the most votes. he must form a new government. the white house hasn't said maliki should resign. they say it's up to the iraqi people but they have been critical of his policies. some u.s. lawmakers are blunter saying point blank he is got to go. christiane amanpour joins me now and covering iraq for a lot of years for time magazine. christiane, there seems to be no support for nuri al-maliki and clearly the white house believes there needs to be change. >> the president made that pretty clear going to say it's not up to the united states to choose who is the government of iraq but nonetheless, they have lost faith in nuri-al maliki, even hillary clinton basically told me iraqis need to get rid of maliki. who would be alternatives? we are hearing names floated, a sunni name and a shiite being floated. if you remember, he was the name associated most with helping to pull the u.s. into that war. so see how far things have come, people don't quite know who to get into powe

i mean, there are those who say get rid of nuri al malaki.tent that made the conditions ripe for isis to move in. is that enough? is the removal of nuri al malaki going to bring some sort of peace here? he's not the type of guy to give up easily and not in his dna to surrender power. >> yes, indeed, michael. the iraqis feel that the united states have to intervene some way. of course, not militarily. but diplomatically and politically. they feel that the united states have got them into this and it's already involved and it shouldn't abandon them. it should come back and try to help and support all of the parties together and listen and they need the united states to orchestrate sort to speak peace talks among iraqis so that bring each and every one to an understanding and find peace among them because things the way they are right now there's no possibility that they will lead to a light at the end of the tunnel. >> it is a truly tragic situation and as always, civilians are the ones who suffer the most. zyad mohammed in iraq, we appreciate

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

sounds like nuri maliki is trying to play the u.s. and iranian card. >> maliki needs all the help he can get. he needs help from the americans with certain weapons and probably some advisers that are going to be going in. he needs help from the iranians because they know about how to raise shia militias against these isis militants who are sunni. they've trained these shia militias before. they know how to get them to fight. they're valuable to the iraqi regime too. also, sulamani is seen as being very responsible for bashar al assad's regime, turning the tide of that war in syria. sulamani was there, helping assad fight the rebels there. his influence is all over this area. >> you'll have more on "the situation room" later today. thank you. >>> coming up, the world cup, team usa is putting their tough tie in the rearview mirror as they look ahead to a win. and you're in, challenge, unsterile medical equipment, neglecting elderly veterans for years. there's a scathing new report. we have details of abuse at va hospitals. if you have m

rises above sectarian motivations, stopping short of calling for the ouster of iraq's prime minister nuri al maliki but did call for this new government. for the people of iraq, secretary kerry's visit promises change for the better. >> translator: america will not accept the presence of al qaeda and isil in the region. it will have an effect on america, too. therefore, i think there's a solution in kerry's bag to solve the crisis and he will suggest solutions enabling iraqi politicians to reach national accord. >> we can't emphasize this enough, just looking at this on the ground, the situation is dire. right now the u.s. believes there are about 10,000 people now fighting under that i.s.i.s. flag. these militants here today capturing at least four more towns in the western desert. they are also in control of critical iraqi border crossings with syria there and neighboring jordan and have a direct line to the western outskirts of bagdad. jim sciutto, our chief national security correspondent is in bagdad traveling with secretary kerry. jim, to you. >> reporter: john kerry came here at a

>> reporter: one really just has to look at iraq's recent history and prime minister nuri al maliki's actions at every sipping sg sending sgsingle step of the way. he has made promises that he would be developing apan p clus sif government and he has done nothing except further alienate the sunni population. the president was saying that everything that is transpiring right now is perhaps a wake-up call for the iraqi government. many will tell that you it's a wake-up call to the united states. if they are going to once again gamble on maliki, bearing in mind that in the past it has miserably failed, it's very difficult to see what sort of additional pressure they will be able to put on him once they have in fact provided him with the kind of support that he needs. any sort of military or other action, any sort of perceived support by the united states towards the maliki government is going to only further enrage the sunni population, not only against the united states, but against the shia, as well. unless there are initial concrete political steps that are taken. the americans in the

>> reporter: one really just has to look at iraq's recent history and prime minister nuri al maliki's actions at every sipping sg sending sgsingle step of the way. he has made promises that he would be developing apan p clus sif government and he has done nothing except further alienate

what is your sense about the political temperature in baghdad around nuri al maliki? do people blame him for what's happening or are they rallying around him in the face of this possible isis incursion? >> reporter: i would say they blame him. a lot of iraqis are extremely angry with nuri al maliki because the situation is so bad. the situation economically is in trouble. the security situation is zero. the country's in collapse. the kurdish north is gobbling up territory and expanding its zone of influence. the sunnis are allowing these militants from this al qaeda monstrosity to fester in their midst. and the south is just trying to figure out how it can hold on to power. things here are in a state of collapse, and when things are collapsing, you blame the authorities. and they are blaming maliki. the question is, and this is what we are hearing from sources close to the political negotiations, maliki doesn't really want to go anywhere. maliki wants to ride this out, and if you look what might happen over the next few days, he might win. maliki is incredibly unpopul

going to go in squeezing the iraqis to get rid of nuri al maliki? >> they're not going to do it publicly. they're going to do it subtlety. they don't want their fingers on a political regime change. he certainly didn't express a vote of confidence in maliki. i think that's what's happening. it's happening domestically as well. the ayatollah sistani, the revered leader of shias in iraq, saying today that they need a leader. in effect, maliki losing that backing as well. at the same time, you have people raising their hands, other shias coming forward who have a better relationship with the sunnis and kurds. one of emthis, ahmad chalabi, remember the name, 2003, one of the architects of the american invasion. so you already have people who are raising their hands possibly to reblaze him. >> arwa damon is joining us. she's in erbil, iraq. arwa, both sides of this conflict, they're trying to boost their numbers right now. give us a little sense of the strategy that's unfolding. >> well, wolf, you talk about trying to boost your numbers. you have isis pr

can nuri al maliki survive? dangerous assignment. a cnn crew including ben wedeman is caught up in an angry demonstration and roughed up. the frightening incident caught on camera. so what led to this violent encounter? >>> and an unfolding disaster. relentless rain triggers a massive landslide, leaving a major hospital precariously perched on top of a crumbling hill. will it go tumbling into the mississippi river? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> we're following fresh and deadly fighting in iraq where the government says clashes between its forces and isis fighters near the syrian border now have left at least 17 militants dead and in northeastern iraq, isis forces launched an attack on a military outpost in the kurdistan region. with isis now controlling huge swathes of iraq including its second largest city, calls for the ouster of the prime minister nuri al maliki are growing louder and louder and some of his most critical support is clearly crumbling. we're of covering all angles with our correspondents and g

it is clear that nuri al maliki is not one to share power.believe we should own it to the extent we put a lot of military assets on the ground except to deal with the isil threat. i think in anticipation of some point try to improve the relationship with the sunni arabs, we should put our efforts in the relief for the populations caught in the crossfire of the looming civil war. >> mr. ambassador, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. nice to be with you. >> that was ambassador joe wilson. we started with the headline on the cheney op-ed. the collapsing obama dock train. real americans don't call a sitting commander in chief weak. >>> the redskins get sacked by the federal government, but while taking the trademark force the team to take their name? >>> a snatch and grab in libya. the u.s. takes a terror suspect on a slow boat to d.c. is that legal? 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

so the first answer to the question is nuri al malaki lost iraq. the shiite prime minister and his ruling party have behaved like hugs, excluding the sunnis from power, using the army, police forces and militias to terrorize their opponents. but let's remember how nuri al malaki came to be prime minister of iraq in the first place. he was the product of a series of momentous decisions made by the bush administration. having invaded iraq with a small force, what the expert tom ricks called the worst war plan in american history, the administration needed to find local allies fast. it quickly decided to destroy iraq's sunni-ruling establishment and empower the hardline shiite religious parties that had opposed saddam hussein. this meant that a structure of sunni power that had undergirded the area, for better or worse, for centuries, quickly collapsed. these moves to disband the army, dismantle the bureaucracy, and purge sunnis, in general, might have been more consequential than the actual decision to invade the country. if the bush administration d

he sat down with the embattled prime minister nuri al maliki.unni and shiite leaders. there is a lot to dissect here. let's turn to mark hurdling, former commander of u.s. troops in northern iraq. tara moeller, research fellow in the international security program at the america foundation, and david gergen, cnn's senior political analyst and former adviser to four u.s. presidents. welcome to all of you. >> thank you, carol. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here. so, tara, i'll start with you. secretary of state john kerry is expected to hold a news conference any moment now out of baghdad. he sat down with the prime minister earlier today. what do you suppose he said? >> well, i think what john kerry is trying to do is to engage with the iraqis, both sunni iraqi leadership and shia. he needs to put pressure on maliki to try to force maliki to unify the country. it is a sense of urgency that the country is feeling. without a unified government with maliki making overtures to the sunnis, he'll see his political days numbered as the jockeying

a backstage air assault will be made from removeton to be -- to nuri al-maliki from office? i don't know. he just won an election, and has wanted big. he had more personal preference than anyone else in the campaign. his strong that anti-sunni stance is very popular among the shia. you have to worry about pushing aside the democratically validated leader. it may be that he has to step aside to have a more inclusive government, but it should not be the americans who remove him. it should be the iraqis. but some pressure can be placed on him behind the scenes to step aside. is there anybody that you can see who could conceivably take over from him? doing, reallyn so make the sunni people of iraq feel like they had a government that represents them and their interest? >> there is always somebody else. there is no shortage of politicians to lead. allowing suppose him comes to mind because he did even better than maliki in the last election, but lacked the support of parliament. i'm not sure he would be a positive move at this point. , it'sct of the matter is not an issue that am

i mean part of the message was from muqtada al sadr to nuri al malaki, it's time for you to go.fighters if you come near our shrines, we're going to take you on. a double message. the message from the top religious cleric in the country as we don't want militias. we want everyone fighting in it the army. but as we all know, the army here has completely failed to fight in a cohesive way. the real issue is that these militias could be unleashed if sectarian violence kicks off. that's a real danger. that's a real concern in this city that's getting increasingly worried. isis now made those advances in and bar almost at the doors of the city, if you will, on the western side of baghdad, we hear reports of government offices being closed emptied of documents. there is over this weekend a bigger concern than there was last week, for example, anderson. >> nic robertson, arwa damon, stay safe. digging deeper with counter-terrorism analyst phillip mudd, a long serving veteran of the fbi and cia, and retired army major general james spider mark. james, you say the u.s. should be less on g

what is nuri al maliki going to do?he president basically lectured him today, you've got to take steps before the u.s. gets involved militarily. >> well, i was listening a little bit earlier and based on what the ambassador was from iraq was saying it doesn't look like maliki is jumping into action based on president obama's' marks. we're going to need to watch over a couple of days. the administration is going to have to watch the displacement that's happening, desertions that are happening. this is deja vu. saw this in 2004, 2005, 2006 and it's quite disheartening it's what we're seeing again now. unless maliki starts moving, i don't know that he's going to move as quickly as obama would like for the u.s. to lend in some help. >> what do you think maliki is going to do? certainly the president put all the pressure on him to do the right thing. >> well, the trouble is, you know, what is the right thing? i think the fundamentally right thing for him to do is to embrace power sharing. when you see the conflict in iraq, i

nuri al maliki may be finding the hot seat is warming up as the crisis in iraq drags on.le east, and back here in washington as well, he is losing support. and some, like the former commander in chief of u.s. central command, think maliki should consider stepping aside. >> he's going to have to change or he's going to end up with the rump state in the south and he's going to have a separate kurdish state and sunni state that becomes a sanctuary for problems that will plague him and the region for the foreseeable future. i think he's got to stop and smell the coffee here, because realistically, if he doesn't make significant change he has to go. >> let's discuss now with civilian cnn political commentator sally cone and retired air forceco colonel rick franco and in denver ver u.s. ambassador to iraq hill. i want to get to a lot. does the prime minister have to go, ambassador? >> well, the prime minister is going for a third term and a third term is rarely a charm in that part of the world. so my hope and maybe my expectation is that he wouldn't try to be the prime ministe

let's go back to the comments now by the prime minister nuri al maliki. apparently rejecting any notion of an emergency government in baghdad. let's bring in our senior international correspondent nic robertson, in the iraqi capital. the secretary of state john kerry was there earlier this week. he had intensive talks with nuri al maliki about creating some sort of more unity government. is this a direct reburr from maliki to kerry? is this a direct rebuff from maliki to kerry? >> it's certainly repositioning the governor a little bit here. certainly a little bit different than what he said to secretary of state john kerry. that he was committed to forming, along constitutional line, a government of unity that respected the aspirations of all iraqis. what he is pushing off is saying that he doesn't want, you know, an emergency government to be put in place, which some people are calling for. he says that's effectively a cure against the constitution. but more broadly, he wasn't striking a very conciliatory tone. he was going back to what he's been saying

ben wedeman, let's discuss what happened with nuri al maliki, this is a man the u.s. backed and by counting the seats lost the 2010 election but backed his way into government again. i remember being on the kuwaiti/iraqi border when the last u.s. soldier went out and it wasn't 24 hours before he started rounding up his shia political opponents and it went from there. how was he able to get away with basically thumbing his nose at the u.s. and others who said be inclusive, power sha, he did the opposite. >> certainly we know he's a man who always operated in sort of in secret and kept his cards very close to his chest and he did not make it clear to the americans, who were under the impression that somehow he would try to work together -- work to form some sort of government of national unity. it never happened. in fact, it wasn't too long before, in fact, he threatened to throw his vice president into prison. the most prominent sunni politician, who ended up fleeing to the kurdish area, where afterwards the iraqi government sentenced him to death in absentia, and that

can nuri al maliki survive? dangerous assignment.g ben wedeman is caught up in an angry demonstration and roughed up. the frightening incident caught on camera. so what led to this violent encounter? >>> and an unfolding disaster. relentless rain

but i think we need to work with the iraqi government and prime minister nuri al-maliki with regard tove. you just mentioned 60 nautical miles from baghdad. if we can work with the iraqis as well as have the american capability there with the options available to the president to basically stop their passage, stop their line of communication in baghdad, give the nuri al-maliki government time to provide a counter terrorist response and it provides us other opportunities to work in anbar province and work up with the kurds up in kurdistan. >> and you know what is troubling also is the involvement of the iranians. obviously supporting the shiites and maliki's government and there is reports that one of the generals, kassim seouly man is helping iraq. how does this effect the iraqi government and when you have the iranians there. he moved down from syria where the leader was advised assad and dealing with that situation. >> it is a very troubling move not only with the iranian militaries working with the syrias. and you know iraq has three constituencies, the shiites and the sunni and the

there was never a chance that nuri al maliki would a through have 5,000 or 10,000 u.s. troops to have the total withdrawal that president obama negotiated with the iraqis. >> gloria, i want to play a clip for you, this is lindsay graham puts some of the blame on president obama. you interviewed him last sunday. let me play this little clip, your exchange with lindsay graham. >> the stubborn-headed president we have who thinks he knows better than anybody else who withdrew troops and exposed this country to the inevitable needs to change his policies quickly. if he does we can -- still save this. >> stubborn-headed president? >> stubborn-headed, delusional, detached president. >> that's pretty tough rhetoric. >> right, and the point he's making is the point that you disagree with and that is, you know, he said it was president obama who could have negotiated this agreement to have a residual force ask that it is his fault in no uncertain terms that we are having the problems we're having now. now having said that lindsay graham then also won't and said, you know what? we

why nuri al maliki chose to say that he would not back u.s.eally, how we got here due to the policy decisions. you have john mccain saying that the war in a sense was won, and that this government was stable in iraq and something that general mccaffery said about ten minutes ago was flat out not true. >> right. this is not occurring in a vacu vacuum, but a process ten or more years in the making and some say centuries, with the sunnis and the shiites in the area, but it is a situation where there are some people like john mccain believe that had the united states stayed in iraq lo longer or almost indefinitely, you would not be having this type of situation at all, and others are combatting and saying that the united states shouldn't have been in the first place in iraq, and that after the surge and the bill yongs of dollar -- billions of dollars spent, and americans that died, this country was always going to be unstable regardless of the government and regardless of the ar army. >> and back to american public sentiment as well as we wait to

in many ways, this is politics for nuri al malaki, trying to hang on to his country and being able to unite it there. and so your caution about listening to the words of the iraqi government is a good one. what is your sense from people that you're speaking to in the streets? do they believe al maliki can lead them through this? >> you know, in baghdad there is a sense of certainly optimism. there's a lot of fear, a lot of concern, but this is a largely shia city, there is a sense that they are drawing a line, that baghdad itself will not fall. we have seen tens of thousands of volunteers. sistani called for people to take up arms to defend iraq, largely sunni volunteers -- shia volunteers. and so, there is a sense that baghdad itself will be able to with stand, that as isis forces get closer to the capital, they are fighting in more shia-dominated areas and those areas, shias there, are going to be more likely to stand up and fight there is a sense of confidence, but the question of whether will they be able to retake some of the areas that have already fallen, that is a very open qu

. >> that is worrying that the government, meanwhile, in the nuri al maliki government which is shia dominated, we've been hearing reports out of baghdad they are essentially preparing to defend the city and not just the iraqi army, but we are seeing a renaissance, if you will, of the shia militias which are now issuing calls to arms. you been hearing similar reports? >> reporter: oh, absolutely. i mean, it's all over the iraqi media. it's very widely documented that some of iraq's most senior shia clerics including the ultimate authority on all religious affairs in the country have called on young shia men to join the ranks of militias to defend their countries. now, the concern obviously for that is once you have these militias operating outside of the purview of the state, they can run wild and, in fact, what we've seen in the past in iraq, given its sectarian tensions is many of these militias become effectively kill gangs and go out and effectively kill political opposition groups and in some cases obviously the sunni opposition. the concern is that it's going to spill into a wh

the sunnis want their country back and they oppose the shiite government of prime minister nuri al maliki which has excluded them from power. new york times correspondent sudad alsucceahi joins us live baghdad. what are you hearing from the ground? >> we are -- they control two military bases, western tikrit. one of them, the air forces and the other one is the air force base and, of course, over the last few days they let soldiers leave, took hundreds of shiite soldiers and captured them and other places. and they already are in the northern part of samarra city, just away from samarra. they took control of a city 70 miles north of baghdad and then nothing happened since then in the last few hours. it sounds like they are trying to rebuild the local government as our sources suggested and to nominate a new governor who is an iraqi army officer and also nominate a military commander for what they call the military council. he is also a former iraqi army officer. now they are negotiating to get into samarra. they are expecting that they a bandzonned everything as they did in mosul and tikr

they've been calling for years for prime minister nuri al maliki to make political agreements with his deals in iraq, sunnis, curds, so sunnis, curds and shias can give iraq the stability necessary to resolve this long term. that's the central question here, guys. >> athena jones at the white house for us. thank you. >> some military veterans and their families are watching the news from iraq as it unfolds and asking what was their service for if iraq may be worse off today than when the u.s. troops met. earlier on "new day" we spoke to the widow of doug zembek, famously dubbed the lion of fall lu fall lou gentleman. >> you are a military widow. >> yes. >> what would you tell the president about potentially getting back involved, even with air strikes in iraq after knowing what your husband went through, what he told you about his dedication to the mission there and what you're seeing today? >> i would be in support, 100%, of him going back into iraq and trying to regain what doug fought so highly for, the framework of democracy. that is what he went over there to fight for. i would be

in order to establish if it isn't nuri al maliki, who could it be to go forward? one of the criticisms of al maliki that over his period of his administrations, he has put placement, loyalists in key positions in the military and in the intelligence services and undermined the professional ability of both. and that is why experts estimate that some 25% of the iraqi regular army is completely nonfunctional, some 60 battalions are believed to have effectively evaporated. it takes many months to put those back together, to get the remains of them, rearm them and get them back on to the front foot. >> for more on secretary kerry's trip to iraq, we turn to james rosen. james. >> reporter: sean, good evening. secretary of state john kerry said he received strong commitments from the iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki and also from sunni and kurd alike that they will step on the gas on forming a new government here in iraq. kerry met with al maliki, a shiite, for almost two hours. senior official says the prime minister and other senior figures of all religious sects ha

direct talks are set to start with nuri al maliki. one prominent republican says it is time the u.s. brought them into the discussion. >> they are in this. they are already on the ground. we need to put a red line with iran. you can help stabilize. you sit down and talk with them. the iranians can provide some assets to make sure baghdad doesn't fall. we need to coordinate and the turks need to get in and back in the game. form a new government. >> it's complicated, but the talks are not without precedence. they had talks with the bush administration after september 11th about removing the taliban from afghanistan. >>> the military launching a major operation against the militants along the afghan border. pakistani jets killed more than 100 militants. pakistani taliban responded telling foreign companies to leave immediately in an equally damaging response is in store. >>> russia set to stop the supply of gas to ukraine. they failed to reach a deal. ukraine owes $4.5 billion. this latest disagreement comes after they shot down a trans

the highway transformed into a demonstration ground against shia prime minister nuri al maliki. the tribes were getting ready for battle should iraqi forces try to enter. >> translator: we've been ready for a long time. we're certain al maliki is a liar. the political process is just a game. our weapons arer from, light medium and on up. but he also vowed the tribes would not again be a nuturing ground for terrorism. his tribe was among those that eventually allied with the u.s. turning against al qaeda in some of the darkest days of the occupation. so what happened? >> isis is trying to ride the wave of the sunni revolution, trying to exploit it, and we won't accept this. >> but to a certain degree, they have. for now. >> translator: it's not in our interests to fight a variety of groups. we don't have the capability to fight everyone. the problem is with maliki. isis is killing and isis has an agenda but all the shia militias right now are wearing an official iraqi uniform and are killing iraqis. everyone is focused on isis, the tribes will not ally with i was. >> problem is,

he urged nuri al-maliki to change his tactics. essential that iraq possibly leaders form a genuinely inclusive government as rapidly as possible within their own constitutional framework. intense,rt will be sustained, and if iraq possibly leaders take the necessary steps to bring the country together, it will be effective. >> the u.s. accuses maliki of marginalizing sunnis and driving them into the arm of islamist fighters that control much of northern and western iraq. are fightingtants to establish an islamist state in iraq and syria. >> a court in egypt handed down sentences on monday for journalists accused of supporting the muslim brotherhood. and two egyptians working for al jazeera were given seven to 10 years in prison after a trial in which many said the prosecutors presented no credible evidence. the sentence stunned the defendants and sparked international criticism. >> we are deeply dismayed by the fact that a sentence has been imposed and we are appalled by the severity of it. officials denied the verdict was politica

at least kurdish representatives to participate in a new government being formed by prime minister nuri al maliki. >> the government challenge is a central challenge that we face. in recent days, the security cooperation between the forces here in the kurdish area have been really critical to helping to draw a line with respect to isil. >> reporter: the kurdish leadership i've been speaking to over the course of the past week have not been hiding their disdain for prime minister maliki. in fact, the region's prime minister has said it's time for him to step aside and allow a new leadership to emerge. but there's no indication that is going to happen anytime soon. the u.s. wants to try to get a political process underway, that forms a new government, that also represents iraq's minority and is not particularly dominated simply by the shia block that is headed the by prime minister nuri al maliki. but on the ground, the situation remains, rather tense. the iraqi army says it still holds that the largest oil refinery in the country, despite the fact that isis militants are claiming to have

just gotten word from the white house that voice president joseph biden called iraq's prim minister, nuri al-maliki. sunni extremist ed have a choke hold on fuel supply. a lot to talk about tonight. even though the central government is driving them back, the front line remains as close as some 37 miles from the capitol of baghdad where i am. faith remains low in many quarters, trust in the prime minister to look out for all i rockies seemingly non-kpes tablet. against that backdrop, the prime minister requested and the obama administration is considering air strikes. this afternoon, president obama met with congressional leaders giving his perspective according to house minority leader nancy pelosi but not running through a list of possible actions that he's planning to take. tonight, we will run through a list of possible actions but first, a wrap of the big developments here today. long live isis these sunni militants chant on the streets today. they are control of the city and at least part of its massive oil refinery. black smoke fills the air as think set fire to at least five oil s

whether or not nuri al maliki is able to do that.on with the two groups? >> think to have the representation in government is the first step. many groups giving isis the support and capturing the territory and many participated in the sunni awakening and helped to defeat the groups in iraq, if they show support or promise they might have recognition, i think it might push them away from supporting isis. >> nuri al maliki was seen as the person who could do that. offer reconciliation. he went for consolidation and purged the government of the sunni representatives. is there another shi'a leader who could be the next person to be trusted to start this reconciliation that so many have been waiting? >> i'm not sure who might be a reasonable contender for nuri al maliki. people have discused it. i am really not sure who the potential contender might be. i think an inclusive government is what is a critical factor to dissuade a lot of existing support that isis has been further support. >> professor jenna jordan, thank you. >> thank you fo

senior officials would like to see someone other than nuri al maliki run the country. president obama didn't go that far, but didn't express comfort in his leadership. >> it's not our job to choose iraq's leaders. there's no secret that right now, at least, there is deep divisions between sunni, shia and kurdish leaders. as long as those deep divisions continue or worsen, it's going to be very hard for an iraqi central government to direct an iraqi government. >> senior international correspondent nic robertson is live. are iraqis saying the same thing as the white house about their prime minister? >> reporter: it depends on who you talk to. a lot of them answer the call to step up and join the fight, join the iraqi army which means joining shia militias here. he has a certain amount of supporters. that said, across the sectarian divide and sort of more moderate circles, no, they say he's not the man, he isn't inclusive, he's exclusive of sunnis and the divisions we see now are the divisions he's created. the actions he's taken this week and the actions that distanced