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ryan crocker was the u.s. ambassador to iraq from 2007 to 2009.he is now the dean of the bush school of government and public service at texas a&m. richard haas was director of policy planning at the state department during george w. bush's first term. he is now the president of the council on foreign relations. ambassador crocker, john mccain has said that one of the things he would do was send you back to baghdad. i want to know what you do, were you there, and i want to ask you specifically why you think that maliki would listen to you. you were telling him to be inclusive and to do all the things that people now want him to do and there were 100,000 american troop there is at the time. do you think you would be able to do anything if you were to go? >> fareed, we have a very, very good ambassador there right now in the person of steve bekroft. but ambassadors can't do it all. you need heavy fire support on the diplomatic front. so if i were asked to return to iraq, the first thing i would request is that secretary kerry get on a plane immediat

probably, david petraeus and ryan crocker. send them back. send them back, those that worked so closely with the sunni like general mcfar land, then-colonel mcfarland, the people that built up these long relationships with the sunnis. send them back. maliki will listen to david petraeus and ryan crocker. send back a planning team. a group of really smart people that can work with what's left of the iraqi military leadership and identify tactics and strategy that can reverse this tide of the isis which is about to engulf them. send some air power. send some air power with targets we can identify. and i am fully aware of the risks associated with it. i want to repeat over and over and over again, there are no good options. and also make it very clear to maliki that his time is up, that he must arrange for a transition. now the shia won the election, the majority of the votes. a majority of any of the parties but not an overall majority of the vote. this new government could be headed by a shia. but it has to be a shia that can reach out to the

ryan crocker was ambassador 2007 to 2009 and also served as ambassador to other war zones, of course, afghanistan, earlier beirut. he is now the dean of the george bush school of government and school at texas a&m and joins us from texas. thank you very much, ambassador. first of all, what do you think we should be doing diplomatically? >> that is the key question, andrea. i think the main efforts we have to make is the "d" of diplomacy, taking precedence over the "d" of defense. we have not been engaged systematically and a high level for basically since our forces were withdrawn in 2011. and what we're seeing now i think is the result of that. the iraqi system is not mature enough to function on its own without robust u.s. involvement. we saw that during a time i was there. '07 to '09. before and after. so i think the critical, immediate step right now would be for the secretary of state to get himself to baghdad. >> hillary clinton only went once the entire time that she was secretary of state. i believe once in 2009. first of all, looking back, do you think that she and others sho

. >> reporter: ryan crocker told "cbs this morning" the administration should step up its diplomaticgame. >> they should be on a plane for baghdad. >> reporter: he said the focus should be held the shiite led government bridge the sunni- shiite divide. >> signs of new warfare. pro-government shiite militiamen allegedly killed nearly 4 dozen sunni detainees northeast of baghdad. >>> a move to protect the pacific ocean. president obama announced plans now to create the largest marine preserve in the world. the white house wants to add some 700,000 square miles to the pacific remote island's marine national monument near hawaii and american samoa. the area would be prevented from drilling and other actions, to preserve the ocean. >> what we need is action, sustained activism and courageous political leader ship. we can't afford to be passive. >> a 7 million-dollar pledge to conservation project over the next couple of years. >>> family budgets were tighter last month. consumer prices rows in may the biggest jump in a year. the labor department says overall prices were up .4%. food and g

. >> the best thing you could do right now is ask ryan crocker the former ambassador who knows all of the plays and was instrumental in creating government at the time when they were there iraqi government that were relatively sectarian and were able to enlist sunni shiites which disappeared. it isn't as if the situation is hopeless but asking the maliki to reform himself overnight is not going to work. >> a man out of prison now back behind bars again in the murder of a priest in phoenix. he is charged with shooting kenneth walker to death and beating reverend terra. he admits to being involved in the crime which they think is a robbery gone bad. he was just released from prison in april after serving time for assault and burglary. >>> a fast moving wildfire in a northwestern new mexico. 400 people forced to leaf their homes near sheep springs burning 17 square miles so far. all evacuation orders have been listed. three homes have been destroyed. >> news of retaliation sparking calls. they claim they were punished to improper practices within the va. now arizona republican senators j

and ask general petraeus and ryan crocker who used to be a great ambassador there and have to believet central command responsible for the theater is dusting off all of their plans and all u.s. american personnel. i am not saying that is imminent but given what is taken place. isis movement is 113 from baghdad north and 50 from the west. before they go. >> you think it is a situation they can take baghdad? >> we could be in weeks and months they can do it. they worked on mosul away from the media except for analyst close to two years and very hard the last number of months. they will set the conditions for baghdad. vehicle born ia d attacks rains on police and encircle the belt and put pressure on it. it is a city of 7 million people. and this is not what you walk in to and take control of. and the facts that it this would take time for them to be successful, but you raised the poip, jenna, the iraqi security fores, we did not expect them to fold like they did, to be frank. i think the reason for. that they don't believe they are fighting for something in terms of the a l- ma liki gov

again, i would say you send former ambassador ryan crocker who has in the past worked on it but at theme ifs there there is a breakout of isis where it looks as if it's going to take baghdad, then i think we would be compelled to do something even prior to reconciliation. >> crocker said secretary kerry should be on the plane to baghdad. i don't know if he's taken the job or not. >> but somebody of authority, and i would leave out the vice president should be on the plane right now and working on that. and issue pronunsment of the white house. that will have no effect since we have no leverage. >> steve, it was announced the other day, it's like a 3d chess game. a lot of different parts. the kurds, meantime, are getting ready to really call for independent state. and now they have the backing of the turks, the turkish. >> yeah. this is where -- charles is right, we should be doing basically anything we can do to avoid what i fear it's going to be. if you think looks bad on the ground in iraq right now, wait six months. this could be a disaster of big proportions. why would the kurds --

the best thing he can do is ask ryan crocker, former ambassador, who knows all the plays and was instrumentaln creating government at the time we were there, iraqi government that were relatively nonsectarian and able to enlist sunni, shiite and kurds. it isn't as if a situation is hopeless. but simply asking that maliki reform himself overnight is not going to work. if we have stake in the game, if we are a player in the game in helping the regime have a seat at the table, we will be able to help them. this is the best case scenario to develop some kind of political strategy where sunnis and kurds were brought in. in the absence of that, that won't happen. >> ron, with this deal with iran and the possibility of having some kind of partnership in this. >> for this to work, we have to find a way to work with the folks in the area. israelis. europeans. it has to be done quietly. you can't have the secretary of state talking about it and taking it back. quiet diplomacy is supposed to be quiet. he's really messed this up. >> to that point, on this issue, secretary kerry was out talking about this

ryan crocker, the ambassador to iraq, and asked her and her diplomat. he said the trouble is we built ourselves into the hard drive. the system didn't work anymore. in 2003 we destroy the iraqi estate and we spent 8.5 years trying to build a new win. it turns out it did not work very well. what is her obligation? that is what the president is winning at the moment. >> thank you for coming. back in a moment, stay with us. ♪ >> we continue with the news from egypt. three al jazeera journalists have been convicted and sentenced on charges of conspiring with the muslim brotherhood. the verdicts have drawn widespread condemnation. they came after the secretary of state express confidence in u.s.-egypt relations. today the secretary kerry said this. "the conviction is a chilling and draconian sentence. when i heard the verdict i was so concerned about it am a disappointed in it, i picked up the telephone and talk to the foreign minister of egypt and registered our displeasure at this kind of verdict." in a conversation on may 1, i spoke with the egyptian fore

first of all, why don't we send ryan crocker and david petraeus back to baghdad? they're the smartest people i've ever known and everybody agrees with that. send them back to bag and sit down with maliki and also some military planning teams that can assess the situation and address the needs of the iraqi military. those that can still function effectively. go ahead and orchestrate the airstrikes, and understand that the problem in syria is going to have to be addressed as well. so there are concrete steps that every military leader that i know advocates as a way of turning this around. there is no good opposite option. because the situation we're in, there is no good option but the worst option is what the administration is doing today, which is nothing. except sending a few advisors over to give some assessment of the situation. no one, no one wants to get back into any conflict. no american wants to do that. i'm the last one that wants to do that. but we have to understand what our director of national intelligence has told us, what our secretary of homeland se

it was in part ryan crocker but having the military presence to say look, you can't purge your troopsunni leadership. you have to include everybody. >> let me play joe biden from 2012. joe biden wanted to break iraq into three at one point, been wrong on every national security issue in history. this is when he said back in 2010. >> i'm very optimistic about iraq. i think it will be one of the great achiefments of this administration. you'll see 90,000 american troops come marching home by the end of the summer. you're going to see a stable government in iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government. >> if you're a mother or father that lost a child in iraq and now you're watching the decision grags of this country and gave up an arm and leg of this battle, tifight, what are you thinking? >> i don't think we should have ever been there. let's make a really bad decision, one of the worst decisions in the country. people go there -- >> the same thing in afghanistan. >> they lose limbs. afghanistan was not as stupzó0 f a war as iraq. >> what is obama doing? the same thi

and ryan crocker used to save malaki from himself, a formformer ambassador.e fact of the matter is, this army's morale began to systemically break down for the last three years because of ineffective leaders. he puts his cronies and hacks in there. and quite alarming, they have 14 divisions. they number somewhere around 200,000. they outnumber these guys 25 to 1. >> but it's hollow now. >> it's hollowed out. it's kind of like a house with termites that have been at it for years. you look at the house and it looks good, but the fact of the matter is, if you push on it hard it collapses. ed the troop levels, when the isis approached them, the levels were around 50% because of the high desertion rates. >> judge, there is not an appetite in this country, any poll you ask, to get rolfed any place, let alone some place we pulled out of. yet, seeing these terrorists take over these big cities, what do you think about this administration and what it may or may not do? >> you read my mind. as the general was just finishing up, there is not an appetite amongst the vote

you know, ryan crocker, ambassador for several years.at the irony is, that we built ourselves into the hard drive, and i think that's right. you've basically got these three groups, the shiites, the sunnis and the kurds, they've never really learned how to live with each other. they don't trust each other. the united states, we came in in 2003, we destroyed the iraqi state, spent eight and a half years trying to build another one. but we built a system that doesn't work very well, it worked okay, as long as we were there. >> the iraqi defense force would have some 250,000 troops out numbering isis forces, i don't know, 50-1, 100-1, perhaps. how they're not able to stand up to them and defeat them on the field of bat snell. >> it's incredible. look, it comes down to moral, i think it's four divisions of the iraqi army disappeared up there, when confronted by, you know, a bunch of guys in pickup trucks. it's pretty pathetic. >> it is. don't even think about it. thanks very much. >>> the u.s. army announces a crucial step as it seeks answer

architect of the surge which succeeded and we had it won in iraq, people like the okayi kagann and ryan crocker think i would put david petraeus ton a plane to baghdad right now to try to sort all of this out. and, also, maliki has got to be more inclusive. he's 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 ame

what made president bush's surge successful under general petraeus and ambassador ryan crocker, we did the government in baghdad to bring at the sunni leaders in, and until maliki does that there will be popular support for this brutal and vicious terrorist group in the neighborhood. so secretary kerry delivered exactly the right message today, and that's the crucible here. the iraqi government has to change its policy. >> is it too late for that? >> i don't think it's too late. i think from all the reports that are coming in, isis has made dramatic gains of the last ten days, including taking the city of mosul ten days ago, the second largest city in the country. they have a lot of money. unfortunately they're being financed by people in the arab world but the iraqi army is so much larger and with proper direction, proper leadership, and proper motivation, it ought to be able to stop this group. it hasn't been able to up to now because i think there hasn't been that leadership as the at the general officer level and certainly not the prime minister level. president obama is doing what

i was there when nouriel al-maliki called general petraeus and ambassador ryan crocker to his office.hat was on a thursday evening. they show up the next day and he said, i'm heading down to basra with four brigades on saturday. no coordination, because he didn't want us to tell him that was a bad idea. and the charge of the knights succeeded. maliki succeeded clearing the them out of basra and sadr city and a march raw. it only succeeded because we supported it. logistically it was failing. they had no fire support. they were on the verge of failing. that would have been disasterous for malik kim. he would have easily suffered a vote of no confidence in the council of representatives. he went down there to basra. he realized his political stake was on the line and went down to basra and moved his headquarters down there and commanded and controlled the way only an iraqi could, with four cell phones in front of him. general petraeus laid on advisors, air power, attack helicopters, drones, an airborne infantry battalion, logistics. it was that push from the multinational force in iraq

ambassador to iraq and afghanistan, ryan crocker. and what could america do? i talk to richard h

syria, the implications that have regionally and globally as secretary kerry and others said, ryan crocker the former ambassador said don't kid yourself. if there's an al qaeda stan in iraq, there's a threat to us. that's a terror base. i don't think we can -- the public is ambivalent as they always are. i think we need strong leadership from the president. >> the president has said that is a threat to u.s. interests if isis does set up which they have already frankly in syria and western iraq. it does and can and been threaten u.s. interests. so again, it just does beg the question, if it is a threat to u.s. interests, how can you change the situation there on the ground? because frankly, i don't site any of these sunni cities that have fallen to isis militants deciding they want to kick them out in favor of a shia government. >> i agree with you and wa bill said. you cannot allow an al qaeda safe haven. we saw on 9/11 what happens when you do so. that said, i don't believe that the american people support another u.s. troop presences in iraq. even at a level like 10,000 which is what was

. >> i think if there was ryan crocker in there on a regular basis, i think if you had petraeus on aegular basis they would have been able to moderate maliki vis-a-vis. >> rose: you experienced that war and then there was the iraqi war. now iraq is facing a more difficult situation for both iraq and united states. we've seen in fact one of the former acting director of the cia said the most difficult found since the 73 war. my point is, what would you do? david petraeus says no air power, we don't want to use air power to come in on the side of the shi'as. i don't know what ron panetta says i want to know what dick cheney would do now. >> the first thing i would say is recognize it for what it is. it's part of a much larger problem and we need a broader strategy and we need to reverse course, a lot of policies that are now in place with the military. >> rose: that goes beyond iraq. >> that's right. but i would start down that road because there are a lot of things you can do there that need to be addressed. with respect to iraq itself, the things i found especially within the last fe

when you hear ryan crocker who served in both the bush and obama administrations, ambassador to iraq and ambassador to afghanistan, saying he thinks that the terror group isis may be worse than to deal with than al qaeda at its hitd with osama bin laden in power. >> that's what should concern everybody. if you look at a map, you've got iraq, syria, what you're pointing out here. 300 people, air strikes. what about jordan, lebanon, and turkey? >> now there was an isis video showing isis trying to get into jordan, recruit people potentially. all this stuff flying around. that could suggest they're trying to go into other countries. the other thing to watch was on what karen was saying, that the fbi director is saying there may be at least 100 americans who have gone over to the midea mideast, are working with isis as jihadists, training. all of them could have american passports after that training try, we stress try, come back to the united states and european countries and launch terror attacks. when you have a nonpolitical person saying that, that is a big fear for the administratio

. >> my experience, the experience of ryan crocker, the experience of general petraeus, the experiencel of us who have been involved in this for the last decade is that only the americans can help the iraqis broker across these sectarian and ethnic lines. there is nobody else who can do it. we may regret that. >> you know, paul bremer has what they call in the foreign policy circles amazing chutes pa. here is a man who -- there was one problem about colossally getting wrong the invasion and the premise for the invasion. paul bremer was almost single handedly responsible for the unraveling of the country that followed that, the disastrous early phase of the occupation. specifically, the interethnic and sectarian conflict that emerged from his bebaathfication process, disdisbanding the iraqi army, trying to take out the whole top layer, elite, the sunsun sunni elite that was running iraq for so long. blithe admonishments of this administration or any other, for that matter, saying they need to put troops in, they need to listen to him, and his experience so is much better. his experience

former ambassador to new york, ryan crocker joining me tomorrow.nline, on facebook and on twitter at mitchell reports. my colleague ronan farrow has a look at what's next. >> we've got a lot to get through today on our own show. we're going to take a deep dive on everything you need to know about military prospects in iraq. and you actually won't believe one solution that's being put on the table. >>> plus, everything you probably don't need to know but may want to about the world cup. and mitt romney rising from the political dead. stick around. >>> we're turning up the heat. temperatures are getting very warm, if not hot. warmer temperatures of on the eastern seaboard for the first time. also the chance for strong, dangerous thunderstorms and even a few tornadoes from minneapolis to des moines, including ames, iowa, later today into this evening. have a great day. to map their manufacturings at process with sticky notes and string, yeah, they were a little bit skeptical. what they do actually is rocket science. high tech components for aircraft a

between the kurds and the sunnis and the shia, we were the only people holding together and quoting ryan crocker the former american ambassador said the problem was we built ourselves into the hard drive into that system. the system doesn't work without us, and then we left. and is president obama willing to reengage at that level? let me just mention one thing, if he is, iraq just had an election, and there is no -- you know, maliki technically is a caretaker prime minister. there needs to be a new government and there's lots of political jockeying going on. if we wanted to push now, yeah, we could probably do it. >> charlie: to be replaced by? there's lots of people there who any american official who was there during the war would tell you they favor much more over maliki and people who are less sectarian, less close to iran than maliki. >> charlie: obviously, the president has not decided what he's going to do. he said friday that over the coming days, in the weekend, he would be reviewing options presented by his national security team for military action to deal with the situation though h

ryan crocker was u.s. ambassador to iraq during some of the worst sectarian violence in the mid-towels. >> the stakes are very high here. this is al qaeda 6.0. and if they consolidate their territorial gains, they will be in a stronger position than they ever were in ofg prior to 9/11. we know how that turned out. >> increasing the fears of a possible civil war is the fact that the battle lines are already mirroring iraq's ethnic lines. these are the cities that isis militants verbatim taken parts over. this is the sunni part of the country here. this is the kurdish part roughly and this is the shia part. these are essentially the battle lines in that country right now. things to watch going forward, fallujah is now an isis strong hold. it's a path into baghdad here. do they take advantage of it? it would add to the path from the north a redanger for baghdad going forward. they already have many contacts in the western part of baghdad allowing had em to carry out bombing attacks. it's also a potential path

i was struck by an article by ryan crocker, who served as eric ambassador under you. he said, this is global jihad. it's coming our way. they have 2,000 fighters with western passports. don't need a visa to get in. are we under serious threat right now from i.s.i.s.? >> we've been under serious threat my entire presidency. and we were under serious threat predating 9/11, from those who embrace this ideology. >> reporter: but they're gaining strength, aren't they? >> they're gaining strength in some places. but we've also got a lot better at protecting ourselves. >> reporter: let me ask you a final question on foreign policy. it comes from "audacity of hope." and you said, without a well-articulated strategy, the public support and the world understands america will lack legitimacy and the power it needs to make the world safer that on it is today. americans don't support your path on foreign policy. are you failing by your own standard? >> you know, i know we go back to the polls. but throughout the first half of my presidency, the polls showed strong support for my p

when you look at someone like secretary kerry, it was interesting to me this morning ambassador ryan crocker afghanistan, was on cbs critical of secretary kerry saying why is he not on the ground in baghdad right now if the administration wants to test diplomacy, that perhaps sec kerry should already be in the region. martha: general petraeus, ambassador crocker, possibly people who could get involved in this process. ed, thank you very much. bill: let's bring in mike mccall, sir, good morning. >> thanks for having me, bill. bill: you said two days ago this crisis demands immediate action, the president cannot make a decision. have you changed your mind about that? >> well, look, i wouldn't have gone to palm springs for a fundraiser and playing golf. i would have called in not only my top advisers in the administration, but i would call in the comeanlders and diplomats who won this war in iraq and get their opinion. and i've talked to many of them myself, ambassador crocker just the other day, some high ranking military officials that won this war. i think that's advice the president needs,

with us from brian, texas, is ryan crocker, he was the american ambassador to george w.ush and president obama. he's now a professor at texas a&m university. ambassador crocker, good morning. >> good morning. we have worked with the iranians before. and you were part of the conversations then. how can we cooperate now? >> we as worked with the iranians in afghanistan just before and after the fall of the taliban, so, you know, it's something we can do. but both of us need to be careful. this is a sectarian struggle. and if we are seen as cooperating too closely with iran, it is going to further alienate the sunni element of the iraqi population. so it's good we're talking. we just have to be careful. >> what restraints would you like to see what iran does with iraq? >> first, not to exacerbate the situation. in other words, not to support extremist shia militias. we've already seen some indications of sectarian strife moves into baghdad, with the murder overnight of some sunni young men. what the iranians need to do is use all of their influence and effort to see that th

i was there when nuri al maliki called general petraeus and ambassador ryan crocker to his office. that was on a thursday evening. they show up on the next day and he said, i'm heading down to bozro with four brigades on saturday. no coordination because he didn't want us to tell him that that was a bad idea. and the charge of the knights succeeded. maliki succeeded in clearing out of basra then sadr city then amaura but it only succeeded because we supported it. it was on the verge of failure. logistically it was failing. they had no fire support. and they were on the verge of failing. that would are been disastrous for maliki. he would have easily have suffered a vote of no confidence in the council of representatives. and he went down there to basra. he realized his political stake was on the line and he went down there basra and moved his headquarters down there and mandmand commanded and controlled only the way an iraqi could, with four cell phones in front of him. general petraeus laid on advisers, air power, attack helicopters, drones, airborne infantry battalion, logistics.

. >> reporter: you heard ryan crocker who had credibility because he didn't just serve in the bush administrationambassador to iraq and afghanistan. he said why isn't secretary john kerry in the region right now. why isn't he on a plane to baghdad. when you look at these four lawmakers significant, this afternoon. speaker john boehner, the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. they may be more on the president's side. they do want to see some sort of u.s. action. nancy pelosi said iraq's not our responsibility. then senate majority leader harry reid said on the senate floor a few minutes ago he believes republicans are playing political games saying this is iraq's civil war. suggesting it's not a place for the u.s. to get deeply involved. martha: we have seen how that played out in syria when congress didn't want to go and that provided cover somewhat for the president. thank you very much. bill were iraq was one of the topic as hillary clinton sat down with bret baier and gretta van susteren for 30 minutes. she's slamming iraq's prime minister saying the country would be better off without h

administration would disagree with me, but there is no way we have had so much influence as we had when ryan crocker was in baghdad and was working these issues, calling iraqi leaders obama,y, versus barack who has called the iraqi literally the number of fingers i have on a hand. this is a very difficult problem. i think there needs to be a change in baghdad. perhaps, the diplomacy needs to get right first, but i do not see how we can do it without serious u.s. diplomatic and political involvement in the issue. >> can i? standpoint, i would prefer to have kirkuk under control of the iraqi army, and when a division of the iraqi army comes to save us from isil is saving a city, not occupying a city. i know they are saying this about the kurds. i am very extremely disappointed iraqis didaq he -- not fire one bullet to save mos ul. >> although, it is worth pointing out with the outlook -- with thes current opinion polls -- >> when we talk about the shia, we talk about it as one, and i find that hard to believe. are there divisions in that community? thank you. >> yes. i am not the spokesman of the shia

i think one interesting comment came from former ambassador to iraq ryan crocker over the weekend.at he said. >> the first thing i would request is that secretary kerry get on a plane immediately. we have lacked this high level engagement with the iraqis that was so crucial during my term in office. we need the secretary of state out there in baghdad right now. we need the president on the phone to the iraqi leadership. >> so there you go. communication is another issue that is being debated out there. but, like i was saying, there are big differences of opinion, even with whom and to what extent the u.s. should be engaging. on the iraqi side. on the iranian side, some republicans calling for the president to now engage directly with iran. that's not something that is really being talked about right now by the administration. but it has been asked because the u.s. and iran have been engaging closely and very recently on the nuclear proliferation issue. so will that be talked about in the near future? possibly. but we don't know at this point. another big difference of opinion is on

maybe ryan crocker along with him. down with maliki and say, maliki, prime minister, you're going to have to transition out of your job. 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

. >> i want to read something that former ambassador to iraq ryan crocker wrote this this morning, we foolish to believe that isis will not attack the west now that it has the space and the security to do is and this is a more formidable force than the group that brought us osama bin laden, and they are well financed and is it possible that they could plan an attack on u.s. soil under our radar and do you see isis as a whole new breed? >> ell with a whole new breed to the extent that they are sophisticated in respect to the social media, and don't forget that it is young people who have a tendency to be six standard deviation s deviations away from the mean. those people who are rabid and easily drawn into something like this is through the social media they talk to one another. with respect to an attack on the united states, they don't need an excuse to attack the united states or indeed any place else. under the radar and it has been done before, it means that we have to be much more sophisticated ourselves in keeping track of who is doing what to whom. we have an open and porous bo

ambassador ryan crocker, just the other day was saying, america was sort of the indispensable balancing element in this whole situation. and i think that we could play an important role in brokering some of these differences between iraqis. we could still do that. i hope that we will be continuing to play an active role. ambassador crocker suggested that secretary kerry ought to give some thought to going out there and lead a diplomatic effort to help bring together the different political factions. we've been able to broker those kind of arrangements in the past and i think we could probably be helpful now. >> here's how the piece put it in "newsweek." the american plan was for iraq to be ruled by a cooperative government. but this idea of cooperative leadership between the hatfields and mccoys was always destined to collapse. hundreds of years of war were not going to set -- were not going to be set aside just because the west demanded it. >> right. so that's a description of the problem. but what's the solution? it seems to me the solution is elected democratic institutions, like the

my colleague ryan crocker had conversations with the iranians.y there were various quiet contacts over the the years. here's the problem. right now isis, as you are reporting is moving on baghdad. they can't take the city. they cut off from supplies which will have a destabilizing effect. iran would intervene. that's a short term military decision the president will have to make. if they don't it's the problem of a permanent problem of eye sis, a chunk of iraq and syria. that's a longer term problem. >> let me is ask you this. something you have probably heard from joe biden. should iraq be divided up? >> iraq is on the way to dividing itself up by the actions of the kurds, sunnis and sh shia unless leadership in baghdad can be developed to bring the country back together and have an answer to isis. that's where we can play a role. that would require some kind of coordination with the iranians to make them realize it's in their interest. they understand that iraq needs to remain a unified state. >> great conversation. james jeffrey, thanks for st

. >> i'd also like you to respond to something we heard from ryan crocker, former ambassador to iraq and afghanistan. he said that this group, isis, is actually more formidable than al qaeda was at september 11th. do you agree with that assessment? >> i don't have a personal assessment to share. i think the president was pretty clear when he spoke from this podium on thursday about his concern about the potential forviolence that isil has already demonstrated. they have used some pretty terrible tactics. there have been reports of massacres of some iraqi troops so there is no doubt that this is a group that has some violent tendencies and it's the subject of some concern that's why the president has laid out a pretty specific strategy for trying to contain that threat and to deal with it, but it hinges on some important political steps that need to be taken by the iraqi government. >> there's no question they have some violent tendencies and they are problematic, but crocker is suggesting something much more, that they now have access to resources that al qaeda never had previously,