the shiia have been attacked many times. dement that the islamic state is overrunning places in the northwest. the kurds suffered an attack. all of the communities are afraid they node to agree on a way to address some of the underlying political issues in the country. at the same time they deal militarily on the fwhoupd >> after decades as a diplomat, after decades of speaking for the government that you serve, are you getting used to the idea you can talk for yourself? >> absolutely. it's important as we look at these issues to understand what governments are doing and to be able to comment on them, hope, it provides some understanding both to officials and to private american citizens. i do home people watching the program understand the threat posed not just to people in mosul or baghdad but especially with the vacuum that has opened up in eastern syria, we now have a large space of territory. historically, in arab history, it was sort of one desert entity called el jazerra. that is controlled by the islamic group. until

the fact there are going to be more shiia. the fact they are going to be more prone to not laying down their arms in the capital city. that really reduced the threat in their mind that baghdad would fall. that took that urgency away. it gave the president and his national security team room to breathe and go through these options. even time to consult with congress. you heard a few moments ago that john boehner earlier this morning that the president's white house, the wheels are coming off his presidency. we did hear from the speaker's office earlier is that they feel and a lot of republicans feel on capitol hill the president, the national security team, chief of staff have been in greater contact with them. the consultations with congress have been more robust as opposed to what happened during the bergdahl case. isis threatycies -- that seems very, very urgent before getting on marine one leaving for california, i get the sense from this white house and talking to officials here they are just not in the same situation that

>> it's been going on for years, the sunni/shiia divide again. inside the city of baghdad you actually find neighborhoods that are mixed, and you don't see this sunni/shiia animosity we see in the rest of the country. rest of the country can be broken down into enclaves. baghdad, different story. >> there's a whole political side to this as well as why the sunnis are joining isis and why the military in iraq is in such disarray. we'll get to that discussion later this morning because it goes to the accountability of u.s. political decisions but that was not your problem, rick francona. thanks so much for the perspective this morning. this is just one of the stories we're going to follow us a start your new day. there's other beg headlines for that. let's go to that. >> so true. new headlines. new details emerging on general motors newest recall, 3.4 million additional vehicles recalled over a faulty ignition switch. the problem is different from an earlier defect that led to 13 deaths which the company knew about for over a decade before issuing

we saw thousands and thousands of young shiia men lining up to serve without weapons and protection. they're anywhere from 12 years old and up. some have already lost family members to the jihadi fighters. behind this battle, everyday citizens who have already been through so much. this family moved to syria during the worst parts of war in iraq. with war raging in syria, they're back. the 11-year-old and the other children have the same nightmares. what do you worry about most? the explosion, she said. the explosions. a reality that these children have now lived with most of their lives. and when we left that family, that night, just outside that restaurant were truckloads of armed shiite militias patrolling the streets. taking the law into their own hands. >>> now to washington, where the u.s. is still struggling with how to respond to the escalating crisis. secretary of state john kerry is in the region, as are u.s. military advisers to train the iraqi forces. here's chief white house correspondent jon karl. >> reporter: this morning, the first two teams of the military advisers t

and that if the interests of sunni, shiia, and kurd are all respected. if iran is coming in solely as an armed force on behalf of the shiia, and if it's framed in that fashion, then that probably worsens the situation and the prospect for government formation that would actually be constructive over the long term. >> what is your sense of that right now? >> just as iraq's leaders have to make decisions, we have indicated to iran it is important to avoid steps that might encourage the kind of sectarian splits that might lead to civil war. and the one thing that i think has to be emphasized -- we have deep differences with iran with a whole host of issues. obviously, what happened in syria in part is the result of iran coming in hot and heavy on one side. iran obviously should consider the fact that if it is -- if its view of the region is through a sectarian frames, they could find themselves fighting in a lot of places, and that is not good for the iranian economy or the people over the long-term. i suspect there are folks in iran that recognize that. ir

while the insurgents are sunni muslims n.recent months malaki has consolidated power in favor of the shiias and alienated the sunni population in iraq, they in turn welcoming with open arms the insurgents adding to the complications really in iraq. the fact that the pro-american kurds in the north are taking advantage of all of this chaos capturing an oil-rich city. as a response the u.s. government has spent the "uss g.h.w. bush" to the persian gulf but the white house is still weighing its openingses. any decision tonight convenient in iraq may come way too late. the country is disintegrating before our very eyes. arthel? >> thanks very much. eric? >> with the sunni militants on the doorsteps of iraq's capital just 60 miles away and the white house considering those possible military options, what, if anything, can the administration do? or is it too late? joining us on the phone is former u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton, a fox news contributor and senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. ambassador, what do you think went so wrong to get to this point? >> wel

the shiia are the largest group within iraq. sunni is a minority, they were in power when saddam hussein was there. but now that's at the root of a lot of the difficulties and violence that we're seeing take place. and this president wants al maliki to reach an accommodation with the sunnis to take away the underlying motivation for some of this conflict and he made clear that if we do intervene militarily, and he sounded as if that certainly is a live option on the table, he's only going to do so if he sees evidence that sunni and shiia will be brought together in ways that won't just make u.s. action a patch. >> okay, john harwood, thanks for the latest there. we're following the story from london today. that's where nbc's amin muladine is standing by. what's your comments as you head out for the region? >> no doubt from the perspective that we just heard, president obama is assigning the responsibility to solving this crisis squarely on the shoulders of iraq's prime minister, al maliki. for those of us who have been following

some of the shiia groups fighting along with bashar al-assad's forces have backed the government against fighters from the islamic state. >> omar from baghdad. >> u.s. citizens are being relocated. the state department says american contractors have been moved because of security reasons. it won't say where they are working or where they have been relocated to. staffing at the u.s. embassy and consulate, however, has not changed. >>> also today, jet maker lockheed martin said it's too soon to say how violence in iraq would affect delivery of new f-16 fighters. the company is under contract to provide 36 fighter plays to the iraqi government. the cost is $3,000,000,000. the lockheed martin official said the unrest could stop the delivery scheduled for later this year have. >>> president obama gave his first public reaction to the explosion of violence in iraq. he said he hasn't ruled out any response. >>> republicans say the u.s. must do more soon and they are blaming the president for pulling troops out. mike mcca mike viqueira is at the whitehouse with more? >> it's a measure of how ser

. >> after a call to arms from the most senior shiia cleric.referral fighters have taken a number of towns and cities. sunni fighters continue their offensive, this video allegedly shows them celebrating the capture of mosul. iraq's second largest city was taken on tuesday. this is rioters news agency reporting that rebels were also seen in the northern city of bigi setting fire to the courthouse and police station after freeing prisoners. u.s. the u.s. is beefing up naval presence in the gulf because of the rebellion in new york. the uss george h.w. bush which carries dozens of fighter jets is moving there from the north arabian sea along with two naval vessels that are equipped with guided missiles. meanwhile, a roadside bomb in baghdad, the capitol, has killed nine people and injured many others. nine people were killed by a suicide bomber near tahrir square in the center of the capitol. we can talk now to our correspondent who is there in baghdad. and imran, tell us about this latest car bomb that's certain place in baghdad. should we see t

there are many shiias who want to be iraqi shiias, not iranian shiias.totally has come back to haunt us and we are on the verge of doing the same thing in afghanistan. the taliban will be dancing in the streets. they just do not believe in dancing. when they heard we wearing leaving in 2016. can you imagine how the afghan people feel who have fought along our sides believing we would not aand done them now to hear we are going to pull all our troops out but a couple hundred. can you imagine how a young woman in afghanistan feels? can you imagine how people in pakistan feel? a nuclear armed nation that could be in the cross-hairs of the people wanting to take afghanistan down. what about us? president obama is going back to a free 9/11 mentality. on september 10, 2001 we had not one soldier in afghanistan, not one dollar of aid, not even an ambassador. to those in america who think if you leave these guys alone they will leave you alone, you are not listening to what they are saying. the on reason 3,000 americans died on 9/11 and not 3 million is they can

it was the shiia guards killing the sunni prisoners. there's also reports of gun battles goes on around the oil refinery. iraq's largest oil refinery that produces 40% of the gasoline used by cars in this country. a very significant piece of infrastructure. we're expecting a statement by prime minister nuri al maliki, his weekly address. people will be looking to see if he will make any political concessions. none of that seems to have been on the table so far. at the moment isis backed by the sunni tribes is fighting an increasingly sectarian battle with iraqi security forces who are increasing ly bumped up by shiia militias. >> so many moving parts on the ground. we'll be back with you throughout the show. as we mentioned, president obama will meet with top congressional leaders today to discuss options for the u.s. handling of iraq. there are conflicting reports this morning about what he is considering. "wall street journal" reporting that he's decided against air strikes, at least for now, and the "new york times" reports selective

my understanding is it's a moral issue, leadership issue and also, a lot of shiia forces saw no reasono try to stand up and fight in a sunni dominated area. is that accurate? >> exactly. we've seen these armies collapse before. in 2003, in 1991. if these troops do not believe they are fighting for their own territory and their own people, their own families, they did and hold against iranians in the 1980s. they can fight if they think they are motivated. they will fight for the areas. the problem again, they are intertwined communities around baghdad. that's why baghdad is so critical right now. >> ken, i mean, baghdad is because of what went on in 2006, 2007, baghdad is overwhelmingly sunni -- excuse me, overwhelmingly shiia dominated. do you think it's unlikely baghdad could fall because it seems like iraqi security forces would be more motivated to protect this city. >> yeah, i think you've hit on a number of important points, anderson. it is the case as jim is suggesting that isis and iraqi sunni militants will have a toucher fight on their hands as they get closer and closer to ba

they hope to provoke an overreaction from the shiia. this is why the obama administration is doing a difficult thing. reach out to the iranians, tied strongly to the shiia leadership in iraq. and to urge some restraint. urge them to hold back and find a political solution. that is the fear here. this is becoming or maybe has already become a civil war. >> complex and high stakes chess game. jon, thank you. jon will have full coverage of this crisis along with martha raddatz who is in baghdad, later on this morning on "this week." right here on abc. >>> let's get the rest of the morning's top stories from ron. >> hi, there, bianna and dan. sara haines. good morning to you. good morning to you, everyone. a deadly car explosion in the golan heights on the israeli-syrian border. israeli officials say a 15-year-old israeli boy was killed in the blast. several other people wounded. israelis calling this a targeted attack. they've fired back at syrian military posts. >>> and here in the u.s. marngshunt is under way in arkansas for a convicted

they are being held back by iraqi forces and shiia militia.trying to throw their weight behind the defense not only of the capital but the idea of an iraqi unity state. the kurds have a semi isolated the state. the up s. and iran are starting to have up formal talks about how to stop this. the main conclusion is they will have to put pressure on the central government to hug their sunniss closer in before they drift off into the hand of the extremists. bill: we await to see whether the battle for baghdad happens or not. john bolton, good day to you from chicago. this is such a complicated web where we are. we are talking about making friends with a long-time enemy, iran to get tehran to help us out with what's happening here in iraq. in the meantime you have got these reports. iran is shiia, but its neighbors are sunni. neighbors like kuwait and qatar and saudi arabia. reports are some in the populations of these countries have been upset about it sunni fighters in syria so they have been shifting money into the battle. it's those fighters in

iraq's shiia population has answered the call to arms saying they must defend their country. imran khan has the latest from baghd baghdad. >> in the last 24 hours, the prime minister has gone on the offensive. in friday he was in samara, one of the holiest sites where he delivered a message to all iraqis. >> i seriously and firmly say by the name of god, even if our heads were turned into bombs or our bodies for vehicles to move on, they will not hide them. let them not be deluded. >> the prime ministers through a statement on his website declared the cabinet granted him unlimited powers to deal with the reb elion. some consider unconstitutional. his allies are sewing public support for his policies. the iranian president says iran is willing to help if asked. >> if the iraqi government seeks assistance from us, we will review it. though there has been no request for help so far, we are ready to provide them with the help with an international law and upon the formal request of the iraqi nation and the government. >> but not all are in support of prime minister nouri al malik

he said the shiia country here is a heretic state. it shouldn't economist. it is supported by iran that supports syria. >> that's where his thinking has come from. it is a very sectarian nature. the real problem is that we have seen this in iraq before. we are seeing the same kind of levels of violence that we saw in 2 o006. and that turned into a very bloody sectarian conflict that tore the country apart and killed hundreds of thousands of people. >> and imran, we are not hearing anything from the government. why is that? >>? >> there isn't an actual government of iraq. the elections took place on the april the 30th. they still are negotiating who is going to form the government. so there is no real government here in iraq. but the people that are in charge, the interim government, the key political players, are more importantly prime minister nouri al malaki. he ran his election cam paper on security. his big message was, i am the only person that can bring security to iraq. the fact that he hasn't said anything in recent days has got very many iraqis worr

do they have influence over shiia militia, the iranians?>> i'm sure they do, yes. >> are you worried about force protection? we have thousands of americans trapped inside of iraq, are you worried about that? >> i am. and we are -- >> are you worried about another benghazi on steroids? >> it's a bigger force, bigger threat, bigger dynamics, yes. it's a huge threat. >> when it comes to whether or not we communicate with iran, i'm not suggesting we do a deal with iran to divide up iraq and say you get a nuclear weapon if you help me. i know the strategic differences. they want to own iraq. we want to free iraq. we are strategically misaligned. is it fair to say the reality that exists today talking to iran about security issues on the ground probably makes some sense? >> i agree. you know there have been some sideline conversations. >> if we start flying airplanes, it makes some sense to talk to the iranians about what we are doing so they don't shoot us down and we don't bomb them? >> the iranians are there. they are in the region. >> that's

they will pull out all the stops to keep the shiia part of iraq in iraqi hand.d that means well pour in their quds force. general saohany. and i think that portends ill for the stability of the middle east to have iraq become a client state of iran. the fact of the matter is that iran will not do much about isis holding territory and land in syria obviously and also in iraq. they will pretty much leave that alone. they will push back on the sunnies and conduct some cleansing operations. cleanse can is a euphemism for killing people. it will enlarge the conflict toward a civil war and sectarian conflict for sure. but the fact of the matter is, there are two danger points in front of us. one is this radical islamist caliphate and iraq becoming a client state of iran. bill: the viewers are asking a lot of questions. why should the u.s. intervene in iraq's civil war between sunnis, shiites and kurds. i think you pretty much answered that. what does the president do? >> the fact of the matter is, there need to be a sense of urgency here. put aside what caused this pr

they want to hold on to a shiia government in iraq.o put the shiites in iraq to be more inclusive, to be more open or whether they are going to say oh, no, we just want a shiite government in which case that's only going to -- going to make it worse and, you know, they have got their 200 or 300 people in iraq, you know. this is a crazy world where, you know, we're fighting against -- we're on the same side as isis and syria trying to depose assad, and we're opposed to isis in iraq trying to hold on to the government in baghdad. i -- i think it's -- it's got to be -- the solution has to be political. i think if there's anything we've learned over the last 12 years is that it's not going to be military, and i don't know if you've noticed, but some of the guys that got us into the iraq war in the first place are now criticizing obama's policy. that takes a lot of nerve. being criticized for those guys for your war policy is like being called ugly by a towed. >> that's an insult to toads. i think that, you know, while it is almost laughabl

were being attacked by the government in syria so it appeared we were on the side of iran and the shiiassupport the government in baghdad it will be seen in some parts of the middle east that we're supporting the iranians and the shia in iraq as well at the expense of the su i sunni. we have to remember the goal here is not military, the goal is political, and it's to have a national reconciliation process between the sunni and the shia and of course the kurds. the u.s. military should do something to prevent an al qaeda takeover of baghdad, but we have to limit what we do so that we keep our eye on the ball of the ultimate political solution that we have to try to achieve. >> mr. grenier, when you listen to mr. clark, is that doable? is it possible for the united states to kind of stay somewhat removed and as i see what he's saying, as i interpret what he's saying, occasionally get involved, really zap the bad guys when they seem to be building a terrorist training camp or doing something that could affect u.s. interests? >> yes, i think that we can have an influence there. i actually a

why on earth would they ever go back to a shiia-led iraq? how these extremists have operated, i watched them for about 25 years at ci, we have exam unless places like afghanistan, somalia, yemen. we're trying to cut this in very small slices, day to day. what happened tuesday, wednesday? you've got to cut this in month and year slices and here's why. when the government doesn't provide effective security in some of the sunni towns, what do you say as a sunni villager when militants move in and say we'll make the town secure and provide justice. we don't like these militants but they are better than the government was. it's going to take months or years for the militants to start to institute a kind of religious law that the villagers reject. this will take time for the villagers to say we don't like maliki. we like the initial security isis provided. months, a year down the road they will start to say well, maybe not so much. >> you're talking about a time frame here that's years, maybe even a decade, and you're talking about the biggest hop

parade by the militia linked to the shiia cleric in sadir city in baghdad. i know you covered this.ow are militias going to be used. wit so much territory lost, why are they parading around the streets. shouldn't they actually be doing something? >> yeah, kind of a double message there. part of the message was to al-maliki, message is time for you to go. for isis fighters, you come near us, our shrines. we'll take you on. the message from the top religious cleric is we don't want is militias. we want everyone fighting in the army. the army failed to fight in a cohesive way. how are they going to draft militias in a cohesive way. the real issue is that we could be unleashed if sectarian violence kicks off. >> a verdict that outraged journalists and activists. three al-jazeera journalists deattend while reporting in egypt are convicted and sentenced to years in prison. we have reaction from ivan watson, reporting from egypt, and exclusively with one of the three men. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing u

it's a key town because of the sideline, one of the most ven rated shiia shines attacked in 2006 which led this country into a sectarian almost civil war that took place, which left hundreds of thousands of people de dead. so isil fighters are there. they are pushing through here but and in mossul as well. one of the reasons why is the leader is facing a power struggle going on within al-qaeda, itself, that al-qaeda globally. he is very critical of who allegedly was in afghanistan who is seen as the leader of al-qaeda. he is criticized him openly. he said he is not fighting. he is using other proxies to fight. he said i am the one who has certain the al-qaeda cause seriously, fighting on the ground and i should be in charge of al-qaeda. so this is a posh struggle going on. >> that's one of the reasons we have seen. also the main within we have seen is the situation on both sides of the border. and that they say that this iraqi government, which is trying to be formed at the moment but the government of prime minister nouri malaci but lots of ches games going on. there is a power strugg

. >> the majority shiia must have some 40 of power sharing with the minority sunni and, of course, the kurds. thomas? >> president weighing all options. randall pinkston in washington. randall, thank you. >>> earlier, i spoke with jamie terebet, the baghdad bureau chief. i asked her what's the evened goal for the sunni-led rebels? >> when you look at the people involved, someone like ibrahim,p who was a member of saddam's officer, you know, army and was on the run and never captured by american troops. these are the guys secretary donald rumsfeld were the dead-enders, the last remnants of this regime. they are coming back. they have their eye on maliki. everyone in that government has been making it difficult to be a sunni in iraq today. >> this doesn't bode well for the prime minister in his handling of the situation when we see military forces take off their uniform and flee. >> absolutely. the idea that the prime minister of a country has to does for his citizens to volunteer to take up arms because his own forces that billions of dollars went in to, to train and equip, they walked

i mean, this dream that somehow there's going to be a coalition of sunnis and kurds and shiias that's going to save iraq. iraq is over. it's done, finish, so concentrate on america's interests, not on the al maliki government, the baghdad government's interests. what is in america's interests? >> what's the answer to that? >> the answer is to prevent the emergence of the first terrorist state in world history. this isis has a clear goal, and they are well on their way to achieving that goal of establishing a caliphate spanning much of syria, much iraq and it would be a terror state. so it's absolutely criminal that this president has done nothing and is still doing nothing, and oh, by the way this, gesture, obama, as you know, megyn, he doesn't real like to make hard decisions. he likes to make gestures so sending 300 u.s. advisers to iraq cannot make a difference, but it certainly can put our people in harm's way for nothing. >> what of these 300 advisers? i mean, the president's defense, this is a hard decision to make, you know. you see partisans all over the board on this, ralph,

parade by the militia linked to the shiia cleric in sadir city in baghdad. i know you covered this.tias going to be used. wit so much territory lost, why are they parading around the streets. shouldn't they actually be doing something? >> yeah, kind of a double message there. part of the message was to al-mali al-maliki, message is time for you to go. for isis fighters, you come near us, our shrines. we'll take you on. the message from the top religious cleric is we don't want is militias. we want everyone fighting in the army. the army failed to fight in a cohesive way. how are they going to draft militias in a cohesive way. the real issue is that we could be unleashed if sectarian violence kicks off. that is a danger and concern in the city getting increasingly worried. isis made advances in anbar, at the doors of the city if you will. western side of baghdad, we heard reports of government offices, in close, and documents, there is over this weekend, a, a bigger concern than there was last week for example, andersen. >> nic robertson, arwa damon. stay safe. now, phillip mudd, lon

and hospital officials say at least eight people were killed and at least five car bombs mostly in shiia districts. in one, they claim billiards were targeted. dozens of students near ramadi. three police officers at the university gates were killed students reported seeing armed men dressed in black running across campus. militants held police at bay in a 7 hour standoff. the students were freed when the militants retreated in egypt, death sentences for 10 men charged as a result of pro-morsi protests, all members of the outlawed muslim brotherhood, charged with inciting violence and blocking a road. none have been arrested. they are believed to be in hiding. reporters without borders is asking egypt's president to free access journalists who have been held for 161 days. at a hearing on thursday, prosecutors demanded they face maximum penalties up to 15 years in prison. another al jazeera correspondent, abdullah el shamy has been held without charge since august. the request came from a letter to president el sisi. he won 96% of the vote in egypt's election. he is coming under fire for

he said yesterday that he doesn't think that the united states should be the air force for the shiia militia or arab-sunni in the fight. do you agree with that? >> we don't know what could be effective in reducing this violence. there's not one -- there's not one piece to this. and so i'm hopeful that the president today will outline a strategy for dealing not only with iraq but the spread of violence in the middle east. >> you hear david petraeus giving caution on air strikes, does that give you pause? >> until i understand what the oversaw strategy is, it's hard to say whether it's good or not. in and of itself, it's not the answer, in and of itself. >> mr. speaker, vice president cheney said yesterday that rarely has the u.s. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. is it helpful to have vice president cheney weighing in on this debate? >> he's an american citizen. he's entitled to his opinion. >> mr. speaker, will the house be bringing up its highway trust fund package next week to replenish the fund? >> i don't think so. i know the ways and means committe

the big thing will be, do they controlled shiia areas?omething like that, or if they move on baghdad, which is where the government sits, then the crisis gets much bigger. >> ryan chilcote, thank you for the update. threatendebt could britain's recovery. rate hikes could come sooner than you expect. that was the warning mark carney gave last night. let's bring in caroline hyde. it could come sooner than april. april is the consensus of the market. expecting interest rates to start come next year come spring. mark carney warning in his most hawkish speech yet about the potential interest rate hikes i have ever heard him say since his tenure at the bank of england. he is hinting he could take the market by surprise. speculation about the timing of the first rate hike. moredecision is becoming balanced. it could happen sooner than financial markets expect. fuel to theing fire. the hype about hikes. he is pushing that forward. the recovery is taking the bank of england by surprise. it is taking everyone by surprise. maybe we need to analyze w

they see chaos in baghdad between sunnis and shiia, and they say, hey in the midst of chaos let's taked not only harden the separation between kurds and the rest of iraq but take those kirkuk oil fields because if you're running an economy in northern iraq let me give you one good way to make some cash and that's pump oil. >> let me take the pro side and you can say what the threat side is this. i say if the kurds come in and they get their land, one, they have a great historical argument that they should have had all along. two, they create a buffer for turkey. turkey very vulnerable to what's going on in iraq. three, they are a significant population of iraq. they are a quarter of the population there, and they will actively fight sunni insurgents. they have done well against isis and they have a very developed fighting force, and if they have their own land they would be more likely to be cooperative with the iraqi sovereign in general. what's the other side? >> well, let's look at a couple of facts here that might change over time and that might suggest that you're wrong. the first

be the cuddis -- woule kurdish zone in the northeast, then 2 would be the sunni and 3 would be the shiia that religiousously allies itself with iran. you start up in aleppo and stretch down to baghdad, that's an area that is so large, if we were to lay the map over the top, you would start in indiana, far northwestern corner of indiana, stretch across ohio and west virginia. a lot of that is open desert. hundreds of miles between towns. but that gives you a sense of what this islamic radical group controls and they knocked a bang off last week. they have guns and weapons. a lot of those are our weapons we gave to the iraqi military. you have got big issues here and no one is quite clear how we are going to dig out of it. martha: when you look at at map polite three ways remind me of what joe biden said was the solution in iraq. it mate be a result of what we are seeing play out now. you have got republicans calling for leadership to make sure a decade of a kri fiestles our u.s. -- a decade of a question nice of our soldiers does not slip away. a white house insider says the iraqis need t

war, it's a civil war raging throughout the arab middle east and persia into iran between sunni and shiia the modernizers and other religions are getting brutalized. the obama administration has mismanaged iraq so badly the best outcome we can hope for is a new baathist government. ralph peters, thank you, colonel. martha: a showdown in mississippi. an hic slugfest between two -- an epic slugfest between two republicans. the latest from the ground there coming up. bill: we are waiting for what could be a heated hearing on the irs lost emails. that will happen in 9 minutes. what the committee wants to hear from this new witness. >> your agency sends fear up the spiens of every american in this country. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters shopping online is as easy as it gets. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles. start shopping from a list of top-rated providers toda

the sunni-shiia split which divided the iraqi government for decade, this is a situation that's only just beginning to bubble up. we could see iraq split in the coming days completely, bill. bill: for viewers at home or on your mobile device. we knew there was trouble on ramadi and fallujah, that's the and ba --that's the anbar provi. but this week mosul fell and they came down the tigress river to tikrit. the kurdish they are the is in the northeast. the "wall street journal" reporting kirkuk is still in the hands of the kurds. you wonder how these forces collide in baghdad. the u.s. military worked the so long and so hard to fortify whether they can hold baghdad. that's an open question as we try to figure out what happens here. we are watching this throughout the morning. it's a significant security threat for these islamic militants that want to connect iraq to syria and create their own territory. patti ann: as iraq teeters on the edge of terrorist control we are getting reports the iraqi government plead with the white house to step in but that urgent call for help was turned d

, and this is really my key point, we should only act if leaders of all elements of iraqi society, shiia, sunni, kurds, and religious minorities and also leaders of some of the tribes only if all of them act in this way together, and that is that they join in a formal request for additional military support. there is an obvious need for iraqi leaders to form an inclusive unity government for their country's long-term success. but that process is likely to take some time. many weeks or even months. but a unified statement requesting further military assistance would be an important signal that iraq's leaders understand the need to come together. the united states has national security interests in iraq, but further military involvement there would not serve those interests unless iraq begins moves toward the inclusiveness and unity that are necessary if our involvement is to have a positive impact. put another way, we cannot defend iraqis from themselves. only if iraq's leaders begin to show evidence of unity can we help them. finally, any additional military action on our part should com

that's in the best interests of kurds, in the best interests of sunnis, shiias, but ultimately it's a decision they have to make. it's not a decision that can be imposed upon them. >> has the president called maliki? >> i don't have any telephone conversations to read out. i would point out that i believe secretary kerry had a conversation with him today. >> has he called -- >> not sense the sentences were handed down. i do believe we read out a phone call from the president a few weeks ago. >> wendell? >> there's another house committee hearing on the i.r.s.'s tax exempt abuses, if you will. given that the former head of the program and a half dozen others hard drive has gone missing or been found damaged, on what do you base your comment last week that there's not a lot more to be discovered here? >> i base it on the fact that there have been 13 months of multiple congressional investigations, including 15 congressional hearings, 30, 3-0 interviews with irs employees, 50 written congressional requests, 50,000 written pages of documents, more than 67,000 e-mails from the irs employee

he said the religious leaders, the shiia religious leaders in the country who stood up last week andssentially supporting the iraqi army and supporting nuri al maliki so it doesn't seem that this call for maliki to step down is going to come any time soon. bottom line is he is essentially accused of fermenting the sectarian situation that led to all this. on top of that his actions since the crisis began have further alienated the sunnis here so the wide consideration and belief here is that maliki cannot be part of any discussions that go further forward because he can't make the compromises necessary. politically even people on the other side of the line can't be seen dealing with him, kate. >> seems to be a complete lack of trust there at the very least, nic, and what nic is saying, michelle, does not sound like any sort of change is going to be coming any time soon, but it sure seems from the u.s. angle that there are growing and growing calls for some kind of immediate action from the united states. is there anything more that you think that the united states can do to try to br

kerry wants him to make sure that he's got equal representation of sunni, kurd and shiia and maliki saysof that in mind and the moves coming no play you've got this big question and i want to get your take. the enemy of our enemy is our friend. do you think that becomes a situation here with regard to syria and iran? >> normally that's in play in the middle east, and i think that's what you're seeing on the ground amongst them, but i don't think we're going to play that game. i just don't see american air power being used in conjunction with iranian forces on the ground, syrian air power over in the west. i just don't see that happening. >> can you thread the needle on that. can you say, as the state department and administration has been saying, there will be no military cooperation, there will be no intelligence coordination. is there something in between there? >> probably. there will be what i would call a dictate. we'll just say. we'll be conducting air operations over iraqi airspace, stay out of it, because an american pilot and syrian pilot, it's just a bad mix. >> horrible mix. l

fulfilled the commitments it made to bring a unity government together with the sunnis, the kurds and the shiia have worked hard with them within the confines of our ability to help them do that. but we can't dictate to them. >> well, my time is up. i'll yield back. i simply want to say there have been many situations in the history of this country that have been in our national interest, both economically and strategically. that was he country taking place didn't step up. i think a lot of countries look to american leadership, and i'm not advocating any specific military action, but they're looking to leadership in terms -- i like to know somebody's got their back. i think it would have been easier for the soldiers to shed their uniforms and run because they didn't have nobody at their back. to basically state that just because the country didn't deliver what we wanted them to deliver, it's something that in our national security interests that we take a pass or wait too long until it's too late i don't think is the kind of answer we want to give. mr. chairman, over my time. >> when we're not

, and this is really my key point, we should only act if leaders of all elements of iraqi society, shiia, sunni, kurds, and religious minorities and also tribes of some of the this f all of them act in way together, and that is that they join in a formal request for additional military support. there is an obvious need for iraqi leaders to form an inclusive unity government for their country's long-term success. but that process is likely to take some time. many weeks or even months. but a unified statement requesting further military assistance would be an important signal that iraq's leaders understand the need to come together. the united states has national security interests in iraq, but further military involvement there would not serve those interests unless iraq begins moves toward the inclusiveness and unity that are necessary if our involvement is to have a positive impact. put another way, we cannot defend iraqis from themselves. only if iraq's leaders begin to show evidence of unity can we help them. finally, any additional military action on our part should come only with th