that township of amerli, 20,000 shiite turks, can'ted to be under the slaughter. they were the words from the u.s. representative here in iraq. he raised the red alert, the red flag more than a week ago saying this imminent massacre was about to unfold. we saw the international community come together over the weekend, not just the u.s. air strikes, but the humanitarian aid drops. much needed food, water and medical supplies. we were getting reports from activist groups that dozens of children died because of the terrible conditions on the ground. looks like crisis has been overted. we just got off the phone from other activists. amerli is okay, but other townships nearby, fighting is ongoing. this is going to continue as military forces try to push back isis. >> in terms of the response from isis, what do we know about how they might respond to this? is there a fear iraq may respond to this? >> reporter: look, i think for the township of amerli, they will cut their losses. they are getting support from sunni arabs. this is why isis made an advance across the coun

and the islamic we re republic are friends with the shiite group in iraq. but the u.s.nd iran on different sides right next door in syria where washington would love to undermine the government of bashar al-assad, while iran supports it. and both support the destruction of the islamic state, which is also trying to bring down assad. turkey also wants to defeat the islamic state, but wants to do it without embolding the kurds. this latest turmoil in the middle east has created a strange alliance. some 30 nations from around the world met in paris discussing how to destroy the islamic state or isil. >> translator: the message is very clear, no country will be abandoned if it were to be attacked by terrorists. >> reporter: monday's conference included diplomats from europe, gulf states and others cautiously broaching the idea of forming an unprecedented coalition lead by the u.s. france has already agreed to help the u.s. in its air campaign. >> translator: the fight of the iraqi people against terrorists is ours as well as we have to about together, and there is no time t

that the shiite are -- he said this is very, very difficult to me.alk a really fine line. >> it is understandable why they feel that. there are the sunni groups which are supporting isis and fighting hand in glove with that so there is the desire to come back. >> if this man doesn't sweuccee >> crucial, and fascinating to see just how different he is from nouri maliki. >> very much associatiso. he didn't want to criticize nouri maliki. he said yes, i'm obviously much more inclusive. and that he did make mistakes. >> thank you very much, christiane amanpour, i want to bring the panel from the ground in iraq. ben wider man, and ben, it is interesting to hear christiane, what she heard from the prime minister today. it is essential for the government in baghdad to convince kurds to convince sunnis to support the central government. and that they will reach out a hand financially, and in terms of power. >> yeah, and the question is, anderson, can he do it? there are so many divisions within southern iraq, within baghdad. between of course, the sunnis and

>> guest: the sunnis are the largest group of muslims in the world and the shiites are the minority, but they control iran and the sunni control saudi arabia. that is the main thing, the saudi ruling family wishes to be seen as the spokesman for sunni islam because they control the two holy places, two holiest places in islam. but the sunni/shi'ite sectarian battle is growing in the middle east thanks in part to the syria where iran is funding the syrians and the saudis and others are funding sunni fighters so you have a growing sectarian clashes across the region. >> host: how many times have you been there? >> guest: i don't even know but scores of times. >> host: do you think you are watch when you are there? are you followed? >> i am sure one is watched if they want to know. i never assumed i was doing anything. like going to the old soviet union or israel, i never assumed, if people want to know what you are doing, they will no. so i neverno . so i never tried to hide anything. webinar not allowed to drive but i take a taxi or higher, but you can take taxis on the street, get yo

the shiites backer iran. without that national unity platform intervening effectively in the isis problem in a way that will create a basis for some kind of political framework to be in place after we would leave, after the intervention would be over, without that platform, you really are going to have a problem. that's why this is so difficult. the only thing i was reacting to this morning is that isis doesn't pose an immediate strategic threat to the american homeland, therefore not that we have years to deal with this problem but we have time to think this through because this is really complicated. >> rose: it seems to me that you both articulating the point of view of the president of the united states. why am i wrong about that, ryan? >> i hope you're not wrong. what all of this takes, what tom and i have described in slightly different ways is one key thing. american leadership. i hope very much the president when he goes to wales is going to articulate what's at stake here, why there's got to be an in

sunni a leaders have to emerge, shiite leaders have tomerge.s they wereroblem deprived of money, arms, and equipment. the sunnis were fighting the government, which allowed the islamic state to come in. an assessment by the joint chiefs found that -- found that out of the 26 surviving brigades , half need retraining or organization a the other half are so corrupt that they need to be basically disbanded. that is one heck of a challenge. >> the root of the problem is the type of t government we help the iraqis set up. we set up a democracy. democracies are great unless you are a minority ethnic group. think about the united states before the civil war. you did not want to be a minority ethnic group in a democracy. it inot going to change because so long as the shiites are the majority democracy will be able to oppress the sunnis. just make a long story short, i a lot more federalist system, much like the united states set up after our owner revolution. -- our own revolution. >> we are looking at the strike and military part of it. what can the i

not fighting on behalf of the shiites, or let alone iran. without a national unity platform, interbeing effectively in the isis problem in a way that will create a basis for some kind of political framework to be in place after we leave, after the intervention is over. willut that platform, you have a problem. that is why this is so difficult. the only thing that i was reacting to this morning is that isis does not oppose -- pose an immediate threat to the american homeland, therefore we have time to think this through. this is really complicated. >> it seems to me that you both articulating the president's the new. am i wrong about that? >> i hope you are not wrong. tom all of this takes, what and i have described, is one key thing, american leadership. i hope are a much that the walesent, when he goes to , is going to articulate what is that has toe, why be an international coalition, and then begin the process of forming it and reading it. -- leading it. i hope we are in complete sync the roots of our, we have not seen that in american le

isis has become a common enemy as you just pointed out for shiite and for sunnies. and that is a good thing that they are able to work together toward that common enemy, whether the ground force is successful or not, supported by air power remains to be seen. we said that is a big question mark and. >> speak about what the troops are going through. what is happening with the commanders and those who follow the orders? >> look, people who wear a uniform for this country, when they feel this country is in danger they want to do something about it. i can tell you from primary sources when the president was making the speech down at central command the other day and telling them i will not send you into combat, they want to go. they believe america is in danger. when they are able to use their skills and apply their courage to help secure america and protect america they are at their best. the pilots that are striking tonight and knowing they are protecting america and protecting their families and protecting what the country stands for, there is no better feeling and t

they are either shiite or -- >> sunni. >> what do i want to say? sunni. yes. if are you sunni or shiite, at least we can divide that. the enemy of our enemy is our friend. we should be doing that. we should be trying to pay attention to how we divide them ankeep a balance of power. >> go ahead. >> i have to say i disagree. the enemy. we have e we have enemies, and theyre declaring war on america and slicing jrnalists' heads off. we don't have people on visas, et cetera. we don't have japanese comicasies now and storm troopers because we destroyed the enemy and discredited those ideas. i honestly wonder if our current adminiration would have won world war ii. i think we would have lost it. we need take a page of general douglas mcarthur. no substitute tore total victory. that's the only thing. >>. >> another concerning thing to me, no one is really talking about it right now. all of a sudden we have taken our eye off the ball and the ball being -- probably o biggestfoe, our biggest terror e,ar none, will be iran. now, we've lifted sanctions on iran. we've kind

the proposed nominee was the head of a shiite militia and was heavily contested. program involves continuing the fight against the islamic state group, and reaching out to iraqis. iraqi politicians, sunnis and kurds, as well as ordinary iraqis who are desperate for public services, jobs, a better standard of living. out on the streets they are welcoming the new government, but there are very low expectations here. the main front, the main battleground still out there in the west and the north of this country, where kurdish troops, iraqi troops, and those shiite militias are fighting the islamic state group with the increasing help of the united states and iraq hopes the increasing help of other countries as well. >>> the new united states envoy has arrived in damascus for the first time since appointed to the post. he is expected to hold talks. his visit comes as fighting continues in the country. at least five people are said to have been killed after air strikes in doma. these are said to be pictures from this field hospital there. dozens more have been injured.

if we have a shiite only government that's not sustainable and leads to a vacuum. let me move on. as the campaign against isil affected our ongoing negotiations to end iran's nuclear program. and how has an expanded campaign against isil made it more difficult to find a deal between iran and the p 5 plus 1 deadline coming in november or have the mutual interests in iraq and some of those members provide a point of interest. >> we hope very much it will be the latter part of your question. that it hasn't affected it, that it can continue. our p5 plus 1 folks left for new york this afternoon. we will be engaging in that activity over the course of the next days and we'll get a better sense of it. my belief is that the nuclear issue is so huge in its consequences, not just to iran but to the region, to the world, to all of us, the interest in getting rid of the sanctions, which is the end goal here, with respect to iran and our end goal is being able to reach an agreement s significant enough that they won't let things, and to the credit to the people in the p5 plus 1. thus far there

sunnis and shiites have been fighting over the issue since 600. i think instead of more many people as possible, and start and having .ood think it would be right for china. such a generous people. air drops instead of airstrikes. something in your hands other than guns. your thoughts on the humanitarian issue? guest: there will be a large military and component of operations. there is a humanitarian effort they're -- there. many more countries are supporting regardless of what is going on in the military. i think they might have done something and i am not sure. i do not think they have the military yet to be that big of a in a military operation. i believe they're doing some humanitarian work. point by the collar, there is essentially a centuries old interreligious feud going on between the sunnis and the shia. in iraq, you had saddam hussein, a sunni strongman ruling shiite pit when he was removed, it really changed the balance of the region. it empowered the shiites in iraq. in iran, who had fought a war with saddam insane, felgenhauer. they'r

he's very popular within his own shiite community, but for the sunnis, he presents the rise of the shiite militias, which happened as a reaction in a way of the advances of the radical sunni group i.s. back in june when they occupied large areas in baghdad. now you have the shiite militias fighting side by side with the iraqi troops. they're on the front lines in many parts of iraq fighting i.s. for the shiite jonas brother, they protect their community for the sunnis. they are symbols of the visions and they fear that there will actually -- it's very harmful to the relations between the two communities. >> clearly a lot of work left to do. rafid, thanks very much. >>> still plenty more to come, including this. south sudan is on the brink of famine. the u.n. says at least four million people there are facing starvation. who are you? who are you? wrong answer. wait, daddy, this is blair, he booked this room with priceline express deals and saved a ton. yeah, i didn't have to bid and i got everything i wanted. oh good. i always do. oh good. he seemed nice. express deals. priceline savings w

he established a shiite army. about 98% of the army was made up of the shiites.that cannot be a national army. clashes andternal lead to problems in a rack. they are aware oiraq. they are aware of these factors and have worked swiftly to establish an army. >> he said the biggest problem syria. iraq, it's se >> as i said to president obama, one cannot only look at iraq. that would be wrong. syria both at the bk can into consideration when .etermining what to do obama did address that situation. i think this was a correct observation, a correct assessment. dohink that we have to whatever is necessary based on this overall assessment. so if we take that kind of approach, we will be more successful. >> how do you assess what the americans have done so far? positive, negative? >> more recently, if we are talking about the most recent steps, they are positive. delayed, but positive. theould it be better if president decided to support the free syrian army two years ago notwithstanding his worry that weapons would fall into the hands of groups like isis? >> well, i shou

was to keep the kurds in and shiites down. 2003, the shiites were the majority and have been in charge. it is been -- the last three prime ministers have come from a shiite religious party. they seek to define iraq as a shiite state with close ties to iran. that is unacceptable to the sunnis. sunnis are way that going to turn against isis and work for the government that they see doesn't really include indeed, is hostile to them. the president made a lot of speech of this national unity government. that was the basis for the strategy. but there isn't one. the kurds to 30 cap ministry, they have three. they haven't actually think their people. either strengthen permanent, they should've had twice as many. they developed it for the government. visit clearly they did so only because of intent to pressure him because the deadline of president obama's speech. the sunnis, the members of the government, if any of them live in the singer's iraq, they can't go home. they're not really representing the people who are there. one of those

turkmen shiites that have been cut off for weeks. anna is live in erbil with this. quite an effort here. >> reporter: yeah, quite an effort. it's a good way to describe it. you know, a combination of sworn enemies there. we are talking about these shiite militia leading the ground offensive with the iraqi military. now the militia backed by iran, the same that fought u.s. soldiers on the ground during the occupation fear backed by u.s. air strikes, which, as you know, changed the situation on the ground so that forces can move in and as they did, liberate the township of amerli. less than 20,000 people who had been trapped there more than two months, food, water cut off as we have been discussing for days. finally, they were able to push through, breakthrough and save these people. we heard from the united nations more than a week ago there was a crisis unfolding and a potential massacre that could take place. it took another week before the international community came to the aid of these people. certainly, from what we are hearing, crisis has been overted. as we k

my constituents in connecticut are not going to be satisfied if both shiite and sunni nations in the middle east aren't part of this coalition, if we're going in with the shiite nations with iran, without saudi arabia, we become another participant in the civil war. that frankly puts us at greater risk, not at lesser risk, this is a different war. this is a different fight, and here in connecticut, there's a much greater willingness to take on a fight against isis, than there was last summer to take on a fight against bashar al assad. >> they keep beheading americans on camera, that's obviously playing a role. senator chris murphy, thank you very much. >>> the debate as the senator just mentioned right now is whether to bomb isis in syria and how to do it and when to do it and under what conditions of what kind of coalition. now, the last western bombing campaign in the middle east with a broad coalition we should mention took place three years ago across the mediterranean sea in libya. a strikes were deployed against moammar gadhafi, during that country's civil war, with the backing

i think they really want the shiite government to hit them hard when they kill shy rights. the more they can show themselves standing up to the west and then at victims of western reprise also, the better recruitment goes for them. >> you have to wonder if this will backfire. can they sustain popularity among the sunni with these brutal beheadings? >> i don't think so. i think they're a flash in the pan. their methods of governance are repugnant to people. they've managed to go as far as they have only because the governments in the region have alienated their own people and the people think the government is even worse. you know, iraq just announced that it's not going to bomb sunni cities from the air any longer, because of the high civilian casualties that creates. well, i mean, you know, if they were in fact bombing them from the air all this time, it's no wonder people went over to the is state group. >> this its as we mentioned another brutal act shown to the world, david haynes being murdered here, still trying to verify the video. do you think that latest beheading

iran still has influence and good relations with many parties near iraq, especially the shiite and theurds, so iran has to have a kind of role in this whole strategy if it is to succeed. >> yes, and they're not at the conference. many thanks indeed. sorry about the problems on the line. thanks. >>> troops from the united states and 14 other countries are beginning 11 days of military exercises in western ukraine. the cease-fire in the east of the country does seem to be holding and that is despite both sides claiming that the other side has broken the truce. as laura westbrook explains. >> reporter: a show of force in lieu hank-- in luhansk. visible support surrounds the separatists and for now the guns are silent. but after months of daily shelling, the conflict has left its scars. a church service was held to remember the victims killed during this war. more than 3,000 people have died and this city is still without power or running water. there has been some progress. 73 ukrainian army and pro-russian fighters exchanged. but among the rebel troops, there's no attempt to hide. this i

it is not that iran is shiite but we are involved in the nuclear negotiation with iran.anians are talking about, we will help but we want more flexibility in terms of the nuclear talks.af-(ei-that is ony objective undermining another and that is unfortunate. here is john kerry, in effect, begging. not good. >> i talked with the congressman about remarkable and continuing split between the president and the top advisors on can youing the fight against isis on "60 minutes," former defense secretary for obama, panetta, said he was not confident when the president pulled all united states troops out of iraq in 2011. >>> i wasn't. i thought it was important to maintain a presence in iraq. >> george, as our historian, how unusual is it for a president to go against the top military advisors as he lies out the strategy for isis? >> truman against mcarthur, we have had disagreements off-and-on. what dempsey said, if the mission requires this. maybe this is the sort of thing we should not say outloud. this is a general agreement the goal and means allocated to pursue the goal do

do can't send the shiites to your job against isis. yet to do it yourself. >> it is clearly some kind of conversation taking place between the iranians and the united states. they have a nanny and supported militias on the ground. supportedve iranian militias on the ground. that is the reality. .here is some corroboration >> this is going to be the fascinating question. when we look back at this conflict are we going to say the united states did this in the air and the iranians did's on the ground, and they did coordinate? we are headed into an interesting week on this. , heforeign minister of iran is coming to new york today. the president iran is coming next week. the nine states is coming next week. lester they talked on the phone. last year they talked on the phone. it was the first time they spoke to each other in 30 years. and a face-to-face meeting. right now we have no evidence that is going to happen. >> that is the worst thing in arabs.f sunni >> israel is afraid america the ground forces -- no nuclear concessions. they would

first of all, the fact they're shiites and this involves sunnis. also, iran is powerful enough. they're -- ultimately, they are the main threat in that part of the world. and to be doing anything at all to build them up, to give them a sanctuary, to, in effect, have them on our side, what does that do to israel? what does that do to the nuclear development plan in iran? i think it weakens our position. i cannot understand why we want to get iran involved. >> we're continuing to see this remarkable split between the president, who is double down this week and absolutely no u.s. boots on the ground in a combat role and his top military advisers, current and former, civilian and military, are all saying we can't rule that out. that's a real possibility. congressman king, will u.s. forces have to get involved in a combat role, if only to call in air strikes and help iraqi and peshmerga forces on the front line? >> we already have ground troops on the ground. special forces are there. they're in harm's way. i don't see how ultimately we can avoid putting combat troops on the ground i

this is a tentative coalition of kurds, shiites, sunnies in the early days of this government. what kerry is likely to offer from the united states as time comes on is continued airstrikes from the u.s. intelligence special forces training from the u.s. and of course, diplomatic assistance as they take on the islamic state fighters. he did warn that iraq needs to be a country that is continuing to operate within the inclusion of everybody, it needs to continue to protect minorities in order to get this u.s. support. >> there have been more anti-government protests in yemen where troops and police are being accused of firing on civilians. they're also firing south of sanaa as they're preventing the houthies rebels from going forward. >> this is where the protesters are being treated. they're the victims of fighting. >> i was there were injuries. >> she and houthi rebels say that the police intentionally fired on protesters. >> it was a peaceful demonstration. suddenly they started opening firing on us. the soldiers were all covered their faces. >> reporter: at least 20 protester

nation and it only increases the shiites against the sunnis which is a huge divide. brit, let me ask you, so far, this is not exactly the coalition of the willing that george w. bush was so widely mocked for when he went in to iraq in 2003? >> the numbers are not bad in terms of number of countries. but what's missing here is the elements of a commitment to support what is going to end up having to be a military ground operation. isis holds territory. territory needs to be retaken if you're to conquer isis. you can't do that, you can do a lot more from the air than you used to be able to but you can't do that without some ground forces and so far it's not at all clear particularly when it comes to syria where these ground forces are going to come from and i don't think any serious military analyst thinks that the syrian rebels can be trained up in sufficient number to do away with isis. so what's lacking there is a commitment to help with this ground operation. one further word about iran. it isn't just that iran is shiite, it's also that we're involved in this nucle

it's mostly shiite, he's a shiite, and isis does not have a pen presence in this region. he expressed to us that he's feeling comfortable and safe these days. >> and, adam, help us understand how he was located. how did you and your team find him and then get him to tell the story with, you know, such candor and with such ease? >> yeah. most of the credit goes to my colleagues in iraq. mike shum located him, found him through the help of some iraqi journalists. ali had told his story to iraqi television but this was sort of the first time that his story was reported internationally and our bureau chief in the region tim morango visited his house on two occasions. so we spent sort of three separate visits with him in order to verify and crosscheck his story. >> does he and maybe even his family or even neighbors, do they -- have they shared their sentiments now about how fearful they are of an isis return to their lives? >> you know, we asked ali what's in store for him in the future, and it was sort of inspiring to hear him say that he wants to re-enlist in the military o

it refreshes international community's memory that israel still has two enemies, both sunni and shiite islam. >> of course we have the war in gaza, 2,000 palestinians killed in that war and still no permanent peace deal in gaza. when he talked about gaza and about those deaths he said the faculty that israel may have used excessive force, including the u.n. high commissioner for human rights were libelous charges. >> international media as well as you and diplomats have condemned israel's war in dpooz it was seen as an -- in gaza it was seen as a aggressive war, you would blame the victims for their own death. this is the thing we have heard during the gaza war during the months of july and august, israel has nowhere to go but to say it is those who we occupy those who we kill are responsible for their own death. >> how do you think those sitting in the room from the countries around the world are going to react to the fact that he condemned one of the u.n.'s own bodies the human rights council, i know it is controversial but calling it the terrorist rights council? >> you know it's qu

while isis is a relatively new terror group, this conflict has its roots in the seventh-century sunni-shiite split, with sunni's following muhammed's father-in-law abu bakr, while shiites follow muhammed's son-in-law ali. so, in other words, this is obama's fault. >> the man is derelict in his duties to get ahead of this problem and rough ticket the homeland. >> it's a dangerous world. everyone is holding their breath. for the president not to act politically, act like the man of the house and protect your family the united states here before it's too late! >> stephen: yeah, act like a man! step up. take what you want. yes, you wanted to bomb syria last year and we said no, but sometimes no means yes. (cheers and applause) this guy needs a hard dose of reality. right, woman who lives in a world of imagination? >> can i make a request? we get netanyahu, putin in for 48 hours, head of the united states, i don't know, just want somebody to get in here and get it done right: >> stephen: yes! putin or netanyahu, or better yet, combine them into president netan-put-hu! shirtless, but with nipple y

at least 50 people have been killed in fighting over the last few days, between yemen troops and shiiteels north of the capitol. the supporters have staged weeks of protests calling on the government to resign. in the capitol center for us now, tell us more about what we are hearing about this fighting. >> also to control positions in the province, near the main road that links. and for government militia fighters were killed and 30 fighters were killed in the fighting. there's been a cease fire early in the morning to allow for both parties to recover the bodies of their own fighters who were killed but then fighting intensified over the last few hours. it is a very delicate situation. they are proud neighbors, a strong hold of the rebels. they are also divided a long sectarian lines which makes it most of the time, an area where fighting erupts most of the time from the rebels and also government troops. tell us how those divisions play out in the capitol where you are in senna? >> it is a lot of anxiety exists here. what you have here is a growing political and sectarian divide. they

neither amongst the sunnis nor shiite.e have nowhere to go. >> reporter: thousands of refugees are on the run again this time in lebanon. they escapes the violence in syria, looking for safety here. but now they are being ordered to leave by their lebanese hosts. what sparked the backlash is the kidnapping of 25 lebanese soldiers and police officers by syrian fighters. it happened after the syrian fighters took control of this lebanese border town for five days. the soldier's families have started a campaign to get them released. here a -- sit-in the capitol. there is growing hostilities towards the refugees with so many lebanese blames the refugees in their country for the increasing sectarian and security tension. there are calls to close the borders. >> translator: we can't tell who is who. if they are refugees or militants hiding amongst them. just like isil. they use them as human shields, but then you feel bad for the women and children. it's not their fault. >> reporter: like this man and his seven children. >> tran

, sunnis, and kurds so our use of force support pluralism and power sharing, not just shiite power. do you concur with that conclusion? >> generally, yes. though it's worth underscoring isis and it's pre -- this was out of the legacy of saddam hussein's rules. we had matthew olson at brookings and he reaffirmed the roots of isis are really in the in people like zawahiri. i don't want to blame all the origins on maliki but he exacerbated the problem. in the absence 6 a more inclusive leader, you're not going to get the iraqi army to do what we need it to do, which is to go into the key sunni arab cities and uproot isis. you need a cohesive iraqi government to get a cohesive iraqi army to take back those cities. i certainly agree with the bottom line. >> you have former baathist generals of saddam hussein who were not let back in the army after we disbanded it fighting with isis. it's not just the radical elements on the ground. you have former members of the iraqi army fighting with them. how much of this problem can be rooted out from within iraq or is there a necessity to also go i

over the weekend the iraqi military, shiite militia and kurdish forces broke that siege with the help of u.s. air strikes. so far the obama administration has launched 120 strikes throughout iraq since early august. meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the president to implement a policy against isis in syria. >> this is a vicious, vicious movement, and it has to be confronted. >> reporter: senator diane feinstein on "meet the press" today. >> i've learned one thing about this president, and that is he's very cautious. maybe in this instance too cautious. >> reporter: feinstein even said she agreed with her republican colleagues, senators john mccain and lindsay graham. in a "new york times" op-ed, the senators call on the president to take action against isis in syria, writing, continuing to confront isis in iraq, but not in syria, would be fighting with one hand tied behind our back. but the president had his defenders of the deliberative approach he's taking. >> you just don't rush in. because the media is talking about it. >> reporter: and there are fresh concerns today about wester

if you have a broken baghdad government, an american airstrike looks like it's a support of shiite who are fighting on the ground as a militia from iran. well, that's not going to work. they'll try to get a government who is more inclusive, and he's making progress. if you have a government that is not inclusive of other regimes including saudi, that's why secretary kerry will be out there, you'll have, because the government, a democratic government in baghdad will be shia dominated, it will look like again the americans have become the air force of the shiite. if you're peeling off sunni tribal groups that were the crucial part of the success for the petraeus efforts when we had the surge you have to have the support of other sunni groups. this is an extremely delicate situation that he's in to. >> the punitive members of the coalition that might oppose isil hate each other in addition to hating isil. does that kind of force the united states to take the lead role? because it's hard to assign any one member of that let's you and him fight group to give them an assignment that is wort

a threat that led some of the shiite turkman community to take their own lives. the plight provoked an unlikely alliance between groups not known to fight side by side. with peshmerga, shy item militia and -- shiite mimisha band -- militia banding together. >> this was an 80 day siege, and they were surrounded by late rur fighters. they had no food, water, anything. many died of starvation. babies had no milk. thousands were saved. >> the air campaign began in ernst the previous day. it had a fuel purpose. dropping food and water supplies to the desperate residents, and bombs on the isometric lines. >> there's pride amongst the peshmerga forces, that they and the shi'ites broke the siege and took back the town of amerli. they couldn't do it without the help from the air, a joint operation between u.s. fighter jets, iraqi helicopters and iranian fighters too. breaking the seem of amerli hadn't just saved thousands of lives, it listed moral among the ranks charged with pushing back the state forces. the challenge is not to see if they can keep up the momentum, but

it had led some of the shiite turkmen to consider taking their own lives. their plight invoked an unlikely alliance between groups not known to fight side by side - with peshmerga, shiite militia and iraqi army soldiers banding together in a joined operation beginning at four in the morning. >> translation: we same to join the fight for amerli under muqtada al-sadr's orders, clearing iraq from north to south of i.s.i.s., no difference between sunni, shia, kurdish or christian, we came to clear is from iraq. most came from outside iraq. >> translation: this had become an 80-day siege, surrounded by islamic state fighters, and they had no food, water or anything. many died of starvation, babies had no milk. thousands were saved. >>> the air campaign began in ernst the -- in earnest the previous day - dropping food and supplies, and bombs on the front lines. there's pride among the peshmerga, that they and the shiites broke the seem and took back the up to of amerli. they couldn't have done it without the help from the air, a joint operation between u.s. fight

and so it needs sunni states, and it also needs shiite states.ces like saudi arabia will host the training, who will fight the islamic state, inside of syria. places like kuwait, will promise not to send money or not to allow it's private citizens to send money into the islamic state fighters that has allowed them to take away -- take a part so much of iraq. and syria. and then iran, even though we are not going to officially cooperate with iran, we certainly do need a little help on the ground, there are iranian officials iranian fighters, iranian soldiers from the u.s. officials telling me they are basically looking the other way, as they fight the same people that we are fighting. so the u.s. really needs politically -- and also perhaps oen the ground in iraq, all of these allies to come together and help. nick, iran has been the big player missing. >> iran, obviously, is opposed to isil, the iran is taking it's own actions and has taken it's own actions with respect to isil. the united states is not cooperate militarily or otherwise, as they

they're not going to trust the baghdad government which is dominated by shiites. there is a couple fundamental problems with the plan. >> you were saying they can't survive depending solely on the backs of the shiite government, not to be trusted. >> that's right. we forget that they were betrayed, the sunnies when the surge came in 2007, when we put down the insurgency. a big part was enlisting sunnies to turn on other sunnies. as we with drew, we moved them from our payroll to the baghdad government and he in turn persecuted them. he didn't follow through on his promises. he was not inclusive. now we're asking these very same people to once again trust that dysfunctional baghdad government and meanwhile, they're surrounded by the is. they look at their funny, they're dead. there is mo real mechanism in place just yet to get them funds and money. if we're just saying we'll get you some help now, but then turn on them and we'll set you up later, that's not going to be convincing for them. so what you're left with is the next president is going to inherit an iraq t