still, the president declared victory in iraq. >> all the way! verything that american troops have done in iraq, all the fighting, all the dying, all of it has led to this moment of success. >> the last 6,000 u.s. forces in iraq... >> narrator: after nearly nine years, 4,000 americans killed, more than 30,000 wounded and an estimated cost of $2 trillion, the last u.s. troops left iraq. the iraqis were on their own. >> next time... >> this is the al qaeda that osama bin laden only dreamed of. >> the story continues. >> the intelligence continued to point to what could happen. >> the view was, this is iraq's problem. let them deal with it. >> the growth of isis was noted, and the deterioration of the iraqi forces was missed. >> if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. >> "the rise of isis," next te frontline. >> go to pbs.org/frontline for our extended interviews with general david petraeus, ambassador ryan crocker, general jack keane and others. a closer look at the key turning points of the war in iraq and its aftermath. subscribe to

the disaster in iraq. the u.s. kept in this strikeforce, which would've been cia, paramilitary, special operations forces, it would have exacerbated the problem. the problem is not whether the u.s. would've been there to stabilize iraq. the issue is how much worse we are going to make iraq with these policies. it is almost impossible to imagine that this could've been handled in a worse way. having more troops there, all of these guys when they write their memoirs, have is brilliant vision looking backwards, that they were the ones that do, they would've done this differently. the u.s., since 9/11 -- and you could argue that this has been policy for many decades -- has been its own worst enemy in one sense. we created the very threat we claim to be fighting. on the other hand, if you look at who benefits of this war, beyond entities like isis, because they do benefit from this. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula becomes stronger in the sense that they have a greater propaganda movement they can roll out. the

the question is both iraq and syria. john referenced the debate of course that has gone on in other countries has really trieded to differentiate. but the way this question was asked to this sample of the american people clearly explains this is not just attacks in iraq but are attacks in iraq and syria. so nearly three out of every four americans favor air strikes. but six out of ten oppose the use of u.s. ground troops in iraq and syria. now, it's not really so surprising right. call it what you will. the bitter memories of the wars in afghanistan and especially in iraq, um, it's not so surprising the american people are not particularly enthusiastic about another major ground war in iraq or a new or additional ground war in syria. the one in afghanistan is obviously still going on. so this is where the public is on this question about what we're doing and how we go about doing it. and so the real question is whether an air only campaign can accomplish what president obama set out to do. has set out to do. so this is th

the case. again,also have to say, al qaeda in iraq is the product invasionted states' in iraq. e says the chaos, because of the syrian crisis. well, precisely. what was the united states position or strategy during the syrian crisis? it is not true -- there were so many critics and observers pointing out that not doing anything doesn't mean military intervention with the situation in syria was going to produce all of this chaos and mass of violence. it is not like we did not know the dangers involved. it is amazing that after everything that has happened in this country, here we go again. it is the same scenario, in a way. failure, weigence underestimated, we did not know. it is quite sad, actually, and tragic. >> what do you think the main failures have been? >> they never really had a strategy. ok, i'm not one for military intervention necessarily or bombing, but there was never really a strategy. frankly, whether it is syria or iraq, the united states allies are all responsible for fueling this, turkey, you know, along these foreign fighters, terrorist, to go into syria and s

. >> for u.s. soldiers, the war in iraq has come to an end. >> smith: after eight long years, the war seemed like it was over. >> the last u.s. soldier is out of iraq. >> smith: iraq's leaders said they were ready to go it alone. >> history in the making. >> smith: prime minister nouri al maliki flew to washington to mark the occasion. >> it was a moment of optimism. there was a sense of pride... >> all right, everybody. >> ...that the occupying forces really left. and a lot of iraqis, sunnis and shias, were responding positively to that. >> today, i'm proud to welcome prime minister maliki. >> both sides presented it as a victory. maliki presented it as a great accomplishment-- iraq would stand on its own two feet. president obama talked about this new democratic iraq. >> what we have now achieved is an iraq that is self-governing, that is inclusive, and that has enormous potential. >> smith: president obama gives a very rosy picture of where things are. what'd you think? >> as somebody who voted for president obama, i was deeply disappointed be

the fighting. it would be good for iraq and good for the entire middle east. invalid -- wer have to be that narrative now because g hotties are flocking ies are flocking to isis. aboutar more concerned the danger of foreign trained jihadis with western passports than ebola. host: napoleon famously said all my generals are good. give me once were lucky. a general petraeus was both good enough and lucky enough to take advantage of the sunni awakening , the decision of several sunni tribes to switch sides and fight against the iraqi branch of al qaeda. he was a remarkable general, a remarkable man. vietnam whentudy he did his own doctorate work at princeton university. counterinsurgency very deeply. i was privileged to work with him on rewriting the marine corps counterinsurgency, which we published in 2006 just a few months before he took command of the effort in iraq. a fairly extraordinary event in military history. lucky.s was he was fortunate that most of the american units he had to served inin iraq had iraq during the early years when we were not very good

is dependent on iraqi soldiers fighting and winning the war against the islamic state of iraq the levant, but has isil fighters continue to march across iraq, the obama administration is facing questions, can it work? the top u.s. general just admitted that military helicopters had to be called in to stop isil from taking the bagdad airport. >> they were within, you know, 20 or 25 kilometers -- >> reporter: of bagdad airport? >> sure. and had they overrun the iraqi unit it was a straight shot to the airport. so we're not going to allow that to happen. >> reporter: the united states spent more than seven years training the iraqi military, the general who lead the mission says they need more training. >> the air strikes are helping slowing down the advance. it's buying us time so we can continue and begin to train the iraqi security forces in order to do the things we think they should be capable of doing. >> reporter: but some analysts say that might not be enough. >> i don't know how these things happen without some kind of american advisory role, because the mission ahead of

the fight for kobane is going on right on turkey's border. turkey opposes iraq and isil. and it opposes the syrian government. and it opposes the syrian city. with a big ref see problem and isil on its border, surcky is frustrated with the obama administration because it meant aiding an enemy, the syrian kurds. the dam broke in recent days with iraq agreeing for iraqi kurds to join syria as they dropped weapons to the syrian kurds. it's complicated and a sign of how vital the american government and the rest of the world thinks it is for kobane >> clashes flair between the kurdish fighters and the islamic state group, dropping supplies from planes. >> last night, the planes dropped weaponry and food and medicine los to the city of kobane. and this is the first time that they have dropped help inside of kobane and also to the fighters. >> on monday, turkey's government announced that it's also helping the army known as the peshmerga by allowing fighters access to its borders. >> iraq's kurdish regional government announced that it's in cooperation with turkey and the u.s. b

his brother all fled to syria to avoid fighting for saddam hussein in the iraq war. he began to hear the cracks of wood followed by his mother's screaming. soldiers pounded down the door and took his father away. his teacher, who was a loyal follower of saddam, turned against him. school had been easy for him but each morning began with his teacher's brutal ritual of hits his wrist and slapping his back for information about his brother. this was information that could lead to the teacher's profession. but the boy insisted he knew nothing and that was the true. all he really knew was he hated saddam hussein. he kept sthat to himself. it was the first piece of hate he had felt but strong enough to shape his life. that is the very beginning. now we will go to a chapter called and now the debate. this is a chapter where i interview four people here in washington with the hope some day those four people would like to participate in a public course on the topic and get into cost effectiveness, human cost, issues of subcontractors to monitoring oversight and transparency an

the headlines. meanwhile in iraq, the ongoing u.s.irstrikes have reportedly killed up to 22 civilians and an bar province. according to iraqi media, and attack earlier this week it a market in an apartment building in the town of hit. four to them were reportedly among the dead with dozens of people wounded. the pentagon has dismissed the claims of civilian casualties as falls. we will have more on iraq and syria after the headlines. a u.s. drone strike in pakistan has reportedly killed at least four people. the victims were described as suspected militants in north waziristan. at least 25 people have died this week in a series of u.s. strikes in tribal areas along pakistan's border with afghanistan. at least 40 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in yemen's capital. a separate attack on an eastern army base killed 13 soldiers. the bombings come as the him and government faces continued al qaeda attacks as well as a political standoff with rebels. tens of thousands of people have rallied across exit code over the disappearanc

and syria, the strategy generally is an iraq-centric approach. the ink blot, so to speak, starts there. and the reason why i use the ink blot analogy isn't just because of the different parallels with the satwa and the surge in iraq during the war. but also just the dealing with what is the -- what isis calls the islamic state, this sort of massive territory between that encompasses a lot of the euphrates valley. in iraq, you have a military campaign which involves air strike support, as well as arming of certain factions inside of iraq. and u.s. support to try and rescue certain minorities in particular throughout the country. and these gentlemen to my left can explain this a lot better than i can. that combined with an overall political strategy in that you want to try to get -- they're aiming to get a more inclusive iraqi government that's more permissible and that can entice some of the tribes and others particularly from the sunni population which makes up the basis of isis, back into the iraqi government so that it functions again. and in th

this story from the "washington times," iraq pleads for u.s. ground troops as the islamic state closes in on baghdad. here are the details -- as troops move closer to iraqi officials have issued a plea of american ground troops to return to the country. nearly 1,500 u.s. troops are already stationed in baghdad training the iraqi army. one senior u.s. defense official says it is fragile right now, but it's tough and challenging. the turkish-syrian border in kobane has also made headlines as kurdish fighters struggle to protect the city from the islamic state jihadists who are in an area just outside of turkey. some speculating that the terrorist groups attack on kobane was part of a distraction, a tactic to draw attention away from the campaign in the anbar province. let's get to your calls in just a moment, but first, a look at the other sunday morning programs, all of which can be heard on c-span radio later today, and as always, with that, here's nancy. >> top oiks today's sunday talk shows including the ebola virus, same-sex marriage, the fig

(laughter) i'm celebrating because, at long last, we've won the war in iraq. (cheers and applause) no, i'm sorry, guys. no, jimmy, the earlier one. no, not that early. yeah, that's the one right there! there's your sweet spot! tell 'em why. >> this is a big one. a bombshell new discovery by the "new york times," weapons of mass destruction were found in iraq but it was kept secret. the "times" reporting between 2004 and 2011, american troops found 5,000 chemical warheads. >> 5,000 shells and bombs containing things like sarin and mustard gas. >> saddam did have weapons of mass destruction. >> the story shows that, in fact, saddam did still have weapons of mass destruction in 2003 when we invaded. >> stephen: bush was right! iraq had wmds the whole time! i feel a combination of two strong emotions -- oh, my god, shock and awe! (laughter) i finally understand what you were talking about! there's no telling what else bush was right about. i bet some of those weapons were "nucular"? (laughter) this vindication must really warm dick cheney's -- arc reactor? i don't

during the buildup to the 2003 invasion of iraq, landay and his colleague warren stroebel dug deep to find evidence refuting the bush administration's case for going to war. you can see landay and stroebel at work in our documentary "buying the war," at billmoyers.com. matthew hoh fought in iraq as a marine corps captain. he then joined the foreign service and became the widely praised senior american civilian in afghanistan's zabul province, that's a taliban stronghold. he resigned in protest when he came to believe the war was making things worse and american soldiers should not be dying in what was a long-running civil war. matthew hoh is now a senior fellow at the center for international policy in washington, dc. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> let me read you something one of your colleagues, ryan cooper, wrote this week in theweek.com. "who's ready to squander billions of dollars on yet another pointless, almost-certain-to-backfire war in iraq? the mainstream media for one," he says, "which for weeks has been shamelessly fearmongering the supposed threat by the islamic

sir, one thing that's allowed isis -- the islamic state to make gains in iraq have been the divisions in iraqi politics and iraqi society. there's been a lot that iraq is developing a more inclusive government, but your government doesn't have a minister of defense, it doesn't have a minister of interior, there's a plan to engage the sunni tribes but the plan has not yet been implemented. can iraq form a truly inclusive government now given all the failures of the past? why can it work this time when it hasn't worked before? tep interpr >> translator: before there werele many sensitivities between various iraqi groups. in iraq, we are still dealing as groupswere many sensitivities between various iraqi groups. in iraq, we are still dealing as groups who unfortunately citizenship has not been established yet. and this is normal. in the netherlands, upf fuuntile '70s, the dealing with iraq in the netherlands as groups. they gradually became the cities. in iraq we hope groups deal with each other based on citizenship. f forming the new government is a new important step. it's true, until

the war on terror. bush was right to go into iraq in march of 2003. [applause] >> he was right to remove saddam hussein, one of the monsters of the 20th century was supporting terrorism and determined to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. democratic leadership including bill clinton, john kerry and the global warming hysteric al gore all supported the removal of saddam by force as did the majority of democrats in the senate. unlike obama's interventions in libya and elsewhere bush's war to remove saddam was authorized not only by congress but by a u.n. security council ultimatum. u.s. forces entered iraq. just three months later the democratic party was the nation's media in their pocket, turned savagely against bush. they called him a liar and a traitor and condemned the mission in iraq as quote nick illegal, immoral and unnecessary. that is al gore. these at tax went on for the next five years until a democrat entered the white house promising to throw in the towel and withdraw from the field of battle. what happened to change the demo

the u.s. invasion of iraq with the immigration of isis.our panel is about iran so we will focus on iran's role in isis. i think earlier about the critical role of education helping to counter this type of radical intolerance sunni ideology is so important. >> i will touch on the last one and implications of the nuclear domestic balance of power. if you look at the history of the iranian presidency since the end of the iran-iraq war that's three presidencies of rafsanjani and ahmadinejad all of them using power as her presidency progresses. all of them come in with promises that they are unlikely to deliver. president rafsanjani came with it promise of rejuvenation which he did not deliver and president of ahmadinejad with the promise of economic justice. you begin to see erosion of their popularity and the balance of power shifts to the office of the supreme leader which is not subject to an electoral challenge. you are likely to see a similar thing happened in the case of rouhani because he has made promises that he is not kept her in my

>> the iranians are a major neighbor of iraq. they have been involved in terms of pushing out isis, out of concern for their own security but also the security of the shi'as in the kurdish areas. we cannot ignore the reality of iran as a neighbor as it has also vital interests. that is why i think beyond the military issue, beyond the political and economic issue, there is the big strategic issue that needs to be addressed. this is the middle east. there are a number of regionalctors, namely to be brought in to play their parts against this threat. >> rose: let's just name them. >> turks, iranians, the arabs, the saudis. and the point is. >> rose: and the united states. >> of course the united states is the global power. i'm talking about the regional actors of any of these powers, if they are not part of the big strategy to he rad kick-- eradicate this group, they can be spoilers. in my view t cannot be done. it's like the syria conflict. we can talk forever about the military solution to get rid of this conflict and, but in my v

was not the reason we invaded iraq. r many years, i had people argue with me that is the reason we went in. to do not believe that. i do believe president bush used the 9/11 attacks to go into iraq trade because i believe he was pressured by evangelical christians and the jewish lobby to take saddam out. if you recall during the 1990's, saddam was paying suicide bombers $25,000 to their families to blow themselves up in israel. be thent analogy would way netanyahu before isis took was, mr. netanyahu was coming here all the time and his associates to convince the united states to bomb iran. i believe that is why president bush invaded iraq, because the weapons of mass destruction. there was no al qaeda in iraq either. host: ok, peter, we got the point. going to show you two headlines. this was an interview by james komi of the fbi, he is the fbi director. we covered that session on c-span. you can watch it online on www.c-span.org. also want to point out the deputy attorney general is stepping down. he is the second highe

during the nearly nine-year long u.s. occupation. fault lines travelled 600 miles across iraq to look at the consequences of the fight against isil -- and how u.s. allies are also helping to divide iraq more than ever. >> when isil advanced this summer, people across the country's northern provinces fled, some of them to neighboring syria. >> we're on a floating bridge between syria and iraq, and this is the bridge refugees are flooding through every day into the country. how long have you been coming? how many days? >> the u-s began bombing isil in part to rescue stranded yazidis on a mountaintop. but as refugees continued to leave the area two weeks later, they said the help was not enough. >> there were so many allegations about what went on on mount sinjar, president obama called it an impending act of genocide others called it a humanitarian crisis. unfortunately it seems the entire incident was used as a sound bite in a presidential speech to justify us intervention, once that sound bite was used no one remembered them anymore. >> where are you coming from? >> they've be

some of them go into the kurdish region in iraq. we also have information that isil is selling some of its oil to the syrian government, the assad government. >> which now becomes hard to get your head around. >> it is a clear example of the depravity of the assad regime that as they are purportedly fighting against isil, they are at the same time funding isil by flyin buying oil that isil has stolen from fields in syria. it is very hard to get your head around, but our information is that that's one way. >> as a financial detective, help me understand where at some point oil is not of use as a barrel of oil. it is of use generally of a refined product, but at some point somebody has to buy. you're hoping that you can keep onlooking and peeling away layers of the onion until you find someone who has a bank account, a link to the financial system and that's your entry point. >> if you think about the transaction chain, there is someone taking the oil out of the ground who is selling it to someone, who is smuggling somewhere. ultimatel

the border town of kobani. we'll have more on that in a moment, but first and iraq, they are also trying to repel the they are - iraq, also trying to repel militants. >> the men of the 17th iraqi army division hold the key to baghdad. if they fail to stop islamic state, baghdad will be in real danger. the craters from i.s. roadside bombs are all around. this is a local school day have blown up. but the iraqi army is hitting back hard. >> this is another one, another ied. >> experienced commanders are in charge, not the political appointees the last government put in until recently. thehe front line is just on other side of those trees, the river euphrates, and across it, i.s. are still in some force, but here, this has been quite an achievement by the iraqi army to forces back on the other side. you can see that their morality is a lot better than it was, say, a fortnight ago -- their morale is a lot better than it was a fortnight ago. these are iraqi soldiers begging for their lives when it islamic state captured the big army base in central iraq. the officers had abandoned them, and the men who surrendered, i

it brokered a deal through marsh. >> the iraq military is getting closer to the city of beiji in iraq, this exclusive aljazeera video shows intense fighting north of the city. ed kurds are fighting isil in kobane. they arthey are in desperate nef reinforcements. >> they've come back out, they've had meetings since then with colleagues to discuss strategy and our sources tell us that the iraq peshmerga will be concentrating their efforts in the east of kobane, while the syrian kurds and the free syrian army fighters wilkinson trait on the west and the south. it is the east where throughout this fight, the fighting has been at its most intensive. by the iraq peshmerga concentrating there, they're giving some relief to exhausted kurdish fighters and iraqi peshmerga will have the heavy weaponry, the artillery that the kurds desperately need. they'll be using that on the eastern front to take on the isil fighters and try to push them back from there, while as i say, the f.s.a. and the kurds concentrate on the south and the west. no indication yet of when the peshmerga will go into kobane.

we tried it leave the middle east. iraq at the end of 2011 and pulled american troops out despite having spent more than $1 trillion setting up the american government. 5000 american lives and more than 35 thousand wounded, many grievously. invading iraq was a mistake that you ares some passions talking about in the middle east. a smaller but critical mistake was pulling american troops out of the end of 2011. will bee that it generations, we will see generations of warfare and unrest for a number of reasons that i talabout in "knife fights." these are the kind of wars we are going to be fighting, not a conventional war against china. there are a number of reasons for that. nuclear weapons put an upper limit on how far great powers are willing to go in conflicts. the extraordinary conventional superiority of the u.s. military, despite the real damage being done to it by , the decision to cut spending on the department of defense, which i believe is a grievous self-inflicted wound on the military capabilities on the u.s. tha

we ms handled the operation of iraq. relearn classic encounter principles, and seized defeat from the jaws of victory by pulling the american advisors out, rather than keeping a presence behind after 2011. that decision, as well as not to arm moderate syrian rebels has gotten us into the mess we are in today. it's hard to understand how we got to the position, and what we need to do to get out with baghdad international under threat. >> reading the history will be crucial. congratulations on the book. the head master at the haber ford school. thank you sir >>> have r.v. will travel. i look at a growing number that thought they'd retire, but instead are hitting the road to find jobs. back in 2 minutes. real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >>> big companies like macies, ups, coles and the gap have plans to employ seasonal workers. amazon plans to hire 80,000 temp workers across 50 fulfil

but that, i think, is the best hope in iraq. syria's a different matter. >> do you think now -- we've been having this debate, but do you have a feeling on foreign policy, the best foreign policy to keep us safe? is it something more robust where america leads and more interventionalist? is it something -- do we need to let the more obama foreign policy of let's not be as interventionalist, keep more to ourselves, let's show the world that we don't want to interfere in their business everywhere it may be happening. does that need more time to play out? or do we have a pronouncement on whether that will keep us safe or will not? >> megyn, i think the world needs leadership in these kinds of situations. and if it's not the u.s., then where is that leadership coming from? and so the u.n. does a lot of wonderful things, but leadership in these kind of issues is not their strong suit. syria would be the first example that i think of. it's not going to be nato. nato has got a lot of internal issues. they have budget problems. and anyth