the united states was through in the last few years, and they started shifting their attention away from iraq. now with the escalating violence in a rack, the united states is looking back, and i believe the united states can play an important role in bringing the country closer to iraq in its fight against al qaeda and provide the expertise to encourage national reconciliation and to try to restore cohesion in iraq and to know iraq has imported relations with other countries. the united states has an influence over all the countries in the middle east. iraq needs a long-term friendship with the united states, a friendship based on democracy and respect of human rights and a stable, successful state, not the state that is working with discrimination and oppression. i think americans understand the problems of a rack, and they should concentrate on iraq once again to fix the lack of stability. we americans also do not want iraq to support terrorism. >> one last question.

group has taken control of saluja the key town in the province and in iraq and proclaimed an islamic state and their plan is to unite iraq and syria to form an islamic state known as a kind of fate phyllis bennis from the institute for policy studies told r.t. is kevin owen the crisis in iraq is fueled by the syrian war. we risk the possibility of the extension of this militarization that we're seeing in iraq right now we're seeing it already in syria where a civil war has expanded to a regional war and it's now spilling over into iraq the increasing militarization by the united states to the iraqi government is only going to make that worse not better and of course the irony is on the one hand you've got the united states supporting the rebels in syria have not come over the border into iraq and we're also hearing this we know offering drones and military support personnel but military support to fight these very same people before the against the it directly you have this scenario where the sunni population which is the minority but a large minority in iraq feel completely disenfranchised disempowered disconnected

mass destruction but even if you look at the al qaeda in iraq today al qaeda has been in iraq since the united states invaded iraq flows to iraq you took advantage of the presence of the united states now the war shifted more than against it followed occupy have but then take a look at the bus for i agree with you that's history but if we look at syria right now again the united states to one degree or another is supporting groups that a take the mantle of al-qaeda and because the united states wants assad to go i mean i just don't get this here ok there's some good al qaeda in there some bad al qaeda. well that's what's funny peter. and i think we go ahead like you are i'm speaking answer this money will go quickly go back to daniel go ahead sir go ahead first of all the united states you know the u.s. has been criticized all over the united states and the president is reluctant to be involved in syria in order to avoid inflating the support for al qaeda because of its invasion and he's being criticized i think the united states is very cautious not to interfere personally in the. conflict in syria

the group has not taken control of the key town in the anbar province in iraq and proclaimed it and islamic state plan is to unite iraq and syria to form the islamic state known as a kind of fate norman solomon from the american institute for public christiane spectrum earlier he says the crisis in the region is largely the fallout from the policies of the us there's been such a dissention into chaos and violence now ever since the us invasion of iraq more than ten years ago and when more and more weapons are dumped into the region and the idiology that the enemy of my enemy can be my friend and therefore should be given more weapons all that is adding up to just one catastrophe compound being another and for the us government today to act as though it were helping the situation by sending more weapons not only drones but missiles and other armaments this is just. disastrous course being pursued when superpowers insist that it's their way or the highway rather than acknowledging a need for regional diplomacy then we're going to continue to have this sort of violence so diplomacy needs to be taken seriously and ad

independent state what we see happening now is that al qaeda going to militants are trying to capitalize on the sick tarion tension that is currently inside iraq and this is a tension that the united states failed to resolve you'll remember of course of the united states occupied iraq for eight years and then called out leaving behind this major tarion power of the cave at the same time some of the al qaida and linked militants who are now fighting in iraq all reported me coming from across the border in syria now of course the united states has been supporting the syrian opposition which inadvertently has allowed these extremist islamist militants to flourish in the first place the united states is now saying that it will be sending an emergency shipment of surveillance drones and missiles to iraq in an attempt to try and prop up its allies in baghdad. the militant group now in control of fallujah calls itself the islamic state of iraq and the levant and its fighters are also known as the most radical jihadist wing of the syrian rebels let's now take a closer look at the organization which is gaining momentum in the region right now while its roots go back to the early years of t

developments the group has taken control of the key town in the province in iraq and proclaimed it and islamic state their plan is to unite iraq and syria to form an islamic state a known as a caliphate so in our talk to michael prize now he's an iraq war veteran and he joins us live now from los angeles michael the u.s. is saying it's not sending any military to iraq no boots on the ground but is the iraqi army actually capable of dealing with this on its own. well you know as the u.s. government knows it at this time cannot send u.s. troops because it knows that the people of the united states and the soldiers in the military would not accept that and so the question of is the iraqi government up to the task of being able to regain control in these regions i mean that is yet to be seen i mean it's going to be a question of whether the maliki government can inflict enough violence on these groups to kill enough people to put them back into submission or if they're able to form the types of political alliances that have been formed in the past to be able to have some kind of settlement but you know i really think it's you

has taken control of footage of the key town in the anbar province in iraq and proclaimed it and islamic state now their plan is to unite iraq and syria to form an islamic state known as a caliphate well let's talk more on this now with norman solomon he's in new york he's head of the institute for public at crissy so norman here we are seeing al qaeda gaining strength now in just not syria but also in iraq of course in those areas why is this happening well there's been such a dissension into chaos and violence now ever since the u.s. invasion of iraq more than ten years ago. when more and more weapons are dumped into the region and the idiology that the enemy of my enemy can be my friend and therefore should be given more weapons all that is that ng up to just one catastrophe compound another now iraq's prime minister he said he wants these people to surrender their. will listen to any words or will he have to take action he said he will take action eventually if it's necessary. one. well you know there's been a lot of demands for surrender from fallujah gen other cities in the past decade as well and i think that al

good status of forces agreement with the united states iraq really is unable to defend itself i mean today we were told that there are good supply them with hellfire missiles and so on but in fact iraq has not even have the need to deliver those missiles they don't have fighter jets they don't have you know combat helicopters. and so on so. basically directly and perhaps with some drone strikes as they do in yemen and pakistan is going to be very difficult to do for american troops and i'm really glad that you brought up the point of syria and how the violence in syria is spilling over to the us i know that some of the weapons that the i.s.i. us is using they smuggled from weapons that are in syria that were actually supplied by saudi forces so it is all of this directly related to syria or is there something else that's going on here without a doubt they work to do things to syria directly because it is called. iraq and the syria basically that's what it is and that's where they began and the acronym stands for that so it is you know it is sort of elastic group that goes across the b

well i think i think i think that the story of the iraq war is very clear the war were initially objectives united states did not achieve them there was no mass weapons of mass destruction the war in general failed to stabilize iraq because if you look at today arac is twice as more violent as a places like afghanistan or something like this. and i think that overall the maliki government and every other government in the future is going to have very difficult problems with these non-state groups such as al qaida and the largely it's because of complete distrust within the government and the people because of the greater part of sixty years of government abuse prior with saddam hussein so the war wasn't worth it and i just would like to make a point on this developing of al qaida that when we went in to do the surge with general petraeus in two thousand and seven al-qaeda we were able to suppress al qaida were able to manipulate al qaida to go away however they simply went into latency they were never exactly defeated in the sense of putting a white flag up and surrendering they just went back into the s

independent state what we see happening now is that all kinds of things militants are trying to capitalize on the sick tailgated tension that is currently inside iraq and this is a tension that the united states failed to result you'll remember of course that the united states occupy iraq for eight years and then called out leaving behind this major sic terry in the cave at the same time some of the al claim militants who are now fighting in iraq all reports with me coming from across the border in syria now of course the united states has been supporting the syrian opposition which one of the two feet has allowed these extremist islamist militants to flourish in the first place the united states is now saying that it will be sending an emergency shipment of surveillance drones and missiles to iraq in an attempt to try and prop up its allies in baghdad and. that was our t. his policy there to talk more in the fight for four years i was joined by deliberate help political researcher at the university of birmingham i first asked him as a veteran if he felt like the u.s. efforts in iraq were worth it. well i think i think i think that the story of the iraq war is very clear the war the br

and so when i'm in the absence of that and it's a good status of forces agreement with the united states iraq with the insomnia can defend itself and today we were told that that the ongoing supply them with hellfire missiles and so on but in fact iran is not even have the means to deliver those nestled in a fighting chance they would have said in a combat helicopters and sewing so i mostly use it to him and basically ate them directly and perhaps with ongoing strike as they do in yemen and pakistan is going to be a very difficult fight to do for my ticket to the really glad that you brought up the plane of syriac on the violence and syria is spilling over says i know that some of the weapons that the isi as his music. they smuggled from a black beans that we are in syria that were actually supplied by saudi forces. so is all of this directly related to syria or is there something else that's going on here. we headed out the back to two to three fifteen the head with it because it is cold this time it didn't go to iraq and moved eleven times this day basically that's what is it that way they'

contract and stability in iraq is stability not only for the country and interests of the united states but for the whole world and if iraq were to collapse or to enter a civil war this will have very negative impact on the interests of the united states and the countries in the region and it will be a genuine disaster worldwide. so of course i do not call for any interference in iraq and reject it, even if it is the united states but friends also should provide advice and support and should play a role in order to bring the parties closer together. they should support their friend when they are in trouble. i mean we need weapons. we need political stand. we need an economic support and the united states need iraq to be a stable country to be secure, to be able to produce energy, to be democratic. all these are american and iraqi interests alike. following the withdrawal of the american forces we felt that iraq was left on its own while it was not stable yet or balanced enough and was not yet able to completely move towards a transition to a strong state. this is why at this point the c

on one side of the line the united states supports sunni fighters because they're fighting shias paths in syria but you step over the line into western iraq and bar province and suddenly the united states is supporting shias who are fighting sunni's the fact that tehran is a long time patron of maleki with apologies to the ambassador in two thousand and ten the election results favored another candidate it was the united states that sat aside with no credibility whatsoever while toran stepped in and brokered a deal for molokai to take over the reins of power the expedient processes that the united states continues to try to use in the middle east always always come back to hurt us and while i to support stronger relations with tehran supporting she is versus sunni's on one side of the line and the opposite on the other side of the line certainly will not work out in the long run and certainly does not add up to america's credibility in the greater middle east ok richard in new york which i reflect upon that i mean it's morning different signs in different countries and it's the same conflict it's extremely complex and it doesn't it certai

independent state what we see happening now is that al qaida into militants are trying to capitalize on the six ten intention that is currently inside iraq and this is a tension that the united states failed to resolve you'll remember of course that the united states occupy iraq for eight years and then cooled ald leaving behind this major sick tarion power of the cake at the same time some of the clay de mint's militants who are now fighting in iraq all reported meat coming from across the border in syria and of course the united states has been supporting the syrian opposition which inadvertently has allowed these extremist islamist militants to flourish in the first place the united states is now saying that it will be sending an emergency shipment of surveillance drones and missiles to iraq in an attempt to try and prop up its allies in baghdad. and that was our tears policy where zoc more about the fight for literature i'm joined now by gareth porter investigative journalist and historian welcome mr porter so the iraq war has been over for ten years officially. but with this take offer of allusion the question is are we any better off today than we were when we left tha

all footage of the key town in the anbar province in iraq and attended an islamic state. the plan is to unite iraq and syria to form an islamic state and is a caliphate. the son of told to michael price now he's in a row. and he joins us live now from los angeles. michael the us is saying is still sending an e mail a tree to iraq. new pics on the ground but if the iraqi army actually capable of dealing with this on its own. when does the us government knows it. the sun cannot send us straight because it knows that the people of the united states and sold is in the military. i would not accept that and so the question of his iraqi government up to the task of being able to re gain control of these regions i mean as yet to be seen i mean it's that the question of whether of the maliki government can inflict enough violence on these groups to kill enough people to come up with them back in a submission on or fable the format types of political alliances of the band formed in the past alms to be able to have some kind of settlement. but you know i really think its time in others an op ed in the n

based political parties the shia led leadership in iraq led by prime minister nouri al maliki was put in power and remains kept in power by the united states who provides the money the arms to keep his government in power that government has been not only incredibly corrupt and not only incredibly incompetent in terms of dealing with the needs of iraq to rebuild from these years of war but also has been incredibly sectarian in terms of what it makes successor to various communities in iraq so you have this scenario where the sunni population which is the minority but large minority in iraq feel completely disenfranchised disempowered disconnected from their own government. people in the u.k. are losing side won't own armies or a government report so tranced that's one of the greater threats facing them in a tree according to m.p. the winding down of the campaign in afghanistan and or jews at the side for overseas interventions could lead the public to question whether the army is still has a father's designers and is apparently being driven by severe budget cuts and or just seen as a failure to come up with a long term strategic vision ris

not only the gains that richard engel says is being lost, but does the united states have responsibility for what's happening in iraq if it's a growing problem in the region? >> before the united states left iraq, it had the chance for a decent self-government, for iraqi leaders to bind the wound to the country. what you see playing out, as richard pointed out, is a sunni-shiite civil war across the region that the united states must stay out of. we have no ability to go and affect an outcome in any of these countries in the middle of this civil war which has been going on for some 700 years. >> look at the "new york times" today. that's one of the lead stories. and the other is, "new york state is set to loosen marijuana laws." i'm looking at you, chuck todd, only because you cover politics so closely. that's the only reason. this is a very interesting story about what is a growing public policy debate that the states are having. where is this headed? >> like many of our social cultural reforms that end up being more liberalized culturally, it's coming from the west. it's coming from these referendu referendums. it

iraq. and and how easy it when he's saying that a woman was anybody's going to help oh how was the united states helped. a win in iraq i would guess that the embassy is trying to discuss this with everybody and try to get everybody to calm down and not use violence and then you've seen in europe and christy are discussions about it security assistance as selling weapons and ammunition to the government of iraq. it sold to read this the same way. a moroccan her return. they need help or technological standpoint of intelligence are confident they are just very recently i'm getting some of them to recover and technology of the major events to attack helicopters that just now getting up in the oven and after that we absolutely need at the same time it is important to stress that the biggest problems iraqi security services have the biggest problem they may need to fill our internal reform issues sobering cavalry of operation the imprint of people were arrested. others are transparently others go to the companion piece to work in the county are guilty of you know all the people arrested may have to r

state factories, hoping some miraculous magical hand would create an entrepreneurial class. it through people in unemployment and upset the social order. the message to the sunni in iraq from the unitedtates, they now were unemployed. they might get to be janitors if they behave themselves. and the sunni arabs in iraq were elite, and they're not going to put up with being treated this way. nouri al-maliki prime minister sent a s.w.a.t. team to a member of the sitting parliament. they arrested him, dragged him off in shackles because they met resistence from his guards there was a fire fight, and his brother and possibly his sister were killed. then 44 members of particle part have sent in their resignations. some of the important part of the structural problems must be laid at the feet of the united states. >> we're going take a short break. when we come back we'll talk about what the best you can hope for in iraq in the coming years. what needs to happen inside the country to move forward from today? stay with us. this is inside story. >> welcome back to sympathy story. i'm ray suarez. on this edition of the program we've been discussing the way forward for iraq and how the violence

even my, the united states first before engaging in local battles because it felt that the united states were propping up these local states. so the things that are being called al qaeda in iraq and syria are not like that at all. they are not multinational. they have a national focus and they are not interested very much in hitting the united states. they're just radical sunni islam political slawrm. islam so i don't think it is the same. >>> when david renniik made a statement, president obama countered by, just because there's a kobe brighten doesn't mean they're nba. david i want to go to you.

united states puts its foot down. >> what does it mean? >> it means that if you do not accept the general par peters, you're going to suffer the consequences. >> what consequences? >> consequences, for example, iraq could be politically isolated. the united states is the only country that provides israel with the kind of political shield israel needs desperately with the international community. they're seeing a tremendous amount of financial and political support from the arab straight, from the united states. what you need to do then, you have to make them understand coexistence is never tabl. you have to find a formula for it. >> could the u.s. president be as touch as you suggest without getting a huge backlash at home? >> he would get a huge backlash, but then again, without leadership, without courage and without vision, you won't achieve the results that you want. >> it's always great to talk to you on campus and off. good to see you. >> thank you. >> and happy new year. >>> the u.s. supreme court has stepped into utah's same-sex marriage fight, and at least for now, gay couples will not be allowed to get married. details are next. you the most. >> household debt has been slashed. >> then,

tension that is trying to incite a lot of assistance to the united states milk to the soul the lament of course if the united states occupy iraq for eight years and then without looking behind this may just that alien contact me at the same time some of the al qaeda and its ministers from the mouth went and bought all the ports of heat coming from across the border in soviet the united states has the support of the syrian opposition which meant that he has a healthy sixteen this is not as man intends to race in the first case the united states is not saying that it will be sending emergency shipment of surveillance drones and the psalms to the back and attend to try and hide its eyes in baghdad that was our teens mostly air. sock more about the fight for felicia on doing now by nj caleb airtel clinical researcher at the university of birmingham hello there jake. so in many people die in ten wounded in felicia as a veteran yourself what's one thing her mind as you feeling it was worth it the city i think he did the story of the iraq war is very clear. the war they were initial objectives on the niceties did not achieve them the

. >> united states supports iraq's fight against al qaeda, but will not send troops back. i will not go into the details, except to say we are in contact with tribal leaders from anbar province, and we know they are showing great coverage as they reject terrorist groups from their cities. >> and this is a fight that belongs the iraqis. that is what the president and the world decided some time ago when we left iraq. >> so we are not obviously contemplating returning or putting boots on the ground. this is their fight. we'll help them in their fight. defense analysts say iraq needs technological assistance from the u.s., not ground troops. >> america will be involved, but as the secretary of state says, it will not be with mann power, it will be with advance intelligence, technical intelligence, tactical and not with boots on the ground. >> american boots pulled out and the iraqi troops, security forces are not asking for mann power. i spoke to the foreign minister is a month ago and asked what they needed and would they need american forces. they said, "no, we have million

iraq. but there is really no alternative for the united states. ashington believes we've got to support the central government. you don't want to see iraq fracture along sectarian lines. >> you know, the american forces were successful in the past when they went up against al qaeda, 2006-2007, because they are aligned with the sunnis. now you've got a situation with the sunnis aligned with al qaeda. how do you bring the sunnis back? >> i think the way you bring them back is the way that president bush and general petraeus did in 2007 with the surge. you work with the tribal leaders in places like ramadi and fallujah. you urge the iraqi government and baghdad to transfer political power to them. to give them real power and real voice in the system. those political leaders, the tribal leaders, don't want to see al qaeda succeed. this might be a temporary alliance between al qaeda and some of the tribal leaders now. and we have seen that play out and the horrific violence just over the last few days in ramadi and in fallujah. but i do think that can b

are being drawn together by this conflict in iraq what will this do to the newly established relations between the. right now the united states has an interest in somehow reversing the religion to opposition. from sunni militants groups affiliated to al qaida. who are posing serious challenge to the government in iraq made by real money maliki the prime minister who it also happens to be an ally of iran. after. a couple of years at least if not more of. the united states has really lost. the sunni militants again. affiliated groups in syria. have actually started calling a serious threat to its own interests u.s. interests in the middle east so this is a opportunistic alliance between iran and the united states similar alliance has been seen in the past but we do not know how long it will last although the current nuclear negotiations between iran and the united states may give it some light let's talk about those developments then in iraq itself al-qaeda linked fighters are controlling two key cities now in its biggest anbar province how did they manage to gain so much power does it surprise you that they have done so so qui

factors that are contributing to your failed state of iraq today well i think the key factor that we have to mention is that the occupation of iraq by the united states fundamentally destabilize the country the united states just completely disassembled the iraqi state as it existed and not only didn't really put anything in place but actually set up a structure which made it sort of bit official for forces to become more at the serial to divide along sectarian and other sorts of lines of what we're seeing now is the real fruits of all of these time bombs land mines that were set by the u.s. occupation all coming to fruition all at the same time we saw two thousand and thirteen one of the most deadliest years over eight thousand people died in iraq and i think this situation of pollution nobody is very related to that part. and i think it seems like you know a lot of people that comes to their head when they hear the word because of course travesty after a travesty during the height of the occupation we heard that as one of the main pillars of the war why are cities like fallujah ramadi so bloody specifically in those cities yes i think that's

contract and stability in iraq is stability not only for the country and interests of the united states but for the whole world and if iraq were to collapse or to enter a civil war this will have very negative impact on the interests of the united states and the countries in the region and it will