british, another australian. if these individuals have western passports, how concerned are you about them traveling here to the u.s. to commit acts of terror? well, i m very concerned. that is a possibility. and so that s all the more reason why we need to have a solution in iraq that is primarily a diplomatic solution. with all of the region s players coming together to say this violence has got to stop. so it is a concern for us. i think it s a concern for the entire world. which is why it s easy on the one hand to say that s iraq, we were there, we need to forget it and walk away. but we really can t. i think this video is a perfect example of why we need to continue to be involve. it s a question as to how we are to be involved. i think it s primarily diplomatic and not militarily. we ve had many architects of the iraq war. their voices resurrected, if you will, regarding what s happening now. what do you make of that? i just think it s incredible, because this is a mess tha
so that s kind of the name of the game. obviously, the rallying the shia militia, this is not good news for us. this is a really further development in this sectarian war. i think it s important to understand that to be sure, maliki s been a big part of the problem, but the sunnis have never really accepted shia rule. they ve never accepted it for centuries. i think it s going to be hard for them to accept any shia leader. so that is a really is a tall order. we have a sectarian conflict. moreover, as you ve seen with isis collecting money from various banks in northwestern iraq, this money is used not so much for what we are concerned about, that is terrorist assaults eventually on the united states or something, but it s used to make sure the various sunni sheikhs in anbar and elsewhere are well lube bra da
join us. that is the message from the young english-speaking jihadist. the fighters identify themselves as british and australian and say they are soon going to iraq to fight. terrorism experts warn members of isis from western countries pose perhaps the greatest threat to the u.s. homeland. joining me now is a journalist who has spent an extensive amount of time in iraq, author of the classic series the world s most dangerous places. among several other books. i m glad to speak with you. know you ve met militant groups from around the world. what s your assessment of isis and its capabilities? well, i think isis is very good at projecting an asymmetrical threat. numerically, there are not that many. about 2,000, to 3,000, depending on which sources you read. they re essentially being welcomed in by tribes in the anbar region, the same sunni people we paid off to create you remember the surge and the awakening.
so they felt disenfranchised from the maliki government so they invited this group in to basically raise havoc but knew marically they re not a large threat. what do you mean by we paid off ? well, the tribes in anbar are a critical part of the sunni power structure in iraq. and when we went in, saddam hussein had a very good relationship with these tribes. and we shut down paul bremer shut down the baath government and also the military, which then created the insurgency. when general petraeus went into mosul, for example, he found out in you work with the tribes in mosul, it suddenly became peaceful. these tribes are bargaining their power because they feel cut off from the maliki government or from the central government of iraq. you have to remember in 2010 with iran s support and urging, maliki severed a number of ties with the northern sunni tribes. which is what brought in isis. isis was trained and equipped in syria.
some constituents are concerned about iran and the potential for iran to be stronger than it is already. and understanding the influence iran has with maliki. so there s a lot of concerns there as well. secretary of state john kerry is heading to the region this weekend. what message would you have him give to the leaders when he meets with them about iraq? the number one message is for there to be pressure on al maliki, that when he puts the parliament together, when they form a new coalition, it has to be inclusive. i believe that s the number one message that needs to be delivered. i know that he s also going to visit jordan. and i think that the u.s. needs to continue to be very suppo supportive to jordan. as you know, jordan has had to take in millions of refugees. and it s really creating problems within their country. another potential problem here, i know you re familiar with this new isis video showing these three jihadists speaking in english. one of them being identifi