and we re with our panel. let me ask you about iraq. you heard peter king earlier saying maliki has to go. maliki does have to go, but it s how do we get rid of him, that s the question. and that s why it s not the quicker resolution to the problem right now in iraq. the moderate sunnis have lost faith in us. they don t trust america any more because we ve allowed maliki to do this government without being unified and building a grander consensus. they ve been excludeing. the radical sunnis, in the isis group don t fear us because they view america as weak, they ve seen how we respond to syria, iran and egypt. the seeihiites, which maliki regards as its patron has us exactly where we want them. as much as we want to get rid of them, we really can t right now. implications for the u.s.?
up, i think, short changing the internal dynamics of iraq. we crude up that political system so bad in the people we chose to put into power there. no doubt about it. the anbar province there was a severe aweakening but it required that the sunnis had a reason to believe, katty, that they had a future in iraq. you had members of the bush administration at the end, you had the obama administration desperately trying to get maliki to bring sunnis in, but all of the gains that were made in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 kept getting negated by maliki focusing almost exclusively on the needs of the shia and excludeing the sunnis. part of those gains, by the way, were because of the large amounts of money that were paid over to sunnis and this wasn t just because of troops on the ground. this was because of direct payments made to sunni leaders
just be laid at maliki s doorstep. to be sure, he has not been a willing participant in these outreach issues, but when he has done things, has given sunnis ministerial portfolios, et cetera, he has never been greeted with any sort of response or positive response on the part of the sunnis. i think it s very important to understand that this problem is not just a maliki problem. but, ambassador, didn t something happen? something happened to drive those sunni tribal leaders whom you worked with, that david petraeus wooed and worked with and we spent a lot of money on. something happened to drive them into the arms of the insurgents. the most militant sunni group, the isis. and that really does have to be laid at the feet of maliki and locking up the supreme court justice, excludeing not naming a defense minister. the army turned tail and ran. yeah, i think a number of
over some skeptical republicans during a closed door meeting yesterday. that doesn t mean there are not dissenting voices. a source close to minority leader mitch mcconnell says he plans to vote against the bill. democrats in the house say republicans are putting the bill s passage at risk by excludeing unemployment benefits. the bill pits congressman ryan against senators rand paul, marco rubio and ted crews who have come out against the bill. all four men are interested in seeking the renomination for president in 2016. there s also a number of outside conservative groups who are opposing the bipartisan spending plan. house speaker john boehner and congressman ryan directly addressed that opposition yesterday. most major conservative groups have statement blasting this deal. you mean the groups that came out opposing it before they ever
government. that s exactly what they said. no. that s what ted cruz. ted cruz is just a part of it. what congress voted what the republicans voted was to keep the government going and de fund obama care. the president then says, you don t fund obama care we are not negotiating. there s nothing to negotiate is there? take over. the president brought this on himself. the president s law was passed obama care no doubt about it. but the way you repeal it, the way you amend it is going back to congress. the president unilaterally went beyond his authority by amending his own law and excludeing businesses for a year. republicans said if it s good enough for business mr. president why not the individual. while i agree as a republican we should not tie this to the cr, the fact of the matter is the president by his own iffiat has said i will not negotiate. it takes three to tango the president, the house and the