root in an area that is even worse perhaps than afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks? in the short run, it s crucial to stop isis before it takes baghdad or any more territory in iraq. that seems to be happening, although it s not happening thanks to the government of maliki, thanks to shiite militias, intervention from iranian forces and the call from the ayatollah sistani for a religious fight. we need to move soon to having platforms in iraq to go after the worst of the worst. these isis terrorists who will begin to move to external operations. one of the things that u.s. counterterrorism officials are worried most about is that as al qaeda morphs and creates these offshoots like isis, these groups will begin to compete for street cred, if you will, to show who is toughest. and the way you ll show you re the toughest on the block is by hitting america and we have to be worried about and be prepared for that.
would preside over. look, i mean, the dynamics that in iraq, the dynamics that are driving this threat are basically, at the front of that is nouri al maliki. he has since the day we left there in december 2011, he has done virtually everything he could to alienate the other people in iraqi society, the sunnis and the kurds. and so what we re seeing essentially is a consequence of his extreme sectarian policies. peter king, as you look at this from the vantage point of a terrorist threat to the united states, let s look at the map. first, the map of what we re talking about, iraq and syria. and then you look at the section in red, which is the approximate area of control of isis that extends beyond iraq into syria. this is a breeding ground for terrorists. al qaeda and an offshoot of al qaeda, arguably more extreme, if that s possible, than al qaeda, with the kind of fighters, 10,000 foreign fighters with designs on attacking the united states. how do you view it then in terms
intervention in iraq, which is to forge a democratic multiethnic country that he would preside over. look, i mean, the dynamics that in iraq, the dynamics that are driving this threat are basically, at the front of that is nouri al maliki. he has since the day we left there in december 2011, he has done virtually everything he could to alienate the other people in iraqi society, the sunnis and the kurds. and so what we re seeing essentially is a consequence of his extreme sectarian policies. peter king, as you look at this from the vantage point of a terrorist threat to the united states, let s look at the map. first, the map of what we re talking about, iraq and syria. and then you look at the section in red, which is the approximate area of control of isis that extends beyond iraq into syria. this is a breeding ground for terrorists. al qaeda and an offshoot of al qaeda, arguably more extreme, if that s possible, than al qaeda, with the kind of fighters, 10,000 foreign fighte
underestimating the level of sectarian violence, warfare in the country that creates the potential for this kind of terror state to develop today? look, you use the word sectarian, so did richard engel. this is more than just an obscure, shia/sunni conflict. this is al qaeda. al qaeda is not on the road to defeat. al qaeda is on the march, not just in iraq, in syria and libya. and we have real enemies of the united states and what we should be looking for are friends. i think when we stick with our friends, and those friends are not always perfect, believe me, but we stuck with the kurds through 20 years. northern iraq kurdistan is a success story. stuck with south korea for 60 years. south korea is a miracle story. but if we walked away from south korea in 1953 that county was a basket case. but dexter filkins, nouri al maliki is more than just not our friend at this point. he s not fulfilling our fundamental promise of our intervention in iraq, which is to forge a democratic mu
ground that can focus on where you want to do that. of course, our equipment is very capable of doing things without people on the ground, but ultimately when you re talking about mixing civilian populations with militants and military combatants, you want to be able to separate them out. adam, and very briefly, too, when you look at the political landscape in iraq and the fact that nuri al maliki has concentrated power around himself and basically stepped on anyone who was a challenge to him, sunni or otherwise, by the way, do you see in that landscape any secular alternative to the man? i do not. i really don t. and i would actually like to piggyback on what the general just said about having boots on the ground for these air strikes. without that happening, which i m not in favor of, of putting boots on the ground for the air strike, there s going to be a lot of collateral damage and