"Tonight onFrontline..." "AllahuAkbar!" "IfyouthreatenAmerica, you will find no safe haven." "As the United States, with a coalition of other countries, wage a new war on terror," "Frontlineinvestigates how ISIS gained such a dangerous stronghold." "Itgoesfrombeingnothing to being the most powerful, active group within 12 months." "It's extraordinary what happens." "Tonight, from the ashes of Al Qaeda..." "ISISbuildsenoughstrength, and the monster grows." "Correspondent Martin Smith uncovers the early warnings." "ISISdidn'tbecomethe group that it is today until they went to Syria." "The missteps..." "Theintelligenceanalysis continued to point to what could happen." "Theviewwas,"ThisisIraq's problem, let them deal with it."" "And the ancient tribal hatreds that fueled..." "ThesearenotMuslims, and frankly, they're barely human beings." "..."The Rise of ISIS."" "ThelastAmericancombat brigade has begun leaving the country." "MARTINSMITH:" "It waslate 2011 when American troops finally left Iraq." "ForU.S.soldiers,the war  in Iraq has come to an end." "SMITH:" "Aftereightlong years, the war seemed like it was over." "ThelastU.S.soldierisout of Iraq, other than those..." "SMITH:" "Iraq'sleaderssaid they were ready to go it alone." "Historyinthemaking." "SMITH:" "PrimeMinisterNouri al Maliki flew to Washington to mark the occasion." "Itwasamomentofoptimism." "There was a sense of pride..." "Allright,everybody." "...thattheoccupyingforces really left." "And a lot of Iraqis, Sunnis and Shias, were responding positively to that." "Today,I 'mproudto welcome Prime Minister Maliki, the elected leader..." "Bothsidespresentedit 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." "Whatwehavenow achievedis an Iraq that is self-governing, that is inclusive and that has enormous potential." "SMITH:" "PresidentObamagives a very rosy picture of where things are." "What'd you think?" "Assomebodywhovoted for President Obama," "I was deeply disappointed because I knew those words were going to go back and haunt him." "Thankyouverymuch, everybody." "Itwasat thattrip, actually, when things started to go astray." "SMITH:" "Whathappenedwas that while he was in Washington," "Maliki received a phone call from Baghdad" "Maliki received a phone call from Baghdad about a terrorist plot implicating his vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, the most senior Sunni politician in the Shia-led government." "It accused Hashemi's bodyguards of planning an attack on Shia targets." "Wewereat theBlairHouse." "I recall Maliki, he was fiddling with his phone." "He said, "Well, some guards of Tariq al-Hashemi," ""the vice president, have been monitoring our compound." "And they have been arrested."" "SMITH:" "Malikirelayed the news to President Obama." "IthinkthePresident's response was," ""Well, every country has its own rules, its own law, and the rule of law should be applied."" "SMITH:" "HowdidMaliki interpret what the president told him?" "Ithinkhe interpretedthis may be some support of any future actions." "Theresponsehe gotfromthe president was that this is an internal Iraqi affair." "And that, to Maliki, was a green light in terms of what he can do with the Sunnis, because the United States is not going to stand in his way." "SMITH:" "Malikireturnedto Baghdad, and then just one day after the last American soldiers left Iraq..." "Malikiimmediatelyorders that Hashemi be arrested." "Andittookalotofpeople  by surprise." "I think that was a departure point." "It showed Maliki is really independent from the Americans." "SMITH:" "Beforehe couldbe arrested, Hashemi fled." "He was tried in absentia and sentenced to death." "We interviewed him in Doha, the capital of Qatar." "SMITH:" "Wasit possiblethat your bodyguards were involved in any kind of..." "No,noway." "SMITH:" "Someof your bodyguards appeared on television." "Yes." "I do have plenty of reports of the way that my guards had been treated, unfortunately." "When they just received brutal torturing, in fact." "We'llneverknowwhatistrue because they were held in the Baghdad Brigade headquarters in the Green Zone." "It's been clearly documented over time that torture happened there." "It's been documented by Iraq's human rights ministry and the Red Cross." "There's no doubt torture happened there." "SMITH:" "Sotheconfessions were likely the result of torture?" "Mm-hmm." "SMITH:" "Hashemiandhis  bodyguards would just be" "Maliki's first targets." "HundredsofSunnishad been arrested after the American leaving of the country." "Thousands, in fact." "SMITH:" "In2012,thousandsof Sunnis suspected of subversion were held for months or longer without charges ever being filed." "SoeveryonetalkedtoMaliki that this is not the way of dealing with the people." "of dealing with the people." "This is a discrimination, in fact." "But he is not listening to anyone." "SMITH:" "ManySunnisdidn't even make it to jail." "TheShiamilitiawere very, very violent." "There were many, many instances in Baghdad and in many other parts of Iraq of Sunnis turning up with a bullet in the back of their head and their hands bound behind them." "This was common." "This was a daily, daily occurrence." "SMITH:" "Afterthedeparture of the Americans, more and more Sunnis turned up dead in the streets of Baghdad." "Thethingto understandabout Maliki is that when he looks at Iraq's Sunni minority, he sees, you know," "Al Qaeda, he sees the Baathists, he sees military coups, he sees plots against him, he sees a population which despises him and wants to come back into power." "Thisisaman who ..." "many of his close relatives were secretly arrested and tortured by Saddam's regime." "He's capable." "And yet if I could use one word to describe Nouri al-Maliki, it's "paranoia."" "Hehadadeepfear  that ultimately, the Baathists were going to go after him and that he was going to be targeted and that he would lose power, and it would be the ghost of Saddam Hussein again." "I think that's what he worried about." "SMITH:" "Malikialsoenraged the tribesmen of the Sunni Awakening." "These were the tribesmen who, in exchange for American money and promises of political inclusion in a new Iraq, had helped defeat Al Qaeda years earlier." "Ithinkthathewas suspicious of them really, of this force." "They were not sustained or maintained as a potential force that the government might need later on." "Andthentheotherkeything  was that Sunni leaders in the army and Sunni leaders in the police began to be sidelined, and people with a strong Shia sectarian bent replaced them." "And that meant that a lot of people felt they were being excluded, and that was true-- they were." "(gunfire)" "SMITH:" "Meanwhile, Al Qaeda in Iraq, the group that would become ISIS, was camped in Iraq's western deserts." "It was not much of a force." "The Surge and the Sunni Awakening had severely reduced it." "Remember,bythetime the Americans left Iraq, the insurgency was broken." "The Sunni insurgency, it was broken." "It was on its last legs." "Al Qaeda had been decimated." "SMITH:" "Whatremained,though, were the most battle-hardened Al Qaeda militants, a few embittered tribesmen, and some remnants of Saddam's Baathist military hoping to regain power." "Thisisacollection of very hardened killers." "Thisisacollection of very hardened killers." "These are the guys that the United States didn't manage to kill during the war then." "Thesearemostlyyoungmen who were in prison, some of them under Maliki." "Some of them were in U.S. prisons." "Mr. Baghdadi, the head of ISIS, was in Camp Bucca." "SMITH:" "Afterhe wasreleased from Bucca, the American-run prison, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would, in time, become head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, directing ambushes on Iraqi forces and suicide bombings." "But he had greater ambitions." "In the summer of 2011, he sent a few men into Syria to join the rebels fighting the Shia government of Bashar al-Assad." "(chanting)" "(explosion)" "For Baghdadi, the Syrian war was a gift." "Suddenly,youhaveacomplete breakdown of the state in Syria." "You have this vast, open space between the two countries." "And so these guys, they're suddenly able to find life." "ISISdidn'tbecomethe group that it is today until they went to Syria." "Syria is what made ISIS ISIS." "Wedon'tknowhow many Al Qaeda in Iraq guys move from Iraq to Syria in the 2011, 2012 timeframe." "But once they move into Syria, all of a sudden, they're able to operate once again." "All of a sudden, they're able to recruit once again." "Their message gains traction with the Sunnis of Syria who are looking to wage a civil war against the Shia government." "(explosion)" "SMITH:" "AlQaedawas joining the fight along with dozens of other Syrian Sunni rebel groups, but it quickly became a major force." "Baghdadisendsabunch of guys into Syria." "It goes from being nothing to being the most powerful active group." "They're running operations all over the country within, like, 12 months." "It's extraordinary what happens." "Takes off like fire." "SMITH:" "Backin Iraq,Maliki's purges of Sunnis continued." "And Maliki upped the ante in December 2012, when his police rounded up the bodyguards of another prominent Sunni leader, finance minister Rafi al-Essawi." "Rafial-Essawi, everybody loves the guy." "I mean, he's greatly respected." "I've seen no evidence that suggested that his bodyguards were doing anything bad." "To the contrary." "And so when his bodyguards are arrested, that I think is the real blow to the Sunni community, is the real blow to the Sunni community, because everybody knows Rafi al-Essawi is a peaceful man." "SMITH:" "Soyouweresitting inside the finance ministry." "Yeah,theyattackedthe  office and they took 16 of my bodyguards." "These are almost ten years they are with me." "I'm sure that they are against terrorism, all of them, almost, they are my close relatives." "SMITH:" "Afterthearrest warrant is issued for Rafi al-Essawi..." "IcalledMalikiup." "I said, "What are you doing?" "What the hell's going on?"" "He's a colleague of ours." "He was with us yesterday in the cabinet." "And now some police people have gone to arrest him?" "This is absolutely unacceptable." "Hundredsofthousandsof people were very upset because they feel that this is a story of dignity." "No Sunni is exempted." "People started to prepare for a big demonstration in Fallujah and Ramadi." "So I called them, I said to them," ""I'll join the demonstration."" "Anyone,Malikiandthe gangs of the militias of Maliki, can arrest anyone." "Iwentthere." "They are protesting for their rights." "And they have legitimate demands for releasing the innocent people in the prisons, some of these in detention center for two, three, six years without trials." "They are telling us of, in one month or twice in a month, three months, raids in their community and collecting just young people like that." "Collecting people." "Theywerenotfully integrated into the security forces as was promised, so they felt, again, completely marginalized." "The idea that it's just terrorists," "Maliki is trying to cultivate that impression." "No." "The average man in the street, woman in the street, Sunni, perceived it exactly that same way." "(chanting)" "SMITH:" "Officialsin theWhite House saw what was happening." "Obama's ambassador to Iraq had warned that Maliki needed to be contained." "Thiswasaconstantwarning that I had made and that others had made before me, that Maliki was a problem." "On the other hand, the president and the country had taken the position, "Iraq was a mistake." ""We've ended our war in Iraq." ""If we see things we don't like," ""we'll do calls from the vice president," ""just like we do with 150 other countries that have similar situations."" "TheObamaadministration certainly did tell" "Prime Minister Maliki and other Iraqis that they wanted to see them play by the democratic rules, that they thought it was a mistake for them to go after their political rivals in this fashion." "But they did it in private." "But they did it in private." "They didn't do it in public." "And they certainly never imposed any kind of a cost." "You'vegotto continuetoput pressure on them to do the right thing." "I think everybody just kept their fingers crossed that ultimately, Maliki would somehow step down or be replaced and that Iraq would be in a better place." "No,I don'tthinkthat's accurate." "We were engaged with all of Iraq's communities, we were engaged with Prime Minister Maliki, and we were seeking to manage this and press Iraqi leaders to move in a more inclusive direction." "But by definition, our leverage, in order to affect political outcomes inside a very complicated society like Iraq's, has inherent limits." "And at the end of the day, it's going to be Iraqi leaders who have to make these determinations to work together." "(chanting)" "SMITH:" "Asweekswentby, the demonstrations grew." "In Ramadi, protesters camped out on the main road between Baghdad and Jordan, a vital trucking artery." "In other Sunni cities and towns" " Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit," "Hawija-- other protests halted traffic and commerce." "With youth unemployment running as high as 40%, young men were free to gather." "And support poured in from around the Sunni Arab world to pay for tents, meals and transportation." "One of the principal funders was a wealthy Iraqi businessman living in Jordan, a man with ties to the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein." "SMITH:" "Howmuchmoney did you spend in support of those protests?" "(translated):" "Allthat the demonstrations needed." "SMITH:" "Andhowmuchwasthat?" "(translated):" "Allthatwas  needed." "I don't know." "Whatever was needed." "SMITH:" "Khanjaralsopaid for the establishment of pro-Sunni TV stations." "(translated):" "Weencouraged channels like Baghdad," "Al-Rafidain and Fallujah to defend our people." "(shoutinginArabic)" "(translated):" "Malikiis  the cause of all of this." "He has a problem with the Sunnis." "This is the revolution of the tribes." "I am proud of it and I support it." "(chanting):" "AllahuAkbar!" "SMITH:60milesaway in Baghdad," "Iraq's Shia were organizing their own demonstrations." "Here and in other Shia cities throughout Iraq's south, people encouraged Maliki." "(chanting)" "Theyweresupportinghim ." "He was popular in the streets, he was popular in Najaf, he was popular in Basra, he was popular in Babil, popular in Baghdad." "And when he moved against Sunnis, he found himself" "And when he moved against Sunnis, he found himself getting more popular." "So there was no real disincentive at that point to discontinue doing what he was doing." "(explosion)" "SMITH:" "Backin Syria," "Al Qaeda was steadily gaining ground." "In its early months, the group relied on donations from wealthy Sunnis in the region." "TheSaudis,theKuwaitis,the Emiratis, all of the gulf states and a whole variety of other countries began to provide support to a whole variety of Sunni opposition groups, and they weren't terribly careful about which groups got the aid." "SMITH:" "Andsoon,AlQaeda needed fewer donations." "As they gained territory, they would become self-sustaining, robbing banks, running extortion rackets, seizing Syrian transportation routes and eventually Syrian oil fields." "AllahuAkbar!" "Theywereverysmart." "They understood, "If we can control those oil wells, we'll be able to sell the oil on the black market and get cash."" "And they went about that in a very conscientious way, field by field." "SMITH:" "InthisAlQaeda video, they are shown planning and then executing an attack on a major Syrian power station." "(gunfire)" "SMITH:" "U.S.Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford had urged the administration to quickly provide aid to pro-Western Syrian rebels." "Otherwise, he warned, Al Qaeda would dominate." "Ithinktherewas certainly warnings from people at my level that in a large, ungoverned space, having Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda-affiliated groups able to operate freely would be as much a risk to the United States as Somalia, Yemen" "and Afghanistan were." "And in each of those places, the Americans had to act." "SMITH:" "Butin Syria, the president chose not to send arms." "Ithinkthepresident's concern-- and I respect his decision-- but I think his concern was that ultimately, if we provide those kinds of weapons, we couldn't be sure whose hands they might ultimately wind up in." "SMITH:" "Yourespect his decision." "He was the commander-in-chief." "But you think he was wrong?" "Ithinkwe madethe wrong decision in not providing assistance to the rebels." "IthinkPresidentObamahas a fundamental belief" "IthinkPresidentObamahas a fundamental belief that any military action or aiding local fighters will lead to, almost inexorably, 150,000 troops on the ground like Iraq, or 500,000 like Vietnam." "Slippery slope, down the drain, huge disaster for America." "I think he believes that, sincerely." "I think he's absolutely wrong." "SMITH:" "Youweregetting advice from Ambassador Ford," "Ambassador Jeffrey in Iraq that we needed to get involved in the Syrian situation, or the Al Qaeda elements that were operating there were going to dominate and become a much more serious issue." "Well,let'sstepbackhere ." "I think in the rear-view mirror, people suggest that it was about ISIL." "In those conversations in 2012, it was very much about," ""What can we do to effect change as it relates to Bashar al-Assad?"" "SMITH:" "Correct, but the urgency increased as Al Qaeda-linked rebels gained more and more power and money." "Absolutely,andagain, it's a complicated picture." "The president was willing to get engaged in support for the opposition in Syria, but he wanted to make clear that we understood there were limits as to how we could solve this problem with our military, and that we had to be very deliberate and careful" "when it comes to something like providing military assistance to an opposition group." "SMITH:" "Throughout2012, the president held off." "Without U.S. arms, the more moderate Syrian rebels struggled." "Al Qaeda, meanwhile, was ready to expand back into Iraq." "(explosions)" "In a campaign called "breaking the walls," they launched a series of attacks on Iraqi prisons." "Al Qaeda's ranks swelled with newly freed inmates." "Then in March 2013, a few of Al Qaeda's black flags began to appear in the midst of the protests in Ramadi." "And around this time, they started calling themselves the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham" " ISIS." "Their presence stoked Maliki's worst fears." "Thatwasaturningpoint, really." "That was a turning point in the government attitude toward these demonstrations." ""We told you so." "These are infiltrators."" "This is the black flag of Al Qaeda." "SMITH:" "Thenin April2013, at a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija, there was a confrontation." "Thefactswere a little unclear." "You have some provocateurs, there's a police officer who's killed-- there's a police officer who's killed-- maybe by Al Qaeda, maybe not-- and Maliki responds massively and with enormous force." "NoonethoughtthattheIraqi  army can attack demonstrators in Hawija." "They are demonstrating for months at that time, peaceful, calling for the rights." "So when they brought their tanks and the heavy vehicles of the army and the security forces of the ministry of interior and attacked, they killed the people in a very criminal model." "It'sunclearhowmanypeople were killed." "The estimates that I've heard from people who saw the bodies was that there were hundreds." "Hundreds and hundreds of bodies." "Andatthatpoint,ISIS , they were arguing, "You're not going to get anywhere" ""with peaceful protests." ""You need to have muscle." "You need to use some measure of violence."" "And they started to gain more traction with that argument." "SMITH:" "Sotheseare people, young men who sat in those protests in Ramadi and Hawija, who decided to take up weapons and join with ISIS?" "Theytriedto ..." "They voted for a new government in Baghdad in 2010." "Their representatives, like Hashemi and Essawi, fellow Sunni Arabs, were purged." "They were humiliated." "They tried to form a region." "They tried to exercise civil disobedience." "They were attacked with Maliki's forces." "And so now they've taken up arms." "AllahuAkbar!" "It'sbeencalled the revolution, it's been called the insurgency." "Whatever you want to call it, it was back." "IfyoutakeIraq'sSunni community, its leadership, it's full of reasonable people." "It's full of secular, educated, very moderate people." "But they look around and they say, "Where do we go?" ""The only people who are going to protect us" ""are these really hard guys, and we may not like them," ""but we need them because otherwise, there's nothing." ""Nobody's going to protect us." "And the Americans aren't here anymore."" "SMITH:" "Yearsearlier, the Sunni leadership had warned" "American officials what would happen if Maliki reneged on the promises of power sharing he'd made to Iraq's Sunnis." "Themessagewas,"If we are backed into a corner again," ""we will rise up." ""And this time, we will not stop." ""We will take Baghdad." "We will burn it or we will die trying."" "(gunfire)" "SMITH:" "Threemonthsafter Hawija, ISIS mounted a spectacular attack right on the outskirts of Baghdad, releasing 500 inmates from Abu Ghraib prison." "releasing 500 inmates from Abu Ghraib prison." "AbuGhraibis onlyseven or eight miles from Baghdad Airport." "It's 12 or 14 miles to the city." "So it was very clear that ISIS-led Sunnis, basically, were encroaching and making major, major gains in Anbar Province." "Itwasahugepropagandawin for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria." "It was basically the prison bust-out was a statement of purpose that, "We're here." ""What started after Hawija, in terms of the bombings," ""the spike in violence, we're orchestrating this, and hell is coming."" "SMITH:" "ISISbeganbringing more reinforcements over the Syrian border." "It became clear that the Iraqi army could not stop their advance." "In Baghdad, the leadership was worried." "IspokewithMaliki." "I said, "Listen, let's admit it." ""You cannot do it." ""We cannot do it." ""Our military is dysfunctioning." ""And we have an option." ""If our democratic system is threatened, we can go and ask our American friends for help."" "SMITH:" "InlateOctober2013 ," "Maliki would set out hat in hand to Washington." "Themessagewasreally, "We are under threat." "We don't have control over our border with Syria."" "And in terms of weapons, Hellfire missiles, you see, we run out of them." "And we warned about the seriousness of the situation, the existential threat that this country is facing." "SMITH:" "ButgettingAmerican aid beyond Hellfire missiles was going to be a hard sell, in spite of the fact that U.S. intelligence and defense officials were also increasingly alarmed about ISIS." "TheAmericanintelligence community was saying that this group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, was becoming increasingly potent." "They were expanding their footprint in Syria." "They were expanding their operations in Iraq." "There were months of these kinds of warning signals about the growth and expansion of ISIS." "Ithinktheintelligence analysis continued to point to the implications of what was happening in Syria and what could happen in Iraq." "You know, this was not something that people were not being made aware of in terms of the implications." "SMITH:" "Theadministrationdid  agree to some small increases in military aid." "Iwantto welcomeback Prime Minister Maliki..." "SMITH:" "Butdespitethe  warnings, the president was not ready to give more." "Maliki wasn't seen as a trustworthy partner." "SMITH:" "Hewashat-in-hand, asking for more weapons, but the president did not appear to be tough on Maliki at that point, publicly." "Can you tell me that it was different behind closed doors?" "Can you tell me that it was different behind closed doors?" "Yeah,privately." "we said that, "You need not only our security assistance, you need a political program that all Iraqis can get behind."" "SMITH:" "Andwhatdid hesay?" "Hewouldcommittodocertain things, but there was never the sustained follow-through that was going to be necessary to really have an inclusive Iraqi political culture." "SMITH:" "Whatleveragecould you use with him at that point?" "Well,weobviouslyhad  significant relationships with Iraq." "But at the end of the day, it's up to the Iraqi political leadership to govern in an inclusive fashion." "We couldn't do it for them when we had troops in Iraq." "We couldn't do it for them when we didn't." "Thankyou." "SMITH:" "Andafterthatvisit, things got much worse." "Gotmuchworse." "(chanting)" "SMITH:" "InDecember2013, Maliki would strike once again, this time against a hardline Sunni parliamentarian," "Ahmed al-Alwani." "Ahmedal-Alwaniwas a Sunni politician, a member of parliament." "He'd give angry speeches against Maliki's government." "AndMalikidecidesthathe's  had enough and the Iraqi forces stage a raid on his house." "(gunfire)" "Alwani's brother is there." "The brother is killed." "Ahmed al-Alwani, the member of parliament, is taken away, but nobody has seen him since." "(gunshots)" "SMITH:" "Afterthatarrest, Maliki sent the army into Ramadi to tear down the year-old protest camp." "(gunshots)" "Maliki's move would prove disastrous." "ThatprovokesaSunni uprising." "(rapid gunfire)" "TheSunniArabpopulationof Anbar rose up and said, "Okay," ""we're sick and tired of you." ""You're oppressing us." "Get the troops out of our cities."" "AndtheIslamicStatetakes advantage of that to move inside these cities." "And from there, you have chapter one of the Iraq War of 2014 begin." "(gunfire)" "Whathappenedhereisthat by virtue of the Shias not opening it up and allowing the Sunnis to participate, that they created the monster that has led to ISIS." "SMITH:" "Sotheycreatedthe monster that they feared." "Exactly." "SMITH:" "Thefightinglasted only a few days." "In the end, the Iraqi army was no match." "In the end, the Iraqi army was no match." "(rapid gunfire)" "SMITH:" "Youwouldthinkthis  would set off real alarm bells in Washington." "I mean, now you have them taking over a city just a few miles outside of Baghdad." "TheISISattacksonRamadi and Fallujah certainly did set off some alarm bells in Washington, at least in certain quarters." "But the top-level leadership continued to do virtually nothing." "SMITH:" "PresumablyBidengets on the phone to Maliki?" "Or, I mean, what happens?" "Somephonecallsweremade ." "No question about that." "But of course, the Iraqis had never seen the Obama administration actually take any action either to help them or to hurt them if they didn't do what the United States wanted." "SMITH:" "InIraq'snorth,ISIS  was eyeing another target:" "Mosul, Iraq's second largest city." "Months before they attacked, a Kurdish intelligence official gave Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari a warning." ""TellMalikiIhavevery , very serious concerns." ""The terrorists have established themselves." ""They have encamped themselves" ""in the western desert near the Syrian borders." ""And really, they are planning to formally militarily overrun Mosul."" "SMITH:" "Youtook this message to..." "Itookthismessagetohim." "It was a clear message of warning." "And he didn't take it." "SMITH:" "TheWhiteHouse,too,  was warned." "Theadministrationnotonly was warned by everybody back in January, it actually announced that it was going to intensify its support against ISIS with the Iraqi armed forces." "And it did almost nothing." "SMITH:" "Ambassador Jeffrey says that the Obama administration said it was going to speed military assistance, but it did, in his words," ""almost nothing."" "That'sjustnottrue." "I mean, if you go back and you look at the record of what we were providing to the Iraqis, there was a steady increase, whether you're talking about Hellfire missiles, the Apaches, they were held up by Congress." "We sought the expedition of that delivery to the Iraqis." "Hellfiremissilesstarted to come." "They increased the intelligence capacity, but it was really not enough, to be honest with you." "I mean, the United States could have done more." "SMITH:" "Thenon June6,2014 ," "ISIS sent several suicide car bombs into downtown Mosul." "(explosions)" "(sirens blaring)" "SMITH:...alongwithISIS fighters in pickup trucks." "In some neighborhoods, they were warmly welcomed." "(rapid gunfire)" "(rapid gunfire)" "SMITH:" "TheIraqiarmy, on the other hand, was seen as a Shia militia." "With no local support, the army had deserted by June 10 with barely a fight." "Theydidn'tknow how to respond." "They didn't want to respond." "You know, these were people that didn't want to do any actual work." "They were fat cats, I call them." "They were people who were earning good money to basically sit at a desk and smoke cigarettes and drink good liquor all day." "SMITH:" "Intheend ,ittook  only 800 ISIS militants, with the help of local Baathist military cadres, to secure a city of 1.8 million people." "Even ISIS was surprised." "Theoriginalintelligencewas  that ISIS did not come to invade Mosul." "They didn't come to take it over." "They came to break a bunch of people out of prison." "But what happens?" "They roll into the city and the entire Iraqi army collapses." "And they make some adjustments very quickly, on the spur of the moment, and decide," ""Wow, we're not going to just get the prison, we're going to get the whole city."" "Then they just keep on rollin'." "SMITH:" "ForISIS, the spoils included tons of U.S.-made military equipment." "Idon'tthinkbin Laden could've ever dreamt that elements even more radical than his own Al Qaeda would be armed with American M1-A1 tanks or 155-millimeter artillery or up-armored Humvees or MRAPs." "SMITH:" "FromMosul,ISIS rapidly advanced down the Tigris and captured Qayyarah, al Shirqat, Hawijah and Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein." "There, ISIS was easily able to round up several hundred Iraqi soldiers." "ISIS recorded their execution." "SMITH:" "Whatdidyou think when you saw these mass executions taking place?" "Theseguysarecrazy." "But there's method to their madness." "SMITH:" "Andwhat is that method?" "Control." "I mean, this is one of the first terrorist groups saying," ""You know what?" ""We're not going to hit and run." ""And we're not going to participate" ""And we're not going to participate" ""in politics as you know it." ""We actually want to kill everyone who disagrees with us," ""we want to control the piece of land, and whatever cost it is, we're going to do it."" "AlQaedawasanunderground organization." "It could hurt." "It could maim." "It could terrorize people, bomb, blow up." "We know their tactics." "But ISIS has a different strategy." "They have a plan." "They have a strategy to establish a state, an Islamic emirate." "SMITH:" "OnJune29, ISIS declared a caliphate, an Islamic nation representing the world's Muslim faithful-- an entity that recognizes no political borders." "Asyoucansee ,thisis the so-called border." "We don't recognize it and we will never recognize it." "SMITH:" "ForthisISIS propaganda video, militants bulldozed the Syrian-Iraq border." "An ISIS recruit from Chile is calling on Muslims everywhere to join them." "Wewillbreakthe barrierof Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, all the countries." "These are the first barriers of many barriers we will break." "BydeclaringtheKhalifah, they did something nobody else has done." "SMITH:" "Thecaliphate." "Thecaliphate." "The implication of this in the minds of the traditional Salafi believers is that they have a religious obligation to pledge loyalty." "SMITH:" "Salafisbeinghardcore Islamist fundamentalists?" "Iwouldsaythe traditional religious fundamentalists." "Due to their faith in that particular sect, they have an obligation to respond to a caliph if he calls them." "Now I know not all Salafis will do that." "But even if one percent of the Salafis do that, you're talking about tens of thousands of people now in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, in Jordan, in every Muslim country," "Sunni country." "WehavechosentodepictISIS as a successor, or a partner, to Al Qaeda." "It's actually not." "Islamic State is a state-building enterprise." "They're trying to create a real state, not some post-modern virtual Al-Qaeda-style thing that only exists in your head." "They're trying to create something that looks like a real state." "It's a very different model." "SMITH:" "OnJuly4,ISIS  made another extraordinary move." "In their newly occupied Mosul, the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ascended the pulpit of the Great Mosque." "Baghdadigaveasermon in Mosul." "Baghdadigaveasermon in Mosul." "Bin Laden never did that." "Zawahiri never did that." "InanArabcityinbroad  daylight, an Arab city that used to be under control of American troops?" "It's a very ostentatious move and one that's likely to attract more support." "SMITH:" "AfterBaghdadi's sermon, thousands more jihadists flocked to Syria and Iraq." "Virtuallyeverycountryin the world, you have young, disaffected youth, both men and women, who have little hope in their life, who want to be a part of something special, want to be a part of something successful, and they now see" "ISIL taking over vast swaths of both Syria and Iraq, succeeding like no one else has succeeded." "This is the Al Qaeda that Osama bin Laden only dreamed of building." "SMITH:" "AndunlikeBin Laden's Al Qaeda, ISIS fighters operate under the command of experienced military officers." "Several of the top leadership positions are now held by Baathists from Saddam's army." "WhatyoucallISIS,behind them sit the Baath party and the former regime." "And the Baathists are pretty key to that structure." "I think without the Baathists, it becomes very difficult to pursue ISIS's agenda." "You lack a lot of the administrative capability and a lot of the military skills." "Theyknowhowtoemplace artillery." "They know how to use tanks." "They know how to set up defensive positions." "They know how to go on the offensive." "(rapid gunfire)" "SMITH:" "ISISmilitarystrength was evident when in August, fighters moved into Kurdish territory." "The Kurdish Peshmerga, reputed to be Iraq's fiercest fighting force, were easily overrun by ISIS fighters armed with captured American weapons." "Minorities in northern Iraq-- Christians, Shabaks," "Turkmen-- faced a stark choice:" "convert or die or flee to Kurdistan." "Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled their homes." "Meanwhile, a column of ISIS fighters was approaching Erbil." "ISISisadvancingcloser to Erbil..." "SMITH:..." "Kurdistan's capital." "Therearesome40American military advisors there." "TheUnitedStateshas  a special relationship with Kurdistan." "There'sa U.S.consulate in Erbil..." "Kurdistanisthesilver lining of Iraq." "Kurdistanisthesilver lining of Iraq." "A trillion dollars' worth of global energy companies:" "Total," "Chevron, Exxon and Gazprom Neft are invested in Kurdistan." "SMITH:" "Itwasthe threat to Erbil that prompted the U.S. administration to finally intervene." "Thetriggerwasthreat to U.S. facilities in Erbil." "That was the start of the air campaign." "SMITH:" "ButtheU.S.signaled to Iraqis that more assistance would come only if Maliki resigned." "A week later, Maliki stepped aside and the U.S. airstrikes stepped up." "(explosions)" "ISIS responded by releasing this video." "ThisisJamesWrightFoley, an American citizen of your country." "SMITH:" "Itwasjustone of many horrific videos they proudly shared." "Theyknewhowtouse the social media." "They knew how to promote themselves as the only reliable global jihadi movement." "Thefightinghasjustbegun." "Youhavethousands of foreign fighters who truly believe in this criminal behavior." "Thiskindof bloodlustis psychosis." "There's no other word for it." "It's not..." "I mean there's no political program that justifies it." "I think killing is as important to ISIS as securing the caliphate." "But killing first." "MyfellowAmericans,tonight I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL." "SMITH:" "IsISISathreat to the United States?" "ISISisathreat to the United States." "In the near term, ISIS is an immediate threat to our interests in the Middle East." "There is nothing that would lead us to believe that they would do anything but ethnically cleanse the region and absolutely create a Sunni-Shia civil war." "(rapid gunfire)" "Long-term, if they achieve the Islamic State that they've declared, then absolutely it will be a threat, initially to Europe, probably, and ultimately to us." "SMITH:" "Oneweekafter the president announced he would expand airstrikes into Syria," "ISIS besieged the Syrian town of Kobani, right on the Turkish border." "(rapid gunfire)" "The U.S. is trying to coordinate military help from over 20 countries." "from over 20 countries." "But as U.S.-led coalition airstrikes bombed ISIS positions in Kobani, the Turkish army watched from just across the border, refusing to participate." "It'sa regionalissue." "Turkey is a very obvious example." "Which way is Turkey going now?" "It comes down to the sectarianism of the area." "So it's an issue which Iran and Saudi Arabia have to address, as well." "All those countries really have to get together to say," ""Are we prepared to at least shelve our differences" ""and find a way that we can sort out this dreadful mess that has emerged in Syria and Iraq?"" "SMITH:" "Ourinterventionsinto this part of the world have not gone well in the past." "So there's a lot of people who are going to say," ""Look, I mean, I just don't see these guys as an immediate," ""imminent threat to the United States." ""I don't think any good is going to come by us trying to go in there and manage this."" "I'dsaythey'reright." "We're not going to do this by ourselves and we're not going to do this for the region." "We're not going to have large U.S. forces on the ground to do this." "The only way that you're going to solve this problem is if you get the countries and governments of the region invested in it." "SMITH:" "Today,ISISisin control of large parts of Syria and Iraq." "The U.S. is hoping that Iraq's new prime minister," "Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite, can get Iraq's Sunni tribesmen to once again turn against ISIS." "Without their trust and support, the Iraqi forces cannot win." "Withoutthattrustbetween the Shia and the Sunni in Iraq, without that trust between the leaders of the Sunnis and the leaders of the Shia groups in Iraq," "I think you're going to create a vacuum that no one will benefit from that vacuum but the extremists." "SMITH:" "Areyouanoptimist at this point?" "No,I 'mnotan optimist." "I mean, I'm 41 years in the military and I've spent, as I said, it seems to me, seven or eight of the last 12 years working these very issues in and around Iraq or Afghanistan" "or wherever else." "This is the right campaign plan, but I'm pragmatic and every campaign's assumptions have to be revisited as the campaign evolves." "And some of these assumptions are actually, I've no doubt, are going to be challenged." "Thismorning,thecommittee receives testimony from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." "SMITH:" "Inrecenttestimony, General Dempsey stated that the president may have to reconsider his pledge not to send in U.S. troops." "Myviewat thispointisthat this coalition is the appropriate way forward." "I believe that will prove true." "But if it fails to be true and if there are threats to the United States, then I, of course, would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of U.S. military ground forces." "SMITH:" "IfGeneralDempsey does come to the point where he says we need to introduce boots on the ground, where he says we need to introduce boots on the ground, will the president reconsider?" "Thepresident'sviewisthat  we do not need to do this with U.S. combat forces on the ground." "SMITH:" "I takethatasa no ?" "That'sa no." "Obviously..." "SMITH:" "Evenif Dempseycomes forward and says," ""That's what we need"?" "Again,no,in termsofhowwe are looking at the strategy." "I can't anticipate every hypothetical scenario." "But in terms of the strategy itself, the president is very confident and comfortable with a limiting principle as it relates to combat forces on the ground." "SMITH:" "ISISis nowincontrol of most of Iraq's Anbar province." "American military advisors are coordinating the war just outside Baghdad." "For more on "The Rise of ISIS," visit our website." "IslamicStateis a state-building enterprise." "They're trying to create a real state." 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