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Good guys or w clean hands. and that is one of the reasons that americans are overwhelmingly opposed to reengaging in any way in iraq. and in fact, most americans believe that this current crisis is not the result of us having pulled out too soon, but the result of us having gone in in the first place. i think that getting over that hurdle both here at home and in neighboring countries about who can you trust and if you go in, you know, who is truly on your side and is there a good guy to be found, and can you trust that person is a real question that has to be asked and that people are asking...

Kurds, and sunnis live in peace. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> let's dig deeper now in the political and the military challenges as well as the enormous complexities involved with ken pollack, is the center for middle east policy. he was an early supporter of the war in iraq and the former ambassador to iraq. you made a number of points which i think are really important that i want to get to. one, you said a lot of people we talk about isis forces. but this is a coalition of groups. it's not just one group. explain that. >> that's right. isis is the lead dog here. they're the ones who trigger...

>> exactly. we've seen these armies collapse before. in 2003, in 1991. if these troops do not believe they are fighting for their own territory and their own people, their own families, they did hold and fight against the iranians in the 1980s. so they can fight if they think that they're motivated. they will fight for the shia areas, anderson. but the problem again is there are intertwined shia and sunni communities all around baghdad. that's why baghdad is so critical right now. >> ken, baghdad is because of the -- what went on here in 2006-2007, baghdad is overwhelmingly sunni -- excuse me,...

"radical: my journey out of islam extremism." he joins me with former bush homeland security adviser fran townsend. fran, we talked to ken pollack earlier in the program who said you shouldn't overestimate the impact of foreign fighters here, that this is an iraqi operation. that being said, there is a foreign component here. it is very important. how concern ready u.s. intelligence officials about that sort of foreign legion as part of the isis contingent, and about the possibility of them returning to the united states and europe and sowing the seeds of terror? >> anderson, having spoken to ...

Unimaginable that the united states would have to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars and highly unlikely that we would have to contribute even tens of billions of dollars." he said, "those who argue that the united states would inevitably become the target of unhappy iraqis generally also assume that the iraqi population would be hostile to u.s. forces from the outset. however, the best evidence we have suggests that the iraqi people would be pleased to be liberated." he was basically the captain of team wrong in 2002, ken pollack. but incredibly, today, "the new york times" goes back ...