As President Obama announced that 300 military advisers are being sent to Iraq and left a window open for air strikes in the future, his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that any American intervention in Iraq will not be productive unless its Prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki, shows signs of real change.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV in Los Angeles on her memoirs - Hard Choices - a book in which she admits that her previous support for the Bush invasion of Iraq was a mistake, Ms Clinton made a blistering assessment of the role of the Iraqi PM in the current crisis, calling him a sectarian leader who represents only a small slice of Iraq's population. Ms Clinton told NDTV that PM Maliki has been arrogant with the Americans and was happy to see US troops exiting his country. She says for the US to send advisors or deploy air strikes, the PM should first show a readiness to include the Sunni population of Iraq.
(Read full transcript here)