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The Obama Administration has made clear its desire to see a new government in place in Iraq, quietly agitating for a replacement of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, a man the US itself had helped into power.

As the Sunni group calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), continues its march across Iraq, toward Baghdad, even the country’s top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, has called for Iraq’s government to realign and be more responsive to its Sunni minority.

President Obama announced yesterday that he is ready to send up to 300 military advisors to Iraq, and prepare for “targeted and precise military action.” There are already a few hundreds US troops in Baghdad apparently protecting the US’s vast and lavish embassy. He also stressed that US forces will not be engaged in combat in Iraq.

GUEST: Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, currently the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at American University of Beirut (AUB). He has written many books including Arab Spring, Libyan Winter, and The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World.

Click here to Vijay Prashad’s article about Iraq called Iraq’s Night is Long