Iraq Lawmaker Wants U.S. Boots On The Ground

Vian Dakhil is one of the few women and the only member of the Yazidi minority in Iraq's parliament.

The Yazidi were targeted by ISIS this summer and thousands were stranded on Mount Sinjar. The U.S. stepped in with a rescue mission, but Dakhil says there are still thousands of Yazidis trapped there.

Dahkil is in Washington seeking more held for her people. She says ISIS is winning the war and that the U.S. should put combat troops on the ground to fight the militants.

On who is winning the war in Iraq

“Since you already have two and a half million people being refugees, everyday people are getting killed, and you have a lot of women and children still being enslaved by ISIS --unfortunately I would say the winner is ISIS in Iraq.”

“I think the Iraqi government, with its own army is not capable of actually getting back into those territories and under their control."

On what kind of help she wants from the Obama administration

“They first started out with a great mission and attack on ISIS, and that made us very happy. That was only for one week. After one week, they stopped. They suspended airstrikes and we were kind of surprised. We were looking to see why they were suspended for a while, and we’re hoping to understand why."

“What is really urgently needed right now, there are five women and children being held by ISIS and we really need assistance right away to help them be free and run away from ISIS. Plus humanitarian aides are mostly needed at the moment for those refugees who ran away from ISIS and made a way to get to the shelters. We’re here to tell the people in the United States that this is what we are living through right now in Iraq, and that’s what we need your help with at the moment.”