Editor's note: CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson and producer Victoria Eastwood answer readers' questions about what they are seeing on the ground in Baghdad, how Iraqis feel about the latest turns of events, what the future might hold -- and the challenges of reporting from a country once again embroiled in crisis.
(CNN) -- From the conversations you've had, what is your sense about how Iraqis feel about the prospect of any greater U.S. involvement?
Nic Robertson: They're divided. Certainly on the Sunni side, in Anbar province and among the tribes that are supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, they would see it as the Americans backing the Shia. That wouldn't put the Americans in a very good position to play a mediating type of role, although it would be different if, through American influence, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was replaced by someone who was more tolerant and less sectarian.
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Here in Baghdad, if you go and talk to the guys who are being recruited and who are volunteering to join the Shia militias, they are happy to have American support for their government. And there was perhaps a week ago more of a fear that ISIS might arrive in Baghdad and that they really needed to be stopped in their tracks.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters assemble at a shrine on Iraq's Mount Sinjar on Friday, December 19. The Kurdish military said that with the help of coalition airstrikes, it has "cleansed" the area of ISIS militants. ISIS has been advancing in Iraq and Syria as it seeks to create an Islamic caliphate in the region.
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But I would also say that there's caution, because everyone knows what American involvement looks like here. For example, one Sunni politician we talked to said that if the Americans come in, they would have to put right what they did wrong last time. What they mean is they left a sectarian leader in charge of the country, so if there's any chance of keeping Sunnis onside if there are airstrikes against ISIS, then it will have to involve getting rid of al-Maliki. The Americans have got to be seen to be giving something to both sides, if you like.
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What kind of support is al-Maliki seeing in Baghdad?
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Robertson: It depends who you ask. He has taken a tough line, and a lot of people in the Shia community are answering the call to stand up and join the fight against ISIS. But I think if you asked most moderate, middle-class people, and certainly anyone in the Sunni community, they would say that he isn't a guy for the future. They say that the way al-Maliki has responded thus far to the crisis -- one that many people feel he created through sectarian policies -- has further alienated the Sunnis he should be trying to build bridges with.
Have you seen many visible signs around Baghdad of a city preparing for a possible assault? There was talk last week of Baghdad being a target for militants -- how fortified does the city appear?
Robertson: The area has been fortified for some time. It's kind of like it was when I was here in 2007, 2008, 2009, back when it started to get more heavily fortified. I would say there are perhaps even a few more checkpoints than back then -- there are certainly a lot of checkpoints at all the main roads, all the main intersections, every few hundred yards.
Victoria Eastwood: Yes, as you're driving along the roads, at virtually every street corner there's a man in a uniform sitting there with a gun. The other thing that's quite noticeable is how many blast walls there are -- these very high concrete walls that are outside people's houses, or across roads. And you'll see someone's house, but it's surrounded by barbed wire and high walls.
Robertson: The other thing we experienced just today was when we were driving down the street by the river, and we saw an army patrol. And they will just suddenly close that street you are driving on, so you have to go another way -- there's no way to talk them out of it. So street closures come at random.
What has it been like trying to report from Baghdad, on the street?
Robertson: The hardest thing for us has even been getting permission to film on the street. We've been here for a week and we're still trying to get that permission. As a Westerner in Baghdad you stand out very clearly when you're on the street, and you attract a lot of attention with a camera. So unless you have permission to be using it, you will be shut down very quickly.
Hundreds of thousands of residents from cities like Mosul that have come under siege from militants have been fleeing the violence. Where are they going? Is the government offering any provision for the internally displaced?
Robertson: The government not so much, it seems, and we don't see this so much in Baghdad. Most of the people that fled out of Anbar have found accommodation with families, friends and others that have taken them in. They are very dispersed -- it's not like they have collected in a particular area.
The people that have just fled out of Mosul, for example, have mostly fled to the Kurdish region where it's safer and where there are displacement camps being set up. But in Baghdad, even though the fighting is only about a 45-minute drive northeast of the city, people fleeing Baquba, for example, aren't arriving here in perceptible numbers.
Eastwood: We just did an interview with someone from the (International Committee of the Red Cross) office, and what he said is that what happens for people in Baghdad who have been internally displaced from areas where there is fighting is that they get brought into their ethnic communities -- they are seeking shelter in these places because they feel safer, rather than necessarily going to NGOs. Many are seeking sanctuary in their ethnic neighborhoods, and these are very closed neighborhoods.
How optimistic are people here that Iraq can be prevented from falling apart as a unified nation? Do Iraqis you speak to care whether the country ends up being divided?
Robertson: I think people want to be safe. I think the Kurds, for example, have been able to take advantage of the situation and have taken control of the last big town that is important to them, Kirkuk, and they have no intention of giving it up. So I think whatever the Iraq is of the future, the Kurds are going to want the Kurdish region, which has had some autonomy, to have even more autonomy and greater separation from Baghdad.
I think as the sectarian tensions rise -- and you've already been seeing this over the past decade -- you will have, as Victoria just said, people fleeing to their communities. And this means you're going to have even more sectarian division -- the fault lines are opening up over sectarian lines. And at the moment there's no indication that this government has the ability to roll back wholesale the gains by ISIS and the Sunnis. Anbar and Falluja are a prime example of that -- they took control of these places at the beginning of the year, and the government has been incapable of taking them back. It has basically just built very big checkpoints on the roads, essentially cutting them off. The government has just walled off connections to large Sunni areas.
And that's probably quite symptomatic of the way this is likely to play out. But what this means is that any political compromise in the future is going to be short-lived, and may never be able to bring back the country to the way it was before.
Eastwood: From what we've been told, people that can afford it are trying to leave the country. We have just done an interview with someone Nic has known for a very long time -- he has reported on her story, and that of her family, over the course of a decade. And in that time, her husband was shot dead in early sectarian violence, her daughter was kidnapped. She only managed to get her daughter back by kidnapping another senior militant who then allowed her daughter to be released. And yet despite all this, it's only now that she says she has had enough and that she sees no future for this country.
Robertson: Her eldest daughter is a Shiite who is going to get married to a Sunni, and so they need to get to the Kurdish region so it is safe. Then they are planning to leave the country. She has been through hell. And now for her this is it -- there's no hope for the future of the country.
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A Peshmerga fighter looks down at the body of an alleged ISIS fighter in Zummar, Iraq, on Thursday, December 18.
A Kurdish fighter stands next to a destroyed armored vehicle in northern Iraq on December 18. The vehicle was destroyed by an improvised explosive device placed by ISIS militants.
Peshmerga fighters stop to check a vehicle in Zummar on December 18 as they continue to battle ISIS fighters near the border with Syria.
Pro-Iraqi government forces guard a shrine in Balad, Iraq, on Monday, December 15.
A Yazidi woman displaced by ISIS militants tends to a fire Wednesday, December 10, at a shelter in Dohuk, Iraq.
A Kurdish child from the Kobani, Syria, area holds laundry at a refugee camp in Suruc, Turkey, on Monday, November 17. Tens of thousands of people have fled Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, to escape ISIS.
Smoke rises from Kobani following airstrikes on November 17. The United States and several Arab nations have been bombing ISIS targets to take out the group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters.
A Kurdish child from the Kobani area holds on to a fence at a refugee camp in Suruc on Sunday, November 16.
People in Suruc watch smoke rise near the Syrian border during clashes between ISIS members and armed groups on Thursday, November 13.
A bomb (upper left) falls on an ISIS position in Kobani during an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on Saturday, November 8.
Iraqi military forces take up position in Jurf al-Sakhar, Iraq, on November 8.
Fire and smoke rise from Kobani following airstrikes against ISIS on Thursday, October 30.
Iraqi special forces search a house in Jurf al-Sakhar on October 30 after retaking the area from ISIS.
Smoke rises during fighting in Kobani on Monday, October 27.
ISIS militants stand near the site of an airstrike near the Turkey-Syria border on Thursday, October 23.
An explosion rocks Kobani during a reported car-bomb attack by ISIS militants on Monday, October 20.
People watch Kobani from a hill near the Turkey-Syria border on October 20.
Kurdish fighters walk to positions as they fight ISIS forces in Kobani on Sunday, October 19.
A U.S. Air Force plane flies above Kobani on Saturday, October 18.
Heavy smoke rises in Kobani following an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on Saturday, October 18.
Cundi Minaz, a female Kurdish fighter, is buried in a cemetery in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc on Tuesday, October 14. Minaz was reportedly killed during clashes with ISIS militants in nearby Kobani.
Turkish police officers secure a basketball stadium in Suruc on October 14. Some Syrian Kurds have been held there since crossing from Syria into Turkey.
Kiymet Ergun, a Syrian Kurd, celebrates in Mursitpinar, Turkey, after an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition in Kobani on Monday, October 13.
Smoke rises from Kobani on Sunday, October 12.
Syrian Kurds from Kobani stand outside the grounds of a refugee camp in Suruc on Saturday, October 11.
Alleged ISIS militants stand next to an ISIS flag atop a hill in Kobani on Monday, October 6.
In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force on Saturday, October 4, a U.S. Navy jet is refueled in Iraqi airspace after conducting an airstrike against ISIS militants.
A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier who was wounded in a battle with ISIS is wheeled to the Zakho Emergency Hospital in Duhuk on Tuesday, September 30.
Iraqi Shiite militiamen aim their weapons during clashes with ISIS militants in Jurf al-Sakhar on Sunday, September 28.
Syrian Kurds wait near a border crossing in Suruc as they wait to return to their homes in Kobani on Sunday, September 28.
Syrian Kurds wait behind border fences to cross into Suruc on September 28.
Tomahawk missiles, intended for ISIS targets in Syria, fly above the Persian Gulf after being fired by the USS Philippine Sea in this image released by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday, September 23.
Turkish Kurds clash with Turkish security forces during a protest near Suruc on Monday, September 22. According to Time magazine, the protests were over Turkey's temporary decision to close the border with Syria.
Syrian Kurds fleeing ISIS militants wait behind a fence in Suruc on Sunday, September 21.
A elderly man is carried after crossing the Syria-Turkey border near Suruc on Saturday, September 20.
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells toward ISIS militants in Zummar on Monday, September 15.
An ISIS flag flies on the other side of a bridge at the front line of fighting between ISIS and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Rashad, Iraq, on Thursday, September 11.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reads on a flight en route to Iraq on Wednesday, September 10. Kerry traveled to the Mideast to discuss ways to bolster the stability of the new Iraqi government and combat ISIS.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire at ISIS militant positions from their position on the top of Mount Zardak, east of Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 9.
An Iraqi fighter jet flies over Amerli, Iraq, on September 3. Amerli had been under siege by ISIS militants.
Iraqi volunteer fighters celebrate breaking the Amerli siege on Monday, September 1. ISIS militants had surrounded Amerli, 70 miles north of Baquba, Iraq, since mid-June.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces stand guard at their position in the Omar Khaled village west of Mosul on Sunday, August 24.
Kurdish Peshmergas fight to regain control of the town of Celavle, in Iraq's Diyala province, on August 24.
Peshmerga fighters stand guard at Mosul Dam in northern Iraq on Thursday, August 21. With the help of U.S. military airstrikes, Kurdish and Iraqi forces retook the dam from ISIS militants on August 18. A breach of the dam would have been catastrophic for millions of Iraqis who live downstream from it.
Displaced Iraqis receive clothes from a charity at a refugee camp near Feeshkhabour, Iraq, on Tuesday, August 19.
A fighter with Kurdish Peshmerga forces battles ISIS militants near Mosul on Monday, August 18.
Peshmerga fighters inspect the remains of a car that reportedly belonged to ISIS militants and was targeted by a U.S. airstrike in the village of Baqufa, north of Mosul, on August 18.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire at ISIS in Khazair, Iraq, on Thursday, August 14.
Volunteers of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society unload boxes of goods before distributing them August 14 to families who fled from ISIS.
From the flight deck of the USS George H.W. Bush, which is in the Persian Gulf, two U.S. fighter jets take off for a mission in Iraq on Monday, August 11. U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes against Islamic militants and food drops for Iraqis who are trapped by the militants.
Aziza Hamid, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, cries for her father while she and some other Yazidi people are flown to safety Monday, August 11, after a dramatic rescue operation at Iraq's Mount Sinjar. A CNN crew was on the flight, which took diapers, milk, water and food to the site where as many as 70,000 people were trapped by ISIS. But only a few of them were able to fly back on the helicopter with the Iraqi Air Force and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
Thousands of Yazidis are escorted to safety by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and a People's Protection Unit in Mosul on Saturday, August 9.
Iraqi Shiite volunteers who have joined government forces to fight ISIS take part in a training session near Basra, Iraq, on Thursday, August 7.
Thousands of Yazidi and Christian people flee Mosul on Wednesday, August 6, after the latest wave of ISIS advances.
A Baiji oil refinery burns after an alleged ISIS attack in northern Selahaddin, Iraq, on Thursday, July 31.
A Syrian rebel fighter lies on a stretcher at a makeshift hospital in Douma, Syria, on Wednesday, July 9. He was reportedly injured while fighting ISIS militants.
Iraqis who fled fighting in the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar try to enter a temporary displacement camp in Khazair on Wednesday, July 2.
Peshmerga fighters check cars at the entrance of a temporary displacement camp in Khazair on Thursday, June 26.
Kurdish Peshmerga take their positions behind a wall on the front line of the conflict with ISIS militants in Tuz Khormato, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 25.
Peshmerga fighters clean their weapons at a base in Tuz Khormato on June 25.
New army recruits gather in Najaf, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 18, following a call for Iraqis to take up arms against Islamic militant fighters.
An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter lands on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, June 17.
Newly recruited Iraqi volunteer fighters take part in a training session in Karbala, Iraq, on June 17.
Members of ISIS prepare to execute soldiers from Iraq's security forces in this image, one of many reportedly posted by the militant group online. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the images.
Iraqi men chant slogans outside of an army recruiting center to volunteer for military service Thursday, June 12, in Baghdad.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces, along with Iraqi special forces, deploy their troops and armored vehicles outside of Kirkuk, Iraq, on June 12.
Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants in Mosul on Tuesday, June 10.
Civilians from Mosul escape to a refugee camp near Irbil, Iraq, on June 10.
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