Fourth Workshop with Senior Iraqi National Security Officials

The fourth USIP workshop was the largest yet; 57 Iraqis trained with the Institute. Many were Defense Ministry officials or military officers who had just completed a week of training at the National Defense University (NDU)´s Near East - South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) on the fundamentals of running an effective ministry and on civil/military relations in a democratic society characterized by the rule of law. They were joined by men and women who occupy leadership positions in Iraq´s Ministries of Justice and Planning.

Training Director George Ward and program manager Mike Lekson led the group through sessions about conflict analysis and resolution, styles and techniques of negotiating, and understanding the roles that third parties can play in helping resolve disputes. The end of the occupation and the restoration of sovereignty took place during the training program, which led to a special emphasis on the need to address the challenges of today in the context of a carefully considered vision of the future. Throughout the course, the Iraqis were given opportunities to apply the content of the training program directly to the task of a systematic consideration of their goals for the future of Iraq, the obstacles to those goals, and ways of meeting those challenges.

Special highlights of the program included attending the flag-raising ceremony at the Iraqi Embassy on June 30, an exchange of views with Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at NDU, and a reception with Congressional staff and other Washington figures at the Rayburn House Office Building.