The next U.S. president will be the first to inherit a U.S. military presence in Iraq, and as such will have the opportunity to craft a fundamentally new strategy there. The incoming administration will receive a barrage of advice on Iraq policy and will be pressured by forces both at home and around the world to dramatically disengage from Iraq. But what are the views of Iraqis, and what recommendations can they make for a new direction?

Two back-to-back distinguished panels of Iraqi academics, diplomats, and civil servants will offer the incoming U.S. administration an Iraqi assessment of where Iraq is now and what issues, developments, and unfinished business the U.S. should take into consideration as it formulates its strategy towards Iraq. Their presentations will deal not only with the military component of U.S. strategy, but also with its political, diplomatic, economic, and institutional elements.

 

Archived Audio

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Speakers

Panel One: Institution-building in Iraq
9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

  • Qubad Talabani
    U.S. Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government
  • Nesreen Barwari
    Former Minister of Municipalities and Public Works, Government of Iraq (2003–2006)
  • Raid Juhi al-Saedi
    Middle East Fellow, Cornell University School of Law, Clark Center for International and Comparative Legal Study
    Former U.S. Insitute of Peace Jennings Randolph Fellow
  • Rend al-Rahim, Moderator
    Iraq Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace
    Founder and Director of The Iraq Foundation

Panel Two: Political Progress
11:15 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

  • Feisal Istrabadi
    Visiting Professor, Indiana University School of Law
    Former Deputy Permanent Representative of the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations (2004–2007)
  • Ghassan Atiyeh
    Visiting Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
  • Karim Almusawi
    U.S. Representative of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
  • Daniel Serwer, Moderator
    Vice President, Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, U.S. Institute of Peace

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