Nearly five years into the Iraq war, new groups of Iraqi leaders—representing insurgents, tribes and Sadrists—remain mysterious but sometimes rival more conventional political forces headquartered in Baghdad. They have in common a strong sense of Iraqi and Arab identity, opposition to the U.S. occupation, little contact with the West, and suspicion of the exile-dominated political leadership. They are among Iraq's "insiders." As part of its "bottom-up" surge strategy, the U.S. has aimed to repress the more violent resistance of these "mystery men," while redirecting and tempering the ambitions of more moderate figures and bringing at least some of them into the political mainstream. How will the future of Iraq depend on these groups' intentions, motivations and vision?

Despite their growing importance, these three groups remain mysterious to many non-Iraqi observers. A panel of Iraq specialists will discuss each in turn.

Archived Audio

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Speakers

• Amatzia Baram
  Professor of Middle East History, University of Haifa, Israel and former Senior Fellow, USIP
• Reidar Visser
  Research Fellow, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
• Sam Parker
  Iraq Program Officer, U.S. Institute of Peace
• Daniel Serwer, Moderator
  Vice President, Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, U.S. Institute of Peace