 Good morning, I'm Tara Sunenshine, Executive Vice President here at the United States Institute of Peace, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the very first 2011 program of our new year. As many of you know, USIP has been deeply involved in Iraq for many, many years, going back to 2004, and to this day we retain an office in Baghdad, and we are very proud of the work that our folks in Baghdad do, and our staff here under the direction of Sean Kane and Manal Omar, Bill Taylor, Abby Williams, and many of the others who support what we do on the ground and in the field. We remain deeply committed to helping Iraq stabilize its country, to become what it wants to be a secure and peaceful country active in the world, active with its neighbors, and we know that this is an important moment in its evolution with the formation of a new government. And so we are anxious to hear from our guests today how this moment will work, what challenges Prime Minister Maliki and his new cabinet will face. I'm going to introduce our guests. They will come up and make some very brief remarks from the podium and then join in a discussion moderated by Manal. And so with that, we have next to me Kubad Talabani, the representative of the Kurdistan regional government to the United States. He was previously the patriotic union of Kurdistan's liaison to the CPA and a negotiator in drafting Iraq's 2004 transitional administrative law. And seated second is our own Sean Kane. Third we are delighted to welcome Dr. Wisaal Ubaidi, the representative of the U.S. of the al-Wafiq al-Wahtani party. And he is also the personal representative of Dr. Alawi in the United States. And he's allowed me to call him Dr. Sam, which is a lot easier than the longer name. And of course we have at the end of the table Manal Omar. In addition to all the work that Manal does here, she is the author of Barefoot in Baghdad, a great read that I recommend you put on your 2011 reading list. And then last but not least, we have with us Dr. Ali al-Dabagh, who has been the spokesperson for the Iraqi government since 2006. So he has seen it all. He was earlier on the drafting committee for the new constitution on foreign relations committees. He is an expert on the Shiite clerical establishment and an expert in the field of human rights. Would you join me in welcoming this esteemed panel? And I will turn things over now to Manal. Thank you all for being here. I wanted to give just a brief set up because I think that we're very eager to hear from the esteemed panel and I'd like to turn it over to them as soon as possible. I wanted to say that I'm very happy that USIP's first public event in 2011 is focusing on Iraq. With the competing priorities and the budget constraints that are dominating the conversations in the city, it's easy that what's happening in Iraq could be put aside or marginalized. We want to make sure that does not happen because the real challenge for a successful Iraq is only just beginning. The past seven years have been focusing on trying to establish a sense of stability and sovereignty in the country. And key issues that impact the lives of Iraq's daily lives have been pushed back to the back burner. These issues can only be addressed by the Iraqi government, the primary duty bearer. Over the last nine months, the world have watched what many have called painstaking negotiations which took place to form the new government. This highlighted a positive aspect of a successful election and true democracy at work, but it also raised to the surface the concern of the government's ability to address the pressing needs of Iraq in a quick manner. Today, our panel celebrates a formation of a new government that represents different coalitions across the different political parties throughout Iraq. I've heard from several Iraqi friends in government that the government was definitely worth the wait, as a true power sharing representation has emerged. Naturally, there are still many challenges. The most obvious, and I'd be remiss of not pointing out, is that a significantly large part of the population, and I'm speaking specifically about women, are yet to be represented. At the same time, due to the delay in government formation, key issues that impact Iraq's future can no longer be deferred. There's a strong sense of urgency on the ground to feel the presence of the Iraqi government. The new government has a full plate of issues that include the future of the U.S.-Iraqi strategic partnerships, key political matters such as national reconciliation and addressing Arab Kurdish tensions, and improving upon the previous government's record on service delivery and tackling corruption. Our esteemed panelists today will begin to address this crucial issue, and we hope to open the floor to a larger discussion through your questions. I'm very pleased to turn over the mic to Dr. Ali Dabbar, who is the official representative. He's been re-elected in the new government for the Iraqi government, who will open with some remarks. Dr. Ali? Yes. Thank you, Manal. It's a pleasure to be here with you, my friends. Thank you very much for everybody. I would like to breathe for five minutes the situation here in Baghdad. Finally, we have our government, Iraqi government, on December 21st. The national partnership government, which is inclusive and representative government of all components, and all the political blocs, have participated. This will make a positive sign that everybody had the same responsibility on making the Texas in Iraq, which will definitely put a huge burden on everybody that's no more violent. There is a way to practice the politics. There is a way, and there is a channel which you could express all what you want to do in Iraq through the election, and you could win, and you could join the government. And this is really a message for all the violence groups that no more violence accepted in Iraq because everybody who participated in the political process, we got this chair to rule Iraq to be part of the formula of the decision-making. I know it is not a rosy picture for the future. There are a few challenges, many things to be fixed. And the government needs to address many difficulties which we inherited during the past nine months, as well as the seven or eight years after the fall of the regime. We do need to improve on the domestic issues, the services, which the people of Iraq are expecting from this government as they did their share and their responsibility. They had voted for four times. So they are expecting from this government to give them the proper services which they need. They are expecting that the anti-corruption measure should be more and more improved in order to fight the huge corruption which we are facing, as well as the domestic issue, which is the disputed areas, needs to be addressed. Kirkuk issue needs also to have a wise formula which could satisfy all the components of Kirkuk without having any difficulties and problems and not need to ignite any problem, whether it's a sectarian or ethnic problem. We do understand that the wisdom which we had during the past years for the Kirkuk issue, it will continue from all sides, from the region, from Kurdistan region, as well as from political leaders in Baghdad. Regarding the political issue, we have to set up the regional relations with the neighbour countries as everybody aware. The last election, we had experienced a huge interference from everyone in the region, in the internal affairs of Iraq before the election, as well as the post-election. And address needs to have a good relation with the neighbours based on the economical interest, mutual interest of the neighbours. This needs to empower the political situation in Iraq, the political relation in Iraq, in order to not allow any more interference from the neighbour and also will not entitle any component or any political bloc to think that he could use or exploit the neighbour against the other political bloc here in Iraq. The relation with Kuwait, which is one of the major and most important issue which the present government, the new government needs to address, the most inherited problems with Kuwait, as well as the border issues with Iran and the presence of some of the terrorist organisations like PKK, like Pijak, like the other terrorist organisation, which needs to be also solved and fixed in a good way and within the framework of the international law. The human rights record for the country needs to be improved, needs to educate all levels of the government that having a good governance, we do need to have a good record of the human rights. The security issue, which definitely needs to be addressed in a good way as to empower the security situation to protect the Christians from the horrific attack which they had faced in the few months back, this is all the challenges need to be addressed with the government. I think that with the national partnership, government, which is the responsibility of all the political blocs, makes a good atmosphere to start addressing these problems in a good will and in a good way. And also the region, the regional countries, the Arab countries, they need from their side also to look to a new Iraq in a different way as there is an inclusive government. Sunni and the Shia and the Kurds, they are major components as well as the other ethnic minorities, they are inclusive in this government. So there is no difficulties, there is no problem for the other components that they are not inclusive in the government. So there is no excuses. There is no reason not to have a good relation with Iraq. So we are expecting that the Arab summit on March give a good message to the Iraqis as the Arab neighbor countries are supportive for the new government, new elected government. This is what we are expecting from our side. We are doing our utmost in order to have a good relation. We had many, many senior officials from the neighbor countries had visited Iraq and will continue visiting on Saturday. Amr Musa, the Arab League General Secretary will be here as well as the Prime Minister of Syria, the Turkish Foreign Minister will be, the Iranian Foreign Minister was here in Baghdad today. So we had a good message from the neighbor. We hope that the next relation and the relation of Iraq will be based on the mutual interest and with no interference in this country. We had a difficult situation which entitles some of the countries or majority of the countries to interfere with our political affairs and internal affairs. Now Iraq is having an inclusive government which makes the situation, the political situation much more better. We are welcoming all the efforts to have a good relation with our neighbor. We don't want to be in a stable country. We don't want to export any stability. We want to play a major role in the worldwide economy and the power supply and the energy supply for the region as well as for the world and to be a stability pointer in this region in the Middle East. Thank you very much. Thank you Dr Ali. Dr Ufam. Happy New Year everybody and thank you very much for your coming here and really it will be my pleasure to be here with you for the first time in this perfected place and thank you for all who arranged for this meeting special to Mrs. Manal and Mr. Wahid who is one of our guests here. He represents Washington branch for Iraq to all our colleagues here. I will start my talking about Iraq in very simple statement especially with my great great I'm so happy I'm I feel very grateful to the announcement of the new Iraq government especially in the last few days. This is is 100 percent will lead Iraq to a new future and we have a hope towards the future that everything will go fine. I know there is a lot of negative thing positive things but we have a hope in the announcement of a new government shoulder on shoulder to rebuild Iraq and we go back to the normal state of normal life for a great Iraqi government. This is number one number two. I hear a lot about gratefulness from Arabic leaders from government of United States government who protect Iraq and help us in a lot of things to rebuild Iraq especially in the last few months in the especially in the announcement of the new government and will be my pleasure to read one statement for Mrs. Excellency Mrs. Hillary Clinton when she say that Iraq is a great nation with a promising future and really this is a perfect statement and we hope everything will go fine from that time and also I would like to tell you something about this country Iraq will stay one country united sit wrongly united sit wrongly and we will never accept any division to any part of Iraq Iraq from far is one country when they ask me about your idea I never tell them I'm Sunni or Shi'a or Kurdish or Christian or Sabi I never say that when they ask me Dr. Samot is your idea do you know what I say it is Iraqi bread and date of al-Basra and the other to forget this is my idea this is which collect me here in my Iraqi personality and nationality about Iraq as you know it's a great nation start from Babel which teach the people the law for first time in the world the first law written and is found in the Museum of France when I saw it when I go there one day and I see it by my eyes I shocked when I found the first law in the world is found in Baghdad in Babel this is something amazing when you found the first government sign is written in Babel and about economy of Iraq is a long list first of all of oil and I will tell you something the first British company in oil when she when they do the first research in al-Basra about the oil before 100 years ago they write a statement they say the last two gallon of oil in all the world the last two gallon of oil in all of the world one of them will be Iraqi so from this statement you can notice Iraq mean economy and especially in oil field is a big issue for Iraqi people and we as I draw connections with my party we insist on important items the education the infrastructure the economic state of the country and the security the security playing a big role and I have complete hope 100 percent everything will go fine with the new government and shoulder on shoulder with all our politics and all our leaders in Iraq in al-Iraqi and state of law and Kurdish which I'm so glad to meet my friend here mister but and we hope everything will go fine I don't want to talk too much and thank you for your coming and have a great day and happy new year for everybody Mr. Kobaid thank you happy new year to to everyone thank you to the USIP not just for hosting this event not just for making its first event of 2011 about Iraq but for the great work that that USIP has done since 2004 the bravery shown by USIP staff working in Iraq working with people on the ground whether it's through their rule of law program or their governance programs we hope that this will continue we hope that you'll continue to be a champion to keep the United States interested in Iraq to keep the United States engaged in Iraq and we will certainly do our part to continue working with you to make sure that that relationship continues to strike I do want to point out that much is said about Arab-Curd tension or Arab-Curd conflict I want us to try to move beyond these statements because there isn't Arab-Curd tension in Iraq there isn't any conflict between Arabs and Kurds in Iraq we have differences of opinions we have differences between the regional government of Kurdistan and the federal government we have differences between provinces within Iraq or within a region or a province but we haven't come close to conflict and the tension that is labeled has never really gone down to a street level where people on the streets have been tense with with one another and I'm hopeful that that as we start to define Iraq as we continue to analyze what's going on in Iraq that we can we can be more nuanced when we talk about these issues we we're all happy that there is a government you know better late than never but better never late as my wife always reminds me but you know the the easy part is done we have a government the government is you know we still have some key ministries that are outstanding but the hard part is the title of this event actually states really now begins and that is governance how can this government in Iraq start to develop and implement policies move beyond politics which is what we've been embroiled in for the last 10 months or you could say the last seven years and start to actually develop policies start to actually execute and implement policies so that that is what I think the biggest challenge that faces Iraq today working out the mechanics of governance you know we have a government now how does this government actually make decisions how is the power what is what how will the parliament play its role to be an effective check on the government we've heard all about the concerns some of them are ours as well about power sharing about making sure that there isn't too much power concentrated in the hands of one person or one ministry or one institution how do we actually effectively implement these power sharing arrangements and agreements I think we've got key policy issues that are still undefined you know we don't have an oil policy we don't have an energy policy we don't have an agriculture policy we haven't had a broad security policy now this government has to define these policies and it has to come obviously from the top but it has to only be it has to be executed and implemented through partnering with the different institutions of the government we hear about the checks and balances the power sharing arrangements that are being put together the different councils that are being established and the powers being given to those councils but really the most effective check on the government is going to be the government itself and if the government acts as a council the cabinet makes its decisions as it's supposed to as a council as the council of ministers where everyone is by and large represented in that council all the major political forces are represented on that council so you should have a cross-sector of political views represented in that cabinet if that cabinet wants to be a check on the powers of the prime minister or another minister then they should be able they should be brave enough to speak up and not agree to everything that is presented to them we have to move beyond the the traditional yes boss mentality that has riddled Iraq through its history and people should speak up and say you know i'm a member of this cabinet i don't agree with this policy and and make their voices heard and i think if the council of ministers actually does that if it behaves that way that can be the most effective check on on any one person taking too much power into into their own hands needless to say that there are outstanding issues resolve that need to be resolved by this government issues that involve disputes between the Kurdistan regional government and the federal government there are other issues that have nothing to do with Kurdistan that again need to be addressed i'm confident and the statements coming out even this early on from from the new government on issues such as oil on issues on the need and we had the spokesman dr Ali Dabagh talk about the need to address issues such as Kirkuk and the disputed territories the fact that we're talking about these issues this early on is a positive sign we're excited we're encouraged and we look forward to working with our partners in the government to to address these issues once and for all because we've all heard about the potential of iraq dr sam highlighted iraq's history dr Ali talked about iraq's potential and it would be a real travesty if iraq fails to reach that potential and it can only reach that potential if it starts to actually function as a government if it starts to actually start to develop vision as a country as diverse as the country is its strength can really lie in its diversity other key topics that will come up i think very soon will be how to activate and implement the strategic framework agreement between iraq and the united states and also whether or not there'll be a renegotiation to the status of forces agreement lawyers on both sides are also looking at the possibilities of well does the strategic framework agreement cover security issues does there need to be a renegotiation of the sofa or could could any security relationship between the united states and iraq live under the existing strategic framework agreement which has no real timeline or end date so that these are things for clever lawyers to figure out and and we'll see whether that could be an easy way to ensure that there is a long lasting and strong multi-sector relationship multifaceted relationship between iraq and the united states. Kurds of iraq have never been shy about wanting a long-term relationship with the united states we think that it's essential for iraq's continued development that there be a strong political economic and security relationship with the united states not just because of your role in liberating iraq but because of the potential that we could gain from a strong and multifaceted relationship with with iraq so these are these are key issues that i'm sure will debate and discuss as the months go on i'm happy to report that kurdistan continues to be a shining example it continues to develop it continues to remain stable and it continues to play an important and positive role in the rest of the country we saw that during the government formation process i can assure you that we'll continue to see that as iraq starts to develop these key policies that are so needed to ensure that iraq reaches its potential and i want to thank you all again for attending thanks for having me here and i look forward to an interesting and healthy discussion thank you thank you kebab shan thank you manal and thank you everyone for making the effort to come in here today i'm delighted to be on the panel with the real experts on the situation in iraq and iraqi politics and as an outsider i've been asked to try to stir up the pot a little bit to lead us into discussion and to try to provide a bit of an outside perspective on things to look for in terms of early steps that might give us an indication of where we're going i visited both kirk kook and bagdad late last year and i was surprised particularly in bagdad as compared to over the summer the mood was quite positive there was a real sense of a need to get on with things form the government start governing and someone remarked to me yesterday you shouldn't be surprised by that the title of the government should be the government of keeping everyone happy because it has tried to bring almost every individual party together and underneath the tent and what i wanted to try to do briefly here today is just highlight three issues which i think might give an early indicator as to whether this positive mood and tone can translate into substance and the first issue i wanted to flag was the national council for strategic policies to be headed by iad alawi and not necessarily because of the direct role this council may or not may or may not play but because it appears the tenor of those discussions between dr alawi and prime minister maliki are really setting the overall tone in bagdad and have a positive spillover effect in other areas such as who have filled the all important security ministries which are still vacant how progress might be made on the issue of justice and accountability integration of the safa but the tenor of that conversation seems to spill over and affect the wider process and so i think it's important to keep an eye on that from that reason or for that reason and just as an interesting aside it's very interesting to me that former prime minister ibrahim al-jafari is playing a role in facilitating the discussions between those two men he's of course part of the exclusive three person club of post 2003 prime ministers in iraq and he apparently has the ability to say both to alawi and to maliki hey you're being unreasonable on this point why don't you give a little bit here why don't you give a little bit there and you'll see a lot of the press statements paid by both men after the meeting sort of complimenting him on the role and uh that's just sort of an interesting side note for me uh the second issue i wanted to flag we've heard a lot about national reconciliation and i wanted to hone in on one particular aspect of it and it's really i think what i would term uh the terms of participation in public life whether that's politics whether that's government whether that's the security forces iraq has very much after 2003 moved towards a representative form of government and politics and an inclusive form of government but it hasn't unambiguously clarified who can participate in public life and under what terms and we've seen with the debathification process procedures which i think uh it best can be described as ad hoc cause political disruption and when we keep in mind that the largest employers in the country remain the civil service and the security forces are also real economic disruption for a lot of people one of the key aspects of the power sharing agreement reached in november was to finally form the justice and accountability board this was after the law was passed in 2008 supposed to replace the debathification commission but parliament couldn't agree on who would be the board members so as a result the old commission and the committee in parliament uh ran a lot of the debathification procedures in the elections in a process that wasn't fully grounded in law and so i think this is an early test for national reconciliation whether this justice and accountability is formed board is formed and that process is thereby more firmly grounded in law we've seen an early symbolic step in the lifting of the debathification bands on people like cello and moatlock so he can be the deputy prime minister but as an indicator of how difficult this might be i think 61 deputies voted against this move and a number of members of the national alliance didn't attend the session as a form of protest so this is an issue i think that it's worth keeping an eye on whether this board is formed and as is the case in post-conflict vetting procedures around the world and as is called for in the part sharing agreement in november whether a two-year deadline is set for its work so this process is completed and now i can move on the third issue i wanted to highlight uh and in deference to our previous speaker i'll say outstanding issues between bagged out in our bill and try to avoid the word tensions these are well known uh and there are a set of you know very important substantive issues whether it relates to federalism oil the future of crook and other disputed territories and i think one of the most notable facets of this last election process was the success which iraqiyah had in consolidating what was previously a very fragmented arab and turkiman polity in the north of iraq in ninua and crook and indiello it's very hard to have a negotiation on these issues if you don't know who the representatives of a major part of the population is there there isn't a return address and there now is potentially a return address there this was something which during the government formation negotiations iraqiyah really stressed to the Kurdish parties that we should have a prominent role in government if you want to be able to see progress on these issues we can now represent these people and deliver them in political discussions and any potential agreement and since the election we have i think seen a bit of a rapprochement particularly and that's particularly apparent with the nijafi brothers of some nijafi the speaker and a few nijafi the governor mosul and the kdp in particular but the karaji as a whole speaker of some nijafi participated in the kdp party conference in orbeel and a few nijafi has been traveling to orbeel for quiet discussions on power sharing in ninua and that's what i want to highlight is this first test in this area there have been a set of negotiations facilitated by the person who's now the finance minister rey fasawi on power sharing in ninua having the Kurds return to the provincial council issues related to property detainees and that agreement was pretty much set pending the formation of government does that agreement get done on local power sharing in ninua because if it does i certainly heard while i was in kirkuk that that has positive spillover effects for local power sharing in kirkuk but also for a broader sense that it is possible to make progress on a set of issues which have this perception of being intractable and again with respect to our previous speaker there were certainly local tensions in kirkuk particularly around the census and reports of arab and turkman being threatened to leave the province and Kurdish people being threatened and forced to leave their homes we've seen that a little bit in northeast yellow we've seen that in the ninua planes so there is some tension on the ground but in a positive sense there's also rapprochement at the national level and i think that power sharing dealing the know if that gets done gives us an idea as to whether there will be some substance substantive move on these issues in the next term finally just because i've been asked to provide a little bit of the u.s perspective i wanted to talk about the issues related to the strategic partnership between the u.s and iraq and there's been i think a long wait and an eagerness to discuss with the new government from the u.s side both the strategic framework agreement and the nature of security cooperation after 2011 and i had some discussions about this with a range of iraqi officials when i was in baghdad and as one sort of senior official i think would be a principle in any discussion said the vision for this right now is blurred it's something the new government's going to have to discuss but it's hard to predict particularly on the security side what things will look like there was certainly a lot of attention given to the interview prime minister maliki had with the wall street journal where i quote he said that the agreement is not subject to extension not subject to alteration it is sealed and it expires on december 31st 2011 he did however and this wasn't always reported leave himself an opening where he said except if the new government with parliament's approval wanted to reach a new agreement with america or another country that's another matter certainly earlier in the year prime minister maliki talked and again i'm coding for an interview with the washington post where he said my opinion is what determines the number of advisors or fighters is the nature of the situation in iraq will iraq after 2011 need foreign forces on a combat level or in confronting terrorism terrorism or in need of training the basis will then be decided but after approval by parliament and obviously as political circumstances change and the nature of the government and the coalition change the views of different people and what is politically acceptable will evolve but i think it's important to keep in mind that this is something which is going to be discussed and the outcome isn't clear right now we know i think quite well what the view of this address is as mr talibani said we have a fairly good idea of what the Kurdish position is and i think the real determining factor here will be what a lot of people who are saying in private you know we might need some help with defending our borders the airspace we might need some sort of symbolic presence to show to the region that iraq is not a playground for everyone to come into what they're willing to say in public and how that plays out discussions on the iraqi side from a u.s perspective i think an important message is not to wait too long the last security agreement was negotiated in november 2008 a month before the the expiration of the chapter seven mandate for multinational forces in iraq right now and i and i sort of want to stress this the u.s military is sort of like a machine and once that switch is turned to put the drawdown from 50 000 to zero into effect it's very hard to arrest it or turn it backwards and so waiting until november to start a discussion i think would be problematic uh the second issue i wanted to flag is again the strategic framework agreement going back to maliki during the the interview the wall street journal reporter mentioned that ambassador jeffrey carries a copy of the strategic framework agreement in his briefcase and maliki chuckled to this and said this is good work and evidence of commitment we actually asked for this it is a scientific commercial economic expertise and training agreement we're insisting that it be activated because it's in iraq's interest america is a super superpower with expertise and huge capabilities in science trade and economy and the country needs such expertise i think it's in the interest of both countries that as much as possible the discussion about security uh corporation be linked to the conditions on what is needed in iraq for stability and it will be impossible to fully separate politics from it but this is the ideal and the extent to which uh there's progress on implementing the strategic framework agreement so it's shown that the relationship isn't about uh the formerly occupied in the former occupier but rather a whole range and a host of technical issues which value to iraq it can at least take hopefully some of the politics out of it and be about what condition what is most uh appropriate i guess for promoting stability and the long-run trajectory for iraq so i think i'll leave it with that and i look forward to the discussion thank you shan that was very helpful um and to all our speakers for highlighting these important points um what i'd like to do as moderator is actually take the right of first question and um i mentioned earlier in the introduction but i wanted to highlight as uh shan was mentioning everyone was happy there was a sacrifice that was made during the negotiations which were women which were more than 50 of the population and beyond the fact of women's issues it tends to be an indicator of how government is in touch with the grassroots and with civil society so my question would be what are the um specific actions that are being taken by your political parties to try and address this issue particularly because there are still seats that are not yet appointed in government um the other question that i would ask is we just found out this morning that muqtada sada has returned to iraq this is after as we know a four-year um self-imposed exile how do you think that will impact the unity government if at all thank you mr minnaal actually about mr muqtada sada and a lot of iraqi leaderships uh it will be my pleasure to put our hand together everybody all iraqi uh politics parliaments because iraq is not only for uh one leadership we believe in unity together we must do unity together to rebuild iraq one hand can do the job without the agreements of all the people all the political people from the north to the south so we insist on the unity of the iraq and the leaderships what let me help you and i saw on the tv that's all the iraqi leadership stop one stand in front of iraqi flag on the day of announcement of the new government and this is the promising future for all iraqi thank you mr minnaal and women dr wasan is very about the women's uh sure when our iraqi new government there is an item insist that the women have a big rule not for this day no for all the future because the woman is half the society has have a big rule a lot of romance with me doctors engineers leaders uh she assists iraqi and everything she play a big role in helping iraq people and teaching our kids and culture and education so it's must to have a great rule especially in ministers and leadership and we insist on this sure i think i can second um doctor sam's points obviously there's a lot of disappointment the fact that there were no women in the initial cabinet there are some posts that are still outstanding um i know uh we in the Kurdistan region have always had a good record of having women in government we're going to continue to push to ensure that that we do get some women in the the government of iraq but not just because they're women i think this is this always gets me into trouble when i say this because i have to be very careful how i say this um we want women in the cabinet because they're competent not just because they're women i think it does women at this service when you just put a woman in a position for the fact that she's she's a woman if she's not competent then that that really does backfire and i think the important thing is to ensure and there are many in iraq um by the way competent women um we need to ensure that there is woman in the government but also a competent woman in the government i'm confident that that we can get around this and and and make it happen as far as uh say muqtada said that has returned to iraq i think it's always good that people that are interested in iraq people that are working on iraq people that are leaders within iraq be in iraq and work from iraq and i think it's a positive sign that he's returned to iraq obviously his movement did very well in the elections and are a factor of iraq political life now okay thank you and we have microphones that are floating so we'll open up the floor to questions this question here my name is Sayed Eric I'm from the daily newspaper my question to the panel to mr sharn kane uh on the strategic council could you explain to us what is the status of that council how does it avoid conflicting with the different ministries or the cabinet posts and so on because as it seems it's been assigned the same kind of function thank you i think we'll take three at a time so next question ken myer court from world docs it's my understanding that an election held in a country occupied by foreign troops has no validity under international law could someone clarify that yeah go ahead hi mike murphy cast me a gulf consultants my question's for mr tallimani but any of the panels can feel free to comment so if you could comment on uh efforts to reconcile uh we mentioned outstanding issues and we mentioned oil the production service contracts at the k-r-g had issued is there a timeline for reconciling those with the centrally controlled ministry of oil what provisions might change and when we'll blacklisting quote unquote officially end thank you we'll turn to the panel to enter the first three and then we'll take the next that sure uh and i'll invite either the panelists uh to add on this on the question of the national council on strategic policies i mean a big part of the debate has been whether it will have executive authorities or whether it would be a purely advisory body and i have to confess it's still not entirely clear to me uh i know that there are reports that uh prime minister maliki and dr alawi will be meeting this week to further discuss this issue and this is why particularly my remarks i was focusing on less the direct role that might play but the sort of overall tenor of those discussions and a satisfactory outcome and role for dr alawi where he feels like he has an input into the policy making process affecting other issues but there is this question and until we actually see a text of the draft law as to how it will interact with the ministries how it relates to something like the council of ministers we've heard the kind of benchmark of eighty percent as to whether or not uh there would have to be consensus within the council of eighty percent for it to take actions but even that's not clear to me that's just second hand press reports no i think just we have to manage expectations here this government is is not going to be the prettiest government it's not going to be the most effective government i think we're still at a stage where there is significant distrust within the various components of iraqi society within the various components of of the government these councils are there to try to balance the issues to kind of lessen the mistrust to make sure that there is a variety of different voices involved in the government policy formation process i think um has been talk of ensuring that that things to do with oil or national security issues go through this council this has been one of the things that that's been floated around um but but at the same time it can't replace the cabinet but it can certainly play an important role to ensure that that again it's it's another check on the cabinet so there's another way to keep the country going in the right direction but also to get the leaders of the country the different leaders of the different components of the country to really help formulate that vision that is so desperately required uh thank you for the question about the oil really it was so interesting uh i think the new government uh the iraqi the all iraqi leaders you know the oil is the main uh the main power now for iraq and for the economy especially in a few next few months and the iraqi leaders for the new government they will have a lot of meetings about that in the next few weeks and they will decide what is the best for iraqi and the strategy of the money and how it will be for the oil strategy studies and in the next few months and we hope they will do the best to iraqi people all the leaders together when they will reach to the final decision about iraqi oil we assure that it will go to the uh the best of iraqi everything and about the role of the army the elections or the election happened during the army period or something like this we all know that the election needs some security and without security we can't do right election so i'm very grateful to all security people from iraqi site and from american side to protect the election centers in that day it was really a big a big disaster in that day when the iraqi go to election because you know there's sectarian violence everywhere and really i met a lot of people personally they afraid to go there because from sectarian violence but they go there because they feel that they will do something for iraq in the election day even i met some sick people on wheelchair disabled they insist to go there even if there is a violent sector because they want to do something simple things he told me the simple things i can do it to iraq is to put my sound in the books to iraq and this is i think for me personally thank you very much for all security people from iraqi side from minister of defense minister of interior in that time who protect this election day and even from the american side even they do a great job to protect a lot of centers in the north and the south in the middle of iraq and even in the west of iraq which have a great violence in that day thank you very much i think just to clarify this point that the u.s forces were there as part of an agreement between iraq and the united states they were not there illegally there was there's an agreement between two sovereign countries um so that hopefully addresses the gentleman's question as far as the question on on oil i think this is one area of i think optimism right now we have a new oil minister who is actually somebody from the industry he is an oil man and the initial statements from the oil ministry have been very positive there's been discussions it's during the government formation process between regional government officials and people in the the federal government and also in the leadership of the new iraq's leadership um the the the points we're trying to to clarify right now obviously we've had some good good statements regarding exports from kurdistan we're ready to export 100 000 barrels a day that should start soon that the agreement is pretty much in place and it just needs to be finalized i'm sure it'll be one of the first things that the new government of iraq really works on i think that again it comes back to that potential potential not just for kurdistan but also for the for the whole country there is a sound oil policy if there's sound investment in the oil sector there's good management of the oil sector of the oil and gas sector um iraq can truly fulfill its potential i think that we're confident that what we have done in the north um is completely in line with the federal constitution but also our regional hydrocarbons law we do think that that iraq does need a national hydrocarbons law um but i think critical to that is the revenue sharing component nothing can build trust better stronger and quicker than an effective transparent revenue sharing formula um if the country starts to benefit from its oil proceeds people will be happy politicians will be happy because their constituents will be happy and then you can start to genuinely build the trust that's so vitally needed so i think these are these are key issues they're on the front burner um i'm i'm hopeful that this will be one of the first things that the the new government of iraq really tries to tackle um the atmosphere the political climate is better there isn't this um kind of politically charged atmosphere that we've seen over the last few years the statements are good now we just need to follow through on the statements to actually deliver on those statements ratify a a a national framework execute a revenue sharing law and and let's just get to work and start developing the country's resources thank you next set of questions do you have the microphone up here for rand thank you uh rand el raheem i'm the executive director of the iraq foundation um i'm actually going to sit down if you don't um i have a question for the whole panel uh and if you don't mind it's two questions but quick one of them is that nobody really addressed the outstanding issue of the constitutional amendments which have been hanging out there since 2007 and um i'm aware that many political parties believe that these are extremely important others feel that no we really don't want to talk about them what are the chances that the new parliament will address this issue in the coming year and if it does if it does not what are the consequences the second quick question is that there is a great deal of talk now increasing talk of regionalization of the province of basra there are also demands in ambar for the ambar province to become a region and uh there are even there's even talk in areas like masan and so on for different reasons if these actually happen if this regionalization happens what will be the impact on the national government how will this change the complexion of iraq as a unitary or unified functioning country thank you thank you run the question in the back right here yeah go ahead go sterling jensen from national defense university my question for shan you know there's still a lot of iraqi diaspora you know even a lot of people here would like to go back to iraq but they think national reconciliation either but they'll be targeted by militias or for political issues rather than just personal security issues do you think the new government's going to be serious about national reconciliation um i know the debatification issues is is a core issue but you know how serious do you think they're going to be can we go here perry we'll get you next right here um i uh ellen leibsen from the stinson center i also wanted to go further on the reconciliation issues uh you talked about the transition from debatification to this new justice and accountability board but some of the issues they tackled were rather elite eligibility to run for office or to serve in public institutions so i'd like to hear a little bit more about what's happening at the society level uh it seemed to me that a lot of the work that was being done was being done because international NGOs were coming in and saying it should be done but i wonder whether we see any shift any spontaneous activity happening at the kind of community level at neighborhoods etc and i thought we needed to flag the crisis of the christian community in iraq um it's not unique to iraq we've been seeing violence against christians in pakistan and in egypt but i wondered the iraqi case is such a unique one culturally and historically and i wondered whether politicians in bagdad are talking about this or whether they think it should be on the national agenda of how to prevent the complete exodus of the christian community thanks one more question from perry and then we'll go to the panel uh perry keridaki executive director of kurdish human rights watch i have actually three sets of questions um as usual but um one of them was in regards to women issues and civil society we're very very concerned in the international community in the ngl community in regards to the role of women and the marginalization of women in the iraqi government as well as um the the laws that are enacted to protect women uh the other issue that i'm concerned about is the status of the idp situation as we know there's a large christian community that's coming to kurdistan so far we have registered approximately 580 families that have come from bagdad to the north now we know that there are very little schools and roads and health services and keridaki has a problem as far as the budget is concerned because it's allocated budget is for its own citizens not not for the idp situation the third item is the refugee situation we know that there is a large iraqi expat refugee community outside of iraq in neighboring countries over two million how do we deal with the idp situation inside iraq what are the laws and then how do we deal with the idp and refugee situation if they were to return to iraq right thank you and i'll turn it over to the panel um kebab do you want to start since the last questions were targeted towards you um sure should i address all three yes okay um well where to begin um briefly on the constitutional amendments i think that you know there's a process there's a format i think we have to all understand the constitution is not a it's it's a living document constitutions change constitutions get amended it's not easy to amend constitutions and it shouldn't be easy to amend constitutions but it they can be amended um and that has to be requested it has to go through a process and it has to be championed i think if if anyone wants to change the constitution if they're just going to sit back and try to wait for somebody else to present this somebody else the champion it'll never get done if a bloc if a group if a if a coalition within the parliament genuinely believes this constitution needs to be amended they have to fight for it and they have to go through the democratic process they have to go through the parliamentary process uh to make it happen um i think again that comes back to the political will of those people interested or not in terms of the the regionalization um the request from basra and bar may sound and others again i think this is something that is you know as long as it falls within the constitution what the constitution outlines in the federalism legislation um which is which is clear um i think it doesn't need to be seen as something that is working against the interest of a unified iraq um within the kurtisan example has been unique we are part of iraq we're playing a key role uh in iraq but we also have a very high degree of autonomy um in our own region you know it's in in a sense if if other regions form in iraq whether it's basra whether it's anbar whether it's other areas it can take the burden off the federal government it can take a big load off the federal government um it it puts executive power in the hands of people who are mostly interested in ensuring their regions developed but also will probably have the means to ensure their regions developed we've been very happy to see several delegations whether it's from the unbar economic political economic council who have come to kurtistan who have looked at our models who have looked at our legislative process um but even from there's a very strong relationship now between the province of basra and the province of arbil um there are all kinds of uh chambers of commerce trades and and the delegations that are coming and i think people are starting to realize that federalism is not a nasty word federalism is something that it does not mean the end of iraq it does not mean the the separation of iraq or the fragmentation of iraq it's a political system that could be applied to deal with countries as diverse as iraq this is not the partition states of america this is the united states of america and i think if we can just and and there is i think a much higher degree of sophistication in terms of understanding federalism now in iraq we still need to do more there still needs to be much stronger public education on federalism and i think what what the state department has done very effectively through its international visitors programs bringing mid-level officials bringing parliamentarians to the united states just to see the federal models here now iraq's federalism will not be a replica of america's federal model i don't think there is a federal model in the world that could just be cut and pasted onto iraq but we can learn from other federations it may not be a symmetrical federation it may be an asymmetric federation where katasan has certain powers unbar may not have the same kinds of powers as katasan does but again as long as it's done through a constitution through the constitutional process through the the laws that are already enacted and in place the federalism law i think this is good for iraq this is good for governance in iraq it'll make it more effective and what it will do which i think will be most critical to iraq's future it will diminish the price of bagdad we saw the the tussle over bagdad during this government formation process they tussled over it because bagdad today is the price the center of power it's where decisions get made it's where more importantly money gets dispersed if we make bagdad less of that price the price is reveal unbar may san kirkuk hella then you know i think that that we can we can lessen this rush this this power struggle for bagdad and i i genuinely believe that i may be a little biased in this but i genuinely believe it'll be a more effective process and system for the long term the christian issue is critical i think it's not just a local issue it's a national issue it must be treated at a national level there's a security component to it in terms of who is securing these areas but i i think what isn't discussed is and much of where iraqi christians live today not not necessarily five years ago but today is in the disputed territories of iraq and again there are all kinds of ambiguities associated with who's to administer these areas who's to protect these areas who's to develop these areas if we address the disputed territories issue and remove these ambiguities then we'll hold whoever's in charge of securing these areas accountable today there's all kinds of finger pointing when something happens in the ninnabar plains federal government says well this is not really i'm not really in charge the regional government says we're not really in charge because it falls within this gray area we need to get rid of these gray areas we need black and white areas we need clear administrative boundaries and that's why it's so important to address the the the disputed territories issue we can't have iraq's christians leave the country we can't lose an indigenous population and and i have to urge us refugee organizations predominantly out of michigan who are almost enticing them to come here i understand the situation in iraq is probably not ideal but it would be a travesty for iraq of this community what to leave the country which is why kurdistan has opened its doors to the christian community president brazani has been on record time and time again say there's a welcome home in kurdistan perry's organization has settled 500 families there's been several other thousand families that have come through other organizations and it's it's their country so they're they're welcome to stay there the big debate within the community itself is whether or not they should have an autonomous administrative region for themselves again this is i think an issue for the christian community of iraq to address for them to discuss for them to make a decision on and once they've made a decision they have to go through again the legal parliamentary constitutional process if they want to pursue it they have the right to pursue it but there are very disputed ideas the diaspora as in most diasporas are always more extreme and more opinionated than people on the ground and i've probably spoken a little bit too long so that was great though thank you dr witham do you want to add and then join thank you very much and thank you for the question about the refugee really it is a big file is a big file and the refugee before i start to talk about the refugee uh thank you very much to all countries who accept iraqi as a refugee and give them some help a temporary help in this difficult situation to all countries around iraq i don't want to give names but to all the governments who protect iraqi refugee really it's a wonderful job especially in this difficult time and about the refugee what their fate or what will happen i have a connections with thousands of refugees all of them say one word we will go back after everything will find in iraq that's why this is a question mark to the new government that we must speed up formation rebuild iraq so the refugee can go back normally to there to start their normal life in their country about the christian uh personally i lost the best friend for me and the best helper he's uh dying the last explosion in the in the tourism attack about the church in al-qarada and this is what's so sad and it's a big file for christian and sabia in the same time because i met uh i have a good relation with the sabia minister he's uh now in syria i think and this issue it will be closed as fast as the security file will be closed for iraq the security file is not dealing with the christian only any home in bagdad any home in the south in the north in the west in the east of iraq they suffer from violence sector violence terrorism attack by the members and the security file is for all iraqi people and i think this is the priority of the new government about the women rights uh iraq is still from the beginning until now insist on the women rights and have complete share with the man and everything and about regionalization uh when you open our website our party website al-wufaq al-ratani iraqi the first two boards and this website iraq is one country strongly united but about federalization like mr talbani i will leave this to our leaders if they found this will give something strong to the new iraq that's what our leaders in the next few weeks will decide it and i personally i hope all the best to iraq if federalization will lead to the security settlement this is will be under iraqi leadership what they will decide in the next few months thank you shon i'll try to be quick uh first the question on the constitutional amendments and federalism uh it's a topic very close to my heart when i worked for the u n mission in iraq for a year of that time was working with the constitutional revision committee so i could go on about federal models for a very long period of time but i think the key point here is the debate in 2005 uh was so stark as to whether iraq would move from being unitary to a federal country that there wasn't time and perhaps the space in those circumstances to have a discussion about what type of federalism was most appropriate for iraq and i think that's a discussion that still needs to happen and that can involve both legislation and constitutional amendments uh there are a lot of issues in the constitution in terms of ambiguities and flight out contradictions including some issues related to federalism such as the authorities of ordinary governorates and clarifying these things as well as a whole host of other issues not directly related to federalism i think would be a very useful thing would be a big important step in iraq's maturation it's very important that that does happen by constitutional processes so as to increase the respect for the document and the idea of a constitutional democracy at the same time this isn't a technical issue it is very much a political issue and i think the prospects for it moving forward depend on movement on other political issues at the same time moving quickly the question about people feeling safe to return and how committed the new government is to reconciliation one of the things that's quite interesting to me given that the support from this address put prime minister maliki into front runner status and support from the courage parties helped to put him over the top is uh the range and number of posts which iraq was able to get in the government it looked like at the time and there was a lot of brumbling from iraq that it would be a third tier partner but with the speaker of parliament a deputy prime minister position the finance ministry which is an incredibly powerful mechanism uh a say over who will be minister of defense it looks like and whatever role the national council for strategic policy ends up playing there's actually been grumbling now from this address and i saw some remarks by muhammad often in the newspaper this week that the two main partners in the government are iraq and state of law so in terms of the commitment of the government to reconciliation and taking steps uh on things like uh integrating this on sparaq and other issues related uh to reconciliation a lot of it i think will now be uh you know something which iraq can hopefully drive from within inside the government given the level of seniority and number of posts it has finally on the issue of the christian community there's certainly been in recent months since uh the the bombing of the church in baghdad in november a heightened temple of attacks on christians i think i would be remiss in not saying or not pointing out however that it's really all ethnic and religious minorities in iraq that have been targeted uh since 2003 the single worst attack post 2003 was on the azidi community in sinjore over 400 people killed in a single attack uh the shabbat community in the city of most of us almost been entirely wiped out uh it's something actually a priority here for us at usip jason gluck in our rule of law program is working with the iraqi parliament to try to build the caucus of the minority members within the parliament so that they can jointly advocate for their rights whether that's security protection administrative protection how the minorities are displayed in sort of educational programs are depicted in educational programs but it is a very serious issue and one which is actually a focus of our program which is add a few more comments one is just on federalization one of the things that's always challenging post conflict in iraq is no exception is that perception is reality and federalization for a long time was seen as separation and that's why you're having new terms like regionalization and decentralization which is why i think the awareness side that kebab talked about is essential for people to really understand the different techniques theodolan who works at the center of innovation on media is working worked on an incitement project and one of the top ten words for incitement in media was federalization so it clearly is something that kind of strikes a very raw nerve in iraq yet is essential for future moving forward in terms of the question of refugees the biggest challenge really is internal still you've got the idp issue which doesn't just talk up which isn't just about resettlement it goes into issues on policies that are essential like property rights it goes into issues of protection we can say all what we want about christians staying within iraq but if the government as primary duty bearer isn't able to protect then the reality is is their choices between death and leaving and you know whether they stay and they're consistently targeted whether it's the christians or other minorities or other political parties then if that right to protect isn't being executed it's very hard not to provide assistance and support for refugees that are for iraqis that are trying to get refugees status i think that that that's one of the biggest challenges is how iraq will be as primary duty bearer able to provide the services that are needed inside iraq we're going to leave the last set of questions for the overflow room who have been patiently waiting for their their turn ryan will read the questions that come from the overflow and then since there seems to be only one question from here we'll take you as the final question and then closings by the panel go ahead all right we have several questions from those participating next door uh the first is concerning the iraqi christians again is there a more serious dimension to the case of iraqi christians i.e. an anti-western gesture and not a sectarian issue the second is about the security ministries and they ask there's been a serious there have been serious allegations of grave evidence underscored by the recent wiki leaks releases of torture and other human rights abuses by the iraqi security forces what prospects do you see especially given the lack of clear leadership at the heads of the security ministries for addressing part and current abuses past and current abuses and ensuring transparency accountability and respect for human rights by iraqi security forces the third question comes from a francine keeper from the christian science monitor so much needs to be done should the iraqi government try to do all these at once or should uh should prioritize if it prioritizes what should be the top three or four items on the government's to-do list final question back there it's rafaeli from memory first of all a comment a german before earlier said that elections and their occupation are illegal i hope the statement did not stir konrad edinauer in his grave because democracy in germany and in japan were implemented following elections and their occupation so let's hope that iraq will follow the same style my my question is uh the governor of bagdad has recently issued order to close nightclubs and outlawed the sale of nicker this same thing happened in basra are we witnessing a trend toward bringing secular iraq towards some form of islamic regime styled after iran thank you do we want to start with the same order sure uh i i don't see it as a addressing the first question on the attacks on the questions i i don't see it as an attack on the west i see it an attack on a very vulnerable community it's a unfortunately they're an easy target and and that's i think where al qaeda is is being strategic here is it's targeting somebody that really can't fight back it you know it tried to target the Kurds in 2002 the Kurds fought back it tried to target western iraq in 2005 and six and western iraq fought back and drove them out now they're targeting communities the shabaks sabi's the christians azidis because they don't and they can't fight back so what they need for them what they need is the state of iraq of which they're a part of to fight back and and i think that that's in my opinion where the heart of the issue lies on terms of addressing the security ministries and and addressing allegations of torture and abuse of human rights which i'm certain are more than just allegations this is this is has to do with the culture of the security services it's not about changing the minister you change the minister and everything will be fine these security services for the last 80 years haven't been the the nicest security services so a culture has been instilled in some of these security services not through not in everybody but certainly in in elements of these security services that still exists elements of the former regime that are part of the security services and that i think that's where the concern about debatification and its application or its concept it was initially i think genuinely raised but then i think it was manipulated and misused and politicized to the detriment of the country so it's about addressing the culture of violence that unfortunately is somewhat pervasive throughout iraq and that only happen over time it's not going to happen with changing a minister or two it's going to happen by by education by by getting people to understand that this is wrong and it's going to take a very long time for that to happen as far as the government are asked to do list it's a it's a pretty long to do list they have to you know we have to address all of the issues but obviously we're not going to be able address all of the issues not not in this term maybe not in the the next two or three terms because the issues are vast the issues are big the issues are complex but i i think look governments serve people governments protect people and i think that's the two functions that this government must try to excel at provide services and protect people and it can only do that if it has a strong and healthy economy so those three areas open up a whole host of other topics but but getting a kind of iraq's economy right through its oil but also through other sectors such as agriculture such as tourism yes tourism iraq has enormous tourist potential gets the money flowing once the money's flowing you can start to really prioritize what services you need to to deliver and at the same time you can ensure that you know you you build people's confidence in the country you'll start to get security to the country it's as easy as that uh there's a good question here through the out of the floor about the priority for the new government it's for priority number one the security number two the infrastructure number three the health number four education number five higher education this is the most important thing and we not want to forget and increase the good living for iraqi people because they are tired from waiting for this a lot of people they lost their jobs they lost their homes there is a lot of issues this must take care of it that's why i hope from the new government will play a big role especially in security file is the major issue and we have we hope that the new government will play a big role in these things uh about the human rights there is a lot of talk here in question about the human rights uh we have a department for human rights the new government and they're playing a good role in iraq and follow up all the cases of the human rights and we hope to take a rapid action for any negativity about the human rights in iraq and my party have a a big a big issue in human rights policy they insist on the human rights and we play a big role and follow up follow up a lot of cases we hear about it and we try to solve it personally and about the there's a talk about threatening of islamic regime or something like this or militia or gangs or a lot of negative things have been in the streets like my mr talban he talked about culture violence and that's why we want to hurry up in the formation of the new government to close this because the new government all the iraqi people their loyalty to the government not to the militia or a special party related to represent a special field of the government no all the people under the law under law will be protected by the government thank you sure i just wanted to address nimrod's question regarding the banning of alcohol and nightclubs i forgot to address that i think this has been a tussle really since 2003 it's been back and forth it's actually one of the first questions i ask when i go to iraq is like is alcohol illegal or is it legal because for me it gives me a sense it's not because i you know my only personal interest in the matter but because it's um it for me sends me gives me an indication of the pulse of of of the city of the country um and it constantly ebbs and flows it constantly you know sometimes groups threaten um and the liquor stores close sometimes try legislation as attempts to be passed and and so there's and this is going to happen there's obviously a very strong islamic influence in the country but i also believe there's a pretty strong secular force in the country um what i probably see happening is there's going to be conservative parts of the country there'll be parts of the country that'll be far more religious and pious than other parts of the country um and you know i don't want to keep harping on about federalism but this could be it could be another application of federalism where different provinces have different laws but i don't think that that we'll see in uh an islamic iraq that that completely bans and outlaws alcohol and other such things uh just quickly trying to go through the questions as to whether the attacks on the christians or an anti-western gesture uh i think it's very hard to say that definitively just again taking the example of the azid at one point in 2007 2008 al-qaeda was attempting to institute a blockade around the district of sinjar to prevent uh supplies from getting in there because they view the azid as devil worshipers and the azid don't have any particular connection uh you know to western society in the way the christians are but having said that and having sort of spent a fair amount of time traveling around the you know what planes and visiting places like toke and hamdania and talking to local christian leaders they were certainly conscious of the need to be very careful in what they advocated for including on issues like autonomy and sort of what sort of they were practicing in public so as not to give uh the possibility for propaganda to extremist groups of an effort to establish a christian state in a muslim land so there is an element of it it doesn't explain all the violence we've seen uh so you know i wouldn't sort of say definitively it's an anti-western gesture but that is i think in there somewhere in terms of the priority uh mr telebani mentioned earlier the formation of a transparent effective and accountable revenue sharing mechanism i would probably add another word to that national if there is an understanding uh i think both in law and in the constitution that uh oil no matter where it is produced in iraq is all goes into one pot and is shared you know based on an accepted formula like population automatically uh that's sort of critical to i think a number of political disputes and to iraqi unity and can decrease some of the political temperature around the debate on issues like federalism uh in terms of other priorities and the people mentioned security what i would say is and what i always hear from iraq is the way they judge the government is uh employment and the delivery of services particularly electricity iraq is the lowest employment to population ratio in the region uh it's sort of critical that people feel like they have a stake in their economic future and obviously delivery of services is from day one been something which hasn't been up to par and is something which is the first people look to as a parameter of how the government's doing in terms of the secular versus in the islamic iraq it's very hard for me to judge as an outsider i come i'm not able to get out and to walk around the streets it was notable to me in the last visit that a number of people were saying that we've always had political differences in iraq but we've always been free socially and they sort of feel like there is now this sort of competition and struggle within the social realm on the specific decision to ban alcohol what a few people mentioned was that this is something which has happened almost every year in the month of muharam and then it sort of backslides afterwards so to take it perhaps with a little bit of a great insult but i'll probably leave it with that thank you just a few things that i would i would add when i was in bagdad right after the church bombings we met with both prime the prime minister's office as well as some of the mps from the christian community and the prime minister's office was very assertive that these were not anti-western as much as it was potential ploys to embarrass or undermine the iraqi government and the government formation so they felt that that was more of the targeting and the mps that were representing the christian community were very clear that it needed to be tackled in a holistic perspective and they were concerned they actually issued a very strong statement to the french and german embassies because they were concerned that they were going to further enhance violence against christians by singling them out as immediate refugees so it's a very fine line to balance on the secular issue from a from a civil society perspective the iraqi civil society organizations that we work with are very concerned and constantly testing the waters similar to as kabad was saying both conservative civil society groups as religious because as the more liberal because of the right of choice and that's one of the biggest things they're emphasizing and i wouldn't underestimate the impact of iraqi civil society and they were successful in both changing the NGO law which was at one point a very frightening draconian law and then it swing over to a very open law to the point where you had security companies registering as NGOs and they managed to put it right in the middle and that was thanks to civil society we remember those days well but that was thanks to civil society that was part of the drafting and really influenced the um committee on parliament that introduced the law of course there's still the question in the future of how it be implemented but the actual law was something that the civil society should be proud of and then the very recent lawsuit against the government because of the delay of formation that was when it say one of the reasons but it was definitely a nudge that came from iraqi civil society saying we're watching and i think that that's going to be where the balance on the social level really comes is the influence that civil society has in terms of holding government accountable and we're seeing more and more of that um before i close i also wanted to remind because unfortunately we lost dr alila tabar before the end but you know his point about iraqi and its neighbors i think that that is a very crucial point in something that we should keep in mind particularly with the arab summit you know watching that closely if it takes place we know for those of us who travel to bagdad the influence it's having inside and the changes that are happening inside in terms of being able to accommodate and i think that will be a significant turning point for iraq in terms of building its relationships with its neighbors arab and beyond so thank you very much to our steam panelists thank you to all of us for to all of you for staying for so long and um hopefully we will continue our discussions on iraq this year thank you thank you