 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank you for coming this morning on behalf of John Hammery and the CSIS And I know you came to hear an ambassador some adai and I will not take up more than a few moments But I think it is particularly important at this point in time to hear an Iraqi voice Sometimes I feel that we in the United States tend to debate issues purely in our own terms And I know many of you have not had the opportunity to visit Iraq But it is a country I first visited in the early seven days And I can never forget the fact that it is today a country of 27 million people That the events there go far beyond the issue of US surges and US troop levels It is also a country which has an extraordinarily young population And we talk about the future of Iraq. It's easy to forget That the median age of Iraqis is about 19 years About half the median age of Americans and the future we are shaping effects literally an immense number of people I Think too that as we have our own debate in the United States We as Americans may find it a little too easy To forget that we have moral and ethical obligations to the Iraqis and to the Iraqi people Not simply strategic interests And I can't think of someone better qualified to express the Iraqi view than the ambassador He has served as a minister He was an active member of the resistance to Saddam Hussein He's been Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations before becoming the ambassador to the United States. I Find out he is also a poet and a calligrapher Someone who knows the culture of his country and his heritage as well as the politics So ambassador if I may turn things over to you Thank you very much, I'd like to thank Thank you, Dr. Kordzman for this Introduction and thank you for arranging this meeting I'll go straight into my comments There is a heartfelt debate going on in this country About what to do about Iraq People feel That this intervention in Iraq Is not Producing any successes To speak of It's bogged down It's a big drain on American resources And it's going nowhere And are wondering When this is all coming to an end It's a legitimate question, it's a legitimate worry And we understand of course Why Americans generally feel so disappointed And so exasperated with the situation in Iraq But in my many speaking engagements around the country I find the American public, especially those with an interest in international affairs To be quite willing to listen They ask the right questions and when they are informed They Generally are very supportive What I'd like to do In my brief remarks today Is to put the Iraqi situation in its context In a context that helps the American public And American decision makers To look at it not as a problem Or not just as a problem But also as an opportunity And See the longer term ramifications Of various decisions and policy approaches Iraq has not always been a problem Everybody knows Iraq Mesopotamia is the birthplace of civilization It is where most people agree The wheel was invented The week was invented as a unit of time Beer was first brewed The first ever law was written The first ever library was public library was established And the first ever cooking recipe was written Iraq has a very long tradition And a long civilization And in its modern incarnation It came up as a modern state In the 20s of last century And I myself was born into middle class family My parents took care that I had a good education People in Baghdad were very neighborly Very peaceful Violence was far from people's minds People tended their gardens And looked after their own And corruption was almost unheard of People who When rumor was going around That someone was involved in corruption He was shunned And this is how we grew up There was no discrimination And no Prejudice as to Sunni, Shi'a, Kurds, Christian, Muslim, Jew Many people forget that Baghdad in the 30s of last century was largely a Jewish city It was about 25% to 30% of its population Was Jewish The first parliament in Iraq had more Jewish members and Christian members So Iraq and Baghdad in particular was a cosmopolitan country Which was coming up Coming up very well Up till the 50s And when the first coup d'etat, military coup, took place Iraq was a very promising country When the Bathis came in 1968 Iraq had foreign reserves of 35 billion dollars As GDP was on a par with Spain Education system was working Health system was working And it was a very promising country With people looking forward to the future Iraqi dinar was equivalent to 3.3 American dollars When finally in 2003 after two wars and long period of sanctions Saddam was removed The economy had collapsed completely One dollar became equal to about 3,000 Iraqi dinars And instead of having a surplus and a reserve Iraq was in the right to the tune of 300 or 350 billion dollars That is the transformation That's the transformation that Saddam and his misrule And his hunchman with systematic looting Systematic destruction leaked on the country But the figures belie a deeper reality of destruction Destruction in social values Destruction in social fabric The corruption that took root The government institutions that became totally dysfunctional I think it is true to say that the state as a state Had collapsed from the inside during the period of the sanctions The sanctions were almost as responsible for the destruction of the state And the social fabric as the misrule and the crimes of Saddam Hussein So enter the United States 2003 Maybe without sufficient thinking about how to manage the situation Saddam's regime collapsed as it was expected to But there was a period of lawlessness and a period of lack of control Which we are still paying for until now The police and the army were disbanded And there was absolutely no impediment to mob rule Saddam had very thoughtfully released thousands upon thousands of hardened criminals Into the streets before the Americans intervened So in that environment, the average civilian was really in trouble Nevertheless, Iraqis rallied Most Iraqis were delighted to get rid of Saddam They were grateful for the Americans to rid them of Saddam But they were looking forward to a better future We're hoping that the Americans will help them put their country together And build their institutions But in this vacuum two things happened Regional powers found an opportunity to step in and establish spheres of influence And of course insurgents and criminals organized crime All kinds of bad people found an opportunity to organize themselves And with help and support, tangible and significant help from outside They succeeded in doing that We must remember that Saddam experienced a failure early in his political career And the bad party came to power in 1963 And was removed in the same year They came to power in February and were removed in November of the same year Only to come back in 1968 But they vowed that if ever they are removed they would have enough resources to come back And they set aside for many years 5% of the oil revenue As a fund to help them to come back Like any good disciplined mafia They dispersed these funds through many legitimate businesses internationally And the equity which is controlled by Saddam's family and his supporters Is in the tens of billions of dollars So they are not exactly short of cash Saddam before being removed sent his son to the central bank to load up nearly 2 billion dollars in cash Three truck loads were loaded up and moved out We managed to retrieve something like 500 million just pocket change compared to what they have So what the point I am making here is that we have the Saddamists with determination to come back to power And the necessary resources They are supported, aided and abetted by regional powers who were less than pleased By the intervention of the United States and the presence of United States troops next to them And we had the vacuum which allowed all these things to get established So we have this formidable challenge But the Iraqi people rose up to the challenge Despite the onslaught and it has been a horrendous onslaught To date there have been about a thousand suicide bombers who have attacked Iraq You tell me any country on the face of earth which can withstand a thousand suicide bombers Going into markets, going next to schools, going wherever there is a crowd and blowing themselves up It is remarkable how resilient Iraqis are And until now, yesterday there was an attack on parliament Today there was a meeting of defiance in parliament People constantly whether in going to vote in the elections or going to their jobs every day They are in every action saying to the terrorists we are not going to be cowed I have lost many dear friends in this battle And I don't know any other Iraqi who has worked with me who has not Last month our vice president was here and we were sitting in the office with President Bush And I know that he had shrapnel in his body still from the attack a month before to assassinate him This is what we are going through But I detected no weakening, I detected no change in resolve in Dr. Adir Abdel Mahdi's attitude or anybody else Iraqis are still determined to go on However, the extent of the damage in Iraq that has accumulated because of all these factors that I have enumerated And the viciousness and sheer scale of the onslaught upon them Means that this is going to be a long drawn battle But this is not only a battle in Iraq by Iraqis, it's an international battle This is a confrontation between forces going well beyond Iraq, well beyond Iraqi borders Most of the suicide bombers I mentioned a while ago are not Iraqi They are coming to us from North Africa, they are coming to us from Yemen, from Sudan, even from Europe So we have been thrust into this situation by the intervention of the United States For which we are grateful, let me make that absolutely clear But to get out of it we cannot do it on our own Yet the debate in this country seems to be always framed in when can we have the troops back Is it next month or is it the month after? I say that it should not be framed in these terms I say that it should be framed in terms of this confrontation with this international alliance of dark forces Are we, and by we I mean here both Americans and Iraqis And all those who believe in democracy, all those who value the values of open society Are we going to come out as defeated or are we going to come out on top That's the fundamental principle that we have to keep in our minds And we have to do, we all have to do whatever it takes to ensure that Iraq does not fall into the hands of Al Qaeda Or the Saddamists or an alliance of both or an alliance between them and other extremist Islamist movement Or become dismembered between all these and between regional powers That would be a catastrophe not only for Iraq, it would be a catastrophe for the region And it would be, I insist, a catastrophe for the United States and its long term interests I believe everything that needs to be done has to be done We Iraqis have not been sitting idle, we've made considerable achievements in the fire We continue to do so and we will continue to do so Many people talk about sectarian violence and that there is a civil war There is a war indeed, but it's not a civil war It's a war conducted, carried out by extremists on innocent civilians Extremist Sunnis are killing innocent Shias Extremist Shias are killing innocent Sunnis But there is no animosity between ordinary Sunnis and Shias They live quite happily together, they work quite happily together As an Iraqi I know that in my own experience and the experience of all the Iraqis I know There is no hatred, we are not the Balkans People try to balkanize Iraq, but Iraq cannot be balkanized We cannot, Iraqis don't warm up to solutions in inverted commas About dividing the country in order to keep it together This would not work, we have big pockets of Shia communities within Sunni areas We have big pockets of Sunni areas within Shia areas We have, in urban society we have about 30% of mixed marriages What do we do? Run the borders through bedrooms? It wouldn't work, in Iraq it would not work So to those who are seeking simple solutions I say forget it, we Iraqis will find our own solutions We Iraqis will reach the accommodations that will work for us Help us to beat off the terrorists And help us to rebuild our institutions which were destroyed over years of misrule, sanctions and then later mismanagement Then we will shoulder our responsibilities We believe we can do it, but we believe we can do it only with your help Thank you very much I'm going to open things up for questions in just a moment I do have several favors to ask, however We do have microphones, I would be grateful if you would wait for them I'm staring into some TV lights, so I'm going to have to recognize you largely by geography, not by name Forgive me for doing that, but that means it would be very helpful if you'd identify yourself before you ask your question And since we have quite a number of people here, if we could make it one single question per person And one that ends in a question mark, that would probably make it better for everyone Let me begin with the lady in the far back there Michelle Kellerman with National Public Radio I was wondering, you talked a lot about the influence of neighbors If you can shed some light on the upcoming neighbors meeting, why it's taking so long to get it off the ground What are your expectations for it? Thank you, I don't think it's taking so long to get it off the ground It needed some nimble diplomacy to get the first one going And that took place as you know in Baghdad on the 10th of March at senior official level That meeting requested the Iraqi Foreign Minister to conduct discussions with all participants To set up a date and a place for the next meeting, which is at ministerial level And gave him a month to do so, and he in fact did it within the month Just, but he did it and it has been now agreed to hold the ministerial level meeting on the 4th of May Which is soon going to be upon us That would be preceded by a meeting on the Iraq Compact But this is a very significant meeting, we have always pleaded with our neighbors To leave us alone and allow Iraq to heal without intervention and without interference And we have warned them that if things go wrong in Iraq, they will not be immune from the violence And they will not be immune from the terrorism that would overflow from Iraq We received a lot of assurances and promises, but we generally tried to hold people to their word And judge them by what they actually do, not by what they say This forthcoming meeting will be one in the context of a chain of such meetings But this will be more important and different in that the P5, the permanent five members of the Security Council Will participate at ministerial level It will be an opportunity for the big powers to be talking to the regional powers And hopefully this will help address confrontations that exist at the moment between the various parties And if we can diffuse these confrontations or reduce them, that would be reflected in the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities Thank you Well Iraq and Iran are implicitly there because Iran is the regional power and the U.S. of course is going to be attending In Baghdad? Yes, very well I was curious if you could talk about the oil situation in Iraq And whether you have any, if you can give a realistic expectation of when the oil law will be passed and implemented And if you have any forecast for oil production As you know Iraq has considerable oil reserves, but it's oil industry like all other infrastructure are running on shoestrings They're dilapidated, we haven't built a refinery in the last 30, 40 years in Iraq And it is subject to sabotage all the time But despite the sabotage we are producing around 1.7 million barrels a day and exporting about 1.7 million barrels a day But that's way below what we want to produce and export So there is the opportunity for considerable oil investment Considerable investment in the oil sector And we have also made sure in the drafting of our constitution that oil is the property, if you like, the benefit from oil belongs to all Iraqis That is a very useful and unifying principle for Iraq And recently the cabinet has passed a draft law to put some flesh on that principle and that draft will be going to parliament Parliament will debate it, possibly amend it or whatever, but we expect that it will be changed, it will be passed How long exactly? I don't know, we are in difficult times Things take a little longer there, things take long enough here in Washington DC So don't expect more of us than people do here in peaceful environment But we realize how urgent this is and this is being dealt with on that basis Thank you Good, do you have one over there? Good, you do that for yourself James Kittfield from National Journal Magazine John Petraeus has talked about there's Iraqi time and there's U.S. time and the two clocks don't match up Your comments seem to imply the same thing, you're sort of begging for a little more patience, not begging, but you're asking for more patience What do you tell Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill when they say that they want to put a timetable for the Tural of U.S. Forces that really goes through next year but no further? How do you respond to them? Well, I think I can claim the first use of this phrasology of clocks and General Petraeus has used it quite correctly There is a difference in the clock if you like, in the speed of the clock in Washington and in Baghdad In Baghdad we are governed by reality on how soon we can deliver any specific thing in the circumstances that we experience out there Here the imperatives are of presidential elections, other elections and what different parties want to do to each other I think we should go, frankly, by what happens on the ground The best judgment of that can be made by Iraqi government, which is of course deeply involved and by the U.S. forces and people like General Petraeus who are experiencing things first hand To those who say that by a certain date we should have a cut-off and bring the troops home I think they would be saying to the terrorists, you don't have to do anything now, just wait until that date That is not the right signal to send out However, I am not against discussing dates, I am not against setting deadlines or target dates for ourselves Because we want to challenge ourselves, we want to achieve what we need to achieve But this can be discussed not in the glare of publicity, not in public statements And certainly should not be legislated, that should be a target that we both work towards on understandings or tacit understandings between the two governments and everybody who is involved That's the way this should be tackled, we agree on one thing We don't want tens of thousands of American troops to continue to exist on Iraqi soil forever So we can find a way of achieving that in a way that will not give victory to the terrorists And at the same time will satisfy Americans who are worried about their loved ones A gentleman in the third row there, please wait for the microphone Thank you very much Ambassador, good morning to you Good morning Dr. Cordesman, my name is Edward Joseph, I'm with Johns Hopkins School of Advanced and National Studies and co-author with Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution of just such a proposal, sir, that I think you were criticizing before and that is federalism or self-partition of Iraq along the Bosnia model as a solution and as envisioned in the Iraq Constitution As a plan B, I should mention as a plan B if present course does not work And sir, you said, and I take your point very well, that there's no, and it's a major counter-argument to this kind of view that Sunni and Shia, it's not the Balkans, there's no animosity and hate, there, you say that What we see unfortunately indicators are both I have a question, sir, please permit me, I'm making a valid point and I do have a question for Dr. Cordesman Please get to it I have it, if you'll permit me, I will get to it We see the corrosive effect of the fighting that is forcing people to flee into homogenous areas, increasingly homogenizing their country We also see elections I'm really sorry, if you have a question, please get to it now or we'll go on to someone else I will, sir, I am, it's an honestly rather cogent point that I'm making if you just permit me Yes, but this is not a stage for me I understand, thank you very much The second thing is we see a longstanding sense of Shiite sense of grievance that's reflected in the election And my question for you and for Dr. Cordesman, if he'd care to reply as well, is how do you see any valid Shiite alternative, particularly among the Shiites, to the course that we are suggesting The argument is made that only Skiri and only Hakim want this course of action But where do we see the evidence, and I ask either one of you, including the highly respected and has my respect, Dr. Cordesman Either one of you, where do you see the evidence of a Shiite vision that is different from this, that has the crucial component that Iraq must have for stability, which is a meaningful place for Sunnis If people do not like the vision of Hakim and Skiri, what is Will allow the ambassador to respond, please Thank you Well, I said moments ago that Iraq is not the Balkans I said that what's going on is not a fight between Sunnis and Shiites And I said that physically and geographically and socially Iraqi Sunnis and Iraqi Shiites are very intermingled Yes, there has been intimidation by extremists There has been murders committed by extremists Large numbers in the case of Sunni extremists in the form of Al Qaeda and Sardamist and so on Started in 2003 when they murdered Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim About 100 of his people as they were coming out of prayers in Najaf And continued relentlessly But throughout that period the Shiites and their visionary religious leaders saw through this They saw clearly the strategy of the terrorists The terrorists, Zarkawi in fact put it down in black and white in his famous letter which was intercepted He said that we need to start a civil war between Sunni and Shiite in order to achieve our purpose The Shiite saw that However, when as you know on the 22nd of February last year The Samarra shrine, one of the most holy shrines for Shiite Which happens to be in a Sunni city by the way, was blown up There was a reaction which went beyond anything that the Shiite religious leaders could control And that gave license if you like to Shiite extremist factions to wreak havoc and start to murder in large numbers Sunni individuals just because they are Sunni Now the great majority of Iraqi public do not endorse this or this But however, they are victims to both If any family receives a slip of paper under the door saying that you've got to leave this neighborhood Generally people don't like to take chances with their kids and with their lives They take the safe option So we have, for terrorists it's an easy point to score But what do these people, if it's a Shiite family fleeing a Sunni neighborhood They leave the key to their door with their Sunni neighbors This is Iraq. We do not believe in hard partition And we do not believe in soft partition Most Iraqis want Iraq to stay whole They want to keep it undivided And opinion polls back this statement I'm not making it up The constitution allows decentralization Because we believe decentralization enhances democracy Enhances democratic practice And it's a guarantee against despotism in the center However, this division must not be on sectarian basis That has to be understood Any province or group of provinces can form a region For the purpose of decentralized administration As it is done in this country When the United States decides to make one state for Catholics And another state for Protestants Then we will consider that in Iraq Thank you Ladies and gentlemen there How are we preparing you with the Christian Science Monitor Mr. Ambassador, as you know Some in Congress are supporting benchmarks For Iraqi political action Perhaps as a way of speeding up the clock You yourself in a recent op-ed speak of vigorous action On the part of the Iraqi government I'm wondering if you could give us examples Of that vigorous action that's taking place And also your view of benchmarks to speed up the clock You probably heard about our beloved President Talabani Falling ill recently and going to Jordan I'm assured that he almost collapsed Because he was conducting more than six, seven meetings a day With different groups of people Really pushing himself to the limit He and the prime ministers Maliki have been working very hard To meet anybody that has been estranged Has not joined the political process in the past And is prepared to give up violence And join the political process They have been working hard to talk to them To assure them that law will be applied indiscriminately This recent deployment by the way The prime minister pledged that it will be done Totally indiscriminately There is going to be no different treatment To Sunni or Shia area Anybody who is against the law will be dealt with accordingly We have been moving not only on this We've been moving on the economic front Iraq has set aside ten billion dollars For smallish or medium-sized projects Throughout Iraq to create work A lot of these young people are drawn to join violent gangs Whether criminal or political For lack of employment Because the money I was talking about Which was flowing into Iraq Was spent on engaging these young people So we want to have an alternative For these people And this has been pushed very vigorously By various ministers The ministers have been themselves Pushed to execute their programs We have a much bigger budget this year Than we had last year So the Iraqi government is very aware Of the urgency required We are not against benchmarks We're not against deadlines As I said, we should have benchmarks Even for ourselves So that we can measure our progress But we must also take into account That everything we do We are doing under fire We're doing in extremely difficult circumstances That has to be allowed for Chairman Beichler My question is very quick and very simple And I'm sure you'll give a diplomatic reply I wonder if you could assess and contrast Compare and contrast the performance Of a CPA head primer With Ambassador Khalil is out there Now obviously they had two different periods To deal with But I wonder if you could give us an assessment Comparing those two You're absolutely right I'll have to give a diplomatic answer You yourself give part of the answer In that the two periods are different Very different I have the highest regard Personal affection to Paul Bremer For his commitment and dedication I believe there are certain things he did wrong I told him so at the time But he applied himself totally For the benefit of Iraq And I think we are grateful For all the good things he did Khalil Zayed is a different kind of person He understands the culture He built bridges with Iraqi leaders And gained their trust And conducted his diplomacy in a different style But underlying all this really Is the fact that now we are partners Iraqis and Americans have to work together And have to succeed together Good morning Mr. Ambassador I'm Tim Phelps from LSD Could you talk a little bit about What's going on in the north Not as much attention has been paid There recently But as you know there's been a war Of words between Mustafa Bosani And the Turkish government There seems to be some doubt now As to whether there will in fact be A referendum over Kirk Cook this year Do you expect that to happen or not Well, we as a country would like To establish the best relationship Possible with our neighbors Relationships based on mutual interest And non-interference in internal affairs And on that principle We believe that any interference From Turkey or from Iran Or from anybody is not acceptable We solve our problems ourselves So that is a fundamental issue And anything that gets in the way of it Whether it is from us Or from anybody else That's against our interest As to the question of the referendum There was a negotiated article In the constitution and there are There is a legal structure And a political structure behind it Whether the referendum takes place Or not that would be decided As you say in America Above my pet pay grade The gentleman over there There's a tremendous amount of disagreement Obviously along many parties States and Iraq everywhere else Regarding the future But one thing that everyone has agreed on Is without electric power There can be very little like Economic growth, investment, trade And all the rest In fact, you mentioned that In your op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Yet it is also true that From reports that Tony Cordesman has done GAO, the Special Inspector General The sabotage against the electric power Infrastructure continues The attacks are very prevalent We are now years into this process And successive ministers Of electricity can't seem to get Control over this I understand that there's some renewed Interest in trying to get On top of this problem So that there can be some stability Especially as we are in this Critical period I wonder if you could speak on that Thank you Yes, we We're facing sabotage Certainly And we're facing corruption also And the two things are conspiring to Humber our progress And when I talk about Sabotage here I don't mean Just randomized Destruction of pylons Or substations Or generating Power generating stations No People who are doing this Are absolutely Well informed They have the plans They know where to hit To cause the maximum delay Same with our oil pipelines They don't hit the pipeline Anywhere along the pipeline They target valve groups Which are very difficult to replace Which means that they have drawings They have details They have intelligence And we suspect the muhabarat Of the previous regime Who were fully well informed Now we are in a battle They blow things up And we try to build them up again As soon as we can And as I said Complicating our life Is the fact that our institutions Our government departments Do suffer from corruption We've got to get on top of that In order to achieve greater progress We understand how important Electricity is Without it as you say There can be no growth But now And now we established A whole number of smaller Electric stations But we cannot get them to work Because of the fuel So the whole thing Has to work together And I believe we can do it But we need more time Can we get the microphone here please? Ambassador You've had several government delegations In recent years that have made trips to Tehran And they appear to have established Very good relations And since we give you an awful lot of advice What advice would you give us On how to cope with Iran In the coming phase Of the nuclear dispute? Well, I really hesitate to give The United States advice On how to handle Iran Or any other country for that matter But I believe in every case Players have to look for mutual interests I'm sure that By the way, I myself took part In high-level delegations Into Iran And met top Iranian leaders Like the leaders of any country They have strategic interests They have their worries And they have their problems And I think it is not beyond Capacity of American diplomacy To identify all these And approach Iran with the package That would give it some Give Iran some assurances And some benefits Not at the expense of fundamental issues But nevertheless, I think there is a lot That Iran can get out of a dialogue With the United States And there is a lot that the United States Can get out of a dialogue with Iran I don't want to delve into specifics here But the principle is very clear Iran, I believe, despite the bravado And despite the public statements I believe Iran needs the United States That's wrong and take the advantage Of the position of moderator To ask you two questions We've heard a great deal about re-bothification And bringing more people from the bath back I wonder if you could tell us about that The second is the prime minister When he came to office Talked about the need to find A solution to the militias To either absorb them or abolish them And obviously this remains a key issue And I wonder if you could discuss that Absolutely, as it is the strategy Of the terrorist to drive a wedge Between Sunnis and Shiites It is the strategy of the government To isolate the most extreme parts Of the insurgents And to do so, we've got to get Those who are amenable Those who have grievances Which can be dealt with Al-Qaeda we cannot negotiate with They just want the destruction of the country And they want to establish their brand Of extreme Islamic rule We have nothing to say to them But there are a lot of people Who are disgruntled There were army officers Where the army was disbanded And found themselves without jobs And so on, who persuaded themselves Or were persuaded with ideology Or money to take up arms Against the government Many of those groups we can talk to And try to persuade that it's much better They would be better off to be inside the tent Than outside it We're doing that Now debathification was a rule That was applied in the early days We realized that most of the bathists Were bathists not out of conviction But in order to survive So debathification identified The top four layers of leadership In the Ba'ath party And said those people will not hold public office Now this, even that Which have affected something like 30, 35,000 people across the country That is being eased off And what we are saying now Is that those who committed crimes Can go through the judiciary system And those who did not Or we cannot prove that they did Can just resume their lives In the normal manner That hopefully would diffuse that problem And would bring more people into the process Now the latest development Is that the government has First of all decided to give six months As a period before they bring the whole Of this regime to an end And during the six months They allow the provinces to decide What level of leadership they keep excluding Some governments might decide To go one level down And some others one level up Give in other words give some flexibility To the situation and thereby Take out the sting from this problem The next point is about The militias, yes The militias do represent a challenge And a threat And we address that in the constitution There is an explicit reference To militias in the constitution That militias are not allowed There is a clear ban On the currying of arms By any organization outside the state Or is licensed by the state However we face This situation is a reality This deployment This recent deployment The plan for Baghdad has made it clear That any militia would be targeted Doesn't matter what kind of militia And that resulted in fact In the melting away of militias That's good, that's what we want This hopefully will give The security forces enough space and time To strengthen themselves And gain control And hopefully prevent the return Of these militias Thank you Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have time For a few last questions Let me get to the lady in the far back there Heather E. Moore, Kuwait News Agency Now I wanted to ask you You mentioned the term grateful In referring to the Iraqi government's Aid by the United States And helping with the battle But with the majority of Iraqis Consider themselves grateful For the U.S. intervention From Kuwait news agencies Yes, well I'm sure the Kuwaitis Were grateful for the intervention Of the United States in 1991 So you would understand that Iraqis, I think most Iraqis The overwhelming majority of Iraqis Were desperate to get rid Of Saddam Hussein and they had lost hope After the failure to intervene in 1991 To remove Saddam Hussein And started to suspect that the United States Didn't really, were not serious about Helping Iraq out of that situation But when the United States did intervene And remove Saddam Hussein Most Iraqis were grateful For that act And still are, however as you know People's hopes and expectations Were dashed People were disillusioned They found that what happened after Created a mess, a much bigger mess That they could envisage in their Worst nightmares But the difference, the fundamental difference Between Saddam period and now Is that under Saddam there was no hope There was no horizon Now despite all the trouble If you ask most Iraqis They have some hope to get out of this And of course we must not forget That there are whole areas of Iraq Which are prospering, are doing well And moving forward Kurdistan region for example Is doing quite well Some areas in the south are doing quite well We have some hotspots Very important including Baghdad Which are suffering But there is hope Saddam is gone We know we can build our own future ourselves But we need to get rid of this challenge By as I said terrorists and insurgents Let me take two last questions Letty in the second folder My name is Jennifer Hyman with CHF International I was very interested to hear how you've talked about The importance of setting aside economic resources For job creation How that serves as a disincentive to violence I'm wondering if you could speak a little bit more Whether you think that the best U.S. assistance Is military assistance or perhaps Additional economic development Political social solutions might be a better way forward Thank you very much The answer is that they've got to be both in place One is not enough You've got to do it both Military track And in fact three tracks The military track, economic track and the political track All of them have to work together And that's our strategy And that I believe is the strategy Of the United States as well Thank you The gentleman It seems to me that the purpose of this forum Is to bring the voice of Iraq into the debate As you very well know The debate up on Capitol Hill Is shaped by the American opinion Is there an effort by the Iraqi government To interject its voice Directly to the American people? Yes, there is an effort There is an effort by their embassy And I'm ambassador of Iraq And I speak as often as I can And I think many media producers Find our insistence and usance And we keep plugging But we do try to get our voice out there We have frequent delegations By senior officials from Iraq We had the prime minister here We had the president here We had vice presidents And the deputy prime ministers And we have ministers coming occasionally There's hardly a week That passes by without somebody from Iraq Speaking to someone here So we are engaged There are of course also A lot of American journalists And media people in Iraq And they are by and large doing a good job They are really, some of them are brilliant And they take risks and Of course they tend to cover more Explosions than construction projects But that's the nature of the beast That's the media But they do a good job And they bring our views And aspirations to the American public So they also help a great deal And we continue to bring The Iraqi perspective to the American debate I go to meet congressmen and senators Almost daily to introduce The Iraqi perspective into this debate And this debate is important We respect it, we admire it This is democracy and after all That's what we aspire to do ourselves So we have no problem with it But we just want to make sure That people when they make decisions Are fully informed And have the broader picture in mind Not only the next election in mind Thank you Ladies and gentlemen I'd like to thank you very much for coming But above all I'd like to thank the ambassador Who I think has done a superb job Of being the voice of the Iraqis And I hope you'll join me in a round of applause