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Brett McGurk
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Joel, From Superior, WI Writes: "Mr. McGurk, Do you think that the new Iraqi prime minister is going to be able to better stop the violence in Iraq, compared to the previous prime minister?"
Brett McGurk: "The violence in Iraq will not disappear overnight. But Prime Minister Maliki has a number of elements in his favor that were not available to the previous, transitional governments. Let me discuss three of them:
"First, this is a true unity government that represents all Iraqi communities. This removes a major (albeit false) pretext for violence that has existed until now; namely, the perceived lack of space in the new Iraq for its Sunni Arab community.
"The new speaker of parliament, Mahmoud Mashhadani, is a tough talking Sunni hard-liner who shortly after taking office went on national television to call on all Iraqis to put down arms and stop fighting. He explained that Iraq is now being governed under a "common vision" and differences must be resolved through the political process. These may seem like mere words to some - but they are not words we were hearing as of even six months ago.
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"Second, the Prime Minister clearly understands the situation and what needs to be done. He explained during a press conference yesterday: "We believe that facing [the security challenge] won't only be with the use of force - we're going to use a lot of force in facing terrorists and killers that are killing Iraqis everyday - but we have, in addition to the use of force, we have to have reconciliation, national reconciliation, an initiative of reconciliation, and to bridge the differences and to build confidence between all different parts of Iraqi society."
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"Third, Iraq now has a full-term government (empowered to rule for up to 4 years) that will be able to focus on core issues and implement long-term solutions. The Iraqi Interim Government, led by Iyad Allawi, was focused on setting the conditions for Iraq's first nationwide election in January 2005. The Iraqi Transitional Government, led by Ibrahim Ja'afari, was focused on drafting and approving a new constitution in a national referendum. This government is focused on governing and meeting the many challenges that now confront Iraq."
Curtis, From Boston Writes: "Roughly three years since the war began, we have accomplished quite a bit in a rather short amount of time compared to other major postwar rebuilding efforts (like Europe and Korea). My question is, given the good news this weekend; do you think that Iraq has turned the corner and that it will deal a significant blow to those opposing freedom and democracy in Iraq?"
Brett McGurk: "Of course, Iraq will not have turned a corner until the government proves it can meet the needs of the Iraqi people. This will take time. But as I explained above, the fundamentals are in place, and as Ambassador Khalilzad explained over the weekend - with all communities now inside the political process - Iraq strategically is heading in the right direction. There is no question about this. We have opened a new and promising chapter here.
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"Each benchmark - from the interim constitution, through elections, to the constitution, to the constitutional referendum, and then the December elections - was carefully designed to build momentum for the political process, to isolate the terrorists, and to bring all communities together to chart a common path forward. That has now happened. The new Iraqi parliament is vocal, balanced, and diverse, with 275 elected members (including 75 women) from all parts of the country - representing all communities. That parliament on Saturday approved a 34-point unity government program, which pledges to the Iraqi people that the government will work together to tackle the primary challenges facing Iraq. These include the issues of security, militias, electricity - in addition to protecting women's rights and "rejecting autocracy, dictatorship, sectarianism, and racism in all its forms." This is a revolutionary document for this country - and the people have the power to hold their government to account if it fails to deliver."
Full text available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/20060522.html.
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