Iraqis must prove that they can run their government "without a policeman," a former senior minister in the interim Iraqi government told a moderately full Salomon 101 Wednesday night.
Ali Allawi served as minister of trade, defense and finance in the interim Iraqi government created after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. He gave listeners an insider's perspective on the nature of the Iraq state, the war in Iraq and the situation in the Middle East at the inaugural Peter Green Lecture on the Modern Middle East.
After leaving government in May 2006, Allawi wrote a book about U.S. involvement in Iraq. Titled "The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace," it was recognized by the Washington Post as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2007, according to a University press release. Success in Iraq depends on the Iraqi people, Allawi told his audience. "If Iraqis cannot solve their problems, the rest of the world is not going to do it for them," he said.
Allawi laid out a few preconditions for "salvaging" the situation in Iraq, including establishing a political center before the 2009 elections and reducing regional tensions. Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Allawi said of sectarian issues in Iraq, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." If Iraqis can't live with fellow Iraqis of different religions, their house will fall down around them, he added.
The mood in Iraq is "guardedly optimistic," Allawi, who was last in Iraq two months ago, told The Herald. He said he would like to see a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces over about 18 months with a residual force left for diplomatic purposes. On the subject of the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, he said all of the American presidential candidates "seem to be on the right track" on Iraq policy.
Dubbing the U.S. the "midwife" of the second Iraqi state, Allawi told the audience the U.S. toppled what he said he believed to be a terrible dictatorship and changed the dynamic of Middle East power relationships. In February 2006, when the previously underground insurgent war spilled over into the general population, the country dissolved into a civil war between undefined sides. He said the war ended in the summer of 2007 because the insurgents realized they could not win and had to figure out how to exist in the new state, but they looked unstoppable until the U.S. deployed additional troops.
He also said the role of the U.S. in the Middle East should be to foster mutual recognition and respect and to bring modernization to the region.
Many attendees told Allawi during the question-and-answer period that they appreciated his lecture. One questioner spoke angrily about the war and its related Iraqi casualties. Brenna Carmody '09 said she thought Allawi "presented a really objective stance" on the situation and its future, adding that a glimpse into Iraq's internal politics was interesting.
Allawi now plans on returning to the United Kingdom. He will have two more books coming out in the next two years, according to the press release.
