My Week Speaking—Bumped by Barack Obama

This week has been a busy one, with numerous speaking events in and around the Washington, DC area—opportunities to inform both media and government officials about the Kurdistan Region and what’s happening in Iraq.

It was poetic, however, that before delivering remarks on security in our Region to an audience of defense and security experts that the President of the United States bumped me!

Shortly before arriving to the Brookings Institution, where the speech was, I received word that Barack Obama had decided to use the venue to discuss domestic jobs creation. This was an acute reminder that a president’s domestic agenda will always take precedent over foreign affairs.

Undeterred, the event—a part of Brookings Executive Educations program—moved to an alternative location not too far away.

Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute at the Department of Homeland Security, and former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for Mission Support, Department of Peacekeeping Operations spoke before me. Following me was Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution—former Deputy Secretary of State and former Special Ambassador for the Soviet Union and Russia. More than 50 experts from the government—from offices such as the Department of Defense and Army—attended.

The tone at the Brookings event, and the audience’s continuing interest in Iraq, was decided different from another event I spoke at a few days earlier—which was summed up by one of my fellow panelists, Judith Yaphe, an American expert on Iraq:

“Anybody remember Iraq? You don’t hear about it much anymore. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone away and it doesn’t mean that everything is fine either.”

My sentiments exactly.

Judith joined me at the University of Maryland’s Knight Center for Specialized Journalism for a lively discussion on the Iraq issue—much of which dealt with the place of the Kurdistan Region. I’ve known Judith for years. She’s a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the U.S. National Defense University.

Judith went on: “Iraq now faces its greatest crisis since Saddam disappeared…. This is the most critical juncture in any revolution, and what Iraq has gone through and is going through is revolutionary.”

Again, I couldn’t agree more.

The problem is that this fact isn’t being recognized as the U.S. shifts its focus to Afghanistan and leaves us with mounting challenges and wishful thinking. It is the mistake of the American policymaker to believe or expect Iraq to be stable for the sake of stability, ignoring more than 80 years of history and oppression.

Our national culture—for Sunni, Shia and Kurds—is based on insecurity, which is preventing progress. Yet, at a time when several critical issues need to be sorted out, issues that will shape the very foundation and future of Iraq, we’re being rushed through it all.

Getting these issues right is more important than dealing with them quickly. Iraq cannot be expected to turn from dictatorship to democracy in seven years, and it will take a commitment on the part of the Americans to help us see it through.

During the conversation we had that morning, this was much of the thrust of what both of us talked about. With almost 30 reporters attending from traditional and new media publications, there were plenty of great questions. Click here to see some video of the event, or to review the Knight Center’s Twitter.

Giving Secretary Albright Her Due…and Her Day

A few days ago I had the pleasure to formally deliver to former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright a letter of thanks from Presidents Barzani and Talabani, and a proclamation on behalf of the people of the Kurdistan Region making May 15 a day to honor her:

“…we hereby offer our eternal gratitude and proclaim our eternal friendship with the Honorable Madeleine Albright on the occasion of her birthday. In her honor, we honor this day and honor her service to her Country, the United States of America, which she has served so ably….”

If you are unfamiliar with the story, we owe Secretary Albright considerable thanks for her efforts to promote peace amongst the leadership of Kurdistan Region. She, along with a good team at the State Department, brought together Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani to sign the historic “Washington Accord” of September 17, 1998. This act ended considerable infighting, opening up our region to great progress and modernization. The invocation of the commemoration states it best:

“You had the strategic vision to see that it was essential for us to set aside our differences and join together in a unity government in order to create a future full of promise and peace for all the people of the Kurdistan Region. History has proven just how right you were.”

This reminds us all, that Kurdistan’s success, as a stable and democratizing society in the heart of the Middle East may not have been possible, were it not for the engagement and support of the United States.

Kurdistan's Journey towards Transparency

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has governed itself for 17 years—following the establishment of the No Fly Zones in 1992. Of those years, 11 were under various types of local, regional and international sanctions; for 4 years, the Region was embroiled in regrettable civil war; the 6 years following were marked by the governance of 2 relatively dysfunctional administrations—which eventually united into one large and overly-bureaucratic body. So what does this add up to? The answer is simple—the safest, most stable and increasingly prosperous part of Iraq!

Although these numbers don’t seem to make sense—particularly for a region marked by strife, conflict, setbacks and a recent national war—the evidence is all there for the world to see. And today, the KRG took a step to provide greater clarity for the global community and for the people of the Kurdistan Region, so that everyone can be confident in how far the Kurdistan Region has come, what its accomplished, and where it is headed.

Earlier this afternoon, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announced the government’s strategy for Good Governance and Transparency—a multi-year project developed with assistance from PricewaterhouseCoopers to introduce best governance practices and transparency and ultimately improving how our government serves its people. Compliant with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, it represents a bold step, one that goes further than any regional government in the world, and even some large democracies.

We’ve made our region safe and secure. We’ve overcome our internal conflicts. We’ve established a system to provide improved services for our citizens. Now we’re moving to guarantee that all of this progress is maintained and built upon—because there is no doubt in our minds that there remains so much more for the Kurdistan Region to accomplish.

The KRG’s Good Governance and Transparency Strategy represents tangible evidence that we are not only aware of our shortcomings, but that we are actually doing something about them! While we work to address these shortcomings, we should not lose sight of how much progress has been made in a remarkably short, yet tumultuous period of itme. Today's step forward gives me hope that the next 17 years has even greater potential.