News & Events
ARTICLE: Iraq’s Rot Starts at the Top
By Zaid Al-Ali, August 11, 2014
THE NEW YORK TIMES: IRAQ’S situation is desperate. What makes it worse is that its political class, and many American officials, continue to push a cure that would be worse than the disease: a breakup of Iraq along sectarian lines.
If the past 11 years have proved anything, it is that a lack of representation and inclusiveness in Iraq’s government and institutions is not the problem. What we have learned since 2003 is that merely ensuring that there are ministers from each of Iraq’s main communities — Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and minorities like the Chaldeans and Turkmen — will not ensure that they will represent those communities’ interests, let alone the national interest. Any American influence left in Iraq should focus on rebuilding the credibility of national institutions.