On the November 6th broadcast of WHYY’s Radio Times with Marty-Moss Coane, Brendan O’Leary shared his views on the best future course for U.S. policy in Iraq. O’Leary, constitutional advisor to the government of Kurdistan and co-editor of The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq, advocates moving toward a five region pluralist Iraqi federation.
According to O’Leary, a pluralist federation that reflects the Iraqi consititution of 2005 would be a great improvement over the status quo.
"Iraq is not one nation. It’s not an Arab nation. It’s a multinational country. It’s
a country of Arabs, of Kurds, Caldo Assyrians, Turkamens and others. It has multiple religious sects and obviously everybody knows it’s devided between Sunni and Shi’a," said O’Leary.
"Therefore any project that imagines that you can build Iraq around a
unitary conception of a shared Iraqi identity is doomed in my view. It follows therefore
that you shouldn’t try to rebuild Iraq as a centralized state."
O’Leary added that the recent conviction of Saddam Hussein is "a welcome development," however, Saddam should be kept alive for future trials so that the truth of his crimes can be fully recognized.
Audio files of the interview are available for download at the Radio Times website.
