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Iraq - A Fragile Sovereignty

750 Views Length: 72:36 Chaired by Jon Snow (C4)
Patrick Cockburn (journalist and author)
Toby Dodge (QMU, London)
Major General John Batiste (via skype)
Yahia Said (Revenue Watch Institute and LSE)
Dr. Ali Al-Dabbagh (Iraqi government - via skype)
Location: 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ

This event will be webcast live - you can view it for free via the link on our homepage - www.frontlineclub.com
As Iraq’s roller coaster ride continues, the next six months will be crucial in determining the future shape of the nation. The two forthcoming elections, the US election in November and the Iraqi provincial elections in October, along with US-Iraqi agreements over long-term commitments and legal status for military personnel and contactors, have major implications for the besieged state and its people.

We discuss the possible outcomes and the details of the agreements determining the US long-term commitments to Iraq as well as the divisions within Iraq itself. Are these agreements an excuse for the US to legitimise a long-term occupation of Iraq or are the Iraqis on their way towards a real, if fragile, sovereignty?

Patrick Cockburn is the Middle East correspondent for the The Independent and has been reporting from Iraq since 1978. He was awarded the 2005 Martha Gellhorn prize for war reporting and the James Cameron Memorial Award in 2006. He is the author of The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq (shortlisted for a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2007), The Broken Boy, and, with Andrew Cockburn, Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein.

Major General John Batiste is a retired officer of the US Army and was involved in the early planning stages of the Iraq war. In 2002, Batiste was chosen to be commander of the First Infantry Division of the US Army, which was deployed to Iraq in December 2003, during the war.
Toby Dodge is Reader in International Politics at the Queen Mary, University of London and Senior Fellow for the Middle East at the International Institut ...