‘An Honor I Do Not Claim’

What do you think of President Obama?
I'll tell you something: we're grateful to President Bush for helping us liberate our country from Saddam. But there were many mistakes made subsequently which muddied the waters, and we saw President Bush himself left [office] with the lowest ratings. However, President Obama came with a fresh start. First, he said Iraq is for the Iraqis to decide their future. Then he removed this egregious tension between the United States and Islam. His quotations from the Qur'an were brilliant. His message to Muslims and his frankness in stating the position of the United States were also very important. He did it in a way that did not offend Muslims or Arabs, without changing the basic stance of the United States. It was a speech of high political acumen.

What were the biggest mistakes the Bush administration made in Iraq?
First, occupation. That was the mother of all evils. No. 2 was the failure to improve the quality of life of Iraqis; and third, using Iraq as a base for fighting America's battles in the region. And fourth, not helping us to fight corruption. They protected their friends.

There are many who say you took a lot of money yourself.
It is false. There is nothing, no evidence that they can point to, any specific thing, any specific charge, any specific deal that I benefited from. We [the Iraqi National Congress] are the only political party in Iraq that doesn't benefit from government coffers.

Some say you made millions of dollars from your intermediary role.
Who? Which American company? Let them point out one thing. I deny this totally and I would say show me an example that happened. Nobody can. You see, I was chairman of the government's contracts screening. All government contracts came though there. No one can point to any contract that had problems. Here in Iraq, I expose major problems. It is easy to make a charge. None of that has been proven.

What happens with the Americans pulling out of the cities at the end of June?
There will be problems. But it is easier for us to have mistakes that we make than perfections that America imposes. There could be problems in some respects that Al Qaeda could use this opportunity to try and incite sectarian violence by bombing various places. There could be some transgressions against law and order by gangs.

But your point is, let Iraq deal with it?
Yes, there are very competent Iraqis.

Do you feel good about the abilities of the Iraqi Security Forces?
Yes, I feel quite good about it, but at the same time I definitely feel we need to improve command and control.

Who's behind the recent spate of deadly attacks and why?
It is Al Qaeda. What they hope to achieve is reigniting sectarian conflict in Iraq. That's the main reason. They commit heinous acts against the Shia, hoping that the Shia will do something against the Sunni. I would estimate now Al Qaeda in Iraq to be less than 600 people. But they can still do a lot of damage, as we witnessed in recent weeks of bombings and assassinations.