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Serwer: Iraqis Beginning to Show Signs of Political Compromise

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Daniel P. Serwer, Vice President, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, U.S. Institute of Peace
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

March 14, 2008

Daniel P. Serwer, the executive director of the 2006 Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group, says along with the improved security situation, there have also been some encouraging signs of political compromise among Iraqi politicians. Serwer says it is significant that all politicians now accept the Iraqi constitution. “You measure progress in Iraq in small steps and one of those small steps is the moment at which the constitution becomes a point of reference,” he says. Serwer also points to rising interest among Sunnis and Shiites in participating in politics at the provincial level.

You’ve made five trips to Iraq since 2004. You were most recently there in January when you met with a number of Iraqi political figures and U.S. military and diplomatic officials. What is your general outlook at this point about the future of Iraq?

The security situation has improved despite some regression recently. It’s definitely improved from what it was. But it’s not as if we’re past violence in Iraq —it’s quite the contrary. The political situation, which had appeared entirely frozen for some time, is now looking much more fluid. There have been some positive steps, in particular the passage of some important laws by the parliament before it went on vacation. What they did was put together a package of laws, each one of more interest to one of the groups than to the others, and they were able to get them passed.

Was this a major development?

There are lots of caveats that you have to add whenever you talk about progress in Iraq.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.