Former PM of Iraqi Kurdistan Calls Iraq “Work in Progress”

“Iraq is a work in progress,” said Barham Salih, former prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan. “The Middle East is a work in progress.”

After the overthrow of the dictator Saddam Hussein, there was excitement for the end of the one-party, one-man rule, Salih said: “All our attention was focused on Iraq and [we] assumed everything would fall into place.”

A decade on, he said, we need to revisit the assumptions made at the time.

 “Democracy is a long process,” Salih observed. In Iraq, he said, the legacy of those decades of dictatorship endures.

Speaking during Columbia Voting Week on “Perspectives from Iraq – Building a Democracy in a Multicultural Society,” Dr. Salih offered his perspective as what he called “a player in the country.”

In 2003, Iraq was war-torn, its society polarized and traumatized. Identity politics and sectarian politics became a major part of Iraqi politics at the time, affecting the transition. And elections, Salih said, only exacerbated problems.

“Elections early on can be a burden to early democracy,” he said, noting that Iraq was not yet ready to deal with so many challenges. The transition would have been better served had rule of law and an independent judiciary been established first, he said. Legitimacy did not come with elections.

The elite had many missed opportunities and missteps. "I know; I was a part of that elite,” said Salih, who served as the Kurdish Iraqi prime minister from 2009 to 2012.

There were also many missteps from American policymakers, he said.

“You need to understand that you can’t dictate” the transition to democracy, he said. “Each society has their own terms.”

Salih did emphasize the importance of American assistance in Iraq. “It is vital we understand the importance of American power, but the limitations to American power, also.”

Many think that the United States has a “magic wand” to fix everything, Salih said.

“America should be there to support the moderate Muslims who want to fight these extremists,” he said, but “we must do it ourselves.” America cannot solve it.

“Muslims, in particular, need to take responsibility and say clearly ‘not in the name of Islam, not in our name,’” said Salih, a Muslim himself.

Religion was another major issue that played a role in the transition. Salih lamented the lack of appropriate discourse during the transition on the role religion would play.

“There is a role for religion in public life,” he said. “There is a clear divide between government and church.” But just as American politicians attend church, Iraqi politicians are also mindful of religion to varying degrees.

“Now we’re dealing with ISIS which is becoming a plague and gaining international recognition and is a threat to everybody,” he said, adding that the group’s members “hijack Islam” and use it to drive “murderous” intentions.

“This is not just an Iraqi disease, it’s a global disease,” he said.

Military action alone will not solve the problem, Salih said — there also needs to be global cooperation, which requires “delinking rivalries.”

The primary responsibility, however, he stressed again, lies with the people of the Middle East. Salih expressed his hope that international support for the war against ISIS would be targeted and conditional on good governance. “Don’t let aid be squandered by elites, stop corruption,” he said. “Don’t turn a blind eye to human rights violations.

It is not easy to build a democracy in Iraq, he said, it is complex. Salih, who currently serves as chair of the board of trustees for American University of Iraq, also stressed the importance of education.

“Education matters. People who know better, will do better,” said Salih. He also added that Jihadis who come from an educated background should not “disprove the importance of education.”

ISIS is a menace that knows “no bounds, no boundaries,” he added, and is definitely a long-term issue, because of the underlying problems. “God help us with the son of [ISIS] if we do not deal with the fundamental issues.”

“Good democratic governments,” he said, “can take on these bad actors.”

During the question and answer portion, moderator Dipali Mukhopadhyay, a SIPA faculty member, asked Salih whether there was an “assumption that democracy has universal relevance.”

“People who claim democracy isn’t right for the Middle East are anti-Arab and anti-Muslim,” said Salih. “Everyone has democratic ideals, we’re all humans. We all have a desire to say how we’re governed. That’s what democracy is about.”

The American transition to democracy had its difficulties, and was a long process, said Salih. “The Middle East will take its time.”

—    Tamara El Waylly MIA ’15