daniel serwer. >> good afternoon. it is a real pleasure to be here and a privilege to share the podium with ambassador feltman and ambassador istrabadi. after two such striking presentations you will wonder where i am going to locate myself. it is going to be in the middle. i hope that won't surprise you but i hope a rational middle. i will start with tony lincoln's statement iraq is more democratic and more prosperous than at any time in recent history. there are some indications that violence, especially al qaeda and iraq violence is up since late last year. even if true tony's statement sets a very lobar and the gains are certainly still reversible. if our goal is, quote, a sovereign, stable, self-reliant country with representative government that could become a partner in the region and no safe haven for terrorists which is not there yet. we have a lot of work to do. on security iraq endures a high number of attacks. that is per month from politically motivated. unquestionably much lower than they were at the pea

come ambassador feisal istrabadi from indiana for he teaches at any university in mei scholar, daniel serwer. thank you for taking your time out of your very busy schedules to join us in sharing sites on iraq with us. we are very fortunate to have been here with us today. these are three individuals who put a lot of time, thought and energy into the topic of iraq in his own remarkable diplomatic achievements and understanding of what it takes to build strong alliances and relationships make them supremely qualified to discuss this topic. i know that i am not a fun and very much looking forward to their presentations. i also want to think shell and tracy nicknamed out shell for the support of this program to highlight developments in iraq. we couldn't be doing it without their encouragement and backing. see thank you rematch. and i'd like to end the show to our wonderful moderator, charles dunn who is a program director for the middle east and north africa at freedom house, who is himself an mei and in iraq director for the nsc from 2005 until 2007 and ensure he will also be weighing in on th

jeffrey feltman, feisal istrabadi, who has come in from indiana, daniel serwer. thank you for taking your time out of your schedules to join us and to share your insights on iraq with us. we're fortunate to have them with us today. these are three individuals who are foot time, thought, an energy into the topic of iraq and whose own achievements and understanding of what it takes to build alliances and relationships make them qualified to discuss this topic. i am not alone and i'm looking forward in the presentations. are also want to thank others for their support of this program. we could not do it without their encouragement. thank you very much. now i would like to handed over to our moderator who is the program director for the middle east and north africa. he is also a scholar and is an iraq expert having been the director from 2005 to 2007. i'm sure he will also weigh in on this topic today. i handed over to charles. hand it over to charles. >> thank you for your marks and thank you to the institute for launching this series on iraq. iraq is largely vanish