and i'm joined now by ali allawi, the finance minister of iraq. mr.elcome to the newshour. it seems le your job is massive. one expe described it this -- you have to deregulate, de-corrupt and de-militia. what is the size of that challenge? >> wl, it is actually quite rge challenge. a very serious challenge.av but we hto do what one must, given, you know, the circumstances of t country. nist: we saw this horrific b by negligence and apathy of thed government for many years. ansome of the observers i talked to about eraq fear that 's a paralysis in some of the government and that major changes aren't happening just like in le tnon. do you s beirut explosion as some kind of cautionary tale? mr. allawi: it shows you what happens when, when a state becomes hollowed out. we have not yet reached the same y vel but we're not vr from it. we have to reassert the authority of the governmt, not to allow the state to become basically an instrument extraneous parties who then use it to derive benefits from this hollowing out of the state, the diversion of state re