Transcript
CARLOS PASCUAL: This is an event which is jointly sponsored by the Foreign Policy Studies Program at Brookings together with the Saban Center on Middle East Studies, which is part of the Foreign Policy Studies Program and in collaboration with our colleagues in the Government Studies Program as well. And it's a reflection of the attempt that we're trying to make at Brookings to look at these issues related to Iraq in a broad foreign policy context in the context of the Middle East and in the context of American politics as well.
Today we really want to focus attention on the President's strategy that was announced last night. And the reasons for this are at least threefold. One is that I believe that chaos and instability in Iraq have the possibility for being a huge security and humanitarian tragedy not just in Iraq but the region and globally and that the mistakes that we have seen in Iraq and that could still occur may be among the most consequential in the history of US foreign policy and the international security of our nation.
The second is that the courses of these actions themselves will have consequences, so the strategy itself will have its consequences on American lives, on American resources. And how this strategy is handled could actually make the situation worse. So a great deal is at stake in the strategy itself.
And thirdly, we really believe that it is incumbent on the Brookings Institution and the scholars who are here to do what we can to understand the situation, to assess it, to provide honest feedback, to provide constructive suggestions as best we can. This will not be – today's event will not be a one time event, and I'm pleased to announce today an Iraq Policy Project, which we will sustain at the Brookings Institution over the course of a year. This project will have a number of focus seminars that will look at the policy or the strategy that the administration has put on the table, its military implications, the economic and diplomatic dimensions, its viability for success, the consequences of what might happen if it fails, and what the alternative strategies or approaches could actually be.
We will look at things like simulations of future scenarios. We will have other large events which will allow us an opportunity to share some of the insights to engage a wider audience and to be able to get feedback on some of the ideas that we're putting forward.
During this process, we will welcome engagement with the Administration and with the Congress. We will do this on a strictly nonpartisan basis. We are not approaching this from "what is the right political solution." We are approaching it from the perspective of what is the best strategy and policy for the United States.
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