Event Summary
Ken Pollack of the
Saban Center for Middle East Policy at The Brookings Institution held a media conference call at 12:00 noon (EST) on Tuesday, August 16 to comment on progress toward drafting the Iraqi constitution. The self-imposed deadline for Iraq to draft a proposed constitution is Aug. 15
Writing in The New York Times on July 1, 2005, Pollack laid out five key lessons of previous counter insurgency campaigns for the United States campaign in Iraq. Pollack argued for: putting a higher priority on protecting Iraqis as they go about their daily lives; providing enough manpower for the job; allowing time for the Iraqi Security Forces to learn; decentralizing the reconstruction effort away from politicians in Baghdad; and buying off Sunni sheiks.
The director of Research at the Saban Center, Kenneth Pollack, has served as Director for Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council. Pollack is the author of three acclaimed books, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (Random House, 2004); The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq (Random House, 2002); Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 (University of Nebraska Press, 2002). Pollack is also an expert on Iran and can comment on the current crisis around the Iranian nuclear program.