This is an interview conducted by Mehdi Geramifard with Stephen Kertzman, political analyst with the “Institute for Policy Studies” based in Washington D-C. The talk deals with Iraq’s sovereignty under the occupation. 

Question: Mr. Kertzman, the U.S administration handed over nominally power to Iraqis. But the reality is that with nearly 140,000 American troops on Iraqi soil, most military power will not be in the Iraqi hands nor will the budget. Furthermore American administration has already appointed a number of people to crucial watchdog and commissions for five-year terms. How does it strike Washington as a full sovereignty?

Answer:  For those of us who are critical of the administration in the United States, this doesn’t look like sovereignty at all. I mean there is 14 permanent military bases being built in Iraq right now. That doesn’t sound like that is going to leave sovereignty. And as you pointed out, the Iraqi government has very minimal control over its own affairs. So it’s really a sort of sham, which we generally think it’s designed by the U.S.

Question: With more than two years after U.S committed itself to seriously uproot what it calls global terrorism, how do you explain the threat of terrorism nowadays? Has it been decreased or increased?

Answer: Well, I think that almost certainly the threat has increased. And that’s because in my view the United States has taken exactly the wrong approach to this. It’s exacerbated tensions in many areas of the world rather than trying to alleviate them. I think that it’s very much a short sided “might makes right policy” that really needs to change. In the United States now there is a lot of political activity going on and we are very hopeful they will able to change the government and that would hopefully lead to a change in policy toward Middle East and the rest of the world. But it is going to be qualified. 

Question: Mr.Kertzman, do you think that the interests that the U.S is pursuing worth the blood of American soldiers and it’s huge budget?

Answer: Absolutely not. It’s very clear that this is a sort of a fool’s errant and it’s terribly tragic not only what is happening to U.S soldiers and the U.S citizens but on a much grand scale what happening to citizens in Iraq. I think that so many people have died needlessly for this war, which really was justified by lies here in the United States that is truly a tragedy.

Question: Some analysts believe that Iraq policy was a diplomatic failure that tarnished U.S relations with long standing allies and stirred Anti-American anger in the Muslim world. What is your assessment in this regard Mr. Kertzman?

Answer: I agree with that completely. I think that the Iraq policy was very short sided and actually will come back to make things a lot worse for the Unites States than when the policy was early begun in earnest a couple of years ago. And it’s really quite unfortunate. Because it gives people who want to see the worse of the United States every excuse to do so. I’m spent a lot of time in Europe. It’s clear that even U.S allies are horrified at the way the U.S has been behaving.

Question: How do you explain the public opinion of American people nowadays after some years of war and continuation of occupation?

Answer: What have been a good news is that finally we are saying the majority of Americans who don’t believe the connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda that we are seeing the majority of Americans who think that we should end this war and bring people home. We’re seeing polls that are quite hopeful at this point and certainly we may think that perhaps there is a way that we can change the government and we can move forward.

Question: What are your proposals for the U.S administration to adopt multilateral policies?

Answer: I think it’s very clear that U.S should go back to a situation where it was working as a great part of the global community and I would say even increase the level that it was doing it before. The United States should definitely be part the international criminal court and subjected its own officials and soldiers to the kind of justice that people should be abide equally to all people around the world and the United States should be a supporter of the United Nations in a real way not just as a sort of fig leaf for U.S power and U.S action. If one is to believe the rhetoric about the need for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide, it’s very clear to me that the U.S has a lot to do in that regard.