What are the prospects for meaningful political reconciliation between the various factions in Iraq?
BK: The prospects for political reconciliation between the various factions in Iraq appear quite unlikely in the short-term. Today Iraq’s leaders are debating many of the same issues over power sharing that they have been debating since 2004. Iraq has seen very little progress in the key effort to amend its constitution, and national reconciliation efforts, as well as de-Baathification, appears stalled. Two elections and a constitutional referendum in 2005 have resulted in a national government incapable of resolving some of the core issues that animate Iraq’s struggles for power today—and the first eight months of this year saw major defections from Iraq’s government. Unless there is some sort of emergency and extraordinary intervention in Iraq’s political transition, it seems quite unlikely that political reconciliation will see any progress in Iraq. NOW: How likely is it that mass killing or mass exodus would follow troop redeployment from Iraq? BK: Iraq has already experienced mass
