IRAQ today ‘Decades to
IRAQ today ‘Decades to Reconstruct’ Government official talks Iraq challenges BY WEAM NAMOU Joseph S. Pennington, deputy assistant secretary for Iraq, visited the Chaldean Community Foundation on July 16 to talk about how the United States is helping restore Iraq. “I’ve seen the suffering of your community,” said Pennington, who was in Erbil in 2014 and 2015 and had many interactions with Christians and other minorities. “It stays with you. It’s something that we want to mitigate. Military efforts need to be the No. 1 priority, and the rest humanitarian work and stabilization so that people have the option to go back to a community and normalcy.” “How do you plan to restore life in the community?” asked Sam Kassab, owner of Guardian Angel Home Care, who was one of about 100 people in attendance. Pennington replied, “Through military liberation, establishing local security, and ridding towns of explosive ordinances that ISIS leaves behind. Once security is established, conditions become livable for families.” That was described as Phase I of the U.S.’s plan. Phase II, through UN funding and other resources, will get facilities up and running — specifically the electricity and water back on — clear rubble, and provide small loans to businesses. This phase is about reestablishing services essential for communities such as schools and hospitals and putting people into work. Phase III is more distant into Joseph Pennington: “I’ve seen the suffering of your community.” the future and has to do with the reconstruction of Iraq. “It will cost a great deal and it will take decades to reconstruct what was destroyed in Iraq,” he said. “But efforts are advancing and within the next year we will definitely see the liberation of Mosul and the beginning of restoring of communities devastated by ISIS.” “There are hundreds of thousands of displaced Shias and Sunnis in Iraq,” said Rafed Yaldo, a humanitarian who has visited Iraq three times in the last 18 months. “How do we know they won’t go and fill up the vacant homes in the former Christian villages? Why can’t we give Christians priority to come here since they are the ones mostly persecuted?” “I’m not the one to make decisions on that,” said Pennington. “Since 2007, 130,000 Iraqis have come to the United States. Forty percent have been Christian. The number of refugees coming here has gone down across the board.” Abed Francis asked about the upcoming liberation of Mosul. “How long will this liberation take, for them to vacuum, clean up, those regions? It’s important to know so we can give people hope to one day go back.” “The liberation of Ramadi took months,” said Pennington. “After that, they’ve been moving quickly. There’s progress on the military’s acceleration. We’re sitting down on a regular basis with leaders, there’s a process of discussion and planning, not only on the military side but also on the humanitarian side. These are things that are being planned even as we speak.” Nabil Roumaya, head of the Iraqi Democratic Union, was skeptical. “To create the conditions you’re talking about we have to get rid of ISIS,” he said “It’s not a military issue, it’s a political issue. If we get rid of ISIS, another terrorist group will show up. There’s a big movement pushing for reform, to get rid of corruption in Iraq. The U.S. is not supporting this movement. Your policy has to focus on the right thing, not the wrong thing.” Pennington said the U.S. is engaged in these issues. “There are those in Iraq who want to move policies toward a sectarian path and those who want to move it toward a reform path. We need to find a longterm solution.” Nidhal Garmo, president of the non-profit One World Medical Mission, has been to Iraq 26 times for humanitarian work. “We can’t blame America 100 percent for what happened. To help Iraq we need to get united,” she said. “It will take great economic development,” Pennington said. “The problem is resources aren’t sufficient but without resources you can’t do anything. It’s never enough. It’ll never be enough. The suffering is too great.” ATTEND CHALDEAN CHAMBER EVENTS AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS! CHALDEAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AUGUST 10 AUGUST 21 SEPTEMBER 8 SEPTEMBER TBD OCTOBER 20 NOVEMBER 9 DECEMBER 1 Quarterly Networking Meeting Project Bismutha Walk-A-Thon Industry Outlook Cultural Forum Annual Business Luncheon Annual Meeting & Board Election Annual Member Christmas Party CONTACT SANA NAVARRETTE AT SNAVARRETTE@CHALDEANCHAMBER.COM OR 248-996-8340 TO BECOME A MEMBER. More than 900 members, representing 3,500 businesses and individuals GET INVOLVED. GET CONNECTED. GET BUSINESS. 16 CHALDEAN NEWS AUGUST 2016
‘You can do everything’ Iraq’s Foreign Affairs Minister expresses hope BY WEAM NAMOU About 25 guests attended a dinner at Shenandoah on July 16 held in honor of Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Al Jaafari by the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce. Attendees told Al Jaafari that they greatly sympathized with the challenging times Iraq was facing. They wanted him to take to Iraq the message that the thousands of community members here are willing to do whatever they can to help the Iraqi government so that they ultimately have love peace, and harmony in their country. “Those who love God love everyone,” Al Jaafari said. “Whoever uses religion, says he loves God and hurts people, is a hypocrite. God created people as they are. What right does anyone have to change that?” Al Jaafari was born in Karbala to a family that claims direct descent from Muhammad. He was educated at Mosul University as a medical doctor. He joined the Islamic Dawa Party in 1968, at age 21, and upon graduation from school in 1974, he worked actively for the party in Iraq that was trying to overthrow the Baathist regime. “I noticed that the country is more in need of political matters than medical matters, so I switched to a political career,” he said. He was the country’s prime minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government from 2005 to 2006, following the January 2005 election. He has been Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2014. Al Jaafari was asked who he thinks will win the presidential election. “No one can know who will be the next president but Hillary Clinton is the first woman to come this close to presidency,” he replied. “The question should be, why hasn’t America had a woman president since George Washington? Why has it been so patriarchal?” Al Jaafari, who read Clinton’s memoirs, mentioned three strengths she has: She was a strong senator in New York; she is married to a former president so she has experience; and she accepted the strife of the Monica Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Al Jaafari met with community members at Shenandoah. Lewinsky scandal. “Trump is tough, nervous and unpredictable,” he said. “He’s lucky his opponent is a woman.” He also said the American system will not change regardless of which candidate wins because the institution is run by congress. Saad Hajjar, the chamber’s vice chair, said, “We want Iraq to protect minorities. Is this a simple issue?” “America is responsible for what has happened to Iraq,” said Al Jaafari. “In 2002, in an Iraqi opposition meeting in London, American officials approached me to join their efforts for the war. Even though Saddam killed five of my family members, my views were always this: we want to change the regime but we don’t want war.” How to change the regime? Close all the embassies in Iraq, place economic sanctions on the government rather than the people, and make Saddam a war criminal, he said. “I was not with the war, I was for change,” Al Jaafari said. “But when the war happened, of course, I couldn’t sit and do nothing. The war cost the U.S. the lives of over 4,000 soldiers and trillions of dollars, and now England is holding Tony Blair accountable.” The talk moved onto ISIS. “Is America serious about destroying ISIS? Osama Bin Laden was produced by America and that went haywire. You can produce something but you can’t control it afterward,” he was told. Al Jaafari said that Americans are very compassionate citizens who are willing to listen and help. But people need to be educated about what’s really happening and how they can help. The issue of not having a Chaldean representative in Iraq also came up. Al Jaafari said that he had thought deeply about how to solve this problem amongst the various Christian groups. “Bring one Christian representative and look at the quality that person possesses,” he said. “If your child is sick, do you care to bring him the best doctor or do you care whether the doctor is Jewish, Christian or Muslim? Focus on the best representative, not on his ties to your background. Why should I bring the best doctor for myself but for everyone else, I bring my relative?” “Is there hope for Iraq?” asked Hajjar. “Iraq was once a modern country.” “Until now it’s modern,” said Al Jaafari. “But it has set backs in comparison to other countries. I have hope because of its many existing treasures and it’s the cradle of civilization, and because when Holaco destroyed it [in 1258] and later when Saddam destroyed it, it still came back. Like Martin Luther King said, ‘Dream!’ A person without hope dies. Be hopeful every morning of every day.” “But what can we do to help?” asked State Representative Klint Kesto. “You can do everything,” he said. “But you have to have the will before making decisions. Say, ‘I will’ and doors will open for you.” “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we will do it,” said Kesto. “I will!” “You will,” agreed Al Jaafari. AUGUST 2016 CHALDEAN NEWS 17
