Amy Goodman's Interview with Lakhdar Brahimi

++Do yourself a favor and check out democracynow.org and the interview between Amy Goodman and Ambassador Brahimi,the former UN envoy to Iraq and Syria. Formerly an Algerian freedom fighter and later the Foreign Minister of Algeria,Ambassador Brahimi has gone on to become an envoy to many conflict areas. He is a member of the Council of Elders, a group created by Nelson Mandela of leading international statesmen. 

++Mr. Brahimi has dealt with American diplomats for decades and is aware of American foreign policy. In the interview he tried to be as diplomatic as he could about some of the errors made by the United States in its invasion of Iraq. 

++For my money,the salient point concerned former American ambassador to Iraq, Paul Bremmer, whom he described as making all decisions in Iraq and whom he lightly described as a "dictator". Brahimi mentioned that among former American ambassadors to Iraq there was unanimity--don't touch the military. Brahamini said there were a few hundred officers with blood on their hands and were corrupt. Those had to be removed but the rest of the army was willing to work with occupying forces. He mentioned our military starting to put together the new force but that Paul Bremmer eliminated the army and also decreed the debaathization process. 

++Ambassador Brahimi mentioned that there had been no terrorism in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He agreed with the title "The Republic of Fear" but he said that the invasion brought the terrorism and this has moved on to Syria. 

++He expressed amazement that the Americans preferred to choose the most militant Shiites to work with and those most aligned with Iran. He said that the Americans seemed to incite the sectarianism. 

++He understood President Obama's reluctance to send troops to Iraq. He said that foreign troops in this situation would make things worse. He said that any assistance from a foreign force now must make sure they do not make things worse.