As it assesses U.S. priorities in Iraq, the Biden administration would do well to focus on sovereignty and accountability as the most integral factors in the country’s internal stability and the security of the broader Middle East. A constructive policy approach would advance both Iraqi and American interests in areas ranging from counterterrorism to governance reform and credible elections—an agenda laid out in The Washington Institute’s new Transition 2021 memo, Promoting Sovereignty and Accountability in Iraq: Guidelines for the Biden Administration.
To discuss the issues raised in this memo and the administration’s ongoing policy review, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with the study’s author, Bilal Wahab, who will be joined by distinguished journalist Jane Arraf and senior State Department official Joey Hood. Institute executive director Robert Satloff will moderate the event.
Watch a live webcast of this event starting at 1:00 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, July 14, 2021.
Jane Arraf is the Baghdad bureau chief for the New York Times. She has covered Iraq since 1991 and opened CNN’s first bureau there in 1998. She has also covered Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and most other countries in the region, reporting for outlets such as NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, and Al Jazeera English.
Joey Hood is the State Department’s acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs. Previously, he served as deputy chief of mission in Iraq and Kuwait, consul-general and principal officer in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, acting director of the Office of Iranian Affairs, and in various positions at the U.S. embassies in Yemen and Qatar, among other posts.
Bilal Wahab is the Wagner Fellow at The Washington Institute, where he focuses on governance in Kurdistan and Baghdad. He previously taught at the American University of Iraq in Sulaymaniyah, where he established the Center for Development and Natural Resources, a research program focusing on oil and other issues.
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