Good morning and thank you all for joining us today. Also, our live stream audience. Atlantic Council President and ceo fred kemp. Thanks for joining us both here in the room and virtually for our conversation. If you want to use social media, use ac iraq. Aciraq. You know its an important event when the ambassador is here and when key members of our board are here and its always such a pleasure to have our International Advisory board member jafar here. Thank you for Crescent Petroleum support for this, for the Iraq Initiative, Global Energy center. Ive been stealing ideas from a long period of time, he happens to be one of the best thinkers and actors as an analyst in the region and also a pleasure to have him here as well. Todays event was organized by the councils Iraq Initiative and Global Energy center. Our Iraq Initiative is led by dr. And abbas working with us. Hes one of the rare individuals who understands the workings of the country hes covering, iraq, so intimately and also the workings of washington which in many respects is more difficult to follow. The discussion is timely. Iraq is facing its most challenging since isis, with protests in the country and citizens demanding reform and news just yesterday that ahmadi will resign. Despite the future, iraq has carried out elections and a peaceful transfer of power in a region where this is not the norm. We have to keep reminding ourselves of how unique that is. The United States and iraq have a long and complex history. We all know that. Iraqs relations with iran have strained aspect of u. S. Iraq relations, yet, its more important than ever for the United States and iraq to Work Together as partners. As we saw, for example, during the u. S. Mission last weekend that resulted in the death of isis leader albadhdadi. The u. S. Iraq was one key ingredient for success of that operation. We dont spend a lot of time on individual bilateral relations in the Atlantic Council across our 13 programs and centers that act on all issues and regions in the world. We focus on bilateral region that has importance and thats no doubt in iraq and therefore our Iraq Initiative. Today our panel will help us understand these dynamics and more. Before i burn i turn the floor over to abbas, id like to briefly intercues him. A former ambassador to the United States, as well as a member of our Iraq Initiatives Advisory Committee and shes also the cofounder and president of the iraqi institute. Joey hood, were always happy when someone can break loose of their government offices to come here. We know how demanding your jobs are. Hes the Principal Deputy assistant secretary of state in the state Departments Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and he spent much of his career working in the middle east and particularly on the arabian peninsula. He has served as deputy of chief of mission in iraq and in quiet, as well as council general, saudi arabia. And mr. Jafar is from the Crescent Group of companies. In addition majid serves on the boards, air forum for development and Iraqi Energy Institute and also on the board of fellows of Harvard Medical School and International Advisory board of the Princess Trust international and of course, the Atlantic CouncilInternational Advisory board. Just to show the reach of the work that we do together with majid and crescent, today in singapore we held the third workshop for a project called the role of oil and Gas Companies in the Energy Transition. It was held during the Singapore International energy week 2019 as part of their think tank round tables sessions. The workshop gathered a number of individuals from a variety of Southeast AsianResearch Institutions and local representatives of International Oil and Gas Companies and yielded key insights. I wont go into them here, but they are issues that majid pushed us to look more closely at which is how oil and Gas Companies actually can take a leading role and a very positive role in an Energy Transition driven by broadening and enriching the energy mix through the companies that produce and market them to face challenges such as Climate Change and other issues, really thinking into the future. So with that, ill turn the floor over to abbas and our panelists, before i do that, let me salute will wechsler and his Principal Deputy and stephanie houseali who has been instrumental in working with abbas on the set of work around iraq. Over to you, abbas. Thank you. Good morning, everyone, thank you for being here. I direct the Iraq Initiative and thank you, fred, for these wonderful introductory remarks and we are honored to have an allstar panel today and you know, it is that kind of an allstar panel to talk about iraq and the complexities of this country. So, without any introductions, we will have a discussion a little bit from the stage and then open the floor for the audience for questions. Im sure everyone has many questions and the panel will indulge these questions and will answer and we will do our best to decipher or demystify whats going on in iraq. We really have to recognize everybody in the room. All of you are friends and people who help us a lot with your presence, with your ideas, but i would be remiss if i do not recognize my good friend and the Advisory Committee member for the Iraq Initiative, and the ambassador flew from indiana, thank you for joining us, the ambassadors and friends, all of you are welcomed here and thank you for being here. So, let me go with the rule of ladies first and talk to ambassador rahim. Ambassador, youve seen these events unfold and you are one of the people who have been in this town and elsewhere very informative in contributing to the debate. How do you see the trajectory of these protests, their context, regional and international, and where do you think they are going in terms of their influence on the political scene in iraq. Government future, possible changes, or are we going to have another wave of protests that will go home and then we will relive this once again hopefully not, but im interested to know where you see these, their future. Yes, lots of questions. First of all, lets establish that we are at a crucial and possibly turning point in iraqs political development. Theres no question. I think from october 1st the protests have created a new narrative and scenario and projected a new for iraq that we havent had i wont say since 2003, we havent had for decades. The project protest started as services and jobs and so on, but what was interesting was that that as they progressed and as violence began to be practiced against the protesters, the demands changed and then they became a demand for, you know, Holding People to account for corruption, a demand for resignation is and so on. And then final thing was a demand for a wholesale change in the political system. So we really are now at a point where theres a direct ideological confrontation between protesters and between the Political Class that has vested interest, the protesters want complete change in all the principles, the system of governance that weve had, the electoral law, the constitution, elections and a whole mass of institutions and documents that were, in fact, the basis of the state of the 2003, they want an overhaul of all of this and yet, an overhaul is diametrically opposed to the political interests that have become entrenched in iraq. So ideologically, not only physically, but ideologically we have a confrontation. There have been attempts by the Prime Minister, by the president , of course by the most outspoken and detailed in its address, there have been attempts to say, okay, we will reform. We will do the things that the protesters are asking for. But so far, theres no indication from the establishment that they really intend to go through this wholesale change in the political system. And therefore, if we dont have a breakthrough in this confrontation, i dont see where its an impasse and i think if the institutions of government and if the Political Class dont respond, we are going to have a continuation of the protests and my concern is that theyre going to become more violent, partly because there are signs now that some of the protesters are so fed up that theyre willing to go into armed conflict. But even more serious and more imminent in my view, is that there may be a confrontation among politicalarmed political groups themselves. Weve already seen some settling of scores, particularly among the shia militias. And this has not been declared publicly, but it has been understood on the street and in political circles that there are these efforts or actions, score settling and i think thats the most dangerous thing that can emerge that you have rival militias going against each other under the cover of the protests that really trying to gain the upper hand in a situation of chaos. Thank you. Well go back to some of these in our conversation and i would like to turn to joey. Last time we sat together in the embassy in baghdad we had that beautiful, you know, outside seating and you know, baghdad was looking more peaceful. That was in may 2019, and then i went back to baghdad in september and october, actually, i witnessed the first week of the protests, and i visited ambassador shuler and we were talking about how things were looking better. There were two forums in baghdad in september. Both of them were talking about the economy and energy and unlike what used to be normal Corporation Conferences were like security, and it wasnt like you were driving through tunnels, and then all of a sudden, something just one thing led to another and its like a volcano and things changed completely and i was counting days would i be able to get out of the airport before they take it over. Thats the in nature of iraq. My question really is here from the American Point of view. The United States has been the agent of change, and provided time and again so many assistants, packages to iraq on security and on other aspects. This is some strategic Frame Work Agreement and the u. S. Was instrumental in the house with the defeat of isis, even though the iraqis did all of the heavy lifting and fighting, but it was very important for u. S. And International Communities and engagement. Director pompeo made a statement of sport for iraq in general, but my question is, where is the United States government now stands in terms of the protests, the government measures, and also in light of the fact that, you know, the United States must be very careful when the sensitivities of the region are important, probably some people argue that the u. S. Should not publicly give any support for protests or any of that. Would not be viewed in the lands, but on the other hand the u. S. Has long support of Democratic Change in a reasonable pace, which iraq has been going on and off on. What do you see the u. S. Government or where is the u. S. Government position right now on both these areas . First of all, thank you for having us here abbas. Its an honor to be with you and to be among so many mentors and friends, and to once again say hello to the iraqi viewers who are watching. And we are watching very carefully and closely whats happening in the country. Were very concerned about it. I think youve heard us say several times that we call for nonviolence by all sides. That the rights of the protesters to demonstrate peacefully should be respected and that the demonstrators should also not be violent, not be carrying arms because iraq is lucky to be one of the few places in the middle east where people can express their views loudly in the streets and as long as they do it peacefully, this is an extremely good way for the government to really know what its people are thinking and what theyre passionate about. And to adjust course. And we recognize that we have to be careful about how we talk about these things because theres always people ready to criticize us and involve us in all sorts of conspiracy theories, but the reality is that we remain ready to help iraq build a stable and strong and sovereign government just like weve been doing. We think this is what protesters want and this is what we want as well. And were ready to work with the government in putting together theany sort of reasonable response to the protestersdemands which we started to hear some of from his excellency, the president , yesterday. We would be interested to know what kind of timeline hes thinking about. We would be interested to know how we can be of assistance through the International Organizations or directly bilaterally. Were ready to help. Thank you. Majid, you represent a sector that is a most important sector in iraq because its not all at least the members from 85 to 95 of the iraqi revenues come from the Petroleum Industry and this cannot really stand without the support and participation of International Corporations that work in iraq, and that contribute to the iraqi economy. There are also other businesses and energy like the ones who will deal with electricity and other projects that iraq is trying to accomplish and also, the industries. Now, stability is very important for the work of these organizations and for yourcompanies and corporations. You are just one of those and you take a importantn important part of the iraqi industry there. There is also the ability not only for the International Corporations, even things like the sports events, you know, the Iraqi National team was supposed to play in bazra and then now i think its moved to another city or probably out of the country. So this is really, stability is very important. How do you think the international business, whether they are investors or corporations who work in iraq on the field, view this and what are their sensitivities, their apprehension, maybe, or their fear also around the risks that can be coming out of this practice stability and also to the continuation of the government . Thank you. So, thank you for the easiest question so far. laughs i am never going to do easy questions. To talk about, you know, iraq taking whats below the ground and getting it up rather than unfortunately those who are above the ground being put into it and i hope and pray that iraq achieves more of the former and less of the latter. So the Energy Potential for iraq is huge. The proven reserves are 140 billion dollars of oil and that number i believe is well below the realities and the exploration is being done, its still very much in its infancy, the industry there, despite the fact that were in the 21st century and despite all the challenges iraq is now achieving five Million Barrels a day, half a Million Barrels a day from the kurdistan region. Really, other than the United States, its been the big growth of Global Oil Production and certainly the Fastest Growing in opec and thats despite lack of legislation, the war on isis, the internal political wrangling over revenue sharing, the political infrastructure, all of those achieved such an incredible growth of maintenance of production. And it can sort out the necessary things, what is really possible. I think we as a company, were certainly very committed to iraq, we never stopped producing in the kurdistan region. We were awarded three more blocks with the federal government, including the difficult area which has been liberated from isis, and we feel able to work there. And its really about Service Delivery and thats one of the big asks of the demonstrators, also. I think that jobs is key and the fact that growth has been insufficient not only for iraq, but around the world youre seeing this, because of insufficient growth and major since 2003 particularly in electricity, and clean water in the south and a buffer. And it is a shame that despite such amazing resources that hasnt been achieved yet. A lot of work is underway to try and, you know, achieve better delivery of these basic services, but the political system also needs to get together and take some Strategic Decisions and some political decisions. I think that one of the things thats been holding back