ALISON ST.
JOHN: The last troops left Iraq in DecemberÊof 2011 much of the public was relieved to see
American forces pulled out but we since have heard little about what is going on in the
country that we invaded back in 2003.
Ibrahim Al Marashi is a professor of Middle East history at Cal State SanÊMarcos, his
research has focused on Iraq before during and after the war and Wael Al DeLaimy is a
medic and public health professor at UC San Diego.
He left Iraq in the 90s and has family still living there.
Wael Al DeLaimy you left Iraq but you have a lot of relatives there, would you say the
conditions there are better than before the U.S. invaded?
>> I would say it is not in many aspects from a security perspective, from corruption and
from all aspects of every day life there is much more violence, less security, and people
sometimes wish that they were under the previous dictatorship than this situation
>> ALISON ST.
JOHN: What would you say is at the root of the violence right now?
>> I think it's the people leading.
They are functioning from a perspective of political gain rather than looking for the
long term outcome for this country and where its heading.
>> ALISON ST.
JOHN: Professor Ibrahim Al Marashi, you were involved in some way in the originalÊ the
war beginning because some of your student research was quoted in documents by the British
and the American government as a justification for going to war.
What do you think that says about the intelligence and how good it was as to what was going on
in Iraq at the time and even now as to what the intelligence is like for what is going
on in other country in the Middle East?
>> As a Ph.D. student I was writing about Saddam Hussein in the 90s, so while the argument
wasn't for going to war in 2003, my information was taken out of context and massaged into
a British government document to justify the car which should have sent emergency signal
once that plagiarism was discovered that it should have brought up red flags and scrutinized
by the international and American media but that red flag was never examined it was focused
on the up coming war.
>> Does that make you question the intelligence about the middle east now?
>> It makes me question the notion, we assume that the government has better information
than we the public do and this demonstrates that a Ph.D. can produce information that
the government needs.
During this crisis with Iran, North Korea and Syria, I think the information I have
to offer is intelligence is not perfect.
>> ALISON ST.
JOHN: So it turns out that the guardian newspaper put out information last week implicating
U.S. advisors in what they call their U.S. funded special command of torture centers
in Iraq, what could the implications of that be?
>> This has been known, it's not new knowledge for Iraqs, because they are under that unfortunate
situation, they are being detained unlawfully, tens of thousands for years, then there are
death squads and then there are people who are just being targeted because of their sect.
This is going to spiral out of control and the U.S. has to take a moral stand not to
support such a government that kind of perpendicular traits this and try and address this allegation
in a very strict and quick manner.
>> ALISON ST.
JOHN: Quickly, how long do you think it will be before we see the affects of this war?
>> I think we're seeing it and this is going to continue unless there is a dramatic shift
in the way that this government is running the country.
>> ALISON ST.
JOHN: Thank you very much indeed.
That is Ibrahim Al Marashi, thank you so much and Wael Al DeLaimy.