Finishing the Debate in Iraq

THE HELSINKI PRINCIPLES
FINISHING THE DEBATE IN IRAQ
with
PADRAIG O'MALLEY*

WHEN:
TUESDAY, 23 SEPT. 2008
6:00 pm

WHERE:
JOHN F. KENNEDY LIBRARY
DORCHESTER, Mass.

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
The Helsinki Agreement was signed by 37 of the most-powerful political figures representing all political factions in Iraq, including the Sadrists and the Awakening Councils.

Padraig O'Mallely is the director of the project.  He has spent much of the past 12 months in Iraq coordinating arrangments for the Helsinki Agreement and bringing the different political figures together.

With the future of America's presence in Iraq increasingly a matter of debate between the presidential nominees, the questions arises: 

Would the Helsinki Principles -- the core of the Helsinki Agreement -- if implemented in their entirety, lay the basis for a stable, peaceful and secure Iraq, free of foreign presence?

And, if so, what additional steps are required to assure their successful implementation?

* Sponsored by the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass-Boston, the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University, and the John F. Kennedy Foundation