Special: 2nd Edition Washington DC

US soldiers engaging insurgents in the south of Baghdad [AFP]

Four years after President Bush’s historic “Mission Accomplished” speech about Iraq, the country continues to be embroiled in a violent civil war that threatens its destruction. The much heralded US victory has resulted in more deaths and killings than ever before seen in the country’s history.

Critics have charged that the US presence in Iraq has turned the country into a battlefield and made the rivalry between Shia and Sunni’s even more deadly. Iraq today is worse than when it was ruled by the iron-fisted Saddam Hussein.

The US claims the democratically-elected government in Baghdad is proof of its success and that it is just a matter of time before the security situation in the country improves and the oil-driven economy becomes stable.

In this special edition of Inside Iraq from Washington DC, we look at the on-going debate over what the US has accomplished in Iraq and what the future holds for a country caught in unabated violence and civil war.

Our guests are retired General Mark Kimmit, the assistant secretary-of-state, Phyllis Bennis, a senior analyst, Tony Benn, a former British MP, and Ambassador Theodore Kattouf, the president of Mideast.

Watch this episode of Inside Iraq here:

Part 1:

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-TDBpbsk6Y

This episode of Inside Iraq aired from 8th May 2007

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