Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that U.S.-led interventions in the Middle East and Central Asia were not about spreading democracy, but about addressing regional security issues, Newsweek reports:
Rice’s comments on democracy and war echoed claims she made her in most recent book, Democracy: The Long Road to Freedom. In the book, which was released last week, Rice reflects on democracy movements and the transition to democracy in nations around the world, from the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. to post-war Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We didn’t go to Iraq to bring democracy to Iraq, we went to Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, who we thought was reconstituting his weapons of mass destruction and who we knew had been a threat in the region. It was a security problem,” Rice said. “We didn’t overthrow the Taliban to bring democracy to Afghanistan, we overthrew them because they were harboring Al-Qaeda in a safe haven after 9/11.”
Iraq after the Liberation of Mosul: Turning a Fragile Unity into Stable Government
In partnership with the National Democratic Institute, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted public opinion research in Iraq from February to April 2017, capturing citizens’ perspectives on security, the economy, and other key political trends. The research includes a 2,000 person national survey with oversamples in Mosul, Anbar, and Salahaddin, and 12 focus groups including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and citizens who lived under the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), both of which provide insight into Iraqi citizens’ expectations for governance following the liberation of Mosul. Ancuta Hansen, NDI’s Iraq Country Director, will discuss the findings, and NDI’s current efforts to support democratic actors in Iraq.
Venue
National Democratic Institute a [core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy]
455 Massachusetts Ave N.W. 8th Floor, Washington, DC.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 – 11:00
