Media Talk. Iraq Surge: ‘Real Gains’ or Fiasco?

With the death toll rising and sectarian violence apparently worsening in Iraq, pressure is building for American and British troops to withdraw sooner rather than later even general Petraeus agrees, but for a different reason.

The US Joint Chiefs of Staff’s report on the effectiveness of the current US strategy in Iraq was published this week.

Public support for the Iraqi mission on both sides of the Atlantic is at an all-time low.

In this talk we look at the current western strategy in Iraq and ask where the country is heading.

HE Dr Salah Al-Shaikhly – Iraqi Ambassador in London.

Peter Galbraith – Senior diplomatic fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Peter Galbraith is the author of The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End. (via phone link).

Ahmed Rikaby – Founder of Radio Dijla in Baghdad.

Jacques Reland – Head of European research at the London Metropolitan University’s Global Policy Institute, specialising in French politics.

Professor Kathleen Burk – Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at UCL, spacialising in American and British foreign policy.

Moderated by Caroline Wyatt – BBC Correspondent in Paris. Caroline has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Russia.