Interviews & Appearances

A note on Nuri al-Said and the alliance with the West

A short recorded remark on the Baghdad Pact era, and how Nuri al-Said's alliance with the West meant turning away from the Soviet side.

The Baghdad Pact: the West's true ally — and it turned away from the Russians.

Quartet with the thinker Ghassan Atiyyah — Part One

The first instalment of Al-Sharqiya's four-part profile: his formation, exile, and the making of an Iraqi political thinker.

Quartet with the thinker Ghassan Atiyyah — Part Three

The third instalment of the Al-Sharqiya profile series, on the years after 2003 and the opposition's record.

Quartet with the thinker Ghassan Atiyyah — Part Four

The closing instalment of the Al-Sharqiya profile series, looking back over a lifetime of argument about Iraq.

The Sudani government and the end of a year-long deadlock

A full-length television programme recorded after the first knot of Iraq's year-long political crisis was untied, with a president elected and a prime minister designate named. He is asked what to call the coming stage — understandings, concessions, or fresh conflict — and answers that the deeper problem lies not only with politicians and parliament but with a society that has yet to hold itself accountable.

We keep directing our criticism at politicians, governments and members of parliament, and leave out the main cause of our predicament: ourselves.

Iraq drives out its talent: on the death of Sinan al-Shabibi

A televised conversation opening with a tribute to the economist Sinan al-Shabibi, driven into exile a second time for standing against corruption. He argues that Iraq now expels not only its expertise but the very values of citizenship, and that the only opening left is a national alignment behind the call to put the constitution above political custom.

Iraq is no longer merely expelling its qualified people; it is expelling the values of citizenship and any commitment to them.

Qaani in Hanana: Iranian mediation between Shia rivals

On the visit of the Quds Force commander to Muqtada al-Sadr's residence in Najaf. He reads the mediation as Iran protecting its own interests during the closing stage of the nuclear talks, speaking to both camps in the language of sect rather than the language of Iraqi national interest.

Iran plays the mediator between one Shia party and another, and speaks to them in the language of the sect — not the language of Iraq's national interest.

Last-chance mediation between the Sadrists and the Coordination Framework

Speaking as director of the Iraq Institute for Development and Democracy on the delegations shuttling between Tehran and Najaf, the rocket attacks on the Green Zone and Balad air base, and how a revived nuclear agreement would change Iranian behaviour in Iraq. He argues no real understanding will emerge before a president is elected.

Until a president of the republic is elected, we will hear nothing at all about a complete understanding between the Framework and the Sadrist movement.

The withdrawal of foreign forces and the lesson Iraqis have not learned

Asked why armed faction leaders keep issuing warnings about a withdrawal their own government has declared complete. His answer turns the question around: the lesson belongs to Iraqis themselves, who have allowed both American and Iranian failure to be dressed up as sectarian loyalty while the national interest goes undefined.

Iran is a state with its own national interests, and America is a state with its legitimate interests. The question is: where do we stand, and what are our own legitimate interests?

The war in Ukraine and America's retreat from the Middle East

Recorded in the opening days of the Russian invasion. He traces Moscow's method of incremental annexation from Crimea onward, and argues that Washington is now paying for its neglect of Syria, Iraq and the Gulf — pushing allies, Saudi Arabia among them, towards Russia.

The United States has begun to pay the price of its retreat, its weakness and its neglect of the Middle East.

NATO expansion and the wound Russia never forgot

A conversation on the human cost of the Ukrainian war — more than a million and a half refugees at the time of recording — and on its origins in NATO's expansion after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He compares the standoff to the Cuban missile crisis and questions whether sanctions that exempt oil and gas can change any position at all.

The justification for NATO in 1949 was to stand against the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union fell, NATO expanded instead — and that left a deep wound with the Russians.

The conflict of identities and the failure of Iraq's political elite

A concentrated statement on how the language of "components" replaced the citizen after 2003, hardening sectarian and ethnic walls until each component began to splinter in turn. He warns that this disorder makes governing Iraq nearly impossible and invites foreign guardianship, and places the greater share of blame on Iraq's own political elite.

The worst failure came when the word "components" was introduced — the citizen was cancelled in favour of the components.

The Sadr–Framework banquet at Hanana: split or escalation

On the eve of Muqtada al-Sadr's banquet for the Coordination Framework, he reads the Shia–Shia contest through three available options — accepting the split, defection towards the Sadrists, or escalation — and argues the second is already under way, with the Hakim and Abadi wings refusing to escalate while Maliki's and Khazali's camps keep the Green Zone protests going. He also dismantles the slogan of a "majority government" as an elastic phrase.

The word "majority government" is an elastic phrase — it is not one party; it takes in parties from the Sunni and Kurdish lists too.

Plasschaert at Hanana and the Basra bombing: message, not accident

A long-form programme on the UN envoy's visit to Muqtada al-Sadr, the Coordination Framework's refusal to receive her, and the absence of any Iraqi-made vision for ending the government-formation crisis. Recorded the day of a bombing in Basra, which he reads as a deliberate signal that the south can be destabilised at will rather than a random act.

This bombing carries messages more than it is a random act. The first message: this can be spread across the whole south.

Consensus or national majority: can the rules of the political process be changed?

An extended discussion of the two competing ideas dominating Iraqi politics — political majority against consensus — and whether any party is willing to found a new method of governing rather than defend its gains. He puts the question of citizenship at the centre after the admitted failure of the behaviour, methods and approaches that sank Iraq in integrity, transparency, human rights and services.

Most of these meetings are undeclared mediations, meant to persuade everyone that consensus is coming regardless — and that it is the secret of stability.

Loyalist parties, Iraqi parties, and the street that refuses dependency

On Sadr's silence while the Framework floats a new scenario each day. He argues the occupation's experiment failed outright and Iraq's fate now rests with the Shia Arabs — leaving the real contest between loyalist and Iraqi-oriented parties, with the Tishreen street as the beginning of a new turn, and calls on the Hikma current to say plainly that it erred and was punished by voters.

Holding the stick by the middle is of no use. Their position gains value only when they say: yes, we erred, the street punished us, and now we are correcting our course.

Initiatives and concessions: why sectarian belonging cannot negotiate

A wide-ranging programme on unlocking the standoff between the Framework and the Sadrists, in which he sets the crisis inside a longer regional arc. Sectarian and regional belonging, he argues, has no vocabulary for cooperation or mutual concession — only for victor and loser — and every group that has held power, in a region or a ministry, has governed badly.

Sectarian and regional belonging does not allow the language of cooperation or mutual concession; it speaks only the language of victor and loser.

Surreal Iraq: the Erbil summit and the case for fresh elections

Recorded before the tripartite majority-alliance summit in Erbil. He describes an Iraqi scene where the absurd has become the reasonable, argues the "Shia component" has failed both to represent and to serve Shia Iraqis, and holds that every democracy facing such a blockage returns to the ballot box — otherwise the country may go a year without a government while corruption deepens.

When a blockage reaches this point, democracies everywhere return to fresh elections. That is how matters run in Europe.

The Neutral: a Tishreen–Sadrist convergence could reshape the political process

On the possible rapprochement between the Tishreen protest movement and the Sadrist current, and what it would mean for the political process.

Governance and opposition in Iraq: where did we go wrong?

A long lecture and question session in London on the failures of both government and opposition in Iraq.

The Neutral: the conflict has moved inside each community

He argues Iraq's conflict is no longer between communities but within them, as rival factions fight for the same constituency.

On foreign troops in Iraq: a live exchange cut short

A widely circulated exchange on the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, in which he objects to the framing and leaves the studio.

Dr. Ghassan Atiyyah: "Don't try to clean a dirty floor with a dirty broom" — today, those who were part of the corruption want to reform corruption

A sharp commentary on Iraqi reform, arguing that those who were themselves part of the corrupt order cannot credibly lead its cleanup, and that genuine reform requires new actors rather than recycled ones.

Dr. Ghassan Atiyyah: If Al-Sadr does not fulfill what he said about reform when he takes over the government, I will be his first opponent

A statement on the Sadrist movement's reform promises, holding that support is conditional on delivery once in government and pledging vocal opposition if those commitments are broken.

Dr. Ghassan Atiyyah: If all components in Iraq are oppressed, then cooperate together against the oppressor

A reflection on cross-sectarian solidarity, arguing that if every Iraqi component sees itself as wronged, the common ground lies in uniting against the source of injustice rather than competing over grievances.

The upcoming government and parliament: renewal or continuity of performance and approach? | The 9 o'clock dialogue with Dr. Zaid Abdul Wahab

A "9 o'clock dialogue" on Fallujah TV examining whether the next Iraqi government and parliament will bring genuine renewal or continue the prevailing approach and performance.

In Iraqi: the south rejects rule by the turbans

A short interview on the southern provinces' rejection of clerical dominance over politics.

The Neutral: modern Iraq has never seen a peaceful transfer of power

A historical argument that no Iraqi government since the monarchy has handed over power peacefully.

The protesters' priority should be dissolving parliament

Recorded during the Tishreen protests: on what the demonstrators should demand first if they want structural change.

We must strengthen weak states like Iraq to face Iranian expansion

A panel discussion on regional influence, arguing that weak states, not strong neighbours, create the vacuum.

Iraqi security and the Munich Security Conference

An interview on the international security debate over Iraq, recorded for the Mawtini national initiative.

On the electoral law and ethno-sectarian division

On how Iraq's electoral law entrenches ethno-sectarian division, recorded for the Mawtini national initiative.

Samarra's Guest: a full interview with the Iraqi thinker

A full-length studio interview covering reform, the state, and Iraq's political trajectory.

Al-Hadath Studio: Ghassan Atiyyah as guest

A long-form studio conversation on the Iraqi political scene.

Guest of Al-Sharqiya News, 22 July 2015

A studio interview on the state of the political process and the war against ISIS.

Corruption in an army that was meant to hold the border

Recorded as Iraqi divisions collapsed, a discussion of an army with a million names on its payroll, in which he traces the failure back to a rushed constitution and a postponed national reconciliation.

Instead of a national reconciliation they rushed an election and a hastily cooked constitution — and that is what slid Iraq into a sectarian war.

The Iraqi Scene: ISIS advances and the displaced of Sinjar

A panel appearance on ISIS movements in Nineveh and the displacement of civilians from Sinjar and Zummar.

Iraqioon: a life in conversation

A long biographical interview covering his upbringing, his years at the Arab League, exile, and the founding of the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy.

On the crimes of the Maliki government

Blunt televised remarks on abuses under the Maliki government and the absence of accountability.

Iraq: the argument after Maliki

A debate programme on what a post-Maliki political settlement would require.

Iraq: playing to the neighbours' tune

On the influence of neighbouring states over Iraqi decision-making.

The ageing of Arab political life

On the exhaustion of Arab political institutions and the generational gap it produced.

Libya, Yemen and Bahrain: the uprisings compared

A special discussion with Abdullah Hamouda on the Arab uprisings and their differing trajectories.

Iraq: reflections on a striking movement

On the Iraqi protest movement of 2011 and whether it could produce political change.

Al Jazeera speaks to Ghassan Atiyyah, IFDD

A short English-language interview as director of the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy.

A state that still thinks like a victor

On the candidate exclusions of the accountability and justice commission and the persistence of armed violence, he argues insurgency need not topple a government to force it to recalculate.

Armed action can unsettle the situation without bringing down the system — but any system living in that unease should revise how it sees the country.

Two days before the vote: documents, not slogans

Broadcast on the eve of the parliamentary elections, a forensic account of the identification rules that were disenfranchising Iraqis abroad and voters registered in the wrong province.

Refusing an Iraqi passport as proof of identity is an insult to the state that issued it. If the officials are serious about a transparent election, they can correct this by tomorrow.

The return to parliament and the Erbil agreement

A debate with members of parliament on why the Iraqiya bloc ended its walkout, in which he presses the case that external mediation mattered more than the bloc was willing to admit.

If the statement means a return to parliament, it should say what was guaranteed in exchange — otherwise the guarantees are only promises.

Violence returns while the winners divide the spoils

A month after the 2010 election, with a wave of bombings in Baghdad, he sets the futility of the coalition bargaining beside the futility of the armed opposition, and warns that an American drawdown has opened a contest over who inherits the vacated influence.

The election could have been an instrument of real national reconciliation, had everyone been allowed to take part in it.

Who forms the government, and how weak will it be?

A long-form appearance during the 2010 government-formation crisis. He is blunt about the sectarian arithmetic behind the premiership, argues any narrow government would be very weak, and proposes a genuine parliamentary partnership instead of a division of posts.

The meeting between them should not be "a post for you and a post for me". It should begin: these are our demands, this is the programme — what can you agree to?

Iraq: the impossible government

On the deadlock following the 2010 parliamentary elections and why the system made it inevitable.

Frost over the World: after Iraq's elections

A panel with David Frost and Congressman James E. Clyburn on the aftermath of Iraq's parliamentary elections.

Thirty-three candidates for every seat

A pre-election panel on the provincial council contests, where he reads the shift from Sunni–Shia confrontation to competition inside each community as a genuinely positive development.

The struggle in 2005 was sectarian and ethnic. This time it is inside the single sect and the single nationality — and that opens the door to changing the political equation.

There is no religious project in Iraq — only a sectarian one

Reading the provincial election results, he shows how voters punished the parties that had politicised religion — in Basra, Karbala and Kut alike — while warning that sidelining them is neither likely nor desirable.

Let them be a party like any other. What must end is the use of religion to monopolise politics and expel everyone else, because that aborts the democratic process itself.

The election law veto and a parliament that does not attend

On the eve of the vote over the vetoed election law, he describes a genuine institutional muddle — a presidency council acting alone, a federal court giving a non-binding opinion, and a chamber where eighty members simply did not turn up.

Note that more than eighty members did not attend — and many of the political leaders never come to the chamber at all. This is a real state of confusion.

The withdrawal agreement and what comes after it

A parliamentary-season debate on the US–Iraq withdrawal agreement, in which he argues the real quarrel is not the text — most blocs accept it — but who will be strengthened once foreign troops are gone.

The blocs are not fighting over the agreement. They are fighting over what the agreement leaves behind: an Iraq in which the prime minister's office may emerge stronger than any of them.

Can the Iraqi voter be deceived twice?

A studio discussion before the provincial elections on fraud penalties and voter disillusionment, in which he distinguishes rising turnout in the western provinces from growing abstention in the south.

In 2005 the Kurd voted for his Kurdishness, the Shia for his Shiism, the Sunni for his Sunnism, and only a few voted as Iraqis. What has changed is that they now know what they were promised and what they received.

The security agreement and the demonstrations against it

Interviewed from London three days before parliament voted on the US–Iraq security agreement, he argues the mass demonstrations will not change the outcome, and that the real quarrel among the blocs is not about the agreement itself but about who it leaves stronger afterwards.

Most of them agree on the agreement. The disagreement is over what comes after it — whether it leaves the prime minister a strong man, and who that would weaken.

Negotiating a long-term relationship with Washington

A March 2008 interview on the opening of negotiations over the two agreements that would define Iraq's long-term political, economic and military relationship with the United States, set against a deteriorating security picture in Basra.

An agreement that fixes a country's long-term relations should not be settled by a government whose own composition keeps changing.

Iraq between Washington and Tehran

On the neighbouring-states conference and the Turkish and Iranian shelling of Iraqi Kurdish areas, he warns that the file had ceased to be an Iraqi quarrel among Iraqis alone.

Nobody at that conference expects much. What can be had is movement on the margins — refugees, electricity — while the real future of Iraq is left untouched.

A cabinet facing political walls

A full episode on the paralysis of the government as Kurdish and Shia Islamist partners pressed for a reshuffle, and every bloc drew red lines around its own share.

Either a national government that includes everyone, which looks difficult, or a majority government that excludes them — and Washington shows no appetite for that.

The Sadrists in Cairo: speaking as Iraqis, not as sects

On the Sadrist delegation's opening to Egypt and the wider Arab world after the movement withdrew from government and froze its military activity. He argues Cairo should address these forces as Arab Iraqis rather than as Shia or Sunni blocs.

They must meet on a clear line: in this meeting they speak as the Arabs of Iraq, not as Shia or as Sunnis. That in itself would be new.

Arab Thinking Forum panel: the US–Iranian conflict — does Iraq pay the price?

A public panel in London convened by the Arab Thinking Forum, asking whether Iraq is the one paying the price of the American–Iranian confrontation, with Dr Ghassan Atiyyah speaking alongside fellow researchers and media figures.