On January 27, H.E. Dr. Saleem al-Jubouri, speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, and a highly acclaimed Sunni leader who has served as a member of Iraqi Parliament since 2005, was awarded the Robert and JoAnn Bendetson Public Diplomacy Award at a talk sponsored by the Fletcher School and the IGL. He earned his PhD, with distinction, in law in 2001 and has taught as a law Professor at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad. He served as a member of the constitution drafting committee. He has also chaired the parliament's Human Rights Committee. His Excellency visited the Fletcher School to hold a talk titled "Iraq in 2016: Trends, Dirvers and Future Vision". The event was co-sponsored by the Fares Center at the Fletcher School and the Institute for Global Leadership.
A group of NIMEP students participated in the talk. The talk began with a welcome by the Dean of the Fletcher School, James Starvidis, and was followed by a keynote address by His Excellency. In his speech he addressed the major challenges Iraq faces such as terrorism and corruption and their causes. After that he proposed four solutions to the challenges including regulation of political unities, economic policies, and continuous liberation effort. He was then invited to a dialogue with Richard Shultz, Director of the International Securities Studies Program at the Fletcher School, where more specific methods in dealing with terrorism were discussed. His Excellency reiterated that there is one enemy facing us all and in unity we would produce a sustainable peace.
Professor Shultz then opened the floor for questions from the audience. Questions ranged from strategy towards corruption, legislation of national guard, education system and reconciliation process.