| | Video: Iraqi Ambassador says surge won't help Baghdad
The Associated Press released a video Friday of Dr. Hamid al Bayati, Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, expressing doubts about the effectiveness of President Bush's proposed "surge" in troops, which the administration estimates to be around 20,000.
Bayati delivered a speech at Fordham Law School on Thursday, addressing the escalation of troops into Iraq and whether or not it would help stabilize the country. He also discussed what the international community could do to help his country and its people, plus what role he thought the United Nations should play.
"If 140,000 American troops plus British and over 20 other nationalities' forces, plus Iraqi armed forces, Iraqi police force, if all those cannot secure Baghdad, the capital, I dont think that 20,000 will make a big, big difference," Bayati said.
According to a press release accompanying his visit, "Dr. Hamid Al Bayati was appointed Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in April 2006. He served from 2004 to 2006 as Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs and Bilateral Relations. From August 2003 to April 2004, he was an adviser to members of the Iraqi Governing Council. From 1992 to 2002, he served as Director of the World Charity Foundation in London. He was a member of the Executive Council of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) an umbrella organization for Iraqi Opposition groups in London, from 1992 to 1998."
The brief AP video can be watched below:
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