Accelerating Economic Progress In Iraq

Frederick Barton, senior fellow and director of the CSIS Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Barton assessed the economic situation in Iraq, arguing that we need to put the Iraqi people first. "Now," Barton stated, "we must have an economic strategy that is, at its core, a counter-insurgency economic strategy. We must present an alternative vision that reaches directly to the people, provides them with dramatic positive changes in their lives, and makes it clear that they are in charge of their futures."