NIQASH: Earlier you said that your Committee was only four months old. But you also say you've made some progress. Judging from your experiences so far, would you say that Parliament is regaining some of the power that was taken away from it during the last government under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki?
Al-Damluji: I think so. I hope so.
NIQASH: You lived out of Iraq for a long time, before returning in 2003 to become part of the political process. You've obviously seen the country change a lot since your return. What are your thoughts on the current situation?
Al-Damluji: I hope we will be able to defeat the ISIS and go back to normal. But I personally believe the situation in Iraq will not be any less complicated after ISIS. It will be more complicated. We have the militias and the popular army [those who volunteered to fight the extremists] and they will go back home and raise havoc. We will have new political leaders: Whoever is fighting on the front lines now will feel that they should replace the current leaders of the country's Shias.
And the Sunnis have their own set of problems. Tribes have been divided in half by this, some were with ISIS and some were not. There is a lot of internal fighting among the Sunnis. And the Shias. And even the Kurds.
There is a feeling in Iraq that this is our last chance, that we have to come together. Otherwise Iraq will be split.
NIQASH: So you think the average person in Iraq does want the country to stay together?
Al-Damluji: People do want Iraq to stay together. Nobody wants to split. This is the problem. They fight each other but they don't want to split up.
(Interview image via Shutterstock)
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