Good evening everybody and welcome. I am jesse, one of the rabbis here. By show of hands, how many of you is this your first time here . Welcome. For those of you who are new lets give you a bit of her history. The building open at the synagogue in 1908 in about 50 years later it became the home to the memorial ame church in a 2002 it was almost sold to someone who wanted to turn it into a nightclub. It was saved within 24 hours in a building in search of a mission. Todays it is a center for arts and culture in entertainment and ideas in a synagogue that reimagines jewish life and religion and community in the 21st century. If you want to explore the past programs you can check out our podcast on itunes which features a conversation with a recent guest including howard schulte, doran door screens goodwin. And im delighted to welcome tonights guest, he is a philosopher of public intellectual and an author with a distinctive view of World History and current affairs. The wall street jour
Tweet, excellent guests and enjoy the event, we look forward to a timely great conversation where our guests and we will carry this live and you are welcome, if you are not here and you are watching us, you are also welcome to tweet using the aciraq and this is to the middle east center here ac middle east, here is the format. Brief remarks after i finish here and then i will ask him some questions, then we open to audience for questions. So thats what we are going to proceed today. Our esteemed guest, member of the iraqi consul of representatives, hes a member of the future parliamentary group, chairman of the Civil Society committee, very Important Committee in Iraqi Parliament and he is a member of the iraqUnited States friendship committee. Hene was a cofounder of the new Generation Movement and he previously worked in washington as bureau chief for nrt and u. S. Tv and also worked for u. S. Embassy in baghdad as political cultural adviser, holds master degree in Public Policy from
Council and the director of the iraq initiative. And this is anorak initiative event. It is on record, so feel free to tweak, quote are excellent guest, and enjoy the event. We look forward to a timely, great conversation with our guest, and we will carry this live and you are welcome for, if youre not here and youre watching us, you are also welcome to tweak using the hashtag aciraq and this is to the middle east center here. Here is the format. Sarkawt will give his brief remarks once i finish her, and then i will ask him some questions and then we opened it to the audience for questions. So thats how were going to proceed today. Our esteemed guest, sarkawt shamsulddin, is a member of the Iraqi Council of representatives. He is a member of the future parliamentary group, deputy chairman of the Civil Society committee, a very Important Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, and he is a member of the iraqi United States friendship committee. He was a cofounder of the new Generation Movemen
drivers of instability in the middle east. from yemen to syria to iraq, and now with iran. the region more than ever seems and a permanent state of turmoil it cannot become a land of in those wars. and tragically, despite decades of intense and well-meaning american attention and the expenditure of billions of dollars, u.s. policy as more often of not been a failure. maybe the caveat more often than not has been an absolute failure as one accepts to foster stability and a better life for the people of the region. of course the one responsible for our country success or failure are the people who live there. as a catastrophe of today s middle east raises a lot of questions about whether the united states should continue to be engaged in the region and if so how. in this regard, the editors of seve seven pillars , and the co-contributors have given us a gift. they have seven factors that if beck stability and if not and examine the worldly play. the pillars as they identify our
america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. in february 2016 i was a married school board member working a part time id job without health insurance i was a small democrat feeling a little left out of obama s change narrative and had real changeout any to hillary s campaign. bernie was on my radar is a long shot. then i heard about a member of the dnc that she resigned her position to support and endorse that underdog candidate. i am excited and that is when tulsi came on my radar. i realized that to be a good democrat was not just to drink the kool-aid but to get involved and work to change the flavor. i have ever since. fast-forward to december 2018 and i hear tulsi gabbard will be in claremont at the addiction recovery center. after the event i was talking with folk about how impressed i was with her and i predicted great things for her future. a gentleman named ray overheard our conversation, popped his trun