At 10:26 AM Iraq time, the United States formally transferred power to Iraq’s interim government today. In going into Iraq 15 months ago, the U.S. administration aimed to take on what it said was a key component of the war on terror and to create a new democracy in Iraq that will spark regionwide change.

Has the U.S. achieved its goals or is it on the way to doing so? Or has the war in Iraq undermined its goals? And what will the transfer of power to the Iraqis mean for U.S.?

Click the “Listen” link to hear about the war, the occupation, and now the power transfer as it affects U.S. policy in Iraq and the Middle East.

Guests:

Nesreen Berwari, Iraqi Minister of Municipalities and Public Works

Michael Ware, Baghdad Bureau Chief for Time Magazine

Maura Reynolds, White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times who is traveling with President George W. Bush in Turkey

Daniel Byman, Professor at the Security Studies Program at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution

Lawrence Korb, former assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, senior fellow Center for American Progress;
Christopher Preble, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and Director of the Institute’s ‘Exiting Iraq Task Force’ which produced the report “Exiting Iraq: Why the US Must End the Military Occupation and Renew the War against Al Qaeda”

Fouad Ajami, director of the Middle East Studies program at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University