Free Republic

Following attacks Thursday that killed killed ten people in Iraq, Jim Lehrer talks to the first Iraqi ambassador to the United States in the post-Saddam Hussein era, Rend Al-Rahim Francke, about creating stability in Iraq. JIM LEHRER: Now to our interview with Iraq's ambassador to Washington, Rend Al-Rahim Francke. Madam Ambassador, welcome. REND AL-RAHIM FRANCKE: Thank you. JIM LEHRER: Your prime minister announced the formation of a domestic intelligence agency today. Why is that necessary? REND AL-RAHIM FRANCKE: No country can live and function without intelligence capability. In the United States, you have the FBI for domestic intelligence and the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 22 — An Iraqi-American activist whose foundation has spent much of the last decade devising visions of democratic rule for Iraq and lobbying for a war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein, will become the country's diplomatic representative in Washington, Iraqi political leaders said Saturday. Her appointment will be announced in the next few days by the interim foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, they said. The activist, Rend Rahim Francke, 54, has directed the Iraq Foundation, which she helped create in 1991, and is a familiar face in Washington from her years lobbying policy makers to provide more muscular...