Awad Nasir

Awad Nasir is an Iraqi poet. In the following viewpoint, written while a U.S.-led coalition was successfully waging a war in Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, he argues that the United States and its allies should not impose military rule on Iraq for an extended period of time. America should instead work to effect a transition to an Iraqi-led government as soon as possible. Iraq’s people, he contends, are capable of self-government and would create a government friendly to their American liberators.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How have Iraqi fears of foreign domination hampered the nation’s development, according to Nasir?
2. What accounts for the swiftness of American victory in the 2003 war, according to the author...