HARDtalk - Ali Allawi, Iraqi Cabinet Minister 2003-2006

Stephen Sackur talks to former Iraqi cabinet member Ali Allawi, who was defence minister, then finance minister, in the Baghdad government. For more than half a decade Iraqis have lived with foreign troops on their soil. Now an end is in sight: the remaining British forces should be out by summer 2009, and the much larger US force plans to end its visible presence on Iraqi streets in 2009 and withdraw completely by 2011. Is Iraq ready? Stephen Sackur asks Allawi if Iraq's leaders can deliver long-term stability.