A greater international role is important to lift some of the burden from the shoulders of the United States.

I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.

Rather, it is through conciliation and compromise that we are building a fair Iraq, a just state for all its peoples.

Our plan is to struggle against terrorism and have security for the country and help draft a democratic constitution as soon as possible.

The Kurdish people have the right of self-determination like every other nation in the world.

Conciliation is not capitulation, nor is compromise to be deemed equivalent to imbalanced concession.

As president of Iraq, I shall strive to represent the diversity of a country that has too often in the past denied difference.