Hacking Defense and Iraq's Controversial Security Groups

War on the Rocks

News, Politics

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2016

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We have a two-parter for you in this episode. First, WOTR's Ryan Evans spoke with Steve Blank of Silicon Valley fame about his new course, "Hacking Defense." The class just launched at Stanford, but Steve has plans to proliferate it around the country. Will this course help change the way we approach national defense? Next, Ryan sat down with Basam Ridha Al Hussaini. Basam works for Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi and was in Washington to talk to U.S. officials about the Popular Mobilization Units, a Iraqi security program that mobilizes armed groups - including sectarian groups responsible for terrible violence during the Iraq War - to fight the Islamic State. While these groups are controversial and - some say - too close to Iran, they have been undeniably important in rolling back the Islamic State. Hear Basam make the case for this program and talk about its future in Iraq, post-Islamic State. Have a listen!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to the War on the Rocks podcast on Strategy, Defense and Foreign Affairs.
0:20.0	We have a two-parter for you this episode. Two really fascinating conversations.
0:24.5	The first, with Steve Blank. Now most people know Steve as a Silicon Valley startup guru.
0:30.0	He has written such books as Four Steps to the epiphany, which has been called the book that launched
0:34.0	the lean startup movement and the startup owner's manual.
0:37.4	But now he is taking on defense issues in a new class at Stanford that he has started with some of
0:41.3	his colleagues there.
0:42.6	It's called Hacking Defense.
0:45.0	My second conversation is with Basam Rita Al-Husaini.
0:48.7	Basam is an Iraqi official who was passing through DC when we spoke. He was here in town to talk to U.S.
0:54.0	officials about a controversial Iraqi program called the Popular Mobilization
0:58.0	units. This is an umbrella organization of dozens of armed groups that are fighting
1:02.2	alongside the Iraqi
1:03.3	security forces to defeat the self-proclaimed Islamic State. In the West and many
1:08.3	Sunni areas of Iraq these units, the PMUs, are viewed with some distrust.
1:13.0	These are predominantly Shia groups and many of them were involved in some of the worst
1:17.2	excesses of sectarian violence during the height of the Iraq war.
1:21.0	But at the same time they have no doubt been instrumental in rolling back the Islamic
1:24.8	State in some parts of Iraq.
1:27.0	Basam is working for Iraqi Prime Minister Abbadi as the liaison to the West for this
1:30.9	program, but he himself has a fascinating history.
1:34.5	He fled Saddam's Iraq and spent much of his life in the United States.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from War on the Rocks, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of War on the Rocks and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.