News Release

Robert Boorda Takes Lead of USIP Baghdad Operations
Rusty Barber Returns to Washington to Oversee Iraq Programs

Staff Rotation Will Increase Effectiveness, Maintain Dynamism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 9, 2008

Contact:

Robert Boorda

(Washington, July 9) – Robert Boorda, a former Navy lawyer, has replaced Rusty Barber as Chief of Party, Iraq in the US Institute of Peace’s (USIP) Baghdad office. Barber, a former Foreign Service Officer who served in the post for the last 15 months, has returned to Washington, DC to oversee all of USIP’s Iraq programs.

Boorda said, "It’s an exciting time to be returning to the Middle East. The Iraqi people have and continue to go through challenges that most of us cannot fathom. They have demonstrated time and again that they can rise to the occasion, set apart their differences and work together for the betterment of Iraq. I am proud to be working alongside my staff in Baghdad and our cadre of Iraqi conflict-resolution facilitators, building a stronger, more peaceful country, one person, school or street at a time."

Barber said, "My year in Baghdad was extraordinary, and I believe our work there has had a significant positive effect on stability in the country. By bringing my experience on the ground back to USIP’s Washington office, I’ll be able to further connect our Iraq team’s work with our efforts throughout the Institute."

In 2004, USIP began providing conflict resolution training and promoting reconciliation through a variety of programs in Iraq and is now one of the few nongovernmental organizations operating on the ground there. In each subsequent year, USIP has expanded its work to promote reconciliation and strengthen stability in Iraq at the local, regional and national levels.

For example, USIP has trained a network of more than 100 conflict-resolution facilitators, each of whom can share these skills and prevent conflict in their own neighborhoods. In 2007, USIP brought together Sunni and Shi’a tribal sheikhs from Mahmoudiya — an area so violent it earned the nickname ‘the Triangle of Death’ — and after three days they signed an agreement listing more than 30 ways they planned to work together to strengthen and secure their community. The Institute’s Baghdad office has helped government officials learn how to negotiate and allocate resources for their communities. It also works with leaders in schools, universities, government and civil society to prevent sectarian violence and promote the rule of law, and its grants help strengthen local peacebuilding projects and organizations.

For more information about USIP’s work in Iraq, please visit http://www.usip.org/iraq/index.html.