The unelected prime minister of Iraq, Ayad Allawi thanked the president and Congress for taking down the regime of Saddam Hussein. He told Congress “Things are moving in the right direction.” Allawi also attacked critics of the occupation and suggested they may be fueling the opposition. He said “When political leaders sound the sirens of defeatism in the face of terrorism, it only encourages more violence.”

Although this marked Allawi’s first address before Congress he has long had ties to the U.S. government as a CIA asset and as the head of the U.S.-supported Iraqi exile group called the Iraqi National Accord.