My concern is not for me, ... but for Jordan, its stability, its progress, its democracy (and) its people.

People need to see the progress being made. They need to know that we're taking care of the future of Iraq. Soon, our security forces will allow us to live and prosper all over this great country of ours. We will have more and more project openings and the ceremonies will get bigger and better.

We are confident the nation will forge ahead toward sustainable peace, progress, full-fledged democracy and national unity.

Really, it's the foundation of democracy. Any citizen can go to the precinct convention, take an issue or a concern, and ultimately take it to the state party and in other years all the way to the national party and the presidential candidates themselves.

Without those days they can't progress forward into the next grade, so that's a concern of a lot of families too. That their child's education is going to progress at the same pace that it's supposed to.

May the efforts at ensuring sustainable peace and meaningful democracy in the interests of the nation and the people bear fruit during the New Year.