In a speech on campus in February Ali Allawi, a former senior minister in the post-Saddam Iraq government, urged his countrymen to seize the moment and take control of their own destiny. Allawi, the author of The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, said it's crucial that all Iraqis come together to run their own country. He left office in 2006 and now works in the gas industry in Pakistan.