Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke tells reporters in the Pentagon on April 16, 2003, about the meeting of free Iraqis near An Nasiriyah, Iraq. Iraqis, from diverse religious, civil and ethnic groups met to discuss self-government in Iraq, free of the Hussein dictatorship. Clarke and Maj. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, U.S. Army, vice director for Operations, J-3, the Joint Staff, also updated reporters on the situation in Baghdad.