This House believes the Middle East would be better off with John McCain in the White House
Tuesday October 28 2008
MOTION REJECTED
by 13% to 87%
Speakers
Danielle Pletka
Speaking for the motion
Danielle Pletka is Vice President for Foreign and Defence Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI). Her main areas of research are the Middle East, terrorism, South Asia and weapons proliferation.
Since joining the AEI, she has developed a conference series on rebuilding post-Saddam Iraq, directed a project on democracy in the Arab world, and designed a project to track global business in Iran.
Ms. Pletka recently edited a publication on dissent and reform in the Arab World and co-authored a report on Iranian Influence in the Levant, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Before joining AEI, she served for 10 years as a senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She was also a member of the congressionally mandated U.S. Institute of Peace Task Force on the United Nations, which released its final report in 2005.
Michael Signer
Speaking against the motion
Michael Signer was foreign policy adviser to Democratic Senator John Edwards' presidential campaign from 2007-2008. He is currently a Senior Policy Adviser and Director of the Homeland Security Presidential Transition Initiative, a joint project of the Centre for American Progress Action Fund and Third Way.
He has also held senior staff positions on a number of national, state and local campaigns.
Dr. Signer is currently completing a book on democracy and foreign policy called Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies and his writings have been published in The Washington Post, USA Today and The American Prospect Online.
Dr. Signer is adjunct professor with Virginia Tech’s Master’s in Government and International Affairs Program, where he teaches classes on political theory, foreign policy, and democracy.
Saad Al-Ajmi
Speaking for the motion
Saad Al-Ajmi is a Kuwaiti academic and commentator who served as Minister of Information and Culture from 1999-2000.
In 2007 he published the first online newspaper in Kuwait and currently writes for the London-based Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat as well as other Gulf newspapers.
Before being appointed Information Minister, Dr. Al-Ajmi was a columnist, translator and freelance reporter. He also served for two years as Director of the Kuwaiti Information Centre in London.
He currently lectures at Kuwait University and is a founding member of the Kuwait Human Rights Society.
Hafez Al-Mirazi
Speaking against the motion
Hafez Al-Mirazi has been a journalist and broadcaster for nearly 30 years and is the former host of Al-Jazeera's Arabic weekly television talk show From Washington. He is currently vice chairman of Al Hayat Television in Egypt.
From 2001-2007 he hosted From Washington which examined issues related to US-Arab relations from. He was also Al-Jazeera's Washington Bureau Chief and led the channel's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 US presidential elections. He has covered most US presidential election campaigns and national party conventions since 1984.
Before joining Al-Jazeera, he was Senior Washington Correspondent for the BBC's Arabic Service and from 1991 to 1996 hosted two weekly talk shows for the Arab Network of America in Washington.
He also held positions as writer, editor and broadcaster for The Voice of America for over 10 years. Mr. Al-Mirazi started his career as a radio journalist and broadcaster with Voice of the Arabs, Cairo Radio of Egypt, in 1980.
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