This House believes that Iraq's neighbours have no wish to see a democratic Iraq
Monday January 17 2005
MOTION REJECTED
by 37% to 63%
Speakers
Mohammed Al Douri
Speaking for the motion
Mohammed Al Douri was the permanent representative of Iraq to the United Nations under Saddam Hussein from 2001 until the collapse of Hussein's government.
From 1999 until his appointment to the United Nations in New York, Al Douri was based in Geneva as Iraq's representative to the United Nations office there.
Al Douri was Dean of the Law College of Baghdad University and Professor of International Law from 1983 to 1998. He was named head of the Department of Law at the College of Law and Political Science in 1982, where he had been a lecturer since 1973. From 1975 to 1978, he was also Director General of the Iraqi Cultural Relations Office at the Ministry of Higher Education.
Born in Baghdad in 1942, Al Douri received a Bachelor of Law degree from Baghdad University in 1964 and his PhD in public law from Dijon University, France, in 1973.
Al Douri was the first senior member of Hussein's government to acknowledge the regime's defeat. In April 2003 he formally relinquished his U.N. commission and flew to Amman, Jordan, in search of information about his family in Baghdad. Since then he has served as an analyst for Al-Arabiya and appeared as a guest on numerous discussion programs.
Clare Short
Speaking against the motion
Clare Short has represented the Midlands constituency of Birmingham Ladywood in the British House of Commons since 1983. She served as Secretary of State for International Development in the cabinet of Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 until 2003, when she resigned that post to express her opposition to the Blair administration's support for the invasion of Iraq.
Of Irish ancestry, Short was born in Birmingham in 1946 and was educated locally at St. Paul's Grammar School and at the Universities of Keele and Leeds. She holds a B.A. in political science. Before entering the House of Commons, she was a civil servant at the Home Office.
From 1996 until the 1997 General Election, Short was Opposition Spokesperson on Overseas Development. She was Shadow Minister for Women from 1993 to 1995 and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1996. She has held the posts of Opposition Spokesperson on Environment Protection, Social Security and Employment. A member of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 1983 until 1985, she was chair of the All-Party Group on Race Relations from 1985 to 1986, member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party from 1988 to 1997 and chair of the NEC Women's Committee from 1993 to 1996. Since 2003 she has been a member of the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy.
Short is the author of 'An Honourable Deception? New Labour', 'Iraq, and the Misuse of Power', published in November 2004.
Patrick Theros
Speaking for the motion
Patrick Theros served as US Ambassador to Qatar from 1995 until his retirement from the US Foreign Service in 1998.
Theros joined the US Foreign S ervice in 1963 and served in a variety of positions: Political Advisor to the Commander in Chief; Deputy Chief of Mission and Political Officer in Amman, Jordan; Charge d'Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission in Abu Dhabi; and Economic and Commercial Counselor in Damascus, Syria. He also held diplomatic posts in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Nicaragua, as well as in the US Department of State. Immediately before his appointment to Qatar, Theros served as Deputy Coordinator for Counter terrorism, responsible for the coordination of all US government counter terrorism activities outside the United States.
In 1992 Theros was awarded the President's Meritorious Service Award for career officials and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service. He also earned four Superior Honor Awards over the course of his career. In 1990, he was accorded the personal rank of Minister Counselor.
Upon retiring from the Foreign Service in 1998, Theros assumed the position of Director for International Projects at Capital Investment Management Corporation, a McLean, Virginia investment firm. In September 1999 the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Diodoros I, appointed Theros as his representative in the US.
Theros was born in 1941 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and attended public schools in Michigan, Ohio and the District of Columbia. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1963 and has done advanced study at the American University in Washington DC, and the Universidad Centro Americana in Managua. He speaks Spanish, Arabic and Greek.
Currently Theros is President and Executive Director of the US-Qatar Business Council.
Abdel Bari Atwan
Speaking against the motion
Abdel Bari Atwan is editor in chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper that offers an independent and often controversial perspective on Arab affairs. One of the world's leading experts on Middle Eastern politics, Atwan has served as a consultant to BBC, ITN, Sky News, GMTV,CNN, ABC, CBC, NBC, CBS, FOX NEWS and others. He is a regular guest on talk shows and news programs focusing on Middle Eastern affairs.
Atwan contributes to numerous English-language publications, including The Guardian, The Times, The Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, The Economist, The International Herald Tribune and Newsweek. His articles appear frequently in Arab-language publications as well.
Atwan was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in 1950. In 1975, after studying at the American University in Cairo and Cairo University, he took a job as a reporter for Al-Medina newspaper in Saudi Arabia, then moved to London, where he served as the newspaper's bureau chief from 1979 to 1984. From 1984 to 1988, he was managing editor for Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper and Al Majala Sunday magazine. He was a joint founder of Al-Quds Al-Arabi in 1989. Atwan has interviewed almost every Arab leader in the course of his career, and is one of the very few journalists to interview Osama Bin Laden.
In addition to undergraduate degrees in journalism and translation, Atwan holds a master's degree in politics from the University of London. He lectures at Oxford, Cambridge and Durham Universities.
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