US potholes in Iraq: 31 years after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait

Thu, July 22, 2021 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

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A NIF Zoom event on where Iraq is today, the role of the US, how we got here, and whether the US can play a constructive role in Iraq’s future.

About this event

Disclaimer: NIF events only take place via email invitation and are non-transferable. Please note that when registering for one of our events, all mandatory fields must be properly filled out. We reserve the right to refuse participation if this is not done, ie if “NA†is entered in the “Organization†or “Job Title†section.

speaker

Dr. Tallha Abdulrazaq, Researcher at the Strategy & Security Institute of the University of Exeter, award-winning academic specializing in counterterrorism, security and military history, columnist and regular contributor to international media who provides expert analysis on topics such as Iranian strategic ambitions in the Middle East, Turkish-Arab relations as well as the security policy and political situation in Iraq since 2003

Geneiv Abdo, Visiting Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, Consultant at the World Bank, former Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, previously worked at the Atlantic Council and the Stimson Center, former non-resident scholar at the Brookings Institution, with the United Nations and before that as foreign correspondent for the Middle East

Moderator

Hamdi Rifai, Executive Director of the Council of United Syrians & Americans, specialist in government affairs with a focus on foreign policy between the United States, Eurasia and the Middle East, expert on international affairs, national security and legal issues, who frequently appears in Fox News, Al. appears -Hurra, Al-Jazeera, BBC and TRT

Through our speakers:

Dr. Tallha Abdulrazaq is an award-winning academic who holds a PhD in Strategy and Security from the University of Exeter, England. He specializes in counter-terrorism and military history, with a particular focus on the operational development of the Iraqi armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war. He is also a columnist and writes regularly for international media, providing expert analysis and commentary on topics such as Iran’s strategic ambitions in Iraq, Syria and the wider region, Turkish-Arab relations, and the security and political situation in Iraq since 2003.

Geneiver Abdo is a Visiting Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW) and a consultant at the World Bank and was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. Her current research focuses on the changing political and religious alliances within Shiite communities in the Middle East. Abdo has worked at several Washington-based think tanks, including the Atlantic Council and the Stimson Center. From 2013 to 2017, she was a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. Among her extensive list of publications, including monographs and papers in academic journals, Abdo is the author of four books on the Middle East, including The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi’a-Sunni Divide (Oxford University Press, 2016). Her articles and comments have been published by The New York Times, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy Magazine, and The Washington Post, and she has been awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the Nieman Fellowship for studying at Harvard University. Abdo was a former liaison officer for the Alliance of Civilizations, a United Nations initiative founded by former Secretary General Kofi Annan with the aim of improving relations between Islamic and Western societies. Prior to joining the United Nations, Abdo was a foreign correspondent where her 20-year career focused on reporting on the Middle East and the Muslim world. From 1998 to 2001 Abdo was Iran correspondent for The Guardian and a regular contributor to The Economist and the International Herald Tribune. She was the first American journalist to live in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

About our moderator:

Hamdi Rifai is the Executive Director of the Council of United Syrians & Americans. Mr. Rifai is a government affairs specialist with a focus on foreign policy between the United States, Eurasia and the Middle East. Over the years he has appeared frequently as an international affairs, national security and legal expert on Fox News, Al-Hooray, Al-Jazeera, BBC and TRT.

Note: further speakers can be announced later.