Samir Sumaidaie Explained

Honorific-Prefix:Ambassador
Samir Sumaidaie
Native Name:سمير الصميدعي
Term Start:April 2006
Term End:19 December 2011
Successor:T. Hamid al Bayati
Term Start2:August 2004
Term End2:April 2006
Term Start3:July 2003
Term End3:28 June 2004
Predecessor3:Council created
Successor3:Council dissolved
Birth Place:Baghdad, Iraq
Alma Mater:Durham University
Profession:Diplomat, Politician

Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumayda'ie (Samir Sumaidaie) is an Iraqi politician and was the Iraqi ambassador to the United States. He was born in Baghdad in 1944[1] and left Iraq in 1960 to study in the United Kingdom where he obtained a degree in electrical engineering from Durham University in 1965[2] and a postgraduate diploma in 1966. He returned to Iraq in 1966 but left again for the UK in 1973 after Saddam Hussein seized power. He returned to Baghdad and was appointed member of the Iraq Governing Council in July 2003. He was appointed as Iraq's Ambassador to the United States in April 2006,[3] after previously serving as the Iraq's Permanent Representative[4] to the United Nations (from August 2004), and prior to that, as Baghdad's Interior Minister. He is secular and rejects any sectarian label.

During his years of exile, based in London, and traveling in the Mid- and Far- East, He was a leading figure in the opposition to Saddam's regime and helped form a number of political groups.

In July 2005 Sumaidaie demanded an inquiry into the fatal shooting (which he has described as "cold-blooded") of his cousin during a routine house to house search by US Marines in Iraq.

In November 2007 he visited The Fletcher School at Tufts University where he gave a speech on the history and current situation in Iraq.

In March 2010 he visited the renowned Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University[5]

References

  1. Web site: Family Tree - The Cobbold Family History Trust. family-tree.cobboldfht.com. 2019-04-05.
  2. News: Iraqi Ambassador talks to Durham students. palatinate.org.
  3. News: Rice Welcomes Iraq's First Ambassador to U.S. in 15 Years. https://archive.today/20110709172010/http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=166992&src=0. dead. 9 July 2011. noticias.info. 13 November 2010.
  4. Web site: H.E. AMBASSADOR HAMID AL BAYATI. un.int. 13 November 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100822104037/http://www.un.int/iraq/subindexbio.htm. 22 August 2010.
  5. Web site: Elliott School Events Calendar. 24 October 2017.

External links