 |
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2009, pages 59-60 Diplomatic Doings A Conversation With Iraqi Ambassador Sumaida’ie
THE NATIONAL Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) hosted a “Conversation with Iraqi Ambassador Samir Shakir M. Sumaida’ie” on Dec. 16, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC. NCUSAR director Dr. John Duke Anthony introduced the ambassador who, prior to his Washington, DC appointment in April 2006, had served as Iraq’s permanent Representative to the U.N. since July 2004. Born in Baghdad, Sumaida’ie graduated from Durham University in the UK in 1965 with a degree in electrical engineering. He returned to Iraq to work for the Baghdad Electricity Board and Iraqi Petroleum Company, but left again in 1973. He became a successful businessman in the UK, and got involved in opposition efforts. As a poet, artist and expert on Iraq’s politics and media, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States said he is eager to show Americans a side of Iraq that is missing from the media. Sumaida’ie discussed a wide range of issues, including investment and trade opportunities for American companies in Iraq. When asked about Iran’s influence in Iraq, he noted that the two countries are “neighbors which share a border thousands of miles long and a history of several thousand years.” The countries have different ways of governing now, he said, but each should make its own choices. Iran may feel threatened by U.S. soldiers on its border, but America has removed Iran’s biggest enemy—Saddam Hussain, Sumaida’ie pointed out. Iran was the first country to acknowledge Iraq’s new government and the first to arrange a high-level visit, but the Iraqi diplomat acknowledged that their relationship has room for improvement. Iraq and Iran could live side by side enjoying fruitful economic and cultural ties, he said. Sumaida’ie said he encourages dialogue, which would “remove the fear that fuels Iran’s nuclear program.” He added that his government is committed to preventing Iraqi territory from being used to threaten any of its neighbors. Sumaida’ie discussed the looted Iraqi museum and the artifacts that have been smuggled out of his country, many of which have since been recovered. When Laura Bush visited Iraq she announced a $14 million program to train Iraqis to protect the cradle of civilization’s cultural heritage. Iraq intends to open up a cultural center in Washington, DC to present a better and “more enduring face of Iraq than the destruction and violence people see on their television screens.“ Two protesters from Code Pink brought signs in support of Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush. “Ladies, thank you for your placards defending al-Zaidi,” Sumaida’ie said. “He is a lucky man. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are more tolerant than dictator Saddam Hussain would have been. The attack insulted the host more than the guest and it diminished us. We’re better than that,” the ambassador said, acknowledging,“These are the fruits of freedom.” Turning to the subject of Iraqi refugees, Ambassador Sumaida’ie said that 2.2 million refugees have poured into Syria and Jordan. In contrast, he noted, in 2008 the U.S. took in only 12,000 Iraqi refugees. The previous week, he had lunch with Iraqi refugees who feel they have been abandoned to their fate in the U.S., and that the established Iraqi American community has left them to their own devices and given them little support. Highly qualified Iraqis must retake exams in order to practice medicine or other professions in this country. Sumaida’ie said he encourages displaced Iraqis to go back home and take part in the rebuilding of Iraq. “A lot of educated people have fled. We need them the most,” he concluded. —Delinda C. Hanley |
|||||
