ATOP UN Representatives meet with Ambassador of Iraq to the UN

United Nations, 24 February 2011

Dr. Ani Kalayjian

On 24 of February the Committee on Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns (CSVGC-NY) held its monthly membership meeting. CSVGC-NY honored the Ambassador of Iraq to the UN, His Excellency Mr. Hamid Al-Bayati. Ambassador Al-Bayati gave an insightful and dynamic presentation to the members of CSVGC-NY. Ambassador talked about the current situation in Iraq, advances in peace, advances in empowerment of women, and integration and harmony between minority groups. He also talked about his newly published book From Dictatorship to Democracy: An insider’s account of the Iraqi Opposition to Saddam.

Although Mr. Hamid Al-Bayati is the Ambassador today, for many years he lived in exile in London, where he worked with other opponents of Saddam Hussein’s regime to make a democratic and pluralistic Iraq a reality. As former Western spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), and as a member of the executive council of the Iraqi National Congress, two of the main groups opposing Saddam’s regime, he led campaigns to alert the world to human rights violations in Iraq and win support from the international community for the removal of Saddam.

As important Iraqi diplomat and member of Iraq’s majority Shia community, he offers firsthand accounts of the meetings and discussion he and other Iraqi opponents to Saddam held with American and British diplomats from 1991-2004.

His Excellency reported that he is in the process of writing another book on similarities of all three Abrahamic religions of: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

A very active and engaging question and answer period followed Ambassador’s presentation. ATOP and ACRPC UN Representatives present were: Dr. Kalayjian, Jennifer De Mucci, Katherine Kaze, Ambassador Alimole, Rev. Joseph Pearce Farrelle.