In late February 2003, the Pentagon established the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council (IRDC), made up of Iraqis who would be part of a temporary government after the ousting of the Ba'th regime. After initially being based in suburban Virginia, its leading members were transported to Baghdad in late April 2003.
The senior members of IRDC hold positions at each of 23 Iraqi ministries, where they work closely with US and British officials under Lt. Gen. (retd) Jay Garner, the head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ie Iraq's civil administrator). Their official task is to rebuild the structures of a government that would then be handed over to the new Iraqi authority. The team is headed by Imad Dhia.
Members of the IRDC are officially employed by a San Diego-based defence contractor, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), whose Vice President until October 2002 was David Kay, the media pundit on Iraq's weapons whose judgements have been shown to be wide of the mark. Kay was coordinator of SAIC's homeland security and counterterrorism initiatives. SAIC's Corporate Vice President for Strategic Assessment and Development until 7 February 2003 was Christopher Ryan Henry, now Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. SAIC also run the "Voice of the New Iraq", the radio station established on 15 April 2003 at Umm Qasr that is funded by the US government.
| Name | Was previously- | Is now- |
| Imad Dhia (he anglicises as Emad Dhia) |
b.1952(?). An engineer who left Iraq in 1982, after his aunt, a prominent doctor, was arrested and then assassinated on release two years later. He is on leave of absence from the Pfizer pharmaceutical company in Ann Arbor, Michigan; he lived in Plymouth, Michigan. Served as the leader of the Iraqi Forum for Democracy (estd 1998), which played a leading role in the State Department's project on the "future of Iraq". Worked with the Pentagon to select other Iraqi members of the ORHA team, many of whom were drawn from his Forum. | the top Iraqi adviser to Jay Garner |
|
Muhammad al-Hakim |
Was based in Boston. | senior adviser to the Ministry of Planning; supervises provincial affairs |
|
Muhammad Ali Zainy |
b. 1939(?). Trained at Colorado school of Mines. An engineer and mid-ranking official of Iraq's Ministry of Oil until he left Iraq in 1982. Two of his nephews were executed in 1980 for joining an Islamist group. Has worked with OPEC (as a representative of the Iraqi government), as an oil company executive and energy consultant in Colorado, and as an analyst for the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. An American citizen. | senior adviser to the ministry of oil |
| Munther al-Fadhal | b. 1950, al-Najaf, of Shi'a parentage. Visiting associate professor of Middle Eastern law at the International College of Law in London, and a legal adviser in Stockholm. From 1979 to 1981, he served in the Iraqi Justice Ministry. He also taught civil law at the University of Baghdad (1986-91, 1993); and also at the University of al-Zaytuna in Amman (1994-97), and the University of Annaba in Algeria (1982-85). He serves as a member of the US State Department working group on the future of Iraq for which he has drafted a replacement Iraqi constitution. He is published in Arabic, Swedish, English and Kurdish. He seems to be close to the Iraqi National Coalition. Biography drawn from here and here. Has his own website at: home.bip.net/alfadhal. Supports a secular state, and the establishment of relations with Israel; argues that Iraq should outlaw the death penalty. | senior adviser to the Iraqi Justice Ministry |
| Sam Karim (he anglicises as Sam Kareem) |
b.1947(?), a Baghdadi (at al-Sharqiyya High School, 1971-74), who trained as an electrical engineer at the University of Baghdad (1974-78). Left Iraq in Feb 1982, to train at the Computer Studies Dept at the University of Essex, UK. Has since worked as a computer consultant, based in Farmington Hills, Detroit. Started the Iraq.net website in 1995. According to the U.S. Department of State, in 1989 "his father was abducted from a bus station by the Iraqi intelligence service. In prison, his father was tortured and abused to the point that, when he returned home years later, his family did not recognize him. His father eventually lost the use of his legs and died from wounds received in prison." | senior adviser to the ministry of transportation and telecommunication |
| Sa'id Hakky | b.1945(?), from a Shi'a Kurdish (Fa'ili?) family. From 1979-83, he taught at the University of Baghdad and served as a senior assistant to Iraq's minister of health. Thereafter, worked as adoctor from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Bay Pines, Tampa, since 1985, and assistant professor of urology at the University of South Florida. A postdoc student in the UK, where he met his wife Barbara. Has not returned to Iraq until 2003, and became a US citizen. | senior adviser to the ministry of health |
| Muhyi al-Katib | senior adviser to the foreign ministry | |
| Ramsey Jiddou | b. 1944(?), Chaldean. A Baghdadi chemist and government official, moved to the US in 1978 after "Iraqi police interrogated him about his lack of affiliation" to the Ba'th party (Detroit Free Press, 25/4/03). A leading member of the Iraqi Forum for Democracy, based in Superior Township, Detroit, Michigan. Worked as Director of Business Development and New Products for Biotherapies Inc., in Ann Arbor, Michigan. | senior adviser to the ministry of industry |
| Khidhir Hamza | Prospective author of "Fizzle: Iraq and the atomic bomb" (1998), describing how Iraq had failed to obtain a nuclear device; turned down by publishers. Author of "Saddam's Bombmaker" (2000), describing how Iraq's nuclear programme was an imminent threat; bought up by publishers and the punditocracy. CV is here. Article by Imad Khadduri on Hamza is here. | senior adviser on atomic energy |
| Adam Sheroza | senior adviser to the ministry of youth | |
| Adnan al-Zurufi | b. 1964(?). From Najaf, where he was linked with al-Da'wa. In 1991 he "escaped from an Iraqi prison where Baath Party police tortured him with electrical shocks on his groin and legs" (Detroit Free Press, 25/4/03). Based in Dearborn, Detroit subsequently. Cofounder of a Detroit group called the Iraqi Uprising Committee, and is affiliated to al-Da'wa (according to the Detroit Free Press 10/2/03). His lack of registered employment led some to believe that he was a CIA agent. Was a prominent supporter of the Bush administration's policy on Iraq, and was associated with the Iraqi Forum for Democracy. Later appointed governor of Najaf by the CPA; he invited US troops to storm the city of Najaf and the Imam Ali mausoleum in August 2004. | senior adviser for Najaf Province |
Other sources:
Douglas Jehl and Jane Perlez, "Pentagon Sending a Team of Exiles to Help
Run Iraq", New York Times, 26 April 2003.
Douglas Jehl (with Michael Moss and Danny Hakim), "U.S.-Backed Iraqi Exiles
Return to Reinvent Nation", New York Times, 3 May 2003.
"Bush
meets with Iraqis who have fled Saddam Hussein", The United States
Mission to the European Union, 4 April 2003.