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Mowaffak Baker al-Rubaie (alternative transliterations Muwaffaq al Rubaie and Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i) (Arabic: موفق الربيعي, romanized: Muwaffaq ar-Rubayʿī) is an Iraqi politician, and was Iraq National Security Advisor in the government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and in 2005–2006 Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari and 2006–2009 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He was elected to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in December 2005 as a nominee of the United Iraqi Alliance and from 2014–2018 in the Iraqi Parliament.

A Shia Muslim and neurologist by training, al-Rubaie was born 24 June 1948 in Dhi Qar Governorate in southern Iraq and left Iraq in 1979 to study in Britain. There he became a member of the British Royal College of Physicians and then a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians practicing internal medicine and neurology. Whilst in London, he became the official spokesman for the Islamic Da'awa Party which was then the main political opposition party to then President Saddam Hussein.

After the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was appointed a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. In April 2004 he was appointed National Security Advisor by the Iraqi Governing Council.^[1] He held this post until 2009, thereafter serving as an MP in the following Parliamentary round.^[2]

Al-Rubaie played an important role in various negotiations, especially those between the Iraqi government and Moqtada al-Sadr during the siege of Najaf in 2004.^[3]

In 2006, al-Rubaie was widely credited with his humane treatment of the condemned Saddam Hussein, as he conducted the transfer of custody of the prisoner from US to Iraqi judicial authorities culminating in the execution of Saddam on 30 December 2006.^[4] In an interview with Vice News in December 2019, al-Rubaie displayed a noose he purported was the one used to hang Hussein, and claimed he "pulled the trigger" to kill the former dictator.^[5]

Reputation[edit]

Al-Rubaie is respected on both sides of the sectarian divide in Iraq as a pragmatic and non-partisan Nationalist whom current Deputy PM Ali Allawi gives high praise in his book The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace (2007).

A winner of the Annual Middle East Peace Prize awarded by the Foundation For Peace & Democracy in the Middle East for his role in protecting Iraq's Christian Minority, Al-Rubaie maintains good relations with Bishop Andrew White, the Canon of Baghdad.

Al-Rubaie also maintains strong relations with Iraq's clerical community, particularly Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In February 2004, he reported that Sistani had survived an assassination attempt.

Trip to USA[edit]

In May, 2007, he made his first trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby leading Democratic critics of the war against withdrawing troops, primarily Senator Carl Levin and Representative John P. Murtha. al-Rubaie argued that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was making progress in stabilizing Iraq and that the United States should be patient as Iraqis make steady progress. He also met with supporters of the war, including Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.^[6]

References[edit]

^ Governing Councilmen Assume Posts as Minister of Interior and National Security Advisor Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Coalition Provisional Authority, 2004-04-09, accessed on 2007-02-25
^ Raising the Pressure in Iraq, New York Times, 2004-09-14, accessed on 2007-02-25
^ Cease-fire talks underway in Najaf CNN, August 13, 2004
^ Iran’s Power Over Iraq | VICE on HBO, Vice Media, 2020-01-03, accessed on 2020-01-24
^ al-Rubaie, Mowaffak (January 3, 2020). "Iran's Power over Iraq" (Interview). Interviewed by Isobel Yeung.
^ Official Takes Case to U.S., but Skeptics Don’t Budge, "New York Times", 2007-05-08, accessed on 2007-05-09

External links[edit]

Source Watch Article

[1] Governing Councilmen Assume Posts as Minister of Interior and National Security Advisor Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Coalition Provisional Authority, 2004-04-09, accessed on 2007-02-25

[2] Raising the Pressure in Iraq, New York Times, 2004-09-14, accessed on 2007-02-25

[3] Cease-fire talks underway in Najaf CNN, August 13, 2004

[4] Iran’s Power Over Iraq | VICE on HBO, Vice Media, 2020-01-03, accessed on 2020-01-24

[5] -Rubaie, Mowaffak (January 3, 2020). "Iran's Power over Iraq" (Interview). Interviewed by Isobel Yeung.

[6] Official Takes Case to U.S., but Skeptics Don’t Budge, "New York Times", 2007-05-08, accessed on 2007-05-09

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+{{Short description|Iraqi politician}}
-{{Multiple issues|
+[[File:Mowaffak al-Rubaie Suid 2007-04-09.JPEG|thumb|180px|right|Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie, April 2007]]
-{{POV|date=September 2013}}
+'''Mowaffak Baker al-Rubaie''' (alternative transliterations '''Muwaffaq al Rubaie''' and '''Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i''') ({{lang-ar|موفق الربيعي|Muwaffaq ar-Rubayʿī}}) is an [[Iraq]]i politician, and was Iraq National Security Advisor in the government of [[Prime Minister of Iraq|Prime Minister]] [[Ayad Allawi]] and in 2005–2006 Prime Minister [[Ibrahim al-Jaafari|Ibrahim Al Jaafari]] and 2006–2009 Prime Minister [[Nouri al-Maliki]]. He was elected to the [[Council of Representatives of Iraq|Iraqi Council of Representatives]] in [[December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election|December 2005]] as a nominee of the [[National Iraqi Alliance|United Iraqi Alliance]] and from 2014–2018 in the Iraqi Parliament.
-{{BLP sources|date=July 2014}}
-}}
-{{Infobox officeholder
-|name=Mowaffak al-Rubaie<br>موفق الربيعي
-|image=Mowaffak al-Rubaie Suid 2007-04-09.JPEG
-|imagesize=210px
-|caption=Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie, April 2007
-|order=[[Council of Representatives of Iraq|Member of the Council of Representatives]]
-|term_start=April 2009
-|term_end=March 2010
-|predecessor=
-|successor=
-|primeminister=[[Nouri al-Maliki]]
-|president	=[[Jalal Talabani]]
-|order2=National Security Advisor
-|term_start2=April 2004
-|term_end2=April 2009
-|predecessor2=
-|successor2=
-|primeminister2=
-|order3=[[Iraqi Governing Council|Member of the Iraqi Governing Council]]
-|term_start3=13 July 2003
-|term_end3=1 June 2004
-|predecessor3=Council created
-|successor3=Council dissolved
-|primeminister3=
-|birth_date=1947
-|birth_place=[[Kadhimiya]], [[Iraq]]
-|death_date=
-|nationality=[[Iraqi people|Iraqi]]
-|party=Independent<br>[[Islamic Dawa Party]] (until 1991)
-|relations=
-|children=
-|residence=[[Baghdad]]
-|alma_mater=[[College of Medicine University of Baghdad|College of Medicine]], [[University of Baghdad]]<br>[[King's College London School of Medicine|School of Medicine]], [[King's College London]]
-|occupation=
-|profession=Statesman, Civil rights campaigner
-|religion=[[Shia Islam]]
-|signature=
-|website=
-|footnotes=
-|allegiance=
-|branch=
-|serviceyears=
-|awards=}}
-'''Dr Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie''' (alternative transliterations Muwaffaq al-Rubaie and Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i) (Arabic: موفق الربيعي) is a distinguished Iraqi politician and active civil rights campaigner.
+A [[Shia]] Muslim and [[neurology|neurologist]] by training, al-Rubaie was born 24 June 1948 in [[Dhi Qar Governorate]] in southern Iraq and left Iraq in 1979 to study in [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. There he became a member of the British [[Royal College of Physicians]] and then a Fellow of the [[Royal College of Physicians]] practicing internal medicine and neurology. Whilst in [[London]], he became the official spokesman for the [[Islamic Da'awa Party]] which was then the main political opposition party to then [[President of Iraq|President]] [[Saddam Hussein]].
-He was appointed as a member of the 25 member Iraqi Governing Council by the Coalition Provisional Authority in July 2003. In April 2004, in recognition of his astute understanding of the risks and challenges faced by Iraq, he was appointed as National Security Advisor (NSA) by the Coalition Provisional Authority. He held this post for its full 5-year term until April 2009, when he was appointed as an MP in Iraq's Council of Representatives (Iraq's Parliament), a role he held until Parliament's dissolution in March 2010.
+After the [[United States]]' [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], he was appointed a member of the [[Iraqi Governing Council]]. In April 2004 he was appointed National Security Advisor by the [[Iraqi Governing Council]].<ref>[http://www.iraqcoalition.org/pressreleases/20040410_new_ministers.html Governing Councilmen Assume Posts as Minister of Interior and National Security Advisor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305001716/http://www.iraqcoalition.org/pressreleases/20040410_new_ministers.html |date=2016-03-05}}, [[Coalition Provisional Authority]], 2004-04-09, accessed on 2007-02-25</ref> He held this post until 2009, thereafter serving as an MP in the following Parliamentary round.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/international/middleeast/14baghdad.html?ex=1252900800&en=2bc4ca61fb5d65c8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland Raising the Pressure in Iraq], ''[[New York Times]]'', 2004-09-14, accessed on 2007-02-25</ref>
-==Early Life & Opposition Politics==
-A Shia Muslim and neurologist by training, al-Rabai'i was born in Kadhimiya in 1947 to a Shia father and a Sunni mother, Rubaie graduated top of his class at the [[College of Medicine University of Baghdad|Baghdad School of Medicine]] in 1977 and gained his MRCP ([[Membership of the Royal College of Physicians]]) whilst at [[King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry|King's College Medical School]] in London in 1979.  In his student years, Rubaie was a protégé of the leading  intellectual Shia theologian of his time, Grand Ayatollah Syed [[Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr]], the founder of the [[Islamic Dawa Party|Islamic Da'awa party]], which served as the main opposition to [[Saddam Hussein]]'s repressive [[Ba'ath]] regime. Rubaie was a pivotal figure in the movement from its very beginning which brought him into direct conflict with Saddam's regime for which he was tortured on three separate occasions and sentenced to death in absentia the day after leaving Iraq to complete his medical studies in the UK.
+Al-Rubaie played an important role in various negotiations, especially those between the Iraqi government and [[Muqtada al-Sadr|Moqtada al-Sadr]] during the siege of [[Najaf]] in 2004.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/13/iraq.main/index.html Cease-fire talks underway in Najaf] CNN, August 13, 2004</ref>
-While he was in exile in London from 1979 until 2003, Rubaie embarked on a successful career in both the UK public and private sectors.  From 1979 until 1991, Rubaie was the head of Da'awa party's international section and, using his home as his base, was prolific in organising opposition conferences, publications highlighting Saddam's atrocities and fund raising events in order to assist Saddam's countless victims. Following the [[Gulf War]] of 1991 and the founding of the [[Iraqi National Congress]] (INC) Al Rubaie sought to bring the Da'awa Party into the mainstream of Iraqi opposition with the shared goal of toppling Saddam.  This policy however brought him into conflict with the Da'awa hardliners in Tehran and for this reason Rubaie resigned from the Da'awa Party in 1991 to become a leading independent opposition figure.
+In 2006, al-Rubaie was widely credited with his humane treatment of the condemned Saddam Hussein, as he conducted the transfer of custody of the prisoner from US to Iraqi judicial authorities culminating in the [[Execution of Saddam Hussein|execution of Saddam]] on 30 December 2006.<ref>[https://youtube.com/watch?v=oTPKJtPWNRQ?t=261 Iran’s Power Over Iraq | VICE on HBO], [[Vice Media]], 2020-01-03, accessed on 2020-01-24</ref> In an interview with [[Vice News]] in December 2019, al-Rubaie displayed a [[noose]] he purported was the one used to hang Hussein, and claimed he "pulled the trigger" to kill the former dictator.<ref>{{Cite interview|last=al-Rubaie|first=Mowaffak|interviewer=[[Isobel Yeung]]|title=Iran's Power over Iraq|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTPKJtPWNRQ|date=January 3, 2020}}</ref>
-Rubaie was a major contributor to the widely acclaimed document, "The Declaration of the Shia of Iraq", July 2002 (http://www.al-bab.com) which called for the protection of the civil rights of the Shia of Iraq. Many of the principles of this declaration were later incorporated into Iraq's new constitution of 2004 under the Interim Governing Council.
+==Reputation==
-==The Political Establishment==
+Al-Rubaie is respected on both sides of the sectarian divide in [[Iraq]] as a pragmatic and non-partisan Nationalist whom current Deputy PM [[Ali Allawi]] gives high praise in his book ''The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace'' (2007).
-Active in shaping Iraq's post war political landscape right at the outset from the Nassariyeh Conference of 15 April 2003, Rubaie was appointed a member of the [[Iraqi Governing Council]] in July 2003 and served until its dissolution one year later. His negotiating skills and impartiality in dealing with Iraq's challenges were identified by all sides and he was appointed as [[Iraq]]'s National Security Advisor (NSA) in April 2004 by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Rubaie was instrumental in forging and executing Government policy by using the National Security Council as the mechanism to influence and direct the various Iraqi ministries.  He worked closely with [[Ali Allawi]], then Minister Of Trade, in assisting Iraq's Accountability & Justice Commission in identfying the culprits behind the looting of the Ministry of Defense budget under [[Iyad Allawi]]'s interim administration in 2005. He also served as the Iraqi Government's lead negotiator in the standoff with Syed [[Muqtada al-Sadr]] in [[Najaf]] in the summer of 2005 as well as representing Iraq on the international stage at international conferences and meetings with world leaders to rehabilitate Iraq's international standing.
+A winner of the Annual [[Middle East]] Peace Prize awarded by the Foundation For Peace & Democracy in the Middle East for his role in protecting [[Christianity in Iraq|Iraq's Christian Minority]], Al-Rubaie maintains good relations with Bishop [[Andrew White (priest)|Andrew White]], the Canon of [[Baghdad]].
-By all accounts, no single person in the formative years of Iraq's nascent democracy had as much impact as Rubaie did in legitimising the new political reality of Iraq in the eyes of the dismissive Arab media and regimes whose natural instinct was to reject the new political order out of fear of the unfamiliar. Indeed, Saudi Arabia rejected overtures from both [[Ibrahim al-Jaafari]] in 2006 and his successor in 2008 in preference for dealing with Rubaie. Rubaie was the candidate of choice in Iraq's negotiations with the rest of the [[Arab League]], [[Iran]] and [[Nato]].
+Al-Rubaie also maintains strong relations with Iraq's clerical community, particularly [[Marja'|Grand Ayatollah]] [[Ali al-Sistani]]. In February 2004, he reported that Sistani had survived an assassination attempt.
-==Execution of Saddam==
-Rubaie was the interceder between the Iraqi and US sides in the handover of Saddam Hussain to the Iraqi authorities for [[Execution of Saddam Hussein|execution]]. Rubaie showed Saddam mercy prior to his execution by requesting the guards loosen his handcuffs and personally received Saddam's last wishes before his dispatch to the gallows.  The nature of Saddam's execution led to international criticism of the exchanges between Saddam and some of the prison guards prior to his hanging. Rubaie said that the execution was 'not a sectarian [[lynching]]' as some media sources claimed, based on the widely circulated, leaked video footage in which the Shiite audience gathered to witness the execution chanted 'Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada' (i.e. Moqtada Al-Sadr) to which Saddam Hussein, unintimidated, sarcastically asked ''Are you men?''. As a Muslim, Saddam, who refused to wear a hood, read his last Islamic rites and while in the middle of doing so the trapdoor was released and he was hung. Rubaie admitted that ''some of the behaviour'' in the execution chamber was "unacceptable", sentiments he reiterated on January 1, 2007 when he condemned the leaking of the mobile phone video footage of Saddam's execution which circulated on the internet and was broadcast on Al-Jazeera television "as extremely damaging on all fronts".
 ==Trip to USA==
-In May, 2007, Rubaie made an official trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby leading [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] critics of the war against withdrawing troops, primarily Senator [[Carl Levin]] and Representative [[John P. Murtha]]. Rubaie argued that Iraqi Prime Minister [[Nouri al-Maliki]] was making progress in stabilising Iraq, and that the United States should be patient as Iraqis make steady progress. He also met with supporters of the war, including Senator [[Joseph I. Lieberman]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/washington/09rubaie.html Official Takes Case to U.S., but Skeptics Don’t Budge], "[[New York Times]]", 2007-05-08, accessed on 2007-05-09</ref>
+In May, 2007, he made his first trip to [[Washington, D.C.]], to lobby leading [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] critics of the [[Iraq War|war]] against withdrawing troops, primarily Senator [[Carl Levin]] and Representative [[John P. Murtha]].  al-Rubaie argued that Iraqi Prime Minister [[Nouri al-Maliki]] was making progress in stabilizing [[Iraq]] and that the [[United States]] should be patient as Iraqis make steady progress.  He also met with supporters of the war, including Senator [[Joe Lieberman|Joseph I. Lieberman]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/washington/09rubaie.html Official Takes Case to U.S., but Skeptics Don’t Budge], "[[New York Times]]", 2007-05-08, accessed on 2007-05-09</ref>
-==National Reconciliation==
-Rubaie played a decisive role in diffusing the slide into civil war in the critical period between 2005 and 2008 as he headed the national reconciliation programme to reconcile Iraq's warring Sunni and Shi'ite communities. Rubaie received international acclaim for his achievements in isolating [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|al-Qaeda in Iraq]] from the Sunni mainstream and bringing the Sunni community to the negotiating table with the Shia-led Government as well as his protection of Iraq's vulnerable Christian minority and was awarded "The Annual Prize For Peace Making In The Middle East" at the [[House of Lords]] on 18 February 2009 presented by Lord Hylton of the [[Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East]]. The award was made in order to recognize from the British side Dr Mowaffak Al Rubaie’s "immeasurable contribution towards the peace and reconciliation process in Iraq" (http://www.frrme.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124).
-==U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement==
-Rubaie was the main architect of the [[U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement]] of 2008 which set the timeline for the US withdrawal from Iraq and the rules of engagement for both sides. He was personally commended for his role in the long drawn out negotiations by General [[Raymond T. Odierno|Ray Odierno]].
 ==References==
@@ Line 79: / Line 26: @@
 ==External links==
 {{Wikiquote}}
+* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mowaffak_al-Rubaie Source Watch Article]
-*[http://www.iraqwasat.org/ Website of the Center Party (''Tayyar al-Wasat'')]
-*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mowaffak_al-Rubaie Source Watch Article]
-*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/19/AR2006061901237.html The Way Out of Iraq: A Road Map]
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubaie, Mowaffak}}
-[[Category:1947 births]]
-[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
-[[Category:British Shia Muslims]]
 [[Category:British people of Iraqi descent]]
-[[Category:Iraqi democracy activists]]
+[[Category:1948 births]]
+[[Category:Iraqi politicians]]
+[[Category:Iraqi physicians]]
+[[Category:People from Kadhimiya]]
+[[Category:Living people]]
+[[Category:Iraqi Shia Muslims]]
 [[Category:Iraqi dissidents]]
-[[Category:Iraqi exiles]]
-[[Category:Iraqi Islamists]]
-[[Category:Iraqi Shia Muslims]]
-[[Category:Islamic Dawa Party politicians]]
-[[Category:Islamic democracy activists]]
-[[Category:Living people]]
-[[Category:Members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq]]
-[[Category:People of the Iraq War]]
-[[Category:People from Kadhimiya]]