Samir Sumaida'ie

Iraq Ambassador to U.S. Delivers Lecture (Multimedia)

Posted on October 8, 2009 - Permalink
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Yesterday afternoon, a day after meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington D.C., His Excellency Samir Sumaida'ie, Iraq ambassador to the U.S., was at the Moakley Center auditorium delivering a lecture on past and present Iraq and the country's relationship with other nations.

The visit marked the ambassador's first ever trip to Massachusetts and was his only stop at any institution of higher education in the commonwealth during his stay.

His talk, delivered to a crowd of around 150 campus community members, was titled, "Shedding Lights on Iraq Today and its Relationships with the U.S. and Regional Powers." It centered on the importance of the U.S. and other nations to maintain relationships with Iraq and illuminated the hardships and triumphs of the Iraqi people.

Mr. Sumaida'ie said although the U.S. has many major issues to address, such as health care reform and the war in Afghanistan, our nation must continue to work with Iraq to promote stability there.

"Iraq is not a small and irrelevant county," he said. "Iraq has the historical and political gravity that will impact what happens around it. And what happens in Iraq will have huge ramifications on what happens in the region and ultimately what happens in the world."

The event was sponsored by the Middle Eastern Studies Program. Dr. Jabbar Al-Obaidi, coordinator of the program and chairman of the department of communication studies, arranged for the ambassador's visit to Bridgewater and joined with Dr. Edward Minnock, vice president for External Affairs, in introducing him.

In his remarks, Dr. Al-Obaidi discussed the aim of the educational event and others like it. "Our mission is to educate ourselves, to be understood and to understand others," he said. (Story and photos by Rob Matheson, Institutional Communications)

A video of the lecture provided by the Moakley TV Studio: