Mowaffak al-Rubaie

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Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie, April 2007

Dr Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie (alternative transliterations Muwaffaq al-Rubaie and Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i) (Arabic: موفق الربيعي ) is an Iraqi politician, and the current Iraqi National Security Advisor in the government of 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.

A Shia Muslim and neurologist by training, al-Rabai'i was born in Kadhimiya and left Iraq in the early 1980s to study in Britain. There he became a member of the British Royal College of Physicians who practiced internal medicine and neurology and also went into publishing. In London he became a spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party.

After the United States's 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 Coalition Provisional Authority.^[1] He held this post until September 2004, when he was replaced by Qassim Daoud following a disagreement with then Prime Minister Iyad Allawi over how to deal with Muqtada al-Sadr.^[2]

In 2006, al-Rubaie was appointed National Security Advisor by the government of Nouri al-Maliki.^[3]

1 Reputation
2 Execution of Saddam
3 Trip to USA
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Reputation

Rubaie is closely connected to the widely discredited opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi, both of whom are relatively secular but joined the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA). He is also close to Chalabi's nephew Ali Allawi, another secular UIA man, who gives Rubaie high praise in his book The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace (2007).

However, Rubaie has made many enemies in Iraq since he returned in 2003. He is accused of making outrageous claims related to his access, both with American politicians and with Iraqi figures, particularly Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Rubaie claimed to be speaking on Sistani's behalf on several occasions, although many within Iraqi politics disputed this assertion. Perhaps most notably, he reported in February 2004 that Sistani had survived an assassination attempt, although this was denied publicly by Sistani and his aides. Many accused Rubaie of inventing the event in order to bring attention to himself. Whether this is true or not, the rumour is an indication of the views of Rubaie's detractors.^[4]

On the other hand, those who support Rubaie would counter that he has played an important role in various negotiations, especially those between the Iraqi government and Moqtada al-Sadr during the siege of Najaf in 2004^[5].

[edit] Execution of Saddam

Rubaie was criticised particularly harshly^[who?] after what were seen as inappropriate comments following the execution of Saddam Hussein, which many observers^[who?] felt was indignified. On CNN, Rubaie said: "I was proud of what had happened, because we played by the book... If that upset the feeling of some of the Arab nations and Arab rulers, I think that is tough luck to them."^[6]

[edit] Trip to USA

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.^[7]