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Iraqi Ministers
On September 1, 2003, the Interim Iraqi Governing Council named its first
cabinet of 25 Ministers. The Saddam-era positions of Minister of Defense and
Minister of Information have been dissolved. The Ministers and their areas of
responsibility include:
Minister of Agriculture — Abdul-Ameer Abboud Rahima.
A Shia Muslim, Rahima hails from the city of Basra and is a member of the
National Democratic Party
Minister of Communications — Haider al-Abbadi
A Shia Muslim and electrical engineer by training, al-Abbadi is a member of the
Daawa Party
Minister of Construction and Housing- Bayan Baqir Sulagh
A member of Iraq's Turkoman minority, Sulagh is a senior member of the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, during the 1990's, represented the
organization in Lebanon and Syria
Minister of Culture — Mofeed Mohammed Jawad al-Jazairi
A Shia Muslim and member of the Iraqi Communist Party, al-Jazairi was a
journalist by profession. He worked for the Arabic desk at Czechoslovak Radio in
the 1960s and 1970s and married Chech radio journalist Pavla Jazairiova. He
returned to Iraq in the 1980s and became a member of the Kurdish opposition
Minister of Education — Alaudin Abdul-Saheb al-Alwan
A Shia Muslim and native of Baghdad, al-Awan was dean of the College of Medicine
at Mustansariyah University until 1992, when he joined the staff of the World
Health Organization
Minister of Electricity — Ayham al-Samarrai
A Sunni Muslim, al-Samarrai was a member of the Iraqi exile community in the
United States during the 1990s, when he was a member of the executive committee
of the opposition group Democratic Centrist Tendency. He is an associate of
Adnan Pachachi and a member of Pachachi's Iraqi Independent Democrats
Minister of the Environment- Abdul-Rahman Sidiq Kareem
A Kurd, Karim is an engineer and environmental activist
Minister of Finance — Kamil Mubdir al-Kilani
A Sunni Muslim and contractor, al-Kilani remained in Iraq during the span of the
Saddam Hussein government. He holds a masters degree in economics and public
administration from Mustansariyah University in Baghdad
Minister of Foreign Affairs — Hoshyar Zebari
A Kurd originally from Aqrah, Zebari holds a masters degree in sociology from
the University of Essex in England and studied political science in Jordan. He
was the foriegn spokesperson for the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the 1990s and
represented the organization to Britain and the United States
Minister of Health — Dr. Khudayer Abbas
A Shia Muslim and surgeon, he is a member of the Daawa Party
Minister of Higher Education — Zeyad Abdul-Razzaq Mohammed Aswad
A Sunni Muslim, he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and formerly chaired
Baghdad University's Department of Petroleum Engineering. He holds graduate
degrees from the University of Southern California and University of Oklahoma in
the United States
Minister of Human Rights — Abdul-Basit Turki
No further information
Minister of Immigration and Refugees — Mohammed Jassem Khodayyir
A Shia Muslim, Khodayyir is a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq and the Daawa Party
Minister of Industry and Minerals — Mohammed Tawfik Rahim
Originally from Sulaymaniyah, Rahim was w leader in the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan and former Deputy Speaker of the Kurdish parliament in the 1990s
Minister of Interior — Nori al-Badran
Shia Muslim, Badran served in the government of Saddam Hussein as ambassador to
Russia until fleeing Iraq upon its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. In exile, he joined
the Iraqi National Accord opposition group.
Minister of Justice — Hashim Abdul-Rahman al-Shibli
A Sunni Muslim, al-Shibli is a member of the newly formed National Democratic
Party
Minister of Oil — Ibrahim Mohamed Bahr al-Uloum
A Shia Muslim, al-Ulloum is
the son of Shia cleric Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum. al-Ulloum was educated in the
Unived States, earning a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from the University of
New Mexico; he later worked for the Kuwaiti oil ministry, for the Petroleum
Recovery Research Center in New Mexico, and as an independent consultant in
London (from 1992 to 2003). He avoided an assassination attempt in Iraq on 12
October 2003
Minister of Planning — Mahdi al-Hafidh
A Shia Muslim, al-Hafez was the Iraqi representative to the United Nations from
1978 to 1980; afterwards, he headed the Arab Economic Research Association in
Cairo. He is associated with the Iraqi Independent Democrats
Minister of Public Works — Nesreen Mustafa Sidiq Berwari
Berwari holds a
degree in public policy and management from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy
School of Governrment
Minister of Science and Technology — Rashad Mandan Omar
A Sunni Muslim and Turkoman, originally from Kirkuk, Omar is an engineer by training and recently
returned to Iraq from a period working in Dubai in the field of airport
construction
Minister of Sport and Youth — Ali Faik al-Ghadban
A Shia Muslim, al-Ghadban is a supporter of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq
Minister of Trade — Ali Adbul-Amir Allawi
A Shia Muslim, Allawi was part of
the Iraqi exile community in London during the rule of Saddam Hussein. He was
one of the organizers of "The Declaration of Iraqi Shia," a statement
released in 2002
Minister of Transport — Behnam Zayya Polis
A member of Iraq's Christian
minority, Bulos is originally from Baghdad, where he worked as a civil engineer
Minister of Water Resources — Abdul-Latif Rashid
Rashid previously served
as a spokesperson for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the United Kingdom.
Minister of Work and Social Affairs — Sami Izara al-Majoun
A Shia Muslim
and tribal leader from Samawa in Southern Iraq, al-Majun worked for the Saudi
justice ministry from 1971 to 1980. He is a former member of the Iraqi National
Congress
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