For Immediate Release —Oct. 8, 2008

Contact:
David Irwin
Media Relations Officer
(585) 245-5516
irwin@geneseo.edu

Panel at SUNY Geneseo to Examine Current Political Situation in Iraq

GENESEO, N.Y. – A panel of four experts, including the person who planned and managed the initial series of Iraqi elections, will address the current political situation in Iraq during a conference Oct. 15 at the State University of New York at Geneseo.   The conference will include the college’s annual Roemer Lecture, which also will focus on Middle Eastern politics.  All sessions will be in the MacVittie Union ballroom.

“Our panel participants will bring a fresh perspective on the present and future of Iraq because of their breadth of knowledge and experience,” said Jeff Koch, chair of political science at SUNY Geneseo.  “The war in Iraq has important ramifications for the Middle East.  We are fortunate to have people joining us who have first-hand knowledge of the country’s history, political development and current situation.”

Participating in the panel discussion on Iraq from 1:30 to 3:30 will be:

• Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan and a leading scholar on Middle Eastern politics, history and religion.  He has published extensively on Iraq, Egypt, Iran, and South Asia and continues to write about contemporary Islamic mainstream and radical movements.   Cole also will present the Roemer Lecture at 4 p.m. titled:  “Iraq, Iran and the Shi’ite Crescent:  Myth or Reality.”
• Isaiah Wilson, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and professor of political science at the U.S. Military Academy.  In Iraq, Wilson was Chief of Plans in the 101^st Airborne Division in Mosul.  He also served as historian, field interviewer and writer for the U.S. Army chief of staff’s Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group.
• Jeff Fischer, who has provided election assistance in more than 50 countries and planned and managed the initial series of Iraqi elections.  He has served as the founder and director for the Center for Transitional and Post-Conflict Governance at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.  He also has held appointed posts in post-conflict transitions including Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor and Iraq.
• Feisal Istrabadi, who has been the ambassador for the Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the deputy permanent representative of the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations.  He has worked on the State Department’s Future of Iraq Project on post-war planning for Iraq and has been the legal adviser to the Iraqi Governing Council’s delegation to the U.N. Security Council.

SUNY Geneseo's Kenneth Roemer Lecture on World Affairs is a memorial to Roemer's longstanding interest in global issues. The series was endowed by his brother, the late Spencer J. Roemer, emeritus director of admissions at Geneseo and member of the Geneseo Foundation Board of Directors.  The event is also supported by contributions from political science and international relations department alumni and Geneseo’s Contemporary Forum.