RAND Experts Available to Discuss Arab League Summit in Iraq

Leaders from 21 Arab states, including Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Yemen are meeting in Baghdad this week for the first Arab League Summit since the Arab Spring demonstrations of last year.

One key topic will be how to address the ongoing violence in Syria, which was suspended from league membership in November. Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has accepted a six-point plan to end violence in his country that was drafted by United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, a plan many of the Arab states are expected to endorse. Other issues on the table include how to deal with widespread water shortages in the Middle East and Iraq's request to several Arab states to forgive Iraq's debts.

The RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, has a number of experts who can discuss the Arab League Summit, how Iraq's image in the larger Arab community is shifting, what policy decisions are likely to emerge from it, and what it will mean for U.S. policymakers.

Amb. Charles P. Ries, a senior fellow at RAND and director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy, is the former Coordinator for Economic Transition in Iraq at the U.S. Embassy Baghdad. He can discuss the significance of Iraq's role as host of the summit and how the Iraqi government sought to balance its objectives for the Summit.

Amb. James Dobbins is director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center. He can discuss the proposed Annan plan to end the violence in Syria and the significance of the Arab League Summit.

Frederick Wehrey is a senior policy analyst whose research focuses on Persian Gulf security, Iran, Libya, civil-military relations, and U.S. policy in the Middle East. In 2008 he served as a strategic advisor to MNF-I in Baghdad, focusing on post-surge challenges. He can discuss how this summit may be affected by last year's Arab Spring protests.