Rutgers Law Record 2008-2009 Symposium Iraq at the Crossroads: Protecting Refugees, Rescuing our Allies, and Empowering Iraqi Law

Speaker Biographies

Eric Blinderman is International LitigationCounsel for Proskauer Rose LLP. In that capacity Erichandlesavarietyofmatters including,butnot limited to,Foreign Corrupt Practice Act matters and extraditiondisputes. He handles matters before the InternationalCriminal Court and other ad‐hoc tribunals, complexinternational commercial arbitrations subject to a varietyofarbitralrules,andrepresentssovereignstatesbeforetheInternational Court of Justice and other internationalbodies.

Ericserved fromMarchof2004untilDecemberof2006 in Iraq, first as anAssociateGeneral Counsel of the

Coalition Provisional Authority and later as Chief Legal Counsel and AssociateDeputytotheRegimeCrimesLiaison'sOffice.DuringhistimeinIraq,EricadvisedseniormembersoftheUnitedStates,Coalition,and Iraqi governments on matters of public international law, commercial lawreform,and international criminal law.Heworkedprincipallywith the IraqiHighTribunalasittriedmembersoftheformerregime(includingSaddamHussein)foratrocities committed against the Iraqi people. InMay of 2007, theDepartment ofJusticepresentedEricwithaSpecialCommendationAwardforhisserviceinIraq.Eric has authored multiple articles on international law. He is frequently calledupon to lecture about his experiences at law schools and to comment oninternational affairs in variousmediaoutlets including theN.Y.Times, L.A.Times,WashingtonPost, theWall Street Journal, TimeMagazine,Newsweek, theNYLawJournal,theABAJournal,PBS,C‐SPAN,CNN,andFoxNews.

In addition, he served as law clerk to a United States Federal Judge andworkedattheUnitedNationsDevelopmentProgram,thePreparatoryCommissionfor the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, and the Programme in

Comparative Media Law and Policy. He is also the founder and owner of thecriticallyacclaimedrestaurantMas(farmhouse)whichislocatedinNewYorkCity.EricreceivedhisJ.D.,cumlaudefromCornellLawSchoolandwasawardedaM.St.ininternationallawfromtheUniversityofOxford,withdistinction.

Robert Carey has over 25 years of experienceworking in refugee resettlement and humanitarianadvocacy and has served as Vice President for IRC’sResettlement Department since March 1995.As VicePresidentofResettlement,BobsupervisesresettlementstaffatIRC’sHeadquartersinNewYorkandoverseesanetwork of 24 regional offices across the countryresponsible for the resettlement of as many as 7,000refugeesannually.

Bob also oversees a staff at the IRC’s OverseasProcessing Entity in Bangkok, Thailand, which has

assisted over 20,000Burmese refugees to theUnited States since its inception inlate 2005. Providing oversight and guidance to the IRC’s resettlement programs,Bob serves as an agency spokesperson on issues of refugee admissions andresettlement.HehasrepresentedtheIRCatdomesticandinternationalconferences,including UNHCR’s Annual Tri‐partite Meeting on Resettlement and UNHCR’sInternationalConferenceonAddressingtheHumanitarianNeedsofIraqiRefugees.Hehasbeenquotedbynumerousnewsoutlets,suchastheNewYorkTimes,CNN,andNPRandhasparticipatedinoverseasdelegationstoWestAfrica,SoutheastAsia,andmostrecentlytotheMiddleEasttoassessandaddressrefugeeissues.Heisthecurrent Chair of Refugee Council USA, a coalition of 23 US non‐governmentalorganizations working on refugee assistance and protection, and sits on theDepartment of State’s Joint Regional Working Group for Southeast Asia. He is agraduateofTrinityCollegeinHartford,Connecticut.

RajivChandrasekaranisNationalEditorofTheWashingtonPost.Heisoneofthesenioreditorsresponsibleforshapingthenewspaper’snationalnewscontent,includingcoverageofthefederalgovernmentanddomesticpolitics,foreignpolicy,nationalsecurity,socialissues,scienceandmedicine.

ChandrasekaranistheauthorofImperialLifeintheEmeraldCity,abest‐sellingaccountofthebungledAmericanefforttoreconstructIraq.Thebook,whichprovidesafirsthandviewoflifeinsideBaghdad'sGreenZone,wontheOverseasPressClubbookaward,theRonRidenhourPrizeandBritain’sSamuelJohnsonPrize.ItwasafinalistfortheNationalBookAwardandwasnamedoneofthetenbestbooksoftheyearbytheNewYorkTimes.

PriortohisappointmentasNationalEditor,ChandrasekaranheadedThePost'sContinuousNewsdepartment,whichreportsandeditsbreakingnewsstories

forwashingtonpost.com.FromApril2003toOctober2004,hewasThePost'sbureauchiefinBaghdad,wherehewasresponsibleforcoveringtheAmericanoccupationofIraqandsupervisingateamofPostcorrespondents.HelivedinBaghdadformuchofthesixmonthsbeforethewar,reportingontheUnitedNationsweapons‐inspectionsprocessandthebuild‐uptotheconflict.

HetookasabbaticalfromThePostin2005toserveasthejournalistinresidenceattheInternationalReportingProjectattheJohnsHopkinsSchoolforAdvancedInternationalStudiesinWashingtonandasapublicpolicyscholarattheWoodrowWilsonInternationalCenterinWashington.

ChandrasekaranappearsregularlyonCNN,MSNBCandNationalPublicRadio.HeservesontheboardofdirectorsoftheCommitteetoProtectJournalistsandtheadvisoryboardoftheInternationalReportingProject.BeforetheU.S.‐ledwarinIraq,hewasThePost'sbureauchiefinCairo.Priortothatassignment,hewasThePost’sSoutheastAsiacorrespondent,basedinJakarta,Indonesia.InthemonthsfollowingSeptember11,2001,hewaspartofateamofPostreporterswhocoveredthewarinAfghanistan.

HejoinedThePostin1994asareporterontheMetropolitanstaff.Hesubsequentlyservedasthepaper’sWashington‐basednationaltechnologycorrespondent.AnativeoftheSanFranciscoBayArea,heholdsadegreeinpoliticalsciencefromStanfordUniversity,wherehewaseditorinchiefofTheStanfordDaily.HeliveswithhiswifeinWashington,D.C.

Jessica Chicco is the Arthur Helton Fellow in the Refugee ProtectionProgramatHumanRightsFirst.Jessica’sworkincludesconductinglegalorientationpresentations to immigration detainees at the Elizabeth Detention Center in NewJersey, interviewing asylum seekers, and conducting research and advocacyworksurrounding the Iraqi refugeecrisisand thedetentionofasylumseekers.Prior tojoining Human Rights First, Jessica volunteered at Lutheran Social ServicesImmigration and Refugee Program in New York and represented clients inimmigration proceedings through the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU. Jessicaobtained a B.S. in Foreign Service fromGeorgetownUniversity in 2002 and a J.D.fromNewYorkUniversitySchoolofLawin2007.

EmilyGish is theMiddle East ProgramOfficer forMercyCorpswhere she

provides programmatic and advocacy support for Mercy Corps' programs in theregion,withaspecialfocusontheirIraqprograms.AlthoughbasedinWashington,DC,Emily'sworkfrequentlytakeshertoIraq,Kuwait,Jordanandothercountriesinthe region to provide support and assistance toMercy Corps' Iraq programs andother Middle East programs. She is also currently one of the co‐chairs ofInterAction'sIraqWorkingGroup.PriortoworkingwithMercyCorps,EmilyspentseveralyearsworkingforSavetheChildren,bothintheirheadquarters,whereshefocused on emergency and child protection policy, and in their Pakistan Countryoffice, where she worked in program development and support for Save theChildren'sPakistanearthquakereliefandrecoveryprograms. EmilyhasaMasters

DegreeinInternationalPeaceandConflictResolutionfromAmericanUniversityinWashington,DC.

Lori Grinker began her photographic career in1981while a student at Parsons School of DesignwhenInside Sports published her photo‐essay about a youngboxerasitscoverstory.Duringthattimeshemetanotheryoung boxer, 13 year‐old Mike Tyson, who shedocumented for the following decade. Since then, inaddition to her reportage of events such as thedestructionoftheWorldTradeCenter,shehasdelvedintoseverallong‐termprojects,andpublishedtwobooks:TheInvisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women(Jewish Publication Society, 1989, 6 editions), and

Afterwar:VeteransfromaWorldinConflict(de.MO,March2005).Published in major magazines, her work has earned international

recognition, garnering aWorld Press Photo Foundation Prize, aW. Eugene SmithMemorial Fund fellowship, the Ernst Hass Grant, The Santa Fe Center forPhotographyProjectGrant,andaHasselbladFoundationGrant,amongothers.Herphotographshavebeen exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around theworldandareinmanyprivateandmuseumcollectionsincluding:TheInternationalCenterofPhotography (ICP),The JewishMuseum inNewYorkCity,TheMuseumofFineArts, Houston, and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.Between editorial assignments and personal projects, Grinker lectures, teachesworkshops,andisonthefacultyoftheICPinNewYorkCity.SheisrepresentedbytheNailyaAlexanderGalleryinNewYorkandhasbeenamemberofContactPressImagessince1988.(Photo©KeriPickett)

ErikGustafsonistheExecutiveDirectorofEPIC:PromotingaFree&SecureIraqandaveteranofthe1991GulfWar.AsaU.S.ArmySpecialistwith the864thEngineerBattalion,he spent eightmonths in Saudi Arabia building field hospitals, roads and POWcamps.Afterhishonorabledischarge in1992,Gustafsonattendedthe University of Wisconsin ‐ Madison to pursue a degree inEducation. From 1993 to 1997, he was the Madison chapterpresidentandtheMidwestregionalcoordinatorof theEastTimorActionNetwork(ETAN).

Responding to reports of Iraq's humanitarian crisis underUN trade sanctionsand Saddam Hussein's misrule, Gustafson visited Iraq in July 1997 with ahumanitarian fact‐finding delegation. Troubled by the intolerable suffering hewitnessed, he moved to Washington, DC in 1998 and founded EPIC to improvehumanitarianconditionsanddefendhumanrightsinIraq. TodayGustafsonisarespectedIraqanalystandapassionateadvocatefortheadvancementofpeacethrougheconomicdevelopmentandhumanitarianaction.He

has testified at congressional briefings and delivered countless lectures acrossNorthAmerica.HehasbeenafrequentguestontheBBCWorldNewsandFoxNews,andhasappearedonNBCNightlyNews, theNewsHourwith JimLehrer,CNN,andothermainstreammediaoutlets.Hislettersandopinionpieceshaveappearedinadozennewspapers, includingtheNewYorkTimes,theLosAngelesTimesandUSAToday.Earlierthisyear,GustafsonledtheorganizingofaNationalIraqForumandIraqAction Days – a joint initiative between EPIC and more than 20 organizations –which brought hundreds of constituents to Washington, DC to build support forhumanitarian action in Iraq. The efforts helped generate $1.8 billion in additionalU.S. funding for FY08 andFY09 to assistwar‐affected Iraqis andother vulnerablepopulations worldwide. The Iraq Forum is available online atwww.IraqActionDays.org

Professor Haider Hamoudi received his B.Sc.

fromtheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnologyin1993,with a doublemajor in Physics and Humanities with aNear Eastern Studies Concentration. He was both amember of the Physics Honor Society, Sigma Pi Sigma,andaBurchardScholarforExcellenceintheHumanitiesand Social Sciences. In 1996, Professor Hamoudireceived his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where hewas a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. After graduating, heservedasa lawclerktotheHonorableConstanceBaker

MotleyintheSouthernDistrictofNewYorkandthenworkedasanassociateatthelawfirmofDebevoise&Plimptonuntil2003.Thereafter,ProfessorHamoudiwenttoIraqandactedasbothalegaladvisortotheFinanceCommitteeoftheIraqGoverningCouncil,aswellasaProgramManagerfora project managed by the International Human Rights Law Institute of DePaulUniversity School of Law to improve legal education in Iraq. Professor HamoudicontinuestoadvisetheIraqiGovernment,primarilythroughtheIraqMissionattheUnited Nations. Professor Hamoudi's scholarship focuses on commercial law,Islamiclaw,andtheintersectionofthetwointhecontemporaryera.Hehaswrittenfor numerous law reviews, spoken at conferences sponsored by the MacMillanCenter at Yale University, the American Association of Law Schools and the NewYork City Bar Association, and given interviews to various news organizationsincludingthePittsburghPost‐Gazette,theMcNeil‐LehrerNewsHourOnlineandtheNewYorkLawJournal.

Professor Hamoudi is also the author of a blog on Islamic Law entitledIslamicLawinOurTimes.

SanaHardinaworkedwith theWomen’s Commission forRefugeeWomenandChildrenasaProgramSpecialist,DetentionandAsylumandGeneralAdvocacyProgramspriortojoiningRCUSAin2006.HerresponsibilitiesincludedresearchonissuesofdetentionandasylumintheU.S.andonrelatedlegislationbeforetheU.S.

Senate and House of Representatives. Prior to her work with the Women'sCommission, Sana worked with the International Rescue Committee, WashingtonD.C.RefugeeResettlementTeamassistingcasemanagers,orientingnewly‐resettledrefugees, and working on grant proposals. Prior to her arrival in the U.S., SanaworkedforeightmonthswiththeProtectionUnitintheUNHCROfficeinNewDelhi,India where she worked on resettlement cases and repatriation cases. Whileinterning with the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Zagreb, Sana worked on issuespertainingtoIDPre‐integration.ShehasaBAinInternationalComparativePoliticsfrom the American University Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan and holds a Master’sDegreeinPoliticalSciencefromtheUniversityofFriedrichSchillerinGermany.

Hilary Ingraham is a Foreign Affairs Specialistcovering displaced Iraqis in the Bureau of Population,Refugees andMigration (PRM) at theDepartment of State.She has also covered Palestinian refugee issues at PRM.Prior to working at PRM, she worked for the Office ofRefugee,Asylum,andInternationalOperationsattheUnitedStates Citizenship and Immigration Services. She was alsothe Assistant Director of Catholic Charities refugeeresettlement program in Boston,MA. Hilary has aMastersDegreeinPoliticalScienceandDevelopmentStudies,aswellasaGraduateDiplomainForcedMigrationStudies,fromthe

AmericanUniversityinCairo.

KirkW. Johnson is anArabist andwriter,focusing on U.S. foreign policy and politicalIslamism throughout the Middle East. He hasworked and researched throughout the region,mostrecentlyonthereconstructionofIraqfortheU.S. Agency for International Development inBaghdadandinFallujah.As founderanddirectorofTheList:ProjecttoResettleIraqiAllies,Johnsonbecame a leading public advocate for Iraqis whoassisted the U.S. Government.In his capacity asdirector, he has brought together over 100attorneys from two leading law firms to offer

thousandsofhoursofpro‐bonorepresentationforIraqirefugeesonhislist,andiscultivating a nationwide grassroots support effort. He has written op‐eds on thesubject for theNewYorkTimesandtheLosAngelesTimesandhisefforts tohelpU.S.‐affiliatedIraqiswerethesubjectofaNewYorkerarticle.Hehasdiscussedhisprojectandtheissueinnumerousmediaoutlets.JohnsonbeganworkingforUSAIDinDecember2004onacontractthroughtheInternationalResourcesGroup,servinginBaghdadastheMission'schiefInformationOfficerforthefirsthalfof2005.Inthefall of 2005, Johnsonwas appointed to USAID's Senior Staff as the Agency's first

emissarytothecityofFallujahinAnbarProvince.AstheRegionalCoordinatorforReconstruction in Fallujah, he was USAID's chief liaison on reconstruction issueswith local Iraqi government officials, the SecondMarineExpeditionaryForce, andother international actors in the region. In this capacity, Johnson coordinated aportfolioofreconstructionandhumanitarianassistanceprojectsvaluedatover$20million.PriortohisworkinIraq,JohnsonanalyzedpoliticalIslamic'pulp'writingsas a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt (2002‐2003). He holds a B.A. with general anddepartmental honors in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from theUniversity of Chicago, where he wrote his honors thesis on the state of politicalIslamistcurrents inEgyptand thebroaderMiddleEast.During that time, JohnsonreceivedaForeignLanguageAcquisitionGranttostudytheSyriancolloquialdialectofArabic inDamascus.Asahighschoolstudent,hestartedhisstudiesofclassicalandEgyptiancolloquialArabicattheageof16attheCollegeofDuPage,followedbysummer studiesat theAmericanUniversity inCairo.Hehas lived inEgypt, Syria,Iraq,andconductedresearchtripstoLebanon,Jordan,Israel,andtheWestBank.

Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr.. was born inPaterson,N.J.andhaslivedintheSilkCityallofhis life.Hewas first elected to the United States House ofRepresentatives, representing the Eighth CongressionalDistrictofNewJersey,inNovemberof1996.HewasswornintohissixthterminJanuaryof2007.

Atthestartofthe110thsessionofCongress,Billwasselected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on theexclusive Ways and Means Committee. Created in 1789,Ways and Means is the oldest standing committee in

Congress.Duetoitsbroadjurisdictiononcriticalissues‐involvingeconomicpolicy,international trade,welfare, Social Security,Medicare andhealth carepolicy ‐ thecommitteeoccupiesapivotalplaceintheHouseCommitteesystem.Inadditiontolegislating,theCommitteeexercisesbroadoversightauthorityinalltheseareas.BillisthefirstmemberfromNewJerseytoserveonthecommitteeinovertenyears.

Anestablishedleaderonmeetingtheneedsofournation'sfirstresponders,House leadership turned to Bill to fill a vital post on the House Committee onHomeland Security which was created to oversee the implementation of thelandmark Homeland Security Act of 2002. Bill is also the proud author of theFirefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act, which provides federalgrantstowardsourlocalvolunteerfiredepartments.Hislegislationwasthefirstofits kind and is still the only real federal commitment to our nation's 32,000 firedepartments.Pascrellcontinuestobeastrongvoiceinstrengtheningourhomelanddefenseby fighting toprovide for thoseonthe front lines ‐‐our firefighters,policeofficers, andhealth careworkers‐‐with the resources theyneed tomeet thenewthreatsweface.

BillattendedFordhamUniversityinNewYork,receivingaBachelor'sdegreein Journalism and aMaster's degree in Philosophy. He is a veteran of the United

StatesArmyandtheArmyReserve,havingreceivedanhonorabledischargein1967.Before representing New Jersey's eighth district Bill was appointed to and laterPresident of the Paterson School Board, also serving as an adjunct Professor atFairleighDickinsonUniversity.BillwaselectedtotheNewJerseyGeneralAssemblyin1987and in1990hewaselectedMayorofPaterson,NewJersey's third largestcity.

JudgeRa'idJuhiservedfrom2004to2006aschiefinvestigativejudgeoftheIraqiHighTribunal(IHT).Duringthat time, he supervised all cases before the Tribunal andindicted Saddam Hussein and seven others for crimesagainst humanity perpetrated against the citizens of Ad‐Dujayl.JuhialsoindictedSaddamHusseinandAliHassanal‐Majidal‐Tikriti ("ChemicalAli") forgenocidearisingoutofthe massacre of over 100,000 Kurds from 1987‐1988.During the trial of Saddam Hussein, Juhi served as thecourt's spokesperson, handled all press queries, andfrequentlyappearedbeforeWesternandArabicmedia.Juhi

also negotiated the IHT's rules of evidence and procedurewhichwere ultimatelyadopted and used in all proceedings. Previously, Juhi investigated and indictedradicalShiiteclericMoqtadaal‐SadrforthemurderofclericAbdulMajidAl‐Khoei,which occurred in 2003 outside one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites, the Shrine ofImamAliinNajaf,Iraq.JuhiisagraduateofIraq'sJudicialInstituteandservedasafamilycourt judgeandcriminal investigative judgeunderSaddamHussein.He leftIraq in May 2007 and joined Cornell University's Law School as a Clarke MiddleEasternFellow.

Commissioner Nina Shea has been an international human‐rights lawyerfor twenty‐five years. Shea joined the Hudson Institute as a senior fellow inNovember2006,whereshedirects theCenter forReligiousFreedom. For the tenyearspriortojoiningHudson,SheaworkedatFreedomHouse,whereshedirectedtheCenterforReligiousFreedom,anentitywhichshehadhelpedfoundin1986asthePueblaInstitute.

Since1999,SheahasservedasaCommissioneron theU.S.CommissiononInternationalReligiousFreedom. Shehasbeenappointedas aU.S. delegate to theUnited Nation’s main human rights body by both Republican and Democraticadministrations.

For over a decade, she has worked extensively for the advancement ofindividual religious freedom and other human rights in U.S. foreign policy as itconfrontsaresurgentIslamicextremistideology,aswellasnationalistandremnantcommunistregimes.Forsevenyearsendingin2005,shehelpedorganizeandleadacoalition of churches and religious groups that worked to end a religious waragainstnon‐MuslimsanddissidentMuslims insouthernSudan; in2004and2005,she helped advise in the drafting of the Iraqi constitution’s religious freedomprovision; and, she authored and edited three widely‐acclaimed reports, Saudi

Arabia’s Curriculum of Intolerance (2008) and (2006), and Saudi Publications onHate Ideology Invade American Mosques (2005), both of which translated andanalyzed Saudi governmental publications that teach hatred and violence againstthe religious “other.” She regularly presents testimony before Congress, deliverspublic lectures, organizes briefings and conferences, and writes frequently onreligiousfreedomissues.Her1997bookonanti‐Christianpersecution,IntheLion’sDen,remainsastandardinthefield.

She isamemberof thebarof theDistrictofColumbia.She isagraduateofSmithCollege,andAmericanUniversity’sWashingtonCollegeofLaw.

Dan E. Stigall is a U.S. Army Judge Advocate (JAG). J.D.,

2000,LouisianaStateUniversityPaulM.HebertLawCenter.Heiscurrently assigned as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for theEasternDistrictofVirginia.In2004,heservedasLegalLiaisontothe Coalition Provisional Authority in Tikrit, Iraq, where heworkedextensivelywith the IraqiPropertyClaimsCommission.He researches andwrites on topics related to international law,comparativelaw,andcivillawsystems.

Joshua van Praag is a filmmakerwhose award‐winning shorts have been

exhibitedatfestivalsandbroadcastontelevisionaroundtheworld.Overthelasttenyearshehascollaboratedonfeaturefilmanddocumentaryproductionsinthirteendifferentcountries,acrossfivecontinents.