27 Facts About Aiham Alsammarae

Aiham Alsammarae is a nationalistic, Sunni Muslim, Iraqi politician who served as Minister of Electricity from August 2003 until May 2005.

Aiham Alsammarae has been an active member of the Iraqi National List and has fought hard for political reconciliation among Iraq's political parties as well as against the policy of de-Ba'athification, since his resignation as Minister of Electricity.

Aiham Alsammarae's father, Jasim, was born and raised in Samarra.

Aiham Alsammarae later founded one of Iraq's largest construction companies.

From a young age, Aiham Alsammarae was intimately familiar with Iraqi politics due to his family's presence in this sphere.

Aiham Alsammarae then attended the University of Baghdad, earning his BSc in electrical engineering in 1973.

Aiham Alsammarae obtained his Masters in Electrical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL in 1978 and began work on his PhD.

Aiham Alsammarae was involved in opposition meetings during the 1990s and leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Aiham Alsammarae was a member of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party during the 1970s while a young college student in Baghdad, Iraq and was required to remain a Ba'ath Party member in order to obtain a scholarship to continue his studies in the USA.

In January 1980, Aiham Alsammarae resigned from the party upon news of the execution of two brothers-in-law and one cousin.

All three men had been accused of planning a coup attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein; Aiham Alsammarae was later implicated in the alleged coup attempt by Iraqi Intelligence officials.

Aiham Alsammarae was in attendance at these meetings, and was elected by fellow opposition members to be one of the 65 members of the Coordinating Committee.

Aiham Alsammarae was strongly opposed to the creation of an Iraqi federation as well as de-Ba'athifaction, both of which were policies put forth by Ahmed Chalabi.

Aiham Alsammarae has criticized Chalabi's policies and behavior in many instances, including a Washington Times article where Aiham Alsammarae denounced Chalabi's move to a former Hussein palace.

Aiham Alsammarae inherited an archaic system providing an output of around 3,000MW.

In 2003 and 2004, Aiham Alsammarae complained about the lack of fuel on numerous occasions and tried to involve external mediation to solve the loggerhead.

Additionally, Aiham Alsammarae worked hard to lobby the Iraqi parliament and other Iraqi politicians to reject Chalabi's policy of de-ba'athification.

Aiham Alsammarae resigned from the Ministry in May 2005 as Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, an Iraqi politician with strong ties to Iran was elected as Prime Minister.

Aiham Alsammarae remained active in political pursuits such as garnering further support for reconciliation as well as encouraging Sunni Muslims' to be more active in politics.

However, in the face of growing Iranian control over Iraq, Aiham Alsammarae began to openly criticize the Iranian regime, its presence in Iraq and the Iraqi politicians allied to Iran.

Aiham Alsammarae decided to travel to face these charges, but found that he would, instead, be held without being formally charged by the Commission for Public Integrity.

Regardless, on 11 October 2006 Aiham Alsammarae was convicted of misappropriation of funds regarding a $200,000 generator purchased for the southern province of Maysan.

Aiham Alsammarae filed an appeal, and was acquitted of wrongdoing in December 2006.

Aiham Alsammarae, who has been cleared of all allegations and acquitted by the highest appeals court in Iraq, has continued his work in Iraqi politics.

Aiham Alsammarae is currently working with the Iraqi National List, headed by Iyad Allawi.

Aiham Alsammarae has concentrated his work on continuing efforts in the area of reconciliation and is actively working to bring Iraqis of various ethnic and religious backgrounds together to form one, nationalistic, secular and democratic front.

Aiham Alsammarae is the CEO of a private engineering consulting firm and lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife and three children.