His Excellency Dr Adnan Pachachi is Former President of the Governing Council that governed Iraq in the wake of the American invasion. The son of a former prime minister, he served as Iraqi foreign minister and ambassador to the UN before the Baathists seized power in 1968. He spent his years of exile in Abu Dhabi, where he was an adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates. He is head of the Iraqi Independent Democrats and is seen as a possible unifying force amid Iraq's religious and ethnic factions.

Dr Pachachi visited St Antony's College on Wednesday 15 November 2006. He delivered a lecture entitled 'Iraq at the Crossroads'. This was followed by a question and answer session chaired by Mr Foulath Hadid of the St Antony's College Middle East Centre.