Former US ambassador to Syria available for interviews

HOUSTON – (Sept. 6, 2013) – Edward Djerejian, founding director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and Israel, is available Monday through Wednesday next week for interviews about Syria, including President Barack Obama’s Tuesday evening national address on Syria.

A leading expert on the complex political, security, economic, religious and ethnic issues of the Middle East, Djerejian served in the U.S. Foreign Service under eight presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton. Djerejian was U.S. ambassador to Syria from 1989 to 1991.

In 2003, Djerejian chaired the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World at the request of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and was senior adviser to the Iraq Study Group in 2006. Djerejian is the author of the book “Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador’s Journey Through the Middle East.”

Djerejian will discuss Syria live Sunday morning on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”

The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available for media who want to interview Djerejian. For more information, contact David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at david@rice.edu.

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Djerejian recently in the news:

Al-Arabiya English and Al-Hayat
Ex-U.S. diplomat: Obama could strike Syria without Congressional approval
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/09/07/Former-U-S-diplomat-Obama-could-strike-Syria-without-Congressional-approval.html

KUHF (NPR-Houston)
Former US ambassador to Syria says Obama has tough choice
http://bit.ly/172XNXU

Image courtesy of Rice University’s Baker Institute

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Founded in 1993, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston ranks among the top 20 university-affiliated think tanks globally and top 30 think tanks in the United States. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute sponsors more than 20 programs that conduct research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows and Rice University scholars. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.