Adnan Pachachi

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Adnan al-Pachachi (Arabic: عدنان الباجه جي‎) (born May 14, 1923) is an Iraqi politician.

Pachachi was born in Baghdad. The son of Muzahim al-Pachachi, he is the scion of a Sunni Arab family with a long tradition in Iraqi politics and a graduate from Victoria College, Alexandria in Egypt. He was Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1959 to 1965, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1965 to 1967, during the regime of presidents Abdul Salam Arif and Abdul Rahman Arif, and then Permanent Representative to the UN for a second time from 1967 to 1968.

He spent most of the years of Baathist rule in exile in Abu Dhabi after leaving Iraq. While in the United Arab Emirates, he acted as advisor to the Emir, and even publicly kissed his hand in a traditional act of deference.

Although he had very strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq, Pachachi was appointed to the Iraqi Governing Council. He also chaired the committee responsible for drafting the Transitional Administrative Law, Iraq's interim constitution. When Pachachi came to Baghdad to take up these positions, he was accompanied by his daughter Maysoon, who made a documentary (titled Return to the Land of Wonders) in which her father figures prominently.

On June 1, 2004, he was reportedly nominated to be the next president of Iraq. He chose to turn down the post, stating that he refused to be a "puppet" of the United States.

A liberal secularist, Pachachi put together a list of candidates called the Assembly of Independent Democrats (which included his party Democratic Centrist Tendency was included) to contest Iraq's January 2005 legislative election. However, his party failed to win any seats in the assembly with only around 12,000 votes. For the December 2005 elections, he was elected as a member of the list headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Following Arab political tradition, Pachachi opened the first session of the Iraqi National Assembly in April 2005, as the oldest member elected.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adnan Pachachi

• PACHACHI, Adnan International Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006.