Former US ambassador available for interviews about developments in Syria

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

The United States and 12 other nations have expelled top Syrian diplomats in response to the massacre of more than 100 villagers last Friday in Houla. With U.N. envoy Kofi Annan now saying the uprising has reached a “turning point” after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, where exactly is this crisis headed?

Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Edward Djerejian, the founding director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is available to comment on the current developments in Syria and the United States’ current position. Djerejian served in the U.S. Foreign Service under eight presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton. Prior to his nomination by Clinton as U.S. ambassador to Israel, he was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in both the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He was also the U.S. ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic from 1988 to 1991.

Djerejian was asked by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to chair the congressionally mandated bipartisan Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World. The bipartisan advisory group published its report in October 2003. Djerejian served in 2006 as senior adviser to the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel mandated by Congress to assess the situation in Iraq.

The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available for media who want to schedule an interview with Djerejian. For more information, contact Jeff Falk at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.