We are pleased to have Right Honourable Jack Straw, MP, Former UK Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister headline the meeting as the Open Forum speaker on Monday, July 9. In this year's Open Forum, Mr. Straw will reflect on the decisions to go to war and their consequences – both anticipated and unforeseen. He'll suggest that, but for the removal of Saddam Hussein, Iraq would have re-emerged as a dangerous regional power; Libya would almost certainly have become nuclear-armed; and the "Arab Spring" would have had an even more difficult first year.
Mr. Straw will discuss Iran – now the most complex and threatening foreign policy dossier. Mr. Straw was the only British Foreign Minister in three decades to have visited Iran (he did so five times), and to have negotiated in Tehran. He'll consider how the regime there was initially strengthened by the U.S.'s removal of its two historic enemies – the Taliban to the east, Saddam to the west – and how the regime is now increasingly isolated but more problematic to deal with than it ever has been. He'll consider the future of Pakistan – nuclear armed, and inherently unstable – and much more.
For more information on the meeting, please visit www.iadclaw.org.