Kanan Makiya

Kanan Makiya was born in Baghdad. He left Iraq to study architecture at M.I.T. and later joined Makiya Associates to design and build projects in the Middle East.

In 1981, he left the practice of architecture and began to write a book about Iraq. "Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq" was published in 1989, and became a best-seller after Saddam Husain's invasion of Kuwait. It was republished in an updated form in 1995.

Makiya then wrote "The Monument," published in 1991. It's an essay on the aesthetics of power and kitsch. In 1993 he published "Cruelty and Silence: War. Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World," which was awarded The Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations published in English in 1993.

Along with these books, written as Samir al-Khalil, Makiya has written for The Independent, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement and The Times.

In October 1992, he acted as the convenor of the Human Rights Committee of the Iraqi National Congress, a transitional parliament based in northern Iraq. He has collaborated on two films for television, the most recent of which exposed for the first time the 1988 campaign of mass murder in northern Iraq known as the Anfal. The film was shown in the US under the title 'Saddam's Killing Fields,' and received the Edward R. Murrow Award For Best Television Documentary On Foreign Affairs in 1992.

Makiya has just published "The Rock: A Seventh Century Tale of Jerusalem," a work of historical fiction that tells the story of Muslim-Jewish relations in the formative first century of Islam, a story that culminates in the building of the Dome of the Rock. "The Rock" is published by Pantheon Books in New York.

Kanan Makiya has participated in the following films:

• BBC Everyman, 'Enemies of the State,' directed by John Blake. Acted as special consultant to production. Screened April, 1990.
• London's Channel 4 Rearwindow, Bandung Productions, 'Architecture of Fear.'
• BBC Everyman, 'Road Back to Hell,' screened January 12, 1992.
• WGBH Frontline, 'Saddam's Killing Fields,' screened March 21, 1992.

And he has received the following awards:

• On April 27, 1993, the film, 'Saddam's Killing Fields,' received the Edward R. Murrow Award For Best Television Documentary On Foreign Affairs in 1992.
• On October 13, 1993, Cruelty and Silence: War. Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World, was awarded The Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations published in English in 1993.

Professor Makiya, who is one of the leading Iraqi intellectuals now living abroad, currently teaches at Brandeis University.

Recent articles by Kanan Makiya

KANAN MAKIYA SPEAKS ABOUT IRAQ 5 YEARS LATER...		Washington Post		March 13, 2008
EDWARD WONG INTERVIEWS KANAN MAKIYA: CRITIC OF HUSSEIN GRAPPLES WITH HORRORS OF POST INVATION IRAQ		New York Times		March 24, 2007
INTERVIEW WITH KANAN MAKIYA: IRAQ: 'OVERTHROWING HUSSEIN WAS RIGHT'		RFE/RL		October 12, 2006
INTERVIEW WITH KANAN MAKIYA: IRAQ: 'OVERTHROWING HUSSEIN WAS RIGHT'		RFE/RL		October 12, 2006
SECULARISM AND DEMOCRACY ARE THE PILLARS OF A UNITED IRAQ		Gulf News		February 10, 2005
WHITHER IRAQ?		Asharq Al-Awsat		February 7, 2005
THE SHIITE OBLIGATION		Wall Street Journal		February 7, 2005
A PAPER TRAIL FOLLOWS IRAQI MERCHANTS OF TYRANNY by Joel Brinkley		NEW YORK TIMES		November 24, 2003
PRESS CONFERENCE OCT.16, 2003 - TRANSCRIPT				October 27, 2003
KANAN MAKIYA'S IRAQ MEMORY FOUNDATION		New York Times		October 21, 2003
"TRUTH, WAR & CONSEQUENCES" WITH KANAN MAKIYA		PBS FRONTLINE (TRANSCRIPT)		October 18, 2003
Press Conference with Kanan Makiya				June 10, 2003
Free Iraq starts to take form		National Post		April 17, 2003
Thank you, America		New York Post		April 15, 2003
This way to the promised land		Globe and Mail		April 10, 2003
Iraqis Must Share in Their Liberation		Washington Post		March 30, 2003
A Model for Post-Saddam Iraq		American Enterprise Institute		October 3, 2002