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BBC To Air Iraq War Debate: Zogby Leads Winning Side, Calling for US Withdrawal

Posted on Wednesday December 21, 2005

WASHINGTON – On December 31 and January 1, 2006, BBC World will air “The Doha Debates” which examine the issue of the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq. AAI President James Zogby, partnered with Reg Keys, a British citizen whose son was killed in Iraq in June 2003, led the winning argument that the United States and the United Kingdom should withdraw forces from Iraq in six months. Keys recently challenged British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Parliamentary elections.

Modeled after the Oxford Union debates, the 300 in attendance voted with Zogby and Keys, who won by a margin of 69.5 percent to 30.5 percent.

Raymond Tanter, Georgetown University professor and former Reagan White House National Security Advisor, and Ali Al Bayati, an Iraqi diplomat based in London, opposed the resolution.

“The United States and United Kingdom, who have become a key part of that problem in Iraq, cannot be the solution,” said AAI President James Zogby. “If you support this resolution you will help send the message that it is time for the US and the UK to leave, but to leave responsibly by doing in the next six months what they failed to do in the last thirty-three.”

Former BBC presenter Tim Sebastian with James J Zogby, Raymond Tanter, Ali Al Bayati and Reg Keys at the Doha Debates December 14, 2005.

Viewers can watch the debates on BBC World on Dec. 31 at 12:10 GMT and on Jan. 1 at 8:10 GMT. In the United States, viewers can watch via broadband online at BBC World. The Doha Debates are a public forum in Qatar sponsored by the Qatar Foundation for Education. Past debates have featured Bill Clinton, Mahathir Mohamad and Saad Eddin Ibrahim, among many others. The debate is moderated by Tim Sebastian, former host of BBC’s Hard Talk program.