Basil Al-Rahim is a merchant banker with MerchantBridge & Co. Ltd (London) and a founder and board member of the Iraq Foundation. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer of the Safron Corporation, managing director of the Carlyle Group, and founder and executive director of Dar Al-Amana, a private investment company in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has been an active member of the Iraqi exile community and post-war reconstruction planning efforts.

John Cornyn is a United States Senator (R-Tex.). From 1999-2002, he served as attorney general of Texas. As the state's chief law enforcement officer, he was responsible for directing many programs vital to the interests of Texas families, such as child support and consumer protection, as well as providing legal representation to more than 300 state agencies. After serving six years as a District Court Judge in San Antonio, he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990 and reelected in 1996. In 2000, he received the Outstanding Texas Leader Award from the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Forum. In 2001, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas presented him with the James Madison Award for his efforts to promote open government. He was also recognized in 2002 by the Texas chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Publishers for his outstanding Hispanic outreach at the Office of the Attorney General.

Kenneth Katzman is a specialist in Middle East affairs for the Congressional Research Service where he provides analysis on Persian Gulf political, military and diplomatic affairs and on U.S. policy in that region to members of Congress and their staffs. Mr. Katzman has served in government and the private sector as an analyst in Persian Gulf affairs, with special emphasis on Iran and Iraq.

Hassan Mneimneh is co-director of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project at Harvard University. He is a regular contributor to the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat. His publications include "Manual for a ‘Raid’" (co-authored with Kanan Makiya in the New York Review of Books). He has been active in post-war reconstruction planning efforts.

Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Her research areas include the Middle East, South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), terrorism, and weapons proliferation. Before coming to AEI, she was a senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1992 to 2002. Ms. Pletka also served as a staff writer for Insight Magazine, as well as an editorial assistant for the Los Angeles Times and Reuters in Jerusalem.