Iraq Study Group

Edwin Meese Replaces Rudolph Giuliani on Iraq Study Group

May 31, 2006

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Edwin Meese III

Washington - Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III has replaced former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as a member of the Iraq Study Group, study group co-chairmen James A. Baker, III, and Lee H. Hamilton said Wednesday.

Meese was Counsellor to President Ronald Reagan from January 1981 to February 1985 and the nation's 75th Attorney General from February 1985 to August 1988. Meese currently holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based public policy research and education institution. He is also the Chairman of Heritage's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California.

Giuliani resigned in a May 24 letter to Baker, explaining that "my previous time commitments do not permit me the full and active participation that the Iraq Study Group deserves."

The study group, comprised of five Democrats and five Republicans, is conducting a forward-looking, bi-partisan assessment of the situation on the ground in Iraq, its impact on the surrounding region, and consequences for U.S. interests. The study group was assembled at the urging of members of Congress and has been welcomed by President George W. Bush.

The other members of the study group include Robert M. Gates, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon J. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson.

The Iraq Study Group is being coordinated by the United States Institute of Peace, with the support of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development, and increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by directly engaging in peacebuilding efforts around the globe.