Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi's primary role is leading Iraq's diplomatic efforts to weaken support for a possible U.S. military attack. He has continued to lobby permanent United Nations Security Council members as part of Baghdad's efforts to shore up international support, including visits to Russia and China. Sabri has also met with a delegation from India and the 22-member Arab League.

He has also spearheaded efforts to reach out to former enemies in an effort to find new allies against the U.S. During a five-day meeting in January 2002 in Iran, once Iraq's central foe, he told Iranian President Mohammad Khatami that U.S. behavior "is not just a threat to us, but a threat to the Islamic world."

Sabri has been part of the ongoing high-level talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and chief U.N. weapons inspector Dr. Hans Blix. And it was Sabri, along with Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who delivered the letter in September from the Iraqi government to Annan saying Saddam Hussein would allow weapons inspectors back into Iraq.

Sabri was appointed Foreign Minister last year. A member of a historically powerful family, he holds a doctorate in English literature. During the Gulf War, he was Deputy Information Minister and, at one time, ran Iraq's press office in London. Before his appointment, he served as an ambassador to Austria.

Sabri is considered more of a technocrat than a political leader. Some view him as an interim figure in the Hussein cabinet though he is said to be close friends with Saddam's younger son, Qusay.

-- By Raven Tyler, Online NewsHour