David Kay, the Bush administration's former chief weapons inspector in Iraq, has agreed to participate in a University of Delaware lecture series titled "Enemies List."
Kay made international headlines in January when he resigned from his job and said publicly that U.S. intelligence officials were mistaken when they said Iraq had caches of illegal biological and chemical weapons and advanced nuclear weapons programs. The threat posed by such weapons of mass destruction was one of the Bush administration's primary justifications for invading Iraq.
Kay's speech at UD will be titled, "Working with the Enemy - Intrusive Inspections." The Global Agenda series and Kay's appearance were organized by UD professor and former CNN world affairs correspondent Ralph Begleiter.
Kay will appear at 7:30 p.m. on April 28 at Mitchell Hall in Newark.
Begleiter, who knew Kay from his days as a correspondent, said it took months of negotiations to secure Kay's appearance.
"I think his statement to Congress was a watershed moment in the debate about Iraq. Until he came out and said what he said, there was still a debate about whether Iraq did or did not have weapons of mass destruction," Begleiter said.
Begleiter said Kay has a long and respected career, including service as a chief weapons inspector for the United Nations after the 1991 Gulf War. During that time, he was held hostage by Saddam Hussein in Iraq for four days. Kay is also a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Va.
Begleiter said he looks forward to hearing Kay discuss how he had to work to get cooperation from an adversary.
"You can't be too aggressive, but you can't get in bed with them," Begleiter said. "You have to be a good negotiator."
The next speaker in the Global Agenda series, Ambassador Robert Gallucci, takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mitchell Hall.
Gallucci, the dean of Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and a former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, will give a speech titled "Fire and Brimstone: Weapons of Mass Destruction."
Reach Sean O'Sullivan at 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com.
