Ibrahim al-Marashi

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On January 30, 2003, the British government released a dossier titled Iraq – Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation , intended to demonstrate the strength and secrecy of Saddam Hussein’s intelligence apparatus. This document was a follow-up to the earlier September Dossier, both of which concerned Iraq and weapons of mass destruction and were ultimately used by the government to justify its involvement in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. [8] The report was endorsed by Secretary of State Colin Powell during his address to the United Nations Security Council on 5 February 2003 as an example of detailed British intelligence analysis. [9]

Soon after its publication, however, it became evident that the dossier drew heavily from previously published academic and journalistic sources. [9] On February 6, Channel 4 News aired a news segment covering the plagerism of the articles. [2] Of the MI6 document, pages 6 through 19 were entirely plagerised from Marashi. Large portions were copied verbatim from an article by Marashi. [10] [11]

As the journalist Jill Lawless wrote for the Associated Press in 2003: [12]

"Passages of several paragraphs are identical in the two documents, others contain very minor alterations. Passages of several paragraphs are identical in the two documents, others contain very minor alterations." (This sentence indeed repeats itself in the printed newspaper article). [12]

His original article, published in the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) in September 2002, analyzed the structure and operations of Iraq’s intelligence and security agencies. The name of Marashi's original article was: Iraq's Security & Intelligence Network: A Guide & Analysis. [13] Marashi’s study had been based on Iraqi documents captured during the Gulf War, making the material more than a decade old at the time – Marashi acknowledged the date of his own source material, but MI6 did not acknowledge the discrepancy in theirs. [9] Marashi himself noted that his work was a historical study of Iraqi intelligence practices during the occupation of Kuwait and was never intended to serve as evidence of Iraq’s capabilities in 2003. The uncredited use of his research led to widespread criticism, since the government presented it as up-to-date intelligence rather than an academic reconstruction of past events. [9]

The dossier also plagiarized from articles in Jane’s Intelligence Review , which were edited in ways that critics argued exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s security services. The controversy became widely known in the press as the “dodgy dossier,” and it damaged the credibility of the British government’s case for war. [9] For al-Marashi, the episode brought unexpected international attention, as his scholarly work on Iraqi intelligence was at the center of a political and diplomatic dispute about the quality and presentation of evidence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Tony Blair's office ultimately apologised to Marashi for its actions, but not to the MERIA journal. [14] [15]

Academic career after the Dodgy Dossier

In 2004, Marashi obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from Saint Anthony's College at the University of Oxford. Marashi then was given a professorial appointment as a visiting professor in Istanbul, at Sabancı University, where he initially intended to remain permanently before later relocating elsewhere. [2] [7]

Throughout his time in Turkey, Marashi had to contend with questions about his supposed role in the Iraq War. His arrival coincided with renewed publicity over the plagiarism of his earlier research by the British government in its 2003 Iraq dossier. Turkish newspapers ran articles linking him to the justification for the Iraq War, with some headlines suggesting he had been the “mastermind” behind the invasion. The attention quickly turned negative: Marashi recalled facing questions from strangers, such as taxi drivers and street vendors, about why he had supposedly started the war. [16]

At the university where he had just begun teaching, student protests were organized against his presence, with some demonstrators labeling him the “architect of the Iraq War.” The situation made it difficult for him to continue his career in Turkey, despite his original plan to settle there permanently. [16] He left Sabanci in 2006. [7] He taught in turkey for some time after, part of that time at Galatasaray University and part of it at Boğaziçi University. [17] [18]

For a brief time in 2008, he became a visiting professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. While teaching here, he was informed by his U-Penn colleague Monroe Price that a new branch of IE University was being built in Segovia, Spain, and that they were looking for new professors. Price knew the Dean of the college, and encouraged Marashi to apply. [17]

In 2008, he accepted a position at the newly established IE University in Segovia, and at the main campus in Madrid, Spain, relocating there to continue his academic work. [16] He taught in Spain until 2011.

In 2011, Marashi returned to the United States, where he accepted a position on the faculty of California State University at San Marcos. [18]

His position as research associate for the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey had been maintained through the years, and upon his return to California, he also taught advanced seminars there in media and terrorism in the Middle East, but he left CNS in 2013. [18]

Written works

Books [18]

  • The Nineteenth Province: Saddam Hussein’s Strategy during the Occupation of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War(Manuscript proposal passed review process with Cambridge University Press)
  • With Arthur Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East, 13th edition (Routledge, forthcoming 2024)
  • With Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq, 4th edition (Routledge, 2017)
  • With Sammy Salama, Iraq’s Armed Forces: An Analytical History (Routledge, 2008) and in
  • Arabic (Oma Publishing House, 2018)
  • With Alexander Grey, Peace and Conflict: Europe and Beyond (University of Deusto Press, 2006)

Journal articles [18]

  • “Islamic State's Necropolitical Regime of the Jazira: The Necropraxy of Destroying the Necropolis,” Rivista degli Studi Orientali, (forthcoming)
  • With Amar Causevic, “NATO and Anthropogenic Strategic Security,” Connections: The Quarterly Journal, vol. 22, no. 1 (2023): 67-78
  • “Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Units: Intra-Sectarian Rivalry and Arab Shi’a Mobilisation from the 2003 Invasion to the Covid-19 Pandemic,” International Politics, vol. 60, 2023, pp. 194–213
  • “Demobilization minus Disarmament and Reintegration: Iraq’s Security Sector from the US Occupation to the Covid-19 Pandemic,” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, vol. 15, no. 4, 2021, pp. 441-458
  • “Baghdad in the Middle: Iraq’s Negotiation of its Constrained Sovereignty during the Trump Presidency,” Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 44, no. 2, Winter 2021, pp.1-18
  • With Amar Causevic, “NATO and Collective Environmental Security in the Middle East and North Africa: From the Cold War to Covid-19,” Journal of Strategic Security, vol. 13, no. 4, Fall 2020, pp. 28-41
  • With Amar Causevic, “Can NATO Evolve into A Climate Alliance Treaty Organization in The Middle East?” The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, vol. 76, no. 2, March 2020
  • “The 2003 Iraq War Did Not Take Place: A First-Person Perspective on Intelligence and Iraq’s WMD Program,” International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, vol. 11, no. 2, Spring 2014
  • “Iraq’s Gulf Policy and Regime Security from the Monarchy to the post-Baathist Era,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 36, no. 3, Fall 2009, pp. 449-461
  • With Aysegul Keskin, “Reconciliation Dilemmas in post-Baathist Iraq: Truth Commissions, Media and Ethno-sectarian Conflicts,” Mediterranean Politics, vol. 13, no. 2, Summer 2008, pp. 243–259
  • “The Dynamics of Iraq’s Media: Ethno-Sectarian Violence, Political Islam, Public Advocacy, and Globalization,” Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 95, Summer 2007, pp. 96-140
  • “Constructing the Myth of the Shia Arc: From the Iranian Revolution to the 2003 Iraq War,” Eurasia Dossier, vol. 13, no. 3, 2007, pp. 1-37 (in Turkish)
  • “The ‘Dodgy Dossier:’ The Academic Implications of the British Government’s Plagiarism Incident,” The Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 40, Summer 2006, pp. 33-44
  • “Middle Eastern Perceptions of US-Turkey Relations after the 2003 War,” Turkish Policy Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 1, Spring 2005, pp. 123-136
  • “A New Chapter in Iraqi-Turkish Relations?: Examining the Iraqi and Arab Reactions to the Proposed Turkish Deployment to Iraq,” Insight Turkey, vol. 6, no. 1, Winter 2004, pp. 119-128
  • “Iraq’s Hostage Crisis: Kidnappings, Hostages and the Mass Media,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, vol. 8, no. 4, December 2004, pp. 1-11
  • “Saddam’s Security Apparatus during the Invasion of Kuwait and the Kuwaiti Resistance,” The Journal of Intelligence History, vol. 4, no. 2, Winter 2003, pp. 61-86
  • “The Mindset of Iraq’s Security Apparatus,” Journal of Intelligence and National Security, vol. 18, no. 3, Fall 2003, pp. 1-23
  • “The Clan, Tribal and Family Network of Saddam’s Intelligence Apparatus,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, vol. 16, no. 2, Summer 2003, pp. 202-211
  • “Iraq’s Security and Intelligence Network: A Guide and Analysis,” Middle East Review of
  • International Affairs, vol. 6, no. 3, Fall 2002, pp. 1-13

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CNS Staff: Ibrahim Marashi". cns.miis.edu. Archived from the original on 2002-09-11. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Passions, plagiarism, and presenting at TEDexIE with Ibrahim Al -Marashi". drivinginnovation.ie.edu. August 13, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Ramirez, Ilianna; Ambrocio, Karen (2016-04-27). "History professor shares his journey, hopes students strive for excellence in their careers". The Cougar Chronicle. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  4. "The Big Idea: Claire Eddy, Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Anoud and Dr. Zhraa Alhaboby". Whatever. 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  5. 1 2 "Teaching Mideast history to its history makers". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2015-04-12. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
  6. 1 2 "Iraq: Weapons Dossier - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
  7. 1 2 3 "Ibrahim Al-Marashi". www.liquisearch.com. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  8. "CNN.com - Britain's February 2003 dossier - Jul. 16, 2003". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Ibrahim Al-Marashi (2019-04-30). Dodgy Dossier plagiarism, 2003 . Retrieved 2025-09-14 via YouTube.
  10. Al-Marashi, Ibrahim (2024-03-21). "From the Dodgy Dossier to the Cambridge Controversies, Not All Plagiarism Is Alike". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  11. Al-Marashi, Ibrahim. "My plagiarised work was used to justify the war on Iraq". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  12. 1 2 "Aiken Standard Newspaper Archives, Feb 8, 2003, p. 15". NewspaperArchive.com. 2003-02-08. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
  13. "IRAQ SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE". 2008-01-10. Archived from the original on 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  14. "Student whose thesis became Blair's 'dodgy dossier' accuses UK of systematic failure". The Independent. 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  15. "British Government Plagiarizes MERIA Journal". 2005-10-23. Archived from the original on 2005-10-23. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  16. 1 2 3 TEDx Talks (2022-10-06). The Dodgy Dossier, the Iraq War, and Me | Ibrahim al-Marashi | TEDxIEMadrid . Retrieved 2025-09-15 via YouTube.
  17. 1 2 "MEET THE PROFESSOR: IBRAHIM AL-MARASHI". University. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ibrahim Al Marashi" (PDF). University of San Diego.
Ibrahim al-Marashi
Born
Known for Dodgy Dossier
Academic background
Alma mater
Thesis The Nineteenth Province: The Invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War from the Perspective of the Iraqi State (2004)