Alaa Al-Tamimi - Pre-political Life

Pre-political Life

Al-Tamimi is a Muslim (yet politically secular). In 1972, al-Tamimi received his BSc in civil engineering, and, in 1979, his MSc in structural engineering, from Baghdad University. His PhD in structural engineering was received from the University Of Paris in 1985. He later wrote several books on the subject of engineering.

In 1987, al-Tamimi worked as a "director general" under Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program (which never succeeded in actually creating a nuclear bomb due to the interruption of the first Gulf War in 1990.)

In 1995, al-Tamimi fled from Iraq with his wife and son, and would not return despite the threats made by Hussein's secret police.He had been a professor of structural engineering at Baghdad University and then was forced to work for the Iraqi nuclear agency. But he wants it understood that he helped make buildings, not bombs.

He settled in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where he worked as a Planning Ministry advisor in 1998. The Tamimis are now settled in Southern Ontario.