Husam Al Rawi Dean of the Faculty of Architecture

Yesterday, Faris said he’d received word from his father for the first time just over a week ago – and not too long after even had the opportunity of seeing his father being interviewed on CNN television.

“So we’re all very relieved and totally elated that he’s alright,” he added.

“He was able to rent a satellite phone and call me at 4 am our time. He was only allowed 60 seconds of air time so it was a brief conversation, but I was so happy to hear from him. I just called all the family all over the Middle East and the rest of the world.”

On the weekend, he said he got a call from his aunt who told him she had just seen his father being interviewed on CNN. Faris added: “He was being interviewed as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and about life at the campus in the face of the war. He looked well.

“They asked him why the photos of Saddam Hussein had not been taken down from the university and he told them that to do so, would be to add to the anarchy since there is no new administration in place yet.”

“I could see he was being himself,” Faris said.
He said his father told him that his home and the entire city was ravaged by the war and that 90 per cent of the population, which was employed by the State, is now jobless since there is no “State” to employ them.
http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2003-05-15/news8.html

Speaking of his early life, Al Rawi recounts, “Dad was the dean of faculty of engineering at the University of Baghdad. He’s a very well-known architect in the Middle East. He built many of the national monuments in Iraq. My mom and dad met in England while they were both at school, they got married and had twins, me and my sister Aasma, who is also a lawyer.


“My dad is a six-dan martial artist in a style called Wu Shu Kwan. He trained the Iraqi army in martial arts. He was the big man in the Middle East in the Olympic committee.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,124243.html

"It will be the eighth wonder of the world," effused one of its government-appointed architects, Dr. Hussam Al-Rawi, head of the department of architecture at Baghdad University's College of Engineering.

"It will just shock you. The size of it will be like a mountain. It will
be amazing," added Dr. Al-Rawi, a member of the eight-man design team named by Mr. Hussein. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime project for an architect."

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-11-25-1994329068-story.html