Tareq Y. Ismael is Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary, Canada. He is the Editor of the International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies; his most recent publications include The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party in Iraq and Cultural Cleansing in Iraq: Why Museums were Looted, Libraries Burned and Academics Murdered.

Andrew Rippin is Professor of Islamic History at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2006, his publications include Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, and The Islamic World (both published by Routledge).