Al-Rubaie played an important role in various negotiations, especially those between the Iraqi government and Moqtada al-Sadr during the siege of Najaf in 2004.[3]
In 2006, al-Rubaie was widely credited with his humane treatment of the condemned Saddam Hussein, as he conducted the transfer of custody of the prisoner from US to Iraqi judicial authorities culminating in the execution of Saddam on 30 December 2006.[4] In an interview with Vice News in December 2019, al-Rubaie displayed a noose he purported was the one used to hang Hussein, and claimed he "pulled the trigger" to kill the former dictator.[5]
Reputation
Al-Rubaie is respected on both sides of the sectarian divide in Iraq as a pragmatic and non-partisan Nationalist whom current Deputy PM Ali Allawi gives high praise in his book The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace (2007).
A winner of the Annual Middle East Peace Prize awarded by the Foundation For Peace & Democracy in the Middle East for his role in protecting Iraq's Christian Minority, Al-Rubaie maintains good relations with Bishop Andrew White, the Canon of Baghdad.
Al-Rubaie also maintains strong relations with Iraq's clerical community, particularly Grand AyatollahAli al-Sistani. In February 2004, he reported that Sistani had survived an assassination attempt.
Trip to USA
In May, 2007, he made his first trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby leading Democratic critics of the war against withdrawing troops, primarily Senator Carl Levin and Representative John P. Murtha. al-Rubaie argued that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was making progress in stabilizing Iraq and that the United States should be patient as Iraqis make steady progress. He also met with supporters of the war, including Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.[6]