Alobeidi was born in Baghdad 1947 for a mid class family in Al-Fadil city (مدينة الفضل), which is located in Alrisafa district.

Prior to this position, he was the dean of the Iraqi Institute of Armored Sciences (معهد الدروع) from mid 1986 to 1988.

After the Gulf War of 1991, he started to criticize Sadam's regime, and opposed the 1990 invasion of Kuwait; as a result, he was demoted and sentenced to seven years in prison with confiscation of his movable and immovable assets.

Alobaidi is not affiliated with any political party and was known with his independency and impartiality in dealing with the Iraqi conflicts during his ministry.

Alobaidi was assigned to the position Minister of Defense in a very critical time, while sectarianism was in its peak and the Iraqi Army was still not ready and in a rebuilding process.

However, he was banned from the 2010 Iraqi elections over alleged links with the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which were possibly fabricated.

[citation needed] USG Open Source Center Profile Media related to Qadir Obeidi at Wikimedia Commons