[2] His aunt, Lam'an Amin Zaki, had been in the delegation of women that went to Istanbul to seek the hand of the future wife of King Faisal II, who was later killed in the coup.

He spent his childhood in the Iraqi capital until 1970, when the aftermath of the Baath Party's coup two years previously forced his family to move again, this time to Bloomington, Indiana.

Al-Istrabadi received a doctorate in law in 1988 from Indiana University Bloomington and was a practicing trial lawyer for many years, during which time he became increasingly involved in Iraqi opposition politics.

He was involved intimately with the drafting of the Future of Iraq Plan, a project sponsored by the State Department which exiled Iraqis developed as a blueprint for the best course of action after the war.

[3] Prior to his diplomatic appointment, Ambassador Istrabadi served as legal advisor to the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs during the negotiations for U.N. Security Council resolution 1546 of 8 June 2004, which recognized the reassertion by Iraq of its sovereignty.