Dr. Saad Eskander's life may be measured by the many challenges he has faced and overcome, and seems to confirm, to paraphrase Nietzsche, that "what does not destroy you makes you strong." It certainly prepared him with the strength of will and strongly held values that have sustained his extraordinary stewardship of the Iraq National Library and Archives (INLA). In 1962, Dr. Eskander was born in Baghdad into a family of Faili Kurds. Their Shi'a faith made the Failis a minority within a minority; however, their large community in Baghdad flourished in the twentieth century, sharing an emphasis on commercial activity, educational advancement, and progressive values with the Jewish community of the city.

Dr. Eskander was orphaned at the age of 15. His elder brother, in prison for political activity at the time, was released in a general amnesty in 1980 as Iraq invaded Iran, but promptly left for the mountains of Kurdistan, whence he urgently summoned his brother and two sisters, who left Baghdad to join him. By this means, the family escaped the dreadful fate of the Baghdadi Failis, falsely accused of being an Iranian fifth column: 7,000 boys and men between 16 and 50 imprisoned (and then executed en masse in 1987), the rest forcibly expelled over the border into Iran, with great loss of life.

From Kurdistan, the sibling group went into exile in Tehran, where they engaged in political activity for a couple years before making their way to Syria. After some time there, they participated in concert with a hundred of their compatriots in the daring act of renting an airplane, flown illegally by a hired Egyptian pilot to London, where those on board sought asylum but were first interned.

Family friends managed to get the Saad and his siblings out, and a new chapter in his life began. Eager to pursue his education, Saad impressed a professor at the University of North London sufficiently to assist him in entering a BA program despite a near absence of English language knowledge, but due to the evidence of deep reading of Western authors, which he had accomplished in Persian--and the promise that he would study hard. His 1994 BA there in modern political history was followed five years later by a PhD in international history from the London School of Economics, with a focus on British colonialism and Kurdish nationalism in the early Iraqi state, which work has resulted in the publication of numerous articles and books.

After a period of work as a researcher attached to Birkbeck College, University of London, Dr. Eskander was appointed Director-General of the utterly devastated Iraq National Library and Archives, subjected twice to arson in April 2003 at the time of the invasion, its rare books and other special collections flooded in the place to which they had been removed.
It was a great boon to Iraq that circumstances permitted Dr. Eskander to take up his new position, in which his performance has been exemplary in every way. Most people lead their lives without ever arriving at such a place. Not only has Dr. Eskander, in the face of the grimmest of circumstances, created a compelling model for what life in Iraq could and should be: progressive, fair-minded, non-sectarian, and transparent; he has also provided a model for the manner in which virtually any institution might be governed to achieve the most positive of results, with the most productive and content of staffs. In 2003 he faced a moribund staff of 95, but through force of character and strength of will he transformed this desolate institution into a renovated, thriving one with a staff of 435. With an absolute commitment to bring out the best qualities in every member of his staff, and to provide them opportunities to realize their talents, Dr. Eskander has conveyed an aspirational point of view to counter the grim one inherited from the totalitarian past, to wit that no step could be entertained let alone taken without an order from above.

To achieve these impressive results, Dr. Eskander has had to fight many battles and deal with many challenges: to resist interference and corrupt impulses from two ministries, to face down invasion of the institution, to cope with assassinations of staff members, to find transport for his large staff, to make his own way daily through dangerous streets, to locate assistance in rebuilding the infrastructure and collections of the INLA, to enhance the skills of his staff, and much more.