Gulf Dialogue 2004

The First IISS Gulf Security Conference:  The Gulf Dialogue - Bahrain 3–5 December 2004

The rationale for the Gulf Dialogue was articulated most eloquently and powerfully by the backdrop against which it was convened: an intensifying insurgency in Iraq, with elections scheduled for January 2005; a crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme, put into temporary abeyance by a deal reached in late November between Tehran, London, Paris and Berlin; the death of Yasser Arafat and the prospect of elections for a new Palestinian leader; and, at the close of the conference, terror attacks in Saudi Arabia that further underlined the prevalence of threats to Gulf security. Many of the diplomatic, military and intelligence practitioners whose decisions bear directly on these matters, and a good number of the opinion-formers who