Al-Zubaydi served as Iraq's ambassador to Indonesia from 1995 to 2001, during which time he publicly challenged the U.N. sanctions regime against Iraq. As a result, al-Zubaydi earned the nickname "Voice of the Arabs", inspired by a popular Cairo-based radio program of the same name which trumpeted Pan-Arabism and opposition to foreign rule during the 1950s and 1960s.[1]