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Walid Phares
| Walid Phares | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Organization: | Fox News | ||
| Role: | Foreign policy advisor | ||
| Location: | Washington, D.C. | ||
| Expertise: | Foreign policy | ||
| Education: | •St. Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon •Universite de Lyons, Lyons, France •University of Miami[1] | ||
| Website: | Official website | ||
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Walid Phares is a Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy specialist. He works for Fox News as a Middle East and terrorism expert. Phares also teaches in academia as well as publishes on the subject of foreign policy.[1]
In mid-March 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that Phares was a member of Trump's foreign policy team.[2][3] Previously, Phares had served as 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's national security advisor.[4]
Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
In a meeting with The Washington Post on March 21, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listed his foreign policy advisors, among those listed was Phares.[2] In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition, Phares stated that, despite criticism against Trump on his foreign policy stance, "I accepted the task because I think there needs to be a major change in our policy."[4] Regarding Trump's stance on torture and terrorist suspects, especially after the March 2016, attacks in Brussels, Phares noted that he saw "Trump's repeated statements on torture as not an actual policy but as 'a reaction to a very complex and difficult and challenging situation'."[4] Phares stated that, while he opposes torture, he does support “an enhanced form of interrogation.”[5]
Below is a copy of the transcript from the NPR "Morning Edition" interview with Phares. It was one of the first interviews Phares gave after being appointed to Trump's foreign policy team.
| Transcript of interview on NPR's Morning Edition with Phares.[4] |
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has given names of some foreign policy advisers. One is in our studio this morning. Walid Phares is a foreign policy commentator who appears on Fox News and is author of a book called "Future Jihad," among many other things. Welcome to the program. WALID PHARES: Thank you very much for having me. INSKEEP: A lot of foreign policy experts, including a lot of Republicans, have been repelled by Donald Trump. Was it hard for you to sign on? PHARES: It is hard of course because it's a very politically-charged ambience - I do focus on the Middle East, focus on national security - but I accepted the task because I think there needs to be a major change in our policy, general policy towards the region. INSKEEP: Well, do you see Donald Trump as someone who has it right or someone that you need to try to educate to get a little more right on the issues? PHARES: Well, he wanted me to provide education not just to himself but to the other adviser. I mean, he has a different approach. He has a private-sector approach. So he will count on advisers. INSKEEP: Well, let's talk about some of the specific things Mr. Trump has said. He responded to yesterday's Brussels attacks in part by calling for the United States to get back into the torture business. Let's listen to something that he said. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) DONALD TRUMP: What I would do is, I would - look, I think we have to change our law on, you know the waterboarding thing where they could chop off heads and we can't waterboard. But it's your minimal form of torture. We can't waterboard them. They can chop off heads. INSKEEP: Now, he's said this a lot, and he adds in this specific situation he believes torture would speed the interrogation of a suspect was captured the other day, but, this does raise a basic question. Do you agree that this is the fundamental problem, that the United States is disadvantaged because it's behind ISIS in the torture department? PHARES: This is a reaction to a very complex and difficult and challenging situation. I think Mr. Trump, because we are in a political season, he's making those statements. But when he will come to the White House or form the administration then he's going to be tasking experts to answer that question, and I'm not sure that the experts are going to recommend any form of torture. INSKEEP: Wait a minute. Are you saying you would not favor torturing people in this situation? PHARES: I - no, my position is clear in my books, and I am against torture, but I am with an enhanced form of interrogation that could, by comparing the information which we get from the detainee with other information, get to the result that we want. INSKEEP: Can a candidate for president of the United States say again and again and again I'm going to torture people, it is vital to do that, and then get into office and then just not? PHARES: He - I don't think that in his semantics he said we need to torture. He said we need have to have an enhanced or a different or an alternative. I know it's gray, but he did not provide a clear-cut position that he is going to be torturing. INSKEEP: He says your minimal form of torture in the quote we just heard, he has said we're going to do waterboarding and a hell of a lot worse. He's used the word torture quite a lot, actually. PHARES: Yeah, waterboarding, yes, he made that statement. But when it comes to torture, I think what he meant - that there need to be other forms of interrogation that would get the information just in case that there is a major threat by the terrorists. INSKEEP: I want to ask about something else that he says he wants to do specifically with ISIS. He has made remarks about troops in Syria. He's clarified, he says, I don't want U.S. troops in Syria - don't want U.S. troops in there. He then goes on to say - this is a quote from the other day - "I'd get people from that part of the world to put up the troops, and I'd certainly give them air power and air support and some military support." Isn't that very similar to what President Obama is already doing in Syria? PHARES: No, that's a very clear difference because President Obama has rejected the idea at this point in time to have Arab troops. What Mr. Trump is talking about is to talk with the U.A.E., with Kuwait, with Jordan, with Saudis and probably also with the Egyptians to form a corps that would interfere inside Syria against ISIS because ISIS is deployed in Sunni areas. He does not favor sectarian fights in that area. INSKEEP: So you want Saudi troops in Syria? Is that what you're saying here? PHARES: A multinational Arab force - that's different from Saudi troops - that would be backed by the United States, by the Europeans, and not blocked by the United Nations. INSKEEP: And what leverage does the United States have to get foreign troops into that country where the United States is refusing to send its own troops? PHARES: Well, the U.S. is not going to send troops, and under a Trump administration, there would be a support in air support, but not sending full-fledged occupation forces. The Arab force will go in, will destroy ISIS, and on its way out it will form brigades from the Sunni Arab population of Syria and if possible of Iraq, and then there will be negotiations for a reconciliation in both countries. INSKEEP: Would a President Trump be able to get majority-Muslim countries to send troops to fight and die in a U.S. war at the same time that he is banning Muslims from entering the United States? PHARES: He made that statement, and he immediately said it's interim, this has to do with our homeland security. There will be taskforces to work on giving Mr. Trump what he wants in terms of, can we vet? Once he had the vetting problem resolved, I think that statement will diffuse. I mean, there is no ban on Muslims on religious grounds. In the region, to the opposite, he will be reaching out to the Saudis, to the U.A.E. and Egyptians and to many Muslim states. INSKEEP: Dr. Phares, thanks for coming by, really appreciate it. PHARES: Thank you so much. INSKEEP: Walid Phares is author of "Future Jihad" and is now a foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio. |
On April 27, 2016, ahead of a foreign policy speech by Trump, Phares told The Associated Press that Trump's speech would not address specific foreign policy tactics but would be more general in nature. He said, "There will be no details in this speech. ... He's not going to say 'we're going to send three brigades to do the job.' No. He's going to confirm the principle that ISIS should be destroyed so that the other political settlements can work."[6]
Muslim travel ban comments
On June 18, 2016, Phares told Fox News that Trump's proposed ban on all Muslim travel to the United States, saying that the policy was "narrowing" in scope. He said, "First of all, we cannot talk about specifics until he gets to specifics, but we can project that basically he is narrowing the ban from where he was at the end of 2015. ... So the map [of where Trump's ban would be imposed] is now focusing on where the actual jihadist activities are."[7]
Career
| More on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign staff |
|---|
| Staff overview |
| • Trump staff overview |
Management and strategy |
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•Steve Bannon, Executive chairman |
Communications |
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•Hope Hicks, Communications director |
Advisors |
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•Roger Stone, Informal advisor |
Early life
Walid Phares attended St. Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon and earned degrees in law and political science. He later earned his master's degree in international public law at the Universite de Lyons in France. A native of Beirut, Phares emigrated to the U.S. in 1990, where he attended the University of Miami in Florida, and received his doctorate in international and strategic studies in 1993.[8][1]
Teaching and publishing
From 1993 to 2004, Phares taught Middle East studies and comparative politics at Florida Atlantic University.[1] In 2006, Phares began teaching global strategies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.[9] Phares was appointed provost, chief academic officer as well as director for international studies at BAU International University in Washington, D.C. in 2014.[9][10][8]
Phares has published several books on foreign policy and the Middle East. In 2005, he published Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America, which is an analysis of the origins of the Jihadist movements and the politics and strategies behind them.[8] In 2007 and 2008, he published The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy and The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad, respectively; both books address the role of Jihadism in global and regional politics.[11][12] Phares published The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East in 2010, in which he examined rising tensions in the Middle East that would lead to civil uprisings, such as the Arab Spring. In March 2014, he published The Lost Spring: US Policy in the Middle East and Catastrophes to Avoid, which outlines potential setbacks of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.[8]
Foreign policy advising
Phares was a terrorism analyst for NBC News until 2006.[9] In 2007, he signed on with Fox News as a Middle East and terrorism expert for the network.[1][3] He has also appeared on the BBC, France 24, Russia Today, and CBC Canada television as an analyst.[9] Since 2007, Phares has been an advisor for the Anti-Terrorism Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives[1]
Between 2006 and 2007, Phares was on the advisory board of the Task Force on Future Terrorism of the Department of Homeland Security and Advisory Task force on Nuclear Terrorism.[9]
In 2009, Phares became co-secretary general of the Transatlantic Legislative Group on Counter Terrorism, a joint caucus between the U.S. and Europe.[8][1][9] He has also appeared before the U.S. Congress, E.U. Parliament, and the United Nations to discuss issues of foreign policy in the Middle East.[1][9] In 2011, according to his bio, Phares founded Phares Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in conflict, security, and counter terrorism.[8]
Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012
In 2012, Phares served as the national security advisor for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[4] While serving as an advisor to Romney, Phares received criticism from Muslim advocacy groups and academics, according to New Republic, in regard to Phares' alleged relationship with "right-wing Christian militia groups during the Lebanese civil war."[13][3] At the time, Phares argued that he was being confused with another man by the same name, however, this had been disputed.[13] Phares drew further criticism for comments he had made on warning against the influence of sharia law in the U.S.[3]
Media
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Fox News, "Walid Phares," accessed March 31,2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Washington Post, "Trump questions need for NATO, outlines noninterventionist foreign policy," March 21, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Politico, "Trump names foreign policy team members," March 21, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 NPR, "Trump Foreign Policy Adviser Hopes To Talk Him Out Of Torture," March 23, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Foreign policy adviser downplays Trump's 'torture' talk," March 23, 2016
- ↑ The Associated Press, "Trump's big speech tests his foreign policy and style," April 27, 2016
- ↑ Fox News, "Walid Phares: Trump is narrowing Muslim ban proposal," June 18, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 LinkedIn, "Walid Phares," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Walid Phares, "Short Bio," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ BAU International University, "Who We Are," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ MacMillan press, "The War of Ideas," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ MacMillan press, "The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 New Republic, "Meet Mitt Romney’s Radical, Right-wing, Sharia-phobe Foreign Policy Advisor," October 24, 2011
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