Reuel Marc Gerecht
Encyclopedia
Reuel Marc Gerecht is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
, focusing primarily on the Middle East, Islamic militancy, counterterrorism, and intelligence. He is a former director of the Project for the New American Century
's Middle East Initiative and a former resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
. Mr. Gerecht also served as a case officer at the CIA, primarily working on Middle Eastern targets. In the 1990s, when Mr. Gerecht was living abroad, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of Edward Shirley He is the author of Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey Into Revolutionary Iran (1997), The Islamic Paradox: Shiite Clerics, Sunni Fundamentalists and the Coming of Arab Democracy (2004), and The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East (2011). Mr. Gerecht writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and many other publications. A contributing editor at the the Weekly Standard magazine, Mr Gerecht has been a foreign-affairs columnist for the New Republic magazine's foreign-affairs blog and a foreign correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly.
Gerecht holds a hawkish position on Iran
and in an interview with PBS
Frontline has said "The Iranians
[...] have terrorism
in their DNA
." Simultaneously however, Gerecht has also advocated the re-establishment of diplomatic relationships with Tehran before any military action is taken. According to journalist Andrew Sullivan
, Gerecht also defends the use of physically coercive interrogation techniques
in the ticking time bomb scenario
.
Mr. Gerecht has been associated with the neoconservative movement in foreign affairs, which advocates American hegemony overseas. He was a strong proponent of military strikes against the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan in the 1990s, a backer of both the Afghan and Iraq wars, and has repeatedly urged a hawkish approach to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including preventive strikes against the Iranian regime's nuclear sites and military retaliation for the alleged Iranian assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador in the United States. Mr. Gerecht was a harsh critic of the Central Intelligence Agency's performance in the 1990s against the Islamic terrorist target, and has often written about the difficulties of reforming the American intelligence establishment. A disciple and friend of the Princeton historian Bernard Lewis, Mr. Gerecht has nevertheless argued that Islamic fundamentalists, not Muslim liberals, will be the engine of political reform and democratization in the Middle East. His views have often been condensed into the remark, "No Thomas Jefferson without Martin Luther".
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan policy institute "working to defend free nations against their enemies". It was founded shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks to address what it regards as the "threat facing America, Israel and the...
, focusing primarily on the Middle East, Islamic militancy, counterterrorism, and intelligence. He is a former director of the Project for the New American Century
Project for the New American Century
The Project for the New American Century was an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that lasted from 1997 to 2006. It was co-founded as a non-profit educational organization by neoconservatives William Kristol and Robert Kagan...
's Middle East Initiative and a former resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
. Mr. Gerecht also served as a case officer at the CIA, primarily working on Middle Eastern targets. In the 1990s, when Mr. Gerecht was living abroad, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of Edward Shirley He is the author of Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey Into Revolutionary Iran (1997), The Islamic Paradox: Shiite Clerics, Sunni Fundamentalists and the Coming of Arab Democracy (2004), and The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East (2011). Mr. Gerecht writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and many other publications. A contributing editor at the the Weekly Standard magazine, Mr Gerecht has been a foreign-affairs columnist for the New Republic magazine's foreign-affairs blog and a foreign correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly.
Gerecht holds a hawkish position on Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and in an interview with PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
Frontline has said "The Iranians
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
[...] have terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
in their DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
." Simultaneously however, Gerecht has also advocated the re-establishment of diplomatic relationships with Tehran before any military action is taken. According to journalist Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Michael Sullivan is an English author, editor, political commentator and blogger. He describes himself as a political conservative. He has focused on American political life....
, Gerecht also defends the use of physically coercive interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures are terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States to describe certain severe interrogation methods, often described as torture...
in the ticking time bomb scenario
Ticking time bomb scenario
The ticking time bomb scenario is a thought experiment that has been used in the ethics debate over whether torture can ever be justified.Simply stated, the consequentialist argument is that nations, even those such as the United States that legally disallow torture, can justify its use if they...
.
Mr. Gerecht has been associated with the neoconservative movement in foreign affairs, which advocates American hegemony overseas. He was a strong proponent of military strikes against the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan in the 1990s, a backer of both the Afghan and Iraq wars, and has repeatedly urged a hawkish approach to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including preventive strikes against the Iranian regime's nuclear sites and military retaliation for the alleged Iranian assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador in the United States. Mr. Gerecht was a harsh critic of the Central Intelligence Agency's performance in the 1990s against the Islamic terrorist target, and has often written about the difficulties of reforming the American intelligence establishment. A disciple and friend of the Princeton historian Bernard Lewis, Mr. Gerecht has nevertheless argued that Islamic fundamentalists, not Muslim liberals, will be the engine of political reform and democratization in the Middle East. His views have often been condensed into the remark, "No Thomas Jefferson without Martin Luther".
Writings
- Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997).
- The Islamic Paradox: Shiite Clerics, Sunni Fundamentalists, and the Coming of Arab Democracy (AEI press, 2004)
- The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East (Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 2011)
External links
- profile on Right Web