|
From YourSITE.com Books The Confrontation Book Tour in South Florida
South Florida, FTP News, April 9, 2008 In his three days lectures tour in south Florida, Dr Walid Phares introduced his newly released book The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad. Phares, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and a visiting scholar at the European Foundation for Democracy offered what he described as "global strategies to counter a worldwide growing Jihadism." After the lectures, Dr Phares signed his book. At the Palm Beach LLS Program: "It begins in the classroom" The book tour began at the Main amphitheater of the Lifelong Program of Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter's Campus on April 7 at 12 noon. Addressing an audience of more than 300 participants, the author emphasized the importance of thorough education in the so-called war on terror. He said: "if we get it wrong in the classroom, we will take these mistakes all the way to the news rooms and the court rooms. If our students aren't informed and helped in understanding the roots causes of Jihadism as an ideology and history, those who will graduate from these classes and end up as journalists, analysts and decision makers will fail in defending their country and the free world. We shouldn't be surprised that the first and real confrontation is with our own system of understanding. It has obviously failed in detecting and countering the threat for years and some part of it until today is still unable to see the rise of that threat worldwide and at home. Hence," said Phares, "we won't be able to begin winning the war of ideas before we begin fixing the educational gap we have within our own system. This is the first real confrontation we need to engage in." At FAU in Boca Raton: "Isolate Terror ideology" At the invitation of the Middle East and National Security Studies (MEANS) Student Association and the Department of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Dr Phares delivered a lecture on his new book at the Grand Palm Room on Boca Raton's Campus on April 7 at 7 PM. The book event was attended by more than 400 participants including students, faculty, administration officials and community. After a briefing about his research and briefings activities as a Director of the Future Terrorism Project at FDD in Washington and EFD in Brussels, Dr Phares underlined the importance of "establishing international alliances to isolate the Jihadi forces worldwide instead of having them isolating democracies one by one." Phares who conducts frequent briefings in Congress and at the European Parliament said "despite differences between European, Russians, Indians, Africans and Americans for example, there are significant areas of common concerns -including the rise of the Jihadi threat within all of these countries. That alone should enable the leaders of the free world to unite their efforts in a new direction. It is stunning to see that Salafists and Khomeinists have been able to play one democracy against another while striking both. The new global strategies must forge a common international agenda against these terror enabling forces and include principally the democratic forces in the Greater Middle East." Phares answered numerous questions about homeland security, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, human rights, Darfur and other crisis. He was introduced by the director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Political Science at FAU, Professor Robert Rabil.. The Florida Society for Middle East Studies also co-sponsored the event. At Books and Books in Miami The Third Book signing took place at Books and Books in Miami where Dr Phares presented a series of remarks about the Confrontation, focusing on the significant chances that many Middle Eastern societies could have if "we in the West and the free world focus on an intelligent, informed and systematic war of Ideas." He said "until now, we haven't yet seen an efficient campaign backed by democracies, including the US and Europe, and aimed at identifying and supporting the forces of democracy and freedom in the region where the Jihadists massively recruit from." He argued that "a war of ideas is not about embellishing the image of America and Western Europe in the eyes of Arabs and Muslims, as many think. It is rather an effort to link up with groups and individuals in that part of the world which are already struggling for their freedom or are ready to engage in such a struggle. It is not about finding moderates rather it is about finding activists who are ready to fight for freedom and democracy for themselves and oppose the Jihadi terror." © Copyright 2003 by YourSITE.com |
