Walid Phares

Walid Phares is an Lebanese-American right-wing "terrorism expert" who is closely allied with various neoconservative individuals and institutions which regularly cite Phares's comments as evidence for their claims. Phares has also been interviewed as an "expert" on TV news shows. When it was still in operation, Phares was represented by Benador Associates, a public relations firm that also represented many of the most well-known living neoconservatives, including .

Descriptions of Phares

An article in David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine calls him

a former PLO terrorist who now lectures on behalf of Israel. He, too, converted to Christianity and became a devoted Zionist in the process. Providing firsthand experience of the hatred and anti-Semitism that is instilled in Palestinians from the time of their youth, Shoebat’s testimony is a powerful indictment against Islamist intolerance.

His biography on Lebanonwire states:

Dr Walid Phares is a Professor of Middle East Studies, Ethnic and Religious Conflict, and an expert on Political Islam, Jihad and the Clash of Civilizations.
Born and raised in Lebanon, Walid Phares was educated at the Jesuit and Lebanese Universities of Beirut where he obtained degrees in Law and Political Science as well as certificates in Sociology. He obtained a Masters in International Law from the Universite de Lyons in France and a Ph.D. in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the University of Miami.

Another biography describes his expertise as follows:

Phares' expertise covers Islamic Fundamentalism, the Jihadic Movements and strategies worldwide, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Human Rights under Islamic Regimes, ethnic minorities, women, and democratic processes within the Muslim world, Terrorism, as well as the Clash of Civilization. He has served as an analyst of the ongoing conflict since September 11 with regards to Bin Laden ideology, strategy, al-Qaida, Taliban, regional and local Jihadic groups, as well as Militant Islamists within the West. Phares analyses the surge and development of those movements in the Muslim world as well as within the West and South Asia.

Prof. As'ad AbuKhalil comments about Phares:

"Terrorism Expert" (former commander of the Lebanese Forces militia, although that is stricken [sic.] out of his c.v.)

Support for 'Moderate Muslims'

In the introduction to a 2006 NPR interview with Mark Dubowitz, Phares (who is described as a "Lebanese-American terrorism expert") is being advised by Dubowitz on how to use dissidents from Muslim countries to combat groups and individuals that the US has labelled as terror threats:

Let's put out backgrounders, productize this, identify the names of these dissidents whether they be in Europe, North America or the Middle East, give them the key talking points...

Contact

Website: http://www.walidphares.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/walidphares

Affiliations

• American Congress for Truth
• Ariel Center for Policy Research (Israel) – Contributing Expert
• Benador Associates – Featured speaker
• Campus Watch – reprints some of his articles
• Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation A group dedicated to removing Syrian influence from Lebanon, and pursuing the "jihadists".
• Counterterrorism Blog, listed as 'contributing expert'
• David Project – Featured speaker. NB: this group produced a smearing film aimed at undermining the MEALAC professors at Columbia Univ. They have targeted Josheph Massad and Rashid Khalidi among others
• Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
• European Foundation for Democracy
• FrontPage columnist
• Guardians of the Cedars
• Israel on Campus Coalition – featured speaker.
• JihadWatch – Frequent contributor
• Middle East Forum / Middle East Quarterly
• National Review – columnist
• United States Committee for a Free Lebanon – listed as expert

Contributed US$1,000 to the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004.