Ghareeb, Edmund

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GHAREEB, Edmund

(Edmund A. Ghareeb)

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Office—Center for Global Peace, American University, Washington, DC 20016-8071.

CAREER: American University, Washington, DC, professor of Middle East history and politics, and Mustafa Barzani Scholar of Global Kurdish Studies at the Center for Global Peace. George Washington University, former adjunct professor of history; has also taught at Georgetown University, University of Virginia, and McGill University. Guest on television and radio networks, including CNN, NPR, VOA, and al-Jazeera.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Editor, with Naseer Aruri) Enemy of the Sun (poetry), Drum and Spear Press (Washington, DC), 1970.

Al-Harakah al-qawmiyah al-Kurdiayh, Dar al-Nahar (Beirut, Lebanon), 1973.

(Editor) Split Vision: Arab Portrayal in the American Media, Institute of Middle Eastern and North African Affairs (Washington, DC), 1977, revised and expanded edition, American-Arab Affairs Council (Washington, DC), 1983.

The Kurdish Question in Iraq, Syracuse University Press (Syracuse, NY), 1981.

(With Majid Khadduri) War in the Gulf, 1990–91: The Iraq-Kuwait Conflict and Its Implications, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Al-Watan al-Arabi fi al-siyasah al-Amrikiyah, Markaz Dirasat al-Wahdah al-Arabiayah (Beirut, Lebanon), 2002.

(With Beth Dougherty) Historical Dictionary of Iraq, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2004.

Also author of The Kurdish National Movement. Member of editorial advisory board, Middle East Journal.

SIDELIGHTS: Edmund Ghareeb is a nationally recognized expert on Iraq and the Kurdish people of that country. He has written and lectured on U.S. relations with Iraq and the Middle East, as well as on the influence of the media in that region. In his War in the Gulf, 1990–91: The Iraq-Kuwait Conflict and Its Implications, which Ghareeb wrote with Majid Khadduri, the authors detail the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait that eventually led to the Gulf War. Focusing on legal and political aspects of the conflict instead of military analysis, the authors examine Iraq's historical ties to Kuwait and clarify how Saddam Hussein became a hero to many people in his country.

Discussing War in the Gulf, 1990–91 in the English Historical Review, Ritchie Ovendale noted that many books about this war have "a hidden agenda," namely to justify the war and the continued existence of Israel. War in the Gulf, 1990–91, however, challenges this perspective and questions whether this was indeed a "just war." The coauthors' work was challenged by Stephanie Cronin, who in Middle Eastern Studies stated that "in choosing to present largely uncritically the perspective of the current Iraqi leadership, Khadduri and Ghareeb not only fail to win advantage in the propaganda war in the West but, more importantly, neglect to give representation and voice to the true interests of the peoples of the region." Yet another reviewer, Ayad Al-Qazzaz, appreciated the coauthors' attempt to discuss the war honestly and noted in Arab Studies Quarterly: "The book is a valuable reference and it will continue to be used by future historians in a discussion of the Gulf War and the Middle East. The authors recount tales of the Gulf War with scholarship, clarity and moral force. I strongly recommend the book to all students interested in the area, as well as to the general public."

Ghareeb and Beth Dougherty worked together to produce the Historical Dictionary of Iraq in 2004. This book provides entries on various historical events, political parties, individuals, and state institutions, as well as natural and geographic characteristics that have influenced the current state of Iraq. Historic figures from as far back as Hamurabi are included, and religious and intellectual leaders are listed, as are military personnel. Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Kurds are given substantial entries, allowing readers to get an idea of some of the smaller groups within the Iraqi citizenry that do not get much media attention.

According to Gareth Stansfield in the Middle East Journal, Historical Dictionary of Iraq "should be welcomed as a reference guide to accompany more analytical texts. It also, perhaps, may be viewed as an obituary for the 'old' Iraq," before the regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled. Its publication at this crucial moment in Iraq's history makes it a somewhat "awkward creation," according to Evan David in Reference and User Services Quarterly, because the situation changed dramatically even as the book was being compiled. A different viewpoint was offered by Stansfield, who noted that the book is "heavy in detail, as a dictionary should be," and added that "anyone interested in the history and politics of Iraq and its peoples will benefit from including Ghareeb and Dougherty's dictionary in their collection." Booklist reviewer Stephen Stratton found that while the dictionary is "limited in depth," it nonetheless "by far makes up for that in its broad coverage of people, events, culture, organizations, institutions, and more throughout the long history of the region." While noting that the fast pace of events in Iraq did render some entries obsolete fairly quickly, Stratton added that, nevertheless, "this work should be a required purchase in academic, public, and even some high-school libraries to ensure that they have a resource that provides a fuller look at a subject that is often portrayed one-dimensionally in today's media." In addition, Library Journal critic Michele McGraw called the volume "a fine introduction to the country."

Ghareeb told CA: "My book The Kurdish Question in Iraq is the definitive book on the subject, once used as a source by Henry Kissinger [U.S. secretary of state from 1973 to 1977.]"