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Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Senior Fellow Amb. David Smith says the New York City mosque controversy raises "vital questions." In an op-ed for the Georgian publicationTabula, Amb. Smith, Director of the Georgian Security Analysis Center, writes that the emotionally charged debate cries out for a reasonable compromise, but that politics and a lack of transparency have made such a compromise elusive. Writes Amb. Smith, "The debate and its outcome are important not only for New York, but for America and the world." Click below to read the article in full.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid serves as the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism. He writes and lectures frequently on the meaning of the term "moderate Islam" as it is used in the media and in public discourse. In a recent forum on the Wall Street Journal website, Dr. Hamid and other Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers offered their views of how the term should be defined. Dr. Hamid argues that moderate Muslims have a duty to speak out against violence and to find alternative, theologically sound interpretations of religious texts that he says have been used to justify violence. Click here to read the article in full.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid serves as the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism. In an interview with the London (Ontario) Free Press, he commented on the recent arrests of terrorist suspects in Canada. Dr. Hamid, a medical doctor who is a former Islamic radical, addressed the seeming contradiction between the quiet lives of some suspects and the allegations that they were involved in terrorism. Dr. Hamid 's take: that there have been many cases in which individuals have been abruptly radicalized. Click here to read the article in full.
BGen David Reist, USMC (Ret.), is a Senior Research Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. As a veteran of the Iraq war and former Deputy Commanding General for Economics, Governance, and Tribal Engagement in Anbar Province, BGen Reist is closely following the situation in Iraq as the last US combat troops withdraw from that country. He was interviewed at length on the G. Gordon Liddy Show on Tuesday, August 31: click here to listen to the segment in its entirety.
James Barnett is a retired Navy rear admiral and a Senior Research Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. He is also on the Executive Advisory Council for Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit, bi-partisan organization led by senior retired military leaders dedicated to the health and welfare of American youth as an essential element of national security. Mission: Readiness recently published a report entitled "Too Fat to Fight," taking aim at childhood obesity as the leading medical reason why young people fail to qualify for military service. RADM Barnett appeared on ABC’s "This Week" to discuss the connection between obesity and military recruiting. Click here to watch the segment in full.