Martin Sieff, noted Middle East correspondent, journalist and author, will speak on “Dangerous Ignorance: Why U.S. Policymakers Get the Middle East Wrong” in Ohio Northern University’s Dicke Forum on Tuesday, April 28, at 7 p.m.
The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the ONU Department of History, Politics, and Justice; the University Committee on the Arts and Special Events (CASE); and Phi Beta Delta.
Sieff’s lecture will focus on the perceived lies, myths and clichés perpetuated by the U.S. government and the media, and he will describe what is currently happening in the Middle East and what is expected in the future.
Sieff is one of the most experienced foreign correspondents in modern American journalism. He has reported from 70 countries and covered 12 wars over the past 30 years. His peers have recognized his reportage with three Pulitzer Prize nominations for international reporting. Sieff has reported on Middle Eastern affairs since his start with The Jerusalem Post covering Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel in 1977. From 2003 to 2007, he was UPI’s chief analyst on the Iraq War, and he is the author of the best-selling “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East.”
Sieff correctly predicted the escalating guerrilla war against U.S. forces in Iraq and the counter-terrorism policies that would have to be applied to bring the Iraqi insurgency under control. He also correctly predicted the failures of U.S. nation-building policies in Afghanistan. In June 1990, he correctly predicted that Saddam Hussein would invade and fully occupy Kuwait and, in 2003, that Saudi security forces would successfully stop and eradicate al-Qaeda in its attempts to destabilize the country. In 2004, he predicted the success of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s security barrier/fence in shutting down the Second Palestinian Intifada.
