Farid Al-Ghadry | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born |
June 18, 1954 Aleppo, Syria |
Occupation | party leader |
Education | American University |
Farid Al-Ghadry (Arabic: فريد الغادري) (born June 18, 1954) is the Syrian-born co-founder and current president of the United States-based Reform Party of Syria, a party lobbying for regime change in Syria. Many of al-Ghadry's critics have compared him to Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi exile who lobbied the US government to liberate his home country from Saddam Hussein.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Personal life[]
Ghadry was born in Aleppo, Syria, but in 1964 his family emigrated to Beirut, Lebanon because of political turmoil. There he attended the Maristes Brothers School (Champville - Deek-el-Mehdi). In 1975, the Ghadry family, once again, emigrated to the U.S. and settled in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Ghadry graduated from the American University in Washington DC in 1979 with a degree in Finance and Marketing.
Ghadry, because of his father's work, was granted Saudi citizenship. In September 2007 Ghadry's Syrian citizenship was revoked by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad after Ghadry appeared before Israel's Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.[7]
Farid Ghadry has four children. He is also known in the U.S. as "Frank Ghadry." He has served on the Board of Trustees of Norwood School in Bethesda, Maryland, and headed the Capital Campaign for Crew at St. Albans and National Cathedral Schools.[8][dead link]
Work[]
Farid Ghadry worked at EG&G Intertech Inc., a subsidiary of EG&G, a Fortune 500 U.S. defense contractor, for two years before starting his own business, International TechGroup Inc., in 1983. This company was Washington-based and produced software for the U.S. Navy to digitize paperwork on aircraft carriers.[9] He sold this business in 1989 and has been involved in many entrepreneurial operations since. In 1990, he began buying antiquated Soviet computers and stripping them for gold plating. Reportedly, Ghadry left Russia when his business came to the attention of "unsavory types."[9] Other businesses have included Hannibal's Coffee Company, a chain of coffee shops that went bankrupt in 1996.
References[]
- ↑ Abraham, Salim (25 March 2007). ""Farid Ghadry, Syria’s Chalabi: From Washington to Damascus," by Salim Abraham". Syria Comment. http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=202. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ↑ Eaves, Elisabeth (7 February 2005). "To Be Chalabi, or Not To Be". http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_best_policy/2005/02/to_be_chalabi_or_not_to_be.html. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ↑ Greenway, H.D.S. (13 December 2005). "A hungry eye for Damascus?". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/13/a_hungry_eye_for_damascus/.
- ↑ Weisman, Alan. "Richard Perle: Grooming the Next Ahmad Chalabi". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. http://www.washington-report.org/component/content/article/316/5675-richard-perle-grooming-the-next-ahmad-chalabi.html. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ↑ Weisman, Alan (28 November 2007). "'Heroes' in waiting". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/28/news/OE-WEISMAN28.
- ↑ Leupp, Gary (22 December 2005). "A Syrian Chalabi? An Ominous Neocon Gathering". Dissident Voice. http://www.mathaba.net/z.htm?http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec05/Leupp1222.htm. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ↑ Yoav Stern (2007). "Assad revokes citizenship of politician who visited Knesset". http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903775.html. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
- ↑ "Mideast dissidents speak put". John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations. 4 April 2007. http://diplomacy.shu.edu/news/enews.html.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 [author missing] (10 August 2008). "[title missing]". SourceWatch.
External links[]
- Farid Ghadry's personal blog
- Reform Party of Syria
- Column archive at Pajamas Media
- Column archive (2009) at Hudson New York [1]
- Learning from Walesa, Farid Ghadry, The National Review, 20 September 2005
- From Hama to Hamas: Syria's Islamist Policies, Farid Ghadry, Jewish Policy Center Quarterly, Sprint 2009
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Farid Ghadry collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
- Farid N. Ghadry at Sourcewatch
- A Syrian Chalabi?, Gary Leupp, Professor of History at Tufts University, 24 December 2005
- Exiled Syrian opposition leader to visit Knesset next month, Ha'aretz, 27 May 2007
- The بندوق pecking order, Barak Ravid and Shahar Ilan, GeorgeAjjan.com, June 11, 2007
- Arab MKs attack visiting exiled Syrian leader, Amnon Meranda, Ynetnews, June 11, 2007
The original article can be found at Farid Ghadry and the edit history here.