November 22, 2006 — The Middle East Center is hosting a lecture examining a possible military clash between the U.S. and Iran given by Gary Sick, Executive Director of the Gulf 2000 Project at Columbia University. The talk entitled “Iran and the United States-Is a Military Clash Inevitable?” will take place on Monday, Nov. 27 at 3:00 p.m. in the Hinckley Caucus Room 255, Orson Spenser Hall (OSH.) The lecture is free and open to the public.

The address is part of the Middle East Lecture Series 2006-2007, organized by the Middle East Center in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for University Relations, the College of Humanities, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Department of Political Science, and the Hinckley Institute of Politics.

Gary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan and was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis. He is the author of two books on U.S.-Iranian relations and co-editor of four books on the Persian Gulf. He retired as a captain from the U.S. Navy, with service in the Persian Gulf, North Africa and the Mediterranean and served as deputy director for International Affairs at the Ford Foundation from 1982 to 1987, where he was responsible for programs relating to U.S. foreign policy. With a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, he currently serves as Senior Research Scholar, adjunct professor of international affairs, and was a former director of the Middle East Institute (2000-2003). He is also the executive director of Gulf/2000, an international research project on political, economic and security developments in the Persian Gulf, being conducted at Columbia University with support from a number of major foundations. Dr. Sick is a member (emeritus) of the board of Human Rights Watch in New York and founding chairman of its Middle East and North Africa advisory committee.