Adel Darwish

Adel Darwish, Mideastnews British author,historian, journalist, broadcaster and political commentator & an expert on Middle East affairs. He is among a handful of UK top experts on the region of the Middle East, Arabian politics and history. See some of his writings on Mideastnews and his blog blog. although he doesn't seem to update it that often Adel Darwish ( 1945- ) is a veteran Fleet Street Foreign reporter and commentator on Foreign affairs. [1] [2] He is currently(1998-2006) the political editor (lobby correspondent) of the Middle East Magazine[3]. His name is pronounced 'Adelle Da-arwish' Despite the name [Adel[4]means Noble of Germanic origins ]( also see [5] Darwish he is NOT of Arabic origin. Since the name Darwish is shared by many families in the Middle East – and they are usually immigrants into the region from East Europe the Balkans, Anatolia or Central Asia during the Ottoman rule- some people mistake Adel Darwish for being from Arabia or Palestine as there is a known Palestinian Poet with the name mahmoud Darweesh sometimes written Darwish. This is far from truth as he has no Arab genes or family ties to any Arabs. We believe the family name was originally written Darvic ( Darvitch)

Mr Darwish was born in Alexandria during World War II to a family from Eastern Europe (Balkans- from Albania and Hungry) with strong connections to Britain- believed to be British subjects. Mr Darwish was educated in English schools in Alexandria and in Britain to which he moved in 1959.

After Graduation in 1966, he was inAfrica as a correspondent for British Fleet Street newspapers, then from 1973 he moved to the Middle East to cover events there. His coverage of the Middle East started with Palestinian radicals ( Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP) hijacking several aircraft to Amman in 1970 triggering the clashes with Jordanian Army known as ‘Black September’, which was covered by Darwish. He also covered some events in Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Iraq between 1970-1972; he first met Saddam Hussein around that time [6], when the latter was less known in the west and before the Iraqi dictator came to power and was little known in the west as Saddam was still in the shadow deputy leader of the local Baath party and vice-chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council. Mr Darwish moved fully to cover the Middle East from around October 1973 withYum Kippur war also known as the October war and 1973 war .

As journalist and writer, Mr Darwish covered many events in the region including the Iran Iraq war (1980-1988); the civil war in Lebanon; several events like hijacking of aircraft in the region, terror attacks, the Assassination of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and his state funeral, the Egyptian Israeli Peace talks, and the Israeli Palestinian peace talks, the second Gulf War after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. He was the first journalist in the world to expose Saddam’s missile programme after an explosion in al-Hella south Baghdad in August 1987 killed over 800 people ( detailed in Darwish’s book Unholy Babylon: The Secrete History of Saddam’s War, Gollancz, London & St Martin’s Press New York 1991)[7]; he was also the first journalist in the world ( jointly with the late Pierre Salinger [8] ) to get the transcript of the two important meetings: the first between American ambassador April Glaspie and Saddam Hussein about a week before he invaded Iraq where he made threats and she didn’t express any views on the dispute, (Darwish published the scoop in the Independent newspaper in August 1990 in agreement with Salinger that ABC airs the story a few hours later ); the second, which Darwish published in the Independent a day earlier, was the transcript of a meeting between American Charge d’affairs Joseph Wilson and Saddam Hussein on August 6, 1990 when Saddam offered to give America oil below market prices if he was to annex Kuwait. Darwish also mange to get some scoops during his time with the Independent news papers between 1986 & 1998 including Libyan leader Colonel Mumamer Qaddafi’s many secrete deals like secrete Chemical weapons Factor in Rabta; the attempt on his life during a visit by the late President Hafez Assad of Syria; his offer to buy a nuclear powered submarine from a Russian Captain; his deals in Africa; and secrete talks between Syria and Israel, 1988 Saudi Arabia secrete missile deal with China[9],which was kept secrete from the Americans; the role of United States navy and air force in helping Saddam during the Iran Iraq War , and Saddam’s relationship with the CIA which goes back to 1960[10].

Darwish knew or met with almost every leader and statesman in the Middle East in power or influenced events between 1960 till present as well as British diplomats who shaped the map of the region especially the Arabists in theForeign Office known as ‘the camel Corps). It would interesting to read obituaries he penned of Middle Eastern personalities and British officers and diplomats who shaped the map of the Middle East, near 200 obituaries most of them are published in the Independent. They are an interesting insight into 150 years of history of the Middle East and the British Empire friendship with Arabia.

He has worked for major UK papers like the Daily Telegraph, The Independent andThe Times. Additionally, Mr. Darwish’s work appears in The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Scotsman, The Washington Post, The Economist and The New African Magazine . Mr. Darwish is a frequent commentator on foreign affairs with the BBC, SKY News and ITN, as well as major American and Canadian Networks and occasionally with some Arabic language networks such as Egyptian Radio, Nile TV and Kuwait TV. With thirty-seven years of experience reporting from Africa, the Middle East and Western Asia on trouble issues, wars and hot stories for Fleet Street newspapers, he has covered most of the region's wars in Africa and the Middle East since 1970.

Theatre: Mr Darwish also had some interest in theatre, produced and authored a number of plays ( although most are adaptation of poetry and sort stories from Africa and Egyptian literature. Some of his plays were performed at theYoung Vic, Edinburgh Festival and several Fringe theatres in London in the 1970s

Publications: · Unholy Babylon: The Secret History of Saddam's War by Adel Darwish, Gregory Alexander link title · Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East by John Bulloch, Adel Darwish link title Further publications, work and search on Adel Darwish[11] Darwish is concerend about Democray [12], about state of Arab media and anti Americanism in it which he traces back to French influence [13]. He has written some interesting essays on water issues in the Middle East [14] &[15] &[16]