Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Mission and History
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and education on the war on terrorism. It was founded shortly after the September 11th attacks in 2001.
- We produce independent analyses of global terrorist threats, exploring the historical, cultural, philosophical and ideological factors that drive terrorism and threaten the individual freedoms guaranteed within democratic societies. FDD is a non-partisan organization. --from their website
Founding members and advisors include prominent conservatives such as Steve Forbes, Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Newt Gingrich, and former CIA director James Woolsey. The group also includes prominent liberals such as Frank Lautenberg, Charles Schumer, and Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore's campaign manager in the 2000 presidential elections.
FDD is a tax-exempt, non-profit institution, and does not seek to advance any political party. It is funded by a diverse group of individual philanthropists. Despite this, the group generally has a neo-conservative stance on security issues, and was a leading advocate of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Pro-Democracy Programs
- The FDD's Democracy Programs consist of two synergistic initiatives to give voice to pro-democracy, anti-terrorism activists from the Islamic world, and support them in their battle against radical Islam. -- from their website
The FDD works with numerous pro-democracy groups throughout the Middle East, and has been active within Iraq helping Iraqis participate in democracy. The FDD has particularly focused on helping Iraqi women participate in the fledging Iraqi democracy.
- Using grant money from the State Department, the FDD held an Iraqi Women's Leadership Conference, bringing together Iraqi women in order to study the principles of democracy, learn how they can participate in their nation's new government and electoral process, and help Iraqi women to take an active role in their country's civic life.[1]
- In coordination with the American Islamic Congress and the Independent Women's Forum, the FDD created the The Iraqi Women's Education Institute, which has similar goals to the Iraqi Women's Leadership Conference. [2]
The FDD also has worked with the Iraqi Kurdish regional government, often organizing speaking events in the United States for prominent Kurds. Qubad Talabani, the son of current Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, often worked with the FDD before Operation Iraqi Freedom. The FDD also has worked with Lebanese pro-democracy activists, among others.
The FDD also helped create Women for a Free Iraq [3], a group comprised of Iraqi exiles who had been persecuted under Saddam Hussein, which advocated for US military intervention to remove the Hussein regime. Additionally, the FDD also helped create the Iraq-America Freedom Alliance.[4]
Educational Programs
The FDD awards fellowships to well-qualified university students and professors. Both the Undergraduate Fellowship and the Academic Fellowship (for professors) entail the participants travelling to Israel to study terrorism. There they meet with Israeli, American, Turkish, Jordanian, and Indian officials to learn about each country's experience fighting terrorism. The fellows often form FDD-affiliated student groups on their respective campuses. Such groups have a pro-democracy, anti-terrorism mission, much like the FDD itself. FDD-affiliated student groups can now be found at nearly all major American undergraduate institutions. Many FDD Undergraduate Fellows have gone on to work in the intelligence and defense communities. [5]
Other Programs
FDD's photo essay Terror in Israel: The Human Cost of Terrorism, released in February 2004 begins with a message from former ambassador Richard Carlson (director of Voice of America) on Palestinian suicide bombers and the Israeli West Bank barrier. The 16-page essay contains photographs of ordinary people burned, bloodied, maimed; a city bus burst-open by an explosion and immigrants from Ethiopia maimed and killed by terrorist attacks.
The essay is intended to sway opinion on the Israeli barrier. The FDD opposes the hearings in the International Court of Justice on the barrier and has filed an amicus brief to express its opposition.
Oil for Food Scandal
The FDD's journalist-in-residence, Claudia Rosett, was the first reporter to break the U.N.'s Oil for Food scandal. [6]
External links
Official Sites
- Foundation for Defense of Democracies
- FDD Official Blog
- The Iraq-America Freedom Alliance
- The Human Cost of Terrorism