David Wurmser

> Office of the Vice President: Middle East Adviser
> U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon: Board member
> Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies: Former director
> American Enterprise Institute: Former fellow

Institutional Affiliations

Government Posts/Panels/Commissions

Education

Highlights & Quotes

David Wurmser, Dick Cheney's Middle East adviser, is a neocon ideologue who has participated in several key reports outlining the neoconservative agenda in the Middle East. In 1996 he helped write a report for Israel's Likud party that urged Israel to break off then-ongoing peace initiatives. The report, which was titled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" and was published by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (an Israeli- and DC-based think tank) advised then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to work closely with Turkey and Jordan to contain, destabilize, and roll-back" regional threats, help overthrow Saddam Hussein, and strike "Syrian military targets in Lebanon" and possibly in Syria proper. Coauthors of the report included Richard Perle, Meyrav Wurmser, and Douglas Feith. (6)

In 2000, Wurmser worked on a strategy document published by Daniel Pipe's Middle East Forum and Ziad Abdelnour's U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon that advocated a wider U.S. role in Lebanon. The study, "Ending Syria's Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S. Role?" called for the United States to force Syria from Lebanon and to disarm it of its alleged weapons of mass destruction. It also argued that "Syrian rule in Lebanon stands in direct opposition to American ideals" and criticized the United States for engaging rather than confronting the regime. Among the documents signers were several soon-to-be Bush administration figures, including Elliott Abrams, Douglas Feith, Michael Rubin, and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky. Other signers included Richard Perle, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Michael Ledeen, and Frank Gaffney. (1, 3)

Wurmser is married to Meyrav Wurmser, the director of Middle East studies at the right-wing Hudson Institute.

(1) Jim Lobe, "The Wurmser Turns," Inter Press Service, October 29, 2003
http://www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe4.html

(2) David Wurmser, "U.S. Policymakers Faulted for Saddam Hussein's Resurgence," American Enterprise Institute News and Commentary, February 22, 1999
http://www.aei.org/news/newsID.15962/news_detail.asp

(3) Middle East Forum: The Lebanon Study Group Report
http://www.meforum.org/research/lsg.php

(4) American Enterprise Institute: David Wurmser Biography
http://202.121.129.66/transcend/www.aei.org/scholars/wurmser.htm

(5) U.S. Commission for a Free Lebanon: Board of Directors
http://freelebanon.org/search-f.htm

(6) A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm
http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm

(7) Jim Lobe, "Attack on Syria Has Neocon Fingerprints"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe1.html