Yossef Bodansky
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Yossef Bodansky (May 1, 1954 – December 5, 2021) was an
Israeli-American , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan are ...
political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...
who served as Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the
US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from 1988 to 2004. He was also Director of Research of the
International Strategic Studies Association The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) describes itself as Washington, D.C.–based non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelli ...
and has been a visiting scholar at
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
's
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of th ...
(SAIS). In the 1980s, he served as a senior consultant for the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
and the
Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
.
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

Yossef Bodansky
accessed 6 September 2013
The work of the Congressional Task Force (which had been established in 1981Richard J. Leitner, Peter M. Leitner (editors),
Unheeded Warnings: The Lost Reports of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare Volume 1: Islamic Terrorism and the West
'', Washington: Crossbow Books 2007. , p18
) involved staff producing what they described as "ground truth" by "repeated visits to the areas they were studying and evelopingface-to-face relationships with their sources" and actively participated in supporting them. According to a compilation of Task Force reports published in 2007, "Task Force staff members went into Afghanistan and rode with the mujahideen as they fought against the Soviets. They helped the fighters secure the weapons and humanitarian aid they needed and evacuate the seriously wounded." The Task Force also contributed to related legislation, including authoring "key parts of the Diplomatic Security and Anti-Terrorism Act" (1986), allowing the FBI to investigate outside the US. Task Force reports did not generally divulge sourcing in public reports, and fully referenced versions of their reports were released only to the Task Force chairmen, and not even to other committee members. Bodansky was also a senior editor for the ''Defense and Foreign Affairs'' group of publications and a contributor to the '' International Military and Defense Encyclopedia'' and was on the Advisory Council of The Intelligence Summit. Bodansky's numerous articles have been published in ''Global Affairs'', ''
Jane's Defence Weekly ''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...
'', '' Defense and Foreign Affairs: Strategic Policy'' and other periodicals. Bodansky was a Director of Global Panel America (Global Panel Foundation), and a director of the related Prague Society, a non-governmental organization which grew out of the dissident movement, with the aim of tracking down former members of the Communist-era of Secret Police. The Prague Society has created a network among governmental and private-sector figures.


Criticisms of scholarship and Task Force affair

Bodansky's scholarship and expertise was seriously questioned on occasions, but most notably during and after the Task Force engagement with
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
and resulting written report. Also, scholars and authors such as Norman Cigar, Michael Sells, Brad K. Blitz, describe his perspective as anti-Islamic and/or anti-Muslim and extreme.
Gabriele Marranci, an
anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
working on
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
with a specialization in
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
societies and current Director of th
Study of Contemporary Muslim Lives
research hub at
Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...
, identified Bodansky as part of the "anti-Muslim chimera", and that through their work and influence such anti-Muslim perspectives have found a way to the receptive ears of academic and political establishment. His books lack documentation and footnotes.


Task Force report on Bosnia controversy

Bodansky used his position as a Director of Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare as a springboard for claims, included in task force report, in which he co-wrote, at the time of
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
and
Bosnian Genocide The Bosnian genocide ( bs, bosanski genocid) refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Bosnian War of ...
perpetrated against Bosnian Muslims, that Bosnian Muslim President Alija Izetbegović and his government were allegedly creating an Islamic republic in Europe as part of an international Islamist conspiracy; that Bosnian Muslim forces were killing their own people and foreigners in an attempt to blame the Serbs and provoke international response against Serb forces, provide an excuse for alleged Muslim atrocities; assertions which lead to controversy over the intentions and scholarship of the report co-authors, namely Task Force Chief of Staff Vaughn S. Forrest and Director Yossef Bodansky himself.
As a result four of the task force's congressional members resigned, namely task force co-chair
Dana Rohrabacher Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher (; born June 21, 1947) is a former American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019. A Republican, he represented for the last three terms of his House tenure. Rohrabacher ran for re- ...
(R-CA), representatives James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI),
Olympia Snowe Olympia Jean Snowe (; born February 21, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senator from Maine from 1995 to 2013. Snowe, a member of the Republican Party, became known for her ability to influence the outcom ...
(R-WA) and Christopher Cox (R-CA), with Rohrabacher's legislative assistant for foreign affairs, Peter Behrends, summarizing: "It was the scholarship of the piece that was the problem. It just wasn't credible scholarship. We asked and we were never shown any documentation."
Representative Christopher Cox explained that the purpose of any Republican task forces is to exert "some measure of influence" over Democrat controlled committees in congress, but instead of Republican congressmen influence over their Democratic colleagues, this task force staff attempted to influence Republican congressmen.


Bias and Serbian lobby connections

Professor of comparative religions at
Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
and author,
Michael Sells Michael Anthony Sells (born May 8, 1949) is John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature in the University of Chicago Divinity School, Divinity School and in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago. M ...
, reviewed connections between Bodansky, Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, and the Belgrade lobby groups created at the time, such as '' Serbian Unity Congress''. Norman Cigar, author, contributor, current Research Fellow at the
Marine Corps University Marine Corps University is a professional military education university system of the United States Marine Corps. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Master's Degrees. ...
, Quantico, VA, recent retiree from position of Director of Regional Studies and the Minerva Research Chair, outlined Bodansky's professional record and advisory engagements with the lawmakers, in his letter to Rep.
Jim Saxton Hugh James Saxton (born January 22, 1943) is an American politician from New Jersey. A member of the Republican Party, he represented parts of Burlington, Ocean, and Camden counties in the United States House of Representatives from 1984 to 200 ...
as one of principle "hostility to Islam and Muslims everywhere, who are seen to be part of a unified international conspiracy and a threat to everyone else, and he seems to feel that Serb nationalists share that outlook." Like Sells, Cigar also noted that Bodansky was in close relation with Milošević's Serbian lobby group, Serbian Unity Congress, where he was featured speaker at the group's fund raiser event in Detroit in 1996. In this context Bodansky has written on the former Yugoslavia and interpreted subsequent wars as Muslim unified international conspiracy, which Bosnians were allegedly part of, to expand into Europe. Bodansky also hyped a "mujahedin" threat by claiming that "up to 20,000" mujahedin were in Bosnia, overestimating their number by more than 10 to 1, according to US government. Cigar points that Bodansky's views "are extreme and not shared by mainstream anlaysts", regardless of some Senator's staffer, to whom Cigar spoke back in 1996, carried the Bodansky Task Force report around. In an interview with
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
based media on 14 May 1998, Bodansky exerted view in which he blamed Arabs, who allegedly exploited Tito's 1960s and 1970s pro-Arab policy, for Yugoslavia and Christian Serbs demise, in which Bosnian Muslims hid their agenda of "long-prepared operation for an Islamic jihad against the Christians" behind the multiethnic facade. Similarly to both Sells and Cigar, Brad K. Blitz in his article, ''"Serbia's War Lobby: Diaspora Groups and Western Elites"'', which has been included in compilation-book, ''"This Time We Knew: Western Responses to Genocide in Bosnia"'', edited by Thomas Cushman, Professor of Sociology at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
in
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
and the founder and editor of the ''Journal of Human Rights'' and Stjepan G. Meštrović, Professor of Sociology at
Texas A & M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
, analyzes Serbia's diaspora and lobby groups activities during the war in Bosnia, and its connection to political and intellectual elites in western governments and public. He described London and New Delhi based journal, ''"Defense and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy"'', as repeatedly including "articles that apologized for the Serbian leadership's role in the Balkan conflict". Blitz identifies Yossef Bodansky as journal's most prominent writer and one of its editors, whose articles "reflect a strong anti-Islamic bias" in their discussion of the Balkans.


Criticism of Defence & Foreign Affairs

On Bodansky's engagement with the London-based Defence & Foreign Affairs, where he published regularly in role of Contributing Editor, Norman Cigar points on outlet's significant pro-Serbian bias, noting how it "routinely carries material that is often indistinguishable from that distributed by official sources in
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
".


Criticism of Chechen Jihad

His published works ''"Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror"'' and ''"The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism"'' also do not contain any footnotes and documentation. For this reason it is difficult to separate facts from fiction, rumor and opinion in his works. For example, in ''Chechen Jihad'' he states that the November 12th, 2001 crash of
American Airlines Flight 587 American Airlines Flight 587 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. On November 12, 200 ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
was caused by a "Canadian terrorist". No authoritative citation for this claim is given.


Criticism of Secret History of the Iraq War

Steve Gilbert reviewing Bodansky's book ''Secret History of the Iraq War'' called it "suspiciously like conspiracy theory", with too "many of his alleged secrets", and as book lacking any footnotes, readers could dismiss it as an "imaginative mixture of fact, rumor, and fiction".


Publications

;Books * ''Target America: Terrorism in the U.S.'' (1993, Shapolsky Publishers Inc.). * ''Crisis in Korea'' (1994, Shapolsky Publishers Inc.). * ''Terror: The Inside Story of The Terrorist Conspiracy in America'' (1994, Shapolsky Publishers Inc.). * ''Offensive in the Balkans: The Potential for a Wider War as a Result of Foreign Intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina'' (1995, International Media Corp./ISSA).
Online version
* ''Some Call It Peace: Waiting for War In the Balkans'' (1996, International Media Corp./ISSA).

* '' Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America'' (1999, 2001, Random House). * ''Islamic Anti-Semitism as a Political Instrument'' (1999, 2000, ACPR Publications and Tammuz Publishers). * ''The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism'' (2002, Random House). * ''The Secret History of the Iraq War'' (2004, HarperCollins). * ''Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror'' (2007, HarperCollins). ;Articles and commentary
"Jerusalem in Context,"
Freeman Center for Strategic Studies Broadcast, June 7, 1995; print copy June 12, 1995 (found archived on internet).

''kimsoft.com'', 1997.

'' JINSA Online'', June 1, 1998.


References


External links


Yossef Bodansky
at
SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by progr ...

Some Writings by Yossef Bodansky
* Richard J. Leitner, Peter M. Leitner (editors),
Unheeded Warnings: The Lost Reports of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare Volume 1: Islamic Terrorism and the West
'', Washington: Crossbow Books 2007. * Richard J. Leitner, Peter M. Leitner (editors),
Unheeded Warnings: The Lost Reports of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare Volume 2: The Perpetrators and the Middle East
', Washington: Crossbow Books 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodansky, Yossef Living people Israeli emigrants to the United States Johns Hopkins University people American military writers Geopoliticians International relations scholars Intelligence analysts 1954 births