ISIS Rising
Col. Joseph Núñez (right) and Sheik Abu Chaffa
by Christine M. Dugan
The brutal beheadings of American journalists James Foley and
Steven Sotloff dramatically raised the stakes regarding the United States’
response to the rise of militants known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
(ISIS). Col. Joseph R. Núñez, who served for more than five years in Iraq, will
offer his assessment of the situation during a Sept. 11 lecture at Dickinson
(Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.).
Núñez spent 30 years in the U.S. Army, commanding at the company and battalion
level and leading as many as 750 soldiers. Upon his retirement in 2007, he was
recruited to lead a team of experts and advisors for the Department of Defense
in Baghdad. He then served the Department of State as a senior provincial
action officer on a Provincial Reconstruction Team and, later, as a senior
political and economic advisor for the U.S. consulates in Kirkuk and Basrah.
A distinguished military graduate of St. Lawrence University, where he studied
government, Núñez earned a master’s in public administration and a doctorate in
foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. He taught at the U.S. Military
Academy (West Point) from 1989 to 1992 and at the U.S. Army War College from 2001 to 2007.
His award-winning writing has appeared in major newspapers, including The New York Times and the Financial Times.
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Published September 10, 2014