It just may be that this young man is excellent at what he does, but I have been unable to determine his CREDENTIALS. His bio tells me nothing at all about what experience or academic training suit him for his position. Is he merely just another voice within an insular circle of people who get told what they want to hear? Is he an innovative voice bringing cutting edge perspectives to complicated issues? Is he an independent thinking man who is self-trained? Is he a journalist by formal training, by faith, by practice? Former intelligence officer? Special Ops?
Whatever the answer, I do find it peculiar that his own biography does not speak to his credentials. That’s an unusual approach in an arena in which credentials are such an important aspect of the work. “Terrorism” is a complicated business. The analysis of it requires more than the ability to recap headlines and read teleprompters. What do you think?
Here is the link: http://www.cbn.com/Authors/cbnnews/Erick-Stakelbeck/
Here is the bio:
Erick Stakelbeck has been a correspondent and terrorism analyst for CBN News since 2005. He covers the global war on terror, U.S. national security, the Middle East, and the growth of radical Islam at home and abroad for the CBN News Bureau in Washington, D.C. He is also host of the Stakelbeck on Terror show on CBNNews.com.
Erick is a sought-after authority on terrorism and national security issues with extensive experience in television, radio, print and web media.
He produces and reports feature stories for CBN’s nationally televised news programs on issues such as Al-Qaeda’s worldwide operations; Iran’s nuclear program; the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; Hamas, Hezbollah and existential threats to Israel’s security; and Islamic radicalism in the United States and Europe. He has interviewed numerous lawmakers and international diplomats, as well as Islamic terrorists.
Erick has made hundreds of appearances as a commentator on leading national television and radio programs. His appearances include: The O’Reilly Factor, The Sean Hannity Show, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox Weekend Live, Fox and Friends, America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Martha McCallum, America Live with Megyn Kelly, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and a weekly segment on the Savage Nation radio show with host Michael Savage, among others.
Erick has worked as a senior writer and analyst at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a counterterrorism think tank founded by terrorism expert Steven Emerson. His articles on Islamic extremism, global terrorism and national security have appeared in the Wall Street Journal Europe, Weekly Standard, Washington Times, New York Post, New York Sun, Jerusalem Post, and National Review Online, among other publications.
He has delivered addresses at several public forums, including speeches before members of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation, the Dallas Council on Foreign Relations, ACT for America and Christians United for Israel (CUFI), among others, on terrorism and Middle East-related issues.
Erick previously served as a regular contributor to both David Horowitz’s Frontpage Magazine.com website and Michelle Malkin’s HotAir.com.
Erick is a graduate of Holy Family University in Philadelphia. His blog, “Stakelbeck on Terror,” can be found at CBNNews.com.
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What was the Countdown appearance? Worst Persons? His extensive “experience” is almost completely right wing outlets (Fox, Lou Dobbs, Malkin, NRO). He sounds 100% neocon to his core. Expert? I think not.
I am listening to him on CSPAN. He is a spokesperson for the Christian Broadcasting Network and if you do the research on his credentials as an expert on Terrorism he lacks any academic knowledge. He propogates more “Islamic Scare Tactics” against Muslim people. He also does not sound very educated. I agree, he certainly does not sound like an expert.
Well it’s obvious he is striking a cord that is not tickling your ears. I appreciate people like Mr. Stakelbeck that take the time and energy to expose the muslim brotherhood and their tactics. Anyone with half a brain can read directly from islamisist websites and see what they espose, annihilation of Israel and ultimately the good old USA. I do believe there are good american muslim but most of them are fearful of going against the flow and reap the wrath. Shria is diametrically in oppostion to our constitution to which Zakaria from CNN states that it is outdated, in essence lets get rid of it.
Shakelbeck also is an analysts for CNN & MSNBC. I get the picture that because he’s on other media outlets that don’t align with you view we should totally disregard him, I think not. You sound like Nevil Chamberlain when got back from talking to Hitler, telling England that we have nothing to worry about now, I’ve got a paper with his signature. I suggest you broaden you reading……
I caught the tale end of tonight’s BookTV “Afterwards” with Fred Grandy interviewing Stakelbeck and stumbled across this post looking for more info on Stakelbeck. His CBC bio identifies him as a graduate of Holy Family University in Philadelphia. The school’s website lists “The Middle East in Modern Times” as a “course highlight for history majors” (HFU: Undergraduate Programs > Humanities: History). It’s possible he’s not a complete ignoramus about these matters, but personally, I found his Islamophobia disgusting. He concluded the show with a pitch for the website “jihadwatch” operated by Robert Spencer, a charlatan whose scholarship even hard core conservative Dinesh D’Souza has seriously criticized (Spencerwatch). In the future C-SPAN should avoid giving space and time for would be “inquisitors” like Stakelbeck.
I just watched Stakelbeck on BookTV and found it to be an appalling performance. Sadly many Americans are likely to fall for this pseudo-expertise. On the program, he claimed that London is full of police “no-go” zones where the Bobbies are allegedly so intimidated they will no longer police Muslim communities in many places. As a white man from a Christian background, I have visited so many mosques and Muslim communities in London and have found myself quite welcome. The police in fact have lots of cameras in Muslim communities and seem to show no fear of entering the neighborhoods from what I can see. If there are “no-go” zones in London, it is often those with proliferating white soccer hooligans and drunken non-Muslims who are intimidating people and engaging in hoodlum behavior openly on the streets. Many London Muslims expressed horror at the subway bombing from a few years ago, but Stakelbeck tries to act as though large segments of London Muslims are on board for more of this. He delights in explaining that London is becoming “Londonistan” in hopes of scaring white Christian America into closing down mosques and preventing more from being built. It is a disgrace that BookTV gives a forum to such shoddy intellectual wares.
I too caught the CSPAN Book TV interview with Congressman Gopher of Love Boat fame. Like a lot of “terrorism experts”, Stakelbeck got an interview with someone that agreed with him completely, & couldn’t stop fawning all over him and his work. Here are questions I would ask him, if I were interviewing him. Coming from the point of view being an American Muslim, I can’t help but feel Stakelbeck would feel a bit uncomfortable, but it would be vastly more informed and entertaining. Question 1: The copy of the Quran you bought on Sept 12, 2001–Which English translation is it? and if there was any explanatory commentary, given this book is originally in classic Arabic and many words are hard to translate. Also, any Surahs he quotes, I would immediately ask him the context, and if they were Mecca or Madinan Surahs, whether they applied to specific incidents in the life of the Prophet or were of a general nature. The Quran is not your typical book! Question 2: where do you get your definition of Shariah Law? Can you tell me what Surah Kaafiruun means to you? (Note: according to Shariah itself, it can not and should not be applicable to anyone other than Muslims. Even in an Islamic society, if non-Muslims live among Muslims, they must live under law based on their own beliefs–none of these anti-Islamic alarmists seem to know this, and if they do, what they are doing borders on criminally shouting “Fire” in a crowded theater). Question 3: The mosques being built here in the USA–including the “Ground Zero” Mosque–what laws are they breaking in being funded? Have you ever visited a Mosque during Friday prayer? How crowded was it? And how often would you say fund raising activities occur within a Muslim community itself (and neighboring communities)? If Stackelbeck hesitates on this one, he’s a massive fraud. Question 4: The Ground Zero Mosque–if I put you at Ground Zero, could you give me directions to it, as though you were a GPS unit? (something two blocks away in a city like NY is almost always not visible). Do you think that bars, strip clubs and Off Track Betting parlors within the same distance of Ground Zero honor the victims of 9-11? Question 5: What is your relation with the Israeli Government? Have you ever been paid or otherwise compensated by them? How about AIPAC? During your visits to Israel, have you ever had a chance to tour Palestinian areas like West Bank and Gaza, with Palestinian guides? Question 6: Let’s pretend you’re a Zionist settler anytime after 1948 to the present day…how to you explain in your own words, to a Palestinian to his face, why you are evicting him from his home or property, and it will be yours from now on. …………….Hope that would be more informative and entertaining than the kissyface love fests we usually get from these “authors”.
Great comments all. Thanks for the perspective and depth. Usually, posts like these pass with little acknowledgment. Your responses suggest there is some real dissatisfaction with how some media outlets are choosing to “cover” events and portray people.
.It is obvious many of the people who have commented here are in the dark about the intent of organizations like The Mulsim Brotherhood. All any of you have to do is go READ what they want to do on their websites! Havent ANY of you DONE THIS? And you DARE to call people who OPPOSE that ideology ISLAMOPHOBES? UNREAL!!It is amazing that after all of the attacks on the west that the left still cannot fathom their intent. To completely dismiss this man’s message because he went to a Christian College or worked for a Christiam broadcaster is just ignorant. I wonder if they would question his motives as much were he a reporter for Media Matters or The Huffington Post and he espoused complete annihilation of the west? Somehow I doubt it.. Never mind if what he says is true, Perhaps they would be completely at ease if CSPAN only did interviews with people with whom they agree, that way they could go through life with their rose colored glasses firmly in place.
I suspect that “left” and “right” are simply too narrow to be viable in framing this issue. The terms are effectively meaningless in a world where certain Muslims have said that their principal opposition is to the establishment of military bases in Arabia AND at the same time, US leaders on the “left” and the “right” remain committed to those bases and the enduring relationship between the US and the House of Saud. Rose colored glasses, at least, admit some light. Perhaps everyone needs new spectacles.