George Naifeh
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Born | August 19, 1924 Kiefer, Oklahoma, USA | |||||||||||
Died | November 9, 2006 (Age 82) University Hospital, Augusta, Georgia, USA | |||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Oklahoma, Johns Hopkins University | |||||||||||
Parents | • Shahada Naifeh • Saida Naifeh | |||||||||||
Spouse | Marion Carolyn Naifeh | |||||||||||
Founder of | Middle East Policy Council | |||||||||||
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George A. Naifeh co-founded the Middle East Policy Council in 1981. He was president of the group until 1991.
Career
On graduating from high school, he joined the US Army Air Forces and served as a Staff Sergeant during World War II. He was a tall-turret gunner and radio operator with the 490th Bomb Group, a B-17 Flying Fortress unit of the Eighth Air Force, based in England, and was awarded the Purple Heart on February 6, 1945, as a result of enemy action in Strasbourg, France; he also earned an Oak Leaf cluster, an Air Medal, and four battle stars. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Naifeh attended the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University before joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1951. Naifeh served for nearly three decades in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Jordan.[1]