Welch Speaks At Air Force Program

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A UB faculty member was one of the chief speakers at the first direct military-training program sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School and partially funded by the Department of State that included four Iraqi rebel leaders who oppose President Saddam Hussein.

Claude E. Welch, Jr., SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, spoke Nov. 2 on how civil-military relations exist in democratic societies as part of the Civil-Military Strategy for Internal Development (CMSID) course presented by the United States Air Force Special Operations School at Hurlburt Field in Florida.

The CMSID program is designed to teach military and civilian representatives of countries from a designated region -- in this case the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia -- about strategic planning and developmental implementation.

The 12-day program also covered topics that included American culture and value systems, working with the media, emergency assistance and disaster planning, U.S. support mechanisms, human rights, law of armed conflict and military legal issues, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism.

Welch, co-director of UB's Human Rights Center, is an expert on military topics, terrorism and the ages-old conflict between those who wage war and those who seek peace, and the political factors influencing that conflict. Former editor of Armed Forces and Society, he has authored and edited books on the military and was an editor of the International Military and Defense Encyclopedia.

He resides in Snyder.