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Armand Cucciniello III
File:ArmandCucciniello1.jpeg
Born
Armand V. Cucciniello III

7 December 1979
New Jersey, U.S.A.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBoston University; Syracuse University; University of California, Berkeley

Armand Cucciniello III (b. 7 December 1979; also known as Armand Cucciniello, Armand V. Cucciniello, Armand V. Cucciniello III) is a public relations and communications executive, writer, political and international affairs commentator; a former American diplomat and journalist.[1] He has appeared on CNN[2], National Public Radio (NPR), television and radio programs in the tristate area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut), commenting on political and international affairs. He has written for TIME magazine, USA Today, The Daily Caller. His writing has also been published by RealClearPolitics[3].

His work has been used and cited by think-tanks like the Center for Strategic and International Studies;[4] scholars and authors writing on foreign policy[5][6], law[7], South Asia[8][9], and the Middle East;[10] the U.S. government, and the U.S. military.[11]

Cucciniello was a spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Baghdad from 2006 until 2010.

Education

Cucciniello is a graduate of Boston University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002.[12] He subsequently attended The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University where he earned a Master of Arts degree (2004)[13] and was a Foreign Language and Area Studies National Resource Fellow.[14] [15]

Cucciniello attended high-school from 1994-1998 and is a graduate from Seton Hall Preparatory School.[16][17][18]

Career and Professional Life

Subsequent to his time in Boston, he worked for the Center For Strategic and International Studies[19] and The Rendon Group, Inc., a global public relations and strategic communications firm based in Washington, D.C.

India

Cucciniello lived in India twice - first in 2001 as a student in Mysore at the Dhvanyaloka Centre For Indian Studies;[20] and subsequently working as a reporter for Dow Jones Newswires in New Delhi and Mumbai.[15]

While in Mysore, Cucciniello was a student of Indian archaeologist and epigraphist M.S. Nagaraja Rao; and scholar H.V. Nagaraja Rao, a world authority on Sanskrit.[21] Aside from studying archaeology, South Asian languages, and contemporary political science Cucciniello conducted primary research in southern India on the then-nascent and budding information technology (IT) industry[22], which had been mostly forming in and around nearby Bangalore and Hyderabad. Cucciniello's work was noticed by Indian journalist and head of Dow Jones India Mr. Suman Dubey, who was a very close friend of the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his wife, the Italian-born politician Sonia Gandhi.[23]

In 2003 Dubey invited Cucciniello to come work in New Delhi as a reporter for the newswire to cover IT, among other topics. From Mumbai, Cucciniello was one of the first to report internationally on India as a thriving, global hub for what became known as business processing outsourcing, or simply "outsourcing."[24] He also reported[25][26] on political affairs,[27] macroeconomics,[28][29] agriculture,[30] and the textile industry.[31]

Iraq

Armand Cucciniello III in Baghdad, Iraq. September 2006.

In 2006 Cucciniello moved to Baghdad, Iraq to work for Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I).

Shortly after he was hired by the U.S. Department of State to work in the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. embassy, located in the former Republican Palace (Arabic: القصر الجمهوري al-Qaṣr al-Ǧumhūriy) of Saddam Hussein.[1][15] As such Cucciniello was made a non-career U.S. diplomat.[12] He served as a spokesman for the U.S. embassy and has been quoted in news media outlets like The New York Times, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, CBS News, NBC, CNN, McClatchy Newspapers, Sky News, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and others, providing information about political developments[32] during the war,[33] the trials of Saddam Hussein[34][35], diplomatic activity including VIP visits by U.S. Senators like Barak Obama,[36] Iraq's delicate relationship with Israel,[37], Iran[38], and the U.S. embassy. [39] He was also a writer for the U.S. Department of State, writing about Iraqi rule of law;[40] art, culture[41], and sports programs[42]; and anti-corruption.[43]

Some of Cucciniello's experiences in Iraq were documented in the 2007 book Baghdad: Journal of A Reporter (French: Bagdad, Journal d'un Reporter) by the AFP reporter Patrick Fort, and he was a contributor to many titles documenting and covering the war.[44]

While in Iraq, Cucciniello befriended Andrea Parhamovich, a National Democratic Institute employee killed in January 17, 2007 in Baghdad when her convoy was ambushed as she was returning from teaching a class on democracy to Iraqis. Parhamovich was the subject of the book I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story, written by her fiancé and Newsweek reporter Michael Hastings.[45] Cucciniello was also a good friend of Hastings, who died on June 18, 2013 in an automobile crash in Los Angeles, California.[46]

Saddam Hussein and The Iraqi High Tribunal

Cucciniello was responsible for overseeing news media and logistical operations at the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT)[47], a court established under Iraqi law to try Iraqis or residents accused of genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanit[48]y, or other serious crimes committed by Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party regime. As such, Cucciniello was one of the few Americans to witness and be present at the trial of Saddam Hussein[49]; and other Ba'ath Party officials and top-tier henchmen of Hussein like Ali Hassan "Chemical Ali" Al-Majid, Tarik Aziz, (Foreign Minister) Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Taih (Minister of Defence), Hussein Rashid Moal-Takriti.[50]

Camp Ashraf and the Mojahedin-e-Khal (MEK)

In December 2008 Cucciniello was one of the few American diplomats to have ever visited Camp Ashraf.[51] The camp was the former headquarters of the exiled Iranian group known as the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI) or the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران‎‎ Sāzmān-e mojāhedin-e khalq-e irān), an Iranian opposition movement in exile, founded in 1965, that actively and has sometimes violently advocated for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. There Cucciniello met Mehdi Baraie, a senior official of the PMOI who had signed the ceasefire and mutual understanding agreement with US forces in April 2003.[52] At the time, in 2008, tensions within the camp were high as the Iraqi government had assumed responsibility for all residents on January 1 under the terms of a U.S.-Iraq security agreement. Residents were fearful of being left at the mercy of the new Iraqi government, which had been hostile to the MEK and the camp residents.[53]

Pakistan

Armand Cucciniello III, second from left, at Aiwan-e-Sadr inIslamabad with the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari (center). Photo taken December 2010.

In Pakistan Cucciniello managed a counternarcotics and counter-narcoterrorism project for the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of Defense Representative - Pakistan (ODRP).[54]

Reference

  1. ^ a b "NJ resident in Iraq war zone-njmonthly.com". New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  2. ^ Daniel Ackerman (2016-02-17), Armand Cucciniello interview on CNN, retrieved 2016-02-17
  3. ^ Arm; Cucciniello; 14, USA Today March; 2016. "Don't Dismiss Trump on Foreign Policy". Retrieved 2016-03-14. {{cite web}}: |last3= has numeric name (help)
  4. ^ "India and Israel Move Closer Together - CIAO". ciaonet.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  5. ^ Herberg, Mikkal, ed. (2014). Energy Security and the Asia-Pacific. U.S.: The National Bureau of Asian Research. p. 260. ISBN 978-1-939131-33-1.
  6. ^ Singh, Manjeet (2005). "Deducing India's Grand Strategy of Regional Hegemony From Historical and Conceptual Perspectives" (PDF). Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. pp. 53, 58. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  7. ^ Jenks, Chris (2009-08-01). "A Sense of Duty: The Illusory Criminal Jurisdiction of the U.S./Iraq Status of Forces Agreement". Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Kemp, Geoffrey (2012-01-01). The East Moves West: India, China, and Asia's Growing Presence in the Middle East. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815724071.
  9. ^ "INDIA'S POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY - Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia - Volume 18 (2005) - CEJSH - Yadda". cejsh.icm.edu.pl. p. 10. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  10. ^ Kumaraswamy, P. R. (2010-07-30). India's Israel Policy. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231525480.
  11. ^ Caudill, Shannon; Packard, Anthony; Tembreull, Raymund; et al. (1 April 2001). "Defending the Joint Force" (PDF). Air and Space Power Journal. Retrieved 20 January 2016. {{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |last= (help)
  12. ^ a b Rothman, Evan (11 November 2008). "Our Man in Iraq". New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  13. ^ Kurien, Prema. "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  14. ^ "The South Asia Center News" (PDF). Syracuse University. 2003. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  15. ^ a b c Luongo, Michael (2010). "Ambassador" (PDF). www.niaf.org. Vol 22 No 1. The National Italian American Foundation. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  16. ^ "1996 Seton Hall Preparatory High School Yearbook". www.classmates.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  17. ^ "Seton Hall Preparatory High School class lists - contact old friends". old-friends.co. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  18. ^ "Alumni - Directory - Seton Hall Preparatory School". www.shp.org. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  19. ^ "South Asia Monitor: India and Israel Move Closer Together - October 1, 2003 | Center for Strategic and International Studies". csis.org. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  20. ^ "Dhvanyaloka Centre for Indian Studies - Mysore". www.dcismysore.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  21. ^ "H. V. Nagaraja Rao | The Institute for Advanced Studies". www.as.huji.ac.il. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  22. ^ Rao, ed. (2003). "India and Information Technology". Prajñāvāhini: Journal of Dhvanyaloka Centre for Indian Studies. 1 (1 ed.). India: Dhvanyaloka Centre for Indian Studies: 82–101.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  23. ^ "The Hindu : Dow Jones' pact with Times of India group". www.thehindu.com. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  24. ^ Prakash, Amit, ed. (23 July 2003). "India's Outsourcing Indus To Grow Despite Clamor In US". Mumbai, India: Dow Jones International News.
  25. ^ "India Monsoon Expected To Arrive June 8-10 - Met Office". New Delhi: Dow Jones International News. Dow Jones Newswires. 3 June 2003.
  26. ^ "India Met Office: Monsoon Gathers Steam Off Southern Coast". New Delhi: Dow Jones International News. Dow Jones Newswires. 6 June 2003.
  27. ^ Paris, Costa, ed. (16 June 2003). "India Privatizations Run Into Election Hurdle". New Delhi: Dow Jones International News. Dow Jones Newswires.
  28. ^ "India Govt Unlikely To Meet Budget Target For FY2003-04". New Delhi: Dow Jones International News. Dow Jones Newswires. 4 June 2003.
  29. ^ Lane, Karen, ed. (9 June 2003). "Late Monsoon Arrival May Mean One Week Delay Across India". Dow Jones International News. Dow Jones Newswires – via Highbeam Business.
  30. ^ "Ag Output Gains To Boost India Last FY 4Q GDP". Dow Jones International News. 30 June 2003.
  31. ^ "Free Trade To Hurt Small Indian Textile Cos". New Delhi: Dow Jones International News. Dow Jones Newswires. 4 July 2003 – via Daily Times (Pakistan).
  32. ^ Baghdad, By Damien McElroy in. "Barack Obama calls for plans to withdraw troops from Iraq to Afghanistan". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  33. ^ "Reaction to Al-Maliki". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  34. ^ Glanz, James (2007-08-21). "15 Hussein Aides on Trial in Baghdad". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  35. ^ "Saddam lawyers told to pick up his effects". www.freerepublic.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  36. ^ "Obama in Iraq for talks with US, Iraqi leaders". NBC New York. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  37. ^ "Iraqi Lawmaker Faces Prosecution For Visiting Israel, Advocating Peace". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  38. ^ "Iraqi government distanced itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran". Global Research. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  39. ^ "Obama's Iraq Fact-Finding Mission". Sky News. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  40. ^ "Iraq Proves Fertile Ground For Rule of Law Programs" (PDF). U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  41. ^ "Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra Performs In Baghdad" (PDF). U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq. 26 July 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  42. ^ "U.S. Sports Academy Honors Iraqi Soccer Team With Award" (PDF). U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq. 15 May 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  43. ^ "Iraq Officials Begin New Year with Vow to Battle Corruption | IIP Digital". iipdigital.usembassy.gov. 15 January 2008. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  44. ^ Fort, Patrick (2007). Bagdad : Journal d'un reporter (in French). France: Des Idées & des Hommes. ISBN 2353690270.
  45. ^ Hastings, Michael (2008-01-01). I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story. Melbourne Univ. Publishing. ISBN 9780522854930.
  46. ^ Hastings, Michael (2008-04-08). I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416561163.
  47. ^ "Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  48. ^ "Iraqi Special Tribunal to Try Crimes Against Humanity". www.hrcr.org. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  49. ^ "Saddam's Time Running Out". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  50. ^ Glanz, James (2007-08-21). "15 Hussein Aides on Trial in Baghdad". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  51. ^ "Fighting To Stay In Iraq". FOX News. FOX News. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  52. ^ "Interview with a veteran official of the Iranian Mojahedin". www.iranfocus.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  53. ^ "Iranian Militant MeK Group Losing Fight to Stay in Iraq | Fox News". Fox News. 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  54. ^ "Illegal Immigration Is Not the Only Problem—Visas Are Too". TIME.com. Retrieved 2016-01-28.

Category:Politics Category:Public relations Category:Mass media Category:Iraq Category:Pakistan Category:Iran Category:Middle East Category:South Asia Category:Boston University Category:Syracuse University Category:University of California, Berkeley Category:Seton Hall Preparatory School alumni


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