Reese Erlich, a former California State University, East Bay faculty member and investigative journalist, is back on campus to give students an inside look into the Syrian Civil War.

From 4-6 p.m. on Oct. 22 in the Biella Room in the library, Erlich will speak about issues raised in his latest book, “Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect.” His talk will focus on international law and human rights. The event is free to all students.

Erlich believes that the U.S. should not have intervened militarily. He believes that airstrikes alone will not win the war which has spread into Iraq and is now being spearheaded by groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS.

“The latest bombings in Iraq and Syria is just the beginning of a very slippery slope to a full scale war that will cost over six billion dollars a year and which Americans will lose their lives and which people of the region will come to resent and oppose. So, the time to stop the war is now,” said Erlich.

His reporting attempts to provide a true-to-life look at conflicts in Syria and Iraq and the effects of U.S. intervention throughout the Middle East through personal accounts, interviews with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the multiple rebel groups fighting within the country.

Erlich is an award-winning freelance journalist who has been reporting for more than 40 years, 30 of which has been in the Middle East. He is author of the 2003 book “Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell you,” the 2007 book, “The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of US Policy and the Middle East Crisis,” and “Conversations With Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence and Empire” in 2010.

The event was organized by Political Science department chair Kim Geron, and was co-sponsored by the Philosophy department, and the Anthropology/Geography/Environmental Studies department.