July 29, 2005

Kudos to Jeffery Gettleman and Patrick Leahy

I applaud (the extremely handsome) Gettleman for covering this story, and Leahy for taking an interest in this issue and helping out. If we want to the US to be better liked in Iraq over the long term, something that would seem essential for the success of US foreign policy, we need to be cognizant of these needs and do something about them. Otherwise, predictably, it will be yet another reason for the population there to view us with a great deal of resentment.

Posted by armand at July 29, 2005 09:38 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Media


Comments

There are parts of this story that are a little less than heartwarming, thought the bit about "'If I can be a senator with one eye, you can be prime minister,' Mr. Leahy said. Ayad beamed." was pretty cute.

I have long been an advocate of person-to-person exchange programs as a mechanism for increased undesrtanding and cooperation. Simply, they change people's lives. And although they don't always reveal only positive things about host and visitor, generally they serve to show both sides the humanity of the other.

Of course, there are the naysayers who will talk about the recent bombings in London, and the fact that cultural exchange didn't work there. That's not what I'm talking about at all. That was immigration, not exchange.

Posted by: binky at July 29, 2005 09:56 AM | PERMALINK

Of course there is a raft of literature in the field of conflict resolution to back up your preference Binky. Exchange programs work. That's not to say that occasionally one or two people don't come back from a program with as much or more disdain (or even hatred) as they started with. But on the whole they have been found to be very beneficial at showing that common norms already exist between members of groups that are battling, or pointing out ways in which they can be reached. They are very helpful at creating more cooperation in politics.

Posted by: Armand at July 29, 2005 12:00 PM | PERMALINK
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