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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tech Master who wrote (7962)	2/13/2003 7:42:31 PM
From: LPS5	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Did you know anybody in the WTC? I did. Five friends are gone. My deepest condolences. I knew one well, and about ten on a first name, over-the-phone basis. LPS5

To: Tech Master who wrote (7962)	2/13/2003 8:39:57 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25898

>>Did you know anybody in the WTC?<< Yes, since I'm in the investment business, I knew quite a few people working in the WTC. I also knew a group of engineers who were on the flight from Dulles to Los Angeles and made it only as far as the Pentagon. I also worked in USAID for over seven years, all of it in Muslim countries, and my younger brother spent three years on a Fulbright in Afghanistan. I could give you many examples of why the U.S. has not been successful on the diplomatic front, but the general problem is that we do not have enough experts in the field building trust and establishing institutions that work against the sort of fundamentalism that leads to terrorist activities. I'm a firm believer in shirtsleeves diplomacy because that's how I was able to operate successfully in Muslim countries. One of the prerequisites, of course, is knowledge of the local languages, and the majority of Americans working in these countries simply don't make enough effort in that regard. I know what's possible--from experience as well as from education, having majored in Arabic language and history at the University of Michigan. Q.E.D. Art