An engrossing panel discussion entitled Iraq – What Next? was held on Tuesday evening, June 29 at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, NJ. Sponsored by the new Bergen County chapter of the United Nations Association (UNA-USA) and moderated by our own Dr. Sylvain Ehrenfeld, the program featured three distinguished speakers.
Columbia University Professor Gary Sick, who served on the National Security Council of three U.S. presidents, analyzed the Iraq war within the context of American foreign policy goals during the twentieth century. S. Azmat Hassan, who served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Morocco, Syria and Malaysia as well as other diplomatic positions, used his extensive international experience to clarify the position of the world community regarding the American choice to wage war. The Rev. Charles W. Rawlings expressed his apprehension about the war from a religious and social perspective.
Many of the 125 people attending took advantage of the question and answer period that followed the formal presentations to raise insightful issues, such as ‘How will it be possible for the new Iraqi government to write a constitution that fairly represents all the factions within Iraq, especially the Kurds?’ and ‘Will all the bad news from Iraq convince the U.S. to abandon the war prematurely, making a bad situation worse?’.
The discussion was an auspicious start for the Bergen chapter of the UNA, a grass roots foreign policy organization, offering Americans the opportunity to connect with issues confronted by the United Nations. For more information on this new organization, contact Sylvain or Phyllis Ehrenfeld.
Submitted by Terri Karp
July 8, 2004