Ambassador speaks on Middle East issues

Although David J. Dunford, the former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Oman, spent much of last week in Sisters, his real purpose for being in Central Oregon was to speak to the High Desert Forum on the Middle East.

On Wednesday night, April 17, at the First Presbyterian Church in Bend, that's exactly what he did.

Dunford started with the premise that "I don't need to remind anyone how important the Middle East is to U.S. interests."

He asked how many people walked to the Forum; the answer: none.

The answer was the same when he queried the crowd about bicycle, horseback, and public transportation.

He pointed out that everyone had arrived in one- to two-ton packages of plastic and steel.

He made his point, and it was a launching pad for the talk that followed.

After a brief lesson in oil economics and a reference to the Arabic "feudal monarchies," Dunford was off and running.

"Ignorance," he said, "is the biggest obstacle to resolving international issues."

As it turned out, the ignorance he referred to is shared by all sides: we don't understand them; they don't understand us; and their own governments conspire to keep them in the dark.

He referred to "failed societies suffering under bad governments" that deflect anger away from internal failures and toward Israel and the United States.

"The question they ask," he said, "is not where did we go wrong, but who did this to us?"

Dunford stated that Arabic governments take our aid and purport to be friendly to us but routinely hide their own inadequacies by formally indoctrinating their people that the United States and Israel are to blame for the country's problems.

The result, Dunford explained, is a society that easily falls prey to the rhetoric of what he termed "Binladenism."

Still, he said, "We can't defeat Binladenism without dealing with what feeds it."

Specifically, he argued that the U.S. cannot be passive to the events of the Middle East and must take a more active role.

While he praised President Bush's initial actions after September 11, he was critical of the government's subsequent failure to proactively deal with a broader range Middle Eastern issues.

Dunford is also concerned about our country's long-term relationship with Afghanistan.

Referring to the United States' abandonment of Afghanistan after the expulsion of Soviet forces, he said, "There's a real danger that we'll walk away from Afghanistan again.

"We need to get that right this time.

"Toppling the Taliban and defeating al-Quaida is the easy part.

"We need to learn about Islam."

Another part of getting it right, he said, is that "the benefits of globalization need to be extended to all the people."

He also said that we must improve on our "shameful performance" in foreign policy issues.

Regarding the current stage of the Middle East crisis, he stated "(Yasser) Arafat lacks a vision. With a vision, Palestinians could see hope," something that he says is now lacking.

He had sharp words for the Israelis, as well.

"If Israel is to remain Jewish and Democratic, it must get rid of Gaza and the West Bank."

It's simple math, he explained: "The Arab birthrate is much higher, and it won't take that long to get an Arab majority (in Israel)."

One of the most interesting questions that followed was not about Israel or Palestinians, but about Iran.

Dunford described Iran as the "second most democratic country in the Middle East" and suggested that we have more in common with the people of Iran than we realize.

He even pointed out -- with some chagrin -- that, at one point in time, the most popular television program in Iran was "Baywatch."

In any event, he said our country was so scarred by the Iranian hostage crisis during the Carter administration, that we have been unable to fashion an effective relationship with that country.

"It's in our best interest," he said, "to reach out to Iran."

Therein lies the crux of Dunford's message.

In order to put an end to ignorance -- both ours and theirs -- it is imperative for our country to reach out beyond its borders in positive, productive, and proactive ways.

If we don't reach out to the rest of the world in cooperation and understanding, "they" will come to us on entirely different terms.

They did on September 11, and they will again.