Diplomatic Connections January-February 2012

A Business, Diplomacy & Foreign Policy Publication

January - February 2012 • $7.95

BUSINESS • POLITICS • MEDICAL • ENTERTAINMENT • MILITARY & DEFENSE • CONGRESS

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UpComIng EvEntS...

SCHUBERT & VAUGHANWILLIAMS QUINTETS January 13th - Embassy of Australia

Early Carlyss, Violin / Kenji Bunch, Viola / Darrett Adkins, Cello / John Patitucci, Double Bass / Ann Schein, Piano Ray Chen, Violin & Julio Elizalde, Piano

March 16th - Embassy of Australia

Bella Hristova, Violin & Ieva Jokubaviciute, Piano March 23rd - Embassy of Bulgaria

Mendelssohn Piano Trio April 20th - Embassy of Austria

Paulius Andersson, Piano April 27th - Embassy of Lithuania

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Bill Gates PAGE 24 DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dawn Parker AssistantS to the Editor Chanel Cherry Ashley Gatewood BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Executives Evan Strianese, Kendra Edmonds, Roberto Bruni EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Kyle Byram DESIGN & CREATIVE KDG Advertising, Design & Marketing msocha@kdgadvertising.com DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENTS and CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Roland Flamini, James Winship, PhD, Monica Frim, Mark Kennedy, Meghan Lawson, Lawrence Dunham

Sienna Miller Page 62

To contact an advertising executive CALL: 202.536.4810 FAX: 202.370.6882 EMAIL: info@diplomaticconnections.com DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT IMS (Inquiry Management Systems) 304 Park Avenue South, 11th Floor New York, NY 10010 TOLL FREE: 877.467.8721 X701 Website: www.ims.com Marc Highbloom, Vice President marc@ims.ca Maria D’Urso, Project Manager Mariad@ims.ca CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Christophe Avril and Gustavo Gargallo To order photos from the events go to: www.diplomaticconnections.com Send any name or address changes in writing to: Diplomatic Connections 4410 Massachusetts Avenue / #200 Washington, DC 20016 Diplomatic Connections Business Edition is published bi-monthly.

Diplomatic Connections does not endorse any of the goods or services offered herein this publication.

Copyright 2012 by Diplomatic Connections All rights reserved.

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Cover photo credits: Sienna Miller, Angela Weiss, Getty Images; LGen Guy Thibault, Monica Frim, Diplomatic Connections; BGen Bruno Caitucoli, Christophe Avril, Diplomatic Connections; Bill Gates, Dan Kitwood, Getty Images; Matthew Perry, Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call; Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, Bill O’Leary, The Washington Post via Getty Images; Queen Elizabeth and Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said, John Stillwell - WPA Pool/ Getty Images; Christine Lagarde, David Ramos/Getty Images; Dr. Pamela Marzban, Diplomatic Connections

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U.S. and French Military are Shoulder-To-Shoulder and Cooperation Never Stopped, Defense Attache Caitucoli says.

By Roland Flamini The first planes deployed to halt Moammar Gaddafi’s attempt to crush the rising dissent in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, on March 19 were French. As the Libyan revolution widened France continued to be a leading force in the Allied operation, and French Air Force Brigadier General Bruno Caitucoli says his government is “pretty happy with what we have done along with other nations.” As France’s defense attaché in Washington, Gen. Caitucoli, a combat pilot, is responsible for maintaining relations with his American counterparts: in a recent exclusive interview with DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS he said cooperation is better than ever.

General, firstly, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed by Diplomatic Connections. Can you start by giving me some data about the French involvement in the Libyan operation?

What French assets were involved, and so on.

Diplomatic Connections:

France played a substantial role. We made 30 percent of all the sorties; and France was responsible for 40 percent of the dynamic targeting, which means going after moving targets, which are, of course, more difficult to hit than fixed targets.

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli:

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Brigadier General Bruno Caitucoli, French Air Force, Embassy of France

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Diplomatic Connections: Did your operations begin and end in France, or did you use bases elsewhere in the Mediterranean, such as Italy, for example?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: Yes, there was an attempt to bring in weapons for Gaddafi’s forces. But the blockade was a deterrent along the coastline.

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: France was operating on its own on the first day of the operation, March 19, and basically all the planes took off from French Air Force bases, mainly in eastern France. After that, we deployed the assets to Corsica first, using it as a fixed “aircraft carrier” in the middle of the Mediterranean. Then we reached agreement with other nations such as Italy and Greece and re-deployed for a second time

Diplomatic Connections: Secretary Clinton said the U.S. was able to provide support with what she called “unique assets.” What did she mean by unique assets?

closer to the theater of operations, in other words, Libya.

Meantime, the carrier Charles de Gaulle, was moving across the Mediterranean from Toulon towards the Libyan coastline.

Diplomatic Connections: The declared intention of the air effort was to protect Libyan civilians; but as the fighting went on the target increasingly became Libyan troops and mercenaries loyal to Gaddafi. How did this change come about?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: I personally don’t think there was a change in the mission. I think what did change was the way in which we did the mission. Initially, operations were close to Benghazi where the [Western] allies had to stop convoys of armed vehicles about to enter the city. That was, of course, intended to protect the civilian population. What changed over time was that it became an urban combat, but the main aim was always to protect the civilian population and then to address the military means that Gaddafi’s forces were using against that population.

Diplomatic Connections: Were there any French personnel of any description on the ground in Libya?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: That question was answered very clearly by the French authorities, and I have nothing to add. At least one nation has said it had some troops on the ground. Incidentally, we very often hear it said that it was an air campaign. Not really, it was a joint campaign, with a land force – the fact is that the land force was not provided by the alliance, but by the Libyan [insurgents]. There were also maritime assets providing a blockade.

Diplomatic Connections: Did the coastal blockade stop anything? Were there vessels attempting to enter Libyan ports at that particular time?

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Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: The fact is that the United States provided a huge amount of assets, for example, air-to-air re-fueling. What was really different this time was that 90 percent of the strike sorties were done by nations other than the U.S. This was exactly the opposite to the Kosovo conflict, for instance – and you can compare the two because they were both air-centric. But it doesn’t mean that the U.S. was not heavily involved with critical assets.

Diplomatic Connections: From the French military point of view, what worked and perhaps also what didn’t, and what lessons did you learn from it?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: First there were the political lessons: we had been paying particular attention to Libya as one country in an arc of crisis that went from Mauritania to Pakistan, and so we already had a lot of data-- just in case. When we saw the situation going the wrong way, we were prepared: in the military you don’t know what your political masters are going to decide, but you have to be ready. Since the beginning of March we had been assessing the situation autonomously, and that gave us the confidence to be first in. Second, our assets are now more than combat proven. For example, the Rafale [France’s top combat plane] had already been proven in Afghanistan, but in one type of mission, namely in support of ground forces. In Libya, it demonstrated its capability to do everything – to enforce the no-fly zone and therefore to confront other aircraft in air-to-air combat, but also to halt the advance

by Gaddafi’s ground forces towards Benghazi, and at the same time to take pictures and do reconnaissance – very much a multi-role, full capability aircraft.

Diplomatic Connections: You think that you have achieved a 100 percent performance objective.

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: The mission was quite complex and we don’t pretend to have been quite successful in all aspects. We know we have a lot of things we can do better in

the future, but we are pretty happy with what we have done, alongside with the other nations.

Diplomatic Connections: There was a story about NATO countries running out of ammunition and having to get more from the U.S. Was this true?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: That story applied to some allies, but not to us. On the contrary, we provided other nations with ammunition. Some NATO countries spoke openly about their decision not to keep huge stores of ammunition. They have some, and if they need to commit, they buy within the alliance; and because weapons within NATO are compatible, they can easily get what they don’t have.

Diplomatic Connections: Last year, France rejoined the NATO command structure, from which it had withdrawn in the 1960s. How has that changed France’s relationship with the Alliance?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: It’s important, but even before that we were taking part in NATO operations with absolutely no problem. From the strictly military point of view and the capability to operate with allies that was not a major change.

What is much more important is that we are now perceived by all the other allies as a member of the senior club, so that you don’t have a club “A” and club “B”.

Diplomatic Connections: Do you feel that Afghanistan has been a true test of NATO’s broader mission outside its borders—and not a very successful one at that – or does NATO’s post Cold War role need rethinking?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: The Cold War ended twenty years ago, and NATO was designed to be able to face the challenge of the Warsaw Pact. All of a sudden we are asking the

“When we saw the situation going the wrong way, we were prepared: in the military you don’t know what your political masters are going to decide, but you have to be ready…we had been assessing the situation autonomously, and that gave us the confidence to be first in…our assets are now more than combat proven.”

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NATO structure to do something completely different. The first NATO mission ever started in 1993 over Bosnia, when we established the no-fly zone. My recollection of that story is the capacity of NATO to adapt to new and unforeseen situations. Nothing is perfect in this world, and we had and still have difficulties in adapting, but the alliance remains something really strong and very important.

Diplomatic Connections: Are you yourself optimistic that NATO will continue?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: Why not?

Diplomatic Connections: Well, because one sees the Americans being more hesitant about a European commitment. The transatlantic language seems to have undergone a significant change.

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: Isn’t that the result of the fact that hopefully we don’t have a major threat in front of us anymore? The old mindset was there because of the Warsaw Pact. Now, it’s not that we are forced to be together because of a common enemy, we decide to be together to deal with one or another specific crisis.

Diplomatic Connections: Franco-American relations have their ups and downs. During the Iraq war they were down. And yet France is in Afghanistan. How do relations look from the military side?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: It’s our business to stand ready. If you don’t have any contact for a substantial period of time you will not be able to cooperate in the way we have done this year. You have to maintain the relationship -- as we have done

Brigadier General Bruno Caitucoli, French Air Force, Embassy of France

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throughout the period you are referring to. Now, of course, things are much easier because we have excellent relations, probably better than ever. We cooperate very, very closely, and we can address any topic. Sometimes we have disagreements: like any family, you can’t agree fully on everything.

Diplomatic Connections: So you are saying that during the period of very strained relations in the run-up to, and during the Iraq war the military side continued to cooperate.

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: Yes, not necessarily at the same level, not necessarily to the same extent or on the same scale, but it was clear that sooner or later we would have to once again get close. We are a restricted club of democracies sharing the same values and having the ability to defend them shoulder-to-shoulder – and that we have been doing for 230 years – because [the American-French siege of] Yorktown was exactly 230 years ago. In World War I, World War II, and all the other commitments we were always together and it will remain the same in the future.

Diplomatic Connections: What is your assessment of France’s contribution to the Afghanistan operation?

Brig. Gen. Caitucoli: Like other nations we experienced something that was quite hard. And like the others, we have paid a price in blood. But having said that, we are also happy with what we have done in the area that was placed under our control. But it was very difficult: it was a country we were not familiar with before deploying.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you, Brigadier General Caitucoli. n

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Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates waves as he arrives at the G20 Summit on November 3, 2011 in Cannes, France.

World’s top economic leaders attended the G20 summit in Cannes on November 3rd and 4th, and debated current issues surrounding the global financial system in the hope of fending off a global recession and finding an answer to the Eurozone crisis.

Addresses G-20 Cannes Summit

at the Invitation of

French President Sarkozy Microsoft Co-Founder Asks Leaders to “Cast Aside” Old Categories of Aid for Development

By James A. Winship, Ph.D.

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ill Gates — co-founder of Microsoft — has been a software architect, an entrepreneurial mastermind, a corporate empire builder, a role model for philanthropic giving, the inspiration for leveraging the programmatic efforts of foundation combines impacting global healthcare and agricultural development, and most recently the voice of conscience for a developed world preoccupied with its own economic slowdown and threats of a double-dip global recession. Invited to address the leaders of the G-20 group of developed and developing nations by the host, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Gates presented a report on global development entitled “Innovation with Impact: Financing 21st Century Development.” His report, Gates indicated, was intended to “help keep development on the agenda when there is a temptation to look at short-term issues.”

An earlier report by the International Monetary Fund characterized the world economy in terms that underscored the severe challenges ahead. “The immediate risk,” warned the IMF, “is that the global economy tips into a downward spiral of increased uncertainty and risk aversion, dysfunctional financial markets, unsustainable debt dynamics, falling demand, and rising unemployment.” Against this somber backdrop, the G-20 states wrestled with the problems of declining economic growth worldwide, the threatened collapse of the Euro-zone due to the threatened spread of the sovereign debt crisis in Greece and Italy to Europe’s stronger

economies, and the deepening problem of global trade imbalances between countries with strong current account balances and those facing persistent trade deficits.

In the face of these dilemmas, Gates countered that, “There’s a lot of pressure on aid budgets given economic conditions, but aid is a very small part of government expenditures. The world will not balance its books by cutting back on aid, but it will do irreparable damage to global stability, to the growth of the global economy and to the livelihoods of millions of poor people.” Tempting though it may be for rich countries to cut their development assistance, Gates noted, they should not do so. Not only have the rich countries made promises regarding their development assistance goals, but also “because important pieces of the development agenda won’t get addressed without assistance.”

Despite popular myths to the contrary, Gates argued, official development assistance (ODA) has worked spectacularly in the past and has the potential to continue to do so into the future. ODA, he insisted, “is a small investment that generates a huge return.” Gates pointed to notable successes over the last fifty years including such things as agricultural advances in introduction of new higher yield and disease resistant seed varieties, which have saved more than a billion people from starvation. Health care has improved markedly with the widespread introduction of vaccines for such things as smallpox and polio. More recent efforts have had significant impact on

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US President Barack Obama (L) walks to greet the crowd next to French President Nicolas Sarkozy after arriving at the G20 venue for a bilateral meeting before the start of the G20 Summit of Heads of State and Government in Cannes on November 3, 2011.

ters, Gates advocated three innovative tax recommendations.

Tobacco taxes are already ubiquitous, and they have positive consequences for global health by encouraging people to stop smoking. Why not follow the World Health Organization’s recommendation to raise tobacco excise taxes to 70 percent of the pack price? Then, earmark a portion of the additional revenues for global healthcare?

Certainly, the most contentious notion Gates put forward was his support for a financial transactions tax, sometimes described as a “Robin Hood” tax for its supposed impact of taking from the rich to give to the poor. Fifteen of the G-20 countries already have some form of securities transaction tax, proving its feasibility. Modeling suggests that a tax as small as 10 basis points on equities and 2 basis points on bonds could yield as much as $48 billion on a G-20 wide basis or $9 billion

Philippe Wojazer/AFP/Getty Images

suppressing diseases such as measles and AIDS. “ODA,” Gates observed, “spurs innovation by funding pilot projects that poor countries would not undertake themselves. It also pays for global public goods like scientific research. Finally, people in very poor countries will continue to depend on assistance for their survival for the foreseeable future.”

Bill Gates, business leader that he is, however, did not stop at a defense of the importance of development assistance.

Instead he offered the leaders of the G-20 a new vision of global development assistance in which rich country development assistance, in-kind assistance from emerging economies, the efforts of international organizations, and private initiatives are melded into a reenergized public-private international collaboration. “We can,” Gates said, “cast aside our old categories of aid, as distinct from private investment, as distinct from domestic spending. The G-20 countries can pull all of these levers at once, giving the world a more comprehensive and cooperative approach to improving the lives of the poor that we’ve ever had before.”

Gates began his report by emphasizing the importance of innovation, which he said “fundamentally shifts the trajectory of development.” The problem, he noted, is that the pace of innovation has been too slow and often the adoption of innovations to directly assist poor countries has been even slower. To improve this situation he suggested drawing on the successful experience of recently emerged economies to catalyze innovation through a series of “triangular partnerships” among rapidly growing countries, traditional aid donors, and poor countries.

Tempering his vision with a strong dose of realism, Gates acknowledged that, “By far the largest supply of financing for development will continue to come from developing countries themselves.” While building roads, schools, and health infrastructure “is a job for governments,” it is critical to help those governments find more effective ways to raise revenue.

Here Gates advocated for three initiatives: greater transparency in the terms of contracts negotiated with extractive industries such as mining and oil; improving revenue systems, particularly with regard to tax collection and budgeting procedures; and, the development of performance review procedures to evaluate the effectiveness of government spending programs.

“As countries begin to finance a growing percentage of their own development,” Gates noted, “the world’s ODA can be concentrated on a smaller and smaller number of issues and countries where it is needed most urgently.” Recognizing, however, that in difficult economic times development assistance offers an easy target for governmental budget cut-

if confined to the larger European economies. [NOTE: One basis point is equal to 1/100th of one percent.] The vital point for Gates is that a portion of these revenues should be reserved for investments in development.

Noting the close relationship between development and climate change, Gates also considered the complex and controversial issue of more explicit carbon pricing, reflecting the long-term impact of carbon based fuels on climate change. He advocated beginning to make necessary adjustments by introducing a tax on shipping and aviation fuel, estimated to yield $37 billion and $27 billion in annual revenues respectively. “If a modest portion of these revenues were devoted to helping poor countries adapt to climate change,” he noted, “it would protect the livelihoods of millions of very poor people.”

Critical to the Gates vision of 21st century global devel-

opment, however, is “bringing the private sector in.” Impact investing designed simultaneously to meet developmental goals and provide a financial return, Gates noted, is continuing to expand and to encourage innovative business models.

International philanthropy is growing and paying close attention to the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] adopted by the United Nations. A small portion of sovereign wealth funds held by states, Gates suggested, could be made available for infrastructure development. Such an infrastructure fund would need to provide returns at market-related rates even as it offered concessional terms to borrower countries. Bridging up the gap between these rates would be the role of multilateral banks and leading donor states.

Diaspora communities, Gates observed, already contribute to development through remittances to their home countries,

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but this process could be facilitated by lowering the transaction have already generated so much progress.” That’s Bill Gates as costs of remittances. And diaspora direct investment opporreassuring cheerleader, shaping a message to the comfort zones tunities could be encouraged by the development of national of political leaders. development bonds issued by the home country. Israel and

“If poor countries can’t feed, educate, and employ people, India have experience with these bond programs, and several their problems will get worse and they will be a source of other countries are planning to follow suit. Public capital can instability and deep suffering.” Robust economic growth, on also be leveraged to incentivize pointedly targeted research and the other hand, “will help poor countries provide real oppordevelopment. Thus, Advance Market Commitments have been tunities for their citizens, so that over time these countries will used to incentivize the development of a pneumonia vaccine become a key part of the global supply and demand equation. by guaranteeing buyers for a drug that did not yet exist. The On the supply side, they will expand global production capacresult? A visible market pulled private sector investment and expertise, and the newly developed vaccine is now being introduced in more than three dozen countries.

Many of the Gates proposals are embedded in the Final Declaration of the Cannes summit, though the participants’ language reflects commitments both more guarded and more reluctant to pursue new revenue sources for official development assistance than the compendium of development recommendations Bill Gates offered. Few of the Gates recommendations were new. Instead, they reflected a combination of current best practices and cutting edge ideas generated by a variety of aid providers and investors. But IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde gestures Gates gave these ideas cachet, a legitimacy as she addresses a press born of his “legend” – phenomenally successconference during the second day of the G20 ful business leader and fabulously wealthy Summit on November 4, philanthropist turned advocate for sustain2011 in Cannes, France. able human development and responsible economic growth.

What was vital about Bill Gates and his invitation to speak ity and help increase the availability and lower the price of at the G-20 summit is that he was literally “in the room.” He food and other vital commodities. On the demand side, they might not have dispelled all the controversies that swirl around will become important markets for global trade, as their people development assistance and humanitarian relief programs, but live better more productive lives.” That’s Bill Gates as challenghe reframed the terms of the debate where it counted and he ing visionary, ensured that critical areas of global development would not be

“If we take an appropriately long view, achieving the buried in an avalanche of concern about economic stagnation MDGs [the Millennium Development Goals set forth by the and public debt. He offered a new and encouraging vision of United Nations] in poor countries and increasing GDP within public-private coordination to a summit that threatened to be the G-20 are not separate goals but complementary ones.” blinkered by the fears of recession.

Critics might say that this is the work of a magician or a cock The old binary distinctions of developed world and develeyed optimist. But, that’s Bill Gates at the work of reframing oping world, rich nations and poor nations, public and private, the terms of global economic frictions and reimagining a global Gates insisted, are becoming increasingly irrelevant. “As long economy focused on sustainable growth, technological innovaas we are creative and stay committed, we will spur growth, lift tion, and quality of life. And that’s a message too often lost in people out of poverty, and reinforce the sources of strength that the current economic turmoil. n

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By Monica Frim

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here is some irony to the fact that the oldest defense organization in the world, the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), is also one of the least known.

The IADB was founded in1942 by foreign ministers of 21 states as a collaborative protective effort among countries in the Western Hemisphere during World War II. During the Cold War era, the board’s member states stood as a united front against communism. But after the Cold War ceased being a threat, emphasis shifted from military control to civilian control and some people began questioning the relevance of a defense board.

In response, the IADB has had to reinvent itself as a civilian-directed defense organization that offers techni-

cal and educational advice on military issues, particularly as they relate to the security concerns of a post 9/11 world.

Since 2006 the IADB has been an entity of the Organization of American States (OAS) with key areas of expertise in disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, demining activities and the Inter-American Defense College (IADC).

Representatives from 27 countries in North, Central and South America make up the Council of Delegates, which is the highest representative body of the IADB. With a mandate to foster cooperation through the sharing of information among delegate countries and their collective defense ministries and armed forces (army, navy and air), the council is led by a chair,

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Delegates of the Inter-American Defense Board

historically a military officer of the United States until the IADB joined the OAS, when the ensuing three leaders were Brazilian officers. Now, for the first time, a Canadian, Lieutenant-General Guy Thibault, is at the helm.

Diplomatic Connections interviewed General Thibault in his office in the Casa del Soldado (House of the Soldier), a Venetian Gothic style building that, before its military tie-in, was known as the Pink Palace.

Diplomatic Connections: Over the years, the military has had to soften its edges and become more civil-minded.

Still, it’s a bit incongruous that you have this beautiful office with frescoes of cherubs on the ceiling. It just doesn’t go with a traditional image of defense.

General Thibault: I am certain that in all the Canadian Forces I am the only person who has a fresco of cherubs in his office…. But I think that’s a way to think a little bit about the changing role of the military in the hemisphere. I think quite a bit about the changes we’ve seen in the Americas from the Second World War to the Cold War and the influences of the great powers: Russia and the United States and their stand-off.

In those days this board served very different purposes from today. In a post Cold War context [we] look at new threats to national security, whether that be transnational crime, drugs, illegal migration, poverty, things that really threaten the security of the states. A board like this also needs to adapt to change. It’s important for us to make sure that the military and the armed forces remain attuned to the real threats and challenges to our collective national security.

Diplomatic Connections: What are the ramifications of having a military organization working under a civil organization, such as the OAS, with civil-directed goals?

General Thibault: In our democratic system we’ve been very accustomed to the notion of the military being subject to civil control, so this is a totally natural relationship. As a military officer I am very comfortable with receiving direction from the civilian authorities, in this case from the General Assembly of the Organization of American States. But I do recognize that historically some countries have been through periods of martial law or military dictatorships and that the trust bond between the military and the civil authorities there is not where we would want it to be. Having said that, I think that we’ve got the right establishment now with the Inter-American Defense Board as an entity of the Organization of American States. We need to keep working on the civilian/military relationship, but we’re on the right track.

Diplomatic Connections: In what ways does IADB add value to the OAS?

Mr. Paul Heslop (UN), LGen Thibault (IADB) and Dr. Reyes (Uruguay)

General Thibault: We have the opportunity to bring together all our different views to try to build towards a better consensus on defense cooperation. One of the opportunities for this board in the 21st century is to help build bridges between the nations, between the regions and the hemisphere on issues that are increasingly complex. If we can move from a competitive environment to a collaborative environment maybe we’ll be helping to address some of the most daunting security challenges that we face.

Diplomatic Connections: Are there any changes that you would like to see in the dynamics between the OAS and the IADB? General Thibault: For sure. I think that the biggest change that I would like to see is really the visibility of the Inter-American Defense Board within the OAS. We are still pretty much isolated from the OAS, both physically and within their programs. We need to be more proactive on the IADB side. I don’t think the OAS really needs to change too much.

They’ve got their hands full… I think it’s up to us to figure out how we can help them with their problems and challenges.

Diplomatic Connections: What are some of the most daunting security issues?

General Thibault: The new threats that we face are non-state such as threats of terrorism, an ability to attack our democracies in ways that were unthinkable in the past. There are organizations that are transnational, criminal, ideological…

And we have threats that come from the situations we see in the hemisphere: poverty, lack of education, lack of sufficient

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services to provide for the public. And in those circumstances you have the “Petri dish” of criminal or ideological elements that take advantage… We see this in terms of evolution of gangs, of drugs, narco-trafficking, transnational crime. While we have a relatively peaceable hemisphere in terms of stateon-state conflict, it is an area of very significant violence and uncertainty for any citizen.

It’s a multidimensional problem. Defense and armed forces can’t fix anything by itself. Stronger policing won’t fix anything by itself. You need to be working on education, justice and security. You need to be working on development and opportunities, and the economy all at the same time to address these security challenges. I think the idea of multidimensional security is really to try to characterize the nature of the threats and then to have a comprehensive approach to dealing with those threats…. It’s a problem we all need to confront.

Diplomatic Connections: What is the role of the military?

General Thibault: We have capabilities within our armed forces that need to be brought to bear in support of governments’ actions—from logistics with planning, for administration, for the whole context of the discipline that comes from a group of folks that work together to achieve some very clear objectives; whether it be in Colombia or Mexico where we can see operations being employed by the government against the criminal elements. Brazil is also very active in the favelas in

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Rio. This is a demonstration of an evolution in our thinking about how to use the military and use our unique capabilities to confront security threats in a new, modern way.

Diplomatic Connections: What about disaster aid?

General Thibault: I think that this is the one area, perhaps it’s the only area, where there’s actually very wide agreement among all of the nations about the need for us to continue to look for and enhance our military response in humanitarian assistance situations after disasters. Every problem of a certain magnitude becomes beyond the local capacity to respond. I think that the job for us at the level of the OAS is to make sure that when something truly is a major disaster that the coordination mechanisms are well established, that we’ve got the procedures down pat, that we know how to respond and how to facilitate that response from across the hemisphere.

I think the board can help bring together the necessary institutional arrangements — political, operational, and national — to really make sure that we’re all working together when a disaster happens. Because when a disaster happens is the wrong time to actually start working on these things.

Diplomatic Connections: In some ways disaster unites everyone with a common goal.

General Thibault: That’s exactly right and it’s a great point to make because when you’re all unified it’s much easier to work together towards a common goal. The problem for the

Inter-American Defense Board is the question, what unifies us? What can we all agree on? The multidimensional aspect to the threats means that you also have multidimensional ideas about how to confront those threats. That means we’ve got to continue to search out those areas where we do have common ground, where we do agree and use that to continue to build better cooperation and better linkages between our countries.

Because we do have lots to learn from each other.

Diplomatic Connections: Can you give an example?

General Thibault: Uruguay. On the surface a country like Canada has very little in common with Uruguay. But, upon further consideration, we have a very common link in terms of our peace support operations, the United Nations peacekeeping missions. Uruguay per capita is the number one peacekeeping contributing nation in the world. Did you know that? The peacekeepers in Uruguay—the military—have a very deep sense of multilateralism, multinational operations, and peace support operations. So we have lots to learn from Uruguay. While we don’t have a unifying set of strategic concepts here to guide us, we do agree on the nature of the threat. That should be our motivation to seek out those areas where we can build cooperation. We need to adapt. We need to continue to respond.

Diplomatic Connections: What are some other things the delegates of the IADB can learn from each other?

Council of Delegates

General Thibault: The thing that I’m very mindful of is that we all have such different starting points and different political systems. But we can all learn from the capabilities that others have developed in response to their own unique challenges. For example, in 1967 Canada went from 3 separate compartments of the armed forces, navy and air force to a single unified force, an integrated force, within our civilian defense ministry. Many countries are still struggling with this [concept]. Only now are they creating their own kinds of unified force structures and we’ve been operating in that model now for more than 50 years. In that perspective, our experience is useful.

But in Canada we’re very accustomed to working in very cold climates—we don’t have a lot of experience in tropical climates. Many countries in the southern cone have very advanced skills in terms of their ability to work in tropical climates, in jungle climates. We never know where we are going to be employed next. So the Inter-American Defense Board also plays a role in terms of identifying opportunities for each of the countries to ask questions like: What can we learn from Brazil and their operations in the favela? What can we learn from Mexico with respect to the war on the cartels? What can we learn from Chile in terms of their response to the earthquake?

Learning from each other is one of the most valuable parts of the network that we have.

Diplomatic Connections: What do you see as your number one priority?

General Thibault: To raise the profile of the IADB. If I can raise the profile to stir the imagination of 27 countries in one permanent place that can bring together all those different perspectives the rest just takes care of itself.

It’s a very competitive market out there for people’s time, energy and attention. So I really appreciate the opportunity to sit down with you. I think it’s important for me to outreach, to explain. It is such an interesting hemisphere, such interesting people that I’m getting a chance to work with. It’s a real privilege for me to be a spokesman, a bit of a military ambassador, not for Canada, but for the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Defense Board. I never imagined about a year ago where my life would take me but, I believe I am very fortunate to have been given this opportunity and I am really looking forward to my next year and a half as I continue to work with all the countries to really position this board for the 21st century.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you, General Thibault. n

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t’s not always easy to find agreement among 27 disparate countries where language and cultural diversity can hinder as much as educate, but when it comes to humanitarian aid, all the member states of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) have a shared objective: to rid the western hemisphere of mines.

Today the armed forces are not so much about war as they are about security and humanitarian aid. Under the aegis of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IADB is committed to supporting and enhancing humanitarian demining programs in the western hemisphere, indeed the world, so that people everywhere can move safely and live free of fear.

Toward those means the IADB coordinates monitoring personnel selected by member countries in support of the safety and international mine-action standards outlined in the Ottawa Treaty (also known as the Mine Ban Treaty) of 1997.

This treaty called for the safe removal of all anti-personnel mines, including those stockpiled, and for an end to their production and development. It also stipulated mutual aid among countries in meeting their treaty obligations and for each country to provide assistance to its victims of mines.

The IADB coordinates the military and civilian skills of its member countries and collaborates with national and international organizations that have an interest in demining issues. Through the Board’s support of the Acción Integral 36

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Contra las Minas Antipersonal (AICMA), a program of the OAS, it assists countries in developing and furthering their own humanitarian demining programs.

AICMA implements resolutions passed by the 34-member states of the OAS on humanitarian demining issues— from assisting in removing anti-personnel mines, educating mine-affected communities about the locations of mines, providing vocational training as well as medical and psychological assistance to mine victims, to destroying stockpiles of mines in the Americas. Through the efforts of AICMA in collaboration with the IADB, the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America and other international and nongovernmental organizations, Central America became the first region in the world to be declared free of mines in 2010.

Today Ecuador, Peru and Colombia are the target areas of demining activities and the job is not easy. All three countries harbor difficult terrain — mountains, jungles and dense vegetation — or changeable weather conditions that make access difficult and dangerous. But despite these formidable obstacles to transportation of machinery and personnel, making the western hemisphere free of anti-personnel mines is, ostensibly, an achievable goal.

At a recent conference on demining hosted by the IADB, keynote speaker Walter K. Earle, Principal Director for the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, provided an overview

of the IADB’s demining initiative: “The Inter-American Defense Board has made great strides in the area of demining over the years, working in coordination with the Group of Inter-American Monitors in Colombia and the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in South America… This has allowed for serious progress in mine clearance throughout the hemisphere, including the border between Ecuador and Peru, and in Colombia.”

Colonel Clevis Pedro Cruz Melo of the Brazilian Army and Head of the Assistance Mission for the Removal of Mines in South America concurs. He is proud that since 2003 there have been no accidents related to the demining processes in Ecuador and Peru and optimistically envisions those countries to be free of mines by 2017. It’s a tall order for two historically feuding countries to lay aside their differences (the border dispute was settled by the signing of a peace agreement in 1998), but it’s also a clear demonstration of the power of collaboration. Through their joint demining programs, Colonel Cruz Melo says Ecuador and Peru are implementing a mutual confidence in bilateral integration, security, socio-economic benefits and a consolidation of democracy.

While mine clearance workers in Peru and Ecuador concentrate their efforts along their common border, Colombia focuses on its interior. Captain Normando Bona do Nascimento of the Brazilian Navy and Chief of Mission in Colombia, in his presentation at the IADB conference on demining, spoke of the widespread laying of mines throughout the country. Even though Colombia has eliminated its own stockpile of anti-personnel mines, many areas are still not accessible to mine clearance workers because of the dangers posed by illegal armed groups who are now concentrating their efforts on improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are not included in the Ottawa Treaty. In addition, Colombia’s three mountain ranges hinder accessibility and the use of large, laborsaving machines. Even helicopters are problematic because fog can roll in with very little warning. And workers have difficulty setting up camp in areas of heavy rainfall and unstable ground where fallen trees can impede paths and transportation. So workers often use donkeys and manual mine clearance techniques—painstaking approaches to a problem that comprises 9,532 victims at an average of 1.26 victims a day (at the time of the demining conference in November). While there are more military victims (0.8 per day) than civilian victims (one every two days) — largely agricultural workers, children playing, people taking short cuts and normal traffic

— the sheer number of total victims lends urgency to international collaboration on eradicating anti-personnel mines.

Toward those means and despite geographic and climatic impediments, Colombia’s internal demining engine, the Presidential Program for Comprehensive Action against Anti-Personnel Mines (PAICMA – for its Spanish acronym), in alliance with various non-governmental and international partnerships, is making headway in all aspects of locating, removing and destroying mines, and providing educational and medical assistance to victims. Thirty-five military bases have been rendered safe of mines. People are slowly returning to their lands.

As a compelling demonstration of national solidarity, Captain Bona do Nascimento showed a slide depicting a national campaign in which people raised one pant leg to show their support for those maimed by anti-personnel

mines and for the ongoing efforts to eradicate mines. Coupled with another heart rending photograph of victims with missing limbs and the sobering words of “Nuestra mission: salvar vidas” (Our mission: to save lives), Captain Bona do Nascimento left no doubt that there is a tremendous need for the member states, indeed the entire world, to focus and funnel their efforts towards the eradication of all anti-personnel mines. It is the only hope for peace and security in our hemisphere. n

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“The Belgians care about us,” commented Battle of the Bulge veteran Robert Bowles, Jr. to guests at the December 15 reception at the Belgian Embassy. Bowles, 87, from Fayetteville, South Carolina, was among the sixty plus members of the Battle of the Bulge Association to attend the holiday buffet hosted by Belgian Ambassador and Mrs. Jan Matthysen at their Foxhall Road residence.

Fêting these World War II veterans has become an annual tradition at the Belgian Embassy.

And with good reason. The commemoration of the veterans’ wartime experiences has become one of the most important bonds in the BelgianAmerican friendship.

The Battle of the Bulge, which lasted from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, was the largest land battle involving U.S. forces in World War II. More than a million Allied troops fought in the battle across the Ardennes; more than 19,000 U.S. troops were killed in action.

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Ambassador Matthysen reminisced about this monumental battle for freedom that took place on Belgian and Luxembourg soil 67 years ago: Those who fought in that long, cold, fierce battle were so involved in the daunting task of routing the enemy that they probably did not have time to consider their role as peace-makers. With hindsight, however, we know that they did make a significant contribution to winning the war and to creating lasting peace in Europe. He emphasized the respect in which Belgium holds the veterans, the country’s gratitude for their accomplishments and the need to keep alive the memory of the Battle of the Bulge. We continue to honor the fallen and to celebrate the survivors, he told his guests.

The stately, 18th century style Belgian residence was definitely in celebratory mode for the occasion, resplendent with Christmas lights and red, green and gold decorations, all positioned with exceptional artistic flair by Mrs. Agnes Matthysen, wife of the Ambassador.

A highlight of the reception came when the Ambassador announced that a special Belgian award, the Fourragère 1940, had been bestowed on three veterans who were part of a unit cited twice in the Daily Orders of the Belgian Army for heroic actions during the Battle of the Bulge: Mr. Sossio E. (Pat) Capasso, Mr. Ted Hauprichts and Mr. Harry E. McCracken.

Joined by Major General Michael Eyre, representing the U.S. Army, the Ambassador presented the citations along with the

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Fourragères — three braided cords of red and green which are worn over the sleeve of a military uniform. Warm and sustained applause followed. The national anthems of the United States and Belgium were then sung, the latter rendered in both Dutch and French by the talented Mrs. Astrid Belliot.

During the reception many guests had the opportunity to individually thank the veterans for their service. Among the dignitaries in attendance were Ambassador of Luxembourg Jean-Paul Senninger, Ambassador of the European Union Joao de Almeida, former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Tom Korologos, General Jim Jones and Major General Michael Eyre.

Upon arrival at the residence, guests were greeted with holiday songs performed by the Madrigals of Walter Johnson High School, Bethesda, Maryland, under the direction of Choral Director, Isabel Hernandez-Cata. Throughout the reception, the singers, sometimes solo, sometimes in small groups, serenaded the veterans with songs popular in the 1940’s.

The veterans were treated to a buffet of Belgian comfort food including beef stew, hunter’s chicken stew, Brussels sprouts and Belgian endive salad, prepared by residence Chef Jan Van Haute, who also hand-made all of the chocolate decorations adorning the dinning room.

The now elderly veterans appreciated the holiday cheer and, more importantly, the overriding message of the evening: Belgium will never forget those who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. n

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President and Mrs. Obama recently welcomed U.S. forces home from service in Iraq at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Their greeting to the forces returning to Fort Bragg represented a thank you to all the U.S. forces returning home, often from serial deployments in Iraq, and those continuing to serve in Afghanistan. “For nearly nine years,” the President recalled, “our nation has been at war in Iraq.

And you -— the incredible men and women of Fort Bragg ” have been there every step of the way, serving with honor, sacrificing greatly, from the first waves of the invasion to some of the last troops to come home. So, as your Commander-in-Chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words, and I know your families agree: Welcome home!”

Joining the President in this welcome home, Mrs. Obama reemphasized the theme of sacrifice and underscored the importance of families and loved ones. “I am

Last U.S. Armed forces Are Withdrawn from Iraq, Leaving Behind Massive U.S. Embassy and Shifting Responsibility from the Defense Department to the State Department

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Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

overwhelmed and proud,” she said, “because I know the level of strength and commitment that you all display every single day. Whenever this country calls, you all are the ones who answer, no matter the circumstance, no matter the danger, no matter the sacrifice.” But, Mrs. Obama did not stop there, “And I know that you do not do this just as soldiers, not just as patriots,” she added, “but as fathers and mothers, as brothers and sisters, as sons and daughters. And I know that while your children, your spouses, your parents and siblings might not wear uniforms, they serve right alongside you.”

Welcoming the troops home from Iraq was the easy part of the President’s task. Understanding the lessons of the war and making meaning of its aftermath is the more difficult, the more controversial task, and one of critical importance.

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and they will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high. One of the most extraordinary chapters in the history of the American military will come to an end. Iraq’s future will be in the hands of its people. America’s war in Iraq will be over.” With these words, President Obama framed the withdrawal of American forces in terms of a moment of transition for the American presence in Iraq and a moment of opportunity for the people of Iraq.

Trying to shape what will be the American memory of this Iraq War, as distinct from the earlier war waged under President George H.W. Bush that displaced the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, President Obama acknowledged a reality that is at once cliché and easily overlooked. “It is harder to end a war than begin one.” He continued his remarks by offering his assessment of the American experience in Iraq. “Everything that

American troops have done in Iraq -,” the President observed, “all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, the training and the partnering - all of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home.”

The President recalled the tenuous progress of a war that seemed continually to teeter on the brink of momentary success and long-term frustration, able to influence events in Iraq but never to shape them to America’s vision, able to encourage the building of a new and united Iraqi nation, but never able to overcome historical, cultural, and religious divides among the Iraqi people. He recalled the early days of the war when American troops broke “the back of a brutal dictator in less than a month;” the grind of the insurgency when “your will proved stronger than the terror of those who tried to break it;” the specter of sectarian violence when, in the face of ancient divisions, “you stood firm to help those Iraqis who put their faith in the future;” the Surge and the Awakening “when the abyss of chaos turned toward the promise of reconciliation . . . and you helped to turn the tide toward peace;” and the handing over of responsibility to the Iraqis when “you preserved the gains of the last four years and made this day possible.” That is the narrative of the war through American eyes . . . for the moment.

The final withdrawal of American forces, however, leaves behind a myriad of controversies. Some of them fueled by the current presidential election cycle, some of them fueled by political partisanship, and some of them fueled by deep concerns about the future of Iraq’s government and the broader questions of regional security in the Middle East and along the vital energy supply lines that traverse the Strait of Hormuz. Critical voices worry that the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq leaves behind deep instabilities in Iraq that will encourage renewed separatist voices of regional and sectarian conflict that threaten to divide the nation and create a vacuum that neighboring Iran — with its theocratic rulers and nuclear ambitions — will fill.

In that scenario a continued American presence would be necessary, as the U.S. forces transformed from occupying forces, to peace enforcers, to peace makers, to nation stabilizers and regional security enhancers. Neo-conservative foreign policy commentators once envisioned an independent, friendly Iraq modeled on the post-World War II relationship between

the United States and Germany, where Iraq would allow a substantial and continuing American military presence at bases scattered throughout the country that would serve as markers in any future threat to Iraqi or regional security. That vision was probably always a reach too far and ignored the reality that though American forces might be accepted as liberators they were unlikely to be long accepted as occupiers.

As the last American forces are withdrawn from Iraq, this controversy has reshaped itself around two questions. First, why was the United States, or rather the Obama administration, unable to reach a Status of Forces Agreement [SOFA] with the government of Iraqi Prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki that would have permitted a continued American military presence in Iraq? Second, recognizing that the United States is leaving behind in Iraq the largest American embassy and embassy staff anywhere in the world, how will we account for their safety and security if the situation in Iraq deteriorates? And a corollary question, how can those American personnel charged with helping to build a new Iraqi nation accomplish their mission barricaded behind fortified walls and surrounded by contract security personnel whenever they venture outside the walls of their compound? [NOTE: There will also be large scale American Consulates in Erbil in the North, effectively an embassy to the Kurds, and in Basra in the South, effectively an embassy to the Shia populace and the oil fields. Both require substantial American personnel and civilian security details.]

These are questions answered more by hope than by certainty. And these are the sorts of questions discussed by

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President Obama and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki during the Iraqi leader’s recent visit to Washington. President Obama characterized the on-going U.S.-Iraqi relationship as “a normalization of the relationship. We will have a strong friend and partner in Iraq; they will have a strong friend and partner in us, but as one based on Iraqi sovereignty and one based on equal partnerships of mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Both leaders emphasized that the 2009 Strategic Framework Agreement between the two countries will form the basis for a productive and collaborative relationship that will expand Iraq’s economy, shape Iraqi security around close collaboration with the United States including equipment purchases and training of personnel, and encourage the growth of Iraq as a unified state that can provide a model of stability in the region.

The Strategic Framework Agreement includes a Joint Coordination Committee which will oversee the work of, in the words of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, “building a self-reliant Iraq with a government that is able to serve the needs of the Iraqi people.” “Our new beginning,” she continued, “is founded in mutual understanding, shared interests, and mutual respect for each other as sovereign equals. Iraq is in charge of its own security, and it stands as an important example of democracy in a region experiencing historic transformation and democratic transition.” Her Iraqi counterpart, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, insisted that, “Iraq is committed to an enduring partnership with the United States on the basis of the Strategic Framework Agreement, which is very comprehensive. It provides both countries ways for mutual cooperation in the future in many fields.” He added, “Madam Secretary, we think the withdrawal of American forces in Iraq does not mean the withdrawal of U.S. presence and friendship and influence in Iraq. We believe that will continue but in different forms, not through military or security means, [but] through civilian and diplomatic means.”

Words are thin reeds on which to base international security and economic relationships, but they are the stuff of diplomacy . . . to be backed up by deeds. The longest war in Iraq has left the United States with many lessons and even more questions. We have developed whole new vocabularies of warfare beginning with the catastrophic consequences of IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices] and the difficulties of defending against them, learning new means of troop protection in the field and discovering new ways of dealing with the outrages of amputation and head trauma to the human body, shifting some of the exposure of highly trained forces to danger by developing drone aircraft and robots to carryout dangerous missions of reconnaissance, interdiction, and bomb disposal.

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And, we have learned in new ways the extraordinary costs of war, not just in dollar terms but also in human terms.

The lessons of the Iraq War will be long debated and much questioned, as they should be. Questions about the necessity of the war and its conduct, not to mention its aftermath, will be endless. The future of Iraq will be very much in question for years to come, and alternative futures will be much discussed. There will be understandable fears that violence might flare yet again, that Iraq will disintegrate into separate regions each seeking its own sovereignty, that United States forces might again be called to intervene. Uncertainty will abound. But the last U.S. military forces have been withdrawn and a new era of relations between the United States and Iraq has begun. There will be many frustrations and fears on both sides, but a corner has been turned. A peculiar episode of Iraqi and American history has come to an end . . . and a new beginning.

Borrowing a poetic pattern from T.S. Elliot’s poem, “The Hollow Men,” which dealt with the chaotic and unstable aftermath the Allied victory ending World War I in Europe, and applying it to the long American involvement in Iraq:

This is the way the war ends, not with shock and awe, But with an acknowledgement of mistakes past and a bevy of unanswered questions, With a deep appreciation of the sacrifices our forces and their families made, With only a partial awareness of how the social order of Iraq was torn by war, and little acknowledgement of the loss of Iraqi lives and livelihood, With a growing recognition that though a dictator was toppled, a stable government and a functioning democracy is not the inevitable result; With a reminder that it is difficult, if not impossible, for a superpower to impose its will on an independent people with different historical experiences and cultural norms; With the fresh insight that there are unseen wounds of war that affect not only the physical but the mental health of warriors and non-combatants caught in combat alike; With a heightened sense of irony and a new respect for unintended consequences; With the renewed discovery that power has its limits; Not with shock and awe, but with a sense of relief that, for the moment at least, this war is over. n

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British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald speaking about Hanukkah at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. 46

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he British Embassy in Washington welcomed a group of schoolchildren and their families to the Embassy for a ceremony celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.

British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald thanked the students and their parents for joining Embassy staff to observe the second night of Hanukkah, and read a statement from Lord Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

“Unlike the Jews living centuries ago,” the message read, “today we are blessed to live in a society that allows us to share our light instead of trying to suppress it. We are fortunate to be able to practise our Judaism in public, and to light our Chanukah lights at the heart of the capital city of a nation of tolerance.”

The students in attendance are fourth-graders at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capitol. They are studying cultures of all nations, and performed a variety of traditional and international songs at the Embassy.

Hanukkah began on 20 December and continued through the night of 27 December. n

continuously and unwaveringly sustaining unimaginable psychological & emotional endurance. Facing the everyday unknown circumstances that war so readily brings, stories were told that brought the Princes and Duchess to the brink of great emotion. The royal couple along with Prince Harry expressed their complete admiration and gratitude of the steadfastness and unyielding fortitude of their nation’s bravest men and women. n

Arthur Edwards/AFP/Getty Images

Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge with Prince Harry attended the Annual Sun Military Awards in December at the Imperial Wax Museum in London. They were eager to attend as to properly acknowledge and publicly display their utmost respect towards the British men and women who so strongly and bravely serve the armed forces. They were greatly humbled by the stories told of sacrifice, immeasurable strength, valor and courage while

Britan’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, arrive with Prince Harry to attend ‘A Night of Heros’ — the annual Sun Military Awards, to honor members of the British armed forces in London.

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By James A. Winship, Ph.D.

W

ashington Scots and friends of Scotland were piped into the Museum of Women and the Arts as they gathered recently to celebrate St. Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s national day honoring St. Andrew as patron saint of the Scots. The evening produced a dazzling display of tartans rakishly worn as highland clan dress in the form of kilts or creatively woven into evening cocktail attire. Those gathered enjoyed a wide selection of Scottish foods, modern versions of traditional Scottish music, and a Scotch tasting that reminded the gathered of the virtues as well as the varieties of one of Scotland’s most lucrative and pleasurable exports. And the Scottish 48

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Government enjoyed an opportunity not only to tout the virtues of Scotland as investment opportunity and tourist destination but to enlist the loyalties of Americans in its efforts to revitalize Scottish identity for a new century.

The St. Andrew’s Day celebration — officially designated as November 30 — has been intentionally revived and energized by the Scottish Government as a celebration of all things Scottish and as part of the effort to build Scotland’s national identity and strengthen its economy. Scottish pride abounded as in Robin Naysmith’s, Scottish Government Counsellor in North America’s, greeting: “Those of you who have been subjected

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the Scottish Government of First Minister of Scotland

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to one of my speeches before will know that I would normally and discovery. Today, we are working together to develop use this occasion to shamelessly promote how Scotland inventscientific breakthroughs, promote business, encourage energy ed the modern world and everything in it. I’m talking about security, and expand educational opportunities. As you the steam engine, the television, the telephone, fax machines, celebrate this special day, know that the United States is a radar, penicillin, anesthetics, ultrasound and MRI scanners, partner and friend.” the decimal point, the ATM, Dolly the sheep, James Bond (the

To build on this Scotland-U.S. friendship and to unbest ever James Bond), Harry Potter, golf, and of course our derscore her multiple messages regarding Scottish national national drink. But, I’m not going to do that!” identity, Ms. Hyslop used the occasion to announce that she

Scotland’s national flag, a diagonal white cross against a blue would present the U.S. National Archives with a rare copy background, recalls the martyrdom of St. Andrew, an apostle of Scotland’s Declaration of Arbroath, which was signed in of Jesus Christ who is said to have brought 1320 as a statement of Scottish identity and Christianity to large parts of Asia Minor and a call for Scottish independence from English Greece. Saint Andrew’s bones dominion. She noted that were entombed by the Emperor several scholars believe Constantine in his capital city, that the Declaration of Constantinople. Legend has it, Arbroath, which included however, that a Greek monk — an early statement of the St. Rule — was told in a dream idea of popular soverthat Saint Andrew’s bones were eignty, wherein the power to be removed from Constantiof a king is seen as derivnople. In order to protect the ing from the consent of a memory of St. Andrew, people, and an assertion the monk was told to of freedom as a natural remove the bones from right, served as one of the the tomb and take them models for the American as far away as possible.

Declaration of IndepenThat place turned out to dence. “Never will we be John Bellassai, St. Andrew’s be Scotland. The tradition brought under English Society of Washington, DC and Donald Draper Campbell, of St. Andrew’s presence in rule,” the Declaration of Society of Scottish Armigers Scotland grew to a point Arbroath avers. “It is in where the town of St. truth not for glory, nor Carolyn Wakulchik and Angus Sutherland Andrews, which saw the riches, nor honors that we are building of the Cathedral fighting, but for freedom – for that of St. Andrews in 1160, alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” became a Christian pilgrimage site and center of education and

Maintaining a lighter tone for the evening, Ms. Hyslop culture. Though tradition has long recognized St. Andrew’s Day, observed that, “Our history is, in part, your history. These two it was only in 2007 that the Scottish Parliament designated it as documents shared common sentiments, values, and aspirations an official bank holiday and encouraged the widespread flying of for our two nations. Now, interestingly, where our Scottish the Scottish flag on public buildings. declaration of 1320 talked of life and liberty, it wasn’t until

It was the theme of Scottish national identity that guest of 1776 that America thought to add, ‘the pursuit of happiness.’ honor, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External So thank you very much, America!” Using these historic Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, picked up in her formal remarks. She documents as a bridge between past and future and between began by acknowledging greetings sent by U.S. Secretary of national identities, Ms. Hyslop continued, “Noting our shared State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who noted how the United history, Scotland’s sights are now firmly fixed on the future.

States has been enriched by Scottish influences since its foundMy government believes that future should be in the hands of ing. “For more than two centuries,” Secretary Clinton recalled, the people of Scotland. And, our number one priority must be “we have enjoyed strong ties of kinship, commerce, culture, to increase sustainable economic growth. As our single largest 50

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overseas and tourism market, worth nearly £5 billion per annum, the USA is vital to Scotland’s future and our prosperity.”

The Scotland Act of 1998, approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) created a Scottish Parliament for the first time since 1707. The new Scottish Government, though limited primarily to control over domestic policy, moved rapidly to develop Scotland’s unique national identity and to move toward creating a sustainable and growing Scottish economy. Initially fueled by the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, calls for greater Scottish autonomy or even national independence originated in the feeling that, “It’s Scotland’s oil.” In the ensuing decades, however, Scotland has carefully developed its national identity in ways that deemphasize oil revenues and emphasize cultural identity and broad based economic growth instead.

The symbols of Scots national identity – the flag of St. Andrew and St. Andrew’s Day, the legacy of Robert Burns, the wearing of the tartans, the symbolism of the Declaration of Arbroath – have received new life as emblems of Scottish energy, aspiration, and accomplishment. Cabinet Minister Hyslop’s St. Andrew’s Day visit to Washington underscored these themes with an understated but real political message, a joyful celebration of Scottish culture and heritage, and a wee dram of the Scotch whisky that makes Scotland renowned and contributes substantially to the Scottish economy. Don’t doubt it for a second because the export of Scotch whisky — 1.1 billion bottles worth over $5.5 billion in 2010 — contributes $175 per second to the Scottish economy!

It will be years before the world knows whether Scotland is to become a sovereign nation-state in its own right or whether the politics of a referendum on independence “scotches” that idea. What is eminently clear, however, is that Scotland’s national identity is being strengthened substantially by the combination of historic pride; cultural creativity; a significant resource endowment strongly skewed toward the continuing development of energy resources – old, North Sea oil, and new, tapping wind and tidal potentials; technological advancements; strengthened export industries and inward foreign investment; and devolved political power.

Whether that adds up to political independence, greater regional autonomy, or a stronger voice within a renewed United Kingdom remains the object of speculation. What is undeniable, however, is that Scotland is emerging as a valued economic partner, a unique voice in United Kingdom and European politics, an important player in the development of renewable energy resources alongside its hydrocarbon endowment, and a critical partner in regional security in the North Sea region and beyond.

Scottish band Barluath from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

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A Cabinet Secretary With a Brief for Telling Scotland’s Story and Promoting Scotland’s National Government . . . Within or Without the United Kingdom

Fiona Hyslop is Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the Scottish Government of First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond. Since Scotland is a part of the United Kingdom and not currently a sovereign state in its own right, Ms. Hyslop is the closest thing Scotland has to a Minister of Foreign Affairs or Secretary of State. Her dual portfolio including both culture and external affairs makes Ms. Hyslop custodian of Scottish identity – past, present, and future - and a strong advocate for Scottish independence.

Ms. Hyslop is currently a member of the Scottish Parliament for Linlithgow. She was born in Irvine, Ayrshire and was educated at Alloway Primary School and Ayr Academy. A graduate of the University of Glasgow with an MA (Hons) in Economic History and Sociology, Ms. Hyslop also completed a post-graduate degree in industrial administration from the Scottish College of Textiles. She joined the Scottish National Party in 1986 and was active in the party’s youth wing, Young Scots for Independence. She stood as an SNP candidate in District and Regional Council elections and as a candidate in the 1992 and 1997 UK general elections.

Ms Hyslop first stood for election to the newly constituted Scottish Parliament in 1999. When the SNP formed a minority government in 2007, Ms. Hyslop was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning. She was named Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in 2011.

We are grateful that the Cabinet Secretary saw fit to set aside time in her whirlwind Washington schedule to meet with Diplomatic Connections.

Diplomatic Connections: Please tell us about your portfolio as Minister of Culture and External Affairs. As you say, you work both ways, reaching out to North America and to Europe.

Ms. Hyslop: Culture and external affairs have always been together in our government because we see culture very 52

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James Winship, Ph.D., Diplomatic Connections interviewing Cabinet Secretary Hyslop

much as part and parcel of who we are as a nation. It’s part of our identity. And external affairs is where we are as a player in the world. So, I have the best job in the government. It’s about who we are, where we are, and where we want to be.

Culture is not added on extra, it’s about sense of identity that can be expressed in many of different ways. But, in terms of the work that I do internationally, culture is very much a part of it. It’s heritage: sharing that heritage we have with the Archives here in the United States. We’re very conscious of our past, but we’ve got our eyes on the future.

Diplomatic Connections: Your party [the Scottish Nationalist Party] and the government of which you’re now a part won it’s election decisively back in May, after serving previously as a minority government, in part by promising a referendum on Scottish independence or a greater degree of regional autonomy (“devolution plus”) apart from or under the broad umbrella of the United Kingdom. Why independence for Scotland?

Ms. Hyslop: Well, Scotland has always had a distinct identity. It’s been an independent nation in the past. But, more importantly now, we [the SNP government] think that independence is really the best solution to drive forward economic growth and to deliver the type of country we want.

We’re a creative nation. We’re rich in heritage. We’re contributing to the world, and we want to do more. We are primed

to be a modern independent state.

Were it to be an independent state, Scotland would be the sixth state in the world in terms of GDP per capita.

We’ve got tremendous economic options, and we want to contribute to things like climate change legislation. We always have ideas we want to share, and we think we can do that best as an independent country. And, it’s also about self-respect. You know the States wanted its independence, Canada got its independence, India, Syria wanted their independence. I think some forty-seven different countries have achieved their independence from what was the old British Empire. There’s a time to stay in the past, and there’s a time to move forward. And, we think that the Scottish people are ready to move forward.

Diplomatic Connections: The Scottish MPs in the Westminster Parliament have been more hesitant about the idea of separation, haven’t they?

Ms. Hyslop: The Scottish people voted for the Scottish National Party decisively in May 2011, and our elections have given us a mandate. They liked our record as a government. They thought we were very, very competent. They liked our team.

We were very collegial in our approach. But also, they liked our vision. We have a vision for Scotland. And, when difficult times come in a recession, our goals and some of Scotland’s key industries will help drive us through . . . areas like renewable energy. We have 25% of Europe’s off-shore renewable energy, and substantial wave or tidal power. There are fantastic opportunities for economic growth.

We’re quite positive about the viability of the case as to why Scotland should be independent. And, unfortunately, there are some who are willing to settle for the status quo and have been somewhat negative in their approach.

And, I think some people are responding to these negative concerns or fears. They want to make sure that we present a positive case for independence, and we’ll do so. But, many things will stay the same; there will be continuity in lots of different areas. But, there’s a new chapter. You can’t simply look to maintain the past, you have to be moving toward the future.

Diplomatic Connections: What about the referendum itself? Has it been scheduled, or when will it be scheduled?

Robin Naysmith, Scottish Government Counsellor, North America

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Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop; Mads Stockwell, Senior Manager, Membership and Food & Agriculture, US-ASEAN Business Council; Rachel Moncure

through the legislative process sometime next year, we don’t even know what the status quo is.

We know what our proposals are. The SNP published a White Paper — Choosing Scotland’s Future - when we were a minority government that set out what the questions could be, including full union with the UK, enhanced devolution of powers, and full independence. So, we’re very open. We’re working with people to clarify the situation. But, that paper gives some indication of what could be asked.

Diplomatic Connections: There’s some feeling in Lon-

Ms. Hyslop: Before the election, which we won so decisively and gave us a mandate, our First Minister said that the referendum would be in the second half of our five year term. So, we were elected in May for a five-year term (20112016). It will be in the second half of that term.

Diplomatic Connections: Any sense of what the question or questions might be in the referendum?

Ms. Hyslop: Well, it’s clear that we want to put forward the case for Scottish independence, and other people might want to put forward the case for enhanced powers. But, interestingly, nobody has come out in support of the status quo quite yet. The Scotland Bill currently in the UK Parliament seeks to add more powers to the Scottish Parliament. And, we are trying to improve that bill. But, until that comes out 54

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don that, constitutionally, there’s a question of whether you can have a referendum at all.

Do you think there will be a conflict between Westminster and Holyrood?

Ms. Hyslop: The Prime Minister, David Cameron, when he was first elected, made it quite clear that he recognized the right of the Scottish Parliament to order a referendum. That’s very important.

Both the UN Charter and international law recognize the right to national self-determination, that people should have the right to express themselves. In terms of the politics of the situation, we know the referendum will be welcomed by the Scottish people. We know we have many friends who want to see Scotland succeed.

Diplomatic Connections: And, what difference will it make for Scotland to be independent?

Ms. Hyslop: In terms of our economic situation, we think it will allow us the opportunity to use the levers of economic growth to be to a rapidly growing economy and a modern democracy. Our focus has to be about growth and jobs and helping people through difficult times. The European continent used to be a continent of large countries. Now, it has become a continent with many small countries, and many of the small countries have actually come through the current economic difficulties a bit more nimbly than some of the larger countries.

Diplomatic Connections: Let me take you back to the cultural brief for a moment. Tells us about St. Andrew’s Day… how is it being adopted? Why is it being adopted?

Ms. Hyslop: We, as a government, have promoted St. Andrew’s Day very vigorously. What we’d like to do is to have festivals right the way through from St. Andrew’s Day through the Christmas and New Year’s holiday to Robert

Burns Day on January 25th. You know, Robert Burns wrote the words for Auld Lang Syne, that’s sung round the world . . . the most popular song in the world after Happy Birthday.

We have suggested menus that allow people to share a truly Scottish St. Andrew’s Day meal. That’s not something that has traditionally happened, but we’re introducing that to encourage family celebrations of our Scots ancestry. Our biggest selling tabloid newspaper had a pull-out section of lots of different visitor attractions and things you can do for free, not only on the day itself but also on the previous weekend to make it a week of celebration. So, there’s a lot of programming in our schools so that children learn about St. Andrew as an individual. Of course, we share the day with Russia, Ukraine, Greece and other countries that regard St. Andrew as their patron saint.

Diplomatic Connections: Your previous portfolio was education and obviously there’s an overlap between culture and education. What programs are at work to deepen awareness of Scottish heritage for the new generations who have not grown up with an awareness of the St. Andrew’s Day festival and a full appreciation of the richness of Scottish history?

Ms. Hyslop: We have instituted a program of Scottish studies across the curriculum in our schools. And, bizarrely, the opposition parties have complained about this. In what other country in the world would you have people complaining about being asked to learn about their own history? We simply believe that people should be encouraged to learn about their own country. Actually, there is a national curriculum in Scotland, and we trust our teachers to deal with these topics in a way that does not favor any political party.

It gives people confidence to understand who they are, where they come from.

One of the best books that’s been written about Scottish history in recent years is by Professor T.M. Devine, and it’s called To the Ends of the Earth: The Scottish Diaspora from 1750 to 2010. It tells the story of how Scots spread across the world, and how they helped to shape various countries around the world. It’s a wonderful story of how Scots came back and forth and cross-fertilized several different civilizations, including their own.

Diplomatic Connections: One last question. How do you see Scotland’s future? Through the 1980s, and even now, so much of the focus has been on North Sea oil and that North Sea oil income as rejuvenating Scotland’s economy.

Where does the future go, especially in terms of energy?

Ms. Hyslop: We have been blessed with the resources of

North Sea oil, but we also have a second natural windfall in terms of renewables – wind and tidal energy. So in terms of where we’re going, as I mentioned earlier, Scotland has 25% of Europe’s potential in terms of tidal and wind energy. We already have begun to tap the wind resources, and we’ve talked with a number of countries about a North Sea power grid that would allow the transfer of energy from the North to the South. In the next year or two we will be deriving 31% of our energy from renewables, and moving toward 80% of our energy from renewables by 2020.

Diplomatic Connections: Do you think Scotland is capable of handling not just the foreign affairs but also the national defense portfolio? That question is always raised when the topic of Scottish independence comes up.

Ms. Hyslop: I think international cooperation will certainly include aspects of national security in many different ways.

We are very conscious of our obligations and our responsibilities. Indeed, in terms of the most recent UK defense review we’ve been very cooperative with the UK government. But, obviously, the defense organizations to which the UK is party will have strong motives to include an independent Scotland in that defense community, even if it is separated from the UK and a nation-state in its own right.

Diplomatic Connections: The issue has come up with several members of the Scottish National Party. Would an independent Scotland be a non-nuclear Scotland?

Ms. Hyslop: That’s certainly the official position of our party. We see no useful purpose served by nuclear weapons in the resolution of disputes between countries. But, we are also very much conscious of our inherited obligations, inherited from a number of organizations of which the UK is a part. We are very conscious of our friends and allies, and how we have to work responsibly with them in any transition to Scotland’s independence.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you very much for granting us this interview in the midst of what has been a very long day and an excruciatingly busy, travel-filled week for you.

For additional information on Scotland contact:

Scottish Affairs Office

The British Embassy 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC www.scotland.gov.uk www.scottish-enterprise.presscentre.com www.scotland.org

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House and Senate leaders hold a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony to honor astronauts John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin at the US Capitol rotunda on November, 16, 2011 in Washington, DC. From left: Astronaut Michael Collins, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson(D-TX), Rep. Nancy Pelosi(D-CA), Rep. Ralph Hall(R-TX), astronaut Neil Armstrong, Rep. John Boehner(D-OH), Sen. Harry Reid(D-NV), and astronaut and former Senator John Glenn.

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Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

By Meghan Lawson

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Musical artist Norah Jones steps off stage after singing ‘America the Beautiful’ during the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on November 16, 2011 in Washington, DC. The gold medals were presented to the crew of the Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin; and to astronaut and former U.S. Senator John Glenn (D-OH), the first American to orbit the Earth.

More than 40 years after he took one small step for man, ASTRONAUT NEIL ARMSTRONG, ALONG WITH THREE NASA counterparts, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on November 16, 2011 at a formal ceremony on Capitol Hill.

Leaders of Congress gathered together with representatives from NASA in the Capitol Rotunda to award the country’s highest civilian honor to Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Astronautturned-Senator John Glenn, who became the third American in space and the first to orbit earth in 1962, also received the Gold Medal.

“America is only as strong as the citizens we produce and here are four of the best,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stated at the ceremony.

Glenn, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins are the first astronauts to receive the Gold Medal, bestowed by Congress for the highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. The medal was first awarded in 1776 to George Washington.

“The Apollo 11 crew is honored to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, and accept on behalf of our fellow Apollo teammates,” said Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. Armstrong, now 81, continued by thanking “all those who played a role in expanding the human presence

outward from earth, and all those who played a role in expanding human knowledge of the solar system — and beyond.”

For his part, John Glenn spoke of the unique opportunity afforded his generation in the 1960s. “We must consider ourselves the most fortunate of all generations for having lived at a time when the dream became a reality,” he said.

Singer-songwriter Norah Jones sang “America the Beautiful” at the ceremony. A nine-time Grammy winner, Jones released her fourth album, The Fall, in 2009.

Recently, Jones has appeared in support of several charity and humanitarian events not only in Washington, but across the country. On November 9, she appeared in New York alongside television comedian Stephen Colbert for the Fifth Annual Heroes Gala for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).

The 32-year-old musician also performed at the 8th Annual Black Ball, a gala fundraiser organized by fellow singer Alicia Keys in support of her charity, Keep A Child Alive. Hosted at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, the event saw Jones take to the stage with Usher, will.i.am and Richie Sambora, among others.

Following November’s congressional gold medal ceremony, Jones also partnered with NASA and astronaut Piers Sellars to produce Public Service Announcements about some of the organization’s latest technological development. n

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Kevin Mazur/Child11/WireImage

Norah Jones and Alicia Keys perform on stage at Keep A Child Alive’s 8th annual Black Ball at Hammerstein Ballroom on November 3, 2011 in New York City.

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Joe Corrigan/Getty Images for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

(L-R) IAVA Founder and Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff, TV personality Stephen Colbert, Veteran Leadership Award recipient Aaron Mankin and musician Norah Jones attend IAVA’s Fifth Annual Heroes Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on November 9, 2011 in New York City.

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Angela Weiss/Getty Images

Actress Sienna Miller arrives at the 2011 Annual International Medical Corps Awards Celebration at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on November 8, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California.

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By Meghan Lawson

UN Photo/John Isaac

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An ‘orphan of war’, this innocent baby is another example of ‘man’s inhumanity to man’. Ndosha Camp, Zaire

ooking polished in a black romper and chic updo, actress Sienna Miller took to the red carpet at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on November 8, 2011 like a Hollywood veteran. But this wasn’t just any star-studded tinsel town event. Instead, Miller was being honored for her global humanitarian work at the International Medical Corps’ Annual Awards Celebration.

Since 2009, the 29-year-old actress has traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti and Ethiopia as part her role as Global Ambassador for the Los Angeles-based organization.

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and rebuild,” Aossey continued, referencing the organization’s recent efforts during disasters such as the Japanese earthquake.

Business magnate Andrew Barth received the Humanitarian Award for his long-time support of the organization, while telecommunications giant Research In Motion (RIM) was honored with the Global Impact Award for the role BlackBerry smartphones played during the Corps’ response to the Haitian earthquake.

“We are pleased to see BlackBerry smartphones involved in global relief efforts and to know that they are making a difference to the staff and volunteers of International Medical Corps in their heroic efforts around the world,” said Richard Piasentin, Managing Director at RIM.

Although less recognizable than fellow medical nonprofit Médecins Sans Frontières, International Medical Corps has been delivering emergency healthcare relief to millions for nearly three decades. Founded in 1984 in response to the

UN Photo/Marie Frechon; inset photos (top): UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe; (bottom): UN Photo/Martine Perret

“This is an organization that is very close to my heart,” Miller said before the awards ceremony.

Actors joined philanthropists and business leaders at the famous Beverly Hills Four Seasons hotel to pay tribute to Miller and a select group of dedicated supporters of International Medical Corps, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian relief to millions in some of the most calamitous conditions around the world.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to honor these remarkable individuals and organizations, whose efforts have been critical to our lifesaving work,” said Nancy Aossey, President and CEO of International Medical Corps, in the lead-up to the event.

“During a tremendous and challenging year that saw dramatic and often devastating change throughout the world, they all stepped forward and enabled us to respond to disaster, conflict, and disease, helping those most vulnerable to heal

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Jordan Strauss/WireImage

Actress Joanna Krupa arrives at the International Medical Corps 2011 Annual Awards Celebration Honoring Sienna Miller at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on November 8, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California.

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need for medical services and training in war-ravaged Afghanistan, the organization has fielded staff to the frontlines of some of the most catastrophic humanitarian disasters in recent memory.

When genocide engulfed Rwanda in 1994, Corps members traveled to the country to establish makeshift hospitals where doctors and nurses had been murdered by machetes. Soon after, during the Bosnian war, Corps staff became targets for snipers.

Despite the dangers, International Medical Corps has been able to work in areas few others have the capacity — or the nerve — to go because of the organization’s commitment to a strict nonpolitical banner. Recently, Corps staff have been amongst the few relief workers permitted to deliver medical assistance in Afghanistan’s Taliban strongholds.

In 2010, the organization’s officials estimated that they had trained approximately 1,500 Afghan health workers.

This commitment to so-called “capacity building” — to implementing long-term and locally based solutions to health crises — was a principle pioneered by International Medical Corps at its inception, and continues to drive the organization today.

When asked about her involvement prior to receiving her award, Miller drove home her admiration for Corps staff and volunteers.

“After seeing International Medical Corps’ courageous work up-close I was determined to become more involved.

These people work in the toughest conditions imaginable, saving lives every single day, and bringing self-reliance and hope to the world’s most vulnerable people. I am honored to be their ambassador,” she said. n

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Events that dazzle.

But no one shines brighter than you.

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Pamela Marzban, DDS, FAGD, PC

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I

n the classic American western film there’s often a scene where some two-bit cattle puncher insults the cowboy hero of the story, who turns to his nemesis and returns the insult with a gentle challenge: “Smile when you say that partner.”

Roughly translated that means say it again and there’ll be consequences; back away now and we’ll forget about it. In some ways diplomacy is like that classic confrontation. It is the art of delivering and receiving sometimes difficult messages in a manner pleasant or formal enough that the message will be heard and understood while a working relationship between states and their representatives is maintained.

The diplomatic equivalent of this cowboy confrontation is the démarche, defined by the Foreign Service Institute of the United States as “a request or intercession with a foreign official, e.g., a request for supportof a policy, or a protest about the host government’s policy or actions.” The respected British diplomatist, Sir Harold Nicholson, defined diplomacy as “the management of international relations by negotiation, focused on official ambassadors and D I P L O M A T I C C O N N E C T I O N S B U S I N E S S edition | J anua r y - F eb r ua r y 2 0 1 2

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envoys.” It is, he continued, “the ordered conduct of relations between one group of human beings and another group alien to themselves.” Diplomacy, in other words, begins with engagement, and that means articulate communication between human beings that is comprehended by both parties, if not always pleasing to both.

Engagement, of course, does not diplomacy make. Neither do smiles guarantee either good feelings or effective communication. But, smiles can convey respect. Smiles can convey self-confidence in presenting and receiving difficult messages.

Smiles can soften hard edges and, at the same time, increase the acuity of hearing, absorbing, and taking account of pointed communications. Smiles convey a sense of humor and, most importantly, a self-critical ability to laugh at oneself. Smiles are no substitute for the hard work of diplomacy, but they are a vital complement to the often difficult substance of diplomacy.

Where do the arts of diplomacy and dentistry interact?

Meet Dr. Pamela Marzban — a dentist as charming and poised as the most accomplished diplomat, as exquisitely trained as a planetary physicist, as creative and dexterous as any artist, as articulate about her profession as an orator, and as passionate about her work and compassionate toward her patients as the most sensitive counselor. Dr. Marzban and her highly trained team work together with patients to protect, fine tune, and rejuvenate smiles . . . the end product of good dental health and a vital tool of self-confidence and positive presentation of self in a world where technology complements but can never replace human relationships.

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tech but patient friendly offices in Burke, Virginia. The décor is modern but not in the least cold. The technology that fills the office is twenty-first century state-of-the-art, and it is deployed in the hands of a skilled team that is continuously honing its skills. Most important, the team works together to provide the highest quality dental care in a manner that is warmly human, gently caring, and painstakingly understanding. Cutting edge technology in the hands of a skilled and concerned dental team serves the purposes of soothing pain, maintaining health, and building happier more self-confident smiles . . . not to mention the more self-assured people behind them.

Diplomatic Connections: Dr. Marzban, why did you choose dentistry as your profession?

Dr. Marzban: My entire family is in the health professions, and my older brother was the first one to go through dentistry.

I remember getting close to the end of college, and I was thinking about going into medicine like my father. But, it was my older brother who said: “You’re my sister. You’ve got a creative, artistic flair. You like to spend your time with people. Why not dentistry?”

So, I went to different dental offices, and I just honestly fell in love with that patient contact. In dentistry you get to sit down and speak with your patients and get to know them.

You see them over and over again through the years. That’s really why I became a dentist. I love the people contact. I like doing the art of it.

Diplomatic Connections: There are hundreds of dentists out there. What makes your practice, your office different from other dentists?

Dr. Marzban: Our philosophy is making sure that each person has a unique experience in the office. Whether it’s something as simple as a hygiene appointment or a smile rejuvenation patient, every person is unique. Every experience is unique.

My entire team has extensive continuing education and dental training background. All the ladies who work for me have been in the field for a long time. Our state of the art facilities allow them to have a lot of tools in their tool box. So, for example, if you came in for a cleaning appointment, you’re not just going to get the random cleaning. The team members will know you, because they prepared for you. They will have read your chart. They’ll know what they need to use for that appointment, and they’ll follow up to find out how things are working for you.

What makes us unique? It’s the level of detailed, personalized preparation we bring to every patient. It’s the genuine care and concern that I and my entire team provide to every patient. That’s what sets us apart.

Diplomatic Connections: Can you tell us a bit about your professional training and also about the role of continuing training. Just getting that diploma on the wall doesn’t end your dental training.

Dr. Marzban: No, far from it. I went to dental school at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, and dental school does a great job of giving you a good base. Then it’s really up to each dentist to start exploring things that they want to know more about. Our team and I go to at least three or four seminars a year. Whether it’s here in the Washington, D.C. area or across the country, we go if it’s relevant for our patients.

After I finished dental school, I spent the next three, almost four, years in additional study because what was important to me was people who need large esthetic care, who are suffering from grinding, who have headaches, and who we’re constantly giving night guards to protect their teeth from damage. I chose to go to the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. It is an esthetic center and neuromuscular center of training. That’s where I spent many years taking course after course, taking patients out there, learning how to rehabilitate somebody’s bite that’s just completely ground down or someone who suffers from migraines.

I see patients, who come in with a lot of pain. They’ve been to medical doctors. They’ve been tested for cancer.

They’ve had batteries of medical tests, all of which have been negative or inconclusive. They finally get put on antidepressants or pain medications because no one knows how to handle them. It was frustrating for me to see this, and I know that each of these symptoms can be related to jaw posturing.

Diplomatic Connections: On your website your practice

is described as “cosmetic and family dentistry.” Most of us, when we think about cosmetic dentistry think primarily about the look and having a beautiful smile. But, your answer to the previous question suggests that there’s a link between the visual look of a smile and the physiology of the bite, of the way people’s teeth are formed. How do those two things interrelate with each other?

Dr. Marzban: When people come in for cosmetic work, someone who is truly unhappy with their appearance wants a change, if they have an unbalanced bite, you can’t just put porcelain on their teeth and make it work. It’s like building a beautiful house on top of an uneven foundation. The house is going to fall apart. No one’s going to feel good. Even if it looks good, if it starts falling apart, no one’s going to feel happy. So you have to find a position or a balance with that bite before you can start really looking into the esthetics of it. That’s how the science marries the art to its techniques.

Diplomatic Connections: Why are smiles important?

Dr. Marzban: I can’t tell you how it impacts someone’s life when they’re uncomfortable with their smile. Imagine that every time you met someone you were selfconscious about your smile, and its impact on your appearance bothered you.

When you change someone’s smile, you can change their entire well-being.

You change their confidence. You change the way people

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feel. People cry. I mean we make people feel great. On those days when we do that my whole team is emotional. We’re just elated that we can have that kind of impact on somebody’s life.

Diplomatic Connections: What about the family part of your practice? Do you deal with entire families of patients?

Do you deal with the full range of ages?

Dr. Marzban: Yes. We see people from three years old and up. I love my family practice. Cosmetic is one of our areas of expertise, but the family is truly the base of my practice.

Although this doesn’t look like an old practice, it is actually a 40-year old practice. So, I have had the pleasure of seeing kids grow up through my office. Some go through college, some get married. I’ve seen the kids and I’ve seen the grandparents.

We still see whole families. We love that. That’s our biggest support in the community.

Diplomatic Connections: What’s a “smile makeover,” and why is it important?

Dr. Marzban: What happens is that as adults we’ve allowed our smile to sometimes fall apart. Our smile gets darker, or we may develop a little bit of crowding where the teeth get jumbled up. As you get older the teeth start to get more and more crowded, to a point where people have an unbalanced bite that’s causing them problems, or they’re just really unhappy about the way they look.

So, if a patient comes in for a “smile makeover” or “rejuvenation,” I have to first find out what it is that they’re unhappy with. I have to examine them and make sure that we’re thorough about the whole thing. It depends on what the patient wants. Sometimes they just want whitening, sometimes they just want straightening. Sometimes they need porcelain to cover up what’s happened through the years. So, what we

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mean by a “smile makeover” can cover a very wide range of procedures involving all aspects of dental health as well as cosmetic procedures.

Diplomatic Connections: How have computers changed dental practice in your professional lifetime?

Dr. Marzban: Computers have been absolutely fantastic. We use it so often for patient education. There are different programs that you can actually go through and show people what’s needed and what’s going to happen with their procedure. One of the best advances to come out has been digital impressions.

That’s what we use in our office. We take a special camera and actually scan the mouth. That detailed scan is what gets sent to our ceramist. The whole process gives us a far more accurate reading; you get a nicer better looking crown.

Diplomatic Connections: You do sedation dentistry.

Can you tell us about that, how it works, and what difference it makes for patients?

Dr. Marzban: Sedation dentistry is dramatically on the rise.

Many people had early bad experiences in the dentist’s chair or heard stories from parents and relatives that put them off the idea of going to the dentist. So what we do, after a thorough medical examination, is to give patients medication for their visit that helps them relax, gets them through the door. And, of course, in that situation, they must be brought in with a companion who will drive them home after the appointment is completed.

We can tailor the patient’s sedation so that when they come in they’re comfortable. They have little to no memory of the entire visit. They feel like they just slept through it. And, it is completely safe because they’re not put out. They think they’re dead asleep, but they’re not. They’re just relaxed. They can breathe for themselves. So, they’re comfortable, and it’s completely safe. That’s what we use it for. People love it!

It gives them an option to know that, “If I need dental work, I can do it now.”

We don’t always need sedation for fearful patients. My team and I can reassuringly and comfortingly talk patients through each step of many procedures, and patient comfort is always our first priority.

Diplomatic Connections: What are some of the other amenities you have available to enhance patient comfort?

Dr. Marzban: Let’s face it, nobody likes being in a dental office. We have things like “My View” glasses where we’ve downloaded different movies and television programs so that people can sit back and watch a show like “30 Rock” while they’re getting their teeth cleaned. We have Pandora, which is internet music with big noise trapping earphones so that the patient doesn’t have to hear the drill or any of the sounds of the procedure we’re doing. We also have blankets and neck pillows, even scented oils so that it doesn’t smell like a medical or dental office. Those are things that just help to put people at ease.

Diplomatic Connections: The term “neuromuscular dentistry” is mentioned frequently on your website. What is that all about?

Dr. Marzban: That’s the area where I focused most of my training at the Las Vegas Institute. It’s more of a West Coast concept. If you think of your mouth area as an equilateral triangle, there’s a balance there. At the top of the triangle is your jaw — the temporomandibular joint. On another point are the muscles that posture your jaw in space. And on the last point are the teeth. Now, the teeth dictate — when you put your teeth together — they stop this jaw in space.

So, what neuromuscular dentists do is to find out where to position the teeth to keep the muscles that posture your jaw in space comfortable. It is an identifiable physiologic position.

It is a healthy position. That’s all it is. Find a place to keep the

muscles happy and then put the teeth there. And then the balance is complete.

The joint articulates correctly; the muscles are comfortable; and the teeth are where they need to be.

Diplomatic Connections: How does neuromuscular dentistry tie to things like migraines, to headaches, back pain, neck pain, and other forms of discomfort?

Dr. Marzban: The muscles that posture your jaw in space, are the same muscles that posture your head and neck. For every inch your head is postured forward – and so many of us have this forward head posture – it’s ten pounds of extra weight on your neck. You can imagine how much stress that puts on your shoulder and neck area . . . all day long. But, if your jaw is postured in the correct position, your overall posture is better so you have less neck and back pain.

In regards to the migraine, it’s all about the muscles. That’s the neuromuscular background. Muscles are made out of fibers.

If a muscle is over-constricted or over-lengthened, it chokes the circulation that provides oxygen to the muscle. That’s why we have pain. We get lactic acid build-up. People who get migraines that start in the back or side of their head, those are all jaw posturing muscles. If you can get those muscles in an equilibrium where they are in the right or correct posture, the circulation improves and magically the pain disappears.

Diplomatic Connections: That said, do you work with a patient’s other doctors, say their internist or primary care physician, will you work together on these kinds of conditions?

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Dr. Marzban: Before I get started with a patient, I’ve already discussed things with their doctors, and — ideally — we’re trying to wean these patients off their pain medications and antidepressants. If there’s no clinical reason for them to be on it, we should be able to get them off these medications.

Diplomatic Connections: Let’s turn that question around. When do you refer patients to another dental specialist or to another doctor? What don’t you do?

Dr. Marzban: I always feel if someone can do it better than I can, they should be the one doing it. If there’s something, whether it’s a root canal or an extraction, something that I

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think I’m going to struggle with, I shouldn’t be doing it. And that’s when I refer.

I’ve got a great group of surgeons I work with for implants or wisdom teeth extractions, and a great group of endodontists for root canal extractions. Things that are truly outside my expertise, I will absolutely refer patients out.

Diplomatic Connections: We hear so much about tooth whitening. What’s the difference between going to the drug store and buying the out-of-the-box whiteners and the treatments available in your office?

Dr. Marzban: Going to the drug store and getting the out-

of-the-box treatment is good if you have very little staining of the teeth. Most of those products help remove external stains, like coffee or red wine, but they cannot permeate or get into the enamel, break down the stain molecules, and actually allow the tooth to whiten.

When you have whitening done in a dental office, a dentist gets a chance to look at your teeth and determine the best treatments for your specific situation. In our office we can devise treatments that are more custom-tailored for the specific patient’s mouth. Then, the material we use is not even comparable to what is available in the drug store. It’s so much stronger. It gives the dentist the ability to get into the enamel and breakdown the stain molecules in a way that will give the best whitening results.

Diplomatic Connections: Veneers . . . another term we hear all the time. What are veneers? When do you opt for veneers versus just whitening the existing tooth?

Dr. Marzban: Whitening is used if you have nice looking teeth already, but they’re just darker and need lightening for whatever reason. Veneers can be used when people have unattractive shaped teeth, worn down or cracked teeth, or gaps at the gum line, or people who already have a lot of restorations in their mouth that make their smile look like a potpourri of different products. These are situations where the teeth actually need facing, something that will cover up the anomalies in the patient’s mouth, something that goes over the enamel and covers it up.

There are so many types of veneers out there. You have to look at the person and see what that individual needs.

Diplomatic Connections: A related question, what I guess would be the next stage beyond veneers — implants. Is that something you do? When do you opt for implants?

Dr. Marzban: I never like having to tell a person, “You’re going to lose a tooth.” But, I love telling them that, “You can do an implant and not a denture.” Dental implants are something we absolutely do. It is one of the best developments to have come out of dentistry in the past twenty years. It’s actually a very simple process, once you can get over the fact that you’re going to lose a tooth. In our office we use computer programs to give you an idea of what the process will be like. And, quite often I do use the help of specialists — an oral maxillofacial or a periodontal surgeon — and I work with them as a team.

We’re using a titanium post that does go into the bone.

And, my belief is that you need to let that titanium heal, and then you can put a prosthesis, like a crown or a bridge on top of it. If you’re missing one tooth and you have two perfectly healthy teeth on either side of it, we no longer have to whittle down those teeth and put a bridge on it.

Having a family practice, I get to see a patient now and think of what they’ll be like when they’re in their eighties . . . when their dexterity might not be there, or when they might be afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Implants are things that they don’t have to worry about because it’s easier to keep clean. You can’t get decay around it. It’s not a magic bullet; you have to keep it clean. But, it’s a big improvement.

Diplomatic Connections: Dentistry is not inexpensive.

How does your office help people handle those costs?

Dr. Marzban: Dentistry hasn’t changed that much in terms of expense. You can still find a dentist who will do an $85.00 mercury filling for you. The reason that it seems so expensive is because our options are just so much wider. We could not do a $25,000 implant supported titanium denture before. You just got your $2,000 denture instead. It’s really the variability of the options that has made dentistry seem so expensive.

But, with the economy the way it is, not everybody has that much money to spend on their health. We try to work with patients to split up payments. Other people, who have extended treatment plans that need to split it up over a long period of time, can use third party financing that targets dental procedures because they know that people need dental health and continuing dental care.

Diplomatic Connections: Let’s go back to the importance of smiles and dental health. Why do you think those things are so impactful on people’s lives? Cardiologists, after all, work with our hearts. Cancer specialists extend people’s lives. Smiles and oral hygiene aren’t necessarily the first things we think about when we think about longevity and life threatening conditions. Why do you think they’re so important?

Dr. Marzban: If someone has a nice smile, they tend to take better care of their oral health, and your oral health does affect your cardiovascular health. If your mouth, if your gums are constantly inflamed, it causes the same hardening of your arteries as cholesterol does. And, we do spend a lot of time teaching our patients that. So, whether you want to just feel good about the way you look and improve your self-esteem and self-confidence, which to me are among the most important attributes for anybody, or whether you just truly care about your well-being and health, it goes hand-in-hand.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you so much Dr. Marzban for sharing your thoughts about the importance of dentistry and how it’s changed over the years. n For additional information or appointments please contact:

Dr. Pamela Marzban

8996 Burke Lake Rd., Suite 101, Burke, VA 22015 Telephone: 703-323-8200 • Fax: 703-978-3679 Website: www.marzbandds.com

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Sheikh Al Julanda bin Salim bin Hamood Al Hashmi; Sheikh Salim bin Hamood bin Said Al Hashmi; Douglas Baker, son of former Secretary of State, James Baker and Admiral Albert Calland III, U.S. Navy SEAL (Retired)

uring talks with Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the ruler of Oman, in October Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally thanked him for the Gulf sultanate’s help in securing the release of three young American hikers jailed in Iran on espionage charges. Oman had not only helped negotiate their release with the Iranian authorities, but had reportedly paid $500,000 bail for each. In 2009, Sarah Shroud, Joshua Fattal, and Shane Bauer had been arrested when they strayed across the border into Iran while hiking in the Turkish mountains. Sarah Shroud was released in September of last year and flown first to Muscat, the Omani capital, and then home. Omani intervention helped free her two male companions exactly one year later.

The Gulf Sultanate’s role in helping free the hikers reflected Sultan Qaboos’ ability to influence Iranian decisions through his policy of maintaining good relations with Iran, his powerful neighbor -- and at the same time the Oman’s close cooperative ties with the United States. Those ties were

celebrated in Washington in November when a group of distinguished friends of Oman came together to present Sultan Qaboos with the Eagle Freedom Award in recognition of his enlightened vision. Retired U.S. Navy Vice-Admiral Albert (Bert) Calland, in presenting the award cited the Sultan’s “generous donations to education in the U.S. and other support of our country and those around the world.”

Sheikh Salim bin Hamood bin Said Al Hashmi, a senior Omani official, received the Eagle on behalf of Sultan Qaboos at a lunch hosted by Scott Reed, senior adviser to the U.S.

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Right to left: J. Edward Whitehead, President, LandMatters and Shireen Abdul-Qadir Yousif Said, Commercial Attache, Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman

Chamber of Commerce. Guests included Sheikh Al Julanda bin Salim bin Hamood Al Hashmi; former Texas Democratic Lt. Governor Ben Barnes; editor and columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave, and his wife, the poet Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave; Juleanna Glover; former Washington Redskins player Lonnie Sanders; Shireen Abdul-Qadir Yousif Said; Fred Maas; Doug Baker; Robert Dunn; Lt. Commander James Papineau U.S.N. (Ret.) — a Navy Seal — Andrew McKenna; Wayne Fraizer; Jim Whitehead, and other well-known Washingtonians.

Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave, who started the Light of Healing Hope Foundation bringing comfort to the sick and those in need, read one of her own poems, entitled Peace.

It reads in part: On this half way path to angelic heights,/When the light and dark dissolve into mist,/Hatred and jealousy are cast aside/And shades of love find reason to exist. A. de Borchgrave introduced Admiral Calland, a former Navy Seals commander Right to left: Evan Strianese, in Afghanistan, and one-time deputy director of the Central Diplomatic Connections and Intelligence Agency; The Navy Seal Foundation was one of Kate Nelson the sponsors of the occasion.

In his 40 years reign, Sultan Qaboos has given high priority to education. Meanwhile, a central development strategy of the sultanate is the “Vision 2020” plan. Its main objective is to reduce the contribution of Oman’s oil and gas sector from 41.5 per cent of Gross National Product in 2007 to 9 per cent of GDP in 2020, and part of the plan is to develop a hi-tech industrial sector. The sultanate is also expanding its cultural reach. In October, the Royal Opera House of Oman, the first of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula, was officially opened by Sultan Qaboos, himself a music enthusiast. Super tenor Placido Domingo conducted the premier performance of Turandot.

Relations between Oman LTCDR James Papineau, U.S. Navy SEAL (Retired); Admiral Albert Calland III, U.S. Navy SEAL and the United States have (Retired); Alexander Villard de Borchgrave, President, Light of Healing Hope Foundation; Arnaud strengthened in recent years de Borchgrave and Tony Watson in light of the Sultanate’s strategic position in the Straits of Hormuz. U.S. forces use military bases in Oman on an ad hoc basis. At the same time, Oman has maintained its ties with Britain — a diplomatic and military connection going back to the 18th century.

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Mohammed Mahjoub/AFP/Getty Images

Omani Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah welcomes US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Muscat on October 19, 2011, as the US Secretary of State paid a brief visit to Oman for talks with Sultan Qaboos on rising tensions with Iran.

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The Omani Royal Cavalry ride a carriage pulled by 29 horses, a world record, as they parade during an equestrian event attended by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Oman’s leader Sultan Qaboos bin Said at Madinat al-Hidayat on November 27, 2010 in Muscat, during the second leg of the British monarch’s Gulf tour.

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Photos by Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

The Omani Royal Cavalry parade during an equestrian and race event attended by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Oman’s leader Sultan Qaboos bin Said at Madinat al-Hidayat on November 27, 2010 in Muscat, during the second leg of the British monarch’s Gulf tour.

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John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II walks towards her plane with the Sultan of Oman, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, before she and the Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh depart Muscat Airport for home, after a five day State Visit to the Gulf region on November 28, 2010 in Muscat, Oman.

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‘Y

ou can’t understand until you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes,’ is an oft-heard expression, but rarely is it more fitting than with actor Matthew Perry.

For more than a decade, 42-year-old Perry has battled drug addiction in the public eye. But now the comedian, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the long-running television series Friends, is turning from actor to activist as spokesman for the National Association

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of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP).

On October 27, 2011, Perry lobbied members of the Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus on Capitol Hill to raise awareness about the alternatives to imprisonment for addicted individuals.

As members of Congress look to trim spending across the board, Perry defended the drug court system as a budget effective solution.

“I’m here, of course, to talk about

Kris Connor/Getty Images

By Meghan Lawson

NADCP CEO West Huddleston and Matthew Perry speak during the Drug Courts and Veterans Treatment Courts: A Proven Budget Solution Serving Our Veterans event at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.

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Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

From left, former Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-MN, Matthew Perry, actor and spokesman for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, and Rep. Pat Meehan, R-PA, talk in Meehan’s Cannon Building office before a meeting to discuss legislation that will give communities ‘access to federal assistance to create Veterans Treatment Courts in their area, and improve existing Veterans Treatment Courts.’

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drug courts because they save money. They save lives. They save prison space. They save families. They save veterans,’’ Perry said.

The comedian’s plea struck a chord with Rep. John Sullivan (R - OK), who attended the briefing as co-chairman of the Caucus.

“We lose about $400 billion a year in the U.S. from loss of productivity in the workforce due to alcohol and drug addiction,” said Sullivan. “It’s an elephant in the room that we need to address.”

While it costs an average of $23,000 to house a single prisoner in the traditional justice system, that average cost drops below $7,000 for drug court participants, according to the NADCP. Currently, the drug court system receives $80 million in funding – a figure the NADCP is hoping will rise to $86 million for 2012.

Part of that additional funding is targeted at military veterans who suffer from mental illness and substance abuse. While in Washington, D.C., Perry also met with Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) and former Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) to discuss legislation that would deliver more federal aid to drug treatment courts for veterans.

According to NADCP CEO West Huddleston, the need for veteran treatment courts is needed now more than ever; the number of veterans diagnosed with mental illness and substance abuse has spiked 38 percent since 2004.

Drawing on personal experience, Perry also reached out to those battling addiction while speaking during his Capitol Hill briefing.

“Follow your heart. It takes work to do the right thing but if you get yourself into a drug court and into the programs you have a chance to follow your true destiny,” he said. n D I P L O M A T I C C O N N E C T I O N S B U S I N E S S edition | J anua r y - F eb r ua r y 2 0 1 2

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