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Unofficial ambassador
During a time when most of the Americans traveling to the Middle East did so with rifles
in hand, Benjamin Orbach went armed only with a knowledge of Arabic and the need to
converse. More than five years after the military began its war against terrorism, it's
debatable whether Orbach's campaign to win hearts and minds was more effective. In his
book "Live from Jordan: Letters home from my journey through the Middle East", Orbach
details his trip through Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, the Palestinian territories and
Israel just after Sept. 11 and through the early months of the Iraq war.
From July of 2002 until August 2003, Orbach absorbed Mideast culture and America's impact
on it and spoke to a broad spectrum of people about their lives, cultures and
commonalities between themselves and the American people. Now working for the State
Department as part of its Middle East Partnership Initiative, Orbach says the separation
of people from policy is the best hope of creating understanding and, possibly, peace in
the region.
The overwhelming theme in your book is the lack of fear as you travel from place to
place despite the turbulent political environment. Are these societies receptive to
having Americans around?
Yes. This is the most important point in my book: People make an absolute distinction
between U.S. foreign policy - which they are adamantly against not just for idealistic
reasons but because it has an impact on their everyday lives - and the American people.
Things like Mariah Carey, Mark Twain, Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, our Democratic
processes, minimum wage, our rags-to-riches stories - these are all things that provide
hope and are the picture of American people. When Americans come and bring these things
in the form of the Peace Corps or Doctors Without Borders or other groups, it humanizes
Americans. ... Americans are welcome, but I don't know for how much longer.
(excerpt from Metro)
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