Cairo, June 2011
Every time I go to Iran I come away thinking how incredibly foolish US foreign policy is with regard to that country.
Hamadan locals - up to 70% of university students in Iran are female.
I often think that if the US could press the reset button they would do things differently. Most Iranians will tell you that normalization of relations with America will not happen under this Supreme Leader because he is avidly anti-American. So even if the US did decide to take a different tack with regard to their Middle East foreign policy in general, perhaps Iran is no longer interested, most of the Middle East is living in the post-American world - why do they need them?
Students on a school outing at St. Stephanos Church in Jolfa near the border with Azerbaijan.
From Iran I went to northern Iraq, to Kurdistan where we met people who said they wanted the US military to stay in Iraq because it provides stability for them. Many of them even hoped the US would help them get their own country. Such optimism when they have been betrayed by everyone was scary so I asked the resident cynic if they were serious. He said they were serious in their desire but knew it would never happen. The Saudis also want the US to stay, after all they need someone to act as a buffer from Iraq's Shi'a, and by extension Iran.
Kurdish men shooting the breeze in Halabja where Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of civilians in 1988.
And now I am in Cairo where against all the odds they managed to oust the hated dictator. Bumper stickers on cars read "January 25th, I was there" and the blackened shell of the ruling NDP party building which the protesters set on fire, is a salient reminder of what people power can achieve. Can the youth continue to force the pace? Can Egypt take back its role as leader of the Arab world? Is it possible to elect people who represent the Egyptian people and not foreign interests?
Kurdish children in Halabja - what is their future?
