Much too complicated, Lawry. The best-suited American to talk with al-Qaeda would be a colleague from Carlyle Group or a former mujaheddin trainer from the CIA. In the coffee breaks they could chat about the old days...
Chris Lawrence deBivort wrote: > >For the US to broach secretive talks with bin Laden, I think the best >person would be an American who: > >1. Has some credibility within the US administration, e.g. someone who >has been involved in counter-terrorism studies, or has some experience of >the Middle East >2. Can work with administration policy analysts and decision-makers to >formulate an effective preliminary set of goals for the interaction with bin >Laden >3. Has adequate credibility among those who might be able to set up the >meeting with bin Laden >4. Will be able to discern possible incongruencies in what bin Laden >and his deputies say, and how they say it >5. Has experience in Middle Eastern culture, and knows something about >Islam, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the history of US/Western - >Middle Eastern relations >6. Has experience talking with 'terrorists' >7. Can think on his feet and is skilled in the use of language >8. Is willing to proceed using minimal security protection, and is >willing to meet bin Laden's deputies and then bin Laden in a situation of >mutual security >9. Will be seen as speaking for himself, but with informal connections >to the US government >10. Most important, the person must truly be pursuing a goal of genuine >conflict resolution > > > >How does that seem? > > > >Cheers, > >Lawry __________________________________________________ Oh Shiite! Dubya, look at the Sunni side of life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
