Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2007, page 61
Waging Peace
Egyptian Students Shadow Congress
A DELEGATION of 16 Cairo University students, fluent in English and strikingly knowledgeable about U.S. foreign policy as well as national political realities, visited the Washington, DC area from Sept. 2-15 to prepare to participate in the 5th Annual Model American Congress Program. Organized by the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) and made possible by a generous grant from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the program included a five-day fellowship in a congressional office, during which students shadowed members of Congress, attended committee hearings, and participated in staff meetings and other legislative activities. Among the legislators hosting the young Egyptians were Sens. Norm Coleman (R-MN), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Tom Davis (R-VA), Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Jose Serrano (D-NY). The students also were able to attend the House and Senate hearings at which Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker testified on U.S. progress in Iraq.
ACYPL’s staffmembers Kristin Rhebergen and Mike Garretson took students on a whirlwind tour of Old Town Alexandria, and Mount Vernon, VA; Annapolis, MD, including the U.S. Naval Academy; and Washington, DC, including the Egyptian Embassy, the Arab American Institute (AAI), the U.S. Department of State, Congressional Quarterly, C-SPAN, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Middle East Institute (MEI), the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC), and Georgetown University.
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, staff, including publisher Ambassador Andrew Killgore and managing editor Janet McMahon, discussed the magazine’s efforts to inform U.S. voters about the pro-Israel lobby’s effect on members of Congress, and answered the students’ well-informed questions about domestic and international politics. The energy, curiosity and insights of the young Egyptians—whose academic majors ranged from political science and economics to pharmacology, medicine and engineering—inspired their hosts with a renewed hope for the future of the region and the world.
—Delinda C. Hanley
