Peace Corps News

Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings

Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings
Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do.

Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation.

Read the executive summary here.

Watch Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings tomorrow on the web

Enhancing The Peace Corps Experience: S. 732, The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act

PCOL will not be in DC tomorrow morning to cover the hearings live but Senator Dodd's office has informed us that the hearings will be webcast and we will be watching them live and reporting on them.

The link to the video will be on Senator Dodd's Home Page and will begin about 15 minutes prior to the hearings.

We will be providing copies of all the witnesses' statements on our web site and photos from the hearings.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Time: 9:30 AM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Dodd

Read a copy of the proposed legislation.

Read Senator Dodd's remarks on introducing the legislation.

CSPAN has informed us that they probably won't be televising the hearings but that they are still finalizing their schedule.

Witnesses speaking on the legislation will include:

Peace Corps Director Ronald A. Tschetter

Former Director Mark L. Schneider

David Kotz, Inspector General of the Peace Corps

Ms. Kate Raftery, Country Director, Eastern Caribbean

Chuck Ludlam, Volunteer, Senegal

Paula Hirschoff, Volunteer, Senegal

Kevin Quigley, President, National Peace Corps Association

Nicole Fiol, Applicant to the Peace Corps

White House aides held political briefings at Peace Corps headquarters

White House aides held political briefings at Peace Corps headquarters
White House aides have conducted at least half a dozen political briefings for the Bush administration's top diplomats, including a PowerPoint presentation for ambassadors with senior adviser Karl Rove that named Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008 and a "general political briefing" at Peace Corps headquarters after the 2002 midterm elections.

The briefings, mostly run by Rove's deputies at the White House political affairs office, began in early 2001 and included detailed analyses for senior officials of the political landscape surrounding critical congressional and gubernatorial races, according to documents obtained by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Spokesmen for the State Department, the Peace Corps and USAID said that only political appointees were invited to the briefings and that attendance was not compulsory. They also said that no specific actions were subsequently taken to boost political campaigns.

"We believe that these briefings were entirely appropriate," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "They conformed with all the applicable regulations."

The ambassadors included in the Rove briefing were Eduardo Aguirre Jr. of Spain, James P. Cain of Denmark, Alfred Hoffman Jr. of Portugal, Ronald Spogli of Italy, Craig Stapleton of France and Robert Tuttle of Britain. Gregory Slayton, the consul general to Bermuda, also attended.

In total, the seven diplomats donated more than $1.6 million to Republican causes from 2000 through 2006, according to a Center for Responsive Politics report on large Bush donors who were named ambassadors. The State Department, in a letter to Biden, said that Cain -- one of Bush's top fundraisers in North Carolina -- requested the meeting with Rove and did not notify department officials in advance.

The briefings struck some former ambassadors as highly unusual.

"That just didn't happen. Frankly, I am shocked to hear it," said former senator James Sasser (D-Tenn.), who served as President Bill Clinton's ambassador to China in the late 1990s. "I'm one who strongly believes that politics ought to end at the water's edge."

The Peace Corps briefing occurred in 2003 with about 15 political appointees, said Amanda Beck, a spokeswoman for the agency. The central mission of the Peace Corps is sending volunteers into Third World nations to help with development.

Beck, who said she attended the March 2003 "recap" of the 2002 elections, said the appointees who attended the briefing "did it on our free time during the day." She added: "It was a courtesy to political appointees," offered by the White House, and "there was no suggestion of getting involved in anything" campaign related.  Read more.

"Voices from Chernobyl" by Ukraine RPCV Spencer Smith performed at the New England Youth Theater

"Voices from Chernobyl" by Ukraine RPCV Spencer Smit performed at the New England Youth Theater
Ukrainian journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of survivors of the disaster and in 1997 published many of their stories in a book, "Tchernobylskaia Molitva." In 2006 this was translated from the Russian and published as "Voices from Chernobyl" by the Dalkey Archive Press. In 2007 the book was issued as a paperback by Picador Press.

With the permission of Dalkey Archive, Montpelier writer Spencer Smith has made a readers theater play from six of these testimonies which will be performed at the New England Youth Theater. Audiences have been moved to tears by the words of these survivors as they express in concrete terms the terrible price in human lives paid by those who lived through this nuclear disaster. Smith first became aware of the danger of nuclear power plants in 1979 when the Three Mile Island disaster occurred. Seven years later, the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine reinforced her concern. From 2001 to 2003 she lived in Ukraine as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching creative writing at a university.

Smith first became aware of the danger of nuclear power plants in 1979 when the Three Mile Island disaster occurred. Seven years later, the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine reinforced her concern. From 2001 to 2003 she lived in Ukraine as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching creative writing at a university.

During her stay in Ukraine she became even more sensitive to the long-term effects of a nuclear disaster.

A year ago, after reading the book "Voices from Chernobyl," Smith became active in the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, a North Central Vermont organization seeking to close the Vermont Yankee reactor. She has adapted "Voices from Chernobyl" into a 50-minute readers theater play. Smith returned to Ukraine in 2006 and is currently writing a memoir about her experiences there. For 2008, Smith has been granted a Fulbright award to teach creative writing at Belarus State University in Minsk -- an area especially hard-hit by the Chernobyl disaster. Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Ukraine.

Peace Corps reducing current program in Kiribati

Peace Corps reducing current program in Kiribati
Due to the increasingly unreliable air transportation available for Volunteers serving on outer islands in Kiribati, Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter decided to reduce the current Peace Corps program in Kiribati. Air Kiribati, the country’s only domestic airline, is operated by the Government of Kiribati, and is unable to provide adequate service to the Volunteers. Air Kiribati has made only one plane available since April 2006, to provide services to the outer islands. This plane was grounded for two months, February and March 2007, and has been limited to providing intermittent service since resuming flights on April 2, 2007.

Based on Director Tschetter’s decision, the 13 Volunteers on the outer-most islands, with no regular boat service, were either moved to available islands closer to the capital, transferred to other posts, or offered interrupted service. The 15 Trainees who arrived in February departed post (as of April 3, 2007) and either transferred to other posts or were offered interrupted service, due to the limited capacity of Tarawa and the closer islands to absorb additional Volunteers. In addition, the August 2007 input of 17 Health Trainees was cancelled.

Peace Corps will be monitoring the situation and has established indicators for evaluating the adequacy of air transportation services to outer islands in Kiribati that will be used to determine the future of the Peace Corps program in Kiribati.

Volunteers are currently assigned to placements in 9 of 17 islands of the Gilbert group and the Peace Corps office is located on the capital island of Tarawa. Currently, there are a total of 19 Volunteers. Peace Corps Kiribati has previously had as many as 45 Volunteers in country at any given time.

The Peace Corps presence in The Republic of Kiribati began in 1973 and in the ensuing 33 years nearly 500 PCVs have served there. Current Volunteer primary assignments are in two projects: education and health and community development. Assignments also include primary and secondary projects in other development sectors such as: business education, environmental education, disabilities awareness, community and youth development and water and sanitation. Read more.

Caption: The Peace Corps office for Kiribati is located on the capital island of Tarawa seen here from the air. Photo:  d-online Flickr Creative Commons  Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 

Read more about Peace Corps Kiribati.

Central African Republic RPCV Michael Shereikis is a singer and guitarist for Chopteeth

Central African Republic RPCV Michael Shereikis is a singer and guitarist for Chopteeth
Chopteeth is an "old-school afrofunk orchestra, with a big horn section and the whole works," according to Shereikis. The music is a mix of Yoruba tribal music, Jamaican ska, Ghanaian funk and Senegalese rumba. The band consists of a five-piece horn section, a drummer, two percussionists, two guitarists, a bassist, a keyboardist and two singers. When I was in the Peace Corps, I started zeroing in on African guitar styles, then in New Orleans and Abidjan," Shereikis said. "Making rhythmic music is always something I've just done. I pursued (guitar) in my second or third year of college."

Chopteeth performed in January at the inauguration of Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. The band also played at a wrap party for the HBO series "The Wire" and at Washington's Kennedy Center.

The band has been nominated by the Washington Area Music Association for four Wammie awards, including Best World Music Group. Members expect to finish recording their first compact disc by summer's end.

Shereikis composes most of the music for Chopteeth, which he helped found in 2004. Shereikis and the band's other vocalist sing in at least seven languages or dialects, including English, French, Yoruba (Nigeria), Twi (Ghana), and Swahili (eastern Africa).  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Central African Republic.

Read more about the Peace Corps and Music.

Ethiopia RPCV Allan Reed created a Diaspora Skills Transfer Program to bring educated southern Sudanese living abroad back to the country that needs them

Ethiopia RPCV Allan Reed created a Diaspora Skills Transfer Program to bring educated southern Sudanese living abroad back to the country that needs them
More than 5 million southern Sudanese were displaced by war. Up to 90 percent of the population cannot read or write. Ten miles of paved road exist in a region the size of Europe. And diseases eradicated elsewhere in Africa, such as sleeping sickness and guinea worm, flourish. "Both health and education are critical to the needs of the returnees," Reed said. They are also the "least controversial" types of aid that can be given to a country still recovering from political strife, he added. Reed directs this and other humanitarian efforts from a four-bedroom house he shares with other international-development agency staff members in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan.

Since the program started in November 2005, about 100 doctors and educators have given up Western salaries and living conditions to return to Sudan for three months of service. In Sudan, the reception has not always been rapturous. "Sometimes there are attitudes (like), 'Who are these people coming back who were living these cushy lives while we were suffering?' " Reed said. "But the Sudanese government has clearly recognized the importance of (returnees) and the skills they bring." Reed said the proof of this is in the outcome: Almost 50 percent of the volunteers have since returned to Sudan, and several have stayed permanently. One volunteer, a doctor from Tennessee, is now the deputy director of southern Sudan's National HIV/AIDS Council. A Texas professor has become a minister in Sudan's fledgling government of national unity.  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Ethiopia.

Read more about the Peace Corps and NGO's.

Read more about the Peace Corps and Service.

Caption: Allan Reed and wife Ayo Reed pose next to Sudanese art which represents Dinka tribal life. They met when she was working as a nurse in Sudan in 1972 and were married in 1974 and are preparing to return.

Robert Blackwill says: No process and no elegant set of mechanisms will make up for stupidity

Robert Blackwill says: No process and no elegant set of mechanisms will make up for stupidity
Kitaoka: There appeared to be differences in the opinions of chief U.S. nuclear envoy [Christopher] Hill and the U.S. Treasury Department during negotiations over North Korea's nuclear development.

Blackwill: The instructions that Chris Hill gets come from the direction of the president through the NSC process. He always has a member of the NSC staff who travels with him. Most negotiators from the State Department value that because they can be sure they have the support of the White House while they are conducting negotiations.

We've been talking about processes, [so] let me put it like this: No process and no elegant set of mechanisms will make up for stupidity.

Kitaoka: Could you be a little more specific?

Blackwill: I would say that quality has this first principle: Analysis before prescription. Analysis separate from ideology, the second principle.

It seems to me that quality decisions often come out of quality analysis. When the United States makes serious mistakes, often it's because of poor analysis, and sometimes it's because of ideology overwhelming analysis. So one of the jobs of the NSC adviser is to continually try to raise the level of quality of the analysis that is inside the system.  Read more.

Robert Blackwill served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Ambasssador to India, and as a Deputy National Security Advisor to Condoleezza Rice. Read more about Robert Blackwill.

Read more about Peace Corps Malawi.

Read more about Peace Corps Diplomacy.

Peace Corps reopens program in Guinea

Peace Corps reopens program in Guinea
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter announced this week that the Peace Corps program in Guinea will be reopened and 19 former Peace Corps/Guinea Volunteers will begin returning this month.

Additionally, Peace Corps/Guinea intends to welcome 36 new Volunteer-trainees in December 2007. These Volunteer-trainees will be working in the areas of business development, environmental education and health and HIV/AIDS. Over 1,200 Volunteers have served in Guinea since the program opened in 1962.

The U.S. Embassy in Conakry issued an ordered departure for U.S. Mission eligible family members on February 12, 2007, due to a strike and civil unrest, and the Peace Corps/Guinea program was suspended temporarily. On April 10, 2007, the U.S. Embassy lifted the ordered departure and Peace Corps reevaluated the suspension.

Read more about Peace Corps Guinea.

Caption: Mural at the Peace Corps headquarters in Guinea  Photo: Frank in Guinea Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

Iran RPCV Donna Shalala says Veterans report will be solution driven

Iran RPCV Donna Shalala says Veterans report will be solution driven
"We will not be issuing a report that points fingers. Our charge has and will be to focus on solutions that can be activated in a reasonable time. We will also not be issuing a report with a laundry list of recommendations. Our report will be action oriented and patient centered with our primary goal being to improve and simplify, where needed, the system of care for our service men and women so they can transition, as soon and as best as possible, to civilian life or active duty."

As we have said from the beginning, we are solution driven. We will not be issuing a report that points fingers. Our charge has and will be to focus on solutions that can be activated in a reasonable time. We will also not be issuing a report with a laundry list of recommendations. Our report will be action oriented and patient centered with our primary goal being to improve and simplify, where needed, the system of care for our service men and women so they can transition, as soon and as best as possible, to civilian life or active duty.

Our report is rooted in the work done by the Commission over the past three months plus the work of other Task Forces and Commissions that have been examining similar issues. This Commission has heard testimony at seven public meetings and has conducted 23 site visits to military bases, VA hospitals and treatment centers across the country. We have heard from experts on providing physical and mental health care, navigating health care and disability evaluation and compensation systems, members of Congress and their staff, and most importantly, service men and women, their families and the health care professionals charged with their care. The Commission is also conducting its own nationwide survey of service men and women and is currently analyzing the data. Read more.

University of Miami President and former Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran in the 1960's. Read more about Donna Shalala.

Read more about Peace Corps Iran.

Colombia RPCV Michael Adlerstein to direct $1.9 billion UN renovation project

Colombia RPCV Michael Adlerstein to direct $1.9 billion UN renovation project
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has appointed Michael Adlerstein of the United States as executive director of the Capital Master Plan -- the $1.9 billion renovation project of the organization's New York headquarter complex, according to a spokesperson for the U.N. chief.

"The appointment will enable the United Nations to move forward with the implementation phase of the Capital Master Plan," a statement said, adding the renovation will take place over the next seven years.

Most recently, Adlerstein was the vice president and architect of the New York Botanical Garden.

In addition, Alderstein oversaw the restoration of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Born in New York in October 1945, Adlerstein also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, and has worked as a State Department consultant on preservation issues on numerous projects, including the preservation of the Taj Mahal, the statement said. Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Architects.

Read more about Peace Corps Colombia.

Hearings Scheduled to consider Dodd's new Peace Corps Legislation

Enhancing The Peace Corps Experience: S. 732, The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Time: 9:30 AM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Dodd

Read a copy of the proposed legislation.

Read Senator Dodd's remarks on introducing the legislation.

It is not known at this time whether the hearings will be televised on Cspan.

Witnesses speaking on the legislation will include:

Peace Corps Director Ronald A. Tschetter

Former Director Mark L. Schneider

David Kotz, Inspector General of the Peace Corps

Ms. Kate Raftery, Country Director, Eastern Caribbean

Chuck Ludlam, Volunteer, Senegal

Paula Hirschoff, Volunteer, Senegal

Kevin Quigley, President, National Peace Corps Association

Nicole Fiol, Applicant to the Peace Corps

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry objects to Mark Green as Ambassador to Tanzania

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry objects to Mark Green as Ambassador to Tanzania
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., placed a "hold" on the nomination, because Green, a Wisconsin Republican who ran against Jim Doyle for Governor in the 2006 election, is a political appointee and not a career foreign service officer, a Kerry aide said. According to the State Department, about 65 percent of U.S. ambassadors are career foreign service officers, with the remaining 35 percent political appointees.

Green, if approved, would replace the current ambassador to Tanzania, Michael Retzer, also a political appointee. Retzer was sworn in August 2005.

The Kerry hold is the second hurdle for Green. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., placed a hold on Green's nomination to underscore his dissatisfaction with Retzer's decision to revoke the authority of the top Peace Corps official in Tanzania to remain in the East African nation. Dodd released the hold after the State Department apologized to the Peace Corps official and promised Dodd that the Peace Corps could pursue its mission in Tanzania without interference. Read more.

Caption: Ambassador designate Mark Green

Brian Dunn talks about his service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda

Brian Dunn talks about his service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda
This isn’t your father’s Peace Corps! My idea of the Peace Corps before I came was that I would be living in a mud hut in a very rural African village a thousand miles from nowhere. One of my biggest concerns was what would happen to me if I became deathly ill and couldn’t contact anyone for help and would inevitably die from some strange African disease and my body not be found for months! Although each Peace Corps Volunteer’s experience is exponentially different from one another, my perception and my reality also differed greatly.

For one, I have a cell phone which I use several times a day to send text messages to friends both here and in the U.S. I use my laptop on a daily basis for everything from e-mail, Internet, blogging (http://pervispc.blogspot.com) databases and to watch DVDs which I rent from my village.

One of the biggest lessons I learned was that getting here – leaving friends and family, selling my home and truck- was much more difficult than actually being here (although being here has its own daily quirks, believe me), and that I have a rich network of support and friendship from the 70 or so other PCVs who currently serve in Uganda with me, as well as a top notch PC staff, including 2 nurses on call 24/7. The reality also is that, as one of the only Caucasians in my village, if I do get sick or something does happen to me, the villagers couldn’t help but take notice.

Compassion works. I’ll personally vouch for it. I’ve seen lives literally saved because of the Compassion program. I’ve also seen those same Save the Children commercials on local Christian TV at 2 a.m. that you’ve seen. The ones where you wonder if they really do help the kids they portray. Their job, it seems, is to find the poorest of poor children, the ones covered in flies, and then emotionally move people to help. That’s my take at least. But those conditions are real, they do exist. I’ve seen some of them. I’ve been in their homes. Fortunately, I don’t see them every day. Fortunate, because not everyone here lives like that. But some do. And I see the need for aid, development organizations and people to help people out of the recurring poverty trap. A trap that they can’t get out of through hard work alone. Not without assistance. Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Uganda.

Who's The Coolest Traveler?

Jeanne Leblanc writes: Who's The Coolest Traveler?
Americans who meet each other while traveling abroad almost inevitably fall into a kind of coolness competition, one-upping each other in conversations about where they have traveled, the scrapes they've gotten into and the things they have seen. I should know better than to engage in these contests because I inevitably lose.

I do believe, however, that I have discovered the winning strategies. I just don't have the actual experiences to back them up. Not yet. (With the words "Not yet," please picture me scowling and shaking my fist, Scarlett O'Hara-style, at the heavens.)

First, Peace Corps. If you can start a conversation with "Well, when I was in the Peace Corps in [insert exotic place] ..." you have won. This is a first-round knockout. Other strong contenders would be "When I was in the CIA ... the Special Forces, the Foreign Legion, that Turkish prison" etc.

Read more Peace Corps Humor.

Gov.Jim Doyle is raising money and hiring campaign staff so he'll be positioned to seek a third term if he chooses

Gov.Jim Doyle is raising money and hiring campaign staff so he'll be positioned to seek a third term if he chooses
A campaign spokesman says Doyle raised about $500,000 in the first half of this year, about the same amount he collected in the first six months of his first term. Fundraisers, such as a $1,000-a-head golf outing that drew more than 100 people last month in spite of the day's rain, mean Doyle is making sure he's financially ready should he seek to become the state's first third-term Democratic governor, political experts said. "If you're an incumbent, you certainly want to keep your options open," said Ken Mayer, a political science professor at UW-Madison. "You can always decide you're not going to run."

In a speech to the state Democratic Party convention on Friday, Doyle promised to improve health care, job training and education in Wisconsin. Then he said to a standing ovation: "And at the end of these four years of working together, who knows, maybe we'll need four more."

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and his wife served as Peace Corps Volunteers in Tunisia in the 1960's. Read more.

Doyle talks to students on hot topic of global warming
The initiatives are part of Doyle's "25 by 25" plan that would reduce 25 percent of Wisconsin's electricity usage and 25 percent of transportation fuels from renewable sources by the year 2025, according to the governor's office. "With our vast agricultural and forestry resources, our strong research institutions, and our strong manufacturing base, I want the Midwest to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, with Wisconsin at the forefront," Doyle said. "The fact is, if an oil field in Iran has to compete against a farm field in Wisconsin, that's a very good thing for the environment, for our economy, and for the world."  Read more.

Bill Cavala writes: An innocent woman became the centerpiece of the $4 million dollar Republican campaign against Democratic Governor Jim Doyle
The innocent woman was freed by an Appeals Court whose lead judge told the Republican prosecutor, “Your evidence is beyond thin”. The innocent woman wasn’t freed before spending 4 months in prison and losing her home!

The innocent woman was a Wisconsin civil servant – hired under a Republican Governor. She wasn’t a Doyle partisan. She was responsible for putting the state’s travel account up for competitive bidding. She did. The low bidder won the contract. She was only one of 7 individuals involved in the contract award. There was no credible evidence that the woman gained personally from her actions.

Like many contractors, the low bidders were also campaign contributors of the Governor – but there was no evidence that the Innocent Woman was even aware of that fact. She was entirely innocent. But anyone in government indicted and tried by a U.S. Attorney is likely to be found guilty. After all, why would a U.S. Attorney prosecute an innocent woman?   Read more.

Read more about Tunisia RPCV Jim Doyle, Governor of Wisconsin.

Read more about Peace Corps Tunisia.

Why Chris Dodd joined the Peace Corps

Why Chris Dodd joined the Peace Corps
"Somebody asked me to. It was really no more complicated than that. I got excited about it. I think probably in the fall of 1965 when I was in my senior year and wondering "What am I going to do?" I thought what a great idea this was. So I went off, and I had friends who did other things, including go into the military. My closest boyhood friend was in the Marines and killed in Quan Tre in Vietnam in Februray 1968. When I came out, I thought I'd served my country. I hadn't been home in two years and, I thought, making a difference in my country, obviously things had gotten pretty rough, between the spring of 1966 and 1968 when I arrived home. But I felt that I'd contributed. But I realized there's possibly more, so I joined the National Guard and ended up being in the reserves over the next five or so years."  Read more.

Chris Dodd says the United States cannot afford to wait for President Bush's successor to end the war in Iraq
"We really can't wait another 18 months," the U.S. senator from Connecticut said while campaigning. "We have to have the convictions to stand up to this president." Dodd said the war has been waged "for all the wrong reasons" and that it is eroding both the nation's security and its moral leadership. For those reasons, he said, it was not difficult for him to vote in the Senate against continued funding for the Iraq war. "That wasn't a courageous vote. It was the right vote to cast," Dodd said.

"I don't know how you justify the status quo." Dodd, a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, said he won't stop suggesting ways to end the war. He was the only 2008 presidential candidate to co-sponsor the Democrats' most aggressive anti-war bill. "We're going to go back at it again. What bothers me is that we're not stepping up and doing what's right," he said. "Even the Republican leadership is now setting benchmarks, putting some parameters on the White House." Read more.

Paul Simon said he has known and respected Dodd for about 25 years and thinks Iowa provides a great venue to get his message to the people
Musical legend Paul Simon joined Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd on his stop in Fort Dodge. The Connecticut senator spoke to the crowd before introducing Simon, joking that he was “the warm-up act.” Dodd said that campaigning in Iowa can shift the focus on the presidential race to the issues and not the fund-raising race.

Dodd spoke about issues, including energy independence and his desire to end the war in Iraq, and he blasted the Bush administration. “I never imagined an administration could do as much damage as this crowd has,” he said. Dodd said that the U.S. has lost moral authority over the last six years. “We need to get back on track with moral authority abroad in the world,” he said, adding that withdrawing from Iraq will help the country regain lost prestige and make the country more secure. “I don’t mean just walking away. I want to see the United States use diplomacy,” he said. Read more.

Sierra Leone RPCV Eric R. Green writes: Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?

Sierra Leone RPCV Eric R. Green writes: Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?
Every semester I’ve shown “End of Suburbia” to my classes to mixed reviews to the message. I’ve warned them that it will be too expensive for most Americans to own big trucks or SUVs, especially at the current way they are made to consume gas. This means our lives are going to change dramatically. Predicting social change can be difficult, especially for long-term future.

The worst-case scenario is the total decline in our economy with a depression, social disorder and wars between states and communities for the remaining sources, much like the CBS TV action series “Jericho” in which residents of a small Kansas town are cut off from the rest of the world after major terrorist attacks.

The best-case scenario is that we have minor inconveniences and we find ways to use energy more efficiently and wisely. Alternative energy sources will need to be developed to their full potential, out of necessity, like wind and solar. Whatever happens there is one truth that many Americans will have to face. We must change our lifestyles. We cannot continue to use natural resources the same way we have in the past and present.

Is there a political solution? With the national election coming up in 2008, some of the presidential candidates in both parties are talking about energy policy and this crisis, but few are telling us that we have to give up our lifestyles and big SUVs.

Even if it’s the truth, who is going to vote for a candidate who tells us we have to live with less in the future? What we will need is a “World War II kind of effort” to deal with this issue just like the “greatest generation” that had to deal with in personal sacrifice and rationing of goods and services. Our current greedy culture stresses individuality above all so the psychological aspects of this type of change will be one of our biggest challenges.  Read more.

Michael O'Hanlon claims "soft partition" already occurring in Iraq

Michael O'Hanlon claims "soft partition" already occurring in Iraq
Although senior Iraqi officials have strongly opposed a partition and the Bush administration has no interest in it, O'Hanlon claims that it's already occurring. "It is what's happening on the ground. Iraq is being torn apart; Iraq is being divided along sectarian lines whether most Iraqis want it or not. Al-Qaida strategy in that regard has been working," he said. "Iraq is being ethnically segregated. Ethnic cleansing is on its way, it's happening, and at least a couple million people have been displaced. It's becoming Bosnia in some ways.

"We would rather manage the process than have the death squads and the militias do the separation for us," O'Hanlon said. "The United States cannot impose partition for Iraq. Only Iraqis can decide this," Joseph said. "Iraqis have already agreed to an extent. The constitution already contains the fundamental vision for a soft partition." The plan would call for American troops to stay in Iraq for 12 to 18 months in order to help protect Iraqis relocating to their own sect's region. Although such a move would be voluntary, Joseph said the pressure of being a minority in a hostile neighborhood would eventually sway those who decide not to move.

Regional boundaries would have to be drawn, with outside help, to mediate any arguments over territory. Those who would have to be uprooted, estimated at 5 million by O'Hanlon and Joseph, would then have to be given assistance in building a new life. That would be done through a house-swapping scheme and a job-creation program, which should create 3 million jobs paying roughly $1,000 a year.

Michael O'Hanlon, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Congo Kinshasa. Read more.

Ron Tschetter completes visit to Cameroon and Kenya

Ron Tschetter in Cameroon for 45th Anniversary
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter unveiled a bust of former President John F. Kennedy at a U.S. Embassy ceremony on June 21 held to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of the Peace Corps in Cameroon. The outdoor ceremony, hosted by U.S. Ambassador Niels Marquardt, was attended by over 100 people ranging from currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers to high ranking Cameroonian government officials, many of whom were taught by Peace Corps Volunteers.

In his remarks, Tschetter quoted former President Kennedy's famous speech, "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Tschetter continued, "As I have traveled around Cameroon, I have seen countless examples of our Volunteers and the people of Cameroon working together, and that’s what the Peace Corps is all about. Whether it is in education, agro-forestry, small enterprise development, or community health, our work can not be effective without a 'working together' relationship. And these bonds of trust, understanding and caring will absolutely contribute to the freedom of man President Kennedy talked about at his inauguration 46 years ago."

U.S. Ambassador Marquardt, who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Rwanda in the late 1970's, said in his opening remarks, "With Director Tschetter's visit and today's ceremony, we also commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Peace Corps' uninterrupted presence in Cameroon. This record of continuous, unbroken presence since the very first Volunteers arrived in Cameroon, in September 1962, is matched in only two other countries on earth." He further stated that the Peace Corps, "has done more than any other American initiative to promote peace, mutual understanding, mutual respect, and social development around the world, and perhaps most especially in Africa." Read more.

Caption: Cameroon Peace Corps Director James Ham joins Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter at the bust of President John Kennedy in Yaounde. The Friends of Cameroon contributed to the creation of the bust, which was unveiled in June 2007. Photo: Friends of Cameroon

Tschetter visits volunteers in Kenya
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter concluded his five day visit to Kenya on June 26 where he met with Peace Corps Volunteers, staff, media, and government officials. In a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Rannenberger and Kenya's Minister of Education George Saitoti, Tschetter said, "The Peace Corps program in Kenya remains strong. I am impressed with the many wonderful achievements of the Volunteers here and look forward to continuing to develop our partnership with the people of Kenya long into the future."

Ambassador Rannenberger also commented, "The relationship between the United States and Kenya is stronger than ever and the Peace Corps is an important and positive component of that partnership."

A highlight of Tschetter's trip was a visit on June 25 to a school for children who are Deaf in central Kenya where Peace Corps Volunteer Erin Hayba, of Lovettsville, Va., and a recent graduate of Penn State University, serves. Erin is among 29 Volunteers currently serving in Deaf education in Kenya, Peace Corps only Deaf education program country.

This unique program began in 1992 as a way to train educators on better teaching methods, and to broaden the production of learning materials and facilities for Deaf and hard of hearing students. The program now includes computer training and health and HIV/AIDS education programs, as part of the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief. Read more.

Caption: Ron Tschetter observing students in the new computer lab built by the Peace Corps at the Kerugoya School for the Deaf. Peace Corps Volunteers Erin Hayba and Frank Lester participate in the presentation.

Read more about Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter.

Read more about Peace Corps Cameroon.

Read more about Peace Corps Kenya.