Why the US won't employ Arabists

There's an important article in Newsweek about the US government refusing to employ Danny Kopp who recently moved back to the US last year after spending his life in Jerusalem where his parents pastor the Baptist church. He speaks perfectly fluent Arabic and understands the region better than anyone I know but apparently he is considered to be "too close". When my wife Jenny was considering applying for a job with the State Department a few years ago she was told that although she would pass all the examinations there was no way she would be posted to the Middle East precisely because of her experience there - they just wanted people who can "represent American culture and policy" not genuinely engage with the countries where they are posted. The State Department told Newsweek that its arabic-speaking staff had only increased by 15% since 2001 - so in 5 years in which the US has spent over a trillion dollars in Homeland Security and in obliterating Iraq it has made no effort to hire people who actually understand the issues. Its no surprise that US policy in the Middle East (not to mention elsewhere) is such a mess if they filter out the very people who could craft a sane and sensitive engagement. The British Foreign Office has its own problems, but it at least promotes Arabists rather than blocking them.

Newsweek also has an interview with Rev. Andrew White, the vicar of the Anglican church in Iraq and a close friend whose political views are essentially the opposite of mine but who's love for all the people of Iraq is very genuine.