Clash of Misperceptions: US & Middle East Since 9/11

About

A Forum event, co-sponsored by Belfer Center’s Governance Initiative in the Middle East and the Institute of Politics, on  “Clashes of Misperceptions: the US and the Middle East Since 9/11, will be held on Thursday October 20, 2005.  The Forum event will be held at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy Street and will begin at 6:00pm.

The Belfer Center’s Governance Initiative in the Middle East seeks to prepare the next generation of regional scholars and leaders through the academic, training and research resources of the Kennedy School of Government.  The primary mandate is to encourage, support and enhance both the practitioner’s skills and the scholar’s understanding of the emerging political, social and economic issues in the region and how they affect evolving concepts and structures of governance in the 21st century. 

The panel members at the Forum and joining us for dinner will include:

John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International, an organization which has been tracking public opinion since 1984 in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.  Considered the most accurate pollster and a pace setter in the polling business, he has polled, researched and consulted for a wide spectrum of business media, government, and political groups including Microsoft, CISCO Systems, MCI, Reuters America, and the United States Census Bureau since 1984.   A particular focus of his research has been on US policy in the Middle East. He serves this year as Special Advisor to the Governance Initiative.

Professor Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and non-resident senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.  Professor Telhami has been active in both the academic and foreign policy arena.  He is a noted commentator on the Middle East and advisor to governments and international organizations.

Ms. Alina Romanowski serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional and Cultural Exchanges, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, to Under Secretary Karen Hughes at the State Department.  Prior to her appointment, she served in the Bureau of Near East Affairs in charge of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and as the founding Director of the Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.  She has also held senior policy positions at the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency working on Middle East issues.