The Foreign Service Journal, January 2009

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 American people. For the Middle East, I would rec- ommend an international conference chaired by Her Majesty’s Government and, assuming they’d want to be in- volved, co-chaired by the Turks, with all affected nations attending. The United Nations or the U.S. could be the host, and the purpose would be to address and resolve the many nagging difficul- ties created by Britain in the first place. (Should France be a co-chair or in- vited? I’d leave that to Britain and the other conferees.) As for India, Pakistan and Afghani- stan, I see a similar conference chaired by the United Kingdom, with the active participation of the three states. Host- ing could be similar. In both cases, if not the host, the U.S. should be an ob- server. I write on Veterans Day 2008, 90 years since Britain reorganized the Middle East; about 115 years since the Durand Line was drawn; and 61 since the independence of India and Pak- istan. Why the American people should be trapped by the results of British imperialism is a question that requires answers. As I recall, the U.S. itself opted out of that arrangement 232 years ago. Now that change is in the air, surely it’s time Washington returned the ball to ‘the lads’ for them to ‘give it a go.’ Louis V. Riggio FSO, retired Hollywood, Fla. L E T T E R S CORRECTION Due to an editing error, the first sentence of John Dickson’s vignette in the article “From the Peace Corps to the Diplomatic Corps, Part II” (November) incorrectly identified his Peace Corps service. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gabon from 1976 to 1979, not in Bulgaria from 2001 to 2003. We regret the error.