The Foreign Service Journal, March 2011

O n Jan. 11, AFSA and the Foreign Service Journal teamed up to host a discussion on multilateral diplomacy, the focus of the Journal ’s De- cember issue. Moderated by Molly Williamson, a retiree member of the AFSA Governing Board, the panel consisted of Assistant Secretary of State for International Or- ganizationAffairs Esther Brimmer, Rep- resentative Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., and Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Founda- tion. The panelists debated the U.S. role at the UnitedNations and discussed their visions for reform of that body. The U.S. at the U.N. U.S. leadership on the UnitedNations Security Council remains absolutely vital, Brimmer said. She noted several recent successes in multilateral diplo- macy, including the role of the United Nations peacekeepingmission in South- ern Sudan’s referendum. She also cited new sanctions on Iran and the positive influence of U.S. membership on the Human Rights Council. Though Schaefer conceded that the U.S. seat on theHRChas produced some successes, he believes these have been limited. For example, while the U.S. pre- vented Iran and Belarus from joining the council, Libya did win a seat. Respond- ing to a question from the audience, Schaefer said that peacekeepingmissions can serve a valuable role, even though he doesn’t necessarily agree with the Gov- ernment Accountability Office’s finding that they also save money. Carnahan, too, conceded that inter- national organizations are not perfect. He voiced frustration with the some- times contradictory behavior that stems M A R C H 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 57 American Foreign Service Association • March 2011 AFSA NEWS Top U.S. Officials Visit AFSA for Discussion on Multilateral Diplomacy BY AMY MCKEEVER T hey were all imprisoned for 444 days, with some sentenced to solitary confinement and others facingmock executions and beatings. All the hostages taken during the seizure of Embassy Tehran faced unspeakable horrors. But speak about it they did, at an AFSA-sponsored event at the State Department on Jan. 28. Five former hostages —Am- bassador L. Bruce Laingen, Ambassador JohnW. Limbert, Barry Rosen, Donald J. Cooke and Alan B. Golacinski — joined mod- erator and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent An- drea Mitchell to reflect on the event on the 30th anniversary of their release. They spoke candidly and, at times, lightheartedly, about their imprisonment, subsequent liberation and the shock waves that the crisis sent through the diplomatic community. Tales of Captivity When the Iranian students first stormed the embassy, nobody imagined it would turn into the 444-day saga that ensued. As Amb. Limbert describes, the expectation was that this was a 1970s university-style sit-in, staged simply to send a message. Even the strategists of the takeover thought it would play out that way, Limbert added. “People today can’t imagine what happened to us and how that could have happened,” said Golacinski. “How could it pos- sibly happen that this magnificent embassy goes down like this to what at that time was termed as a bunch of students?” Themen on the panel recounted stories of American bravery, both during the seizure and throughout the confinement. Go- lacinski recalled a U.S. Marine security guard who held 60 stu- Iran Hostages Mark 30 Years Since Release From Captivity BY AMY MCKEEVER Continued on page 60 Continued on page 59 AFSA commemorated the 30th anniversary of the release of the Iran hostages throughout the last week of January, wearing yellow ribbons and also tying them to the trees outside AFSA headquarters. ASGEIR SIGFUSSON