The Foreign Service Journal, May 2015

10 MAY 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL nothing in particular, this unbe- lievable credo appears: “The challenge of statesman- ship is to define the components of both power and morality and strike a balance between them. This is not a one-time effort. It requires constant recalibration; it is as much an artistic and philo- sophical as a political enterprise. It implies a willingness to manage nuance and to live with ambiguity. The practi- tioners of the art must learn to put the attainable in the service of the ultimate and accept the element of compromise inherent in the endeavor.” It was this discovery that compelled me to submit an article, “Partners in Capital Crime,” to the online journal American Diplomacy in 2012. The article is a documented account of Kissinger’s role in forgiving Yasser Arafat’s 1973 mur- der of the American ambassador and his deputy in Khartoum while condemning the Sudanese leadership for its supposed weakness in the face of terrorism. An earlier, less detailed version of that article appeared in the June 2009 FSJ . Leaving aside that shameless self- promotion, I wish to thank Bob Silver- man again for openly calling attention to Kissinger’s sins, as well as for his vigorous AFSA leadership, and to praise FSJ Editor Shawn Dorman for injecting new life and quality into our house organ. Alan D. Berlind Senior FSO, retired Bordeaux, France Mind the Gap I really enjoyed the articles in your January-February issue on “Teach- ing Diplomacy Across the Divide.” I t reminded me of one case where failure to bridge that divide had devastating conse- quences, both in terms of countless lives lost and the huge economic impact. In the summer of 2002, prior to my posting to Bahrain, I was enrolled in the Foreign Service Institute’s Arabic area studies course. One day Phebe Marr, an American expert on Iraq, addressed our class on, among many other things, the possible consequences of our going to war in that country. She came out strongly against doing so. I recall her words still, nearly 13 years later: we would open up a Pandora’s Box, with unforeseeable consequences, she said. Several years after that class, when things began to unravel in Iraq, I heard one of the key people involved in the decision to invade on TV saying some- thing to the effect that “No one was tell- ing us that this mess might be the result of our actions.” My reaction was this: “In fact, some- one—perhaps one of the best-informed experts—told you precisely that. You chose to disregard the advice.” Thanks again, FSJ , for reminding us how important it can be to “mind the gap,” as the British say. (I love the cover picture of the broken bridge, by the way!) George Wilcox FSO, retired Tucson, Ariz. Remembering Mary Both my husband, Tony Allitto, and I want to thank Bob Silverman for the wonderful column about Mary Ryan (“A Doyenne of the Old School”) in the March Journal . As Foreign Service personnel, we met Mary in the early 1980s in Buenos Aires when she was there as part of an inspection team. We became fast friends. I worked for Mary Ryan when she was Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/ address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037 Moving?