Professor and cadets weigh in on Middle East

With continuous and often conflicting news accounts coming out of the region, many people find it difficult to decipher what is occurring in the Middle East.

To shed light on an issue that leaves people in the dark, there will be a panel discussion called Iraq and Syria After ISIS on Wednesday, May 3 with Henri Barkey, a professor of international relations, and Frank Gunter, professor of economics. The discussion will be moderated by Todd Watkins, the director of the Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise.

Watkins said the event was proposed by Gunter after revising his book on the political economy of Iraq. Gunter wants to share his knowledge of the country, especially with it being difficult to keep up with current events in the area. He teaches a course called the Political-Economy of Iraq.

Watkins believes the panel can educate others on refugees and might help reduce fear.

“When I was younger the Vietnamese were more accepted because they weren’t a threat to our jobs or part of the evilness like Russia,” Watkins said. “Refugees are painted as part of the problem rather than people who are trying to escape what we’re fighting because they’re from the same area.”

With the Middle East’s political climate constantly changing, Lehigh students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC, could potentially find themselves there.

“It’s a little scary to think about,” Trina Whiteside, ’18, said. “When I graduate, I could be fighting an insurgency war. That’s more difficult because you don’t know who or where they are.”

Ryan Hunt, ’18, another student in ROTC, said there’s a decent chance of getting sent to that region, though the Army gives them everything they need to be successful.

Whiteside said deployments typically don’t occur until a year or two after graduation because many officers require additional training .

In addition to learning leadership skills in their ROTC classes, students are expected to bring in current events and be prepared to discuss them. Their instructor believes it is important to know what is occurring in the rest of the world.

Hunt said it’s always interesting to hear people’s raw opinions or gut reactions to topics being discussed. He thinks it is interesting to hear different officers’ perspectives because they have been in the military for years.

“People who are experts in the region don’t even know for sure what’s going on right now,” Whiteside said. “There’s so much going on it’s hard to keep track of everything.”

Hunt believes the United States should not be directly involved in the business of other countries. Instead, he said the United States should help allies because that helps in the long run.

“I’m interested to see where the aggressive approach against North Korea goes,” Hunt said.

Watkins said the panel will hopefully clarify the interests of various political parties. He also said it should be an interesting conversation because one professor identifies as a conservative and the other a liberal.

“Liberal and conservative manifests itself over here as spending and what to do with refugees,” Watkins said.

Watkins said students could help refugees locally by volunteering directly with the organizations, and broader by encouraging politicians to be more inviting.