March 24, 2008 | By Michael Marcous

An international panel of experts discussed the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq and its implications for the broader Middle East, the United States and U.S. allies during a public forum Thursday at UCF’s Student Union.

The forum included a six-person panel moderated by Mort Rosenblum, an award-winning, veteran journalist and a former editor of The International Herald Tribune.

Speaking to an audience of more than 500, UCF President John Hitt opened the program by noting that “today’s forum will not resolve the differences that the war has produced. It does, however, aim to provide answers to questions many people have about the regional impact of the Iraq crisis.”

Retired U.S. Army Col. Paul Hughes, currently the director of Iraq programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace, called the recent U.S. troop surge a “military success,” but he said the military will be mired in Iraq for many years unless diplomats and economists begin playing more prominent roles there.

Hughes is a former chief of the Special Initiatives Office for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance and a former director of the Strategic Policy Office for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Hughes, who was featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary “No End in Sight,” said the goal now should be to restore U.S. credibility, limit or redirect Iranian influence and help create a free and independent Iraq.

Dennis Jett, dean of the International Center at the University of Florida and a former U.S. ambassador to Mozambique and Peru, expressed his dismay at the use of water-boarding techniques by U.S. intelligence officials, which he labeled a form of torture. “The war has not made us safer,” Jett said.

He also criticized the Bush administration’s decision to disband the Iraqi army in the early stages of the occupation. “If you don’t get the people with guns off the streets, they are going to make their living the only way they know how,” he said.

Shwan Ziad, director of the nonprofit Washington Kurdish Institute, spoke positively about the U.S. presence in Iraq from a Kurdish perspective, drawing a sharp contrast to the persecution that group faced under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.

“Every advocate of withdrawal must take into consideration the political and military upheaval that would take place,” Ziad said.

Ulric Haynes, a former U.S. ambassador to Algeria who played a key role in securing the release of the U.S. hostages from Iran in 1981, characterized the U.S. government as lacking an understanding of Iran’s role in Middle Eastern affairs. He indicated that Iran seeks to become a key player in the region and keep the United States at a distance. It is in Iran’s interest for the U.S. government to continue a policy in Iraq and the Middle East that is destined to fail, he added.

Abraham Diskin, a professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem who has a visiting appointment at the George Washington University, provided an Israeli perspective. Although he argued that war is the worst thing in the world, he suggested that historians may come to see the conflict in Iraq in a different light in years to come. Diskin said that when threatened, a nation cannot ignore the danger. 

The closing speaker was UCF’s Stephen Sloan, a globally renowned terrorism studies specialist and author of the recently published book, “Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context.” Focusing on al-Qaeda and the U.S. war on terror, Sloan described the challenges of waging war on terrorism and violent, fundamentalist ideologies and how these efforts have been complicated by Iraq.

“There is no such thing as a decisive victory in regards to terrorism,” Sloan said.

Sloan also expressed his displeasure with the U.S. presidential candidates, noting insufficient discussion about fighting terrorism while maintaining civil liberties. He encouraged the audience to engage in those discussions and urge elected officials to do the same.

This forum was sponsored by the UCF Office of Global Perspectives, UCF Middle Eastern Studies Program, UCF Diplomacy Program, UCF Terrorism Studies Program, UCF Political Science Department and UCF International Services Center, as well as the Israel on Campus Coalition, Central Florida Hillel and the Global Connections Foundation.