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“CULTURAL BRIDGES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S10258-S10259 on July 30, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CULTURAL BRIDGES
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, next week 54 high school students from the Islamic and Arab world will arrive in the United States for a year of study under a new exchange program to help bridge the cultural divide between America and the Islamic and Arab nations of the world. Secretary Powell will welcome the students at a ceremony at the State Department on Wednesday, August 5.
An initial $10 million for the Cultural Bridges Program was approved last year by Congress for the coming academic year. I commend the State Department for moving so quickly to organize the program and bring the first group of high school students to the United States. By the end of the summer as the new academic year begins, 135 high school students will be here for a year of study in high schools in 23 States under the program.
The students are coming from many nations throughout the Islamic world--Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen, and from the West Bank and the Gaza strip as well. Each student will live with an American host family, attend a local high school, learn first hand about our society and values, and enable our students to learn about them.
Officials in the State Department are already preparing their recruitment and outreach efforts for the 2004-2005 academic year, when they hope to double the size of the program. If all goes well, that number will double again in the following year.
The terrorist attacks on September 11 and the war in Iraq have brought into sharp focus the many negative images and perceptions of our Nation abroad. Many Muslims believe our country is at war with Islam, not terrorism. With nearly 1.5 billion people living in the Islamic world today, we ignore these pervasive anti-American sentiments at our peril.
If the United States is to win a genuine victory in the war against terrorism, we must respond on many levels. We must ensure that our defenses are strong, our intelligence is accurate, and our borders are secure. But we must also do all we can to dispel the disturbing trend of anti-American rhetoric and beliefs. An effective way to do so is to engage Islamic peoples in the realm of values and ideas.
In a May 3, 2002 speech to the World Affairs Council in California, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz spoke of the need to strengthen voices of moderation in the Islamic world and to bridge the
``dangerous gap'' between that world and the West. There is ``no time for delay,'' he said.
As we have seen in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East, some individuals and factions and even governments have supported terrorist organizations, while others have condemned terrorism and pledged to help the United States in combating it. By reaching out in friendship to those who oppose terrorism we can reduce the breeding grounds for terrorism and begin to eliminate the sentiments that terrorist recruiters exploit.
One of the most effective ways to engage the Islamic world is through educational exchange programs, which promote people-to-people contacts between Americans and other peoples.
Exchange programs help to build strong personal relationships and combat the misperceptions about the United States that threaten our security. Unfortunately, exchanges between the Islamic world and the United States are very limited today. Of the more than 500,000 foreign students in the United States, less than 5 percent are from the Arab Middle East.
There are many benefits in reaching out to students while they are young and open-minded. Today's high school students are tomorrow's leaders. Working with them now can improve their attitudes about our country and build future relationships based on trust and understanding. As Secretary of State Colin Powell said in his August 2001 statement on International Education Week: ``I can think of no more valuable asset to our country than the friendship of future world leaders who have been educated here.''
What makes the Cultural Bridges Program unique is that it enables high school students from other lands to obtain firsthand knowledge of our country, our way of life, and our people. Our Government sponsors many exchange programs for professionals, educators, journalists and academics, but, until now, there has been no Federal program to bring high school students from the Islamic world to the United States.
After September 11, many Muslim countries condemned the terrorist attacks and pledged to help the United States fight terrorism. But in the wake of the war in Iraq, anti-American sentiment is on the rise again.
A June 2003 poll by the Pew Charitable Trust found strong public support for Osama bin Laden's views in Arab countries whose governments are friendly to the United States. According to the poll, 55 percent of those in Jordan, 58 percent of those in Indonesia, 45 percent of those in Pakistan, and 49 percent of those in Morocco said they had confidence in Osama bin Laden to ``do the right thing regarding world affairs,'' and so did 71 percent of those in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Our military action in Iraq has led to widespread fears throughout the region that we will launch other aggressive action. Majorities of those interviewed in Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan worried that their country might be attacked by the United States. Even in Kuwait--where the public has a generally favorable view of the United States--53 percent expressed concern that the United States could someday pose a threat.
Especially disturbing is the finding of little support in the Islamic world for the war against terrorism--23 percent in Indonesia, 16 percent in Pakistan, 22 percent in Turkey, and 2 percent in Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. In Morocco, only one in 10 back the effort, while in Lebanon, 30 percent support the war. Only in Kuwait and Nigeria do majorities of the population now support the war against terrorism.
Clearly, we need to redouble our efforts to win the hearts and minds of peoples in the Arab and Muslim world, and change their negative perceptions about our country and values.
There are no better ambassadors for America than Americans themselves, and this new high school exchange program is an important way to begin reaching out more effectively to the next generation of leaders in that world.
Jordan's King Abdullah is an excellent example of what can be achieved. He is a friend of the United States, a partner in the war against terrorism, and a voice of tolerance and moderation in the Muslim world.
In 1977, as a young Jordanian, he enrolled in a high school in Massachusetts and later came to Washington to study at a university. He is living proof of the value of building bridges of understanding and tolerance with other cultures.
We need to create as many opportunities as possible for young people throughout the Islamic world to spend time in the United States and with our citizens, and we should begin to do so now. I have been delighted to work with Senators Lugar, Leahy, Chafee, Dodd, Hagel, Smith, Cochran, Brownback, Jeffords, Durbin, and Feingold on the Cultural Bridges Program, and I am hopeful that it marks a new beginning in our efforts to build forward lasting relationships with the future leaders in the Muslim world.
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