Bristol

BRISTOL -- The five students came prepared. One was from Egypt. One had studied in Jordan. One was president of the local Hillel chapter.

They all had questions for Sen. Jack Reed, who was invited to Roger Williams University yesterday afternoon for a panel discussion on Iraq. It was an opportunity to get answers from an expert, but also to have an experience they'll probably remember for the rest of their lives -- sharing the stage with a U.S. senator before an audience of nearly 200.

"It was amazing," said senior Nora Leblanc, 23, a native of Belize who is majoring in political science and studied abroad in Amman, Jordan, in spring.

Reed had expressed an interest in meeting with students, and, given the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, school officials suggested the panel talk on Iraq, said Susan Rivers, vice president of public affairs. The university has also been seeking to expand its international ties, with campuses abroad and more foreign students.

Reed, a Democrat and frequent critic of the Bush administration, gave some introductory remarks while seated beside the student panelists.

Regardless of whether the United States should have gone to war in Iraq, and how it conducted that war, "We are there," Reed said. "If we are going to stabilize the country, we have to follow through not just with a military presence but with the kind of developmental assistance and support that is essential to provide the Iraqis the capability to function as a democracy or at least as a stable, secure sovereign nation."

Reed said one of his complaints, which he has voiced to the administration, is that employees of the State Department, whose role is crucial in nation-building, may not be mandated to go to Iraq. Something other than voluntary duty is needed, Reed said.

He also talked about the greater Middle East, including the tensions fueled by the lack of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The solution to U.S. troubles in the region, including the growing threat of Iran, rests with diplomacy, he said.

"The Middle East is an extraordinarily important part of the world. . . . It's a place that is a crossroads literally and figuratively of so many forces, of economic forces, political forces, cultural forces . . . and we have to be engaged there," he said. "One of the disappointing aspects of the last several years is the lack of any real engagement by the administration, particularly when it comes to issues between the state of Israel and the Palestinian authority."

Under previous presidents, there was engagement even if progress was only intermittent, he said.

"What has happened in the last several years has been disengagement. It's left us not well positioned to renew the diplomacy that is so necessary now," he said.

Sophomore Matt Gullo was one of a few students who were able to ask questions of Reed.

"I'm very interested in Middle East affairs," said Gullo, of Rutherford, N.J., who is learning Arabic. Despite being a little nervous, he said that getting to sit next to Reed and ask him about U.S. relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan was "delightful."

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