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DE RUEHAS #1336/01 3631148
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P 281148Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6784
INFO RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2636
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7495
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 6603
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0808
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 9143
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2981
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 2078
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 3616
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0655
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001336 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR ECA AND NEA/MAG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2018 
TAGS: EDU PGOV PREL IQ AG
SUBJECT: TOUGH CROWD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GHARDAIA 
 
Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Welcomed by a lively group of 250 students, 
the Ambassador spoke December 18 at the University of 
Ghardaia on the importance of youth participation in 
elections.  His remarks were met with critical comments from 
faculty and students alike regarding U.S. policy on the 
Arab-Israeli conflict and the war in Iraq.  Despite the 
skeptical posture of the audience, it appeared that the 
students understood the effect youth participation had in the 
recent U.S. elections and many seemed impressed by the 
Ambassador's openness in discussing the way the American 
people achieved change through peaceful, democratic means. 
The lecture followed by a day the Iraqi shoe-throwing 
incident that has transformed the journalist into a folk 
hero.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) The Ambassador's appearance at the University of 
Ghardaia (in south-central Algeria) was the major outreach 
activity of his December 16-18 visit to the region (other 
meetings will be reported septel).  His visit was the first 
by a U.S. Ambassador since Professor Mohamed Halilat took 
over as university rector in early 2008.  The university was 
founded in 2003 to consolidate several tertiary academic 
institutes in Ghardaia.  With a current student population of 
3200 (65 percent of whom are female), the university is still 
working to establish various faculties to offer the full 
range of degree programs.  For example, the university does 
not yet have a foreign language department, thus the 
students' study of English is limited.  During the 
Ambassador's introductory call on the rector, several members 
of the university's senior staff highlighted the need for 
better English training and for exchanges with foreign 
universities. 
 
¶3. (U) Given that the Ambassador's visit came the day before 
the beginning of the midyear holiday, the turnout of more 
than 250 students was a genuine display of interest at an 
institution that rarely receives high-level visitors.  The 
Ambassador spoke for 20 minutes in Arabic about the role of 
youth participation in the U.S. presidential election.  He 
discussed the impact of new technologies and the grassroots 
campaigns that in many ways put the youth of America more 
directly in touch with the candidates than ever before. 
 
¶4. (C) When the Ambassador asked for questions from students 
in the audience, a history professor was quick to take the 
microphone first and comment that "a history of rule by white 
men (in the United States) has led to nothing but black 
results."  He went on to say that the United States has 
brought suffering to Iraqi and Palestinian children and that 
the people of Iraq were better off under Saddam Hussein 
because they "still had their dignity."  The Ambassador 
responded that he had served in the Middle East for more than 
30 years, including in Iraq, and he pointed out the fact that 
no one had brought greater suffering to the Iraqi people than 
Saddam Hussein.  The professor responded by saying that he 
could not accept the Ambassador's response and left the 
auditorium, followed by a number of his students who we 
believe were coached before the event. 
 
¶5. (C) A young woman asked what the Ambassador thought about 
the incident the day before in Baghdad when a journalist 
threw his shoes at President Bush and whether it was a sign 
of freedom of opinion in the Arab world.  He responded that 
he knew the gesture was an insult in Arab culture and it was 
certainly perceived as one by Americans.  He said insults and 
protests, like the professor's walkout, may make us feel a 
little better for a little while, but after that we have to 
ask ourselves if we have managed to actually change anything 
with such gestures.  Returning to his earlier remarks, the 
Ambassador stated that the students in the audience were the 
future leaders of their country.  If they want to affect real 
change, what they should do is stay engaged, and participate 
in the political process, and vote, rather than simply 
boycotting and staging protests.  This is what had just 
happened in the United States, and the youth of America had 
been a key factor in what had clearly been a vote for change. 
 
 
 
ALGIERS 00001336  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (U) Another student questioned why nuclear weapons must be 
restricted to an elite group of countries.  The Ambassador 
responded that nuclear proliferation is a difficult issue, 
but also a potentially dangerous and destabilizing one that 
must be governed through international agreements.  The 
Ambassador continued by noting that President-elect Obama has 
stated that it is not from the power of our weapons that the 
United States derives its strength, but from the power of its 
ideas, the fundamental values of freedom and democracy. 
 
¶7. (C) The last question was posed by a student who wondered 
what the U.S. position was on the recent amendment to the 
Algerian constitution which eliminated term limits.  In 
responding, the Ambassador stated that it is for each country 
to decide the contents of their constitution and he noted 
that the United States had done it both ways.  George 
Washington had resisted appeals to run for a third term.  But 
in the conditions of the Great Depression and the Second 
World War, Franklin Roosevelt had been elected to four terms. 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: Ironically, the professorQ,s walkout helped 
underline the AmbassadorQ,s basic message about the 
importance and value of political participation.   While the 
University of Ghardaia students were not a group easily 
convinced of the value of U.S. policies, the impressive 
turnout for the talk and the active engagement of the 
students in posing questions was remarkable in that it showed 
the students were both interested in the topics and felt free 
to express their views openly.  The visit also showed an 
appetite for programming and English-language education at 
universities further afield in Algeria, which can often yield 
exponential returns given the rarity of foreign visitors. 
PEARCE