Dear Senators Warner and Webb:
This letter is in support of continuing to fund the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), the entire budget of which the House of Representatives voted to eliminate in the past month. I understand that the Senate vote will be this next week, and your stance will be crucial.
In 2007-08 I was awarded a USIP Jennings Randolph Senior Peace Fellowship for research on population displacement in and around Iraq in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. This fellowship allowed me to take a year off from my teaching duties at the University of Mary Washington (where a 4/4 teaching load tends to dominate one’s schedule) and research a subject of serious policy interest to the United States Government. In the course of that year, I was able to travel to Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq with USIP funding and conduct field research that informed the Iraq policy debate in Washington not only that year, but the years since. The modest $65,000 or so that this year of field research cost the USIP was clearly worth it, as the research impacted policy discussions on Iraq greatly. Evidence of the policy effect of my fellowship included a 2009 Senate Foreign Affairs committee testimony, ongoing contributions to the USIP affiliated Iraq Crisis Group, several policy publications, and a number of U.S. army panel presentations.
Beyond my own experience, I have seen several examples of how USIP contributes significantly to U.S. government policy initiatives, international peace and reconciliation, and conflict resolution in the field. In the case of Iraq, with which I am most familiar, USIP has maintained a field operation which contributed greatly to tribal and sectarian conflict resolution in three locations in Iraq. Such initiatives saved U.S. soldiers’ lives and contributed greatly to the restoration of stability by 2008 which allowed the drawdown of U.S. troops to begin. In Iraq, USIP has also managed dozens of local NGO grant programs which have been quite effective in stimulating efforts by local media, community centers, and universities to restore stability. I am aware of other USIP programs which contributed to property adjudication and conflict resolution in the Balkans, as well as a whole host of programs contributing to U.S. policy in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia. Put simply, USIP is an important player in U.S. foreign policy – and costs less than a single USAF bomber.
Please ensure that USIP remains funded well into the future. It is an important adjunct to other institutions involved in U.S. foreign policy, and letting it die on the vine will only further damage the ability of the U.S. government to effect positive change on the ground in several conflict zones.
Yours sincerely,
Nabil Al-Tikriti
