Peace Profesor Embedded With Terrorists [Say Anything]

Like many colleagues at Colgate, Victoria Fontan is spending her time between semesters hard at work. For the visiting assistant professor of peace studies, that means trekking halfway around the world and potentially putting herself in harm’s way.

Fontan set out for Iraq at the end of December to study and to interview members of the country’s insurgent organizations. On the way to Baghdad, she conducted research in Beirut and Jordan before negotiating to be “embedded� in one of Iraq’s resistance groups.

Fontan’s academic focus is on political violence in post-conflict situations, and she has conducted field research on the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Basque nationalist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), and various warring factions in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

During the past 15 months, she has taken several trips to Baghdad and is preparing a book on the polarization between the occupying forces and the people of Iraq. She also is gathering information for her Introduction to Peace Studies course.

Hey, maybe she'll come back with damning stories about how the terrorists use children to shield themselves. Maybe she'll fill us all in on the "insurgents" desire to indoctrinate the world in radical Islam and their willingness to cut the head of anyone who gets in the way. Maybe she'll give is in-depth coverage of Zarqawi and Osama and their struggle against the spread of democracy.

But somehow I doubt it. Something tells me this professor of "peace studies," whatever that is, will probably regale us with stories of our oppressive soldiers and the terrible things they've done to the Iraqi people while managing to leave out the fact that Iraq is moving toward its first free election and now has more running water, operating hospitals and running electricity than it ever did under Saddam Hussein.

Which, to me, would classify this woman a traitor to her country during a time of war. Not that we could ever prosecute her for such a thing. These days "rooting for the enemy" is defined as "political dissent."

(via Wizbang)

[Cross-posted at Say Anything]

posted by Ace at 11:30 AM

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