The Quadrangle

Issue date: 4/13/05 Section: News

Iraqi students after their political pilgrimage to the Model UN

While Manhattan College students participating in the annual National Model United Nations Conference had to worry about the price of a cab ride to midtown and missing a week of classes in order to attend the weeklong event in Manhattan, which took place from March 22-26, eight Iraqi students were risking their lives to attend.

Although model United Nations have been held since the founding of the international organization, no Iraqis have participated until now. The trip to Manhattan for the eight students, many of whom are married and have children, required a high-speed car trip through the infamously perilous Sunni Triangle, where the risk of being captured and killed by militias and rebel insurgents is very real and happens often.

Leaning against a desk in a midtown Hilton hotel room, Rafiq Alkaaby, 30, wears a flowing black robe and chain-smokes Marlboro cigarettes. In Arabic, translated into English by Ursinus College student Nathan Leroy Pheniere, he spoke of the harried passage out of Iraq. Alkaaby said, "We had to travel by car to Jordan, where we needed to secure our visas, passports, and official letters allowing us to enter the United States. It was all very hectic. When we got to the border of Jordan at 8 in the evening, we were told that we could not cross for twelve hours, so we stayed in our car until 8 in the morning. It was very cold, but we had to sleep in the car, so from the very beginning there were upsets." Adding to the pressure, they heard gunshots in the distance throughout the night, they were unable to secure their visas until shortly before their flight, and none of the students had flown before, so the twelve hour flight left them sick with headaches and jetlag.

The risks and tribulations they faced are dismissed by the group with an abundance of optimism. Sattar Jewad, 24, explained the risks they took to attend the NMUN Conference by quoting two Arabic poems: "He who demands the heavens must not expect much sleep" and "He who is not afraid to climb the mountain will never have to make his home in the lowly valley." Rafiq Alkaaby said, "Praise to God we are here safe, and we are very happy to be here."

The Model United Nations are events in which participating schools assume the role of a nation, typically other than their own, and must act as delegates of that nation within the various UN organs and specialized agencies being simulated at the event. It is seen as a practice in diplomacy, as well as a forum to learn about the needs and priorities of other nations and to more thoroughly understand the goals and workings of the United Nations. This year at New York City's National Model United Nations Conference, the Iraqi "delegates" from El Halla University in Babil jointly represented Iraq with the Pennsylvania school Ursinus College, who sponsored their trip. Over three dozen other schools from throughout the United States and numerous other countries participated as well, including Manhattan College, who represented Greece. Joseph Melrose, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone and currently an Ambassador-in-Residence and Professor in the international relations department at Ursinus College, was largely responsible for obtaining permission for the eight Iraqi students to enter the United States.

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