We are pleased to invite you to attend a conference entitled “The United States and the Middle East: What Comes Next After Iraq”. The conference will be held at the Cabot Intercultural Center at Tufts University, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford, MA on Thursday, March 27 (starting at 3:00 pm) and all day on Friday, March 28, 2008. The purpose of this conference is to identify issues that will be of concern to Americans in 2008, specifically how the U.S.-Iraqi relationship will change and what the impact of domestic and foreign policy situations in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Egypt will be on the relationship between the United States and the Middle East. We are very pleased that both the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton, Vice Chair of the 9/11Commission, Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and General Anthony M. Zinni, former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. special envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, will participate in the conference.

The conference is an important component of our efforts to advance students’ understanding of political, historical, social, demographic, and economic issues of the Middle East through exposure to the views of distinguished world leaders, academics, and policy makers. We wish to present our students with a broad range of cultural perspectives and political opinions, and we are sure that such a forum will guarantee a panoply of diverse and stimulating viewpoints.

To register or for more information about this upcoming conference and past conferences, please visit our Web site at http://farescenter.tufts.edu or contact Tufts University Conference Bureau by fax at 617-627-3856, telephone at 617-627-3568, or email at conferences@tufts.edu. Please note that registration for the conference is free!

We sincerely hope you can join us for what promises to be two very dynamic days of discussion.

The conference “The United States and the Middle East: What Comes Next After Iraq” will be sponsored by the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts, with the co-sponsorship of the Office of the Provost, the International Relations Program, and the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University; the Wedge Foundation (Fares Family); and The Fletcher School along with the International Security Studies Program at The Fletcher School.

Cabot Intercultural Center, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155
Phone: 617-627-6560 Fax: 617-627-3461 Website: http://farescenter.tufts.edu