Reality Blurred

This week I have been participating in the National University Model Arab League, the highest simulation of its kind. We pretend to represent Arab nations in a simulated Arab League summit. This week, however, the line between simulation and model became blurred. This began with the opening plenary ceremony when Arab League Ambassador to the U.S.Hussein Hassouna told the body that when our resolutions are read by the actual Arab League members (as a measure of U.S. perception of the Arab world), they have actually lifted phrases from our resolutions to use in their own when the perfect compromise had proven erstwhile elusive. The reality kicked into high gear with the arrival of cameramen and reporters from Arab news network Al-Jazeera, who decided after coming on the second day to upgrade their 10-minute news spot to a 60-minute feature.

Today, Al-Jazeera and an entourage of 8 observers showed up to my committee - the controversial Palestinian Affairs Council - and began filming. They had us on tape for a long, tense hour, and were locked in our increasingly claustrophobic chamber for voting procedures as delegates debated tersely over the role of the Arab states in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. After the vote - Libya's resolution failed - the camera left, and we all breathed. Secretary General Dan Quintal relieved me, and a relief it was. However, no sooner had I stepped out of the room for a breather than the reporters requested an interview. After moving to an appropriate location, I spent 10 minutes looking into the intimidating eye of a camera and speaking into an outstretched microphone. At the end of the interview, I stepped away and nearly collapsed on one of the techies.

The model is held (courtesy of ample oil wealth) at Washington's top hotel, the Swisshotel Watergate, in the politically fabled Watergate complex. Politicians still live in the complex, and when SecGen Dan saw men in black suits with earpieces, it took only a few steps walking behind them to put two and two together. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that the object of the secret servicemen's protection was Condoleeza Rice, who poked her head into the Environmental Affairs Committee for a few seconds to see the action. Earlier in the day, delegates had watched Bush and Cheney drive by in a guarded motorcade. Delegates waved -- and Cheney waved back!

On a more serious note, the crisis situation this year was not the result of creative thinking by the Secretariat. Rather, news broke at lunch that Israel had invaded the Al-Aqsa mosque complex with tear gas, stun grenades and plastic bullets. Many committees addressed it, including mine, where tempers flared until the end of the day, leaving us all drained.