USD Magazine, Summer 2004

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says. "Ir was very gratifying, very fulfi!Ji. & I'm glad to have beeq used as an instnim~ ~n:l'.I!!~ to bring sunshine to Iraqi students." And the people of Iraq appreciate all his efforrs. "In certain parts of the country, I'm known as 'Uncle Joe,"' he laughs. "Because my name had been associated with the Fulbrighrs, and also because I get thousands of e-mails, and I answer each and every one of them." Although Ghougassian plans to be bac his Escondido, Calif , home b'y August, is looking forward to a much-desel"'(ed va a– rion, he'll no doubt resume his "reticemenc," which includes working as a jouriia isG! writ– ing articles on diplomatic and inrernat·o al affairs for newspapers and television. H~ ll also likely continue to lecture abour foreign affairs and diplomacy. And if the phone rings again with an urgent request for him to drop everything and come save the world, will h e pack his bags? Ir seems likely. "I feel I have done a few good things for my fellow Iraqi university colleagues," he says modestly. "I hope some of these projects will be judged by my Iraqi friends as Joe's lit– tle legacy in Iraq. " + Hard at work, as usual , "Uncle Joe" (bclo, ) in his office at Saddam Hussein 's former Presidential Palace.

Ghougassian got the word out nationwide via newspaper advertisements that the schol– arships would be available and what the requirements would be. Even though he'd been told by Washington that he'd be lucky to have 150 applicants show up, he nonethe– less told them that he wanted enough pack– ets for 500. When the day came for the exams, there were more people than exams. In the end, the top 25 candidates were sub– mitted to the State Department, and of those, all but one was approved for the scholarship.

Ghougassian addresses an audience al the Iraqi National Museum (above); he's spent a lifetime excelling at multi-tasking.

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"That's not the way I work," he says emphatically of the program that so far has brought 23 students and two scholars to the United Stares to study in master's programs or conduct research. "The Iraqis have been deprived of fairness . I needed to make this scholarship available to every single Iraqi, all over rhe country, regardless of his or her ori– gin, ethnicity or religion. " .:~~~

Ghougassian accompanied the scholars to Washington , D .C., where they were received at the State Department by Secretary of State Colin Powell, and subsequently, by President George W Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. The latter was a meeting that had been originally scheduled to last 20 minutes, but Bush ended up moving the group to the Oval Office so he could be photographed with each of the Fulbright recipients. "He said,. 'I believe that one day, one of f ou will be President.Sf Iraq,'" Ghougassian

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