Citizen diplomats seize Obama's mantel to meet with anyone

Only one day following the election of President-elect Barack Obama, a delegation of US citizens led by former Chief of Mission in Baghdad, Edward Peck, set out from Washington, DC to Beirut, Lebanon, with one question: "What do the people of the Middle East want from the new administration in Washington".

The delegation is sponsored by the Council for the National Interest, a Middle East non-profit based out of Washington, DC. The 15-member delegation consists of former State Department Officers, stockbrokers, and Republicans-turned Obama supports.

Accompanying the trip is an independent reporter and author, Philip Smucker, who is filming the reaction of opposition leaders and Middle Eastern statesmen to this curious and determined group of citizen diplomats.

Members of the delegation have met with Hezbollah and Hamas, including Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, the religious leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Wednesday in Damascus, Syria, CNI and Smucker met with Khaled Meshaal, chairmen of Hamas' "Political Bureau" and a founder of the group, which has been listed in Washington as a "terrorist" organization.

During a 90-minute meeting with the Hamas leader, Smucker asked, "Do you have, say, any points of advice as President-elect Obama starts his efforts in Middle East peace-making?" Khaled Meshaal Chuckled and stated: "Will he respond to them"? After a moment of contemplation Mashaal laid out three points for the President Elect.

"My First Advice is that the president's administration has to have honest counselors who understand the people of the region; Arabs and Islamic people and Palestinian people. The key for cooperation is to respect, not to acquiesce them. The men in this region - if you want to own them, you have to respect them, pressurizing him will lead him to explode. It is right for the US to care about its own interests and we in the region are not against the American interest. But the USA has to respect the interests of the region. Can President Obama create a new, balanced policy that will care at parallel levels for the new American interests and the regional interests"?

"This concerned group of American Citizens has drawn fascinating insights from groups that American diplomats are forbidden to meet with" stated Smucker. It is the objective of the delegation to begin the dialogue that the President-elect has promised.

The CNI delegation and Philip Smucker will be traveling to Ramallah and then on to Jerusalem were they will meet with leaders of both Palestinians and Israeli. They have hopes of reaching Gaza before they return home later this month.