| U.S. diplomat will talk about reconstruction in Iraq President Bush's “New Way Forward for Iraq” program led to the expansion
of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) program in Iraq earlier this year.
These joint civilian-military units support local leaders in Iraq's reconstruction
effort. Thomas Wise, one of the first diplomats appointed to a PRT, will talk
about his experiences in Iraq at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 19, at the Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs. This program is free and open to the public.
A Minnesota native, Wise is a diplomat with the U.S. State Department, who
previously has been posted to embassies in Africa and Europe. He recently spent
more than a year in Iraq, where he served as head of the political and governance
team and was the State Department spokesman for northern Iraq. He received the
Meritorious Honor award from the State Department for his service.
The PRT program is designed to help local Iraqi leaders in good governance,
reconstruction, and economic development with the ultimate goal of accelerating
the transition to Iraqi self-reliance. The teams consist of U.S. and coalition
partner members and, depending on the needs of the province, range in size from
35 to 100. U.S. team members come from the State Department, USAID, the Department
of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture, and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Currently, PRT units are located in more than
half of Iraq's provinces.
September 13, 2007
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