Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

Brian Siebeking is a graduate student in the Contemporary Arab Studies program with the distinction of being an Iraq war veteran. He enlisted in the Army Reserves in April 2000 as a college freshman and later earned a US Army paralegal certificate. "I thought I might like to go to law school after college, but I wanted to have a chance to work with lawyers first to see if the career really interested me," said Brian.

In 2001, Brian spent a semester abroad in Cairo.  He would return to the Middle East in February 2003 as a paralegal noncommissioned officer in the 324th Military Police Battalion in Iraq. In addition to his paralegal duties, Brian did almost everything: guard duty, interviewing Iraqi police applicants, instructing soldiers on the culture and customs of the Middle East, and more.

Brian is currently studying politics of the Middle East and is interested in the influence of religion on conflict, cooperation, and coexistence between people, communities, and nations. After traveling to the region some five times, he has learned a lot. "People are extremely welcoming to Americans," said Brian.

He also pointed out that current conflicts in the region are a relatively new phenomenon. "Something like the Arab-Israeli conflict is only about 60 years old," said Brian. "For most of the region's history, Muslims, Christians and Jews all lived together in a multi-confessional society in relative peace and tolerance."