Posted on 04/14/2005 6:47:25 PM PDT by JustaCowgirl
Liz Cheney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs believes "Morocco could be a model for countries of the region," noting that "King Mohammed VI has put the country on the path of modernization while respecting Morocco's culture and traditions."
Cheney, who ended Tuesday a three-day official visit to Morocco, told Morocco Times that reforms instituted in the north African country were among the top issues she discussed with Moroccan officials.
"We have also discussed the new political parties' law and the new press code, which is before the parliament," she said, adding that talks also touched on education, notably girls' schooling.
On the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)'s assistance to Morocco, Cheney said "we provide technical assistance as the (Moroccan) government looks at the reforms they need to implement once we have the FTA."
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed between the two countries in June 2004, eliminates tariffs on 95 percent of all bilateral trade between the United States and Morocco, and includes stringent protections for intellectual property and the environment.
MEPI has granted USD 6 million to assist Morocco in the framework of the US-Moroccan FTA, and allocated USD 2 million to fund a programme related to the new family law (Mudawana).
According to Cheney, MEPI aims to disseminate knowledge about the family law approved by the Moroccan parliament last year to promote the situation of women and enhance genre equality.
She pointed out that the purpose of programs like MEPI is to support "reforms coming from people themselves and from the government."
"I think reforms are absolutely coming from the inside. Morocco is the model for the whole region in this regard."
MEPI, she explained, is not trying to impose reforms from outside, noting that it supports "universal values including the right to education, the right to vote, the right to have a jobÉ etc."
"These are a whole range of issues to which we will respond with our resources to the changes that are coming from people who live in each individual country," she said.
I think you could be right. Spain and Morocco certainly have a long history (the Alhambra, etc.)
I've thought of it, but after a few years I realized he's just a clown.
Yes I think they were
I assume you're talking about the Moroccan guy. Isn't that they way it is about 98% of the time? Blowhards and big mouths come in all stripes and colors.
I am not aware of Morocco been a hot bed of terrorists, but from my own experience is a country frozen in the times of "1001 Arabian Nights Stories", "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves".
It is a beautiful Country full of magic, history and secrets.
I would strongly recommend to vacation in Morocco, you would not regret it! Remember Bogart's Casablanca?
Isn't Tangier a hotbed of "Friends of Dorothy?"
Russian Jews will also perform a mass "bris" when they arrive in Israel or when a Jewish community in some remote part of the former Soviet Union gets its first mohel in many decades.
Usually though, it's a private family observance.
I really wish I had that pic of the Marine that had the cig hanging out of his mouth from Iraq to post. I didn't bookmark it and I don't know enough keywords to find it.
And France.
I'm not so sure of the brochure you drew up about Morocco.
I'm know a few cell links personally (yes, contacted FBI) and they have many contacts and trips under their belts with Morocco.
I think Morocco may have been pretty at one time. But I think it was a stepping stone to France and Spain.
Is Tangier where the Spain bombers were from? Or is that the stepping stone from Egypt to Morocco?
What is a mohel?
Tangier was a city under "international" control until the late 1950s. It was famous for its expatriate literary community that included Paul Bowles, Alan Ginsburg and William Burroughs. It also has a reputation of being the "Fire Island" of the Arab world.
A Mohel is the guy who disfigures a Jewish baby's manhood for life.
Is that a poetic way of saying it got infiltrated?
So Mohel is a Rabbi?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier
No
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