battle

July 14th, 2004
Transcribed by Ben Tupper

ECHO CHAMBER PROJECT: Alright so -- Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and what you do here at the National Security Archive.
JOYCE BATTLE: My name is Joyce Battle. I'm the director of publications here at the National Security Archive. And I also, when I have the opportunity, am an analyst for Middle East Affairs.

ECHO CHAMBER PROJECT: Okay. So why don't you talk a little bit about the importance of having historical context for whenever we look at foreign policy issues.
BATTLE: Well, to understand -- Foreign policy obviously means you're engaging with the people in governments of other countries, and to understand their perspectives to understand how they are likely to respond to US decisions -- to US policy initiatives -- You need to have some understanding of their -- the contexts that they will be operating from. Their sense of their own history, their sense of their own interests, and so forth. I think the United States has tendency to have a rather parochial view of the world, to not really understand the perspectives and interests of other countries, and that can lead to very difficult situations.