Say hello to David Dunford.

Dunford is a U.S. Ambassador and retired Foreign Service Officer who worked as a ministerial liaison in Iraq to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has come to campus to speak about how we should think about the Middle East conflicts that are occurring.

Dunford has been on campus for the week as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. The Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow program brings prominent professionals to campuses across the U.S. for five days of teaching and dialogue. Dunford has had a week long residential program of discussions, workshops and classes and will share his personal experiences and expertise with students Thursday for his lecture in the Edgerton Center.

Dunford an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona where he teaches courses on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Middle East Business Environment explained that Iraq has a national identity issue. "Security is, was and will be the issue in Iraq," said Dunford.

Dunford believes that the process has gone backward and thus has created fear and insecurities. We will create an "international chess piece if Iraq is split up," said Dunford.

Mistakes have been made Dunford says. "If we leave, there will not be much difference there will still be violence and chaos."

Dunford believes that attacking Iraq is a huge mistake. "Iraq didn't attack us Afghanistan did." He believes this is because Al Qaeda had no links with Iraq. "It [Iraq] wasn't a ground for insurgent movements, but now it is."

The Middle East policy was originally created as a form of democracy that will breed in the Middle East said Dunford. Yet according to Dunford "the Middle East policy is failing at a time when how we are thought of in the Middle East is important."

Students like Nick Lipeika, sophomore, Litchfield, believe that the prices we, as American's pay is not worth what we have had to deal with. "This administration has only hurt us," said Lipeika.

"The price we are paying at the gas pump does not really reflect the price we are paying," said Dunford.

Kevin Pustelniak, freshman, Stockholm, N.J. agrees with Dunford that something must be done. "Our government is not doing its job and it's really just creating more democratic issues for us all."

Dunford believes that the U.S. is suffering from a lack of legitimacy. And as a result "we need to do something more muscular."

"A large majority of the problems we have in the Middle East are due to a political agenda that most politicians and this administration has," said Ashley Amalfe, freshman, Clark, N.J.

Amalfe says she is planning to attend the lecture on Thursday to gain more insight about the problems facing the U.S. due to the conflicts in the Middle East.

"Anybody that knew anything about the Middle East knew it was doomed," said Dunford.

Ambassador Dunford will be discussing his ideas about the need for a sensible policy in the Middle East on Thursday evening in the Edgerton Center for Performing Arts.