Alligator Online

American interference in Iraq was an overall good move despite mistakes made along the way, said Dan Senor, senior adviser to Presidential Envoy L. Paul Bremer III, to a crowd of approximately 100 on Wednesday night.

Senor spoke about the positive democratic changes he witnessed in his 15 months in Iraq. His appearance was the second program for Jewish Awareness Month. It was co-sponsored by Accent, UF speakers bureau, and took place in the Reitz Union Rion Ballroon.

“It is important to look at the good and bad news in Iraq in context of the challenges,” Senor said during his speech.

Senor, who is currently a spokesman for Fox News, told stories of the suffering of the Iraqi people and about the changes he saw during his 15 months there.

He said his best memory from his time in Iraq was working with the Iraqi press as the spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority. He saw the media options in Iraq transform from having a few state-run newspapers under Saddam Hussein’s regime to 200 free-press papers.

Senor spoke about the challenges that still exist and how Americans can understand what the Iraqis are dealing with. Two of the challenges he focused on were the psychological infrastructure of the Iraqis and security.

Senor drew a diverse crowd, ranging from students interested in the current affairs in Iraq to those interested in the Jewish Awareness Month agenda.

UF political science major and self-proclaimed “political junkie” Joel Lombardi, 19, came to hear Senor speak on current events as witnessed from a first-person viewpoint.

“I’ve read about Senor in political analysis and Web sites,” Lombardi said. “I’m interested in this topic, and I wanted to see what he had to say.”

Jewish Awareness Month Chairwoman Rachel Matthew, along with Accent Chairman David Buchalter, decided on Senor for the agenda because of his political accomplishments and his Jewish faith.

“I knew I wanted someone who was good at what they did, well known in their field and had a strong Jewish background,” Matthew said.

Senor, 33, spent a year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and keeps kosher. His mother is a Holocaust survivor, and he related the current psychological conditions of the Iraqis recovering from the horrors they have witnessed to Holocaust survivors like his mother.