The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR JAMES A. LAROCCO Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial Interview Date: January 5, 2011 Copyright 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Bio sketch of Ambassador (ret.) James A. Larocco Personal History pre-Foreign Service Ancestry and growing up in ethnic Chicago Education: Focus on the Family Activities: A life changing experience in the Boy Scouts High School: Notre Dame High School for Boys Church Organist from age 7 through 16 The Vietnam War: our neighborhood’s reaction University of Portland, Portland, Oregon, 1966-1970 Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, 1970-72 1973: Travel to Europe and Israel Israel, 1973: Life on a kibbutz Foreign Service Orientation, October, 1973 Staff Assistant, Congressional Relations Office 1973 Henry Kissinger and the 7th floor leadership at State Bill Richardson, Legislative Management Officer Kissinger and State relations with Congress How the “real system” works at State Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 1975-1977 U.S.-Saudi relations expand dramatically First year in Jeddah: Commercial Attaché Second year in Jeddah: Economic Officer Saudi Arabia in 1975 The dismissal of Ambassador Akins Tom Pickering’s wild ride from Amman to Yemen, 1976 Riyadh, 1976 Edward “Skip” Gnehm Forecasting Saudi Arabia’s future America’s Role in bringing Saudi Arabia’s economy to the 20th century The “real system” at State:” More Insights 1 Arabic Language Training in Tunisia 1977-1978 Tunisia, 1977 Impressions of Iraq, 1978: the Middle East “Tiger” Cairo 1978-1981 Peace between Egypt and Israel Life in Cairo, 1978: Married in the Mugamaa Consular services for American citizens visiting Egypt President Anwar Sadat Ambassadors Hermann Eilts and Roy Atherton: a study in contrasts Our family: the first foreigners to drive to Israel from Egypt under the Peace Treaty The “fruits of peace”: learning first-hand what it means Egyptian identity and culture AID programs in Egypt mushroom after the Peace Treaty President Carter visit to Egypt Egypt-Israel relations in the immediate aftermath of the Peace Treaty signing VIP visitors to Egypt after the Peace Treaty: a tale of two members of Congress Kuwait 1981-1983 Oil, investment and finance The collapse of the Kuwaiti stock market Spike in global oil prices Kuwait: a pro-Soviet policy in 1981 Palestinians in Kuwait Trip to Iraq, Jordan and Israel, 1982 Kuwait’s foreign relations, 1981-83 Terrorism threats in Kuwait Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Max Baucus 1983-1984 Congress-State relations in 1983-84 Senator Max Baucus Senate staffers and the mood in the Senate: the days of collegiality Deputy Director for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh Affairs 1984-1986 The first Afghan War and our relationship with Pakistan The NEA front office in the mid-80s: masters at their trade Arnie Raphel: a bureaucratic wizard Raphel’s loyalty oath Deane Hinton, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan The first Afghan War U.S.-Pakistan relations U.S.-Bangladesh relations India-Pakistan relations 2 Mandarin Chinese language training, Washington and Taiwan 1986-1988 Reshaping how Chinese is taught by FSI: the brilliance of Tom Madden Beijing 1988-1990 Economic Boom, Beijing Spring, Tiananmen Economic Minister-Counselor Economic Reporting: forecasting our growing trade deficit Negotiating China’s entry into the GATT Ambassador Winston Lord and Betty Bao Lord The opaque Chinese political situation Dealing with the Chinese culture in the late 1980s Armand Hammer compares the Chinese and Russian character Beijing Spring, 1989: let a thousand flowers bloom, then snuff them out Tiananmen Square, June, 1989: a special case of crisis management Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi claims asylum at our embassy China’s commercial environment in the late 1980s China and human rights China’s future as it looked in 1990 The Senior Seminar 1990-1991 The War to Liberate Kuwait, January and February, 1991 Taiwan, 1991-1993: Deputy Director at our unofficial embassy What is AIT? Taiwan: A roaring Asian Tiger experiencing its own political spring Life in Taiwan The saga of an Inspector’s Efficiency Report (IER) IER’s and AFSA DCM and Chargé d’Affaires, Tel Aviv 1993-1996 Peace, more peace, terrorism and assassination An unexpected rapid move from Taipei to Tel Aviv The changing leadership of Embassy Tel Aviv Bill Brown Ed Djerejian Jim Larocco, Chargé D’Affaires Management issues Shimon Peres and the power of the word Netanyahu’s view of the prerequisites for peace The embassy and the peace process Yitzhak Rabin and a leaked reporting message about him Rabin and Tom Lantos Rabin and the fruits of peace The Clinton administration and Israel The Oslo Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, summer 1993 The peace team Arafat in Gaza, 1994 3 DCM and Chargé d’Affaires, Tel Aviv 1993-1996 Peace, more peace, terrorism and assassination (continued) AID and the Palestinians post-Oslo Rabin, Christopher and peace with Syria Terrorism in Israel, 1994-95 Ambassador Martin Indyk and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin Special section: Carving the world among military combatant commands: a disservice to our vital national security interests Embassy relations with the Consulate General in Jerusalem Rahm Emmanuel predicts Netanyahu victory over Peres A special tribute to the late Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce Arabic language training, FSI 1996-1997 My ambassadorship in jeopardy: Why patrons and mentors are so important in careers Working for Tom Pickering on reforming the State Department 1997 Reforms put in motion Reviewing the authority and powers of an ambassador Ambassador to Kuwait 1997-2001 The situation in Kuwait in 1997 Islamic fundamentalists in Kuwait Why engagement is so important Embassy Kuwait a top target for terrorists Living in Kuwait: high morale Working with the military: Operation Desert Fox Kuwaiti relations with their neighbors Oil, investment, finance Gulf War POWs and MIAs Jimmy Carter and the Kuwaiti POW families The 10th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait Arafat and the Kuwaitis Kuwaiti women and their rights Kuwaiti leadership crisis Stirring the pot in Washington: the issue of Foreign Service secretaries Reshaping Employee Efficiency Reports (EERs) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Near East Bureau (NEA) 2001-2004 Special section: The crisis in the Foreign Service Special section: The Crisis in our Foreign Policy The lead-up to 9/11 Special section: Risk management, risk aversion and risk avoidance Focus on personnel Iran policy review in the summer of 2001 4 Peace process resuscitation, 2001-2003 Bill Burns Breakthrough with Libya Engagement and trust: key to dealing with the Middle East Iran II What is the NEA Bureau? Colin Powell and Rich Armitage NEA: Always on the front lines North Africa Egypt The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Special section: Values versus Interests in U.S. foreign policy The Levant Yemen Iran III Swiss initiative to normalize Iran-U.S. relations: was the document genuine? 9/11: The world transformed The second Afghan War Who’s in charge in Washington? Iraq: preparing for war “The Way”: The guiding narrative for our national security policy Iraq post-Saddam: the early days Iraq and public diplomacy Al-Jazeera and the Qataris Rumsfeld’s snowflake The first Ramadan Iftar at State FSOs serving in Iraq Good works by Americans in Iraq: lost in translation Museum looting Moving from the CPA to diplomatic relations and an embassy The special case of Turkey Jordan The Gulf States Failed Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts…again Extremism in the region: what’s in a name? The Foreign Service at a Crossroads Looking Ahead: The Middle East, China and Russia. The Rebalance to Asia: A False Goal China, Russia and “Spheres of Influence.” The Middle East in transition: an assessment Life after the Foreign Service Director General, Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) Director, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies 5 INTERVIEW Q: Let’s start at the beginning. When and where were you born? LAROCCO: I was born December 16, 1948 in Evanston, Illinois not far from Northwestern University. I grew up in Chicago on the far northwest side, interestingly only about six blocks from where Hillary Rodham (Clinton) grew up, in the suburb of Park Ridge. Her neighborhood was a wealthy Anglo-German neighborhood. Mine was a working class neighborhood of Irish, Polish and Italian-Americans, many working for the city as policemen, firemen or city government workers. Of course, both a Catholic Church and school were within walking distance, while one had to take a bus to a public school. It was the definition of a close knit, ethnic community. I was one of five children, the youngest of five. We had a very, very, very large family population in those days, quite a contrast from today’s communities. At one point, I counted 105 children on our block. One did not have to stray far for companionship, but privacy was difficult to come by. Q: I grew up not quite the same way but close to it. The kids were kind of feral. Dinner is at six o’clock and if you are not going to eat, let me know. That was the sort of thing. Let’s say on your father’s side. What do you know about where they come from? LAROCCO: I know a lot since I spent a great deal of time tracing our roots during the 5 years I lived in Italy. Originally from Albania, the Larocca family (correct spelling, including the small letter “r”) fled the Turkish onslaught in the 16th century and settled in south central Italy in the village of Brindisi di la Montagna. It is perched on a mountain top about 6 kilometers southeast of Potenza in the south central province of Basilicata. My father’s mother was born in America, while her parents were from a village east of Stuttgart, Germany.