America's 'Iron Lady'

In 1948, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, the Bodine family rejoiced in the birth of a girl. Little did they know then that she would one day make history in more ways than one. Barbara Bodine, who has devoted her whole life to politics and the American Foreign Service, has now become a household name.

Bodine came into the limelight as ambassador to Yemen (1997-2001) when she faced several crises and won plaudits for her firm stance and her negotiations with Yemeni kidnappers of three Americans.

More recently, she has come to our attention with her appointment as administrator of central Iraq.

Bodine received a bachelor's degree in political science and Asian Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1970. This was followed by a master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in Massachusetts.

She also studied Chinese at the University of Hong Kong and at the Department of State's Langu-age Training Field Schools in Taiwan and Tunisia.

As a career diplomat, she has served in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taiwan, Tunis, Baghdad and Kuwait. Most of her career has primarily been spent working on Middle East and south-west Asian security issues, both in Washington D.C and overseas.

She served as Deputy Principal Officer in Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq War in the early 1980s and in Kuwait as Deputy Chief of Mission before and during the first Gulf War.

During both wars, Bodine's courage and stubbornness were revealed to the world, showing time and again that fear has no place in her job.

As Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait, Bodine stayed back along with U.S. Ambassador, W. Nathaniel Howell, and six other American embassy officials, until they had ensured that all private citizens who wished to leave Kuwait had left the country. She was one of the last foreign diplomats to leave Kuwait after Saddam Hussain ordered them out.

Following her tenure in Kuwait, she was appointed Associate Coordinator for Operations and later served as the Acting Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism. As the Acting Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism, she has tackled the issue of terrorism.

Bodine believes that U.S. intervention in efforts such as counter-terrorism and peace-keeping is important. However, Americans and the people of the Middle East must eliminate the stereotypes they have of each other. She said: "Just like we would not want to be judged by the actions of Timothy McVeigh, they do not wished to be judged by the acts of Mohamed Atta."

When addressing the question, "Why do they hate us," she replied by saying, "First of all, you can't define that and second of all, it's not true."

She went on to say that the attacks of September 11 "had absolutely nothing to do with religion".

When discussing Islam, she says Americans must rid themselves of the image of the "bogeyman with a turban and a beard" in order to understand the people of the Middle East.

"Islam is not the enemy. We do not accept that the West is one monolithic political construct. Neither is Islam."

However, she points out that over the years there has been a shift in the nature of terrorism. Before the 1990s, terrorist groups "played by a set of rules. They were trying to make a political point. They weren't necessarily trying to create casualties".

Recently, she claimed, terrorists have become more driven by religion than politics. "The name of the game is mass casualties, not to make a political point."

Alongside her efforts as acting coordinator for counter-terrorism, Barbara has served as Deputy Director of the Office of Arabian Peninsular Affairs and Director of East African Affairs.

But the position that people automatically link Bodine with is that of U.S. ambassador to Yemen. Bodine assumed the post of Ambassador to Yemen in November, 1997. Her four-year term ended in August, 2001.

The bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen on October 12, 2000, made headlines. As ambassador to Yemen, Bodine figured prominently in the subsequent coverage, not only because she was ambassador but also because of her singular stand.

The suicide bomber attack on the USS Cole killed 17 and injured 35 Americans.

John O'Neil, head of the FBI team, was sent to Yemen to investigate the blast. Accompanying him were over 100 FBI agents.

Ambassador Bodine, it is alleged, sabotaged O'Neil's work. She stubbornly refused to cooperate in the investigation or to encourage Yemenis to cooperate with FBI investigators. She also refused to allow them to carry the type of weapons O'Neil considered adequate. Clashes between Bodine and O'Neil intensified and when asked about the ordeal, Bodine claimed that she was merely trying to keep diplomatic relations running smoothly.

Her main concern at the time was the USA's relations with Yemen.

Bodine was quoted as saying: " The bombing of the USS Cole has not damaged this relationship. If that was one of the goals of the people who did the attack on the Cole, they have failed."

She also went on to say: "We persisted and we survived. What was good was being able to see how human nature can endure."

As ambassador in Yemen, Bodine was involved in another diplomatic crisis. In 1999, she negotiated for the release of three Americans kidnapped in Yemen. The armed men responsible for the kidnapping released their hostages after Yemeni tanks bombarded the perimeter of their village the next day.

In 2001, she weathered yet another crisis, this time one endangering her own life. Ambassador Bodine was on her way to meet with the highest ranking U.S. military officer, General Tommy Franks, in Taiz.

Just 30 minutes after take off, two shots were fired and the plane was hijacked by a Yemeni man. The man ordered the plane to fly to Baghdad. Disregarding the hijacker, the pilots landed in the African nation of Djibouti instead, where the man was overpowered by crewmembers.

Barbara Bodine's great powers of endurance and ability to survive anything helped her reach high positions in the State Department during a time when women seldom advanced in this field.

She was the fourth woman in the Foreign Service to receive Chinese language training, and the first U.S. woman ambassador.

Reflecting on her success, she said: "If I sit with a Yemeni woman and she's talking about breaking through barriers, the resistance, hostilities and all of the problems she's going through, I know what she's talking about."

This high achiever is a member of the University of California of Santa Barbara (UCSB) Alumni Association. Since 1975, the UCSB Alumni Association has selected eight UCSB graduates to serve as Alumni regents. Bodine served as a regent-designate in the Alumni Association for the year 2001-2002.

The same year she became president of the Association.

Bodine has also held positions such as Diplomat-in-Residence at UCSB's Global and International Studies Programme, in the Advisory Council to the Programme on South-west Asian and Islamic Civilisation Studies at the Fletcher School, and as Dean of Professional Studies at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute.

For her accomplish