It’s with some selfish satisfaction that I see that the White House is interested in learning the lessons of European and African insurgencies from international academics. Richard Rose was one of a small number of scholars invited to meet Bush and share his thoughts on the ‘challenges in Iraq’. The current issue of the political science journal PS reprints this recent essay by Rose:

The call to the White House came out of the blue. It was a nondescript e-mail captioned “An invitation”; the sender’s address was nsc.eop.gov. Having worked Pennsylvania Avenue for 35 years, I knew the initials meant National Security Council, Executive Office of the President. The invitation was straightforward: “I am writing to invite you to a small group discussion with President Bush at the White House on May 30. From time to time the President meets with outside experts who can participate in a live and off-the-record discussion focused on an issue of importance.

What is interesting is not simply Rose’s lessons from the Northern Irish conflict, but that Rose–a self-described “Truman Democrat” who was “against the war from before the start”–finds Bush to be an intelligent and willing listener. It’s just too bad it took seven years to get there…