The article confirms the greatest possible fears about the exportation of Western or American “values” and educational systems to occupied Iraq.

It reveals the rampant intellectual corruption, cronyism and backhanded deals that typify AUIS, its high-level staff and its educational programs.

Dolan starts out by admitting he came to work for AUIS with anything but noble intentions — he didn’t buy into any of the rhetoric about needing to educate Iraq’s future leaders or converting the ruined educational system into something along objective, Western academic lines. He went to work for AUIS because he was poor and they offered to pay him a lot of money.

Money was something the founder of AUIS, John Agresto — another neoconservative foot soldier with a chip on his shoulder — had a lot of, although intellectual integrity certainly was not.

Dolan further relates that the fact the right-wingers in charge of the university hired him is indicative of their ineptitude.

Simply searching for Dolan’s name online will bring up his lengthy record of left-wing writings, including scathing criticisms of the invasion of Iraq, along with his employment at The eXile, a newspaper known for its “screw everyone” outlook and investigative reporting — particularly of the rich and powerful.

His bosses’ discovery of his work would later lead to his termination, but since they failed to even perform a cursory examination of Dolan’s credentials, they had no idea at first.

Firing someone because of their political beliefs is a telling indicator of the general atmosphere and attitude of those who run the university.

While the faculty ostensibly was supposed to be teaching the students “along the American model” and implanting in them a respect for democracy, civil rights and other such values, what was actually going on was an attempt to indoctrinate Iraqi youth into the neoconservative way of thinking.

The textbook for the course on American history was “America: The Last Best Hope” by William Bennett, another moral majority neoconservative who served under former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

The title says it all: It’s just a piece of right-wing propaganda explaining why America is the greatest place on Earth.

The teacher himself was spoiled with a $15,000 a month salary, which he flaunted openly. Dolan goes on to state that the history teacher did little actual teaching and instead relied mostly on cheesy World War II movies to educate Kurdish and Iraqi youth on American history. Educating based on the American model indeed.

The university heads’ absolute ineptitude is further illustrated by a much more serious incident, one in which a female faculty member was raped by two local men.

The school’s dean of student affairs took a religious right approach to the problem and blamed the woman for being raped.

The way the dean saw it, the female faculty members were practically asking for it because they wore sleeveless T-shirts and tank tops. Truly, some of our best and brightest are in charge at the AUIS.

A legitimate opportunity to educate the youth of Iraq and make a notable difference in Iraqi lives has been ruined by politicization and propaganda.

Instead of being exposed to Western values and receiving an American perspective on the principles of democracy, the students of the AUIS received a crash course in the absolute worst aspects of American society.

They are being used as a means to an end, a tool to attempt to assert greater political and intellectual control over the Iraqi youth.

Not only have we lost the opportunity to teach others about our values, but also we have lost the chance to learn about theirs.

And now that the people of Iraq have only been exposed to the worst our society has to offer, one can’t help but look toward their future with concern for what they might become.

Matt Korovesis is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at koroves1@msu.edu.