Personal Safety in the Middle East

As I'm getting ready for another trip to the Middle East, invariably I am asked by someone, "Aren't you worried about going over there?" Even when people preface this question by saying that they understand that Qatar isn't Iraq, etc. I'm never quite sure how to respond to this. James Foley's tragic and horrific execution highlights Americans' concerns about their personal safety in Middle East. Never mind that the potential dangers for a journalist working in a mountainous war zone bear no similarity to those faced by an academic traveling in a bustling metropolis or that Doha and Mosul have nothing in common, those who haven't traveled in the region cannot picture what it is like. That's not to say I do not occasionally face some risks. This last year, when I traveled to Palestine for a few days to give some talks at local universities, I definitely faced risks. Those risks came about because of 1. I was traveling in a minivan in the West Bank and traffic fatalities are entirely too common on those hills and 2. I was traveling with US embassy officials. There is no more dangerous place to be than traveling with someone who officially represents the US. Hiding the fact that one is indeed American when meeting strangers is often done not for safety, but because we want people to like us. I always enjoy getting confused with a being a German or Dutch national, but if I ever actually lie, I figure telling them I'm Canadian is simplest. If I'm ever going to pull this off, though, I'm going to need to learn more about Canada. We all know that statistically, we are more at risk driving than flying. My 3,000 miles in a car in the last 6 weeks (especially my 1,800 miles making two round trips to Houston) was much more dangerous than anything else I'm going to do this year. However, people have cognitive biases that focus our attention on exotic risks. The simple fact is, the more exotic, often the safer. Two years ago, when I went to give a talk in Algeria (pictured above), I was probably safer than 80% of my travels to the Middle East. And I didn't even have to tell people I was Canadian.