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Edward KocheEdward Koche
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Session:         Page of 617

and the three of us had lunch the following week -- a very sharp fellow who's been here some time, speaks English fluently. The repartee was rather nice. I'm pretty good at that -- sort of a light touch -- and Joe Early is even better, and Joe Early has ten kids, and this Moslem I think has ten kids. That may be an overstatement, not on Early's part, on the Moslem's part. At one point the Moslem says, “I hope this food is kosher.” (laughs) “Because I don't eat pork,” and he laughed. And I said, “I do. I'm not as strong as you on this. I happen to love pork. I know I shouldn't eat it...” So it was very nice.

At one point I said to him, “Listen, you've got such a bad public image on this Jewish thing. Why don't you let them out? The Iraquis let them out.” He said, “They did?” I said, “Yes, they're all out now.” And that's true. The Iraqui are just as bad as the Syrians, but the French were able to get a few hundred Jews who were left there, except for some who in fact probably didn't want to go, out; in fact, the Iraqui very recently -- just prior to that little conversation I was having with Dr. Kabbani -- had put an ad in the New York Times saying, “We welcome all Jews back.” Of course, if you're Jewish and you go back to Iraq, you deserve what they do to you. That's the only thing I can tell you.

But in any event, I said, “Will you do anything to reunite families?” He said, “On a case by case basis.” So I said, “If





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