"guidance regarding recent events"

This is a piece of an email I received from a Peace Corps staff member:

In light of the bombing and the killing of Osama Bin Laden, here is some guidance for you:


· You may receive questions and/or pressure from members of your community to discuss the circumstances of Bin Laden’s death or your reaction to it. Please avoid engaging in discussing this issue. Appropriate responses include: “I don’t have enough information to discuss this issue.” and/or “I am never happy to hear of anyone’s death.” If you experience pressure from your community or are otherwise concerned please contact me immediately.


The bombing s/he's talking about are the bombs that were detonated by a tourist cafe in Marrakech last week.

Personally, in regards to this request by Peace Corps, it's a little unachievable since it's the only thing people want to talk about and they are genuinely curious as to what I think about it. I mean, if you think about it- I am the one and only foreigner in this small Moroccan town near the Algerian border, the only foreigners most of them interact with are Peace Corps volunteers (so that's one new one every two years). They see all this chaos on T.V. "caused" by this far away nation called America and here's their chance to know what a real live American thinks of it all.

Goal 2 of Peace Corps is: "Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people s served." Goal 3 is "helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans."

But at the same time, there exists a blanket rule that we are not to talk about religion and politics.

One of the most common questions I'm asked by people of all age groups is "What do Americans think of Muslims?" which is generally followed by the request that I tell Americans that Islam is a peaceful religion and to make sure I tell them that "we're not terrorists. Terrorism isn't Islam." Serving in a country that is a Islamic monarchy where the vast majority of Moroccans are Muslim presents a new dynamic to goals 2 and 3- that, unfortunately, Peace Corps wants us to ignore. (for your own security. which I can understand.) America may be able to ignore religion most of the time through political correctness but it's impossible here.

So.... I'd like to talk about the Marrakech bombings and Osama Bin Laden's death but....I don't have enough information to discuss this issue?