New US ambassador has roots in the Netherlands

Fay Hartog-Levin, the new US ambassador in The Hague, hopes the Netherlands will continue to play a role in Afghanistan, and wants to improve America's image abroad, especially among young people and minorities.

Fay Hartog-Levin (60), the new US ambassador to the Netherlands who presented her credentials to queen Beatrix this week, has Dutch roots and ties to president Barack Obama that go back to his days as a state senator in Illinois.

Hartog-Levin's parents were Dutch Jews who lived in The Hague and owned a meat-processing factory in Oss. When World War II broke out, they fled to Suriname, then a Dutch colony, where her father served in the Dutch army. In 1948 the family emigrated to the US, where daughter Fay was born shortly afterwards.

All the president's men and women Most US ambassadors to the Netherlands have come from a business background and were involved in fundraising for their respective presidents' election campaigns. Fay Hartog-Levin replaces James B. Culbertson as US ambassador. Culbertson was only in office for six months; he replaced his predecessor Roland Arnall who suddenly died in March last year. Arnall left the Netherlands after two years just weeks before his own death because his son had taken seriously ill. Arnall was controversial because his company, Ameriquest, was the market leader in the high-risk subprime mortgages which led to the current economic crisis. Arnall's predecessor Clifford Sobel was a donor to former president George W. Bush's campaign. The last female US ambassador to the Netherlands was Cynthia Schneider (1998-2001), an art historian specialised in Rembrandt, and a personal friend and fundraiser to president Bill Clinton.

"With my being posted here my family history has come full circle. I have always been proud of my Dutch roots," said Hartog-Levin, adding that she spoke only a little bit of Dutch - "een heel klein beetje Nederlands".

The ambassador expressed her hope that the Netherlands will continue to play a leading role in stimulating the economy in Afghanistan. Hartog-Levin said the Netherlands is not only "very experienced in the field of development aid", but is has also done "important work" in Afghanistan.

The Dutch government has said it does not wish to extend its current military mission in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province beyond 2010. But prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said last year that the government will consider all the options should the Netherlands be asked to stay involved in Afghanistan in another manner.

Before Hartog-Levin was chosen to represent the US in the Netherlands, she was a lawyer for more than twenty years. She was also on the board of Chicago's Field Museum (of natural history) and until recently worked as a consultant for the Res Publica Group, a communications and public relations firm.

The ambassador got to know president Obama during her days at the museum. She is also connected to the president through her husband, Daniel Levin, who founded a real estate firm, The Habitat Company. Habitat's CEO until recently was Valerie Jarrett, a good friend of the Obamas and currently a senior adviser to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs. Jarrett was also on Obama's transition team.

Levin, who is a cousin to both senator Carl Levin and congressman Sandy Levin, was also on the board of the Chicago sports club where president Obama often worked out and played basket-ball. The Hartog-Levins were contributors to Barack Obama's campaigns for both the US senate and the presidency.

Among the priorities for her ambassadorship in The Hague Hartog-Levin listed improving America's image abroad. "In the past eight years a wrong image has been created of what the United States stands for," she said.

She intends to focus her attention on young people and Muslims. "The US is not the enemy of the Islamic world," she said.