Dear Mr. So & So

I'm sorry I haven't responded to you. I did have my assistant send you the information you requested. My director has also returned to Amman and I needed to drop everything else because of the workload he gave me. I must also be honest and state that I got the impression that you had more than just a professional interest in me. Not my work but me. I have a rule .... one that I broke to meet with you .... I do not meet men that I don't know very well here in the Middle East by myself. Atleast not in a social setting. Perhaps I am being overly cautious but I would rather be safe than sorry. I have just had one too many problems in the past and I don't want to repeat them any more.

Yet if you have a sincere and strong interest to be involved or help in our work, I would encourage you talk to Dr. Somebody who is our Senior Project Manager in Baghdad. He is in charge of the actual work itself. His email is bla bla bal

Please accept my apologies for not responding to you earlier.

Sophia

This was the message I sent to an older Kurdish business man who I met once on a plane to Iraq. A year later I met up with him again in Amman and told him we would be doing projects in the north of Iraq and he asked to meet me to discuss them. "I have important contacts in the Kurdish government that might be useful," he said. So I met with him at a nearby restaurant ... but I got a creppy feel off him. I mean he was perfectly nice but, well, you can just tell sometimes when someone has a hidden agenda. Maybe I'm wrong ... but hmmmmm ... nay, I don't think so.