Excerpt:
For Karim Zéribi, the highlight was shaking the hand of Barack Obama. For Ali Zahi, it was meeting his childhood hero, the basketball star Magic Johnson. And Mohamed Hamidi was surprised to find a mosque in Washington that was bigger than the one in his parents' village in Algeria.
Mr. Hamidi is a well-known blogger, Mr. Zahi is a mayoral aide in this Paris suburb, and Mr. Zéribi runs an employment agency. All are French, Muslim and under 42. All grew up and work in suburbs that became emblematic of the frustration among second- and third-generation immigrant youths that led to three weeks of riots in France in 2005.
And all three joined the small but growing ranks of influential Muslims in Europe invited to the United States on 21-day trips organized by the State Department as part of its International Visitor Leadership Program.
The longstanding program, which seeks to introduce future leaders from around the world to the United States, has become part of an American effort to reach out to Europe's Muslims, especially the disaffected young people who American officials fear could fall prey to jihadist talk.
For the three men who participated in the program in recent months, the exposure to America softened views of a superpower generally distrusted and disliked in their communities.