About the Peace Corps

Do any of you know anything about the Peace Corps?
When I was in Morocco, I had many colleagues of different nationalities at the school I worked in. One of them, an American, had been sent by the Peace Corps. Six months later he decided to be a muslim and quickly married a very young Moroccan girl who was incensed when she discovered she had married a penniless American.
I was told much later that these young people were just spies for the US government. True or not, I never knew of course.
So do you have anything to say about that?

I used to work for a federal agency with several people that came to us after spending time in the Peace Corps. For the most part, it seemed like the Peace Corps was something that they did for a couple of years between college and starting a career. Based upon what one of them told me, their pay wasn't very high, so I could see, that compared to at least upper income people overseas, they would seem poor. The ones I've known didn't seem like they would be very good spies. Most of them had kind of a idealistic/liberal/hippie vibe. Not sure if they went into the Peace Corps that way or whether spending time with people that were less fortunate than them made them that way.

I'm certainly not the one to say that the CIA never planted a spy in the Peace Corps (or anywhere else), but my understanding of that organization is similar to what Kyle described. It's mostly well educated and idealistic young folk taking a sort of "gap year". They are typically sent to another country where their talents are needed. They receive very little pay beyond their basic expenses.

That's what I understand too. The UK used to have a similar scheme called VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). Most volunteers are seeking to see the world and do some good before or after university. The American scheme though did start with a bit more ideological content: I believe it was a Kennedy innovation.

It would be thoroughly pointless to set up a service composed mainly of spies to serve openly in foreign countries as the foreign countries and hostile groups would soon suss it out and the spies wouldn't be hidden at all.

Unfortunately even things like vaccinations against disease can be portrayed by some (currently particularly Islamic fundamentalists) as foreign plots intended to make people infertile, sap their strength, control their minds etc. But then there are Americans who think much that way too.

Now how can we relate this to spanking? Maybe a Punishment Corps to spread the message where it's unknown?

With the Ebola scare going on in certain countries, it seems the Peace Corps might want to think where they send these people. To me the spy thing would be on the back burner. Just my opinion.