By David Swanson
I’ll be co-hosting with Verna Avery-Brown of Pacifica Radio a live broadcast on Pacifica from 8:30-11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 27, of a forum on Capitol Hill hosted by Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee.
http://www.pacifica.org/stations
The forum will take place in 2325 Rayburn House Office Building (with an overflow room planned for anyone wanting to attend who can’t fit in). The two Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are continuing to do what the “leadership” of both parties does not, respond to the demands of the majority of Americans, who disapprove of current policy.
Woolsey and Lee are expected to give introductory remarks, as is former CIA officer and current Georgetown University Professor Paul Pillar whose article in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, “Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq,” severely criticized the misuse of intelligence before, during and after the March 2003 invasion.
There will then be two panels, the first consisting of two Iraqi women and two U.S. veterans of the Iraq War, the second consisting of members of Congress who have introduced bills aimed at ending the war. Then there will a Question and Answers session involving the audience. So, bring your tough questions!
Invited panelists include Reps. Neil Abercrombie, Walter Jones, Barbara Lee, Jim McGovern, Jack Murtha, Mike Thompson, and Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry.
Congresswoman Woolsey’s office is inviting bloggers and videographers to attend. Contact her DC office to get on that list. Contact other Congress Members and Senators to urge them to attend!
This forum is a follow-up to the one Woolsey hosted last September 15th. (See www.woolseyforpeace.org )
The purpose is to try to bring Congress closer to where the public so strongly is. While Bush has announced that the occupation of Iraq will last as long as his occupation of the White House, a majority of Americans disagree and want to see our government working on ending the war. But the House Armed Services Committee has refused to hold hearings on the matter.
If the media lets the larger public know about this event (I understand that Pacifica radio is considering whether or not to air it live), people will hear – many of them for the first time – the voices of both vets who oppose the war and Iraqis affected by the war, affected in ways most of us cannot imagine until we hear their incredible stories.
We will also hear the voices of that minority in Congress that responds to the majority outside of Congress. I’ll be there and will be blogging at www.afterdowningstreet.org
Hope you can make it.
http://woolseyforpeace.org/?q=node/76
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MEDIA ADVISORY FROM U.S. REPRESENTATIVES BARBARA LEE, LYNN WOOLSEY, MAURICE HINCHEY, AND MAXINE WATERS [contacts: Nathan Britton (Lee at 202-225-2661; Susannah Cernojevich (Woolsey at 202-225-5161); Jeffrey Lieberson (Hinchey at 202-225-6335); and (Michael Rose at 202-225-2201)
SECOND CONGRESSIONAL FORUM ON
HOW TO BRING TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Lynn Woolsey (D-California), Maurice Hinchey (D-New York), and Maxine Waters will be co-chairing a second forum on ending U.S. military operations in Iraq and bringing U.S. troops home, while helping the Iraqis regain control over their country and their future.
What: Bipartisan Congressional Forum on How to Bring the Troops Home
from Iraq
When: Thursday, April 27, 2006
9:00 AM – 11:00 A.M.
Where: 2325 Rayburn House Office Building
Who: Hosted byU.S. Representatives Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Maurice
Hinchey and Maxine Waters plus other Members of Congress
Witnesses to include:
• Paul Pillar, Former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000-2005 and long career in the CIA, faculty member of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, and author of Foreign Affairs feature article in March/April issue
entitled “Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq