Iraq and Afghanistan: What is the Way Out?
Dahr Jamail speaks at NJ Peace Action 52nd Annual Soup Luncheon
Saturday, November 21st at Columbia High School in Maplewood
For Immediate Release
October 9, 2009
Dahr Jamail will be speaking at NJ Peace Action's 52nd Annual Soup Luncheon on Saturday, November 21st, at Columbia High School in Maplewood. His topic will be "Iraq and Afghanistan: What is the Way Out?" Since the nation just marked the 8th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, this program could not be more timely. The program runs from 11:45am to 4:00pm with Dahr Jamail speaking just after 2:00pm.
Dahr Jamail, a political activist and unembedded journalist from Anchorage, Alaska, first traveled to Iraq in November 2003 to write about the effects of the US occupation on the Iraqi people. After nine weeks covering the occupation, he returned to the US and addressed audiences in Alaska and the Northeast about his experience. As his articles at dahrjamailiraq.com became more widely referenced, his reputation grew quickly as a courageous journalist for whom the pursuit of the truth was worth risking his life. He is the author of Beyond the Green Zone (Haymarket Books, 2007) and The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan (Haymarket Books, 2009).
"Dahr Jamail is one of the few reporters brave and principled enough to report independently on the conflicts, instead of being embedded with military units fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan. His presentation could not be any more timely," said Madelyn Hoffman, Director of NJ Peace Action. "President Obama is currently deciding whether to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan on the advice of General McChrystal or to pursue an alternative approach to ending the conflict, particularly since public opposition to the on-going war is steadily increasing. It is essential to hear from an independent voice at this critical juncture - as we make the case against an escalation in the number of troops being sent to Afghanistan."
When asked about the decision facing President Obama regarding an increase in troops to Afghanistan, Dahr replied "The US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan violates both international law as well as the US constitution. I feel it is fair to ask this question to the President: given the law, and given that you are a constitutional lawyer yourself, how can you, as President, justify sending more troops into an occupation that violates the UN Charter and the US Constitution?"
"The US is a signatory nation of the UN Charter," continues Dahr Jamail. "According to the UN Charter, there are only two reasons why any country is allowed to go to war. The first is in self-defense and second is only with UN Security Council Ratification. The US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan is not a just war, as it meets neither of these criteria. Given the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, Article 6 Paragraph 2, which tells us all foreign treaties the US signs become the supreme law of our land, the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan violates both international law as well as the US constitution."
Dahr writes for the Inter Press Service and many other outlets and is a regular guest on the radio show, Democracy Now! His extraordinary reporting talent has earned him numerous awards, including the prestigious 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism, The Lannan Foundation Writing Residency Fellowship, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, and four Project Censored awards.
Some of Dahr Jamail's most compelling observations appear below:
- On Journalism:
"Since an informed citizenry is the basis for a healthy democracy, independent, non-corporate media are more crucial today than ever before."
- On Reporting about Iraq:
"I feel it imperative to maintain a solid presence of independent journalists in Iraq, as there are so few. Most of the mainstream media are just parroting the news fed to them by the CPA and military."
- On Veterans:
"It is a painful irony that some of those who volunteered to serve and defend our nation are now left particularly defenseless and vulnerable as a direct consequence of its ill advised foreign adventures."
- On American Ignorance of the occupation:
"I keep wondering how long it can go on; how long so many people in my home country will continue to ignore it, to be complicit, whether they know it or not, in our brutal occupation -- so long after it was proven beyond a shadow of a shadow of a doubt that this war was illegal and based on nothing but lies. "
Reservations for the Soup Luncheon are $25 before November 10th and $30 after that. Reservations can also be made on line, by clicking
here.
For more information contact: Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of NJ Peace Action, 973-259-1126 (office), (973)876-1023(cell)
Madelyn Hoffman
NJ Peace Action
973-259-1126 (phone)
973-259-1139 (fax) |
