Madison-Rafah Journal

"The Reality of Arms Control: From the Trenches"
Madison Committee on Foreign Relations
Wednesday, April 16, 5:30-7:30 pm
Edgewater Hotel, Rigadoon Room, 666 Wisconsin Ave, Madison

Registration and a fee required — for more information see wage.wisc.edu.

Sponsors: Madison Committee on Foreign Relations; UW-Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) and Middle East Studies Program.

"Intelligence Failure: Why Did So Many People Think There Were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq?"
Thursday, April 17, 12-1:30 pm
Grainger Hall Room 4151, 975 University Avenue, UW-Madison

Free and open to the public.

Sponsors: UW-Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), Middle East Studies Program, and Global Studies; Madison Committee on Foreign Relations, and The Madison Institute.

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UPCOMING EVENTS from The Madison Institute (TMI), A Policy Study Center in the Progressive Tradition:

The Progressive Roundtable
"Book Review: Two Books by Scott Ritter"
Saturday, March 15, 2008
9:00 a.m. - Noon
Meriter Maingate, 333 W. Main Street, Madison, WI
(See background on Scott Ritter under the forum announcement below.)

TMI Board Members Fred Johnson and Paul Beckett will review two of Ritter's books: Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Anti-War Movement and Target Iran. This will be followed by a group discussion.

Forum
Scott Ritter: "Waging Peace: Citizenship in a Time of Unjust War"
Saturday, April 19, 2008
9:00 a.m. - Noon
Wisconsin State Historical Society Auditorium
UW-Madison Campus

Mr. Ritter is a former Marine Intelligence Officer and former lead weapons inspector in Iraq for the United Nations. He is also the author of "Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Anti-War Movement" and his latest work, "Target Iran". At this forum he will touch on issues such as supporting the troops without supporting the mission, the role of the media in shaping views and how citizens could counter, the Constitution as a citizens center of gravity, and some practical ideas for how citizens can "Wage Peace".

Mr. Ritter's presentation will be followed by a panel discussion.

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The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Susan Nossal Madison

Dear Editor: I write in support of Jennifer Loewenstein's call for our elected officials to conduct U.S. foreign policy toward Israel-Palestine in accordance with "the sanctity of human rights, the superiority of democratic government, and the rule of international law."

As in the case of the United States' occupation of Iraq, the Israeli government's occupation of Palestine has led to extreme suffering of those in occupied lands, in the latter case for more than a half-century. As taxpayers, we pay for both occupations, sending more than $2 billion annually to Israel in direct military aid and spending more than $3,000 per second for the Iraq war. As an American Jew, I feel that it is critical that we and our elected public officials work together with others in the U.S. and world community to end these immoral occupations in Iraq and Palestine.

© Capital Newspapers

Madison, Wednesday May 2, 5 pm

Gather at the State St. corner of the Capitol Square in Madison. Bring signs, noisemakers and lots of friends. Please pass the word. Contact: Dennis Coyier, dcoy at execpc.com

Wednesday, May 2, 12pm - 1pm
(SEE Today in the Union for location)
UW Middle East Studies Program

Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi-American peace activist, will be visiting Madison on May 2 as part of his Wisconsin speaking tour. Rasouli was born in Iraq, immigrated to the U.S. at age 27, and has spent his life here building a successful small business in Minneapolis. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Rasouli became increasing concerned about the plight of the Iraqi people, has traveled to Iraq frequently, and spoken to many audiences in the Midwest, offering a unique perspective on the U.S. occupation of his home county.

He will be speaking at noon on the UW campus at an event sponsored by the UW Middle East Studies Program and the Campus Antiwar Network. He will also be at a reception sponsored by Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice from 10:30 – 11:30 am, at the WNPJ office, 122 State St. #402.

Rasouli was recently interviewed on the Pacifica Network program Democracy Now (LINK: democracynow.org). He told host Amy Goodman, "As an embedded first-hand witness in Iraq…I want to share stories the American public is not aware of and the mainstream media is not telling."

Scott Ritter, truthdig.com, Apr 13, 2007

In the months leading up to President Bush’s ill-fated invasion of Iraq, I traveled around the world speaking to various international groups, including many parliamentary assemblies. I spoke about democracy and the need of any nation or group of nations espousing democracy as a standard to embrace the ideals and values of justice and due process in accordance with the rule of law. I spoke of international law, especially as it was manifested in the charter of the United Nations (a document signed and adopted by all of the countries I visited).

Invariably, my presentation focused on the nation in question, whether it was Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan or Great Britain, and the status of its relationship with the United States. As an American, I said, I appreciated each nation’s embrace of the United States as a friend and ally. However, as a strong believer in the rule of law, I deplored the trend among America’s so-called friends to facilitate a needless confrontation which would severely harm the U.S. in the long run. These nations were hesitant to stand up to the United States even though they knew the course of action planned for Iraq was wrong.

Such permissive submission was deplorable, and invariably led to a comment from me about the status of genuine sovereignty in the face of American imperial power. If a nation was incapable of defending its sovereign values and interests, then it should simply acknowledge its status as a colony of the United States, pull down its disgraced national flag and raise the Stars and Stripes.

Now the tables have turned. Americans, through the will of the people as expressed in the November 2006 election, voiced their dissatisfaction with the conduct of the American war in Iraq, and empowered a new Democratic-controlled Congress to reassert itself as a separate but equal branch of government—especially when it came to matters pertaining to war and the threat of war.

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