After
swift military triumphs announced in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United
States finds itself ensnared in what many believe are no-win situations
in both countries, while a similar frustration of conventional power
confronts Israel in Lebanon and the Middle East from Gaza to Tehran
writhes in crisis. Surviving Victory, a Green Institute sponsored
conference, features authorities and thinkers across a broad range of
security views examining how we got here and how we might emerge with
our national interests and security not only intact but enhanced. --
Dean Myerson, Executive Director / Green Institute
The
vast majority of the media and our politicians have refused even to
discuss the remedy to our fear of attack that is the cheapest, most
effective, the least deadly, and least likely to ruin our constitution,
democracy and national sanity - namely a positive change in our foreign
policy. In fact, it is only remedy that is likely to work. The course
currently supported by our politicians and media is not only
ineffective, it encourages the very terror it professes to oppose by
enlarging and intensifying the constituency of those who despise our
country. -- Sam Smith, Washington DC / Panel Moderator
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis: Mideast Woes Alarm US Experts / UPI
Surviving Victory: A New Definition of National Security
Sponsored by the Green Institute www.greeninstitute.net / www.gp360.net
and Böll Foundation www.boell.org/home.asp
A
discussion of US policy in Iraq and the Middle East and the nature of
national security as it applies to Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and Israel. What
those policies are, how they developed and how a new definition of
national security can enhance US, Mideast and global security.
Washington Club, 15 Dupont Circle, Washington DC / September 20th, 2006
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Panelists:
Roger Morris - Senior Fellow, Green Institute. Former
Senior Staff on the National Security Council, Special Assistant to the
President on the Mideast and award-winning author and historian of such
books as Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician, 1913-1952 (Holt, 1990), and the soon-to-be-published Shadows of the Eagle (Knopf/Random House), a history of
Sascha Mueller-Kraenner - Director for Europe and North America at the Heinrich Böll Foundation,
as well as head of the Foundation’s program on foreign and security
policy. From 1998 - 2002 he served as Director of the Foundation’s
office in Washington DC. The Heinrich Böll Foundation is associated
with the political party Alliance 90/The Greens in Germany. He is also
one of the founders of and a senior adviser to Ecologic, the non-profit
Center for International and European Environmental Policy in Berlin.
Charles V. Peña - Senior fellow with the Independent Institute, the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute, an adviser to the Straus Military Reform Project, and an analyst for MSNBC television. He has also appeared on CNN, Fox News, NBC
Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and The
McLaughlin Group, as well as international television and radio. Peña
is the co-author of Exiting Iraq: Why the U.S. Must End the Military Occupation and Renew the War Against al-Qaeda, and author of Winning the Un-War: A New Strategy for the War on Terrorism.
Winslow Wheeler - Director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information. From 1971 to 2002, he worked on national security issues
for members of the U.S. Senate and for the US Government Accountability
Office (GAO). In the Senate, Wheeler was heavily involved in the
writing and enactment of the War Powers Act, multiple amendments to the
Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control Acts, international human
rights legislation, and proposals to reform Defense Department
acquisition and weapons testing. At GAO, he directed comprehensive
studies on the 1991 Gulf War air campaign, the US strategic nuclear
triad, low intensity conflict, and DOD weapons testing. In 2002,
Wheeler authored an essay, "Mr. Smith is Dead", under the pseudonym "Spartacus," addressing
Congress' reaction to the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks. When
Senators complained about Wheeler's criticisms, he resigned his
position as the Senior Analyst for National Defense with the Senate
Budget Committee. After leaving Congress, Wheeler wrote “The Wastrels of Defense” (US Naval Institute Press), which explores Congress’ involvement in US national security issues.
__________
Contributors to the Forum:
Julia Sweig
- Council on Foreign Relations, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior
Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America
Studies. Currently member of Board of Directors, Foreign Affairs en
Español. Her recent book Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century was released in April of 2006. Recently authored LA Times Op/Ed Why
They Hate Us: No, it's not our freedoms. Anti-Americanism isn't going
away until the U.S. puts some fairness in its foreign policy.
- Council on Foreign Relations, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior
Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America
Studies. Currently member of Board of Directors, Foreign Affairs en
Español. Her recent book Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century was released in April of 2006. Recently authored LA Times Op/Ed Why
They Hate Us: No, it's not our freedoms. Anti-Americanism isn't going
away until the U.S. puts some fairness in its foreign policy.
Susan Rice - Senior
Fellow, Brookings Institute. Foreign policy expertise; War on
terrorism; Weak and failed states; Foreign assistance; International
peacekeeping and conflict resolution; National security policymaking;
Post-conflict reconstruction. Current Projects; National security implications of global poverty and inequality;
weak and failed states; transnational security threats and the security
implications of globalization. Previous Positions; Assistant Secretary
of State for African Affairs (1997-2001); Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for African Affairs, the National
Security Council, the White House (1995-1997); Director for
International Organizations and Peacekeeping, National Security Council
(1993-1995).
Fellow, Brookings Institute. Foreign policy expertise; War on
terrorism; Weak and failed states; Foreign assistance; International
peacekeeping and conflict resolution; National security policymaking;
Post-conflict reconstruction. Current Projects; National security implications of global poverty and inequality;
weak and failed states; transnational security threats and the security
implications of globalization. Previous Positions; Assistant Secretary
of State for African Affairs (1997-2001); Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for African Affairs, the National
Security Council, the White House (1995-1997); Director for
International Organizations and Peacekeeping, National Security Council
(1993-1995).
Steve Clemons - directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to promote a new American internationalism that combines
a tough-minded realism about America's interests in the world with a
pragmatic idealism about the kind of world order best suited to
America's democratic way of life.He is also a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and previously served as Executive Vice President. Steve publishes the popular political blog The Washington Note.
a tough-minded realism about America's interests in the world with a
pragmatic idealism about the kind of world order best suited to
America's democratic way of life.He is also a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and previously served as Executive Vice President. Steve publishes the popular political blog The Washington Note.
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