The town hall meeting is called "Islam: Image and Reality."
Big hat tip to Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative. From her blog:
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle, an advocate of the war against Saddam Hussein and the subject of a new film to air on PBS, The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom, will participate in a discussion on the merits of the war in Iraq at DePaul University on Wednesday, February 28th, 6:30p.m (Merle Reskin Theater 60 E. Balbo Avenue). In addition to a highlight screening of The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom, Gangs of Iraq (Co-Presentation with FRONTLINE) which documents Iraqi security forces and Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience that explores the searing firsthand accounts of American troops through their own words will also be shown.
Award winning journalist, Bill Kurtis will moderate the panel which includes; Richard Perle; Abdel Bari Atwan, Editor of Al Quds; Mahmood Mamdani- Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in the Departments of Anthropology and International Affairs, and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University; Sherman Jackson- Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Department of Near Eastern Studies at The University of Michigan.
Atwan was an opponent of the first Gulf War. He's also one of the few journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden.
Mamdani is a committed leftist. From the Columbia Spectator:
According to Mamdani, oil was not the main issue in the war (in Iraq). The main goals of the (George W.) Bush administration, he said, were to redraw the political map of the Middle East, to prevent the emergence of a peer competitor to the U.S., and to ideologize the pursuit of power through the spread of democracy. As a result, a commitment to pre-emptive war became a part of the American doctrine.
Just as the Vietnam War was a fight against nationalism, so was the Iraqi War, Mamdani said.
He closed his speech by saying that the new form of western imperialism being pursued by the U.S. is trying to combine democracy at home with despotism abroad, a path which needs to be curtailed by the U.S. public in the form of a peace movement for democracy.
Sherman A. Jackson is the author of Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection
As Anne noted, looks like some conservative support is needed there. Sadly, I can't make it. But the event is free and open to the public.
As for DePaul's Islamic World Studies Department, the director of the department is Aminah Beverly McCloud, who was named in David Horowitz' book, Aminah McCloud, who was named in David Horowitz' recent book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America.
Related post: Sept 15: Second anniversary of the beginning of the Thomas Klocek affair
Technorati tags: Illinois Chicago DePaul iraq military Richard Perle Middle East Aminah McCloud David Horowitz Education Islam
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