The Peace Task Force, under the chairmanship of Hanan Watson, has offered a number of programs recently, some in cooperation with other All Souls groups. The first report is by Hanan Watson, the second and third by Phoebe Hoss, all summarized briefly.
—by Hanan Watson
“Strategic Omissions: The Truth Behind the Health Effects After 9/11”, a documentary film by Heidi Hehncke-Fisher and Gordon T. Skinner was shown in Reidy Friendship Hall on March 3. In the film, environmentalists, politicians and victims describe the alarming lack of protection and high level of exposure many persons suffered to toxins emitted on 9/11 and after. The film shows how unprepared with appropriate equipment the emergency services were, particularly the Fire Department. It describes how workers at the site and students at neighboring schools have contracted chronic respiratory and other ailments. The EPA denies these allegations. The filmmakers charged that some locations have been tested privately and reveal a high level of contamination. After the showing, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said that she fears this denial will affect the actions of first responders in the future. The filmmakers are developing a website which will link victims with knowledgeable health professionals.
—by Phoebe Hoss
In a program on March 5, in joint sponsorship with the Nuclear Disarmament Task Force, Adult Education and the UU-UNO, Dr. Zia Mian, a physicist with the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton, charged that the United States has inflicted terror on civilian populations at various times in its history for strategic advantage and fails to acknowledge these actions. He cited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By continuing to maintain and develop nuclear weapons, he said that parallels can be drawn to the mindset of the Nazi regime. He warned that the fear of future nuclear weapons use is well founded.
—by Phoebe Hoss
On February 27, Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, delivered a lecture at All Souls, co-sponsored by The Peace Task Force and the Adult Education program, on “Resurrecting Empire: U.S. Policy in the Middle East.” Dr. Khalidi gave an excellent overview of European intervention and imperialism in the Middle East, with a focus on the roles of Britain and the United States, especially in Iraq. He explained that the cultural differences between the U.S. and Iraq are vast and that these misconceptions bode poorly for a positive outcome. He discussed Iran and other countries in the area where moves toward democracy were crushed by the U.S. So far, 1400 Americans have been killed and several times that number severely wounded. Yet, this figure is only a fraction of the thousands of Iraqis killed. “And for what reason?” he asked. “Certainly not for any of those given by the American government.” Dr. Khalidi signed copies of his most recent book, Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East.
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