The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday (March 15) on the White House request for a supplemental appropriation for the war in Iraq. The following analysts are available for interviews:

DANIEL HALLIN
The author of the landmark book The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam, Hallin is professor of communication and adjunct professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. He said today: “Bush’s request for a new appropriation for the war in Iraq reinforces a lesson we should have learned from Vietnam — that military power cannot control political events. Maintaining American hegemony in the world through military force is an extremely risky business that, among other costs, is likely to distort our national priorities for a long time to come.”

SIMONA SHARONI
Sharoni, a visiting professor of peace studies at the University of Oregon, has served in the Israeli military. She said today: “The public debate that took place in this country at the height of the war in Vietnam and eventually contributed to its end was ignited as much by the soldiers who returned from the battlefield and shared their hellish stories as by the anti-war movement. By listening to the stories of soldiers who have fought in Iraq, we do not condone the inhuman actions they may have participated in, nor the war. Instead, we expose the reality of war and its devastating effects not only on its victims but on its perpetrators as well.”
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PAUL ROGAT LOEB
Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen and the editor of The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear. He said today: “As during the Vietnam War, ordinary citizens will have to lead. As late as 1968, not a single one of 39 major newspapers called for withdrawing American troops, and Martin Luther King got savaged when he dared to speak out against the war. The peace movement on the eve of March 2003 was far broader than any of the anti-Vietnam-War movements until the very height of those protests. Our challenge now is to recapture some of that recent momentum, and bring debate on the consequences of our continued presence [in Iraq] into every community in the country.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
David Zupan, (541) 484-9167