I just came back from a discussion on Iran and US Foreign Policy with Scott Ritter and former US Diplomat Edward Peck, hosted by Cleveland Peace Action at Trinity Cathedral in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio. After some brief introductory words, Scott Ritter gave a 20-minute presentation about the looming US military action against Iran. He spoke about how, at the same time gwb was landing in Israel drumming up support for his "pre-emptive" attack, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed el Baradai was landing in Tehran to meet with Amindinijad, The Ayatollah and other top Iranian leaders to discuss their alleged nuclear program. The FACT is that Iran is WINDING DOWN their nuclear program, but you would never know it listening to or reading the US Press. Ritter explained the mechanism of public opinion used to trump up the war in Iraq (the MSM) is THE SAME ONE being used to make the case against Iran, the only difference being Iraq & WMD and Iran & nuclear weapons program.

He said they will pass a UN resolution and (predictably) Iran will ignore it. Then they'll pass another resolution and another and another until the US finally will finally declare "Iran is in violation of X number of UN resolutions (16 with Iraq) so we must act to disarm Iran".

About the US Peace Movement, Scott made the analogy of FIRE and FIREFIGHTERS. We SUPPORT firefighters! We DO NOT support arsonists or house fires. We support Fire PREVENTION. The same can be said of the Peace Movement's support of the military. We SUPPORT our military but we do NOT support WAR! Therefore we need to rebrand ourselves as the WAR PREVENTIONISTS, he told us.

Next up was Ambassidor Edward Peck, a disarming and charming "elder statesman" (wiki here - "served as Chief of Mission in Baghdad (Iraq 1977 to 1980) and later held senior posts in Washington and abroad. He also served as a Foreign Service Officer in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, and as Ambassador in Mauritania. At the State Department he served as Deputy Director of Covert Intelligence Programs, Director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. He served as deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan Administration." Impressive.) He began by saying that Ritter was a tough act to follow and that he has a sense of humor, a trait that has sometimes "hindered" his diplomatic missions but nonetheless that what he was about to tell us was serious. He told us about how the US has tried over and over (especially in the Middle East) to impose "democracy" at the point of a bayonet. He emphasized how PERCEPTION can be FAR DIFFERENT from reality, but PERCEPTION is what causes people to act. He, too, predicted the MESS that would become today's Iraq, and was interviewed on NPR about this prediction. The interviewer asked if he was proud about his prediction and he said was very disappointed that he was RIGHT. Mr. Peck also spoke at length about our educational system and our media, where we are not taught or told about things outside our borders. He emphasized how we were more interested in consumerism and entertainment. This lays the groundwork for things like the war and occupation in Iraq to happen. He explained that it's 5,000 km from San Francisco to New York (3,000 miles) and we only have TWO borders; the next country is THOUSANDS of miles away! People here are by-and-large fat and happy and (wrongly) ASSUME that the rest of the world wants to be like us. They are disconnected from our government and the rest of the world. Brazil, he educated us, borders EVERY COUNTRY in South America except two! They get along better because they have common interests and talk to each other.

Ed then talked about the Iraqi Constitution and how he's heard how great it is for the people of Iraq. At a conference he attended someone asked him what he thought about Iraq having a constitution "just like ours". He responded, "Oh they'll have slavery for 'four score seven' years? And wait another four score for women to have the right to vote?" (Yeah, he is disarmingly funny, as this comment sent chuckles throughout the crowd or 200+). Then he asked the crowd what year the US thought it would be a good idea to ELECT US Senators instead of the states' assemblies to choose their Senators. Several shouted out "1912!" and Ed said "Very good!" He brought the analogy up to the Civil Rights Movement, that in 200 years Iraq just might have a US-styled Democracy.

Ed told us what an absurd idea it was to partition Iraq and reeled off all the minor sects of the Big Three Oil Religions who would not know which partition to settle in. He talked about another conference he spoke at and a woman stood up during Q&A and said " I HATE Muslims! They are responsible for blood and death!" He rejoindered her, "Oh, there are Muslims in Northern Ireland?" She added, "They kill their own!" Ed shot back at her, "Muslims were responsible for the deaths of millions during the Civil War? I didn't know that!" Then he added Cyprus and Germany and several more countires and concluded that this woman was an all-opportunity bigot. He says that there are 176 different recognized religions in the world and can only ONE be right? Perception, indeed. Ed demonstrated his vast knowledge of World Politics with such wit that he was engaging, serious and humerous all at the same time! I could certainly "have a beer" with Ed for at least a 12-pack! For a flavor of Edward Peck, check out his interview on Democracy Now! NATIONAL EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Talks With Former US Diplomats on Israel, Prisoners and Hezbollah’s Founding <---- ON EDIT: This link is fixed - go to 22:00 into the show. Watch. WOW.

Q&A followed and went way over the hour we were allotted, got a half hour more and went over that!

Since this is all from memory (didn't take notes) there were a few highlights from the Q&A that stood out.

BOTH Ritter and Peck think the 911 Commission Report is incomplete and are demanding a new investigation.

A young lady described herself as a student from Case Western, born in Iran, raised in the US and the head of the Persian Student Group. She never learned SQUAT about her country in our school system and had to ask her parents for this history. Further, she was genuinely dismayed over students' apathy. Ritter challenged the audience, "How many have READ the Constitution?" Several hands went up. "How many can pass with 80% on a test what it says?" Not so many. Scott said that this is typical of America at-large. "if you don't know what you're fighting for, you're afraid" (another subset of what the entire talk was about). Scott was ADAMANT that we follow The Rule Of LAW as outlined in the Constitution (BillORightsMan would have loved this rant!). He also emphasized this same roadmap to the question of impeachment, likening it to an Old West horse wrestler: "He stole his horse!" "String 'em up!" As the body hung twitching, the owner of the horse said, "I loaned him the horse". So we MUST follow the Constitution and find out if there IS any evidence of "high crimes and misdimeanors". I shouted out, "Wexler Wants Hearings dot com"!

Gosh, I'm drained writing this all, and I know I left out some fantastic stuff. If you get a chance to see Scott Ritter and Ed Peck, they are touring the country, in support of his new book Target Iran. You can find the itinerary at Tour of Duty (looks like we were one of the last stops - check back for new dates!), but definitely go see and participate! Scott Ritter will be in Phoenix on February 23rd with Mike Malloy (see KPHX Announcement & tickets).