Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control

How to Lobby our way out of war with Iran

Interview with Medea Benjamin, CodePink and Kate Gould, Friends Comittee on National Legislation

June 8, 2012 at 9 AM

on KBOO 90.7 FM

Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of both CODEPINK and the international human rights organization Global Exchange.  She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 30 years. Described as "one of America’s most committed -- and most effective -- fighters for human rights" by New York Newsday, and called "one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement" by the Los Angeles Times, Medea has distinguished herself as an eloquent and energetic figure in the progressive movement. In 2005 she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide. In 2010 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Since the September 11, 2001 tragedy,  Medea has been working to promote a U.S. foreign policy that would respect human rights and gain us allies instead of contributing to violence and undermining our international reputation.  In 2000, she was a Green Party candidate for the California Senate.  During the 1990s, Medea focused her efforts on tackling the problem of unfair trade as promoted by the World Trade Organization. Widely credited as the woman who brought Nike to its knees and helped place the issue of sweatshops on the national agenda, Medea was a key player in the campaign that won a $20 million settlement from 27 US clothing retailers for the use of sweatshop labor in Saipan. She also pushed Starbucks and other companies to start carrying fair trade coffee.

Her work for justice in Israel/Palestine includes taking numerous delegations to Gaza after the 2008 Israeli invasion, organizing the Gaza Freedom March in 2010, participating in the Freedom Flotillas and opposing the policies of the Israel lobby group AIPAC. In 2011 she was in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising and In 2012 she was part of a human rights delegation to Bahrain in support of democracy activists; she was tear-gassed, arrested and deported by the Bahraini government. 

A former economist and nutritionist with the United Nations and World Health Organization, Benjamin is the author/editor of eight books. Her latest book is called Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, and she has been campaigning to get lethal drones out of the hands of the CIA. Her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet and OpEd News. Medea can be reached at: medea[@]codepink.org.

Kate Gould is the Legislative Associate for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a Quaker lobby in the public interest fielding the largest registered team of peace lobbyists in Washington, D.C.  Kate is one of only a handful of registered lobbyists working to prevent war with Iran, and she also lobbies on Israel/Palestine peace.  She is originally from Oregon and has lived and worked in the Middle East.  Kate is a board member of Churches for Middle East Peace, and is a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus and other media outlets.  

Previous shows are available at: www.VoicesoftheMiddleEast.com

Aired on April 13, 2012 at 9 AM

KBOO 90.7 fm 

Muhammad Sahimi is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and holds the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Sahimi received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tehran and after briefly working for the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), he received a scholarship from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and travelled to the USA, where he has since remained, completing his PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1984.  Since 2003, Dr. Sahimi has frequently written on the subject of Iranian politics, particularly the Iranian nuclear program. His writings have been published in Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, the Harvard International Review, and The Progressive.

Previous shows are available at: www.VoicesoftheMiddleEast.com

A live interview with Professor William Beeman, University of Minnesota, and Reza Marashi, Policy Director with National Iranian American Council on issues related to sanctions and threats of war with Iran.  Panel also reviewed President Obama's change of policy on Iran from negotiations to pressure and hostile track.

Reza Marashi joined NIAC in 2010 as the organization’s first Research Director.  He came to NIAC after four years in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.  Prior to his tenure at the State Department, he was an analyst at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) covering China-Middle East issues, and a Tehran-based private strategic consultant on Iranian political and economic risk. Marashi is frequently consulted by Western governments on Iran-related matters.  His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, The National Interest and Al Jazeera, among other publications. He has been a guest contributor to the BBC, NPR, Financial Times, Reuters, and ABC News, among other broadcast outlets.  Follow Reza on Twitter: @rezamarashi

“Diplomatic Stalemate and Democratic Revolts: Making Sense of a Middle East in Transition,” 

Rami G. Khouri (www.ramikhouri.com), editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star and an award-winning journalist and scholar, talked at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland, co-sponsored by PCC’s Internationalization Initiative among others!

Rami is a Palestinian-Jordanian and US citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is the Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.  He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and author. Rami was a visiting scholar at Stanford University in October 2006, and in November 2006, he was the co-recipient of the Pax Christi International Peace Award for his efforts to bring peace and reconciliation to the Middle East.

This is the Q&A after the lecture that Mr. Khouri answered many questions that explain current situation in the region.