[act-ma] Oct. 23: Ford Hall Forum presents Douglas J. Feith with Jules Crittenden on "War and Decision"

[Mary Curtin]

Ford Hall Forum
presents

War and Decision:
Inside the Pentagon at the
Dawn of the War on Terrorism

Douglas J. Feith
former U.S. Undersecretary of
Defense for Policy
(2001-2005)

with
Jules Crittenden
Boston Herald city editor and columnist

Thursday, October 23, at 6:30-8:00 pm
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street

Book signing will follow lecture and discussion.

(Boston, MA) Ford Hall Forum presents “War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon
at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism” with Douglas J. Feith; moderated by
Jules Crittenden. Thursday, October 23, at 6:30-8:00 pm. Followed by an open
discussion and book signing. Admission is free and open to all. Old South
Meeting House, 310 Washington Street (corner of Milk St.), Boston, MA.
Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the State St. and
Downtown Crossing stops on the MBTA. For more information, call the Ford
Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visit HYPERLINK
"http://www.fordhallforum.org/"www.fordhallforum.org.

The following warnings appeared in a 2002 Bush administration memorandum:

*	“US could fail to find WMD on the ground in Iraq.” 
*	“Post-Saddam stabilization and reconstruction efforts by the United
States could take not two to four years, but eight to ten years.” 
*	“Iraq could experience ethnic strife among Kurds, Sunnis, and Shia…”


The author?  It was Donald Rumsfeld, former United States Secretary of
Defense, in a powerful analysis of the downsides of going to war in Iraq.
Why then, did one of the decade’s most important foreign policy decisions go
the other way?  Douglas J. Feith, former United States Undersecretary of
Defense for Policy (2001 – 2005), joins the Ford Hall Forum to discuss the
dynamics of the first Bush term, and how we make foreign policy decisions.

Background information:

Douglas J. Feith is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he heads
the Center for National Security Strategies, and a Belfer Center Visiting
Scholar at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the
author of War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on
Terrorism, published in April 2008 by HarperCollins.

As Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from July 2001 until August 2005,
he helped devise the U.S. government’s strategy for the war on terrorism and
contributed to policy making for the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. Mr.
Feith’s duties included managing the Defense Department’s international
relations and representing the Department in interagency policy making.  Mr.
Feith helped plan the worldwide changes in the U.S. defense posture, develop
new U.S. strategic partnerships with India and Pakistan, promote NATO
enlargement and reform and craft U.S. policy toward China.  Mr. Feith
advised President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld on the range of
national security issues, including the nuclear programs of North Korea and
Iran, the counter-insurgency in Colombia and Palestinian-Israeli peace
diplomacy.

Before President Bush appointed him in July 2001, Mr. Feith was for fifteen
years the managing attorney of the Washington, D.C. law firm Feith & Zell,
P.C.  In the Reagan Administration, Mr. Feith worked at the White House as a
Middle East specialist for the National Security Council and then served as
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy.

After each of his Pentagon tours, Mr. Feith received the Distinguished
Public Service Medal, the Defense Department’s highest civilian award.

Mr. Feith’s writings on foreign and defense affairs have appeared in The
Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Commentary,
The New Republic and elsewhere. He has contributed chapters to a number of
books, including James W. Muller, ed., Churchill as Peacemaker; Douglas J.
Feith, et al., Israel’s Legitimacy in Law and History; and Uri Ra’anan, et
al., eds., Hydra of Carnage: International Linkages of Terrorism.

Mr. Feith holds a J.D. (magna cum laude) from the Georgetown University Law
Center and an A.B. (magna cum laude) from Harvard College.

Jules Crittenden is a Boston Herald city editor and columnist who has
reported on politics, crime, science, maritime matters, foreign affairs and
conflict in the United States, Asia, the Balkans and the Middle East.  In
2003, he was an embedded journalist in Iraq with A Co., 4/64 Armor, 2nd Bge,
3rd ID.  He blogs at HYPERLINK
"http://www.julescrittenden.com"http://www.julescrittenden.com.

The Ford Hall Forum is the nation’s oldest free public lecture series. The
Forum promotes freedom of speech and fosters an informed and effective
citizenry through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and
discussions. Its events illuminate the key issues facing our society by
bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers,
including some of the most controversial opinion leaders of our times. These
speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings, which
facilitate frank and open debate.

The Forum began in 1908 as a series of Sunday evening public meetings held
at the Ford Hall, which once stood on Beacon Hill in Boston. While the
original building no longer exists, the public conversations have continued
throughout the Greater Boston area with the generous support of foundations,
corporations, academic institutions, and individuals. As the Forum marks its
100th Anniversary, it is embarking on a new partnership with the Suffolk
University College of Arts & Sciences. Suffolk is now housing the Forum’s
administrative offices just a block away from where the original Ford Hall
once stood.

Ford Hall Forum programs are made possible through the generous
contributions from individual members as well as corporations and
foundations, including The Boston Foundation, The Boston Public Library,
Citizens Bank, Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, CBT Architects, The Fred
and Marty Corneel Fund, Fidelity Investments, Helen Rees Literary Agency,
Houghton Chemical Corporation, Jackson & Company, Levine, Katz, Nannis +
Solomon, PC, The Lowell Institute, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Nellie
Mae Education Foundation, The Old South Meeting House, The Pfizer
Foundation, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation, Prince, Lobel, Glovksy, and
Tye, LLP, The WAND Education Foundation, WBUR, WGBH, William Gallagher
Associates.

The Ford Hall Forum presents this program in collaboration with the Old
South Meeting House, as part of their Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
Old South Meeting House is a non-profit museum and historic site, located on
the Freedom Trail, dedicated to sustaining the building’s tradition as a
community-gathering place for the free exchange of ideas and to provide a
place where people can connect the issues of the past with the issues of
today. It receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state
agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, and
other public and private sources. Visit www.oldsouthmeetinghouse.org for
more information.

For more information on the Ford Hall Forum, contact Director Alex Minier,
617-557-2007, alex at fordhallforum.org or visit HYPERLINK
"http://www.fordhallforum.org/"www.fordhallforum.org. Information about
Suffolk University’s partnership with the Ford Hall Forum can be obtained by
contacting Mariellen Norris, (617) 573-8450, mnorris at suffolk.edu. 

Ford Hall Forum
“tomorrow’s ideas, today’s conversations”

### 

--submitted by marycurtinproductions
c/o Mary Curtin
PO Box 290703, Charlestown, MA 02129
617-241-9664, 617-470-5867 (cell), HYPERLINK
"mailto:marycurtin at comcast.net"marycurtin at comcast.net
"dedicated to staging insightful entertainment, particularly in
non-traditional venues"
HYPERLINK "http://www.marycurtinproductions.com/"
\nhttp://www.marycurtinproductions.com 

 

 


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