“We’re poor people! Don’t destroy our country just to get one man…”
— Afghan refugee on National Public Radio, September 30, 2001

Middle East expert and author Phyllis Bennis will present her latest book (co-authored with David Wildman), Ending the U.S. War in Afghanistan: A Primer, followed by a Q & A. The evening is cosponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace.

Phyllis Bennis is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. Her books include Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power, the updated 2009 edition of her best-selling Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, and Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis: A Primer.

About Ending the War in Afghanistan

“Wildman and Bennis have written an invaluable guide to thought, policy, and action on Afghanistan. Their up-to-date assessments are reliable, persuasive, and should shock even the most apathetic of readers into a realization that if America walks further down the path of counterinsurgency war it will deepen the Afghan tragedy and put an end to whatever foreign policy promise remains for the Obama presidency.”
— Richard Falk

“If we rush to launch a counterattack, we run too great a risk that women, children, and other noncombatants will be caught in the crossfire. Nor can we let our justified anger over these outrageous acts inflame prejudice against all Arab Americans, Muslims, Southeast Asians, or any other people because of their race, religion, or ethnicity. Finally we must be careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. We cannot repeat past mistakes.”
— U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, September 15, 2001 upon casting the lone dissenting vote for the authorization to use force