Final installment of SU’s educational series on War in Iraq will feature discussion on post-war reconstruction

Final installment of SU’s educational series on War in Iraq will feature discussion on post-war reconstructionApril 17, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The reconstruction of Iraq will be the focus of the final installment of the Syracuse University Forum: War in Iraq on Thursday, April 24. The forum will begin at 7 p.m. in Studio A of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and is open to the public. Those attending should use the Waverly Avenue entrance of the building.

“When It’s Over, Is It Over?” will feature David Bennett, Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of history in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; Donna Arzt, Bond, Schoeneck & King Distinguished Professor in SU’s College of Law; and Keith Watenpaugh, assistant professor of history and deputy director of the Institute of Peace Studies at LeMoyne College. The forum will be moderated by Sidney “Skip” Greenblatt, assistant director for advising and counseling at the University’s Slutzker Center for International Services.

Bennett will speak on “After Iraq: The Implications of the Bush Doctrine.” He is an expert in modern American history, modern military history and the American far right. His published works include “The Party of Fear: The American Far Right from Nativism to the Militia Movement” (1995) and “The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History” (1988).

Arzt will speak on the obligations of an occupying force and the treatment of prisoners of war. She has an extensive background in human rights law, both in the Soviet Union and Middle East, and received the Michael J. Tryson Memorial

Award for Excellence and Leadership in the field. She serves as director of the College of Law’s Center for Global Law and Practice and is director of the Lockerbie Trial~Families Project.

Watenpaugh will address the issues of reconstruction from a cultural and ethnic perspective. He teaches courses in world history, Middle Eastern and Islamic history, and has spent several years conducting research and living in the Middle East. He recently returned from a trip to Iraq.

Since January, the Syracuse University Forum: War in Iraq has featured seven individual forums aimed at educating the community about the many facets of the conflict between the U.S. and Iraq. Previous forum topics included an historical overview of Iraq; discussions on media coverage of the war, foreign policy and civil liberties; a panel in which students offered their perspectives; and a forum on strategy, tactics and ethics.