mandatory to enter.*
* *
**The Middle East Before and After Annapolis: Facts on the Ground**
**_Date_: Friday, December 14, 2007**
**_Time_: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM**
**_Place_**: U.S. Capitol Building, Room HC - 8**
** **
*Last week, Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) was successful in his attempts
to hold the unusually prejudicial hearing entitled "After Annapolis:
Next Steps in the Middle East Peace Process," which featured two
prominent pro-Israel "witnesses." Rep. Lantos has been a strong advocate
of Israel in the House of Representatives and a long-time ally of AIPAC,
as well as sponsor of the war in Iraq. This biased hearing featured only
two witnesses: Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy and David Wurmser, a well-know neo-conservative and Vice
President Cheney's former adviser on the Middle East. *
*Despite hundreds of phone calls and emails to his office requesting
that he add witnesses that represent a more objective and non-partisan
policy, Congressman Lantos went ahead with this transparent display of
pro-Israel bias on the Hill. *
*As a result, the Council for the National Interest is holding a
counter-hearing in the Capitol Building this Friday afternoon.
Ambassador Robert Keeley and four other members of the fall political
pilgrimage tour of the Middle East will be holding a public forum to
give first-hand reports on the "facts and high-level attitudes on the
ground" and their implications for the Annapolis initiative. _We hope
you can join us and demonstrate to Rep. Lantos and the rest of the Hill
that the public demands fair and unbiased hearings on the Hill._*
*The delegation recently completed a five-nation trip to the Middle East
visiting Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon in exercise of
"citizen" diplomacy. Along with peace activists and non-governmental
organizations, the delegation had in-depth meetings with more than 50
high-ranking officials including** presidents, prime ministers, foreign
ministers, Knesset members, UN officials, leaders of Hamas and
Hezbollah, and others**. *
**For further information, contact Shannon O'Hara, 202 863-2951 x301**
*To RSVP, please send an email to RSVP@cnionline.org
<mailto:RSVP@cnionline.org>*
**_NOTE_: To enter the Capitol Building, we must have your name on the
RSVP list before 10:00am on Friday, December 14^th **
***Moderator***
**Ambassador Edward L. Peck* served thirty-two-years as a Foreign
Service Officer. He was Chief of Mission in Iraq and Mauritania, and an
Embassy Officer in Sweden, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. In
Washington, he served as the State Department's Deputy Coordinator for
Covert Intelligence Programs, and Deputy Director of the Cabinet Task
Force on Terrorism in the Reagan White House.*
***Speakers***
**Ambassador Robert V. Keeley* had a 34-year career in the Foreign
Service of the United States, from 1956 to 1989. He served three times
as Ambassador: to Greece, Zimbabwe, and Mauritius. He was Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in charge of southern
and eastern Africa. At his retirement in 1989 Keeley held the rank of
Career Minister. Keeley is Chairman of the CNI Foundation and works as a
free-lance writer, lecturer, and consultant.*
**Richard Bliss* is a lawyer who has practiced in Washington, D.C. for
more than 30 years and currently represents CNI on Capitol Hill. His
practice centers on legislative, regulatory and policy matters pending
before the Congress and the executive branch of the U.S. Government.
Bliss has extensive experience in matters relating to the Middle East,
sanctions policy and international trade.*
**Milton Viorst* is an American journalist and author of six books on
the subject of Middle East Policy. Viorst has contributed to
publications such as /The New Yorker/, /Foreign Affairs/, /Harper's
Magazine/, /The Atlantic/, /The New York Times Magazine/, /The
Washington Post/, and the /Wall Street Journal/. *
**Daniel Lieberman* is the editor of /Alternative Insight/, a monthly
web-based newsletter. He is also a regular contributor to several other
publications such as the Middle East Times, Transnational Foundation,
Axis of Logic, Al Arab and Countercurrents. *
**Dr. Grace Austin* is a retired professor and was the first woman in
the United States to be board certified in peridontics. Born in
Lithuania, she is dedicated to educational travel and is a life long
private citizen student and observer of Middle East affairs and US
foreign policy. *
**Marlina Garrett* joined the Council for the National Interest in July
2007 as the Communications and Legislative Director. She is a graduate
of New York University with a degree in Middle Eastern and Islamic
Studies, Anthropology. She has previously lived and studied in the region.*
Council for the National Interest
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1 · Washington, DC 20024
800.296.6958 · 202.863.2951 · Fax: 202.863.2952
http://cnionline.org/
<http://salsa.democracyinaction