Iraq and Afghanistan: An Accounting

Dr. Andrew J. Bacevich will give a talk on “Iraq and Afghanistan: An Accounting” on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 7:30 PM. The talk is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group and is open to the public.

Andrew J. Bacevich is professor of history and international relations at Boston University. A graduate of the U. S. Military Academy, he received his Ph. D. in American diplomatic history from Princeton. Before joining the faculty of Boston University in 1998, he taught at West Point and at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Bacevich is the author of several books, including The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008), The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (2005) and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy (2002). He is the editor of The Long War: A New History of U. S. National Security Policy since World War II (2007) and Imperial Tense: Problems and Prospects of American Empire (2003). His essays and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of scholarly and general interest publications to include The Atlantic Monthly, The Wilson Quarterly, The London Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and The New Republic. His op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, and Los Angeles Times among other newspapers. Dr. Bacevich is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The talk is being held at the United Church in Walpole in the Bradford Lewis Hall. People should park in the parking lot to the right of the church, using the driveway after the Center for Community Counseling and Education, and enter the church using the right side door.

Violence in a Peacemaking World

Claude AnShin Thomas, the author of the best selling book “AT HELL'S GATE: A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace” will speak on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 7:30 PM at the United Church in Walpole. The talk is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group. In this talk Claude AnShin recounts his dramatic coming-of-age story and spiritual odyssey from combat soldier to Zen Buddhist Monk, International Advocate of Nonviolence, and Author. He offers profound insight into ways we can transform suffering and violence in our own lives and therefore in our world. His struggle to deal with the trauma of his childhood and the war in Vietnam and to find personal peace and spiritual insight is a prism through which to view America over the last thirty years – our difficulty in coming to terms with the legacy of Vietnam, our spiritual hunger, and our need to come to terms with our massive power and our use of violence.

“Everyone has their Vietnam,” Claude writes, “everyone has experienced trauma and everyone, if they want, can find healing and peace through looking deeply at the nature of their suffering. War is a collective expression of individual suffering.” The seeds of war and violence are planted early and often, and it is only through our actions and insights personally that we can hope to end war globally. What is startling in these days of the “war on terrorism” is that we rarely hear from the soldiers themselves. As a highly decorated helicopter crew chief who was wounded in battle and received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart, Claude AnShin speaks with an authenticity and an honesty that is extremely compelling to a wide audience. He can speak with direct experience about the realities of war, about what we are sending young men and women to do, and about the effect that making war has on all of us.

The public talk is being held at the United Church in Walpole in the Bradford Lewis Hall. People should park in the parking lot to the right of the church, using the driveway after the Center for Community Counseling and Education, and enter the church using the right side door.