Lunch with Seymour Hersh

On Tuesday, July 11th Alliance for Justice held a special event for students, summer legal associates, and interns in the Washington, DC area. The event was held at the National Education Association (NEA) Building at 1201 16th Street, NW. The event began at Noon and lasted about an hour and a half. The guest speaker of the lunch event was the infamous American Pulitzer Prize winner and author based in New York City, Mr. Seymour Myron Hersh.

His work first gained world-wide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover0up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. His 2004 reports on the United States Military's treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison gained much attention. In 2006 reported on the United States Military's plans for Iran, which called for the use of nuclear weapons against that country.

During this lunch session we had an intriguing discussion regarding homeland security, abuse of power, and protecting civil rights and liberties in a post-9/11 America. Mr. Hersh began with speaking in Iraq, Gaza and Jordan. He stated that no intelligence show that Iraq has a nuclear weapons program. Later saying, American fraud is prominent among ruling parties. Mr. Hersh went on to give us a little history on the chain of command. He was speaking about President Bush not acting on the terrible actions carried out by soldiers in Iraq and surrounding areas. Hersh then said that all old movies portrayed the United States positively in any war. He then said, "We don't fight wars any better that the Japs, Nips, Nazis and [any] other." Hersh told of how he spoke with one of his Pakistani friends that said no matter how much he hated a particular group in the Middle East region neither he nor his people would ever sexual humiliate another person. In the Pakistani world, once you have sexually humiliated someone you have crossed the line. Also, they seek revenge for up to 50 years later. Mr. Hersh spoke on several issues that were very interesting. I enjoyed hearing him and having the chance to hear him speak.