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CFPA presents its 8th annual
Peace is Patriotic
picnic and program
Wednesday July 2, 2008, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Princeton Monument Park
In front of Princeton Borough Hall
(Intersection of Route 206 and Nassau Street)
Peace is Patriotic Award recipients:
Keynote Speaker Col. Ann Wright
Army veteran who resigned from the Foreign Service
to protest the launch of the Iraq War
Ray Close
former CIA bureau chief, CFPA Peace Voter volunteer
Rep. Frank Pallone
consistent opponent of Iraq War and
congressional peace advocate
Featuring music and a sing-a-long by the Solidarity Singers
Preceded by Silent Prayers, sponsored by the Princeton Friends Meeting, from 5:30-6:00 in Palmer Square, which will conclude with a March to Monument Park at 6:00.
The public is invited!
Bring your own picnic: 6:00 p.m. (no alcohol allowed)
Program: 7:00 p.m.
The "Peace is Patriotic" gathering for people of all ages begins with a BYO picnic (no alcoholic beverages allowed) from 6:00-7:00 p.m. with. In addition to a picnic supper, participants are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets to sit on. The rousing Solidarity Singers will provide music and a sing-along at the event.
Participants are also encouraged to attend Silent Prayers in Palmer Square from 5:30-6:00, which will conclude with a March to Monument Park at 6:00 for the Peace is Patriotic Event.
The program will take place from 7:00-8:30.
CFPA will present a Peace is Patriotic Award to Col. (ret.) Ann Wright.
“Ann Wright is an American hero,” said Victoria Harper, Editorial Chair of truthout.com, which awarded Col. Wright its 2007 Freedom and Democracy Awards (the other two awards went to war protestors Cindy Sheehan and First Lt. Ehren Watada).
“As one of several high-ranking State Department officials to resign in protest of the Iraq War, she has worked tirelessly as a peace activist since her departure from the department in 2003," Harper said.
She is also the co-author of a recent book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience, which will be for sale at the event.
(For the rest of Col. Wright's profile, see below.)
Honoree Ray Close, Princeton, will also be presented with a Peace is Patriotic Award. Close worked for 26 years in the CIA Clandestine Service in the Middle East, and was and chief of the CIA Saudi Arabia station. He is now a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group formed in January 2003 to protest the Bush Administration’s use of faulty intelligence as a basis for invading Iraq. Close also serves as a CFPA special expert in Peace Voter briefings of political candidates, advising them on issues related to war, and peace throughout the Middle East.
Rep. Frank Pallone will be the third recipient of CFPA's Patriot for Peace Award. Rep. Pallone opposed the blank check authorization of the Iraq War in October 2002, and has fought against it since. He has one of the best Peace voting records in Congress, and has worked closedly with CFPA on a number of events as well as on peace legislation.
The program will end at 8:30 p.m., in time for participants to attend the Spirit of Princeton Fireworks at the field next to Palmer Stadium at 9:00 p.m. on Princeton’s campus.
Both the BYO picnic and the Peace is Patriotic Program are free and open to the public. Participants are encouraged to wear patriotic clothing and/or to carry patriotic symbols.
Þ In the event of rain before or during the event, the picnic will Þ be canceled and only the program will take place from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in Borough Council Chambers, Borough Hall.
Any questions, please call the CFPA office at (609) 924-5022.
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(The following is excerpted from and based on Ms. Harper’s writeup:)
Ann Wright served in the US Army for 16 years, and then in the Army Reserves for 13 years. She joined the US Foreign Service in 1987 . and served in embassies in several countries across the globe. She was a member of the first State Department team to go into Kabul, Afghanistan, to reopen the American embassy in December 2001.
Ann Wright resigned from the US Foreign Service on March 19, 2003, in protest of Bush administration policies and determination to initiate a pre-emptive war in Iraq. In her letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell on that date, one day before the onset of the US invasion of Iraq, she wrote that she could no longer represent the policies of the Bush administration regarding war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, North Korea, and the curtailment of civil liberties in the US itself, and that these policies were making the world a more dangerous place.
Since her resignation, Ann Wright has worked with other peace activists to protest the War in Iraq and the torture of prisoners held without rights at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She also stands in solidarity with soldiers who are actively resisting service in the Iraq War, and with veterans against the war, declaring that if recalled to serve, she would rather be court-martialed than participate in an "illegal war of aggression."
She holds Master's and Law degrees from the University of Arkansas and a Master's degree in National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
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