Ed. Note: Here is an extraordinary opportunity to hear a very knowledgeable speaker on the historical, diplomatic and military aspects of the current Iraq situation.  Knowing Mr. Galbraith personally and having heard him speak on Iraq several times, I assure you that it will be an important evening to attend.  CCB

Peter Galbraith to Speak in Belows Falls July 5

    Village Square Booksellers and Rockingham Public Library will be co-hosting an evening with author and diplomat Peter Galbraith, on Thursday July 5th at 7pm at the library. Galbraith will be discussing his critically acclaimed book, The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End (2006).

    Peter W. Galbraith’s career of humanitarian service and negotiating expertise for the United States is outstanding, exemplary and diverse. He has served as the first US Ambassador to Croatia, was actively involved in the Croatia and Bosnia peace processes and was responsible for U.S. humanitarian programs in the former Yugoslavia. He has held senior positions in the US Government and the United Nations. As a senior advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he authored many reports on ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi Kurds, US-India relations, Nuclear Proliferation in South Asia, and the Cambodian famine.

    As a senior legal advisor to United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Galbraith helped to draft treaties on biological diversity and environmental impact assessment. He has received awards for his work to protect the international environment and to promote international educational exchange.

    A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning book (Basic Books, 2002), chronicles Galbraith’s work in Iraq beginning in the early 1980’s with the exposure of Saddam Hussein's murderous "al-anfal" campaign against the Iraqi Kurds, and which led the US Senate to pass comprehensive sanctions on Iraq in 1988. During the 1991 uprising, Galbraith travelled throughout rebel-held northern Iraq, narrowly escaping across the Tigris as Iraqi forces recaptured the area. His written and televised accounts provided early warning of the catastrophe overtaking the civilian population and contributed to the decision to create a safe haven in northern Iraq. In 1992, Galbraith brought 14 tons of captured Iraqi secret police documents out of northern Iraq which detailed atrocities against the Kurds.

   In 2003, he resigned from U.S. government after 24 years of service in order to be able to criticize U.S. Iraq policy more freely .He is the author of numerous articles on Iraq.  His book, The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End (Simon and Schuster), was released July 11, 2006.

    Currently, he is the Senior Diplomatic Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and a principal at the Windham Resources Group LLC.

    Galbraith holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.A. from Oxford University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. He is the son of political economist John Kenneth Galbraith and is married to Norwegian social anthropologist Dr. Tone Bringa and has three children. He lives in Townshend, Vermont.

    This is a partnership of Rockingham Public Library and Village Square Booksellers, both in Bellows Falls Vt. Book sales benefit the Friends of the libarary. 

    This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more info (& to order books) call the bookstore at 802-463-4270 or the library at 802-463-4270.