Speech aims to show effects of American, Israeli bombs abroad
Independent journalist Urban Hamid and Boulder surgeon Gene Bolles lectured on Middle Eastern violence in Iraq and Lebanon in the Humanities building Friday.
Their presentation, titled “The Aftermath of the Iraq War,” was about the violent consequences of war. They spoke to a mainly anti-war audience.
Hamid showed a film revealing the effects of Israeli and American bombs. Scenes contained hurt children, destroyed property and subsequent protesters.
“A journalist always does the wrong thing,” Hamid said. “Instead of calling my wife, I called a newspaper.”
He also discussed the trials he faced while filming. He had one memory of his feeling following an explosion.
“I had a terrible headache,” he said. “I thought I hadn’t drunk enough. I realized later I was in a state of shock.”
Hamid criticized President Bush for his anti-terror policies. He said U.S. policy impacts more than just terrorists.
“If everyone is a terrorist, then it is working,” Hamid said.
Future U.S intervention in Iran was one worry Hamid presented.
“It’s only a matter of time before Iran gets the same treatment,” he said.
One Iranian man in the audience became upset after Hamid stated his forecast for a U.S. war in Iran. Hamid explained his position and told him, “I hope I’m wrong.”
After Hamid finished speaking, Bolles began. He presented a slideshow containing pictures of casualties from the war in Iraq. The pictures were gruesome, containing severed legs, heads and arms.
Bolles asked attendees to raise their hands if they were against the Iraq war; most of the audience did. He then asked the audience members if they were against war in general, eliciting a similar response.
The two were applauded at the end of the presentation, with one man even suggesting that Bolles should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
CU student Kevin Reinberger, a junior chemical engineering major, thought it changed few minds and repeated something the audience already knew.
“It is kind of preaching to the choir, because everybody except the one commenter seemed to agree with everything,” said Reinberger.