The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> family pride...

Posted by pancho (Guest) - Tuesday, January 16 2007, 23:53:34 (CET)
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...we played as kids in Baghdad...my cousin Irma and I.

Home-Front Battle
Dr. Arthur Clark is a neuroscientist from Calgary who has dedicated his off hours to shining the spotlight on America’s warring ways — and the propaganda machine that makes it all possible.
>by Penney Kome
>March 4, 2003

Responsible Citizen

A rabble interview with Dr. Arthur Clark

>by Penney Kome
March 3, 2003

Neuroscientist Dr. Arthur Clark agreed to an interview in his crowded office in Calgary’s premier medical facility, the Foothills Medical Complex. Clark is a co-founder and sustaining member of the Canadian Action Network to End Sanctions on Iraq (CANESI). He administers the Dr. Irma M. Parhad Fund, which has instigated and supported progressive elements in Calgary since 1995. Dr. Parhad, Dr. Clark’s Iraqi-born first wife, died of cancer in 1994 at the age of 46. She was a pathologist and founder of the Dementia Research Clinic (now known as the Cognitive Assessment Clinic) at the University of Calgary.

While the Fund provides scholarships for studies in international politics, the most visible of its activities is an annual free public lecture. Among the lecturers so far have been author and journalist Linda McQuaig, international law experts Richard Falk and Francis Boyle, and world-renowned nuclear disarmament authority Johnathan Schell. On March 14, U.K. journalist Robert Fisk will speak, and on March 15, Fisk will participate in a public round table on the subject of war propaganda.

rabble interviewer Penney Kome caught up with Dr. Clark last week.

Penney Kome: What is the purpose of the Dr. Irma M. Parhad Fund?

Dr. Clark: The Parhad programs take as their field of interest conditions and events that affect human health and well-being worldwide, with particular emphasis on circumstances that can be influenced by citizens of industrialized countries such as Canada and the United States. Implicit in that is the idea that if you can influence it, and you don’t, there is a potential issue there of failed responsible citizenship. I think that being well informed is part of what you need as a responsible citizen.

Kome: What is your own background?

Clark: I served as a Captain in the Medical Corps of the U.S. army for two years, 1971 to 1973, and thirteen months of that was in South Korea. I came to Canada in 1984. That was after going through my residency and marrying Irma Parhad, whom I met in neurology residency when were both on the faculty at Johns Hopkins. She had been born in Iraq, gone to high school in Baghdad and come to the U.S. for college and medical school. Irma had won an Alberta Heritage scholarship in research, and we came to set up a research program about Alzheimer’s disease.

Kome: Why did you help found the CANESI?

Clark: The Canadian Network to End Sanctions on Iraq was the outgrowth of a presentation to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in March of 2000. There had been a number of individuals and organizations across Canada who for years had been working to oppose sanctions and bring the sanctions to an end if possible. We were invited to give a presentation to the Committee. Bill Graham was the head of that committee at that time. Our presentation, which included effects on the civilian population of economic sanctions, led to unanimous adoption of the Fifth Report. All the major political parties on the committee voted for this report. Although imperfect, it was a step forward for a separation of economic from military sanctions and an early end of economic sanctions, and for re-establishing diplomatic relations with Iraq. [When no action followed from the report, the witnesses founded their own organization — CANESI.]

Kome: But why you?

Clark: The experience of being in the U.S. during years of the Vietnam war was an education for a lot of us. Ironically, it was during my time in the U.S. army that I had time to read about things, and to think about it. I was stationed in South Korea, and South Korea was relatively quiet at the time. By the end of the time I was in the U.S. army, it was pretty clear that something very, very wrong was being done by my own government. By the time of the Gulf War, by coincidence I had married Irma, who was from Iraq, so I was essentially educated, so the Gulf War was, “Okay, here we go again.” That’s when I decided it was time to begin spending some of my efforts and resources in educating myself, getting others aware, and participating as a responsible citizen. That’s kind of a basic issue with me. That’s why I’m involved with the issue of Iraq and other issues.

Kome: How do you respond to people who are afraid of Saddam Hussein?

Clark: Reasons [for being afraid] usually are connected to weapons of mass destruction. Many people have been working hard for years to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, starting with the U.S. nuclear stockpile. With biological weapons, it is virtually impossible to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that any country does not have biological weapons. But the context in which a large part of the discussion about the hypothetical possibility that Iraq might be developing weapons of mass destruction currently occurs is war propaganda.

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