May 24, 2007

Fresh from his latest trip to the Middle East, Dahr Jamail will speak at the Columbia Center for the Arts Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The talk is free; donations will be accepted for the sponsoring Columbia River Fellowship for Peace.

In late 2003, tired of the failure of the U.S. media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq, Dahr Jamail went there himself. Starting with a homemade press pass and e-mail, Jamail created a Web site, dahrjamailiraq.com, and began writing. His dispatches were quickly recognized as an important resource, and have been published nationally and internationally in outlets including Inter Press Service, the BBC, Democracy Now!, The Asia Times, and The Nation.

At the final session of the World Tribunal on Iraq in June 2005 (DVD available at the Hood River library), he documented U.S. violations of Fourth Geneva Convention provisions for health care in occupied countries.

Jamail has been working on a book about his experiences in Iraq. The book, “Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq,” will be published this summer.