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Norman Solomon: The progressive author/activist from Inverness Park is in the race for Congress
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Race
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy May 31, 2011 06:53pm |
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| Category | Profile |
| Author | Jim Wood |
| News Date | Wednesday, June 1, 2011 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In late 2002, just before the U.S. invaded Iraq, author/activist Norman Solomon of Inverness Park was in Baghdad representing the Institute for Public Accuracy, a nonprofit he founded that advances the causes of progressive politics. “Congressman Nick Rahall and former Senator James Abourezk were in our delegation,” Solomon recalls, “and we were able to meet with Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister.” Days after the meeting, the Iraqi government announced that it would allow U.N. weapons inspectors back into the country for the first time in several years — a development that, for a brief time, held the potential for preventing the war that was to come.
Solomon saw the impact of having a headline maker of substance alongside him on a peace-seeking mission. And later that fall, when actor/activist Sean Penn’s open letter to President George W. Bush opposing an invasion of Iraq appeared in the Washington Post, Solomon saw a prospect. “I wrote Penn a letter,” says Solomon with a soft smile creeping across his face, “and days later he called asking if we could get together that very night.”
Their meeting, at first, unearthed big obstacles. Solomon told Penn that although he (Solomon) had the connections and experience to enter Iraq, it still would take weeks if not months to get visas and make other arrangements. “But Sean had a commitment to start filming 21 Grams very soon,” Solomon recalls. “If we didn’t move quickly, it would be too late.” |
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