Culminating a three-part college tour of the country, Americans
for Victory Over Terrorism will be holding a pro-war teach-in at
the Ackerman Grand Ballroom tonight at 6 p.m. to spark debate over
the war in Iraq and advocate the Bush administration’s
foreign policy.
Panelists for the teach-in include AVOT Chairman William
Bennett, James Woolsey, former CIA director, and L. Paul Bremer, a
former chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism.
AVOT, one of the few pro-war groups that actively counters
anti-war activists, has also sponsored teach-ins at George
Washington University and Columbia University, which over 600
people attended.
Jeff Kitowski, a media liaison for AVOT, said the teach-in was
unique in the pro-war, pro-government stance it was taking.
“We’re going to make a case of why we’re
fighting this war, why we must fight, and … we’re going to
support it with facts and very serious discussion and not slogans
and chants,” he said.
Kitowski added that he finds the generalizations anti-war groups
make about the U.S. government to be offensive and inaccurate.
“Among the anti-war rank there are plenty of people who
are dissenting in a way that is simply despicable. Those people
need to be rebuked from the good people, the serious people, in the
anti-war movement,” he said.
Andrew Jones, a fourth-year political science student and
chairman of the Bruin Republicans, which is the campus sponsor of
the event, said the event should be a change from the Bush-bashing
he feels transpires regularly on campus.
“They hear that kind of insanity all day. For two hours
once a year, we get to present our opinion,” said Jones, a
former Daily Bruin Viewpoint columnist.
The teach-in is open to the public and is the only
AVOT-sponsored teach-in on the West Coast.