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"The War in Iraq"

The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm By Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy

Based on a two-year investigation, The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm digs into the background of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, and the hidden consequences of the more than ten years of sanctions that followed. It is based around never-before-seen documents and interviews with General Norman Schwartzkopf, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former UNISCOM team-leader Scott Ritter, and many others.

"…an uncommonly sober, well-researched film…"
Dave Kehr, The New York Times, April 20, 2001

"…a truly stunning film that questions the motives of the United States in Iraq…works hard to be a balanced documentary…"
Aaron Barnhart, Electronic Media, December 30, 2002

Guest Panelists:

Michael Alswede is on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh's Division of Emergency Medicine. He served in the Persian Gulf War and has consulted to the Defense Department and the FBI on chemical-biological warfare. Dr. Alswede's extensive community service includes his role as training officer for the City of Pittsburgh Weapons of Mass Destruction Emergency Medical Services.

Beth Osborne Daponte is Senior Research Scientist at the Heinz School of Carnegie Mellon University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Demography. Dr. Daponte has published and is a widely respected authority on estimating casualties from the 1991 Persian Gulf War and on the impact of sanctions on the health of Iraqi civilians.

Laura Hastings is Associate Director of the Global Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Political Science. Dr. Hastings speaks five languages and has conducted field research in Germany, Russia and throughout South America with a focus on economic development and world trade.

Christina Michelmore is Chairperson of the History Department at Chatham College. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Michelmore specializes in modern Middle Eastern history. She has language training in Arabic and Turkish and has spent six years living and working in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan.

Dave Bobrow is Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Bobrow specializes in international security affairs. His extensive government service includes a senior position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. His most recent book is Prospects for International Relations, published by Blackwell.

"Media Monopoly"

Rich Media, Poor Democracy Produced by the Media Education Foundation

If a key indicator of the health of a democracy is the state of its journalism, the United States is in deep trouble. In Rich Media, Poor Democracy, Robert McChesney lays the blame for this state of affairs squarely at the doors of the corporate boardrooms of big media, which far from delivering on their promises of more choice and more diversity, have organized a system characterized by a lack of competition, homogenization of opinion and formulaic programming.

Guest Panelists:

Frederick Polner is a partner with the Pittsburgh law firm of Rothman Gordon, specializing in communications, corporate, copyright and trademark law. A graduate of the Georgetown University Law School, Polner worked for several years as a staff attorney for the Federal Communications Commission. Polner has served as a contributing editor for Inside Radio and commentator for Satellite Times and Radio News.

Lynn Cullen has been a fixture on Pittsburgh television and radio since 1981. She currently hosts a daily three-hour talk radio show on WPTT 1360. Her reporting for WTAE-TV from 1981-1992 earned her an Emmy, four Golden Quills for Journalistic Excellence, and three Pennsylvania AP Broadcaster Awards. The readers of both Pittsburgh Magazine and In Pittsburgh twice have named Cullen "Best Talk Show Host in Pittsburgh".

Dr. Robert Bellamy is Associate Professor of Media Communication at Duquesne University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Bellamy has published widely on the political economy of telecommunications. He is co-author of Television and the Remote Control: Grazing on a Vast Wasteland, published by Guilford, and has a weekly on-line column for McGraw-Hill's PowerWeb.

John Haer is Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Local of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. AFTRA represents more than 600 media artists at 16 radio and TV stations, as well as freelance performers for other media. A former union organizer, negotiator and administrator in health care and public service, Haer now bargains with corporate media giants for the talent they hire.

Benjamin Perez is the founder of Abacus Communications, a company specializing in radio frequency license applications. He also is the founder of Abacus Television, owner and operator of 14 Low Power Television companies in three states, including several in Pittsburgh. A graduate of the Cornell Law School, Perez serves on the Board of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council.

"The War on Drugs"

Coca Mama Distributed by WorldLink

Filmed over a year in four countries, this powerful documentary brings us coca-growing peasants, Columbian rebels, anti-narcotic patrols, and American lawmakers. Coca Mama shows the disastrous effects of U.S. drug policy on the coca farmers in Bolivia and Columbia, who are paid by the drug cartels to grow the coca and then attacked by drug patrols using fumigation planes. On the home front, because the U.S. government refuses to give sufficient funds for therapy programs for addicts desiring treatment, our prisons are filled with young dealers and addicts.

Guests Panelists:

Carolina Belalcázar is in the Department of Administrative and Policy Studies in Education at the University of Pittsburgh. A doctoral candidate in Education, she has a Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. A native of Colombia, Belalcazar's research has addressed rationales of school drug policies in secondary schools in Bogotá and, most recently, the role of education in alternative development programs in Colombia.

Daniel M. Kovalik is Assistant General Counsel for the United Steelworkers of America. A graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, he specializes in labor and human rights claims against multinational corporations. Kovalik has served as an election observer in Nicaragua and El Salvador. He also is an organizer of the Colombia Support Network and is involved in two human rights cases on behalf of Colombian victims.

Khalid Raheem's work on behalf of social justice and against youth violence is widely known. He is the President and CEO of the National Council for Urban Peace and Justice. A lifelong community activist, Raheem was a founder of the Gang Peace Council of Western Pennsylvania. Previously, he served as Residential Treatment Counselor at the House of the Crossroads and Prevention-Intervention Specialist at both YMCA-Homewood and the Addison Terrace Learning Center.

Jonathan P. Caulkins is Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy in the Heinz School of Carnegie Mellon University. He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Caulkins' research focuses on how public policies affect problems pertaining to drugs, crime, and violence. A winner of the prestigious David R. Kershaw Award, Caulkins has testified before Congress and a variety of state legislatures on the effectiveness of drug control programs.