Joseph Cirincione, senior associate and director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington, D.C., think tank, will be a guest speaker in two discussions today.
At noon, he will lead a special meeting of the City Club of Eugene titled “Inspections or Invasion? A Dialogue on Iraq,” in the Hellman Banquet Room of the Eugene Hilton, 66 E. 6th Ave. At 7 p.m., he will present “Inspections, Peace and War in Iraq” and answer questions in 150 Columbia.
Cirincione is an authority on inspections in Iraq and non-proliferation policies and has worked for nine years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“He’s an expert about all details behind inspections,” event organizer and University political science Professor Jane Cramer said. “He helped design the inspections.”
Cramer said Cirincione will talk about containment of Iraq without war and how a possible war would play out.
“We know that they have lots of weapons, and they can make more,” Cramer said. “All we’re preempting is Iraq’s nuclear capabilities. You can’t hide a nuclear facility really well, but you can hide a biological weapons facility. All you need is a room with a refrigerator.”
During the City Club meeting, Churchill High School social studies teacher Mike Sterling will ask Cirincione questions. Sterling recently had a editorial published in The Register-Guard in support of military action in Iraq.
Cramer said Oregon Rep. Peter Defazio might attend the City Club meeting to discuss what steps Congress members are taking to prepare for a possible war.

— Roman Gokhman