Kirk's disturbing silence on Iraq War

It is deep in August, Congress is not in session, Mark Kirk is in the district. Next month, Congress is about to take up the greatest issue of the past few years: to be or not to be in Iraq.

Mark Kirk's constituents are greeted with a thundering silence.

For myself, at least, I have begun to discern a pattern to the silence. In my district over the past year, I've been allotted two public forums by Mr. Kirk (both on the same day, March 10, in the village of Wilmette). But 1) Iraq was not debated (at least at the Wilmette forums) unless a constituent forced the subject on Mr. Kirk by him- or herself. If I rack my brains, 2) I don't believe I've been notified of forums in any other village, nor of any district-wide forum. 3) I don't recall any public forum, anywhere, ever scheduled by Mr. Kirk primarily on the subject of Iraq.

For instance, take a look at the issue of Mark Kirk's June 2007 "10th District News." Mr. Kirk describes three town meetings. Since I live in Wilmette, I was notified of Wilmette's March 10 forums. However, I was not notified of Mount Prospect's or Lake Forest's meetings. A coincidence?

The latter two were outside my village. And presumably outside of my interest? Whatever, I was conveniently denied a chance to express my views concerning Iraq to a larger district audience.

All of this appears to be a deadly combination of divide and conquer (sending notification of forums to villages one at a time, and never for a district forum), and benign neglect (no real debate about Iraq unless it is forced, unplanned, on the agenda).

However, the Iraq Summer Campaign is coming to the rescue. It's bringing constituents together in a large public forum today (Aug. 28) at 7 p.m. A district-wide meeting on Iraq will be held at the Renaissance Hotel, 933 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook.

It will be moderated by Aaron Freeman, long-time Chicago-based political activist and commentator on National Public Radio's flagship news program "All Things Considered." (Call (847) 562-5239 for more information or e-mail: "Michael Deheeger" at illinois3@iraqsummer.org.

Congressman Mark Kirk, whose home base is Northbrook, has been invited to attend.

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, 9th District, also is coming. She'll report on her August 2007 trip to Iraq. She'll give an update on the current status of our troops and the Iraq war.

Mr. Kirk's presence is especially critical since he is one of the "secret 11" Republican Congressmen who went to President Bush in the spring of 2007 to warn about the perils of supporting the Iraq war. (Karl Rove wanted the names of these Congressmen withheld but the secret 11 were later discovered.)

As for today's forum, and for our affairs of state: let us speak.

Let the ghost of Mark Kirk hear.

Paul Wolf

Wilmette