Perpetual War, 18 Years & Counting: The Legal, Ethical, Historical and Pragmatic Considerations

Coleen Rowley grew up in New Hampton, Iowa, graduated from Wartburg College and from the University of Iowa College of Law, then became a FBI Special Agent and eventually the Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel.  After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, she became a whistleblower in connection with her testimony to the 9-11 Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry and to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding a main failure of the FBI that helped enable the attacks.  For this she was named one of TIME Magazine's three "Persons of the Year" in 2002. In 2003 she tried to alert the FBI Director that the 9-11 attacks were being used as a false pretext for the disastrous war on Iraq but this notification fell on deaf ears.  Rowley retired in 2004 and began speaking and writing on these same issues. 

Danny Sjursen is a retired US Army officer and regular contributor to Antiwar.com. His work has appeared in the LA Times, The Nation, Huff Post, The Hill, Salon, Truthdig, Tom Dispatch, among other publications. He served combat tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at his alma mater, West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet.

Additional support provided by: UI Center for Human Rights & Veterans for Peace, Chapter 161 UI Military, the Honors Center & Veteran Student Services