Wrong Way on Iran: Representative Mark Kirk Outlines a New Strategy for Human Rights and Democracy Promotion in Iran

Thirty years to the day after the taking of the U.S. hostages in Iran, in the wake of their controversial June 2009 presidential election, the regime's ensuing crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, and recent news of U.S. funding cuts for Iran democracy programs, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) offered his views on how the U.S. should approach Iran on the issues of human rights and democracy.

Rep. Kirk is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and serves on its Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, which is responsible for determining annual U.S. foreign assistance funding. Serving his fifth term in the House of Representatives, Rep. Kirk is the co-chair of the bipartisan Iran Working Group, sponsor of bipartisan legislation condemning Iran's human rights violations and chief architect of the plan to restrict gasoline to Iran in response to its violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Rep. Kirk, who holds the rank of Commander, continues to serve as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer and has served during conflicts with Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and Bosnia. He recently became the first member of Congress to serve in an imminent danger zone since 1942 when he deployed as a reservist to Afghanistan in December 2008.

Speakers

Representative Mark Kirk
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois 10^th District
Richard Solomon, Welcome and Introductions
President, U.S. Institute of Peace
Laurie Schultz Heim, Moderator
Director, Congressional Relations, U.S. Institute of Peace