2/16/07--Congressman Marty Meehan, who returned this month from his fourth visit to Baghdad since the beginning of the Iraq war, will headline a discussion at the Law School that focuses on his recent trip's findings. It will be held in East Wing Room120 at 5p.m. on Monday, February 26.  The discussion is entitled "Is 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell" hurting our Military Readiness in Iraq?"

Meehan conducted the study as the new chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which oversees projects targeting possible fraud and waste in the military and its operations.

Seeing American presence in Iraq as destabilizing, he advocates bringing additional allies into reconstruction efforts and creating a timetable for a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region. He has also criticized the Department of Defense's failure to provide troops with adequate and efficient technology, equipment, and logistical support. 

The discussion will also address his reintroduction of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which if passed, would repeal the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy that prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. He filed the same bill in March 2005 during the 109th Congress.

"By discharging competent service members at a time when our troops are already stretched thin, the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy incurs hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs and purges highly skilled, critical personnel from the service," said Meehan. "It is as senseless and counterproductive as it is un-American. The policy of the United States should be to fight the war on terror, not to advance the agenda of discrimination."

Meehan graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in 1978 where he studied education and political science. He also has a Master's in public administration from Suffolk University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1986.

As the First Assistant District Attorney of Middlesex County, Meehan pursued the prosecution of child abuse, domestic violence, and similar crimes. He also served as the Massachusetts Deputy Secretary of State for Securities and Corporations from 1986 to 1990. Meehan has represented the Fifth Congressional District of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993.

Aside from urging a responsible exit strategy in Iraq as well as equal rights for all people, Meehan strongly supports economic reform, clean energy, and greater access to health care coverage. As the co-chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Tobacco and Health, Meehan seeks to hold tobacco companies accountable for - and stop them from - marketing to children and misleading the public and federal agencies regarding the addictiveness of nicotine.

Please note: this event is free and open to the public.