30 Minutes Bay Area

The U.S. Department of Peace

Reporter: Dana King

Producer: Craig Franklin

30 Minutes Bay Area
Sunday, December 18th, 6:30pm

RELATED
Official Site: Department Of Peace

SCRIPT:


"PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TOWARDS MEN?"
DOES THAT SEEM LIKE JUST A HOLIDAY WISH IN THESE TIMES OF WAR AND TERRORISM?
SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO GIVE PEACE A BETTER CHANCE...BY MAKING IT AN OFFICIAL PART OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
A NEW, CABINET LEVEL "DEPARTMENT OF PEACE"--THAT THEY HOPE WILL HELP TURN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT INTO A YEAR-ROUND EFFORT.

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PACKAGE
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{{Dana King TRACKS}}
THE ONLY TIME JUDY KIMMEL SEES VIOLENCE, IS ON TELEVISION.
JUDY AND HER DAUGHTER WHITNEY ARE FRIENDS OF MINE--AND FELLOW ROWERS.

{{Judy Kimmel}}
"I just think it's a great metaphor for how the world can work, how people can work together for a common goal."

I'VE ONLY KNOWN JUDY AS A SOFT-SPOKEN MARIN COUNTY WIFE AND MOTHER.

{{SOT Judy at peace meeting}}
"Oh just so you know, there's a national conference call every first Tuesday of every month."

SO I WAS SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT SHE SPENDS UP TO 60 HOURS A WEEK--MOSTLY UNPAID-- RECRUITING, SPEAKING, LOBBYING FOR A NEW "DEPARTMENT OF PEACE."
PEOPLE'S REACTIONS WHEN THEY FIRST HEAR OF THE IDEA?

{{Judy Kimmel}}
JUDY: "Oh peace (ROLLS HER EYES) oh--"
DANA: "They can't believe it, like you're kidding me."
JUDY: "No! I get it every day! I get it all the TIME!"

THAT'S BECAUSE MANY PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT PEACE ARE SKEPTICAL OF PEACE MOVEMENTS--FROM THE TIE-DYED HIPPIES OF THE 1960's...TO THE CINDY SHEEHAN MARCHERS OF TODAY.
JUDY SAYS WHAT MAKES HER MOVEMENT DIFFERENT IS THAT SHE'S TRYING TO MAKE PEACE A MAJOR INSTITUTION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.

{{Judy}}
"And we're very aware that, in order to get ANYTHING through the House or the Senate, it can't be something that's perceived as being hippy-dippy."

WHAT WOULD A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE DO?
FOR STARTERS IT WOULD ADVISE THE PRESIDENT ON STRATEGIES TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS WITHOUT USING VIOLENCE... NOT ONLY AROUND THE WORLD--BUT HERE AT HOME TOO.

{{Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio}}
"The idea of a Department of Peace sets the stage for a transformation of who we are as a nation and as a people."

OHIO CONGRESSMAN DENNIS KUCINICH RECENTLY INTRODUCED A BILL TO ESTABLISH THE NEW DEPARTMENT.
IT'S NOT A NEW IDEA.
GEORGE WASHINGTON CONSIDERED IT, AND THERE'VE BEEN MORE THAN A HUNDRED SUCH PROPOSALS SINCE.
BUT WHILE THE HALLS OF CONGRESS ARE FILLED WITH MEMORIALS TO DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIERS, KUCINICH'S PEACE PROPOSAL HAS BEEN LARGELY IGNORED.

{{Congressman Jeff Flake, R-Arizona}}
"It will gather dust on a shelf. And frankly, I think that's rather as it should be."

EVERYONE WANTS PEACE, SAYS ARIZONA CONGRESSMAN JEFF FLAKE--BUT SAYS 8 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FOR ANOTHER BLOATED BUREACRACY IS WASTEFUL, IMPRACTICAL, AND NAIVE IN THESE DANGEROUS TIMES.

{{Jeff Flake}}
"A Department of Peace suggests that we're not willing to fight. That's the last thing that we want to portray. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find an instance where, having a Department of Peace to, I dunno, go around and hug people or whatever else, would have averted the WAR."

{{Dennis Kucinich}}
"What could have been more impractical than a war that did not have to be fought. That's taken over 2000 lives of American soldiers. That's taken over 16,000 American casualties. That's cost perhaps as many as 100,000 Iraqi lives. That has separated us from the world community. Peace is practical. War is NOT."

{{Walter Cronkite}}
"Everything that is difficult might be said to be naive I suppose, if it's idealistic. This is idealistic."

WALTER CRONKITE HAS A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT IDEA.

{{SOT, quick FILE nat sound of Cronkite talking about moon landing}}
"Well there's a foot on the moon..."

THE ANCHORMAN WHO ONCE BROUGHT US NEWS OF MOON LANDINGS AND ASSASSINATIONS STILL HAS AN OFFICE AT C-B-S.
RECENTLY HE PROPOSED REORGANIZING THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT INTO A NEW DEPARTMENT OF PEACE.
HE SAYS THERE SHOULD ALSO BE A "PEACE ACADEMY"--A COUNTERPOINT TO WEST POINT--WHERE "PEACE CADETS" WOULD STUDY CONFLICT MANAGEMENT.

{{Cronkite}}
"Let's get ACTIVE, into the business of achieving peace in the world. I don't see how anybody can argue with that. (CHUCKLES) It seems so obvious to me."

THE CLOSEST THING NOW TO A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE IS HERE--THE UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE.
SOME CALL IT THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN WASHINGTON.
IT WAS SIGNED INTO LAW BY THE MAN WHO BROKE UP THE SOVIET UNION, WITH THE BIGGEST MILITARY BUILD-UP IN RECENT HISTORY--RONALD REAGAN.

{{FILE, Ronald Reagan}}
"Mr. Gorbachev--Tear down that wall!"

THE U. S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE IS A NON-PARTISAN GOVERNMENT AGENCY THAT WORKS FULL TIME ON PRACTICAL WAYS TO KEEP PEACE IN THE WORLD.
RICHARD SOLOMON IS THE INSTITUTE'S PRESIDENT.

{{Richard Solomon, President, the U.S. Institute of Peace}}
"We've trained several hundred of the senior officials in Iraq who will be taking over their ministries--to deal with the problems of managing a multi-ethnic society that's been torn apart by war."

SOLOMON SAYS THAT PEOPLE OFTEN THINK OF "PEACE MAKING" AS A WEAK WAY TO PROTECT AMERICA.
BUT HE SEES IT AS KEEPING US SAFE BY MANAGING CONFLICT.

{{Solomon}}
"You don't have to be a cynic to see that conflict is just part of the human condition. And our work is never going to stop because you're never gonna have 'peace' in the sense of a world without conflict. We realize it's always there. Our challenge is to DEAL with conflict so it doesn't turn violent."

{{Pamela Keeton, Lieutenant Colonel Army Reserve, Public Affairs Director for U.S. Institute of Peace}}
"Peace is not a sexy thing, like being a fighter pilot or sailing an aircraft carrier."

LIEUTENANT COLONEL PAMELA KEETON FOUND HERSELF STRUGGLING TO KEEP THE PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN--BUT WITH NO REAL TRAINING.
NOW SHE WORKS FOR THE INSTITUTE OF PEACE, WHICH RECENTLY STARTED TRAINING OUR MILITARY IN PEACEKEEPING TECHNIQUES.

{{Keeton}}
"It's just not as easy anymore as a well-placed bomb somewhere in the world. Now you have to go in to actually WORK with the people, to resolve their conflict ON the ground, and BUILD a government that everybody can live with. So they can have a functional society. It's much more difficult to do that than to drop a bomb."

RECENTLY, CONGRESS FUNDED A NEW BUILDING FOR THE INSTITUTE OF PEACE, NEAR THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.
BUT DENNIS KUCINICH SAYS THE INSTITUTE STILL LACKS THE STATURE AND CLOUT OF A FULL-FLEDGED DEPARTMENT OF PEACE.

{{Dennis Kucinich}}
"I mean God bless them for the work they do. But they get a SMALL amount of money for funding. What I'm speaking of is a cabinet level position that raises non-violence to the level of a social endeavor."

{{Jeff Flake}}
"We have a lot of federal programs to do these kind of things already. And frankly, you'd be hard-pressed to say that they're giving us much bang for the buck. So, I'm very skeptical."

{{SOT of S.F. candlelight peace vigil with Judy Kimmel; woman reading names of dead soldiers}}

JUDY KIMMEL KNOWS IT MAY TAKE YEARS TO GET A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE.
BUT THE STAKES ARE REAL, AND SHE FEELS MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE READY TO DO MORE THAN CELEBRATE PEACE JUST ONCE A YEAR.

{{Judy Kimmel}}
"I'm very passionate about this. and I want it to work. And I want to have a wonderful world for my daughters. I mean, that's the least we can give them."