Executive Director

Tim Goodrich grew up in Buffalo, NY and was deployed to the Middle East several times during his enlistment. During these deployments, Goodrich participated in Operation Southern Watch (enforcement of southern no-fly zone over Iraq) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). Upon return from Operation Enduring Freedom, his unit took part in Operation Noble Eagle, or homeland defense operations.

On Goodrich's final deployment, he took part in and witnessed the bombing of Iraq prior to the ground invasion, while at the same time, President Bush was still declaring that diplomacy would be used. Following his return to the United States, Goodrich completed his enlistment and was honorably discharged.

Wanting to see the war from a different perspective, Goodrich returned to the Middle East, where he traveled to Baghdad as a civilian. He is the only known person to have had involvement with the war and to have returned. Shortly thereafter, Goodrich co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War. Since then, he has become increasingly involved in politics and worked on a congressional campaign in California.

Advisory Board

Abdul Henderson is a native of Los Angeles, CA and served six years in the Marine Corps Reserve as a Forward Observer specializing in close air support and artillery fire. In Iraq, Henderson earned numerous awards for his valiant service when he assisted in the rescue of British soldiers who were under attack. He reached the rank of Corporal before being discharged from the military due to an injury sustained during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2004 Henderson published his book, From the Frontline, documenting his experience in Iraq.

Henderson currently works in Washington, D.C. as the District Representative for Veteran's Affairs for Congresswoman Diane E. Watson where he is responsible for advocating for veterans in the 33rd District in California, ensuring that they receive the care, support, recognition and dignity they deserve for their service.

Ann Wright served for 29 years in the Army and Army Reserves where she served primarily in special operations units and attained the rank of colonel. While on military duty in 1983 and 1984 in Grenada, she was on the US Army's International Law team and participated in civil reconstruction work following the US "rescue" mission. In the mid-1980s, Colonel Wright headed the Civic Action and Humanitarian Action office of the US Southern Command and coordinated civic action projects in Honduras and Panama.

She joined the Foreign Service in 1987 and served as Deputy Chief of Mission of US Embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia and briefly in Afghanistan. She received the State Department's Award for Heroism for her actions during the evacuation of 2500 persons from the civil war in Sierra Leone, the largest evacuation since the evacuation of Saigon in 1974. Ms. Wright was on the first State Department team to go to Kabul, Afghanistan. She helped reopen the US Embassy in Kabul in December, 2001 and worked in Afghanistan for five months. Ms. Wright's other overseas assignments include Somalia with both the US mission and as chief of the Justice Division (reconstituting the Somali police, judicial and prison systems) of the United Nations mission to Somalia, and with US Embassies in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada, and Nicaragua.

Ms. Wright has a Masters Degree and Law Degree from the University of Arkansas and a Master's in National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.

Daniel Ellsberg was born in Detroit in 1931. After graduating from Harvard in 1952 with a B.A. Summa cum Laude in Economics, he studied for a year at King's College, Cambridge University, on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.

Between 1954 and 1957, Ellsberg spent three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as rifle platoon leader, operations officer, and rifle company commander.

From 1957-59 he was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows, Harvard University. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard in 1962 with his thesis, Risk, Ambiguity and Decision.

In 1959, he became a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation, and consultant to the Department of Defense and the White House, specializing in problems of the command and control of nuclear weapons, nuclear war plans, and crisis decision-making.

He joined the Defense Department in 1964 as Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs) John McNaughton, working on Vietnam. He transferred to the State Department in 1965 to serve two years at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, evaluating pacification on the front lines.

On return to the RAND Corporation in 1967, he worked on the Top Secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

Since the end of the Vietnam War he has been a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era and unlawful interventions.

Garett Reppenhagen served as cavalry scout and sniper in the Army's 1st Infantry Division during the Iraq War from 2004 to 2005. His military career also includes a nine month peacekeeping tour in Kosovo and sniper training at the International Interdiction Course in Germany.

Upon returning from Iraq, Reppenhagen became a leader in the veterans' rights movement, focusing on the serious problems encountered by service members and veterans, especially the growing number of physically and psychologically wounded veterans.

Reppenhagen resides in Washington, DC, where he is the Veterans Outreach Coordinator for Veterans for America.

Howard Zinn is a veteran, historian, and political scientist. As a young adult, Howard worked as a shipyard worker and labor organizer in the Brooklyn shipyards. Later, he flew bombing missions aboard a B-17 in Europe during World War II. After the war, Zinn attended New York University on the GI Bill, graduating with a B.A. in 1951 and Columbia University, where he earned an M.A. (1952) and Ph.D. in history with a minor in political science (1958). In 1964, he joined the faculty at Boston University where he taught history and civil liberties until 1988. Author of 20 books, including the popular A People's History of the United States, Zinn is Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University.

Rafael A. "Raf" Noboa is a writer, student, and political activist. A veteran of the Iraq War, Noboa is currently studying for a B.A. in History. He served in the U.S. Army for almost 7 years, and along the way, served in some of the worlds most dangerous locations, ranging from Iraq's Sunni Triangle to the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Having returned from Iraq, Noboa decided to resume his political activities, and has since been working for the election of various candidates, including the Ned Lamont campaign in Connecticut. Naboa also works to ensure that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are properly cared for.

Noboa resides in Colorado and Washington, DC.

Sean O'Neill is a decorated Marine who served in Iraq twice, first during the 2003 invasion, and the second from March to July 2004. On his second deployment, he was wounded in a firefight, and received the Purple Heart. He has also been awarded the Navy Achievement Medal (with Combat "V") and Combat Action Ribbon.

O'neill is currently living in California where he attends UC Berkeley.

Honorary Advisory Board

Rep. Lynn Woolsley has been a passionately outspoken opponent of the Iraq war. She introduced the first resolution calling for our troops to be brought home and convened the first congressional hearing on military exit strategies.

Rep. Woolsey believes that ending the Iraq war must be the beginning of a complete re-evaluation of U.S. national security policy. She has proposed the Sensible Multilateral American Response to Terrorism (SMART Security), which puts an emphasis on peaceful resolution of international conflict. SMART would keep Americans safe through stronger global alliances and improved intelligence capabilities, as opposed to pre-emptive military strikes. SMART also calls for the United States to live up to its nonproliferation obligations, and it includes an ambitious humanitarian development agenda to address the hopelessness and oppression that give rise to terrorism in the first place.

Rep. Barbara Lee has been one of the most vocal members of Congress in relation to the war in Iraq and is the sponsor of legislation that is in line with the objectives of Iraq Veterans for Progress. House Concurrent Resolution 197 would declare that it is the policy of the U.S. not to have permanent military bases in Iraq and House Resolution 82 disavows the doctrine of preemptive war

As the daughter of a veteran, Congresswoman Lee is committed to ensuring that our veterans are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, and that our government honors their service and sacrifices not just in words, but in deeds.

She believes we must honor our moral obligation to our veterans and returning soldiers by providing the health care, pensions and benefits that they deserve. She has consistently fought to make sure that veterans get the health care, disability benefits and spousal benefits they earned and has worked to eliminate the back log of disability and other benefit claims that plague the system today.

Congresswoman Lee is a strong supporter of the GI Bill of Rights for the 21st Century, a Democratic measure that makes healthcare accessible and affordable for our veterans, reduces waiting times on disability claims, ends the Disabled Veterans’ Tax and the Military Families Tax, and modernizes and enhances GI Bill education and job training programs.