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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>Science
and Society Colloquium Series</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>on</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>Science, Policy and the
Democratic Imagination</font> <br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=7><b>"Mr. Powell goes to
the UN"</b></font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>Speaker:</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=7>Hugh Gusterson</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>Associate Professor of Anthropology and </font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>Science and Technology Studies, MIT</font><br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>Tuesday September 21, 2004 </b></font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>4:00 pm -- 6:00 pm</b></font><br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>BELL HALL, Belfer Building, 5th Floor </font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University</font><br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><b>ABSTRACT: </b> In February 2003, shortly before the US invaded Iraq, Colin Powell presented the US case to the UN in a speech heard by an estimated 1 billion people. In making his case he drew on several resources that have recently been theorized in science studies as sources of authority in the making of scientific claims: his reputation as a gentleman, the word of witnesses, the objectivity of mechanical recording devices, and the rhetoric of fact. Subsequently, almost every allegation about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in his speech has been disproved or called into question. His speech shows the importance of trust and rhetoric in both science and politics, while its unraveling suggests a broader crisis for infrastructures of trust in the contemporary U.S.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2>Sponsored by the Kennedy School's Program on Science, Technology, and Society, in collaboration with: The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and The Center for Population and Development Studies. For more information, contact: Marybeth Long Martello, Program on Science, Technology, and Society, Kennedy School of Government; email: Marybeth_long@harvard.edu</font> </blockquote></body>
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