NANCY LESSIN
Lessin is co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. She said today: “April has been an exceedingly violent month with at least 104 U.S. troops killed and we don’t know how many Iraqis. This is almost as high as during the offensives against Fallujah. Contrary to the White House line that we need to give their latest escalation more time, it’s clear that the occupation is not calming down the violence, it’s helping to cause the violence.” Lessin is in contact with numerous families of U.S. troops who are in Iraq.
More Information
DAVID MacMICHAEL
MacMichael, a former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, is a member of the steering committee of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, which — beginning in 2002 — scrutinized Bush administration claims regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He is available to assess former CIA Director George Tenet’s recent statements.
ANITA WEISS
Co-editor of the book Power and Civil Society in Pakistan and professor of international studies at the University of Oregon, Weiss said today: “The White House response to Saturday’s suicide bombing in Charsadda, Pakistan, only serves to aggravate and polarize matters. I have been conducting research in this area for several years. Suicide bombings did not happen in Pakistan until recently. U.S. attacks into tribal areas and viewing almost everything as part of a pro- or anti-U.S. divide makes matters increasingly difficult for honest local politicians who want to find a nuanced position that rejects Islamist extremism but also does not agree with U.S. policies.
“There will be a lot of accusations in the coming days — against the provincial MMA Islamist coalition government for not safeguarding the area, against tribal extremists, and against anti-U.S. elements — but U.S. actions in Pakistan’s tribal areas which frequently result in civilian deaths have to be viewed as having some culpability here as well.”
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
