STEPHEN ZUNES Zunes was part of a private two-hour meeting today with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Zunes is Middle East editor of Foreign Policy in Focus, a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, and the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism. More Information IAN WILLIAMS Author…

CHRIS KUTALIK Editor of Labor Notes magazine, based in Detroit Michigan, Kutalik said today: “Many have portrayed the national strike launched at General Motors as something that fell from the sky. For United Auto Workers’ members and other labor observers the only surprise was in how long such a confrontation took to develop. Industrial restructuring;…

Sen. James Webb (D-Va) said on the Senate floor today about the Lieberman-Kyl Amendment on Iran: “It could be read as tantamount to a declaration of war.” (Copy of the legislation is available online.) GARETH PORTER Investigative journalist Porter has just written the piece “The Evidence Against the Lieberman-Kyl Amendment.” He is author of several…

Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is speaking to the National Press Club and at Columbia University. JOHN LEINUNG A member of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization of family members of people killed in the 9-11 attacks, Leinung said today: “If he really wanted to go lay a wreath [at the WTC site],…

STEPHEN ZUNES Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus, Zunes said: “[Iranian] General [Mohammed] Alavi’s comment regarding Iran’s contingency plans to attack Israel with air and missile raids was explicitly in reference to how Iran would respond if attacked by Israeli forces. Despite White House claims to the contrary, Iran was simply re-stating the…

ZOLTAN GROSSMAN Grossman is a geographer and faculty member at The Evergreen State College (Olympia, Wash.) and wrote the new article “The Korea Model Rationale for Staying in Iraq: An Endless Occupation?” He said today: “The ‘Korea Model’ is President Bush’s rationale for extending the U.S. occupation of Iraq from four years to four decades…

DAVID HIMMELSTEIN, M.D. Himmelstein is associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He said today: “Hillary Clinton is combining two failed Massachusetts plans: the [former Gov. Michael] Dukakis plan, which fell apart 20 years ago, and the [Gov. Mitt] Romney plan, which is in the process of falling apart. “Clinton is advocating the Marie…

CNN is reporting that “[Iraqi] Government ministers Tuesday backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s decision to shut down Blackwater USA’s operations in Iraq after the American security firm was involved in a Baghdad firefight that authorities say killed eight civilians. “The ministers also stressed the need to ensure foreign security firms operate within Iraqi laws, according…

JAMES PAUL Executive director of the Global Policy Forum, Paul has written several pieces about oil including “Oil in Iraq: The Heart of the Crisis” in 2002. He said today: “Finally, the cat is out of the bag! After years of denial by political leaders and cautious intellectuals, we finally know — from former Fed…

DAVID ENDERS RICK ROWLEY In his speech last night, Bush referred to the recent killing of Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, who he met with just last week in his visit to a U.S. military base in Iraq. Available for a limited number of interviews, journalists Enders and Rowley interviewed Abu Risha for their special report…