MICHAEL RATNER Ratner is president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and coauthor of Against War with Iraq. A resolution with a March 17 deadline is reportedly being put forward to the Security Council. Ratner said today: “The U.S. government is clearly desperate to get some sort of cover for its war. No one has…

Saturday is International Women’s Day and March is Women’s History Month. The following analysts and activists are available for interviews on issues of war and peace: JODY WILLIAMS Recently back from Burma, Williams is the 1997 Noble Peace Laureate for her work on the Mine Ban Treaty. She said today: “The ‘relevance’ of the United…

Has the National Security Agency, as the Observer in Britain recently reported, been spying on delegates from various countries at the UN? Is the U.S. bribing and threatening other UN members? You have said that this invasion of Iraq would be “moral,” yet the national board of your own denomination, the United Methodists, has said:…

The Observer newspaper in London has reported on a leaked U.S. National Security Agency memo outlining plans for the surveillance of both office and home communications of UN delegates from Security Council member countries, as part of U.S. efforts to gain approval for its new Security Council resolution on Iraq. The story is now causing…

This afternoon, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer refused to comment on questions about a story broken by the Observer newspaper in London. On Sunday the paper published an article headlined “Revealed: U.S. Dirty Tricks to Win Vote on Iraq War.” The Observer reported that it has obtained a top secret U.S. National Security Agency memo…

“You won’t have any problem with Saddam. We’ll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place we’ll install a pro-Western dictator, who will be good for us and for you.” — U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos, quoted in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, 9/30/02 [Lantos denies saying this, but Ha’aretz, a respected Israeli daily,…

Yesterday, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer insisted that “the President is not offering quid pro quos” to other countries for their tacit support to invade Iraq. The following analysts take issue with such claims: SARAH ANDERSON, PHYLLIS BENNIS, JOHN CAVANAGH The Institute for Policy Studies is releasing a report today — “Coalition of the Willing…

KANI XULAM Director of the American Kurdish Information Network, Xulam said today: “Basically, the Kurds have been handed over to the Turkish government. It is being reported that the U.S. has approved some 80,000 Turkish troops in northern Iraq. The gains of autonomy that the Kurds have made in northern Iraq could well be lost.…

A group of Canadian, British, American, Italian and Danish parliamentarians, scientists, academics, and religious and union leaders have informed the Pentagon that they intend to inspect the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland this Sunday. Among the parliamentary members in the delegation are: Alan Simpson from the U.K., Libby Davies from Canada, Senator Francesco Martone…

SIMONA SHARONI Sharoni is professor of peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics at Evergreen State College and executive director of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development. She said today: “The recent global protests represent an unprecedented development by the world community to confront those in the seats of power to change…