MARK DANNER Available for a limited number of interviews, Danner is author of the new book Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror and of an opinion piece in today’s New York Times, “We Are All Torturers Now.” In that op-ed, Danner wrote: “Through a process of redefinition largely overseen by…

ALFREDO QUARTO The Wall Street Journal recently published an article titled “On Asia’s Coasts, Progress Destroys Natural Defenses.” Quarto, executive director of the Mangrove Action Project, said today: “The severity of the current tsunami disaster is beyond comprehension. The tremendous force of the 9.0 earthquake that occurred off the coast of Sumatra caused extremely powerful…

DENIS HALLIDAY Former head of the U.N. Oil for Food Program in Iraq and assistant secretary general of the U.N., Halliday resigned in protest in 1998. Currently in New York City, he is available for a limited number of interviews. Halliday said today: “The Oil for Food ‘scandal’ is not a scandal of the United…

The White House is hosting a two-day conference on the economy with special emphasis on Social Security starting tomorrow. MARK WEISBROT Weisbrot is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and co-author, with Dean Baker, of Social Security: The Phony Crisis (University of Chicago Press). He said today: “The following facts have…

AP reported this weekend that “Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles, has died at age 49…of an apparent suicide.” AP wrote: “Webb’s 1996 series in the Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of…

EVAN DAVIS SUSAN TRUITT Co-founder of the Citizens’ Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE), Truitt said today: “The Citizens’ Alliance for Secure Elections has organized a rally to demand that every vote be counted accurately from the November 2 election. We demand a full recount of Ohio’s votes and a thorough investigation of all reported irregularities…

A series of events are planned this week as human rights, legal, environmental and other experts are demanding that Dow Chemical, the current owner of Union Carbide, be held accountable for the Bhopal disaster, which took place 20 years ago in India. On Wednesday, Dec. 1, at 1:00 p.m. ET there will be a media…

MAUDE BARLOW Barlow is national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization with over 100,000 members. The group has done extensive work on examining various policy issues around U.S.-Canadian relations. More Information MICHAEL MANDEL GAIL DAVIDSON Mandel is a professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada and author…

MIKE HOFFMAN Co-founder and national coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Hoffman said today: “For Thanksgiving, one can expect President Bush and others to pontificate about the troops and the sacrifices we’ve made in Iraq; but what has he actually done to support us?” Hoffman is currently near Philadelphia. More Information ROBERT W. VENABLES…

MICHAEL PARADIES SHOOB Shoob, co-director (with Joseph Mealey) of the recent documentary film about Karl Rove titled “Bush’s Brain,” commented today: “I would say that the ‘mark’ of a Rove operation is absolute control, no leaks, no visible dissent. And, it would seem to me that the resignation of Colin Powell and the wholesale purge…