ALAN SAGER DEBORAH SOCOLAR Sager and Socolar are directors of the Health Reform Program at Boston University’s School of Public Health. They released a report in October 2003 entitled “New Medicare Rx Benefit Means Big Profits for Drug Makers.” Sager said today: “In 2003, actuaries predicted that the Medicare Trust Fund would be depleted in…

DAVID MacMICHAEL A former analyst for the CIA, MacMichael said today: “Richard Clarke is not the first to make the point, though he does it from the inside, that the administration had priorities that superseded protecting the American people. According to Gary Hart, the Hart-Rudman report lay unopened until August 2001 on Condoleezza Rice’s desk;…

STEVE NIVA Niva wrote “Israel’s Assassination Policy: The Trigger for the Latest Suicide Bombings?” and other articles on Israeli violence and Palestinian suicide bombings. Niva, who is writing a book on the subject, is professor of international politics at Evergreen State College in Washington. More Information More Information MUSTAFA BARGHOUTHI, M.D. President of the Palestinian…

ED BICE Executive director of the People’s Opinion Project, Bice said today: “International public opinion polling shows continued strong opposition to U.S. foreign policy among the people of the world… The Pew Center poll released yesterday found majorities in all foreign countries surveyed, except Britain, had unfavorable views of the U.S. and ‘believe that controlling…

SUE NIEDERER Niederer’s son Army 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin was killed on Feb. 4 by a roadside bomb in Iraq. More Information DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq and a former U.N. Assistant Secretary General. WRIGHT SALISBURY Salisbury lost his son-in-law Ted Hennessey on Flight 11 on September…

CAROLA REINTJES Director of international affairs for the Spanish non-governmental organization IDEAS, Reintjes said today: “The Spanish electorate punished the ruling party for participating in a war opposed by 90 percent of the people, and also for manipulating the media, lying to the public and exploiting people’s fears for electoral gain in the aftermath of…

MARK WEISBROT Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot said today: “The newly released record trade deficit numbers underline the fact that the United States cannot go on borrowing more than 5 percent of GDP each year, indefinitely, from the rest of the world. This current account (mostly trade) deficit has gotten…

BILL FLETCHER President of TransAfrica Forum, Fletcher said today: “Like so many people concerned about the situation in Haiti, I am perplexed by the lack of response to the de facto imprisonment of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Though the U.S. claims that President Aristide left Haiti voluntarily, this seems to fly in the face of the…

HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, [contact: Jim McBride] Jeff Zack Schaitberger, the general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO, issued the following statement today after President Bush unveiled new political ads that use images of firefighters on September 11, 2001: “I’m disappointed but not surprised that the President would try to trade on the heroism…

JEAN BELIARD LUCIEN General manager of Radio Lakay, a New York City-based radio station that serves Haitian-Americans, Jean Beliard Lucien said today: “An elected government has been overthrown by an armed rebellion under the watch of the U.S…. This year is the bicentennial of Haiti’s independence. Aristide’s asking France to pay back for money that…