News Items

  • Calls to Suspend Syrian Refugee and Other Recent Anti-Muslim Statements by Government Officials

    Compiled by the Institute for Public Accuracy with Arun Kundnani and Deepa Kumar. Kundnani said: “While it’s very easy to denounce Trump’s recent repugnant, bullying statements — and much of the political class has — it’s important to keep several things in mind: First, as the compilation of statements by elected officials makes clear, he made these statements after many officials from across the country made scores of statements playing on unfounded fears against Syrian refugees and other Muslims.”

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  • Classified Politics: A System and a Clinton in Disrepute

    It is most unlikely, however, that Hillary Clinton will fall victim to accusations that rely on improper over-­classification. The State Department and White House, including President Obama himself, sought to protect her and to minimize the effects of her behavior. The case is extremely high­-profile, Democrats in Congress would attack any borderline classification, and a host of well-­paid lawyers would rise to her defense. Improperly classified items or those deemed Sensitive but Unclassified may be redacted from publicly released documents, but it is hard to imagine that Mrs. Clinton would be falsely accused of felonies.

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  • Video of Sterling News Conference

    Please enjoy the full video of Holly Sterling’s news conference, which was her first such appearance since her husband’s trial and imprisonment. The news conference also featured Thomas Drake, Delphine Halgand, Ray McGovern, and Jesselyn Radack.

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  • Open Letter to President Obama from Holly Sterling

    Does the government have no shame in destroying one man’s life and wasting tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to punish a man who had the audacity to do two things: Stand up for his constitutional rights and utilize proper channels provided to him to express concern for the citizens of our country? I am deeply saddened by our lives’ events that Jeffrey and I have suffered and endured. You publicly committed to a transparent government led by your administration, yet it has been shrouded in mistruth and secrecy.

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  • Unprecedented News Conference: Wife of Imprisoned CIA Whistleblower to Speak Out

    Jeffrey Sterling was convicted under the Espionage Act as a source for New York Times reporter James Risen’s book State of War. He began serving his three-and-a-half year prison sentence in June. His wife’s news conference will be the first time the spouse of a CIA whistleblower has made such an appearance.

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  • Cultural Shift Needed on Police Militarization

    Police militarization is a 25 year long trend that has only grown in momentum over time. The restrictions on militaristic gear directed by the White House while important symbolically, will certainly not substantively impact this trend in and of itself. Police militarization at this point is as much a cultural problem as it is a material one, and reversing the cultural trend toward police militarization will require more far reaching efforts.

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  • Watch the Short Documentary “The Invisible Man: CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling”

    “‘The federal courtroom in northern Virginia where Holly and Jeffrey Sterling returned for the sentencing on May 11 was the scene of a disturbing, though scantly reported, simulation of justice in late January. At the outset, covering the trial, I noted that ‘prospective jurors made routine references to ‘three-letter agencies’ and alphabet-soup categories of security clearances.’ Steeped in a local atmosphere of deference to mega-employers like the CIA and Pentagon along with numerous big contracting firms nearby, ‘the jury pool was bound to please the prosecution.’”

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  • On Jeffrey Sterling: From the Filmmaker of “Invisible Man”

    “The most shocking element of this story it that Jeffrey Sterling seems to be punished because he ‘pulled on Superman’s cape’ first with a racial discrimination suit they were able to squash and then by reporting what he considered a dangerous CIA operation to the proper government channels for hearing such a concern.”

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  • News Conference: Whistleblowers Weigh In on Policy

    William Binney (NSA), Thomas Drake (NSA), Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers), Raymond McGovern (CIA), Jesselyn Radack (Justice Department), Coleen Rowley (FBI) and Kirk Wiebe (NSA) spoke at this news conference, sponsored by ExposeFacts.org, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

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  • Netanyahu Victory Opens Door for One-State Solution

    Just before the election, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu ruled out the creation of a Palestinian State, which means that he repudiated the two-state solution to the dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This has been the pronounced objective of American foreign policy since the Madrid Conference and the Middle East Peace Negotiations in 1991 held under the auspices of the United States government and with the full support of the international community.

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  • Dangers of — and Subsidies to — U.S. Nuclear Industry

    The Boston Globe reports today: “Nuclear plant emergency generators like those that failed in Japan following the March earthquake and tsunami also failed during tests at the Seabrook Station in New Hampshire and 32 other U.S. plants in the past eight years, according to a report by U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey’s office.” HARVEY WASSERMAN,…

  • Beyond bin Laden Killing: Drone Strikes the “New Norm”

    Reuters is reporting this morning: “A U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles at militants in Pakistan on Thursday, killing eight of them, Pakistani officials said, the third such attack since U.S. forces found and killed Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout.” KATHY KELLY, kathy  at vcnv.org Kelly is with Voices for Creative Nonviolence and was…

  • Immigration: “U.S. Drug Demand Destabilizes Mexico”

    JOHN GIBLER, john.gibler at gmail.com Author of the forthcoming book To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War as well as Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt, Gibler said today: “Immigration from Mexico to the U.S. is largely the result of failed policies by the U.S. and Mexican governments. These include trade…

  • “Major Corporations Are Threatening Us”

    RICHARD WOLFF, [in NYC] rdwolff at att.net, rdwolff.com Wolff just wrote the piece “The Threats of Business and the Business of Threats,” which states: “More and more we hear that nothing can be done to tax major corporations because of the threat of how they would respond. Likewise, we cannot stop their price gouging or…

  • Repression in Honduras “Worse than After Coup”

    Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras reports a dramatic increase in the ongoing violent repression of human rights in Honduras. This includes government attacks against protests at a “Honduras is Open for Business” conference this weekend, which attracted Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico, among others. DANA FRANK, dlfrank at…

  • U.S. Drone Strikes Kill in Pakistan and Yemen

    Voice of America is reporting: “Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. missile attack close to the Afghan border has killed at least 15 people.” Other media are reporting that a U.S. drone strike has killed individuals in Yemen. David Dayen writes: “Trifling about legality of raids on bin Laden when the U.S. routinely carries out…

  • Bahrain-Saudi Crackdown Targets Doctors; Demonizing Iran

    RICHARD SOLLOM, via Megan Prock, mprock at phrusa.org, bahrain.phrblog.org Sollom is deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights and was recently in Bahrain, which was invaded by Saudi Arabia on March 14 to help the monarchy put down protesters. Sollom is co-author of the new report, “Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End…

  • Release bin Laden Photo? “Instead Release Afghanistan and Iraq”

    The Washington Post is reporting: “The Obama administration is seeking to use the killing of Osama bin Laden to accelerate a negotiated settlement with the Taliban and hasten the end of the Afghanistan war, according to U.S. officials involved in war policy.” SONALI KOLHATKAR, sonali at afghanwomensmission.org Kolhatkar is co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords,…

  • Views of Pakistanis

    Politico reports: “The White House backed away Monday evening from key details in its narrative about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, including claims by senior U.S. officials that the Al Qaeda leader had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces. “Officials also retreated from claims that…

  • Bin Laden: Celebrating Death, or End of War?

    TARIQ ALI, tariq.ali3 at btinternet.com, tariqali.org Ali is author of numerous books including “The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power” and “The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad.” He just wrote the piece “Who told them where he was?” ALLAN NAIRN, allan.nairn at yahoo.com, http://www.allannairn.com A noted journalist, Nairn said today:…

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