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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  • Cheney, Pelosi Speak at AIPAC; Democrats Remove Barrier to Iran Attack

    CARAH ONG Ong is Iran Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. She said today: “Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership decided to pull language from the supplemental appropriations bill which stated that no funds may be authorized for military operations in or related to Iran unless specifically authorized by the…

  • Veterans and Military Families

    WES HAMILTON Hamilton, a Vietnam War veteran, is one of more than 30 people who have been arrested in the last week protesting the military’s use of the Port of Tacoma, Washington. Late Friday night, the police used tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters. Video is here. The military has been using the Port…

  • Bush in Latin America: Major Issues · Trade · Chavez · Military Bases

    HECTOR DE LA CUEVA Hector de la Cueva is director of the Center for Labor Research and Union Consultation (the Spanish acronym is CILAS). He said today: “Bush is in Latin America in part to promote ‘free trade,’ but this does not look good to most people in Mexico. Since NAFTA, wages have gone down…

  • Bush in Latin America: Major Issues · Biofuels · Basic Income · Military Bases · Chavez ·Trade

    MARIA LUISA MENDONÇA Maria Luisa Mendonça is in São Paulo where Bush will be arriving this afternoon; protests are expected. She is director of the Social Network for Justice and Human Rights and can address a host of issues pertaining to Brazil and Latin America. Most recently, she co-wrote an article in the newspaper Brazil…

  • Report: Attack Could Speed Up Iranian Nuclear Weapons

    A just-released report from the Oxford Research Group in the U.K. indicates that an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities could actually accelerate Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. The report has gotten substantial notice in much of the world, but minimal coverage in the U.S. FRANK BARNABY Barnaby is nuclear issues consultant to Oxford Research Group…

  • Libby Verdict

    ROBERT PARRY Parry, a former reporter for The Associated Press and Newsweek, has written a number of books about Washington politics including, most recently, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq. He said today: “Criminal trials are imperfect vehicles for discovering the full truth about a political or a national…

  • New U.S. Nuclear Weapons

    AP has reported: “The Bush administration selected a design Friday for a new generation of atomic warheads, taking a major step toward building the first new nuclear weapon since the end of the Cold War nearly two decades ago. “The military and the Energy Department selected a design developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory…

  • 18 Months After Katrina

    CHRIS KROMM Executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies, Kromm founded Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch in October 2005 to watchdog the Katrina recovery. He is co-author of the newly released report “A New Agenda for the Gulf Coast,” which documents the state of the Gulf and shows what steps leaders in Washington can take…

  • Former Diplomats on Iran and Syria Opening

    EDWARD L. PECK Peck, a former U.S. chief of mission in Iraq and former ambassador to Mauritania, was deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan administration. He said today: “Issuing threats, and/or demanding significant concessions before talks can start has nothing whatever to do with engaging in diplomacy. Bellicose,…

  • Stock Market Drop

    DEAN BAKER Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Baker said today: “A lower stock market is good for a lot of people. If corn prices fell 30 percent, that would be bad for you if you’re a corn farmer, but good for you if you weren’t and ate a lot of corn.…

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