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  • Election Reforms: Falling short

    WASHINGTON — Proponents of progressive election reform gave cautious approval to the recent report issued by a commission assigned to investigate the improvement of federal elections. Many critics, however, point to several obstacles that remain in the way of free and fair elections throughout the United States. The report, issued by the National Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, was presented to President Bush. Among its recommendations are provisions regarding increases in equipment standards and stepped-up federal funding for the administration of elections.

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  • Son of Star Wars: Another arms race?

    WASHINGTON — Reports emerging from the Pentagon about plans to test a “Space Bomber” are drawing accusations that the U.S. government is attempting to engage in another arms race. The bomber, a spacecraft reportedly capable of destroying targets on the other side of the globe within 30 minutes, is a key component of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s plan to modernize U.S. weaponry. The satellite is currently under production by NASA and Lockheed Martin, a leading military contractor. Pentagon claims that the bomber can cause greater and deeper ground damage from a virtually unassailable height have many critics questioning it as…

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  • ExxonMobil: Facing a boycott

    ExxonMobil, one of the biggest corporations on the planet, is now facing a boycott spearheaded by activist groups protesting the company’s policies at home and abroad. The boycott was launched by PressurePoint, a grassroots organization looking to “take real action on climate change and corporate influence,” according to Chris Doran, campaigns director for the group. “The U.S. government’s climate change policy is the ExxonMobil policy,” Doran says. “What sort of democracy do we have when one company can buy off our political process for its own gains?” ExxonMobil is a charter member of the Global Climate Coalition, an influential industry…

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  • Beyond the Ford-Firestone Uproar: Critics blast lack of regulation, accountability in SUV safety

    WASHINGTON – Recent congressional hearings probed the accountability of Ford and Firestone in many incidents where car or tire malfunctioned, causing injury or death. The hearings also questioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government’s chief regulator of automobile safety, and its role in providing the public with adequate information. While the blame-placing among corporate executives and congressional subcommittees occurred on Capitol Hill, several analysts decried the lack of accountability being demanded of the corporations involved. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, pointed to a lack of regulation of sport utility vehicles and rollover standards.

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  • NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM

    Questions from IPA appear below in bold HEADLINE: NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM DEBT RELIEF TO POOR COUNTRIES AND OXFAM EDUCATION NOW AWARD INTRODUCTION: MARTA ARIAS LOCATION: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C. BODY:

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  • Ten Real Reasons To Impeach Clinton

    We all seem to have lost our sense of proportion. Why are the political leaders of the United States and the major media talking of impeaching Bill Clinton for lies about sex, surely not the most important sins of his administration? If Clinton is to be impeached, why do it for frivolous reasons? I can think of at least ten reasons to impeach him, for acts far more serious than his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky or his lies to Kenneth Starr. I am speaking of matters of life and death for large numbers of people. 1. Clinton approved, very early…

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  • Autopsy Of A Disaster: The U.S. Sanctions Policy On Iraq

    For a shorter version of this timeline, click here. Myth: The Sanctions Will be Lifted When Iraq Complies with the U.N. Inspections April 3, 1991: U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 687 which states that upon “the completion by Iraq of all actions contemplated in” specific paragraphs of the resolution, “the prohibitions against financial transactions … shall have no further force or effect.” The paragraphs cited have to do with weapons inspections. Other paragraphs in the resolution have to do with “return of all Kuwaiti property seized by Iraq” and Iraqi liability for losses and damage resulting from Iraq’s occupation of…

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  • Iraq: · Fostering Civil War? · Domestic Disconnect

    NIR ROSEN Available for a limited number of interviews, Rosen has spent a total of two and a half years in Iraq since the invasion; he returns to the Mideast in ten days. His most recent piece is “Hijacking Eid and Hanging Saddam: Timing and Hostile Repartee Creates Further Division,” which notes: “For Sunnis [the…

  • Legacies of Kissinger and Ford: · Kurds · East Timor

    SUREYA SAYADI, MD An Iraqi Kurdish doctor and academic now living in the U.S., Sayadi said today: “Kissinger eulogized Ford today, but he could have eulogized Saddam. In 1975, Kissinger brokered the Algiers agreement whereby Iran ended its support of the Kurds, leaving them alone to be attacked by Saddam. I was actually in a…

  • Journalists Sought for Testimony in Military Hearing

    The U.S. Army is attempting to compel testimony from journalists for the prosecution of 1st Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. Independent journalist Sarah Olson has been subpoenaed to testify at a Jan. 4 pre-trial hearing and a February court-martial about her May 2006 interview with Lieutenant…

  • · Lebanon · Bethlehem · Oaxaca

    BASSAM HADDAD Assistant professor of political science at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and visiting professor at Georgetown University, Haddad is editor of the Arab Studies Journal and was in Lebanon earlier this year. He said today: “The recent monumental protests by the opposition indicate that in any future elections the support for the current…

  • U.S. Buildup Against Iran

    The New York Times is reporting on its front page today: “The United States and Britain will begin moving additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region in a display of military resolve toward Iran that will come as the United Nations continues to debate possible sanctions against the country, Pentagon and military…

  • Troop Levels

    CINDY WILLIAMS Principal research scientist at the Security Studies Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Williams is editor of the book Filling the Ranks: Transforming the U.S. Military Personnel System. CARL CONETTA Co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives, Conetta said today: “Unless you are planning more invasions like that of Iraq, or you…

  • Accountability and the Bush Administration

    In a piece today, Editor & Publisher reports that Sean Penn “hit the media and called for impeachment of the president in receiving the 2006 Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award from The Creative Coalition Monday night in New York City.” In his speech, Penn said: “Now, there’s been a lot of talk lately on Capitol…

  • Questions for Colin Powell

    Yesterday, as Colin Powell left his interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy asked him about claims he made regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in his speech at the UN Security Council before the invasion of Iraq. Powell was asked by IPA about his speech’s citing of…

  • Iraqi Unions Attack Oil Privatization

    United Press International is reporting: “Five Iraqi trade union federations have condemned federal oil law negotiations for being too corporation-friendly.” The wire service quoted Hasan Jum’a, president of the Federation of Oil Unions, as saying: “This law has a lot of problems. It was prepared without consulting Iraqi experts, Iraqi civil society or trade unions.”…

  • Iraq War and Oil

    The Dow Jones news service, which has obtained a proposed draft of a new oil law for Iraq, reports: “Iraq’s first postwar draft hydrocarbon law recommends the government sign production sharing agreements and other service and buyback contracts … An Iraqi oil ministry official told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday the new law proposes allowing —…

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