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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  • Exxon: Record Prices, Record Profits

    AP is reporting: “Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday it earned $10.36 billion in the second quarter, the second largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company. “The earnings figure was 36 percent above the profit it reported a year ago. High oil prices helped boost the company’s revenue by 12 percent to…

  • Al-Maliki’s Visit: Protest and Analysis

    MEDEA BENJAMIN Benjamin is cofounder of CodePink, a women’s peace group, and Global Exchange. She stood up and spoke as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki addressed a joint session of Congress today. CodePink said in a statement released this afternoon that Benjamin is on her 23rd day of a long-term fast for peace called the…

  • Israeli Bombing of UN in Lebanon: Then and Now

    JOHN QUIGLEY Professor of law at Ohio State University, Quigley is author of numerous books on international law including Genocide Convention and Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice. He said today: “Yesterday’s bombing of the UN compound has striking parallels with the shelling in April 1996 by Israel of the UN compound at Qana,…

  • Lebanon and the Law

    On July 23, the United Nations Emergency Relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, visited Beirut. The BBC reported: “[Egeland] said the ‘disproportionate response’ by Israel was a ‘violation of international humanitarian law.’” BBC The United Nations’ top human rights official, Louise Arbour, warned on July 19: “International law demands accountability. The scale of the killings in the…

  • U.S. Mideast Policy: No Dialogue?

    In February this year, three former U.S. diplomats toured the Mideast as part of an independent delegation and met with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah, various Hamas officials and Amr Mousa, secretary general of the Arab League. ROBERT KEELEY A former U.S. ambassador to Greece and…

  • Christian Zionists Lobby Congress

    The BBC reported on July 19: “More than 3,400 evangelical Christians have arrived in Washington to lobby lawmakers as part of the first annual summit of Christians United for Israel. Delegates have come from all 50 states and have 280 meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, [main organizer] Pastor John Hagee said.” Rev. Dr. DONALD…

  • Prominent Lebanese-Americans Respond to Crisis

    RALPH NADER Consumer advocate Ralph Nader recently published a letter urging President Bush to take action on the Israel-Lebanon conflict. An excerpt from this letter follows: “With systematic efficiency, the Israeli government has already destroyed innocent homes and basic public facilities — ports, airports, highways, bridges, power stations — which are critical to the delivery…

  • Israel at War: Analysis of Goals

    ILAN PAPPE Currently in Haifa, Ilan Pappe is senior lecturer in the University of Haifa Department of Political Science and Chair of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian Studies in Haifa. He said: “The Israeli army’s main vision for the battlefield is today still that of ‘shock and awe’ rather than chasing snipers, suicide bombers…

  • From Lebanon…

    RANIA MASRI Assistant director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Balamand in northern Lebanon, Masri is contributing to the new web pages Siege of Lebanon and Electronic Lebanon. She is particularly documenting attacks on the Lebanese civilian infrastructure. EMILY DISCHE-BECKER Dische-Becker is a freelance reporter blogging from Lebanon. She has worked…

  • Hezbollah

    Israel has bombed homes of Hezbollah leaders and the group’s Al Manar TV station while likening the group to al-Qaeda. But a Washington Post reporter wrote yesterday that “[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah has only disdain for bin Laden and the Taliban. In April, an al-Qaeda cell in Lebanon tried to assassinate him.” AS’AD ABUKHALIL AbuKhalil…

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