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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  • * Aceh Peace Accords * Sudan

    * ACEH This week, the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement signed a peace deal in Finland. ASNA HUSIN Husin is the director of the Peace Education Program of Aceh, funded by UNICEF and Nonviolence International. Currently visiting the U.S., she said today: “Peace benefits both sides. The Acehnese are hopeful yet skeptical.…

  • Law Professors Scrutinize Roberts * Quid Pro Quo? * Guantánamo Ruling * Federalist Society

    DAVID LUBAN The Washington Post reports today that “Judge John G. Roberts Jr. was interviewing for a possible Supreme Court nomination with top Bush administration officials at the same time he was presiding over a terrorism case of significant importance to President Bush.” Professor of law at Georgetown University, Luban co-authored the recent article “Improper…

  • Rising Gas Prices and Big Oil’s Agenda

    WENONAH HAUTER TYSON SLOCUM Hauter is director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program; Slocum is the group’s research director. Hauter said today: “Since Bush became president, the largest five oil companies operating in the U.S. — ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell — have enjoyed profits of $254 billion, with ExxonMobil leading…

  • Voices from Crawford

    CELESTE ZAPPALA DANTE ZAPPALA Celeste Zappala and her son Dante have just returned from Crawford to their home in Philadelphia. Celeste’s eldest son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. He was killed in action in Baghdad on April 26, 2004, while searching for weapons…

  • * Gaza “Disengagement” * Ruling Against Taking Medicine to Iraqis

    ALI ABUNIMAH Abunimah is founder of the Electronic Intifada. He said today about the Gaza “disengagement” plan: “This is a giant theater piece designed to convince the world that Israel is taking steps towards peace, that it’s making enormous sacrifices. I have no doubt that there are settlers who genuinely don’t wish to leave Gaza;…

  • Media Advisory: “Over 2 Million Imprisoned Is Too Many”

    Events are taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C., organized by groups seeking to reform the U.S. prison system. The Alabama-based group Families and Friends of People Incarcerated, which is leading the protests and other events, points to over 2 million people currently behind bars in the United States. The group says: “The United States…

  • Interviews Available on Iraqi Constitution * Occupation * Women’s Rights * Economic Agenda * Kurdish Role

    RAED JARRAR Jarrar is an Iraq blogger currently in Jordan. He said today: “The situation with the constitution is similar to that of the election earlier this year. Iraq needs to have elections, it needs a constitution, but you can’t have these things done successfully under occupation. The basis of how things are proceeding is…

  • * Military Families Gathering in Crawford * Letter to Bush from Jailed Soldier’s Wife * Assessing Withdrawal of Troops from Iraq

    CELESTE ZAPPALA Celeste Zappala’s oldest son, Pennsylvania National Guardsman Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004 while helping with the search for weapons of mass destruction. She is a co-founder, with Cindy Sheehan and others, of Gold Star Families for Peace and is now in Crawford. She said today: “It is good…

  • * Oil-for-Food * Mideast Nukes * Energy Bill * Hiroshima Cover-Up

    DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is a former assistant secretary general of the United Nations and headed the UN “oil-for-food” program until resigning in protest over the continued sanctions on Iraq. He said today: “By not tackling the real UN failure — i.e., the role of the Security Council in Iraq — Volker’s new Oil for Food…

  • Military Loved Ones Converging on Crawford

    CINDY SHEEHAN Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of the group Gold Star Families for Peace, is the mother of Casey Sheehan, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Cindy Sheehan is in Crawford and is determined to meet with President Bush. She said today: “I met with Bush two and a half months after…

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