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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  • Recruitment “Stand-Down”

    OSCAR CASTRO Castro is coordinator of the National Youth and Militarism Program for the American Friends Service Committee, which is organizing teach-ins and demonstrations around the country about recruitment today. He said: “The Army plans to suspend all recruiting on May 20. This follows reports of serious recruiter improprieties — including fraud and coercion —…

  • Scrutinizing Iraq Scandals: * Policy * Profiteering

    George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament who has been accused by Sen. Norm Coleman of profiting from the UN oil-for-food program, yesterday addressed the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Coleman. Said Galloway: “I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The…

  • Ousted Haitian Prime Minister Fasting to Death?

    BILL FLETCHER Fletcher, president of TransAfrica Forum, is available for a limited number of interviews. He said today: “Yvon Neptune, the prime minister of the duly elected government of Haiti, has been jailed for 10 months without charge. He stopped eating on April 17 and is said by his family to be in very bad…

  • Behind and Beyond the Media Reform Movement

    JOHN NICHOLS Nichols is co-founder of Free Press, which organized the three-day National Conference for Media Reform that began today in St. Louis. Nichols said today: “The conference is taking place at an interesting time. The public is becoming more aware of the administration’s attempts to manipulate the media, Congress has begun to move against…

  • Media Reform

    The three-day National Conference for Media Reform begins Friday in St. Louis. The following media analysts, who will be attending the conference, are available for interviews: PETER HART Hart is with Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. He said today: “We have documented a pattern of bias in major media over the years in a number…

  • Nonproliferation Realities: * McNamara * Ellsberg

    With the review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) continuing at the United Nations, commentators available for interviews include: ROBERT McNAMARA Former Secretary of Defense McNamara said today: “The NPT was signed by a president. It was submitted to the Senate; it was ratified by the Senate. It is today the law of the land.…

  • Bush in Tbilisi: Why Is Georgia on His Mind?

    President Bush’s schedule in Tbilisi on Tuesday includes meeting with Georgian government officials and speaking to a crowd in the city’s Freedom Square. Why is Bush in Georgia? RONALD GRIGOR SUNY Suny, a professor of political science and history at the University of Chicago, is author of The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the…

  • After Blair’s Weak Victory, Key Issues Remain

    Many observers note that Tony Blair’s support for the Iraq war did significant damage to the Labor Party’s showing in yesterday’s British election. ANURADHA MITTAL Mittal is founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank that focuses on economic and social policy issues. She said today: “Anti-war sentiment and lack of…

  • Non-Proliferation and the Nuclear Shadow

    With the review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) now underway at the United Nations, commentators include independent policy analysts and Americans who have direct experience with nuclear weapons tests. JOHN BURROUGHS Burroughs, executive director of the New York-based Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, is monitoring the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York. Burroughs presented…

  • Nuclear Obligations: Iran and the United States

    A long-awaited review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) got underway at the United Nations today, with the talks scheduled to last until May 27. The NPT treaty obliges existing nuclear powers to dismantle their arsenals and non-nuclear powers to refrain from obtaining nuclear weapons. ROSS POURZAL A Washington-based political analyst who is on the…

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