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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  • Two Years After “Shock and Awe”

    GREG PALAST Author of a BBC report which airs today, “Secret U.S. Plans for Iraq’s Oil,” Palast is available for a limited number of interviews. More Information ANTONIA JUHASZ A Foreign Policy In Focus scholar, Juhasz wrote the article “Of Oil And Elections” and is author of a forthcoming book, about the Bush administration’s global…

  • The Wolfowitz Nomination: “Emblematic of Misplaced Priorities”

    ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, Weissman said today: “Wolfowitz brings no apparent development experience to the job, but does offer a record of unabashed militarism and unilateralism that represents exactly the wrong direction for the World Bank. Militarism and wasteful spending on weaponry is a huge problem in the developing world. The nomination of…

  • Administration Agenda on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    The New York Times published a front-page story yesterday related to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference coming in May. The piece, entitled “Bush Seeks to Ban Some Nations From All Nuclear Technology,” stated that “Behind President Bush’s recent shift in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program lies a less visible goal: to rewrite, in…

  • Stories from Soldiers

    This weekend marks the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The following people can provide perspectives on some of the experiences of U.S. soldiers who have been in Iraq. MICHAEL HOFFMAN Hoffman is a co-founder and national coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was in the U.S. Marine Corps for over four…

  • With More Funding for Iraq War, Grim Echoes of Vietnam War

    The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday (March 15) on the White House request for a supplemental appropriation for the war in Iraq. The following analysts are available for interviews: DANIEL HALLIN The author of the landmark book The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam, Hallin is professor of communication and adjunct professor…

  • The Significance of John Bolton; Anticipating Impacts at the U.N.

    While diplomats assess the appointment of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the following analysts are available for interviews: EMAD MEKAY Mekay is the chief correspondent in Washington for Asharq Alawsat, an Arabic-language newspaper based in London. He said today: “Bolton’s appointment sends a strong signal that the Bush administration wants to…

  • * The Right to Vote as a Constitutional Right * Barred for Life: Felon Disenfranchisement

    JAMIN RASKIN Last week, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced House Joint Resolution 28 with 54 original co-sponsors. The resolution proposes to add a new “right to vote” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congressman Jackson said today: “I first introduced the Voting Rights Amendment on November 6, 2001, during the first session of the 107th Congress.…

  • Democracy on the March * Egyptian Election * Vermont War Vote * Iraq Labor Rights

    NAWAL EL SAADAWI Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has recently indicated that he would allow some sort of challenger in Egypt’s presidential elections this year. Nawal El Saadawi is founder and president of the Arab Women Solidarity Association and a writer and medical doctor. She has stated her intention to seek the Egyptian presidency. She said…

  • The Money Behind Social Security Privatization Push

    LAURA MILLER Editor of PR Watch, Miller said today: “The Bush administration ventriloquists are out in full force these days, breathlessly hyping ‘Personal Retirement Accounts’ as a way to save Social Security by destroying it. For the average voter, getting a handle on what the Bush administration is proposing to do to Social Security is…

  • Responses to Supreme Court Ban of Death Penalty in Juvenile Cases

    BRYAN STEVENSON Executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system, Stevenson said today: “About 8 percent of the death penalty cases here in Alabama are juvenile cases, so for us…

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