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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  • Ken Lay: Beyond the Indictment

    ROBERT BRYCE Available for a limited number of interviews, Bryce is author of the books Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron and Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America’s Superstate. More Information ALEX KNOTT Political editor of the Center for Public Integrity, Knott said today: “The ties between Enron…

  • Perspectives on Edwards

    CHRIS KROMM Kromm is executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of Southern Exposure magazine. He said today: “Edwards’ populist side — his famous campaign message of the ‘two Americas’ — isn’t just rhetoric: Edwards has pushed for a patient’s bill of rights, closing corporate tax loopholes, overhauling NAFTA, and beefing up…

  • Independence Day: * Beyond the Politicians * “Homeland” * Empire and Saddam Trial

    ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ and PATRISIA GONZALES Rodriguez and Gonzales co-write the “Column of the Americas.” They said today: “Feeling under siege, the right wing believes that the whole world is unfairly ganging up on the president and his inspired policies. The left, on the other hand, is exasperated at the inability to drive a sharp distinction…

  • * Fed Interest Rate Hike * Housing Bubble

    ELLEN FRANK Author of the just-released book The Raw Deal: How Myths about Deficits, Inflation and Wealth Impoverish America, Frank said: “Today, the Fed’s Open Market Committee is meeting behind closed doors to decide whether or not to raise interest rates. Raising interest rates, even by a quarter point, would signal the Fed’s clear intention…

  • What Happened to $20 Billion of Iraq’s Money?

    PRATAP CHATTERJEE Author of the forthcoming book Iraq Inc., Chatterjee is project director CorpWatch, an Oakland-based corporate watchdog group. He has traveled to post-invasion Iraq twice to investigate reconstruction contracts. Chatterjee said today: “Will the companies that have contracts to rebuild Iraq and design democracy vanish in the middle of the night like Paul Bremer…

  • Pro-Bush Forces Working to Help Nader in Push to Get on Oregon Ballot

    The Oregonian newspaper reported Friday that “groups allied with President Bush are encouraging their conservative members to do the seemingly unthinkable: attend a convention Saturday to help put left-leaning independent candidate Ralph Nader on the Oregon presidential ballot. The groups — with the encouragement of some Republican political operatives — are telling their members that…

  • * Cost of Iraq War * Negroponte’s Record in Honduras * Bush’s AIDS Claims * Survivors of Torture Speak Out * Regime Change in Guatemala: 50 Years Later

    PHYLLIS BENNIS, [via Emily Schwartz Greco] A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is the primary author of the just-released report “Paying the Price: The Mounting Costs of the Iraq War,” which is available at the above web page. More Information LARRY BIRNS Birns is director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which…

  • Clinton’s Domestic Legacies

    IDA HELLANDER, M.D. Executive director of Physicians for a National Health Program, Hellander said today: “The HMOs — which rose during the 1990s — are, in effect, practicing medicine by deciding which tests and treatments will be covered. They skimp on coverage to maximize their profits. When they deny medically necessary care for patients, they…

  • Electronic Voting — Danger for Democracy

    DAN WALLACH Wallach is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Rice University in Houston specializing in building secure and robust software systems for the Internet. Along with colleagues at Johns Hopkins, Wallach co-authored a groundbreaking study that revealed significant flaws in Diebold’s AccuVote-TS electronic voting system. He said today: “Neither the source code [for…

  • Military Contractors in Iraq: Privatizing Unaccountability and Torture?

    PRATAP CHATTERJEE Program director for CorpWatch, Chatterjee is the author of the recent articles “Controversial Commando Wins Iraq Contract” and “Private Contractors and Torture at Abu Ghraib, Iraq.” He said today: “Occupation authorities in Iraq have awarded a $293 million contract effectively creating the world’s largest private army to a company headed by Lieutenant Colonel…

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