Actor and director Sean Penn appeared on CNN’s “Larry King” program on Saturday night. When King asked if he hesitated to go to Iraq “because you have children,” Penn replied: “Well, I went because I have children.” The full text of the interview is available at: www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0301/11/lklw.00.html DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is a former head of the UN oil-for-food program and a former UN Assistant Secretary General. He has just returned from Iraq and is available for a limited number of interviews. He said today: “In talking with people in the street and with Iraqi families, there was a tangible fear…

Family members of people killed in the September 11 attacks are currently in Iraq. The four-member delegation represents September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an advocacy group seeking effective, non-violent alternatives to war and terrorism. Other members of Peaceful Tomorrows in the U.S. are available for interviews including DAVID POTORTI, who lost his brother, Jim, in the World Trade Center. Potorti is reachable at: More Information More Information COLLEEN KELLY Kelly lost her brother, Bill, at the World Trade Center on September 11. Kelly went to Iraq because she “wanted to understand that Iraq is not just one man, Saddam…

DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is a former head of the UN oil-for-food program and a former UN Assistant Secretary General. Over the last few days he has met with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, and Trade Minister Mohammad Saleh, as well as the heads of UNICEF and UNDP in Iraq, two Iraqi families and numerous shopkeepers he knew from his earlier time in Baghdad. He said today: “The majority of Iraqis are staying together with families at home, there’s little sign of a mass exodus as there was in 1991. The government has distributed three months of…

In connection with the “growth and jobs” plan put forward by President Bush today, the following analysts are available for interviews: RANDY ALBELDA Albelda is a professor of economics and chair of the Public Policy Ph.D. program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She said today: “With unemployment rates climbing, the income and wealth gaps between the rich and poor reaching 1920s levels, and states facing $80 billion worth of budget deficits, we desperately need a stimulus package that puts people to work, helps close the income gap and substantially prevents states from laying off workers and cutting valuable…

CHALMERS JOHNSON Author of Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire and Okinawa: Cold War Island, Johnson is a specialist on the politics and economics of East Asia and a veteran of the Korean War. He said today: “Bush came into office saying that he did not want to negotiate with North Korea. Even under Clinton, the U.S. was failing to fulfill its agreements with the North Koreans. The U.S. has essentially caused the current crisis with its belligerent stance toward North Korea, including its rebuff of South Korean President Kim’s peace initiative (for which he won the 2000…

SALIH BOOKER Over the weekend the White House announced the cancellation of President Bush’s January trip to Africa. Booker, executive director of Africa Action, said today: “The administration thinks they’ve addressed enough Black issues with the replacement of Lott and so they callously dump Africa again. The Bush administration is disinterested in Africa aside from oil imports and the use of African territory in Washington’s ‘war on terrorism.’ The U.S. government continues shamelessly to limit funding for AIDS programs in Africa and supports the pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to enforce draconian patent laws against poor countries seeking affordable medicines.” The Guardian…

JACQUELINE CABASSO ANDREW LICHTERMAN Cabasso is the executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, a nuclear disarmament advocacy group in California; Lichterman is the program director. They have co-authored a series of papers on nuclear weapons and related high-tech weaponry; the most recent is “The End of Disarmament and the Arms Races to Come.” Cabasso said today: “Whether Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction remains to be seen. Meanwhile its chief accuser, the United States, is blatantly brandishing its own. The ‘National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction,’ released by the White House just last week, combines…

The following statement has been released by Sean Penn’s office: In sharp contrast to some misleading claims — primarily emanating from media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch — the statements made by Sean Penn about Iraq have been clear and straightforward. In his open letter to President Bush, printed in The Washington Post on October 18, 2002, Mr. Penn wrote: “There can be no acceptance of the criminal viciousness of the tyrant, Saddam Hussein.” As has been widely reported by responsible American media organizations, Sean Penn conducted himself with care and sensitivity to his fellow Americans while in Iraq. Sean…

The actor and director Sean Penn arrived in Baghdad on Friday morning at the start of a three-day visit to Iraq. “By the invitation of the Institute for Public Accuracy, I have the privileged opportunity to pursue a deeper understanding of this frightening conflict,” Penn said in a statement released in Washington and Baghdad on Friday. “I would hope that all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channels. As a father, an actor, a filmmaker, and a patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation (at least attempt) to find my…

MARC HEROLD Herold, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, is the author of the just-released report “A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States’ Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Accounting.” He said today: “More than 3,700 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan directly from U.S. bombs since Oct. 7. For example, on Oct. 11, two U.S. jets bombed the mountain village of Karam, comprised of 60 mud houses, during dinner and evening prayer time, killing 100 to 160 people. On Dec. 1, as part of the intense bombing campaign of Tora Bora, B-52s bombed the villages Kama…