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 did on Monday, after having failed in their task, when the money runs out? Fifteen months after the invasion, most services have not been restored, the bills have reached astronomical proportions and Iraqis have very few jobs. Iraqi security guards get less than one percent…

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 Nader would draw votes from Democrat Sen. John Kerry and boost Bush’s chances of winning Oregon.” AP says that “two conservative groups have been phoning people around Oregon this week, urging them to attend Ralph Nader’s convention … The groups make no bones about their…

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 released the report “Negroponte: Nominee for Baghdad Embassy a Rogue for All Seasons.” He said today: “Though the Bush administration is strenuously attempting to portray Negroponte as a distinguished career Foreign Service professional, it should be recalled that his 1981-85 stint as ambassador to Honduras…

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 should be held accountable. The Supreme Court is taking us in the wrong direction. It’s precisely because of the grip of the giant HMO and drug company lobbies on our Congress that we don’t have a universal health care system like every other industrialized nation.…

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 the computerized voting systems] nor the results of any third-party certification analyses have been made available for the general population to study. The vendors claim that secrecy is a necessary requirement to keep their systems secure.” However after the source code for a voting system…

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 Tim Spicer … who has been investigated for illegally smuggling arms and planning military offensives to support mining, oil, and gas operations around the world.” More Information WAYNE MADSEN Madsen, a former communications security specialist for the National Security Agency, is an investigative journalist and…

“The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was ‘no credible evidence’ that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda target the United States.” — Associated Press, June 16 www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0616-01.htm Vice President Richard Cheney on Saddam Hussein: “He had long established ties with al-Qaeda.” — Associated Press, June 14 www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/06/14/cheney.terrorism.ap ANDREW RICE COLLEEN KELLY BOB McILVAINE Rice, Kelly and McIlvaine are members of Peaceful Tomorrows, a group of 9/11 victims’ relatives. Rice, chair of the 9/11 Commission for Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, said today: “Given that the … 9/11 commission has repudiated any connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s…

REED BRODY “The torture and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was the predictable result of the Bush administration’s decision to circumvent international law,” Human Rights Watch said in a new report. Brody is special counsel with Human Rights Watch and author of that report, titled “The Road to Abu Ghraib.” He said today: “The report examines how the Bush administration adopted a deliberate policy of permitting illegal interrogation techniques and then spent two years covering up or ignoring reports of torture and other abuse by U.S. troops…. The only exceptional aspect of the abuse at Abu Ghraib…

NEIL WATKINS, [in Georgia], MARIE CLARKE, [in Georgia Watkins is the outreach coordinator for Jubilee USA Network. He said today: “In this critical moment, Jubilee USA Network calls for … 100 percent cancellation of the debts of all impoverished nations without harmful conditions, not piecemeal and partial relief…. Jubilee USA Network recognizes Iraqi debt as odious and therefore it must be cancelled outright. This same principle should be applied to all nations paying a bill for their own oppression. Odious debt has been defined through international law as loans made to oppressive or dictatorial leaders who used the funds to…

BILL FLETCHER President of TransAfrica Forum, Fletcher said today: “Reagan had this ability to project warmth and compassion while implementing incredibly draconian foreign and domestic policies. One example of this was his stubborn resistance to sanctions against the apartheid regime of South Africa.” More Information JOSEPH GERSON Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Peace and Economic Security Program and the author of the book The Deadly Connection: Nuclear War and U.S. Intervention, Gerson said today: “The idea that Reagan won the Cold War by increasing the military pressure on the Soviet Union is one of the great myths that…