News Releases

  • Afghanistan: What’s Happening?

    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…


  • Iraqi Documents and U.S. Response

    HANS VON SPONECK Former head of the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq, Von Sponeck was recently in Iraq and is currently in Geneva. He said today: “The U.S. government’s actions amount to a campaign of severe political harassment. They should give Hans Blix the time to assess the documents. Bush disparaging Iraq when it is complying with total access for the weapons inspectors shows a disregard for the reality on the ground. The U.S. controlling of documents and sharing them with only the permanent members of the Security Council and not the 10 rotating members further intensifies the existing…


  • Iraq: * Medicine * Inspectors * ‘No-Fly’ Zones

    DANNY MULLER RAMZI KYSIA In Baghdad: KATHY KELLY Muller, Kysia and Kelly are members of the Voices in the Wilderness campaign. The U.S. government has given Voices delegates until tomorrow to pay $30,000 in penalties for taking medicine to Iraq. More Information ALICE SLATER Director of the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, Slater said today: “No one is talking about our own violations of obligations to disarm, for example under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Our government is violating international law, even as it accuses Saddam Hussein of doing so. We see U.S. officials trying to upset the current disarmament…


  • Behind the War Lobby

    JONATHAN GRANOFF Director of the Global Security Institute, Granoff said today: “Richard Perle’s recent statements that the U.S. is determined to go to war regardless of Iraqi compliance with the weapons inspectors subverts the international system as well as the Constitution.” The Mirror in London reported on Nov. 20 that Richard Perle, head of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Review Board, in a meeting with British members of parliament, “admitted the U.S. would attack Iraq even if UN inspectors fail to find weapons.” The article quoted a British member of parliament: “This makes a mockery of the whole process and exposes…


  • Iraq: Oil-For-Food; War No Matter What?

    DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is former head of the UN oil-for-food program and a former UN Assistant Secretary General. The Security Council was expected to extend the oil-for-food program today. Halliday said today: “It’s good under the circumstances that the program is being extended for another six months — it keeps people alive — but it should not be necessary. We should have given the economy back to the Iraqis as a prelude to [the recent UN Security Council resolution] 1441. It would have made sense to get rid of the deadly economic sanctions as part of an agreement to ensure…


  • Will Inspectors Be Used for Spying on Iraq Again?

    As UN weapons inspectors arrived in Baghdad, Reuters reported that the head of the inspectors, Hans Blix, said he “could not rule out the possibility that there might be spies on his team. He added that any intelligence agents would be ordered off the group.” The following are portions of the public record and some analysts available for interviews: “U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has obtained what he regards as convincing evidence that United Nations arms inspectors helped collect eavesdropping intelligence used in American efforts to undermine the Iraqi regime, according to confidants who said he is deeply alarmed by…


  • Ramadan: Interviews Available

    JEANNE BUTTERFIELD Executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Butterfield said today: “The administration has taken a number of unprecedented actions which target the Muslim and Arab communities in the United States. They have denied the right to open hearings, the right to a day in court, the right to counsel. The government is not simply engaging in legitimate law enforcement profiling, but in ethnic and religious profiling.” More Information DR. LAILA AL-MARAYATI Founder of the Muslim Women’s League, Al-Marayati is a physician and is on the board of Kinder USA, a new charity founded by Muslim medical professionals.…


  • Decoding the New UN Resolution on Iraq: Myth-Shattering Analysis at Accuracy.org/un2

    Today the Institute for Public Accuracy released a detailed analysis of the new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq. The assessments feature conclusions of several legal and political analysts. The multifaceted critique is available at: www.accuracy.org/un2 Among the analysts who are available for interviews: JAMES PAUL Executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors policy-making at the United Nations, Paul is author of a series of papers including “Iraq: The Struggle for Oil.” He said today: “This resolution takes a hard-line approach that will almost certainly lead to war. Thirteen members of the Security Council were opposed to this…


  • Veterans’ Day: Interviews Available

    DAVID CLINE Currently national president of Veterans for Peace and a longtime coordinator of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Cline is a disabled combat veteran. He said today: “Bush is using the terrorist attacks of September 11 to wage endless war abroad and reduce freedom here at home. The veterans are one of the groups who have some sense of the reality of war. We’ve been used by our government to enforce unjust policies. We’re also used to justify future military attacks; the government doesn’t care about us much until they need us to wave the flags for a new…


  • Analysts Available on New UN Iraq Resolution

    As the Bush administration pushes for a UN Security Council resolution vote on Iraq, the following analysts are available for interviews: DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is a former UN Assistant Secretary General and headed the UN’s food-for-oil program in Iraq. Available for limited interviews, Halliday said today: “Even if the Iraqis wanted to comply — and it’s not clear to me that they do — I doubt that they could comply with this resolution. It has components that are simply geared toward Mr. Bush’s war. If the Iraqis close the door on an inspector in a bike shop at 3 in…


  • Global Warming: A Crucial Moment

    In recent days, the Bush administration has moved away from restricting emissions of carbon dioxide. Today, it is being reported that the Bush administration plans to pull out of the Kyoto protocol on global warming altogether. The following analysts are available for interviews: ROSS GELBSPAN Author of The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the…

  • Erin Brockovich and Bill Moyers Put Toxic Chemicals in National Spotlight

    The night after Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her fact-based portrayal of environmental activist Erin Brockovich, the chemical industry is set to take another blow on national television Monday evening as PBS airs “Trade Secrets” — an expose of “secrets buried in thousands of confidential documents from America’s chemical companies.” The following researchers and…

  • Eighteen Years After “Star Wars” — What’s Behind NMD?

    Today is the 18th anniversary of President Reagan’s announcement of his intention to begin a massive missile defense research program for the Strategic Defense Initiative. Reports are circulating today about a major reassessment of weapons systems by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is a major proponent of National Missile Defense. The following analysts are available…

  • Campaign Finance Reform

    STEPHANIE WILSON Executive director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, Wilson said today: “During the civil rights movement of the last century, voices rose in resistance to racism, inequality, brutal oppression and disenfranchisement, and they could not be silenced. Their cries resulted in both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts — legislation that Congress…

  • Sharon’s Visit

    SUSAN AKRAM An associate professor at Boston University School of Law who specializes in refugee issues, Akram said today: “The deteriorating situation is a reflection of a complete lack of focus on the international law principles that should guide a just solution for the millions of Palestinian refugees and for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict generally. Israeli…

  • Coke and Commercialization of Schools

    The Coca-Cola company announced on Wednesday that it intends to change the way it does business with school districts. The list of changes includes encouraging local representatives to negotiate non-exclusive contracts, supplying of vending machines that have school messages on the outside rather than Coke ads, and offering a wider variety of “nutritious” beverages. The…

  • A Year After Warning of Stock Collapse, Economist Cites Political Leaders’ “Negligence”

    An economist who predicted a collapse of stock prices a year ago, when the Nasdaq composite index was near its peak, said today that “the nation’s political leaders chose to ignore the stock market bubble” — and “as a result, millions of families have seen their dreams of a secure retirement or their children’s college…

  • Taxes and Triggers

    MAX SAWICKY Senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, Sawicky said today: “Because some members of Congress view President Bush’s proposed tax cut as a budget buster, they would like to make these large tax cuts subject to cancellation or postponement if economic and budget prospects begin to dim. The buzz word for such devices…

  • Repeal of Workers’ Safety?

    Last night, the Senate voted to roll back a new federal rule protecting workers from repetitive stress injuries. House action is expected later this week. The following analysts are available for interviews: PAMELA VOSSENAS Vossenas is co-chair of the health and safety committee of the National Writers Union, which is affiliated with the United Auto…

  • South Africa AIDS Trial

    With a historic trial underway in South Africa, as 39 pharmaceutical companies try to stop the South African government from importing cheaper versions of AIDS drugs, the following analysts in the United States and South Africa are available for interviews: ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action and author of the recent paper “AIDS and Developing…

Mastodon