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News Releases

  • Breakthrough: Interviews Available

    With Iraq agreeing to weapons inspections, the following analysts are available for interviews: JAMES ABOUREZK The former Senator is en route back to the United States. He was a member of a delegation to Iraq sponsored by the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is currently in Damascus. NORMAN SOLOMON Executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, Solomon is currently in Baghdad. More Information DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is former head of the UN oil-for-food program and a former UN Assistant Secretary General. He is currently in his native Ireland. More Information More Information FRANCIS BOYLE Boyle is professor of international…

  • A Message to the Iraqi National Assembly from the Honorable Nick Rahall

    I want to thank you for the traditional Iraqi hospitality that our delegation has received since coming to Baghdad. We are all aware of the grave crisis presently facing our two countries, the United States and Iraq. I am concerned about the effects that a new war would have on both our countries. For that reason I come as an advocate of peace through dialogue. Ours is a humanitarian mission. I come, not as the Secretary of State, and not as a weapons inspector, but as a member of Congress concerned with peace. Basically, I want America and Iraq to…

  • American Delegation En Route to Baghdad

    An independent American delegation to Iraq, led by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and former Sen. James Abourezk, is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Friday night (Sept. 13). The delegation also includes James Jennings, president of Conscience International, an Atlanta-based humanitarian aid and human rights organization, and Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The following policy analysts and commentators are available for interviews: DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is former head of the UN oil-for-food program and a former UN Assistant Secretary General. He is currently in his native Ireland. He said today: “Any dialogue between the U.S.…

  • The United States, the World and War

    SUSAN WRIGHT Wright is co-author of Preventing a Biological Arms Race and of the forthcoming Biological Warfare and Disarmament: New Problems/New Perspectives. She said today: “If Saddam Hussein has had any inclination to wage war against other Middle Eastern states, deterrence seems to have worked — as it worked between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. On the other hand, war against Iraq would most likely generate a situation in which he would be tempted to use weapons of mass destruction…” FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law…

  • Independent American Delegation to Baghdad

    An independent American delegation, led by Rep. Nick Rahall and former Sen. James Abourezk, is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Friday night (Sept. 13). Rahall, of West Virginia, is currently serving his 13th term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Abourezk represented South Dakota in the United States Senate. The delegation also includes: James Jennings, president of Conscience International, an Atlanta-based humanitarian aid and human rights organization; and Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a nationwide consortium of public policy researchers. The trip, described by participants as a “humanitarian mission,” comes as President Bush is…

  • Sept. 11 Events Calling for “No More Victims”

    Many communities throughout the United States and the world are planning events to honor the people who were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. The following organizers, seeking to help create a world with “no more victims,” are available for interviews: DAVID POTORTI David Potorti, who lost his brother James at the World Trade Center, said today: “Victims of terrorism and war — from Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Japan — will join family members of Sept. 11 victims for a joint speaking tour in the days immediately before and after Sept. 11, 2002. The…

  • Powell in Africa: Interviews Available

    BILL FLETCHER Executive director of TransAfrica, Fletcher said today: “Bush not being at the Earth Summit in South Africa is extremely symbolic. It is a reflection of the arrogance of this administration and its unilateralism. The Summit is perhaps most noteworthy for the events of the popular organizations and NGOs which are trying to address the growing disparity of wealth and the failure of the global North to deal with environmental degradation. I hope that Powell is hearing this, though it would have been better for Bush to hear it himself. Powell is also scheduled to go to Angola. I…

  • Interviews Available: “EarthSummit.biz”?

    There will be major protests and a march on Saturday at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The following activists are available for comment: ANTONIA JUHASZ Juhasz is a project director for the International Forum on Globalization, which represents over 60 organizations in 25 countries. She said today: “The absence of President Bush should not be mistaken for a lack of U.S. commitment to the outcome of the summit. On the contrary, the administration has set an aggressive agenda for the summit which it has been pursuing — halting any progress on the commitments made by the president’s father…

  • Interviews Available on Global Corporate Crime: Earth Summit, Bhopal

    As the Earth Summit — or World Summit on Sustainable Development — continues to meet in Johannesburg, South Africa, many nongovernmental organizations are calling for increased corporate accountability and protesting against corporate control of the Summit itself. Yesterday, a court in Bhopal, India, rejected the Indian government’s application for a reduction of criminal charges against former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson. The court has instead directed the prosecuting agency to hasten the extradition of Anderson from the United States. Anderson, who is accused of “culpable homicide” for deaths from the poisonous gas leak from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory in Bhopal…

  • War Against Iraq — Who Should Decide?

    The lead headline in this morning’s Washington Post is: “Bush Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote.” In contrast, Wayne Morse — one of only two Senators who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution used by the Johnson administration to escalate the Vietnam War — argued that declaring war is the responsibility of Congress. Audio of his 1964 statements is available: Morse: “No war has been declared in Southeast Asia and until a war is declared it is my position that it is unconstitutional to send American boys to their death in South Vietnam or anywhere else in…

  • World Trade Organization Meeting: Will Protests Be Allowed?

    The World Trade Organization has indicated that it will hold its next ministerial meeting at the beginning of November in Qatar. This has prompted objections from human rights groups and critics of the WTO concerned that Qatar will not allow protests. The WTO is expected to make its official selection within the next two weeks.…

  • Behind the California Blackouts

    MEDEA BENJAMIN Founding director of Global Exchange and spokesperson for the Campaign for Public Power Now, a new coalition of consumer, community and environmental groups, Benjamin said today: “Dozens of municipalities throughout the state, including Los Angeles and Sacramento, have no power crisis because they publicly own and control their power systems…. Governor Gray Davis…

  • Final Election Results

    Al Gore: 50,996,116 George W. Bush: 50,456,169 In the nationwide popular vote, Gore received 539,947 more votes than Bush. Source: The Associated Press

  • Interviews Available on Norton

    WENONAH HAUTER Director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, Hauter said today: “Americans are proud of the progress made over the past three decades to clean up our environment. George W. Bush’s nomination of Gale Norton for Secretary of the Interior would turn back the clock…. For instance, she was a strong…

  • Southern Partisan T-Shirt Identical to One Worn by Timothy McVeigh at Time of Arrest

    Factual Background: Mid-1990s Southern Partisan sells T-shirts celebrating the Lincoln assassination with a quote from John Wilkes Booth (“Sic Semper Tyrannis”) on the front, and Jefferson’s quote about liberty requiring “the blood of patriots and tyrants” on the back. April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh is arrested after bombing the Oklahoma City federal building, wearing a…

  • New Concern on Ashcroft Record: Discriminatory Voter Registration

    Critics expressed concern today about a previously unexamined aspect of the record of attorney general nominee John Ashcroft — his successful efforts to block legislation designed to equalize access to voter registration in the St. Louis area. As governor, Ashcroft twice vetoed measures passed overwhelmingly by the Missouri legislature that sought to make it possible…

  • Abortion: Questions for John Ashcroft

    WASHINGTON — With Senate confirmation hearings on the nomination of John Ashcroft for attorney general scheduled to begin Tuesday, the Institute for Public Accuracy today raised pointed questions for Ashcroft on the subject of abortion rights: In 1998, you were one of three original Senate sponsors of the “Human Life Amendment” to the Constitution, and…

  • Questions for John Ashcroft on Race, American History and Justice

    This afternoon, the Institute for Public Accuracy released the following list of suggested questions for attorney general nominee John Ashcroft, who faces Senate confirmation hearings later this month: 1) Will you furnish the text or a tape recording of your 1999 commencement address to Bob Jones University? 2) You have said that you were unaware…

  • Pacifica Crackdown at WBAI Radio

    The Pacifica Foundation, which in the summer of 1999 locked out the staff of KPFA Radio in Berkeley, Calif., has recently begun a similar series of actions at WBAI Radio, its New York City station. Management changed locks over Christmas weekend and fired and banned several targeted workers from the station. There have been a…

  • Context: John Ashcroft and Neo-Confederate Influence

    Two specialists on the political dynamics of neo-Confederate and white nationalist groups in the United States today commented on aspects of racial politics and John Ashcroft, the nominee for attorney general. DEVIN BURGHART Burghart is director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community. The initiative works to counter the white nationalist…

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