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 Warning?

    ROSS GELBSPAN Author of The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription, Gelbspan said: “This year in the United States, a 315-mile-an-hour tornado destroyed parts of Oklahoma City, one of the worst droughts on record is decimating crops in the mid-Atlantic states and a summer heat wave has killed more than 270…

  • Fallout From Nuclear Exposure

    Newspaper accounts this week report that workers were unknowingly exposed to deadly radioactive isotopes at key Department of Energy facilities. The following analysts are available for interviews: JAY TRUMAN Founder and director of Downwinders, a group of people exposed to radiation during nuclear tests, Truman said: “The news that the workers at Paducah (Ky.) and…

  • Farmers: Beyond the Drought

    These analysts are available to talk about the drought and other issues facing farmers: KATHY OZER Director of program operations at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, which works with small (mostly African American) farmers, Zippert said: “What’s far more serious than the drought for our farmers is the price of agricultural commodities. They’re getting 3…

  • Congressional Focus on Nigeria: Interviews Available

    WASHINGTON — While a congressional hearing today focuses on Nigeria, advocates for human rights and environmental protection are available for interviews on the role of oil companies in backing repressive actions by the Nigerian government. Among those available for interviews are: BRONWEN MANBY A researcher for Human Rights Watch, Manby is one of three witnesses…

  • Budget Priorities

    LINDA GORDON Professor of history at the University of Wisconsin/Madison, Gordon said: “The budget surplus provides Americans with an opportunity for a conversation about our priorities. Most Americans want better schools, better policing, cleaner air and water, an end to global warming, and above all, medical insurance for everyone. Taxes offer a fair and efficient…

  • News Report Says Sale of KPFA May Be Imminent; Station’s Supporters Denounce Pacifica Foundation

    In a major development this morning in the uproar over the censorship and lockout of the staff at KPFA Radio, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that “a proposal to sell Berkeley radio station KPFA is expected to come today before the policy-making body of KPFA’s governing Pacifica Foundation.” Denials of plans to sell the station…

  • Tax Cut?

    These analysts are available for interviews about the tax bill just passed by the House of Representatives and the implications of such legislation: MICHELE McGEOY Michele McGeoy is the CEO of RH Solutions and a member of Responsible Wealth, a national network of affluent Americans working for fairer and more effective economic policies. She said:…

  • Uproar Over Free Speech and Lockout: “Unprecedented” Stifling of Radio Station

    A nationwide outcry is growing as the Pacifica Foundation continues its lockout of staff and volunteers at radio station KPFA in the San Francisco area. A week ago, the foundation’s management halted the station’s evening newscast in mid-sentence while the news anchor was reporting on the latest developments in the KPFA-Pacifica conflict. Since then, archival…

  • Trade Issues: Africa, Agriculture

    There have been a number of developments on trade issues this week: The World Trade Organization ruled on the European Union’s ban on U.S. hormone-injected beef, the Secretary of Agriculture made a speech on genetically modified foods and the House is set to vote on major Africa trade legislation. Among the analysts available to discuss…

  • “Compassionate Conservatism”?

    LOUIS DUBOSE Editor of the Texas Observer, Dubose said: “‘Compassionate conservatism’ is in fact the same old wine, badly soured, in a shiny New Texas bottle. We are dead last in per capita government spending, 49th in spending on the environment — while first in pollution.” More Information EVA DeLUNA Budget and policy analyst at…

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