accuracy.org

News Releases

  • The Anti-War Origins of Mother’s Day

    Each year the president issues a Mother’s Day Proclamation. The original Mother’s Day Proclamation was made in 1870. Written by Julia Ward Howe, perhaps best known today for having written the words to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1862 when she was an antislavery activist, the original Proclamation was an impassioned call for peace and disarmament. In the years following the Civil War her political activism increased, as did her condemnation of war. Here are the words to the original Mother’s Day Proclamation: “Arise then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism…

  • * Torture * Geneva Convention * Former Diplomats’ Letter * Praying for Peace

    LISA HAJJAR Hajjar wrote the article “Torture and the Future.” She said today: “Bush has finally issued statements apologizing for the treatment of Iraqis, for the ‘humiliation’ and ‘abuse’ that have shocked many. But he is not accurately describing what has been happening. It was torture; we are now finding that it has been systemic and rampant, according to an investigative report by U.S. Army General Antonio Taguba … Torture has a legal definition and consequences, and Bush is attempting to shield his administration from those consequences.” Hajjar, who teaches in the Law and Society Program at the University of…

  • Torture and War Crimes: Crucial Context

    CLIFF KINDY Kindy has spent two five-month stints over the last year and a half in Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Team, which released a document entitled “Report and Recommendations on Iraqi Detainees” in January. Kindy has had substantial contact with Iraqi detainees and their families and with U.S. soldiers and higher-ups. More Information DAHR JAMAIL Baghdad correspondent for the Internet journal The NewStandard, Jamail has written several articles (one of them in January) about U.S. military torture of Iraqis. His most recent piece, “Telltale Signs of Torture Lead Family to Demand Answers,” is available at the above web page.…

  • WMDs: * U.S. Public Opinion * Solutions

    STEVEN KULL Kull is director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes which has recently released two studies: “U.S. Public Beliefs on Iraq and the Presidential Election” and “Americans on WMD Proliferation.” He said today: “Sixty percent of Americans believe that just before the war Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction or a major program for developing them. Few Americans perceive most experts as saying the contrary. Perceptions of what the experts are saying are highly correlated with intentions to vote for the president in the upcoming election. Among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq had WMDs,…

  • “Global Democratic Revolution”

    GEORGE MONBIOT Monbiot, author of the new book Manifesto for a New World Order and winner of the 1995 United Nations Global 500 Award, is in New York City until Wednesday. He said today: “Many of the most important issues facing us — climate change, international debt, nuclear proliferation, war, the balance of trade between nations — can be resolved only at the global or the international level…. Our task is not to overthrow globalization, but to capture it, and to use it as a vehicle for humanity’s first global democratic revolution. “There is already a global governance system in…

  • Al-Jazeera: Blaming the Messenger?

    Secretary Rumsfeld: “I can definitively say that what al-Jazeera is doing is vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.” Q: “Do you have a civilian casualty count?” Secretary Rumsfeld: “Of course not, we’re not in the city [Fallujah]. But you know what our forces do; they don’t go around killing hundreds of civilians. That’s just outrageous nonsense! It’s disgraceful what that station is doing.” — Donald Rumsfeld at Pentagon news conference, April 15 **** “Last week Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. defense secretary, accused the Arabic television station al-Jazeera of ‘vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable’ reporting for suggesting hundreds of civilians had died there. ‘It’s…

  • * Iraq * Bush and Cheney Before 9-11 Commission * Syria

    PHYLLIS BENNIS A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of several recent papers on Iraq at the above web page, Bennis said today: “Having a little sovereignty is like being a little pregnant. Either a country has sovereignty or it doesn’t. Under the U.S. plans, Iraq will not have real sovereignty.” More Information DENIS HALLIDAY Former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq and assistant secretary general of the U.N., Halliday resigned in protest in 1998. Currently in New York, he is available until Friday for interviews on developments in Iraq. On the oil-for-food program, he…

  • Iraq: On-the-Ground Realities

    RAHUL MAHAJAN Just back from a three-week stay in Baghdad, Mahajan was in Fallujah on April 11. He is author of the book Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond. Mahajan said today: “As the tense standoff over Fallujah and Najaf continues, we need to be clear about some things. U.S. actions include the occupation and deliberate closure of at least two hospitals and numerous cases of sniping at clearly-marked ambulances, including ambulances that had no fighters or weapons. The killing of likely well over 600 people following the killing of four Blackwater Security mercenaries is a heinous…

  • Interviews Available on Negroponte: * Meaning of “Sovereignty” * Support for Death Squads

    ANDRES THOMAS CONTERIS Conteris is a Latin America human rights activist. He was detained and released in the Capitol after speaking up Tuesday at U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte’s Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination to be ambassador to Iraq. Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to Honduras during the Nicaragua Contra war in the early 1980s. At the hearing Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) asked Negroponte if “the sovereign Iraqi government of July 1 would not have veto authority over military involvement in [a situation like] Fallujah? … If they have sovereignty, Mr. Ambassador, what does that mean? …” Negroponte: “That is why…

  • “A Politics for Reproductive Justice”

    GWENDOLYN MINK Mink is the author of the book Welfare’s End and is scheduled as a speaker at the March for Women’s Lives on April 25 in Washington. She said today: “On Sunday, women of color of all classes and low income women of all races will raise new voices in the struggle for reproductive liberty. The March for Women’s Lives will transform the politics of ‘choice’ into a politics for reproductive justice. The struggle for reproductive justice is about more than Roe v. Wade. It’s about securing both rights and resources that assure every woman equality as a reproductive…

  • Debate Breaks Out on Efforts to Pressure Burma About Human Rights

    WASHINGTON — In the largest such effort since the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, the state of Massachusetts and some 20 cities and localities are effectively refusing to buy from companies that do business in Burma, where a military junta seized power and human rights abuses persist. Now, salvos are being fired about the legitimacy…

  • At the End of Sweltering Month, Denial on Global Warming

    WASHINGTON — Despite record temperatures and the prevalent view of the scientific community, some denial about global warming has not melted. In recent days, a troop of global-warming deniers journeyed to Capitol Hill. Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute was among those who testified Wednesday disputing the scientific weight of evidence on climate change. A…

  • Killing at School: Behind the Images

    WASHINGTON — In two weeks, the boys accused of the deadly shooting spree at their school in Jonesboro, Arkansas go on trial. Criminal justice and youth experts associated with the Institute for Public Accuracy say the trial — scheduled to get underway shortly before millions of students across the nation return to classes — should…

  • Claims for Privatizing Social Security Called

    WASHINGTON — While a prominent think tank claimed Monday that privatizing Social Security would help American women, a past president of the American Economic Association called the conclusions “preposterous.” Robert Eisner said the plan would actually harm women and severely damage Social Security as a system of social insurance. The Cato Institute — whose major…

  • Backers of International Court Challenge Nay-Sayers

    WASHINGTON — As discussions on the International Criminal Court treaty were coming to a close in Rome today, backers of a strong Court criticized the U.S. delegation’s end-game approach at the historic meeting. Some Court advocates took particular exception to the common argument that the Court would open a legal Pandora’s box, saying that such…

  • “Notable Hypocrisy” Cited as Prominent Think Tank Urges Funding Disclosure by Witnesses at Capitol

    WASHINGTON — A new report by one of the nation’s most influential think tanks, the Heritage Foundation, criticizes witnesses who testified on Capitol Hill without disclosing grants they had received from the U.S. government. But the report does not mention that the Heritage Foundation presented congressional testimony on American policies toward North Korea without acknowledging…

  • Alternatives to Federal Anti-Drug Policies

    WASHINGTON — With a $195 million federal anti-drug ad campaign now underway, some experts on drug policies and the law are questioning the effectiveness of the latest efforts to curb drug use. Among those available for comment are: DARRYL COLBERT Program Administrator for the Substance Abuse Network of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington,…

  • What Should Be Done With the Budget Surplus?

    WASHINGTON — For the first time in decades, government officials and policy wonks in the nation’s capital are talking about what to do with a federal budget surplus. The Congressional Budget Office predicts a surplus of between $43 billion and $63 billion this year. While many in Washington are pushing for tax cuts, some policy…

  • While Clinton Offers Reassurances in Hong Kong, Some Critics Dispute His Economic Assumptions

    WASHINGTON — President Clinton hopes that his public statements in Hong Kong on Friday will help to soothe jitters about economic turmoil in Asia. But some policy analysts in the United States are raising fundamental questions about the recent upheaval that has roiled the economies of many Asian nations. Despite assurances from U.S. officials, critics…

  • Critics Question Human Rights Standards

    WASHINGTON — While many applaud statements by President Clinton in China specifically citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, analysts associated with the Institute for Public Accuracy are raising questions about selective adherence to the Declaration’s provisions. Among those available for comment are: ANURADHA MITTAL Mittal, policy director at the Institute for Food and Development…

Mastodon