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News Releases

  • * Tax Cuts * Greenspan * Jobs

    ELLEN FRANK Professor of economics at Emmanuel College in Boston and author of the forthcoming book Money Illusions, Frank said today: “Bush’s economic plan is unlikely to create jobs or growth as he claims. His plan centers on giving more money to wealthy investors with the supposition that they will invest this excess windfall in projects which will create jobs and growth. The reality is that wealthy investors are already swimming in money and unable to find sustainable growth avenues for their excess cash…. The terrible job market may squeeze wages, and with proposed tax cuts and federal spending increases…

  • U.S. Bases: Interviews Available

    JOSEPH GERSON Editor of The Sun Never Sets, a book about U.S. military bases worldwide, Gerson is director of the Peace and Economic Security Program at the American Friends Service Committee. He said today: “Behind the rhetoric of ‘liberation’ and not staying ‘a day’ longer than needed, the Bush administration is clearly working to create a client government which will allow the U.S. to maintain military bases for the long term, as it has recently done in Central Asia. The U.S. government, in effect, will be transforming Iraq into an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier for the United States.’ The U.S. government…

  • * Humanitarian Crisis * Lifting the Sanctions

    On Thursday, less than 24 hours after issuing a press release highlighting the apparent failures of the U.S. military’s humanitarian operations in Iraq, the international group Voices in the Wilderness was banned from meeting with the U.S. Civil Military Operations Center or with international journalists at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. The group asks: “If the freedom to critique U.S. policies in Iraq regarding humanitarian issues is being curtailed already, then exactly what does this mean for building ‘democracy’ there?” A photo of the military’s listing of which groups are allowed into the hotel (noting in capital letters that Voices…

  • “NASA’s Strategic Plan”

    Today, NASA administrator and former Secretary of the Navy Sean O’Keefe addressed the National Press Club about “NASA’s Strategic Plan.” The following analysts are available for interviews: ALICE SLATER Director of the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, Slater said today: “NASA’s strategic plan involves the acceleration of militarizing space. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers was head of U.S. Space Command when it published its 1998 ‘Visions for 2020’ report which talked of ‘dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investment.’ In January 2001 the space commission chaired by Donald…

  • * Syria * Iraq * Antiquities * Terrorist Groups

    JAMES ABOUREZK A former U.S. senator, Abourezk has met with high-ranking Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad. He said today: “The proposal that Syria is reportedly putting forward at the U.N. for a Mideast free of weapons of mass destruction is a very good one.” Abourezk is in D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday. More Information SCOTT C. DAVIS Author of the new book The Road from Damascus: A Journey Through Syria, Davis recently returned from Syria; he spent the first several days of the invasion of Iraq in Syria. He has visited Syria repeatedly over the last 15 years and…

  • * Why War? * WMD * Oil * IMF — World Bank

    BILL FLETCHER President of TransAfrica Forum and co-chair of United for Peace and Justice, Fletcher said today: “The military action against Iraq is not just about controlling oil and not even just about empire. It’s about economic competition with other powers; about the Bush administration framing global capitalism in an image that it wants with its ‘new international economic architecture’ via the IMF and World Bank…. This will exacerbate the increasing economic polarization of the last 20 years, further impoverish much of the globe and send a message to all: displays of resistance will be met with force.” More Information…

  • Iraq: From Tyranny to What?

    AS’AD ABUKHALIL AbuKhalil, professor of political science at California State University at Stanislaus, is closely following events in the Arabic-language as well as English-language media and can address changes in Iraq and the region. He is author of the book Bin Ladin, Islam and America’s New “War on Terrorism.” LAMIS ANDONI An independent journalist and analyst who has covered the Mideast for over two decades, Andoni is also monitoring the Arabic-language media. She knew Tareq Ayub, the Al Jazeera correspondent who was killed yesterday by the U.S. military. [The web page http://english.aljazeera.net is back up after being hacked.] Andoni said…

  • * After Saddam * Garner and Chaliabi * Rachel Corrie’s Legacy

    ANDY SHALLAL Founder of Iraqi-Americans for Peaceful Alternatives, Shallal said today: “People are happy not just because Saddam is out, but also because they anticipate the end of 12 years of economic sanctions and the bombing…. When I was a kid in Iraq, we had coups and I would go out and jump in the street because it was the coolest thing. It’s like D.C. when the Redskins win the Super Bowl. The problem is what comes after.” RICK McDOWELL Working with American Friends Service Committee, McDowell is in contact with many relief organizations in Jordan trying to get humanitarian…

  • Bush and Blair in Belfast

    SIMONA SHARONI Sharoni has specialized in Northern Ireland as well as the Middle East and can compare and analyze the two. She is a professor of peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics at Evergreen State College and executive director of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development. MAIREAD CORRIGAN McGUIRE A Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her work in Northern Ireland and co-founder of the Peace People, Mairead Corrigan McGuire has been on a liquid fast since the invasion of Iraq began. She is holding a silent vigil in front of the White House every day from…

  • War Crimes?

    “To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” — International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, 1946 [ www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/nurletter.htm] “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…” — U.N. Charter (Chapter I, Article 2) [www.un.org/aboutun/charter] “It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as…

  • 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…

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