News Releases

  • Interviews Available: Sharon vs. Hamas?

    ALI ABUNIMAH Abunimah wrote an op-ed article that appears in today’s New York Times. He is vice president of the Arab-American Action Network. [AAAN’s offices were burned by an arsonist yesterday, according to investigators. No motive is yet known.] More Information More Information RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW Director of The Shalom Center, Waskow said today: “Shortly before the latest suicide bombings, the mass-circulation right-of-center Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot ran a prominent front-page analysis pointing out that Hamas had suspended suicide bombings, but was sure to return to them, since Sharon had once again turned to assassinating Hamas’ leaders. Surely Sharon knew…


  • The FBI and Domestic Spying

    Attorney General John Ashcroft is apparently planning to loosen safeguards that have restricted FBI surveillance of religious and political groups. The following critics of the move are available for interviews: NKECHI TAIFA Nkechi Taifa is director of the Equal Justice Program at the Howard University School of Law. She said today: “Ashcroft would like us to trust the FBI with sweeping new powers. This is the FBI that tried to disrupt and destroy numerous nonviolent organizations ranging from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador to Students for a Democratic Society.…


  • Behind the Enron Collapse

    DOUG HELLER Consumer advocate with the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Heller said today: “Enron created itself through a growing corporate vision: If you want market share, create a market, even if there is no need for it. The ‘make a market’ mantra, in conjunction with Enron chairman Kenneth Lay’s longstanding ties to political leaders — Lay was one of President Bush’s biggest donors and was an energy advisor to Vice President Cheney — shifted the nation’s energy system from regulated monopolies to a deregulated, wholesale market-based system with few rules. Lay took in $141.6 million in…


  • * Afghanistan * Relatives of 9-11 Victims * Iraq

    ALEXANDER THIER Thier was an officer-in-charge for the UN humanitarian office in Afghanistan. He is co-author of the new report “Planning Considerations for International Involvement in Post-Taliban Afghanistan.” He said today: “Political space must be created in Afghanistan to allow representative, non-military leadership to emerge. At the Bonn meeting, there is a very notable absence of more direct representation of the Afghan people, with mostly the military and the king’s camp having a voice. If these same warlords are not persuaded to behave differently than they did during their rule between 1992 and 1996, there is a real danger that,…


  • Recession: Now What?

    In the wake of the announcement by a panel of academic experts that the U.S. economy has been in a recession since March, the following analysts are available for interviews: JULIANNE MALVEAUX An economist based in Washington, D.C., Malveaux said today: “It’s not news to anyone that we’re in a recession — most people are already experiencing it, so they don’t need an economist to tell them that. But certain communities are feeling it more than others. In October, the general unemployment rate increased by a half point, but by a full point for African Americans. Most states and cities…


  • Interviews Available: “Millions Still Face Starvation”

    JIM JENNINGS President of Conscience International, a humanitarian aid organization, Jennings was in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan this May and will soon return to resume humanitarian work. He said today: “The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is far from over — millions still face starvation and disease. The sudden expansion of Northern Alliance territories, although opening the possibility of deliveries from the north, actually stopped the food convoys from Pakistan and Iran for several days because truck drivers are reluctant to travel into a militarily volatile situation…. Meanwhile, the humanitarian effort is losing precious days, a critical factor because of…


  • Interviews Available: Real Peace or Pax Americana?

    JOHN QUIGLEY Professor of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley said today: “We don’t seem to be doing anything to keep the Northern Alliance within the bounds of international conventions regarding warfare and the treatment of POWs. Since we are helping them achieve their goals, we are ultimately responsible for their conduct. Given the past record of human rights abuses and atrocities by the Northern Alliance, our vigilance on this issue is of utmost importance.” Quigley can also discuss the proposed use of military courts. MARJORIE COHN An associate professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego,…


  • Afghan Women Warn Against the Northern Alliance

    FAHIMA VORGETTS Vorgetts headed a women’s literacy program in Kabul and fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979. (Her sister, operating an underground school for girls in Kabul, fled the country in 1999 when the Taliban learned of her activities.) Vorgetts said today: “For years we have been trying to raise awareness about the situation of women in Afghanistan and for years we were being ignored. We had to beg people to arrange an event. Now people are listening to what we say about the Taliban, but they must listen to what we say about the Northern Alliance to…


  • Putin and Bush: Below the Surface

    At his news conference with President Vladimir Putin this afternoon, President Bush talked of a shared commitment to “peace and progress” along with “free markets and the rule of law.” As the two leaders continue to meet this week, the following analysts are available for interviews: DAVID KOTZ Co-author of Revolution From Above: The Demise of the Soviet System and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Kotz said today: “There are reasons to be wary of the newly developed closer relationship between the Putin and Bush administrations…. The tactical importance of Russian help for the administration’s…


  • Trade and Terrorism: Interviews Available

    * Fast Track SARAH ANDERSON Director of the Global Economy Project of the Institute for Policy Studies, Anderson said today: “As they pressure Congress to vote as soon as possible on a controversial bill to renew trade promotion authority, also known as ‘fast track,’ Bush administration officials are arguing that America needs more free trade to fight Bin Laden. Robert Zoellick, U.S. Trade Representative, argues that there is an ‘inextricable link’ between economic prosperity and global security. But fast track is not the right approach to achieving global prosperity. U.S. forcefulness in trade negotiations has resulted in trade deals that…


  • Misleading Spin About the SAVE Act

    The SAVE Act would “throw up obstacles for all voters, making it more difficult for them to access their rights,” FAIR media analyst Julie Hollar writes. She argues that many mainstream media outlets have failed to properly cover the dangers of the SAVE Act or to debunk Republicans’ false claims about voter fraud, instead falling…

  • Jewish Power Party Wins Death Penalty by Noose

    “The Knesset’s approved legislation will no longer perform the death penalty via lethal injection but rather transform the execution of Palestinian detainees into a colonial spectacle. In other words, the original mode of colonial execution has been restored as the chosen method of capital punishment par excellence.“

  • Murderers Who Flee to Israel

    “A member of an offshoot of the Jewish Defense League — designated by the FBI as a ‘known violent extremist organization’ — was allegedly building explosive devices to target the home of Nerdeen Kiswani in a chilling act of political violence. The defendant reportedly planned to flee to Israel following the attack.”

  • Israel Committing “Journocide”

    “What we’re see is journocide — an attempt at killing all those who risk their lives to get on-the-ground information to us.”

  • Pentagon Protests

    On Thursday, McGovern spoke at and moderated the event “Press Briefing: Imminent Threat — or Ruse? Intel on Iran a Flashback to Iraq?“ organized by the Eisenhower Media Network at the National Press Club. He was a top CIA analyst for decades and a founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Thursday evening, he went…

  • Subimperial” BRICS: “Talk Left, Walk Right”

    “Subimperial BRICS bloc is the rabies-addled ‘dog that didn’t bark,’ when confronted by even Trump’s excesses of imperialism and Netanyahu’s genocide. But occasionally when some in the pack do bark left, we should not be distracted or surprised when – as any Palestinian knows — they simultaneously bite right.”

  • Did Iran Attack Diego Garcia?

    “The mysteries surrounding the alleged missile attack on Diego Garcia could be clarified if the U.S. government provides evidence about the missiles involved, their trajectories, and thus their potential firing range. Until government or independent evidence emerges, observers should avoid repeating unverified claims and drawing conclusions based on statements from governments that stand to benefit…

  • President Jared Kushner?

    “On March 9th, 2026, Donald Trump told reporters that his decision to strike Iran was informed by Jared Kushner. Kushner had warned the president that Iran was about to attack the United States. The Pentagon briefed congressional staff the exact opposite. Trump’s own appointed director of the National Counterterrorism Center subsequently resigned, writing in his resignation…

  • Israel Kills 1,000, Striking Over 100 Medical Facilities in Lebanon

    AntiWar.com reports: “In the course of prosecuting the ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced that he is ordering the destruction of every bridge across the Litani River, raising doubts over whether the hundreds of thousands of people they ordered evacuated from south of the river will ever actually be…

  • Netanyahu and Trump Following Neocon “Creative Destruction” Plans

    “This idea did not emerge overnight. It was articulated most clearly in a 1996 policy paper titled ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,’ prepared for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a group of U.S. neoconservative strategists, including Richard Perle.” 

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