NORMAN SOLOMON
Solomon today wrote the piece “State of Denial: After the Big Leak, Spinning for War,” which states: “Washington’s spin machine is in overdrive to counter the massive leak of documents on Afghanistan. Much of the counterattack revolves around the theme that the documents aren’t particularly relevant to this year’s new-and-improved war effort. …
“What has been most significant about ‘the president’s new policy’ is the steady step-up of bombing in Afghanistan and the raising of U.S. troop levels in that country to a total of 100,000. None of what was basically wrong with the war last year has been solved by the ‘new policy.’ On the contrary.”
Solomon, author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death and president of the Institute for Public Accuracy, visited Kabul last year. He is available for a limited number of interviews.
JOSH STIEBER
Stieber is a former soldier in the Bravo Company documented in the video “Collateral Murder,” released earlier this year by WikiLeaks. The video shows, through a helicopter gun-sight, soldiers killing civilians including a Reuters photographer in Iraq and then shooting at people in a van attempting to rescue the wounded. After the release of the video, Stieber co-wrote “An Open Letter of Reconciliation and Responsibility to the Iraqi People” with Ethan McCord, another member of the unit.
McCord, who was in the first team of dismounted soldiers to arrive on the scene, spoke at the National Peace Conference in Albany, N.Y. this weekend.
Video of his graphic description of the “Collateral Murder” incident and the reactions of him and his commanders is available on YouTube: “Innocence Lost: Ethan McCord recounts aftermath of Iraqi civilian massacre.”
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020