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Latest News Release – Interviews AvailableRSS

Obama on Guantanamo and Drone Killing

May 23, 2013

President Obama is scheduled to speak at the National Defense University today at 2 p.m. on his drone killing policies and holding individuals at Guantanamo, about 100 of whom are reportedly currently on a hunger strike. The New York Times reports: “the administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged for the first time that it had killed four American citizens in drone strikes outside the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that its actions were justified by the danger to the United States.”

CARLOS WARNER, carloswarnerlaw at gmail.com, @Carlos_Warner
Warner is an attorney with the Federal Public Defender of the Northern District of Ohio. He represents 11 Guantanamo prisoners. He said today: “Lifting the Executive Order restricting transfers to Yemen is a good start. More importantly, if the President is serious about closing the prison, he must appoint someone with power within the White House. If the President only pledges to reopen an office in the State Department and start the Periodic Review Boards, he is not serious about closing Guantanamo.”

BRUCE FEIN, bruce at thelichfieldgroup.com
Fein was deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy. He said today regarding reports that execution of drone strikes will shift in many cases from the CIA to the Pentagon: “This would be a step backward on transparency, would mean even less congressional oversight. Will not be reported as covert actions to House and Senate Intelligence Committees. CIA must report anticipated covert actions to Intelligence Committees under Title 50. Title 10 for military has no such thing.”

Regarding reports that the administration would end so-called “signature strikes” — which can be based on traits such as males of a certain age range, Fein stated: “It insinuates signature strikes have been illegal homicides.”

Fein stated: “The Constitution’s makers deplored the combination of legislative, executive, and judicial powers in a single branch as the very definition of tyranny. President Obama thus shoulders a heavy burden in seeking to explain how his playing prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner to kill any citizen or non-citizen anywhere on the planet justified by his secret say-so alone, unaccountable to federal courts or congressional oversight, satisfies constitutional due process and the separation of powers. The Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin never claimed greater unchecked authority in liquidating the kulaks and exterminating all his perceived enemies.”

Fein recently write the piece “Learning From Shakespeare” and recently wrote a letter with Ralph Nader to Obama: “In light of your obligation to explain ‘by what authority,’ we were dismayed that you refused to send a witness to testify on April 23, 2013, regarding the legality of your predator drone targeted and signature killing programs before Senator Richard Durbin’s Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. That disdain for the rule of law and congressional oversight contrasts unfavorably with President Gerald Ford’s willingness to testify personally before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on his pardon of former President Richard Nixon.”

NOOR MIR, noor at codepink.org, @thedronalisa
ROOJ ALWAZIR, Rooj129 at gmail.com, @WomanfromYemen
MEDEA BENJAMIN, medea at codepink.org
ALLI McCRACKEN, alli at codepink.org
McCracken, Mir, Alwazir and Benjamin — who wrote the book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control — are activists who will be holding a news conference outside Obama’s speech venue beginning at 11 a.m., organized by CodePink.

REBECCA GRIFFIN, via Reva Patwardhan, rpatwardhan at peaceactionwest.org
Griffin is political director for Peace Action West. She said today: “The administration has ramped up a dangerous tactic that could have far-reaching consequences. According to the New America Foundation, only 2 percent of those killed in drone strikes in Pakistan are militant leaders. While the administration claims that it focuses on terrorists that pose an imminent threat, the white paper leaked from the Justice Department shows a definition of imminence that goes far beyond people on the verge of carrying out attacks on the United States. The administration uses the nearly twelve-year-old Authorization for the Use of Military Force as part of its legal justification for drone strikes, going well beyond its original scope. Military officials claimed in a recent Senate hearing that it would authorize use of force almost anywhere in the world, prompting Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) to call it the ‘most astoundingly disturbing hearing’ he had been to in the Senate.

“The administration is risking blowback and killing innocent civilians without making a case that these targets pose a serious imminent threat to our security. Furthermore, this administration is setting a dangerous precedent for future presidents, as well as other countries, for the broad use of armed drones.”

Recent Blog PostsRSS

Obama’s Economic Race Legacy

April 29, 2013 by sam ·

One has to believe in something or someone in order to betray it or them.

From the start, President Barack Obama has shown little interest or loyalty in the issues that affect the poor, working class and people of color in the United States. For almost his entire first term he didn’t utter the words poor or poverty. Early on he reminded African Americans: ‘I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America…’

So it’s not so surprising that Obama hasn’t done much of substance or impact to ease, let alone end, the depression in the black community. He’s been on the side of the banks and Wall Street since co-signing George Bush’s and Hank Paulsen’s TARP ‘too big to fail’ bank bailout at the expense of underwater homeowners and middle-class taxpayers. [more]

What We Should be Talking About: Romney’s Foreign Policy Advisers

August 28, 2012 by journalist ·

John Kennedy used to say, “Domestic policy can hurt us; foreign policy can kill us.”

But despite the fact that lives (American, allied, and civilian) continue to be lost in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel is blustering about attacking Iran before the US election (in order to drag in a reluctant Obama administration), much more time will be given to domestic policy rantings then foreign policy. In the 2000 election, there was very little debate about foreign policy, though anyone who looked closely might have guessed that Bush’s foreign policy advisors (who called themselves “the vulcans,” and had complex and long-standing links to groups and think tanks pressing for war on Iraq, would undertake that project at the slightest provocation.

This year, with less excuse (given the large deficit and two ongoing military operations), we have had very little discussion in the media about Romney’s foreign policy advisors. Yet, they are a far more coherent group of militarists than the Bush team.

[more]

Dying to Live in Mexico

May 15, 2012 by journalist ·

Cuernavaca, Mexico — In 2011, some 12,000 people were murdered in situations presumably related to the drug trafficking industry in Mexico. In 2010, the number was more than 15,000 killed. Between December 2006, when Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) took office and declared a “war on drug traffickers” and January 2012, depending on the source, some 47,000 to 60,000 people have been slain, and some 5,000 disappeared. This grim fact has become the centerpiece of Mexican politics and an inescapable force in daily life throughout much of the country.

But neither the number of people killed nor the cruelty of the killings can be understood without simultaneously taking account of another pair of figures. First, Calderón has repeatedly said that more than 90 percent of those killed were involved in “the struggle of some cartels against others.” Calderón does not cite a source for this estimate. The underlying logic, however, is clear: if you’re dead, you’re guilty. The perennial official refrain is “en algo andaba,” or, they were up to something; they were in the game. [more]

THE PAYROLL TAX CUT: Talk about a Ponzi Scheme!

September 9, 2011 by Gwendolyn Mink ·

Is President Obama trying to kill Social Security without explicitly saying so? He put Social Security “on the table” for consideration by his Deficit Commission — even though Social Security has not contributed to creating or sustaining the deficit/debt in the first place. He kept Social Security on the table when he made a deal to delegate deficit reduction authority over entitlements to an undemocratic Super Committee. Now, in a speech reportedly about jobs, he proposed to extend and increase the ill-considered FICA tax cut he embraced last December — a tax cut that directly undermines the financial integrity of Social Security.

According to the White House Fact Sheet on “The American Jobs Act” the FICA tax holiday for workers will be increased to a 50% reduction, lowering it to 3.1%. Under the 2010 tax deal, the payroll tax for workers was reduced from 6.2% to 4.2%. In addition to expanding the tax cut for workers, the President proposes to extend the FICA tax holiday to employers by cutting in half the employer’s share of the payroll tax through the first $5 million in payroll. [more]

In The NewsRSS

James Henry on NPR

March 28, 2013

IPA expert, former chief economist at McKinsey and lead researcher of the Tax Justice Network’s report, “The Price of Offshore Revisited” featured on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show” speaking on international tax havens.

Norman Solomon Debates Ex-Powell Aide Lawrence Wilkerson

February 6, 2013


Following his inclusion in the IPA news release “Colin Powell’s Infamous U.N. Speech, 10 Years Later: Deceiving Public, Ignoring Whistleblowers Led to War,” Norman Solomon was featured in a debate on Democracy Now!, “Decade After Iraq WMD Speech at UN, Ex-Powell Aide Lawrence Wilkerson Debates Author Norman Solomon.”

‘Two Anaheims’

January 3, 2013

After an IPA news release highlighting police brutality, economic inequalities, and lack of Latino representation in the Latino-majority city of Anaheim, Al Jazeera English’s ‘Faultline’ produced a 24 minute documentary, ‘Anaheim: A Tale of Two Cities.’

Ray McGovern in Al Jazeera English

November 20, 2012

Following his inclusion in the IPA news release, “After Petraeus,” Ray McGovern was featured in the Al Jazeera English article “Obama backs Allen as Petraeus inquiry widens.” He said, “If people see these folks as being unfaithful in small things, how can you expect them to tell the truth about progress in Afghanistan? You cannot expect them to do that. What we have here is a situation where the troops know that they cannot trust their superiors.”

Recent News ReleasesRSS

Apple’s Empty Tax Argument

May 22, 2013

“Companies like Apple are fond of saying that they don’t break the law, but it’s an empty argument since they are largely responsible for what the law says, since big companies have such an influence over malleable tax law. And of course, slave owners made the same arguments in the 1850s, factory owners using child labor made the same arguments in the 1890s and sweatshop owners in Bangladesh made the same argument just last month.

“Apple stashes most of its global profits in Ireland, where a couple of thousand employees work. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers build iPads and such and virtually no taxes are paid there. Royalty payments regarding patents are funneled through the Netherlands, which grants an even lower tax rate than Ireland. Companies used to act this way towards states in the U.S., but the formulary apportionment system ended the worst abuses. …”

[more]

With Verdict Annulled, Guatemala Genocide Trial Can Continue

May 21, 2013

Currently in New York City, Nairn is an investigative reporter who covered the recent trial in Guatemala and was slated to be a witness.

He said today: “The institutional army and the oligarchs have been worried that the Rios Montt verdict will interfere with their right to kill civilians.

“This court ruling has nothing to do with the law. Still, it annuls the sentence — but not the trial, which can be continued again.

“This is another round in the political battle about whether Guatemala will enforce its murder laws.”

[more]

Whistleblower Coleen Rowley on Obama “Transparency”

May 21, 2013


“Despite long-time warnings that the Obama administration’s ‘war on whistleblowers’ had become a ‘war on journalists,’ and the government’s admitting, in the course of the Bradley Manning court martial, that it would treat the New York Times the same as WikiLeaks — given the fact that WikiLeaks has been secretly indicted for publishing information pertaining to the U.S. government — the U.S. media has obviously not taken the full First Amendment implications seriously enough. The jarring wake-up call only comes with news of the FBI dragnet investigation targeting several AP reporters’ and editors’ communications in connection with a story about a foiled terrorist plot in Yemen and the revelation that FOX News chief Washington correspondent James Rosen was himself considered a co-conspirator for having aided and abetted a leak of information about North Korea. …”

After President Obama received a “Transparency Award” in 2011, Rowley co-drafted a petition of 20 whistleblowers to “Rescind Obama’s ‘Transparency Award’ Now!”

[more]

“Wake Up!” Obama Nixonian, Shield Law Hollow Says Pentagon Papers Lawyer

May 20, 2013

“If in fact he [President Obama] goes ahead and prosecutes Julian Assange [of WikiLeaks], he will pass Nixon [in attacking the First Amendment]. He’s close to Nixon now. The AP example is a good example of something that Obama has done but Nixon never did.”

Asked about the reporter “shield law” proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer and backed by the Obama administration, Goodale said: “I just thought that was quite ridiculous, because the bill that Obama asked Schumer to put into the House has an exception for national security. In other words, if you’re a reporter and you’re talking about national security, the law doesn’t apply. But what is the whole controversy about today with respect to AP? It’s about a national security exception to the privilege that you would think reporters would otherwise have. So, Obama puts it out, thinking the public doesn’t know what I know, and I’m really going to be good to reporters, but it doesn’t protect them at all in the AP situation.”

[more]

AP Scandal and the War on Whistleblowers

May 17, 2013

Contrary to the administration’s claims this week, Gosztola writes in “The Obama Administration’s Propensity for Chilling News Sources” that: “The Obama administration has not maintained any kind of a reasonable balance. The framing by the administration, where it is suggested that freedom must be balanced against national security interests, is not only a false choice but also a tension sustained to give the administration cover as it expands and claims new powers.

[more]
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