News Release Archive - 2005

PETER IRONS
Author of the just-released book War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution, Irons said today: “There’s no question that John Roberts is an advocate of virtually unlimited executive power. He has already voted on the circuit court to allow the president to hold alleged enemy combatants indefinitely, for example in Guantanamo. It’s ironic that the supposed advocates of ‘original intent’ don’t apply that doctrine when it comes to war powers — the framers made it clear that the Congress and not the president should make decisions about going to war.” Irons has written several books about the Supreme Court including A People’s History of the Supreme Court.
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MIKE GRAVEL
While a senator from Alaska, Gravel was a noted critic of the Vietnam War. Gravel was quoted on an Institute for Public Accuracy news release on Aug. 2, 2002: “This is a déjà vu of Tonkin and the evidence seems to be as flimsy. [Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman J. William] Fulbright’s biggest regret, he would later say, was signing off on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964. The incident was a lie about a supposed attack on U.S. vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin, fabricated by the Johnson government to give legitimacy to the expansion of the Vietnam War. There seems to be a similar rush to a ‘Tonkin judgment’ in the Senate to give the Bush administration legitimacy for an attack on Iraq.”

Gravel said today: “Many are now lobbying and protesting against the Iraq war, which is fine; but lobbying and protesting put the people in the position of begging. The solutions lie with the people; not with the political leadership, which has the power of lawmaking. For the last several years, I have been working on a proposal called the National Initiative on Democracy. This would give lawmaking powers to the people, so we can truly have government by the people.” Gravel is chairman of the Democracy Foundation.
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JOHN BONIFAZ
Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the author of the book Warrior-King: The Case for Impeaching George W. Bush. He is part of a lobbying effort by over 700 people on the Iraq war since the major protests this weekend. He said today: “A big lie being told about this war is that Congress voted for this war. Congress never voted for this war. Congress gave an unlawful blank check [on Oct. 10, 2002] to the president to decide whether or not to wage war against Iraq. The war powers clause of the Constitution makes clear that Congress, and only Congress, has the power to wage a war against another nation. This is not a power that can be transferred to the president. The dangers inherent in allowing one individual to make this decision for the nation are evident for all to see in connection with this war. This war was illegal from the start. Congress should exercise its constitutional responsibilities and end this war now.” Bonifaz is co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition.
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JEN CARR
On an ABC Nightline “Townhall Meeting” about the then-impending attack on Iraq on March 4, 2003, Carr asked Sen. John McCain and Sen. Carl Levin: “What do you plan to do to make sure that the voices of the American people are heard and represented?” [See Sen. McCain's website. Carr is "Female Four," halfway through the transcript, and is followed by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. asking a followup.] She said today: “We’re in a situation where it’s apparent that the citizens’ voices need to be listened to.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

CINDY SHEEHAN
STEVE CLEGHORN
NANCY LESSIN
AL ZAPPALA
Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in combat, founded “Camp Casey” in Crawford, Texas. Cleghorn and Lessin are with Military Families Speak Out. Zappala’s son Sgt. Sherwood Baker was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. They are engaging in civil disobedience in front of the White House (Lafayette Park side) this afternoon.

FRIDA BERRIGAN
Berrigan is with the War Resisters League. She said today: “Forty of us were arrested this morning for shutting down two entrances to the Pentagon. … This was the largest arrest at the Pentagon since the beginning of the ‘War on Terrorism.’”
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JUAN GARCIA-PASSALACQUA
A longtime and well-known political analyst in Puerto Rico, Juan Garcia-Passalacqua is a columnist with the San Juan Star. AP is reporting today: “An autopsy indicated a Puerto Rican nationalist killed in a shootout with FBI agents did not die immediately, a justice official said Sunday, fueling criticism of the FBI for waiting almost 24 hours to enter the farmhouse where the fugitive lay wounded.”

LAMIS ANDONI
Today, a Spanish judge sentenced the al-Jazeera correspondent Taysir Alluni to seven years in prison for collaborating with al-Qaeda. Currently in Spain, Andoni is a consultant to al-Jazeera Television. She said today: “This is an incredibly dangerous precedent for journalism. The prosecution used Taysir Alluni’s interview with Bin Ladin as evidence of collaboration with al-Qaeda.” Al-Jazeera has said today it would appeal the verdict.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Major protests against the war in Iraq are planned in Washington, D.C., this weekend. The following activists and analysts are available for interviews:

Rev. GRAYLAN SCOTT HAGLER
Rev. Hagler is national president of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice. He is also senior minister of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C.; mothers of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq will be speaking there on Sunday.
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HANY KHALIL
Khalil is organizing coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, a major umbrella group helping to organize the protests in Washington this weekend. According to the group, protests by various organizations are also slated this weekend for Los Angeles, San Francisco and other U.S. cities, as well as in England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, the Philippines, Greece, Spain and South Korea.
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EMAN AHMED KHAMMAS
Eman Ahmed Khammas is a human rights activist in Baghdad.
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DAHR JAMAIL
Currently in Washington, D.C., Jamail is an independent journalist who has reported for eight months from inside Iraq. He writes for the Sunday Herald, the Guardian, Inter Press Service and Asia Times; his work was recently cited by Project Censored. Jamail said today: “As the occupation of Iraq is nearly two and a half years old, the recent military operation in Tal Afar demonstrates the ongoing reactionary tactics by the U.S. military to attempt to gain control of a spreading and brutal guerrilla war. Meanwhile, in Basra recently crowds of angry Shia demonstrators set a British tank ablaze as tensions flare in the once-calm south. Journalists working in Iraq continue to work in the most dangerous war zone on the planet as over 66 have been killed there since the invasion.”
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JOSH RUEBNER
Ruebner is grassroots advocacy coordinator for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a nationwide coalition of more than 200 organizations. In addition to marching, the Campaign and dozens of other groups will be tabling and holding teach-ins and cultural events and showing movies on the grounds of the Washington Monument on Saturday and Sunday.

Ruebner said today: “Our government’s atrocious neglect of the underprivileged and marginalized people of the Gulf Coast before and after Hurricane Katrina presents us with a stark choice. We can fund either the social needs of the people of the United States, including health care, and quality jobs, housing, and educational opportunities, or we can fund empire abroad, but not both. The Bush administration has spent more than $200 billion on an illegal and unjustified war of conquest in Iraq and continues to lavish $3 billion of aid per year on Israel to fund its brutal military occupation of the Palestinian people.”
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ANAS SHALLAL
Shallal is founder of Iraqi Americans for Peaceful Alternatives and owner of Bus Boys and Poets, a new restaurant in D.C. which is hosting a series of activist events this weekend.
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STEVEN KULL
Director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, Kull said today: “A fairly strong majority of people in the U.S. now says that the U.S. should not have invaded Iraq, but only about 30 percent say U.S. troops should be withdrawn now. For that to change, a leader would have to step forward and make the case that our efforts to stabilize Iraq cannot succeed and that staying only provokes more conflict. It’s more likely to be a moderate Republican since the Democrats are so committed to looking ‘strong on national security.’ Another contributing factor would be if Americans perceived the Iraqi people as wanting the U.S. to pull out. Interestingly, the International Republican Institute recently stopped publishing its polling data from Iraq. The findings were getting pretty negative toward the U.S. presence there.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

TINA GARNANEZ
Currently in Washington, D.C., Garnanez was in the Army for five years and was a medic in Iraq from July to December 2004. She said today: “A lot of us would ask, What are we doing in Iraq? Eventually, my higher-ups would say it’s for oil — to make rich men richer. But no one in the Army can say things like that publicly for fear of punishment.” Garnanez will be taking part in protests against the war this weekend.
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MONICA BENDERMAN
Monica Benderman is the wife of Sgt. Kevin Benderman. In July, a U.S. court-martial sentenced Sgt. Benderman to 15 months imprisonment after he allegedly refused to return for a second tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Monica Benderman said today: “His rights are not being respected. The Army is hindering his conscientious cbjection application and his ability to see the chaplain of his choosing. His human rights are being violated.”

Amnesty International has named Kevin Benderman a “prisoner of conscience.” He recently wrote: “After growing up in a climate that glorifies war, being inundated with movies and other media that want to sanitize war, I went to the war in Iraq, and I realized that the entire business is so basically obscene and utterly inhuman, that I wanted nothing else to do with it.”
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MICHAEL JONES
Jones is communications associate for Pax Christi USA. He said today: “We are helping organize a series of events this weekend in D.C. as part of the protests against the war. On Monday, a group from Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq will participate in civil disobedience next to the White House. We will gather at the Metropolitan AME Church, 1518 M Street, NW, at 9 a.m. on Monday and will then march, arriving in Lafayette Park at 11:15 a.m.”
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PETER DE MOTT
Fr. TIM TAUGHER
In Binghamton, New York, the “St. Patrick’s Four” — four peace activists who spilled their own blood at a military recruiting station on St. Patrick’s Day 2003, just before the “Shock and Awe” bombing campaign — are being tried on federal conspiracy charges. One state court jury refused to convict them after the peace activists convinced the jury their actions were consistent with international law. The federal government got involved this year, and the four protesters now face up to six years in prison and $275,000 in fines. They are being hindered from making similar arguments in this trial. Peter De Mott is one of the St. Patrick’s Four; Fr. Tim Taugher has testified as a character witness on their behalf. They are in court today for what may be the final day before the jury deliberates.
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KATHY KELLY
Kelly is co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness. This August, a U.S. federal district judge ordered payment of a $20,000 fine against the group for violating the sanctions on Iraq by sending medicine there; they have refused to pay the fine. She said today: “The St. Patrick’s Four are being accused of using intimidation, threat or force to interfere with the work of a government official. The idea that these people would be intimidating or forceful in a physical way is clearly ridiculous. But when you watch them living sensibly as they work for peace, they could very well intimidate the rest of us because we know what they are doing is right and good.” Kelly’s recently-released book is titled Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are holding their first global meetings after the G-8 Summit in July in Gleneagles, Scotland, where a debt cancellation deal for 18 very poor countries in Africa was announced.

NEIL WATKINS
DEBAYANI KAR
Watkins, national coordinator of the Jubilee USA Network, said today: “The G-8 made a promise this summer that some of the world’s poorest nations would see their debts to the IMF and World Bank totally and irrevocably erased. Now some governments and the World Bank are trying to take that promise back. That is unacceptable. Any backtracking on the G-8 deal would result in serious consequences for those populations in the 18 initially eligible countries that urgently require the resources released through full debt cancellation. As an example, the presidents of Rwanda and Zambia — eligible countries — have called for the IMF and World Bank to immediately cancel their debts. Yet, current discussions at the institutions’ boards have set the G-8 deal’s implementation date at July 2006. This would continue to prevent the Zambian government from providing additional AIDS drugs to almost 100,000 infected people, an initiative the government announced in response to the G-8 agreement.” Kar is communications and advocacy coordinator for Jubilee USA Network.
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MAX LAWSON
Lawson is a policy advisor with Oxfam. He said today: “The World Bank’s president, Paul Wolfowitz, said that the World Bank is eager to help deliver the debt deal — but this is not good enough. He must now use his influence to force rich countries to fulfill their promises to the poor.”
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MARK WEISBROT
Weisbrot is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and co-author of a new report titled “The Scorecard on Development: 25 Years of Diminished Progress.” He said today: “The last 25 years have seen sharply reduced economic growth and reduced progress in health and education outcomes for low- and middle-income countries in comparison with previous decades. The number one question for the IMF and World Bank at their fall meetings this weekend should be: What has gone wrong over the last 25 years in the vast majority of developing countries?”
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SAMEER DOSSANI
ANN-LOUISE COLGAN
EMILY SCHWARTZ GRECO
In a joint statement, the 50 Years is Enough Network, TransAfrica Forum, Jubilee USA Network and Institute for Policy Studies said today: “Contrary to the fanfare surrounding the conclusion of the July G-8 summit in Scotland, the impoverished country debt crisis has not been solved nor has the G-8 debt agreement been implemented as of yet.” Ahead of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings Sept. 24-25 in Washington, civil society groups will hold a press briefing on Friday, Sept. 23, at 9 a.m., at the Old Ebbitt Grill, 675 15th St. NW. Dossani is the director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network. Colgan is the director of policy analysis and communications at Africa Action. Greco is a media director with the Institute for Policy Studies.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

CINDY SHEEHAN
Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in combat, is arriving today in Washington, D.C., with the “Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour,” which has traveled around the U.S. the last several weeks. She and other military family members will be participating in major protests in D.C. this weekend. Other military family members available for interviews include Al Zappala of Philadelphia, whose son Sgt. Sherwood Baker was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II, and Tammara Rosenleaf of Belton, Texas, whose husband is stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas, and is slated to be deployed to Iraq this fall. Sheehan said today: “My efforts for these last weeks since we left Camp Casey in Crawford have been about standing up against the disastrous policies of the Bush administration and about helping people who are suffering because of those policies. That includes the U.S. troops who are risking their lives every day in Iraq, and it also includes the good citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. We need to take the money that’s being spent on war and destruction in Iraq and put it toward hurricane relief and reconstruction in New Orleans.”
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CODY CAMACHO
A specialist in the U.S. Army for four years, Camacho was in Iraq from March 2003 to March 2004. He said today: “It’s chaos over there — the soldiers are not being used for what they are supposed to be used. I pledged to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Iraq wasn’t threatening the U.S., it wasn’t threatening the U.S. Constitution. This administration is endangering our Constitution. The Iraqis were happy we got rid of Saddam, but what we’ve done since then is create another police state.”
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JEFF KEY
Key is a U.S. Marine. He said today: “I patrolled around the Iranian border in 2003; was medevaced out on a non-combat injury. My unit was pulled out; I’ve since come out of the closet on CNN as a gay man to exit the military and voice opposition to the war in Iraq. … What we’re doing in Iraq is giving al-Qaeda one big recruiting tool. We are fueling resentment against ourselves. There were no weapons of mass destruction and no one is being held accountable. We’re supposed to be there for democracy. Well, it’s the clear will of the Iraqi people that we get out; and it’s now the will of the people in the U.S. that we get out. Leaders should do the will of the people or get fired.” He founded the Mehadi Foundation, which supports U.S. veterans dealing with drug and alcohol and other concerns, and also provides assistance to Iraqi civilians. He has also written a play, “The Eyes of Babylon,” which ran for eight months in Los Angeles and will go on tour before playing off-B
roadway next fall.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

FRANCES FOX PIVEN
Author of the book The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush’s Militarism, Piven is distinguished professor of political science and sociology at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Her past books include The Breaking of the American Social Compact.
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ERIK LEAVER
Co-author of the recently-released report “The Iraq Quagmire: The Mounting Costs of War and the Case for Bringing Home the Troops,” Leaver is a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. He said today: “We’ve already spent $280 billion, an additional $50 billion pending, and now we’re going to be shouldering an estimated $200 billion in the wake of Katrina.”

A recent New York Times/CBS poll found 44 percent saying the U.S. “did the right thing in taking action against Iraq,” 50 percent saying it did not. Over 80 percent are at least “somewhat concerned” about the money and resources the war is costing; 53 percent are “very concerned.”
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PRATAP CHATTERJEE
Project director of CorpWatch, Chatterjee is author of the book Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable Occupation and of the recent article “Lost Levees and Budget Boondoggles.” He said today: “Earlier this year, [the] New Orleans district projected that it would get just $82 million in flood and hurricane protection projects, a 44.2 percent drop from the $147 million spent in 2001.”

[Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, on June 8, 2004: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us." Also, see Maestri's interview on "Now with Bill Moyers" from 2002.]

Chatterjee added: “The same people at the Army Corps of Engineers, who oversaw the no-bid contracts and the failed reconstruction in Iraq, are the very men who are in charge of the Gulf states today — and they are giving the contracts to the same companies in much the same manner.”
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ANTONIA JUHASZ
Juhasz is author of the forthcoming book The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time. She said today: “The very same Bush administration-allied corporations that are reaping staggering profits in Iraq have been awarded new, uncompetitivly bid and virtually regulation-free contracts in the U.S. Gulf. These corporations, including Halliburton, Bechtel, Shaw Group and Fluor, have failed to meet their contractual obligations in Iraq where, in spite of billions of dollars already paid out from Iraqi and American citizens, the country is still experiencing water, electricity, sewage and health care services below pre-war levels.”
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GREG LEROY
Director of Good Jobs First, LeRoy said today: “The survivors of Hurricane Katrina deserve better than a knee-jerk raft of tax breaks for big businesses that will ultimately shift the tax burden to small businesses and working families.” LeRoy is author of the new book The Great American Jobs Scam.
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BETTINA DAMIANI
Director of Good Jobs New York, which has monitored post-9/11 reconstruction monies through its Reconstruction Watch project, Damiani said today: “After 9/11, rules that normally restrict federal funding to primarily benefit low- and moderate-income communities were stripped out, so that the money could legally go to large businesses and wealthy neighborhoods.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

SPENCER OVERTON
Overton serves on the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform, which just released its final report. He said today: “I dissent from the voter ID provisions of the report. Unfortunately, the Commission rejected my 597-word dissent and allowed me only 250 words. (This limitation on dissent was first announced at our final meeting.) I believe that the issues deserve more discussion.

“The Commission’s ‘Real ID’ recommendation is more restrictive than the photo ID proposal rejected by the Carter-Ford Commission in 2001, and more extreme than any ID requirement adopted in any state to date. The Commission’s proposal is so excessive that it would prevent eligible voters from proving their identity with even a valid U.S. passport or a U.S. military photo ID card.” Overton has posted his concerns with the Commission’s voter ID recommendations and the shortcomings of the Commission’s deliberative process at the website.

Overton, a professor at the George Washington University Law School specializing in election law, is author of the forthcoming book Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression.
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ROB RICHIE
Richie is the executive director of the group FairVote and co-author of the book Whose Vote Counts? He said today: “The Commission report has a few sensible recommendations, but its chief failure is to accept the United States’ position far outside international norms in standards for free and fair elections. Consider that the report doesn’t call for direct election of the president despite the Electoral College’s malfunction in 2000 and the fact that the candidates focus on only a handful of battleground states. It is silent on establishing a constitutional right to vote despite the obvious adverse impact of more than 13,000 jurisdictions having the power to make independent decisions about running federal elections. It neglects instant runoff voting despite recent high-profile elections with non-majority winners and finger-pointing about ‘spoilers.’ It overlooks nonpartisan redistricting and proportional voting systems as the necessary means to take on the shocking lack of voter choice and distortions in representation in our legislative elections. It accepts that the citizens of the District of Columbia have no voice in Congress.”
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MARK CRISPIN MILLER
Miller is professor of media studies at New York University and author of the recent article in Harper’s Magazine “None Dare Call It Stolen: Ohio, the Election, and America’s Servile Press.” He is also author of the forthcoming book Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and Why They Will Do It in 2008 (Unless We Stop Them).
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167