Democracy Now! August 2, 2002

I00 Israeli Tanks Invade Nablus: After a bombing kills seven people, including five Americans, Israel invades the West Bank city in the middle of the night. Bush admits tax havens are a problem: But he claims he can t remember his own firm, Harken Energy, setting up an offshore subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. A History of US intervention in the Philippines: Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in the Philippines today, as Filipino President Gloria Arroyo calls for an investigation into claims that a US soldier joined a military raid and shot a Filipino man in a remote village in the southern Philippines. We'll have a roundtable discussion. 9:01-9:06 Headlines: 100 ISRAELI TANKS INVADE NABLUS AFTER BOMBING KILLS SEVEN, TROOPS KILL FOUR PALESTINIANS; UN RELEASES REPORT ON ISRAEL S ATTACK ON JENIN REFUGEE CAMP Over a hundred Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers invaded the West Bank city of Nablus in the middle of the night. Israeli troops killed three Palestinians before dawn. A neighbor said troops arrested a Hamas member, handcuffed him, and then shot him at point blank range. Meanwhile, in Gaza, troops shot dead a nine-year-old Palestinian girl. The invasion comes two days after a Hamas bomb killed seven people, including five Americans. President Bush said he is furious over the attack, and the FBI has launched an investigation. In the last week, tens of thousands of Palestinians have broken the Israeli army curfew in the largest act of defiance against the curfew in the Occupied Territories. The governor of Nablus was urging Palestinians in other cities to do the same. Meanwhile, the United Nations yesterday released its report on Israel's attack on Jenin in April. Israel blocked a UN fact-finding team from investigating the attack, so the report is based entirely on second-hand sources. Human rights groups say the report is seriously flawed. GUEST: Abdal-salam Alkhayyat, student at Annajah University in Nablus GUEST: KRISTEN SCHURR, member of the International Solidarity Movement CONTACT: www.palsolidarity.org 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break 9:07-9:20 BUSH ADMITS TAX HAVENS ARE A PROBLEM: MEANWHILE, DOCUMENTS SHOW THAT HARKEN ENERGY ESTABLISHED A TAX HAVEN IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS WHILE BUSH WAS ON THE BOARD President Bush said on Wednesday that companies "ought to pay taxes and be good citizens and acknowledged there is a growing problem with U.S. companies relocating to offshore tax havens. That allows companies to circumvent paying millions of dollars in taxes. But Bush claimed he couldn't remember his own firm creating a tax haven in 1989. It emerged this week that Harken Energy Corp. set up an offshore subsidiary in the Cayman Islands tax haven while President Bush sat on Harken's board of directors. And the nonprofit group Citizen Works has analyzed SEC documents and revealed that while Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Haliburton, the energy giant s created thirty-five new offshore tax havens. Guest: Bill Allison, co author of The Cheating of America and managing editor of the Center for Public Integrity Contact: www.publicintegrity.org 9:21-9:40 A HISTORY OF US INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES: AS COLIN POWELL ARRIVES IN THE PHILIPPINES, FILIPINO PRESIDEN T GLORIA ARROYO CALLS FOR AN INVESTIGATION OF A US SOLDIER ACCUSED OF SHOOTING A SUSPECTED ABU SAYYAF REBEL Secretary of State General Colin Powell arrives in the Philippines today at the end of an eight-nation Asian tour. On Thursday, Powell signed a sweeping anti-terrorism treaty with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which calls for increased information sharing and police cooperation. The US will also increase technical and logistical so-called anti-terrorism aid. Powell claimed the treaty will not be used as a wedge to deploy more U.S. troops. Early today, Powell emerged from a meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minster and said he is eager to restore military ties to Indonesia. Powell also said the Bush administration plans to spend $50 million over three years on programs to help Indonesia combat terrorism. But the administration faces strong opposition from members of Congress who point out that the Indonesian military massacred civilians in East Timor. In the Philippines, hundreds of people demonstrated outside the US Embassy, with signs saying, "U.S. imperialist, number 1 terrorist" and "Colin Powell, traitor to his race, murderer of mankind." At least a dozen people were injured in scuffles with the police. Some one thousand U.S. troops have been stationed in the southern Philippines for the last six months. They are supposed to wrap up the military training program in the Philippines this week. But Powell will meet with President Gloria Arroyo this weekend to discuss continuing US military operations there. Powell s visit comes after Filipino President Gloria Arroyo has ordered an investigation into allegations that a US soldier shot a Filipino man in a remote village in the southern Philippines. Today we are joined by a roundtable of people to talk about the history of US relations with the Philippines, and the experiences of Filipinos in the US. But we go first to Filipino Congressman Satur Ocampo in Manila. He was at the demonstrations earlier today. Guest: Representative Saturnino Ocampo, President of the Bayan Movement and a member of the Filipino House of Representatives Contact: http://www.congress.gov.ph/profile/ocampo.php Tape: clip of educational film, Savage Acts about the history of the US intervention in the Philippines, produced by the American Social History Project Guest: Luis Francia, author of Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago which examines the Philippines through personal recollection. Francia was born and raised in Manila. He is the co-editor of two landmark anthologies of Filipino American literature, including the forthcoming Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999. IN STUDIO Guest: Stephen Shalom, professor of political science at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Among his publications are Imperial Alibis: Rationalizing U.S. Intervention After the Cold War (South End Press, 1993), The Philippines Reader (1987), and Socialist Visions (1983). He is on the editorial board of the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars IN STUDIO Guest: Rene Ontal, filmmaker and spokesperson for FACES, the Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solutions, New York chapter IN STUDIO Contact: www.facessolutions.org Guest: Amanda Vender, Philippines Solidarity Movement activist who just returned from the Philippines last night. She lived in Philippines for three years and worked with Gabriela, a women s organization. This time, the mission tried to set up a meeting with a general and visited a military base there. 9:40-9:41 One Minute 9:41-9:58 PHILIPPINES, cont d 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits