Democracy Now! March 4, 2003

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Program Title:
Democracy Now! March 4, 2003
Series Title:
PRA Archive #: 
PZ0517.111
Description: 

The White House dismisses Iraq s destruction of banned missiles as a distraction: We join Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry & Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill in Baghdad.; Turkish peace movement claims victory following a no-war vote: Meanwhile the Kurdish population in Northern Iraq prepares for a Turkish invasion; Could the U.S. have caught alleged Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in 1996? We talk to BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast; Anti-war protests continue across the world: Over 1,000 readings of Lysistrata are held & the former head of the Pacific Stock Exchange calls for direct action against war

9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:06 Headlines 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break in studio theatrical piece 9:07-9:15: The Bush administration yesterday dismissed Iraq s efforts to destroy six missiles as the mother of all distractions. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, Here's the Catch-22 that Saddam Hussein has put himself in: he denied he had these weapons, and then he destroys things he says he never had. If he lies about never having them, how can you trust him when he says he has destroyed them? But the Washington Post points out that it was Fleischer himself who may have been lying to reporters. The paper reports that Iraq never denied having the missiles. Their existence was outlined in Iraq s weapons declaration submitted to the Security Council in December. They were destroyed over the weekend in accordance with the UN. We go now to Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill in Baghdad. Guest: Jeremy Scahill, iraqjournal.org And just a few moments ago, Reverend Dr. Herbert Daughtry, national Pastor of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church spoke to Democracy Now! From Baghdad about his mission in Iraq. Guest: Reverend Dr. Herbert Daughtry, national Pastor of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:15-9:25: The Turkish Parliament stunned Washington on Friday by voting against a resolution that would have allowed tens of thousands of US troops to use the country as a base for an attack on Iraq. The US was so sure of victory that the military had already begun unloading equipment at Turkish ports. Two dozen US military vessels are still idling off the coast. But US and Turkish officials said yesterday a second vote in the Turkish parliament could take place as soon as next week on whether to allow American troops to use Turkish bases for a second front against Iraq Yesterday I talked to Turkish peace activist Mu-gay Sokmen. I asked her what role the peace movement played in the Turkish vote. * Muge Sokmen, member of the Peace Initiative of Turkey Despite the vote Turkey is expected to continue to seek permission to put tens of thousands of troops into Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq. The Washington Post reports today that Kurdish authorities are girding for this possible Turkish intervention in Iraq by deploying militiamen to key areas of northern Iraq and setting conditions for acceptance of any troops from Turkey in their region. Thousands demonstrated yester in the city of Irbil against the possible entrance of Turkish forces into their region. They carried signs with such slogans as "Down With Turkey, Up With the United States" and "No to Turkey." The Kurds fear that Turkey, by intervening militarily in northern Iraq, will seek to join the United States as an arbiter of the Kurds' political future. Kurds have established an autonomous zone in northern Iraq under the protection of U.S. and British. We will talk now with Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network * Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network, www.kurdistan.org 9:41-9:42 One Minute Music Break 9:40-9:54: Alleged Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been moved from Pakistan following his arrest four days ago. He is believed to have been flown to a US detention facility at Bagram air base, in Afghanistan. The New York Times reports that the CIA will likely use sleep deprivation and psychological manipulation to pry information out of him. If these tactics fail, Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia suggested the US might turn over Mohammed to country that does not have restrictions against torture. Such countries include Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. We are joined by investigative journalist Greg Palast who has written extensively about how the Bush Administration spiked investigations of Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. In a new US edition of his best-selling book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth about Globalization, Corporate Cons and High Finance Fraudsters Palast writes: After Bush took office, he said, there was a major policy shift at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to back off from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the bin Ladens, a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal household, off-limits for investigation. Osama was the exception; he remained a wanted man, but agents could not look too closely at how he filled his piggy bank. The key rule of any investigation, follow the money, was now violated, and investigations -- at least before 9/11 -- began to die. And there was a lot to investigate -- or in the case of the CIA and FBI under Bush -- a lot to ignore. Through well-known international arms dealers (I'm sorry, but in this business, sinners are better sources than saints) our team was tipped off to a meeting of Saudi billionaires at the Hotel Royale Monceau in Paris in May 1996 with the financial representative of Osama bin Laden's network. The Saudis, including a key Saudi prince joined by Muslim and non-Muslim gun traffickers, met to determine who would pay how much to Osama. This was not so much an act of support but of protection -- a payoff to keep the mad bomber away from Saudi Arabia. Guest: Greg Palast, BBC investigative reporter and the author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy Link: http://www.gregpalast.com 9:54--9:58: Yesterday, over 1000 readings of the ancient Greek anti-war comedy, Lysistrata were held in 59 countries and every state in the U.S. as a way for actors the world over to register their opposition to a war on Iraq. Conceived just 6 weeks ago, by New York actors Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower, the global theatrical anti-war protest will raise money for humanitarian aid groups working in the Middle East. There are events in Russia, China and in the jungle in Hawaii, in Athens and in Iceland, at homemakers' reading groups in the Midwest and on sidewalks and subway platforms, parks and theaters, high schools, churches and bars. Lysistrata tells the story of women from opposing states who unite to end a war by refusing to sleep with their men until they agree to lay down their swords. Powerless in their society, with too many of their sons and husbands being slaughtered in battle, the women take the only tactic available to them: a sex strike. Fast-forward 2,400 years: swords are now weapons of mass destruction. Faced with the prospect of massive loss of human life -- both Iraqi and American -- Lysistrata Project participants worldwide take a new tactic and add their voices to the mounting clamor of global antiwar protests. Joining us in the studio is The Lysistrata project co-founder Katheryn Blume. Guest: Kathryn Blume, Lysistrata project co-founder Contact: http://www.lysistrataproject.org And later today in San Francisco, the anti-war group Direct Action to Stop the War is planning to call for the shutdown of financial districts and other nonviolent direct actions in the event of a U.S. attack on Iraq. Joining them will be a most unusual anti-war protester, Warren Langley, the former President of Pacific Stock Exchange He is now working with Direct Action to Stop the War to organize civil disobedience across the world on the first business day after a U.S. attack. Guest: Warren Langley, former President of Pacific Stock Exchange and former Lt. Col of the US Air Force for fifteen years. 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Ana Nogiera and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our engineer and webmaster.

Date Recorded on: 
March 4, 2003
Date Broadcast on: 
March 4, 2003
Item duration: 
59 min.
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Distributor: 
WBAI; Amy Goodman, host., March 4, 2003
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