Democracy Now! February 10, 1999

The Africa Trade Bill: Reading the Small Print The Africa Trade Bill is due to be marked up this week by the House International Affairs Committee. Opponents to the bill charge that it will only imporve the well being of multinational corporations and a handful of Africa's elite, and tehy are offering a legislative alternative, known as the "Hope for Africa Bill". In an interesting family twist, while the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Clinton's "Ambassador to Africa," is lobbying for the administration's bill, his son, Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill), is proposing the alternative bill. Spearheading the efforts against passage of the Africa Trade Bill is GUEST: Randall Robinson, founder and president of TransAfrica. Christopher Hitchens on Iraq U.S. fighter jets once again ponded Iraq today, this time firing against Iraqi air defense sites in the Southern no-fly zone of the country. the U.S. Defense Dept. said that the U.S. warplanes fired precision bombs against furface-to-air missile sites early this morning when Iraqi jets violated the no-fly airspace. Yesterday, Iraq said its air defensed had hit a Western plane. The U.S. denied that report. Today, a look at the chronology of war and impeachment: how U.S. attacks on Iraq and the impeachment process played out. GUEST: Christopher Hitchens, Contributing Editor for the Nation magazine. New York Rallies Against Police Brutality More than 1,000 people gathered yesterday in front of NYC Hall, in the second angry demonstration in three days. They demanded a federal investigation into last Thursday's police shooting of an unarmed 22-year old man. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani suspended a trip to Texas in order to meet with Ahmed Amadoe Diallo's parents, who have arrived in NY to take their son's body to Guinea for burial. GUEST: Robert Knight, reporter for Pacifica radio station WBAI