Democracy Now! May 28, 2003

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:06 Headlines 8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break 8:07-8:20: Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iran yesterday the US will aggressively put down any attempt to install a theocratic regime in Iraq. The warning reflects Washington s concern that some Shia Muslim clerics in Iraq with political and religious ties to Iran, will help to fill the vacuum left by the fall of Saddam Hussein. In recent weeks, Washington has taken a more hard-line stance towards Iran, one of the members of the so-called axis-of-evil. The Washington Post reported the Bush administration appears set to call for the destablization of the Iranian government. The Pentagon is urging President Bush to approve public and private actions that could lead to the toppling of the government. The Pentagon plan may involve the Iraq-based armed opposition movement Mojahedin Khalq, even though it is designated a terrorist group by the State Department. On Monday, the Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said that it had evidence of two previously undisclosed uranium enrichment facilities west of Tehran. This comes as the Bush Administration tries to build international support for the International Atomic Energy Agency to look further into Iran s nuclear program. The U.S. also cancelled diplomatic talks with Iran and accused the country of failing to take action against members of the al-Qaeda network. An unnamed Bush administration official told the LA Times that last weekend s talks in Geneva were scrapped because the US has information linking the attacks in Saudi Arabia to operatives in Iran. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said he believed Iran would cooperate with any request for the extradition of suspected Saudi members of al-Qaeda wanted in connection with the bombings. Accounts in the Arab press report that Saad bin Laden, the son of al-Qaeda s founder operates out of Iran. The US also believes the new head of al-Qaeda s military operations Saif Al-Adel is living in Iran near the Afghan border. * Dilip Hiro, journalist and author of 24 books including "Iraq: In the Eye of the Storm" and Neighbors, Not Friends: Iraq and Iran after the Gulf Wars and Iran Under the Ayatollahs 8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break 8:21-8:40: In the buildup to the US led invasion of Iraq, White House officials told the American people up until March that that the president had not decided to use military force and would only consider it as a last resort. Financial Times reported yesterday that the decision to invade Iraq came much earlier. A senior aide to President Bush said the critical internal moment in the White House came in the second week of December, when the president was briefed on Iraq s weapons declaration. The president was told that the Iraqi regime appeared to have made a decision not to co-operate with the UN process. One person who worked closely with the National Security Council during the time said, A tinpot dictator was mocking the president. It provoked a sense of anger in the White House. After that point, there was no prospect of a diplomatic solution. France concluded in early January that the US had abandoned the diplomatic path and was already determined to overthrow Saddam Hussein using military force. Bush administration officials indicated that the French assessment was justified. The Financial Times report is the first in a three-part series. *James Harding, reporter for the Financial Times Contact http://news.ft.com/home/us 8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break 8:41-8:58: Herman Goering at his Nuremberg trial in 1946 said: Naturally, the common people don t want war but, after all it s the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. This quote by Hermann Goering is published on the first page of Micah Wright s new book of remixed war posters. You Back the Attack! We ll Bomb Who We Want! has just been published by Seven Stories Press. After spending four years as an Airborne Ranger in the US Army, Micah Wright moved on to the next logical step in his career: writing children s animation. Upon earning a degree in political science and creative writing from the University of Arizona, Micah relocated to Los Angeles and began writing at Nickelodeon Animation where he wrote for Nicktoons The Angry Beavers. That animation was nominated for an Emmy and an Annie award. He is also the creator of the first true American anime show Constant Payne and is co-creator of the acclaimed Chet Thunderhead: Private Eye , animated series. * Micah Ian Wright, antiwar satirist and animation writer. He is the author of You Back the Attack, We ll Bomb Who We Want! 8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press with help from Noah Reibel and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo is our music maestro and engineer. Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Emily Kunstler, Orlando Richards, Simba Rousseau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Karen Ranucci, Fatima Mojadiddy, Denis Moynihan and Jenny Filipazzo.