Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 01-28-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
U.N. inspectors says Iraq has no nukes as it criticizes
Iraq’s lack of cooperation: Bush Administration &
Britain seize on the mixed verdict to say time is running
out for Iraq despite no evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction
“The Cold Test: What the Administration Knew About
Pakistan and the North Korea Nuclear Program”: We talk
with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:40: U.N. INSPECTORS SAYS IRAQ HAS NO NUKES AS IT
CRITICIZES IRAQ’S LACK OF COOPERATION: BUSH ADMINISTRATION
& BRITAIN SEIZE ON THE MIXED VERDICT TO SAY TIME IS RUNNING
OUT FOR IRAQ DESPITE NO EVIDENCE OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
In a pair of reports to the United Nations Security Council,
the chief weapons inspectors reported that Iraq has failed
to fully cooperate. But they said there is no new evidence
that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Chief nuclear inspector
Mohamed El Baradei is requesting inspectors be given several
more months to complete their work.
ElBaradei also said his inspectors had found no evidence
that Iraq has resumed the nuclear program it discontinued
in the early 1990s.
The New York Times reported: “The International Atomic
Energy Agency's report that Iraq has not resumed its nuclear
program has challenged one of the Bush administration's main
arguments for taking military action to topple the Iraqi government.
In October President Bush outlined the Iraq-nuclear connection:
"The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting
its nuclear weapons program," Bush said. "Saddam
Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists,
a group he calls his `nuclear mujahedeen' — his nuclear
holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding
facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program
in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength
aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges,
which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons."
But inspectors said there is no such evidence that proved
Iraq was developing nuclear or any other type of weapons of
mass destruction.
Chief inspector Hans Blix was critical of Iraq though. He
said, "Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance,
not even today, of the disarmament which was demanded of it
and which it needs to carry out to win the confidence of the
world and to live in peace."
But Blix went on to say that it is too early to tell if
Iraq has disarmed or not. To date inspectors have carried
out 300 inspections to more than 230 different sites, including
universities, military bases, presidential sites and private
homes. The searches have produced no smoking guns.
The Bush Administration said the report proves Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein does not want to cooperate. And Secretary of
State Gen. Colin Powell warned that time was running out for
Iraq. White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, dismissed the
work of inspectors saying it would take them another 300 years
to complete a full inspection.
To help its case the Bush Administration is planning to
declassify some intelligence information that shows Iraq has
moved and hid banned weapons from UN inspectors. President
Bush may use tonight’s State of the Union address to
outline the administration’s view on Iraq.
The international response has been mixed. Representatives
from France, Russia, China and Germany said the reports demonstrated
that inspections are working and should be allowed to continue.
Meanwhile British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said for
the first time that Iraq was in "material breach"
of UN demands for it to disarm.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan added that inspectors
needed more time to get their work done."
Meanwhile in Washington top Democrats Senate Minority Leader
Thomas A. Daschle and his House counterpart, Rep. Nancy Pelosi
charged that Bush has yet to make the case for war against
Iraq.
Tape: Hans Blix, head of the UN weapons inspection team
Tape: Mohamed El Baradei, the head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency
Tape: Gen. Colin Powell, Secretary of State
Tape: Dumisani Kumalo, South African ambassador to the United
Nations and chairman of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement
Tape: Mohammed al-Douri, Iraqi Ambassador to the United
Nations
Guest: Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies in Washington DC, specializing in Middle East and
United Nations issues She is the author of the book Before
and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis,
Guest: Andreas Zumach, Geneva-based UN correspondent with
the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung. Last month Zumach obtained
an unedited copy of Iraq's 12,000-page report to the United
Nations, including portions on how Iraq acquired its weapon
capability from Germany, the U.S. and others.
Links:
Hans Blix’ statement to the Security Council: http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusnewsiraq.asp?NewsID=354&sID=6
Mohamed El Baradei's statement to the Security Council: http://www.un.org/News/dh/iraq/elbaradei27jan03.htm
Secretary of State General Colin Powell’s statement
on Iraq: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2003/16921.htm
Institute for Policy Studies: http://www.ips-dc.org/
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 IRAQ Cont’d
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 “THE COLD TEST: WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION
KNEW ABOUT PAKISTAN AND THE NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAM”:
WE TALK WITH PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING JOURNALIST SEYMOUR HERSH
North Korea today accused the United States of planning
a massive military attack and said the situation on the Korean
Peninsula was "deteriorating rapidly."
The North's state-run news agency KCNA said that U.S. forces
in South Korea and the South Korean military have put together
a contingency plan to invade the North and are preparing to
put it into action. The plan includes attacks against the
North's nuclear facilities.
North Korea has frequently accused the United States of
planning a pre-emptive attack, but today’s report was
the most forcefully worded warning to date.
A piece by Seymour Hersh in the current issue of the New
Yorker magazine begins, “Last June, four months before
the current crisis over North Korea became public, the Central
Intelligence Agency delivered a comprehensive analysis of
North Korea’s nuclear ambitions to President Bush and
his top advisors. The document, known as the National Intelligence
Estimate, was classified Top Secret. It’s distribution
within the government was tightly restricted. The C.I.A. report
made the case that North Korea had violated international
law by secretly obtaining the means to produce weapons-grade
uranium.
“But the document’s most politically sensitive
information was about Pakistan. Since 1997, the C.I.A. said,
Pakistan had been sharing sophisticated technology, warhead-design
information, and weapons-testing data with the Pyongyang regime.
Pakistan, one of the Bush Administration’s most important
allies in the war on terrorism, was helping build the bomb.”
We are joined by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
Guest: Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative
reporter for the New Yorker. His latest piece is “The
Cold Test: What the Administration Knew About Pakistan and
the North Korea Nuclear Program”
Link:
“The Cold Test: What the Administration Knew About Pakistan
and the North Korea Nuclear Program”: http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/030127fa_fact
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
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