Democracy Now!
Thurs., Feb 27, 2003
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 02-27-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
Democracy Now! has learned the Pentagon is asking humanitarian
groups for global positioning coordinates of civilian sites
in Iraq, such as water treatment facilities and power plants:
is it to bomb them or save them?
“The press will once again serve primarily as the mouthpiece
for the government” – as journalists prepare to
‘embed’ with US troops to cover a war on Iraq,
we talk with veteran war correspondents Chris Hedges of ‘The
New York Times’ and Robert Fisk of the ‘Independent’
President Bush claims an unprovoked invasion of Iraq will
set the stage for peace to the Middle East: Chris Hedges and
Robert Fisk respond
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:15 DEMOCRACY NOW! LEARNS THE PENTAGON IS ASKING HUMANITARIAN
GROUPS FOR GLOBAL POSITIONING COORDINATES OF CIVILIAN SITES
IN IRAQ, SUCH AS WATER TREATMENT FACILITIES AND POWER PLANTS:
IS IT TO BOMB THEM OR SAVE THEM?
President Bush last night spoke at the conservative American
Enterprise Institute and claimed an invasion of Iraq will
set the stage for peace in the Middle East.
He also tried to allay fears of a humanitarian disaster.
Claiming “the first to benefit from a free Iraq would
be the Iraqi people themselves,” he promised the US
will deliver medicine and said the US is already moving into
place nearly three million emergency rations to feed the hungry.
But Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill reports from
Baghdad that the Bush administration’s humanitarian
plans are being met with disdain by Western humanitarian organizations
inside Iraq. One humanitarian official told Democracy Now!,
“it would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.”
Worse, Democracy Now! has learned the Pentagon is asking
humanitarian organizations for the global positioning coordinates
of civilian sites, such as water treatment facilities, electrical
power plants, sewage treatment systems and food distribution
centers.
The Pentagon is telling the organizations it wants this information
so it won’t accidentally bomb these sites. But the US
systematically attacked civilian infrastructure during 1991
Gulf War. And in Afghanistan, a clearly marked Red Cross warehouse
was bombed twice, and the Kabul headquarters of the Al Jazeera
news agency was bombed as the US-backed Northern Alliance
was taking the city.
One humanitarian official told Scahill it would be outrageous
if any cooperated with the Pentagon, saying it would be tantamount
to spying for the US government.
In addition, Democracy Now! has learned Washington has been
pressuring the International Committee of the Red Cross over
past several months, not to repeat what it did in Afghanistan:
criticize the US use of non-conventional weapons like cluster
bombs, and the very public denunciation of the Guantanamo
detention camps as violation of Geneva Conventions.
· President Bush, speaking at the American Enterprise
Institute on Feb. 26, 2003, about the humanitarian plans
for Iraq
· Jeremy Scahill reports from Baghdad
9:17-9:22 “THE PRESS WILL ONCE AGAIN SERVE PRIMARILY
AS THE MOUTHPIECE FOR THE GOVERNMENT” – AS JOURNALISTS
PREPARE TO ‘EMBED’ WITH US TROOPS TO COVER A WAR
ON IRAQ, WE TALK WITH VETERAN WAR CORRESPONDENTS CHRIS HEDGES
AND ROBERT FISK
The Pentagon recently announced guidelines for “embedding”
reporters among troops in the upcoming war with Iraq. Last
month, the Pentagon held a briefing for more than 50 bureau
chiefs in Washington, D.C., to lay out guidelines for how
journalists will cover the new war on Iraq. Under the plan,
select reporters would live side by side with combat troops
on the battlefront.
Reporters and photographers have been receiving special field
training. Over the last few months they have been climbing
ropes, riding in helicopters, crawling on their bellies, lifting
weights and trekking for miles during rugged at places like
Georgia's Fort Benning and Virginia's Quantico Marine Corps
Base.
We’ll spend the rest of the hour with two veteran war
correspondents: Chris Hedges of The New York Times, and Robert
Fisk of the London Independent.
Hedges’ new book is War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning.
The book was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle
Award. And it was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of
the top ten non-fiction books of the year.
Hedges has experienced the war zone from Central America
to Iraq, from the Sudan to Sarajevo. He has been imprisoned
and shot at. He's unearthed mass graves and witnessed the
effects of torture and death squads on victims of war around
the world. He joins us in our studio.
We are also joined on the phone from Lebanon by Robert Fisk.
He is the Middle East correspondent for the British daily
newspaper, the Independent and has been based in Beirut, Lebanon
for 26 years. His recent book is “Pity the Nation: The
Abduction of Lebanon”
Fisk wrote this week in the Independent:
“The boys from CNN, CBS, ABC and The New York Times
will be ‘embedded’ among the US marines and infantry.
The degree of censorship hasn't quite been worked out. But
it doesn't matter how much the Pentagon cuts from the reporters'
dispatches. A new CNN system of ‘script approval’
– the iniquitous instruction to reporters that they
have to send all their copy to anonymous officials in Atlanta
to ensure it is suitably sanitised – suggests that the
Pentagon and the Department of State have nothing to worry
about.”
· Chris Hedges veteran war correspondent for The
New York Times and author of the new book, War Is A Force
That Gives Us Meaning.
· Robert Fisk, veteran war correspondent and Middle
East correspondent with the British newspaper the Independent.
He is based in Beirut.
· President Bush, speaking at the American Enterprise
Institute on Feb. 26, 2003, claiming a US invasion of Iraq
will set the stage for peace in the Middle East
· President Bush, speaking at the American Enterprise
Institute on Feb. 26, 2003, calling for a Palestinian state
and an end to Israeli settlements, but offering no details
nor deadlines
9:22-9:23 One Minute Music Break
9:23-9:40 Fisk and Hedges continued
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 fisk and hedges continued
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today's program, call 1 (800) 881 2359. Our
website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogiera and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our
engineer and webmaster.
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