Democracy Now!
Wed., March 5, 2003
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 03-04-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
Networks ignore explosive story revealing U.S. is spying
on U.N. Security Council members: Behind the scenes U.N. diplomats
are furious at the dirty tricks
FBI plane spies on Bloomington, Indiana: peace groups, Muslims
and international students likely targeted
“Books not bombs!” “We need weapons of
mass instruction!”: Students walk out of classes around
the country to protest the billions of dollars that is going
to the US military and not schools
British Labour Party MP defects from Labour Party in protest
of Tony Blair
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:20 U.S. NETWORKS IGNORE EXPLOSIVE STORY REVEALING
U.S. IS SPYING ON U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS: U.N. DIPLOMATS
ARE FURIOUS AT THE DIRTY TRICKS
The London Observer broke an explosive story on Sunday.
The paper reported it had obtained a top secret U.S. National
Security Agency document which reveals the agency is conducting
an, aggressive surveillance operation directed at United Nations
Security Council members ahead of the upcoming vote on Iraq.
The surveillance involves interception of the home and office
telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York.
The memorandum written by top NSA official Frank Koza and
is directed at senior NSA officials. It advises them the agency
is “mounting a surge” aimed at gleaning information
not only on how delegations on the Security Council will vote
on any second resolution on Iraq, but also “policies”,
“negotiating positions”, “alliances”
and “dependencies” - the“whole gamut of
information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining
results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises.”
But the media in this country is blacking out this explosive
story. Not a single broadcast network in this country has
done a major story on the issue. Martin Bright, one of the
reporters who broke the story, told Democracy Now! that CNN,
Fox and NBC had all scheduled interviews with him. But then
all three networks called and cancelled. CNN only covered
it by accident when media critic Norman Solomon and
I surprised them yesterday when we unexpectedly forced it
onto the agenda in separate interviews (links to the transcripts
are included below).
As for the print media, the Washington Times was the only
paper in this country that picked up the story on Monday.
And the next day, on Tuesday, only a few U.S. papers ran
stories on the issue.
The Washington Post’s story on page A17 headlined:“Spying
Report No Shock To U.N.” It begins: “Security
Council diplomats today shrugged off a British newspaper report
that the super-secretive National Security Agency had ordered
an eavesdropping‘surge’ on their telephones to
determine their voting positions on a resolution that would
pave the way for a U.S.-led war against Iraq.” The paper
then quoted Pakistan's U.N. ambassador, Munir Akram: "The
fact is, this sort of thing goes with the territory."
He said,"You'd have to be very naive to be surprised."
The Los Angeles Times reported a similar story, headlining:
“Purported Spy Memo May Add to U.S. Troubles at U.N.;
'Top secret' document discusses bugging of council members.
Forgery or no, some say it's nothing to get worked up about.”
These papers downplayed the reaction of the Security Council
members, but the reporters who broke the story tell us differently.
They say behind the scenes, delegations are furious
- Ed Vulliamy, US Bureau Chief for the Observer newspaper,
co-author of the “Revealed: dirty tricks to win Iraq
vote”
- James Bamford, investigative journalist and author of
the books The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America's Most
Secret Agency and Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret
National Security Agency
Links:
The Observer: “Revealed: dirty tricks to win Iraq vote”:
www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905936,00.html
Text of leaked Email:
www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905954,00.html
Transcript of Amy Goodman on CNN discussing the spying story:
www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/04/tl.00.html
Transcript of Norman Solomon on CNN:
www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/04/sdi.02.html
9:20 9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:26 UN SPY ING CONT’D
9:27-9:30 FBI PLANE SPIES ON BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA: PEACE
GROUPS, MUSLIMS AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ARE LIKELY TARGETED
Yesterday we reported that the FBI has been secretly flying
a high-tech spy plane to monitor residents of the city of
Bloomington and neighboring communities in Indiana. The flights
began over two weeks ago.
The FBI is claiming this surveillance is routine. An agent
told an Indiana University newspaper, "This one just
happened to make the light of day because a plane flew too
low.”
Two FBI agents also told the Associated Press they are not
aware of any threat to the region, but confirmed the FBI was
watching many international students who might have connections
to terrorists. One local Muslim leader said the planes were
targeting area mosques.
Well we have since learned that the FBI plane has also been
hovering over a weekly anti-war protest in Bloomington. Here’s
what some Bloomington residents had to say about the FBI’s
aerial surveillance…
- Jeff Melton, professor at Ivy Tech in Bloomington who
saw the FBI plane at last week’s peace vigil
- Amr Sabry, president of the Islamic Center of Bloomington
and associate professor at Indiana University
9:30-9:50 “BOOKS NOT BOMBS!” “WE NEED
WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION!”: STUDENTS WALK OUT OF
CLASSES AROUND THE COUNTRY TO PROTEST THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
THAT IS GOING TO THE US MILITARY AND NOT SCHOOLS
More than twenty thousand high school students in Australia
have kicked off today’s global day of student protest
against the war.
Some ten thousand walked out of classes at lunchtime and
marched through Sydney’s Central Business District,
bringing traffic to a complete stop. In Adelaide, some 7,000
thousand rallied outside South Australia's Parliament House.
Three thousand marched in Melbourne, and hundreds more in
smaller cities around the country.
Students from around the world are marching in solidarity
with their counterparts here in the United States.
Here, students from over 230 high schools and colleges across
the nation are walking out of classes today to protest the
Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq. High schools from
Missoula, Montana, to Missouri to Maine are participating.
Organizers are calling the action "Books not Bombs"
and are linking the costly war with Iraq with lower school
budgets.
They say the latest round of tuition increases at state
colleges and universities is a "war tax" on the
poor.
Students are also demanding that their campuses serve education
instead of war by removing ROTC and JROTC and replacing them
with financial aid and college preparatory programs. They
are calling for non-compliance by their schools and the federal
repeal of that provision of the "No Child Left Behind
Act" which forces high schools to give their students
names over to military recruiters or lose federal funds.
A new group called the National Youth and Student Peace
Coalition is coordinating the walk-out. Fifteen student groups
came together to form the Coalition after the attacks of Sept.
11, 2001.
- Tameika Byer, a senior at Hunter College and a project
coordinator for SLAM, the Student Liberation Action Movement.
She helped to organize the student walkouts that are happening
all over the country today. She also helped organize the
occupation of Hunter president’s office on Feb. 10
and the Feb. 15 protest in nyc that drew half a million
people.
- Ben Waxman, a high school student in Springfield Pennsylvania,
and a national coordinator for the student day of action.
Contact: www.nyspc.net
We go now to Broomfield Legacy High School in Colorado,
to hear how the high school is reacting to the walkout.
- David Dial, 11th grade student at Broomfield’s
Legacy High School in Colorado. He was suspended for posting
fliers in the school promoting the student walkout
And in other protest news, artists against war are gathering
in museums around the world today for an international protest
dubbed a “Draw-in.”
The artists are specifically meeting in exhibit rooms that
showcase artwork from the civilizations which have flourished
in Mesopotamia, the area that is modern-day Iraq.
The artists plan to draw with pencil on paper the art around
them, which was created as early as 5,000 years ago in the
land now known as Iraq.
According to the group’s website: “This is a
peaceful vigil, made in protest against US foreign policy
under George W. Bush. If someone asks what we are doing, we
will speak quietly with them and explain our position, then
continue to draw. We will keep in mind the intention: to pay
homage to this land, culture and people, which our government
is planning to destroy. We are deeply concerned about an imminent
threat to human life, and to the memory and history embedded
in all of Mesopotamia, modern Iraq.”
We are joined in our studio by Joyce Kozloff who is helping
to organize the Draw In today at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York.
- Joyce Kozloff, New York artist and representative of
Artists Against War
Contact: www.geocities.com/aawnion
9:41-9:42 One Minute Music Break
9:50-9:58 BRITISH LABOUR PARTY MP DEFECTS FROM LABOUR PARTY
IN PROTEST OF TONY BLAIR
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was dealt a huge blow
last week when 122 members of his own party voted for a resolution
stating an attack on Iraq is not justified.
It was the biggest backbench revolt seen in Britain in more
than a century. The dissent within the Labor Party over Iraq
has tripled in recent weeks, at least partly because of the
huge anti-war rallies in London on February 15.
Despite the surging rebellion in the ranks of the Labour
Party, Blair's aggressive approach to Iraq was comfortably
endorsed by the House of Commons, thanks to the support of
the Conservative opposition.
Well, some Labour Party MPs are not only speaking out against
Blair, they are defecting. Paul Marsden quit the Labor party
in protest in December, 2001 and joined the Liberal Democrats.
He now joins us in our studio.
- Paul Marsden, British Member of Parliament
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 Nogueira and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our
engineer and webmaster.
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