Democracy Now!
Fri., March 7, 2003
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 03-07-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
Headlines: President Bush: US will call for U.N. Security
Council vote whether or not US has votes lined up
News conference scripted and reporters silenced: a report
on the President’s first primetime press conference
in 1 and 1/2 years
Air Force admits at least 54 cases of rape and sexual assault
at Air Force Academy – scandal called bigger than Tailhook:
we’ll talk to two survivors
If women ruled the world, would there be war? A roundtable
discussion a day before thousands of women march on Washington
9:01-9:06 Headlines: PRESIDENT BUSH: US WILL CALL FOR SECURITY
COUNCIL VOTE WHETHER OR NOT US HAS VOTES LINED UP
President Bush last night held his first primetime news conference
in over a year and a half.
White House officials had billed the address as an important
turning point in the War on Terror. But after only a brief
reference to the captured alleged al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, Bush turned his attention to Iraq.
He left no doubt the US will invade Iraq with or without
Security Council backing. He claimed over and over that Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein is a direct threat to the American
people.
Bush’s news conference came just hours before chief
U.N. weapons inspectors deliver a report to the U.N. Security
Council today. The report is expected to be positive. On Wednesday,
Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said for the first time that
Iraq is engaging in ''real disarmament.''
But Bush tried to undermine the report before the inspectors
could give it. Without offering any evidence, Bush claimed
over and over that Iraq has not disarmed.
Bush also erased any doubt about whether the US will call
a vote at the U.N. Security Council next week:
- President Bush, speaking to reporters last night
The news conference came just one day after France, Russia
and Germany declared they will block passage of any new Security
Council resolution that paves the way for war. Yesterday China
joined forces with the three, saying it sees “no new
need for a new resolution.”
- Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill reports from
Baghdad
9:06-9:07 One-Minute Music Break
9:07-15 NEWS CONFERENCE SCRIPTED AND REPORTERS SILENCED:
A REPORT ON THE PRESIDENT’S FIRST PRIMETIME PRESS CONFERENCE
IN 1 AND 1/2 YEARS
President Bush last night held his first primetime news conference
in over a year and a half.
It was scripted and reporters who would have asked hard question
s were either banned from the conference or relegated to the
back row. Not a single reporter asked a question about the
monumental story the London Observer broke on Sunday, that
the US is spying on U.N. Security Council Members.
But President Bush had a thing or two to say about alleged
Iraqi government spying:
- President Bush, speaking to reporters last night
- Russell Mokhiber, editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
Corporate Crime Reporter. He co-authors the weekly Focus
on the Corporation column with Robert Weissman
9:15-9:20 AIR FORCE ADMITS AT LEAST 54 CASES OF RAPE AND
SEXUAL ASSAULT AT AIR FORCE ACADEMY – SCANDAL CALLED
BIGGER THAN TAILHOOK: WE’LL TALK TO TWO SURVIVORS
Air Force Secretary James Roche testified before the Senate
Armed Service Committee yesterday that the Air Force has found
at least 54 cases where women have been raped or sexually
assaulted at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Republican Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado said the situation
is worse than the 1991 Tailhook scandal in which more than
80 women said they were assaulted by drunken pilots at a convention.
The story broke when the Denver newspaper Westword and Denver's
KMGH-TV and reported the experiences of several female cadets
who said they were disciplined or "hounded out"
of the academy after reporting sexual assaults by male cadets.
The initial trickle of allegations has turned into a flood.
A spokesman for Allard said the senator had received 25 as
of yesterday. One former cadet??? said the atmosphere is so
bad, 'they need to prepare freshman female cadets for being
raped, if not physically, then mentally.'
Since 1996, nearly 100 women have reported sexual assaults
on a confidential campus hot line. The school investigated
just 20 of the cases. But to date the most serious punishment
any male cadet received was dismissal.
Republican Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, has accused
the academy's top commanders of mishandling the rape allegations
and said they should be removed. But a spokesman for Roche
issued a statement refusing to blame anyone but the “climate
at the academy that has evolved over time.”
Today we are going to talk to a woman who was sexually assaulted
as a student and as a faculty member at the Air Force Academy,
and the founder of the advocacy group Survivors Take Action
Against Abuse by Military Personnel.
But we start with the reporter who broke the story.
- Julie Jargon, staff reporter with the WestWord, a weekly
newspaper in Denver. She wrote the 10,000 word piece “The
War Within: As America prepares to invade Iraq, female Air
Force cadets wage their own battle” that first brought
attention to the situation
- Dorothy Mackey, founder of Survivors Take Action Against
Abuse by Military Personnel. She is a nine-year career Air
Force officer, during which time she was subjected to a
year of physical, sexual and emotional assaults by 2 senior
officers from the Inspector General's office.
Link: http://staaamp.org/
- Major Susan Archibald, former Air Force Academy cadet
and faculty member
9:19-9:20 One Minute Music Break
9:30-9:58 IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD, WOULD THERE BE WAR? A
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION A DAY BEFORE THOUSANDS OF WOMEN MARCH
ON WASHINGTON
Thousands of women from throughout the United States will
say no to war tomorrow, at a rally and march for International
Women’s Day in Washington DC.
"This could be the week that determines whether there
will be war or peace” said Medea Benjamin, co- founder
of CodePink for Peace, a women’s anti-war group and
one of the organizers of the rally, “…war will
be devastating for Iraqi women and children and will make
our families less safe here at home. That’s why we’re
determined to stop this war." CodePink and has held a
daily vigil in front of the White House since November 2002.
NOW, CodePink and several other women’s groups held
weeklong actions in D.C. including delivering “pink
slips” to Bush, Cheney, Powell and Condolezza Rice and
sending “Thank You” flowers to the embassies of
Chile, France, Germany and Russia. Pink slips were also sent
to the offices of Senators Hillary Clinton and Dianne Feinstein
and to members of Congress who have ignored their anti-war
constituents. Pink badges of courage were sent to Congress
members who have shown bravery in supporting peace.
Well, today, we will have a special round table discussion
on war and its impact on women’s lives. Last night we
spoke with four women who have written and taught about the
devastating effects of war. We asked: If women ruled the world,
would there be war?
- Susan Griffin is a writer and social thinker. Her most
recent book, The Book of the Courtesans: A Catalogue of
their Virtues, (Fall 2001) was a best seller. She also wrote
A Chorus of Stones which was nominated for a National Book
Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer
Prize. Griffin was nominated for a MacArthur “Genius”
grant as well as an Emmy for her play “Voices.”
She will be addressing the anti-war rally in celebration
of International Women’s Day on March 8th
- Maxine Hong Kingston is an author and professor of English
at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author
of The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
for which she won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Her latest novel is The Fifth Book of Peace, a book she
is calling “A peace book for our times.” She
will address the anti-war rally in celebration of International
Women’s Day on March 8th.
- Sunera Thobani is a professor of Women’s Studies
at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Thobani
is an outspoken critic of US foreign policy. Speaking at
a women’s conference soon after the Sept 11th attacks,
Thobani said: "Today in the world, the United States
is the most dangerous and the most powerful global force
unleashing horrific levels of violence…From Chile
to El Salvador to Nicaragua to Iraq, the path of U.S. foreign
policy is soaked in blood.”
- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a historian and professor of Ethnic
Studies and Women's Studies at California State University,
Hayward. She is the author of Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of
the War Years 1960-1975 and Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie. Other
books include The Great Sioux Nation, Roots of Resistance
and Indians of the Americas. She is writing a third memoir,
Norther: Re-Covering Nicaragua, about the Reagan years,
and a historical novel based on the life of Belle Starr,
the Oklahoma bandit queen.
9:41-9:42 One Minute Music Break
9:42-9:58 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 Nogueira and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our
engineer and webmaster.
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