Democracy Now!
Tues., March 11, 2003
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 3-11-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Hour 1
Anti-war protesters plan for massive civil disobedience in
Washington next week
Immigrant rights groups prepare for a fourth round of mass
deportations of Pakistani detainees
Police in Montpelier, Vt. photograph student protesters
& ask for surveillance help from the local media: Meanwhile
in Minnesota, law enforcement identifies student anti-war
group as possible threat
A bigger leak than the Pentagon Papers? Daniel Ellsberg
discusses the leaked email that shows the U.S. is spying on
UN documents
Hour 2
U.S. chains & shackles naked detainees to the ceiling
in Afghanistan: Is the U.S. using torture?
Bush delays plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace plan: Israeli
forces kill over 60 Palestinians since Feb. 15
Former FBI chief calls for the Supreme Court to halt the
execution of Delma Banks in Texas: We talk to Banks’
mother and attorney
8:01-8:06 Headlines:
8:06-8:07 One-Minute Music Break
8:07-8:10
8:10-8:20 IMMIGRANT RIGHTS GROUPS PREPARE A FOURTH
ROUND OF MASS DEPORTATION OF PAKISTANI DETAINEES
Another mass deportation of Pakistani detainees is imminent.
This according to the Brooklyn-based immigrant rights group
Coney Island Avenue Project.
There have been three other mass deportations so far. In
November, 87 Pakistanis were deported from Buffalo, New York.
95 were deported in August and 131 were deported in June.
The secret, mass deportations have taken place in the middle
of the night when family members and immigrant rights activists
are unable to be at the detention centers to help the detainees.
Families have been ripped apart by the deportations. Witnesses
who insisted on anonymity told United Press International
in August that many of the deportees were married to U.S.
citizens. They were forced to leave their spouses and children
behind.
Very few newspapers have picked up the story.
We’re joined right now by Bobby Khan, director of
the Coney Island Avenue Project
- Bobby Khan, director of the Coney Island Avenue project
and long-time Pakistani immigrant rights advocate
8:21 8:50 POLICE IN MONTPELIER PHOTOGRAPH STUDENT PROTESTERS
& ASK FOR SURVEILLANCE HELP FROM THE LOCAL MEDIA: MEANWHILE
IN MINNESOTA, LAW ENFORCEMENT IDENTIFIES STUDENT ANTI-WAR
GROUP AS POSSIBLE THREAT
Last week over 60 students walked out of classes in Montpelier,
the state capitol of Vermont. As part of an international
student strike, they marched through downtown to the steps
of the statehouse. After a couple of failed attempts they
were allowed in for a personal meeting with the governor.
Then they continued the protest downtown.
The event made local headlines. On Democracy Now! we talked
to one of the students.
But we have since learned it was not just the press that
was a keeping a close eye on the student protesters. So were
the Montpelier police.
According to the Rutland Herald, the police took photographs
of the students that are to be kept in the department’s
files. One local police officer even asked a local news photographer
for copies of the photographs he was taken.
The office reportedly told the news photographer,“Make
sure you get close ups of their faces in case they need to
be suspended.”
The American Civil Liberties Union says the police should
not be collecting information of citizens who are exercising
their First Amendment Rights.
Ironically, on the day before the protest, voters ratified
a City Council resolution condemning the USA Patriot Act.
The resolution directs the local police to QUOTE “uphold
its policy of respecting and protecting the freedoms of speech,
religions and assembly and privacy.”
- Aria Allen, 10th grade student who organized student
strike at Montpelier High School
- Douglas Hoyt, Montpelier police chief
- Joseph Gainza, program coordinator for the Vermont office
of the American Friends Service Committee
- Peter Evans, Montpelier High School principal
We are also joined by Nathan Mittelstaedt an organizer with
Students Against War at the University of Minnesota.
Last week an expert on counterrorism identified his group
Students Against War alongside other groups such as the Aryan
Nation as a potential threat to the state of Minnesota.
The Star Tribune reported, “A Hennepin County sheriff's
official with expertise on counterterrorism efforts urged
Minnesota law enforcers Tuesday to become aware of several
right-and left-wing organizations operating in the state.
‘We are not calling any of them terrorists. We call
them domestic identified groups that may affect our communities,’
Capt. Bill Chandler said after giving a presentation to emergency
management personnel on ‘Understanding Terrorism in
Minnesota.’
Among the groups named were Students Against War, a Minneapolis
book store called Arise, Ruckus Society and the group Anti-Racism
Action.
- Nathan Mittelstaedt, member of Students Against War at
the University of Minnesota. He is a senior majoring in
political science.
8:25-8:26 One-Minute Music Break
8:50-8:58 A BIGGER LEAK THAN THE PENTAGON PAPERS?: DANIEL
ELLSBERG DISCUSSES THE LEAKED EMAIL THAT SHOWS THE US IS SPYING
ON UN DIPLOMATS
Yesterday on Democracy Now! we reported that a 28-year-old
woman working at the top-secret British Government Communications
Headquarters has been arrested on charges of contravening
the Official Secrets Act.
The GCHQ is the electronic surveillance arm of the British
intelligence service.
The arrest comes just a few days after the London Observer
published a top-secret National Security Agency document.
The memo revealed US agents had been ordered to bug the telephone
and email communications of U.N. Security Council delegations
from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea. The surveillance
operation was designed to help the US win votes for the war
resolution on Iraq.
The Observer reports the NSA document was leaked to the
paper by British security sources who objected to aiding the
US surveillance operation.
Well, we’re joined right now by the most famous whistleblower
in US history, who Henry Kissinger described as "the
world's most dangerous man." He is Daniel Ellsberg.
During the Cold War, Daniel Ellsberg was a U.S. Marine company
commander, a Pentagon official, an analyst at the Rand Corporation,
and a staunch believer in fighting Communist expansion.
But in October of 1969 Ellsberg began smuggling out of his
office and photocopying a 7,000 page top-secret study of U.S.
decision-making in Vietnam, which later became known as the
Pentagon Papers.
By leaking the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg set in motion actions
that would eventually topple the Nixon presidency and end
the Vietnam War.
- Daniel Ellsberg, exposed Pentagon Papers; author of Secrets:
A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.
8:58-8:59 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, and Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our engineer and webmaster.
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
9:01-9:06 Headlines:
9:06-9:07 One-Minute Music Break with live musical guests
Jolie Rickman and Colleen Kattau
9:07-9:25 US CHAINS & SHACKLES NAKED DETAINEES TO THE
CEILING IN AFGHANISTAN: IS THE US TORTURING DETAINEES?
A US military investigation into the deaths of two prisoners
who were being held for interrogation at the Bagram Airbase
in Afghanistan is continuing.
Last week, a US military pathologist’s report concluded
the prisoners had been beaten.
It is not yet publicly known what else the prisoners endured.
Former prisoners say detainees are chained to the ceiling,
shackled so tightly that the blood flow stops, kept naked
and hooded and kicked to keep them awake for days on end.
This according to the London Guardian.
This Sunday, The New York Times reported on the interrogation
of another prisoner at Bagram air base.
The US alleges Omar al-Faruq was a senior al Qaeda operative
in Southeast Asia confidant of Osama bin Laden. A Western
intelligence official told the Times Faruq’s interrogation
was “not quite torture, but about as close as you can
get.” Over a three month period, he was fed very little,
while being subjected to sleep and light deprivation, prolonged
isolation and room temperatures that varied from 10 to 100
degrees. Experts say it is also highly likely his interrogation
followed a pattern of other interrogations: Faruq was likely
kept naked most of the time with hands and feet bound. International
law requires prisoners be allowed eight hours sleep a day,
but interrogators don’t let them sleep for 8 consecutive
hours.
Faruq was questioned in this way for weeks. In the end,
US officials claim, he began to cooperate.
But it appears Faruq is one of the lucky ones. Intelligence
officials admit some suspects have been turned over to security
services in countries known to employ torture, such as Syria
and the staunch US ally, Egypt.
US intelligence officials say such interrogation methods
are vital to learning information that could help to prevent
future attacks on the U.S.
We turn first to Dana Priest who is a staff writer for the
Washington Post. She co-authored a lengthy article published
last December called “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends
Interrogations; 'Stress and Duress' Tactics Used on Terrorism
Suspects Held in Secret Overseas Facilities.” The article
looks at army interrogation methods and techniques used at
detention centers overseas.
- Dana Priest, Washington Post staff writer. She co-authored
a lengthy article published last December called “U.S.
Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations; 'Stress and Duress'
Tactics Used on Terrorism Suspects Held in Secret Overseas
Facilities” The article looks at army interrogation
methods and techniques used at detention centers overseas.
- Michael Ratner, Executive Director, Center for Constitutional
Rights
- William Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International
USA. He said in a press release issued on Sunday that “the
tactics US officials openly admit to constitute cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment or torture. These statements by
US officialsd are an admission of complicity in torture.”
Links: Center for Constitutional Rights: www.ccr-ny.org
Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org
9:24-9:25 One-Minute Music Break
9:25-9:45 BUSH DELAYS PLANS FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE
PLAN; ISRAELI FORCES KILL OVER 60 PALESTINIANS SINCE FEB.
15
The Bush administration has announced it is not going to
put forth a plan for a peace settlement between Israel and
the Palestinians until after the crisis with Iraq is resolved.
The New York Times reported yesterday that President Bush
does not want to do anything to anger Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon in part because the White House does not want Sharon
to intervene in the war even if Israel is attacked by Iraqi
missiles.
The freeze on the peace process has infuriated allies including
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who say progress on a peace
plan for the Israeli-Palestinian crises is needed to quell
mounting anti-western sentiment.
And on Friday foreign minister Dominique de Villepin, said
the absence of peace efforts in the Palestinian-Israeli crises
is a far greater threat to stability than the possibility
of weapons in Iraq.
This comes at a time when the Palestinian Authority has
taken steps to answer international critics. Yesterday the
Palestinian parliament voted overwhelmingly to create a new
prime minister post. Mahmoud Abbas has been nominated to be
the Authority’s first prime minister. He will be second
in command to Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile as the world’s attention focuses on Iraq,
Israel has cracked down on Gaza. Since Feb. 15 dozens of Palestinians
have been killed.
Yesterday Israeli forces demolished an apartment building
in the West Bank town of Hebron, killing a Palestinian man.
And in Gaza two Palestinians were killed near a Jewish settlement.
Earlier in the day an Israeli soldier was killed during an
incursion in Hebron.
Over the weekend Israeli forces assassinated a senior leader
of Hamas, Ibrahim Makadmeh, and three of his guards Saturday
morning. Four Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car
carrying the men who were driving in a densely populated party
of Gaza City. One occupant of the car was critically injured
and two bystanders were also injured.
- Michel Warschawski, Israeli policy analyst who is the
former director of the Alternative Information Center
- Justin Huggler, reporter for the Independent newspaper
of London based in Gaza City.
9:40-9:41 One-Minute Music Break
9:44-9:58 FORMER FBI CHIEF CALLS FOR THE SUPREME COURT TO
HALT THE EXECUTION OF DELMA BANKS IN TEXAS: WE TALK TO BANKS’
MOTHER & LEGAL TEAM
Yesterday New York Times columnist Bob Hebert wrote a column
titled “Countdown to Execution No. 300.” It chronicled
the case of Delma Banks, a Texan man who is expected to be
executed tomorrow night.
The article begins:
“The war trumps all other issues, so insufficient attention
will be paid to the planned demise of Delma Banks Jr., a 43-year-old
man who is scheduled in about 48 hours to become the 300th
person executed in Texas since the resumption of capital punishment
in 1982.
“Mr. Banks, a man with no prior criminal record, is
most likely innocent of the charge that put him on death row.
Fearing a tragic miscarriage of justice, three former federal
judges (including William Sessions, a former director of the
F.B.I.) have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to block Wednesday's
execution.
So far, no one seems to be listening….
Tape: Delma Banks, Texas man to be executed tomorrow, recorded
last week
Guest: Ellean Banks, mother of Delma Banks
Guest: Miriam Gohara, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
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 Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our engineer and webmaster.
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