Democracy Now!
Tues., March 18, 2003
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 3-18-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
President Bush vows to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein doesn’t
flee within 48 hours: protests intensify around the world
& British government in uproar as senior officials resign,
Democracy Now talks to response Dennis Halliday, Ralph Nader,
Leslie Cagan and Jeremy Scahill
With 300,000 troops set to invade Iraq, Gulf War veterans
are concerned the safety of US forces may be compromised:
We talk to Steve Robinson of the National Gulf War Resource
Center
U.S. government executes celebrated Gulf War veteran: Did
exposure to nerve agents lead Louis Jones, Jr. to kill?
Oil, security and world domination: Professor Michael Klare
discusses how the U.S. is working to redraw the strategic
map of the Middle East
Vandenberg Air Force Base authorizes 'deadly force' against
protesters: protesters aren’t deterred
300 New Yorkers protest the Israeli military killing of
U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie: they demand a Congressional investigation
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 President Bush gives Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
a 48-hour deadline to leave Iraq or face: We hear response
from Dennis Halliday, Ralph Nader, Leslie Cagan and Jeremy
Scahill
President Bush last night vowed to attack Iraq if President
Saddam Hussein and his sons do not flee the country within
48 hours.
The Iraqi government immediately rejected the ultimatum.
Bush also told Iraqi soldiers not to fight for a"dying
regime" - and not to destroy Iraq’s oil wells.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered the evacuation of
the weapons inspectors and humanitarian staff from the country.
The first wave of UN workers has already landed in Cyprus.
Annan also suspended the oil-for-food program.
Bush’s speech came just hours after the US and Britain
admitted they had failed to win United Nations Security Council
backing for war. They pulled the second U.N. resolution without
taking a vote.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan challenged the legitimacy
of unilateral military action but refrained from branding
it illegal.
In Britain, three ministers have already resigned. The leader
of the British House of Commons Robin Cook resigned just after
the US and Britain pulled the UN resolution. His resignation
speech late last night was met with an unprecedented round
of applause and a standing ovation by some Members of Parliament.
Today, Home Office Minister John Denham and Health Minister
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath also resigned. But International
Development Secretary Clare Short announced she would stay
in her cabinet post despite earlier threats to resign.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a peaceful resolution
said a U.S. attack would have the "gravest consequences."
Meanwhile, the Russian parliament delayed ratification of
a major nuclear disarmament treaty with the US. A parliamentary
spokesman said the decision was made after Bush’s declaration
and “in the conditions of the massive US pressure on
the international community.”
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin denounced
the United States, for pulling the resolution from the U.N.
He said a wide majority of the 15 members of the Security
Council oppose the US. He said the US, Britain and Spain are
resorting to force "despite the clearly expressed will
of the international community.”
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said today there is
no justification for war that will “bring certain death
to thousands of innocent men, women and children.”
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao opposed Bush's ultimatum to Hussein,
and held out hope of a diplomatic solution.
Meanwhile the U.S. government raised its terrorist threat
level to orange, or "high risk," last night as President
Bush was delivering his speech on Iraq.
Top federal officials asked states to deploy the National
Guard or state police to protect sensitive sites across the
nation from possible attack.
Tape: President George Bush, recorded March 17, 2003
Tape: Denis Halliday, ex-Director of UN Humanitarian Program
for Iraq
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:30 With 300,000 troops set to invade Iraq, Gulf War
veterans are concerned the safety of US forces may be compromised:
We talk to Steve Robinson of the National Gulf War Resource
Center
People in the US like to think of the 1991 war against Saddam
Hussein as a sweeping victory, obliterating Iraqi forces while
costing a minimal loss of U.S. lives.
But ask many veterans of that war, and they say casualties
can't be measured by the 148 who died or the 500 wounded in
battle. In the 12 years since, nearly 164,000 Gulf veterans,
about 28 percent of those who served, have been certified
by government doctors for service-related medical claims —
more than twice the rate of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
The Veterans Administration doesn't track how many of those
are suffering from Gulf War Syndrome. But the government's
own studies consistently show that up to 30 percent of Gulf
vets are sufferers.
Now, as some 300,000 troops await orders to strike Iraq
again, a cadre of Gulf veterans worry that the same epidemic
of unexplained illnesses threatens a new generation of soldiers.
And, perhaps, their children.
Guest: Steve Robinson, Executive Director of the National
Gulf War Resource Center
Contact: http://www.ngwrc.org
8:30-8:40 U.S. government executes celebrated Gulf War veteran:
Did exposure to nerve agents lead Louis Jones, Jr. to kill?
This morning at 7:00 a.m. a decorated Gulf War veteran Louis
Jones Jr., was executed in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Last night President Bush denied the request for clemency
by Jones and his lawyers. The U.S. Supreme Court also refused
to block the execution yesterday.
Jones, convicted of kidnapping, rape and the murder of a
fellow army officer in Texas, in 1995, was exposed to chemical
agents as a soldier in the Persian Gulf war.
In 2000, he received a letter from the Pentagon telling
him that he had been exposed to nerve agents. The chemicals
were released when the Army demolished a munitions plant in
Khamisiyah, Iraq, in March 1991. The Pentagon has since said
the chemicals were the nerve agents sarin and cyclosarin.
The evidence of Jones's exposure to nerve agents was not
available at his trial in 1995, though the defense did argue
that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a letter to President Bush, Mr. Jones did not deny his
crime and admitted that he "wantonly took" a"precious
life,
"I think of the marine she was engaged to," he
wrote of his victim. "I think of the children she could
have had. Her son could have discovered a cure for a disease
of our time."
Mr. Jones, who wrote that he had become a Christian, asked
for clemency so that he could minister to other prisoners
for the rest of his life.
This morning, about a dozen death penalty opponents held
a candlelight vigil just a quarter-mile from the prison. A
sign leaning against a fence in front of the group said, ``The
tragic irony: As we rush recklessly to war with Iraq we are
killing a veteran of the first Gulf War.''
Guest: Dick Burr, lawyer for Louis Jones and federal death
penalty expert
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Oil, security and world domination: Professor
Michael Klare discusses how the U.S. is working to redraw
the strategic map of the Middle East
A recent piece by Michael Klare titled, “New Global
Hot Spot - Iraq War Will Redraw Strategic Map” begins:
“The old Cold War theaters of Europe and the Far East
are being replaced in strategic importance by the Persian
Gulf basin, where the desires of Russia, China and the United
States for oil, security and geopolitical advantage could
collide.
“By invading Iraq, the United States will do far more
than topple an odious regime that has resisted American policy
goals for the past 10 years -- it will redraw the global strategic
map in a way that has not occurred in more than half a century.
“Ever since the end of World War II, the two most important
theaters of international political and military competition
have been Europe and the Far East. These are the regions that
attracted the greatest attention from U.S. and Soviet strategists
during the Cold War period and housed the largest concentration
of military forces. Most of the major confrontations of the
Cold War era -- the various Berlin crises, the Korean War
and the Vietnam War -- also occurred in these areas.
“But now, with the invasion of Iraq, these two areas
are being supplanted by the Persian Gulf basin as the central
cockpit of global political competition. From now on, relations
between the world's great powers -- especially the United
States, Russia, and China -- will be defined by their relative
geo-strategic position in this vital region.
The greater Gulf region, including the Caspian Sea basin
(which stretches to within a few hundred miles of Baghdad),
houses over two-thirds of the world's known petroleum reserves
and will become ever more important to the world economy as
oil supplies in other areas, including the United States,
the North Sea and China become depleted.”
We go now to a recent speech Klare gave this weekend at
the Socialist Scholars Conference in New York.
Tape: Michael Klare, the Five College Professor of Peace
and World Security Studies, based at Hampshire College in
Amherst, Massachusetts.
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:20 PRESIDENT BUSH VOWS TO ATTACK IRAQ IF SADDAM HUSSEIN
DOESN’T FLEE WITHIN 48 HOURS -- PROTESTS INTENSIFY AROUND
THE WORLD BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN UPROAR AS SENIOR OFFICIALS
RESIGN
President Bush last night vowed to attack Iraq if President
Saddam Hussein and his sons do not flee the country within
48 hours.
He said: “All the decades of deceit and cruelty have
now reached an end. Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave
Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in
military conflict commenced at a time of our choosing. For
their own safety, all foreign nationals, including journalists
and inspectors, should leave Iraq immediately.”
The Iraqi government immediately rejected the ultimatum.
Bush also told Iraqi soldiers not to fight for a"dying
regime" - and not to destroy Iraq’s oil wells.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered the evacuation of
the weapons inspectors and humanitarian staff from the country.
The first wave of UN workers has already landed in Cyprus.
Bush’s speech came just hours after the US and Britain
admitted they had failed to win United Nations Security Council
backing for war. They pulled the second U.N. resolution without
taking a vote.
- President Bush, speaking in a televised, primetime address
to the nation, March 17, 2003
- Ralph Nader, former Green Party Presidential Candidate
Contact: type
The leader of the British House of Commons Robin Cook resigned
just after the US and Britain pulled the UN resolution. His
resignation speech late last night was met with an unprecedented
round of applause and a standing ovation by some Members of
Parliament.
- Robin Cook, leader of the British House of Commons, delivering
his resignation speech to Parliament on March 17, 2003
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:30 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE ARRESTED IN WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Meanwhile, protests are intensifying around the globe. Over
50 people were arrested in Washington, D.C. yesterday, and
dozens more were arrested at the United Nations in New York
City and in San Francisco.
In Australia, one man in the public gallery of Parliament
screamed "murderer!" as Prime Minister John Howard,
announced his decision to commit 2,000 troops to an invasion
of Iraq. He was dragged from the chamber by security guards.
Activists painted a ten-foot high "no war" sign
across the top of part of Sydney’s Opera House.
In Tokyo, just hours after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi backed the Bush administration, peace activists began
a hunger strike outside the US embassy.
In Britain, the Stop the War Coalition is calling for people
to stage walkouts, and occupy city centers and hold sit-ins
at schools, colleges and universities. On the day of the first
attack, protesters will occupy Parliament Square with the
intention of bringing the government to a halt.
- Mike Marqusee, organizer with Stop the War Coalition,
speaking to us from London Contact:
- Mairead McGuire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Northern
Ireland
- Beth Rosedatter, arrested on Sunday at an Army depot near
Richmond, Kentucky. She and two others were held overnight.
9:30-9:40 Vandenberg Air Force Base authorizes 'deadly force'
against protesters
US military officials say security forces at Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California may use"deadly force"
against protesters if they infiltrate the base in wartime.
Vandenberg officials said Friday military police may shoot
to kill, in order to protect equipment at the base.
But activists say the threat will not deter them. They are
planning continuous civil disobedience at the base if the
US attacks Iraq.
On Friday, a man sprayed the entrance sign at the base with
his own blood.
- Peter Lumsdaine, co-founder of the Vandenberg Action
Coalition and coordinator of the Military Globalization
Project, a research/education/organizing group focused on
the connections between US global economic policy and military
policy Contact: (831) 457 9914 or 805 688 7610 (contact
for peace camp itself). www.mgpnofate.org;
see also: www.vandenberg.af.mil
- Dennis Apel, arrested on Friday at the Air Force base…
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:53 Pinwheel of protest: from San Francisco to Tuscon
to Austin to Kansas
And other actions are taking place around the country as
well, from San Francisco, Denver, Tucson and Austin to Cleveland,
Kansas, Washington, D.C. and New York.
- ‘Pinwheel of Protest’, recorded March 17,
2003.
9:53-9:58 300 NEW YORKERS PROTEST THE ISRAELI MILITARY KILLING
OF U.S. CITIZEN RACHEL CORRIE AND DEMAND A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION
Some 300 New Yorkers gathered yesterday to protest the death
of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed
by an Israeli bulldozer on Sunday in the Gaza Strip. The protest
was organized by Jews Against the Occupation.
Protesters carried gravestones in a symbolic funeral procession.
They marched in front of Senators Hillary Clinton’s
and Chuck Schumer’s office. They demanded the formation
of a Congressional Council to go to Israel and Palestine and
investigate how and why such unnecessary deaths occur in Gaza.
On Sunday, Israeli forces ran over Rachel Corrie with a
bulldozer as she protested the demolition of houses in the
Gaza town of Rafah. Corrie was set to graduate from Evergreen
State College in Olympia this spring. She became the first
international protester killed by Israeli forces since the
start of the second intifada.
We now go to Angela Bukowy, who spoke at yesterday’s
protest. Angela is a member of Direct Action Palestine and
the International Solidarity Movement. She recently spent
one month in Rafah. She begins by describing the ongoing intimidation
and danger that Palestinians endure.
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
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