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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 4-9-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Looting breaks out near Baghdad as the presence of the Iraqi
government diminishes: We talk to AFP reporter Ezzadin Said
in the Palestine Hotel
80 dissidents arrested in Cuba in most widespread political
crackdown since the 1960s: A debate between the Cuban embassy
and the wife of a jailed journalist
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:25 Looting breaks out near Baghdad as the presence
of the Iraqi government diminishes: We talk to AFP reporter
Ezzadin Said in the Palestine Hotel
Looting has broken out in the impoverished Baghdad suburb
of Saddam City as a crowd of Iraqis cheered the arrival of
US troops there.
As U.S. forces moved through one neighborhood after another
in the Shia suburb, residents seized the chance to plunder
military installations and government buildings. They took
computers, air conditioners, refrigerators, furniture, even
Iraqi jeeps.
The Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf
has not yet arrived at the Palestine Hotel for his daily press
briefing. Nor have the government minders shown up to accompany
journalists. Iraqi state television went off the air
The Pentagon says almost an entire armoured brigade - several
thousand troops - is now in Baghdad, and it intends to stay
there. The Pentagon plans to double the troop presence there
in the next 24 hours. US troops are expanding their control
over the city block by block.
Iraqi resistance is much lower than before. But marines
are continuing to battle snipers. And Iraqi fighters in buses
and trucks are crossing the Tigris to attack US troops. US
Central Command spokesman Captain Frank Thorpe says the coalition
continues to be cautious and warned of tough days ahead. Earlier,
Senior British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood
said it is too early to say the Iraqi regime has crumbled.
Reuters is reporting Iraqis are asking today who is running
their country. There is no sign of police or government authority
on the streets of central Baghdad. One shopkeeper asked a
Reuters correspondent: “To whom do we belong now?”
- Ezzedin Said, AFP reporter in Baghdad
8:25-8:58 dissidents arrested in Cuba in most widespread
political crackdown since the 1960s: A debate between the
Cuban embassy and the wife of a jailed journalist
It has been described as the most widespread crackdown on
political dissent in Cuba since the 1960s.
While the invasion of Iraq began half a world away three
weeks ago, nearly 80 political dissidents were quietly arrested
in Cuba. They have already been tried in court and some have
been sentenced to up to 27 years in prison.
International human rights organizations have condemned
the arrests and the speedy trials. They have accused Cuba
of targeting human rights activists, independent journalists
and other dissidents. Meanwhile Cuban officials have charged
the arrested individuals were traitors who had conspired with
the United States to subvert Castro's government.
The Associated Press has pointed out that independent journalists
received some of the harshest sentences. Reporter and photographer
Omar Rodriguez Saludes was sentenced to 27 years in jail.
20-year sentences were handed down to poet and writer Raul
Rivero, magazine editor Ricardo Gonzalez and economics writer
Oscar Espinosa Chepe.
Well we are joined today by Chepe’s wife, Miriam Leyva
who is joining us on the phone from Cuba. We are also joined
by Fernando Garcia Bielsa, First Secretary of the Cuban Interest
Section.
- Fernando Garcia-Bielsa, First Secretary of the Cuban
Interest Section, which functions as a Cuban embassy in
the United States.
Guest: Miriam Leyva, wife of jailed economist Oscar Espinosa
Chepe
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
CIA reports INC leader Ahmad Chalabi would be ineffective
leader to replace Saddam Hussein: A discussion with Lamis
Andoni
US/UK military forces could risk committing war crimes by
depriving civilians of safe water: A look at humanitarian
aid demands in post-invasion Iraq
9:01-9:10 Headlines
9:10-9:11 One Minute Music Break
9:11-9:20 CIA reports INC leader Ahmad Chalabi would be
ineffective leader to replace Saddam Hussein: A discussion
with Lamis Andoni
The Financial Times is reporting residents of the suburb
of Hay Al Ansar, on the outskirts of Najaf, were glad to be
rid of Saddam Hussein’s government when US forces seized
the city last week.
But they appear to be just as terrified, if not more so,
of their new rulers a little-known Iraqi militia backed
by the US special forces and headquartered in a little compound
nearby.
The Iraqi Coalition of National Unity appeared in the city
last week riding on US special forces vehicles. Residents
say the coalition is now stealing, looting and terrorizing
their neighborhood.
Meanwhile the struggle between the State Department, the
CIA and the Pentagon over Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad
Chalabi’s role in the post-invasion occupation of Iraq
continues.
A new report by the CIA claims that Chalabi has little backing
among the Iraqi people and would not be an effective leader
to replace Saddam Hussein.
Despite strong objections by the State Department, the U.S.
military airlifted Chalabi and 700 of his men to southern
Iraq on Sunday, giving the INC a head start over other Arab
opposition groups in establishing a political presence under
U.S. protection.
Chalabi and his men remain at an abandoned Iraqi air defense
base near the southern city of Nasiriyah. Some officials have
interpreted this as a bid by the U.S. armed forces to keep
them out of trouble.
The CIA has also blamed Chalabi for predicting Iraqis would
welcome American troops in the initial phases of the invasion.
- Lamis Andoni, independent journalist who has been covering
the Middle East for 20 years. She has reported for the Christian
Science Monitor, the Financial Times, and the main newspapers
in Jordan
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 US and British forces risk committing war crimes
by depriving Iraqi civilians of safe water: A look at humanitarian
aid demands in post-invasion Iraq
The current invasion of Iraq by the United States, United
Kingdom, and Australia poses a grave threat to the right to
water of Iraq’s 24 million inhabitants, almost half
of them children under the age of 15. Anglo-American military
forces have already laid siege to numerous urban centers in
southern and central Iraq, disrupting electrical, water and
sanitations systems that sustain millions of civilians. With
the approach of summer, when temperatures in this region regularly
exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, the likelihood of water-borne
disease epidemics is alarmingly high.
Those are among the conclusions of a new report by the Center
For Economic and Social Rights. To talk about the report we
have in our studio the Center’s executive director Roger
Normand and Kate Hunt of CARE International.
- Roger Normand, executive director for the Center for
Economic and Social Rights
Link: www.cesr.org
- Kate Hunt, head of the liaison office at CARE International
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:55 Water cont’d
9:55-9:58 U.S. forces enter Palestine Hotel as signs indicate
that Iraq regime has lost power in the capital: We go to Baghdad
for a live report from May Ying Welsh
- May Ying Welsh, independent reporter in Baghdad
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 music maestro and engineer.
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