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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
U.S. forces kill at least a dozen civilians in Mosul: Independent
journalist May Ying Welsh looks at what the city looked like
before the invasion
Did U.S. antiquities dealers plan to loot Iraq themselves?:
A debate between the American Council for Cultural Policy
and the Cambrian Archaeological Association
The Pentagon, Propaganda & PR: A look at Victoria Clarke
& Margaret Tutwiler and Washington’s public relations
campaign on Iraq
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 U.S. FORCES KILL AT LEAST A DOZEN IN MOSUL: INDEPENDENT
JOURNALIST MAY YING WELSH LOOK AT WHAT THE CITY WAS LIKE BEFORE
THE INVASION
Earlier this week the Iraqi city of Mosul made headlines
around the world when US troops fired on a crowd of civilians
there. Al Jazeera reports over a dozen people died in the
shooting. Dozens more were injured.
Eyewitnesses say the newly-appointed governor of Mosul,
Mashaan al-Juburi, was exhorting people to cooperate with
the US when chaos broke out. The crowd called him a liar and
insisted he end his speech. When he continued, the angry crowd
threw stones at him and ran towards him.
That was when US troops opened fire. Many among the wounded
say the besieged governor asked US troops to open fire.
Well today we are going to look at life in the Iraqi city
of Mosul from what may now seem like a distant era Pre
U.S. invasion. We are talking about the Mosul of a month ago.
May Ying Welsh recorded a video journal in the city just
before the war started. This is a glimpse of the stresses
caused by previous wars and the effects of sanctions illustrated
through one Iraqi doctor’s experiences.
Tape: May Ying Welsh, independent reporter in Iraq who produced
a video journal in Mosul last month.
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 DID U.S. ANTIQUITIES DEALERS PLAN TO LOOT IRAQ
THEMSELVES: A DEBATE BETWEEN THE AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL
POLICY AND THE CAMBRIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
The looting of museums in Iraq has left thousands of invaluable
artifacts missing, including the limestone Warqa Vase of 3,500
BC, the bull's head harp of Ur, and the squatting Akkadian
king of 2,300 BC.
According to Irving Finkle, of the Ancient Near East department
of the British Museum, at least four of the looted objects
were so vast that it would have taken a fork-lift truck to
move them.
Meanwhile at home, controversy surrounds the intentions
of a coalition of wealthy and influential American antiquities
collectors at home.
Months before the US-led invasion of Iraq, the group met
with defense and state department officials to discuss the
fate of the country’s artifacts.
Nine British archaeologists published a letter in the London
Guardian, charging that the coalition is “persuading
the Pentagon to relax legislation that protects Iraq’s
heritage by prevention of sales abroad, arguing that antiquities
will be safer in American museums and private collections
than in Iraq.”
The main group behind this alleged move was the recently
formed, The American Council for Cultural Policy. They have
denied the allegations.
- Geoffrey Wainwright, President of the Cambrian Archaeological
Association
- William Pearlstein, treasurer of the American Council
for Cultural Policy
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 THE PENTAGON, PROPAGANDA & PR: A LOOK AT VICTORIA
CLARKE & MARGARET TUTWILER AND WASHINGTON’S PUBLIC
RELATIONS CAMPAIGN ON IRAQ
In many ways Victoria Clarke has become the voice of the
Pentagon. As the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public
Affairs, Clarke oversees daily press briefings. She has also
been credited with forming the idea of embedded journalists.
Her ability to spin the news should come as little surprise.
Clarke came to the Pentagon after a successful career at PR
giant Hill and Knowlton.
You may recall Hill and Knowlton and its role before the
first Gulf War. A decade ago, Hill & Knowlton crafted
a PR campaign that purposely mislead Congress to help justify
the bombing of Iraq.
At a Congressional hearing, Hill and Knowlton represented
a woman who testified she saw Iraqi soldiers throw Kuwaiti
babies out of hospital incubators. But what Hill and Knowlton
didn't say was that the 15-year-old girl identified as Nayirah
was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and that what she
said wasn't true. She had left Kuwaiti long before the Iraqi
soldiers arrived.
The White House has also tapped another PR pro, Margaret
Tutwiler, to serve as spokesperson to the Pentagon's Office
of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq.
Tutwiler served as the State Department’s spokesperson
during the first Gulf War. She also helped shape the media
strategy of the Bush/Cheney campaign during the recount of
the presidential vote in Florida in 2000. She is currently
ambassador to Morocco.
- Rick MacArthur, publisher of Harpers Magazine and author
of Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
"A stupendous source of strategic power, and one of
the greatest material prizes in world”: That’s
how the State Department described Iraq’s oil resources
in 1945 notes Noam Chomsky as he discusses the invasion of
Iraq, U.S. global dominance, oil and how Washington is helping
to ignite a new arms race.
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:20 Noam Chomsky on the invasion of Iraq, U.S. global
dominance, oil and how Washington is helping to ignite a new
arms race.
Baghdad is still in a dangerous state of chaos.
London Independent correspondent Robert Fisk writes that
in Saddam City, now renamed Sadr City, the streets are barricaded
by Shia Muslims. At every barricade there are 14 men with
automatic rifles.
US troops have issued a "Message to the Citizens of
Baghdad," which directs people to stay in their homes
at night.
An Arab woman shouted at Fisk: "If I was an Iraqi and
I read that, I would become a suicide bomber."
It appears the US is making no effort to catch Saddam Hussein’s
cabinet or secret police.
Fisk writes that all across Baghdad Shia Muslim clerics,
and Sunni businessmen are saying the same thing: that the
Americans have come only for oil, and that soon very
soon a guerrilla resistance must start.
Marine officers in Baghdad held talks yesterday with a Shia
militant cleric from Najaf to avert an outbreak of fighting
around the holy city.
In one Baghdad neighborhood, al Adhamiya, Knight Ridder
reports thirty people were killed late in unclear circumstances
late last week. Residents say they were trying to defend their
homes from looters when US tanks rolled in. A resident, Khalid
Tarah, said he saw a 10-year-old boy shot as he watched what
was going on.
He said: "A year ago, on these streets, we would have
yawned if someone had mentioned America to us. Now, look what
they have done to us. Everyone feels this pain. Everyone here
now wants to kill. Everyone here now wants to kill Americans."
To mark the fourth week of the U.S. invasion of Iraq we’ll
spend the hour with MIT Professor and leading anti-war critic
Noam Chomsky.
This speech was recorded in Boulder, Colorado on April 5.
- Noam Chomsky, MIT professor and author of numerous books
including Power and Terror: Post 9-11 Talks and Interviews,
911, Understanding Power and Middle East Illusions
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 Chomsky continued
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 Chomsky 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 Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer.
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