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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Should the U.S. Send Troops Into Liberia?
INTRO: As Liberian President Charles Taylor accepts asylum
offer in Nigeria, Democracy Now! hosts a debate with TransAfrica's
Bill Fletcher and Mel Foote of Constituency for Africa on
what the U.S. should do. This comes as President Bush starts
a five-nation tour of Africa.
Protests Held Outside “Crypto City,” the Headquarters
of the Top-Secret National Security Agency
INTRO: Plowshare activists target the NSA for its role in
providing the White House intelligence that led to the invasion
of Iraq.
Domestic Weapon Inspecting Nuns Face up to 8 Years in Prison
for Anti-Nuclear Protest Action
INTRO: Roman Catholic nun Ardeth Platte talks with Democracy
Now! about why she broke into a nuclear silo in Colorado to
hammer on a U.S. warplane. This weekend she protested outside
the National Security Agency for its role in providing the
intelligence that led to the invasion of Iraq.
Morale of U.S. Troops and Their Families Back Home Reaches
New Low as Three More Soldiers are Killed in Iraq
INTRO: Democracy Now! speaks with Global Exchange’s
Medea Benjamin who is leading an international group in Iraq
to launch an Occupation Watch Center.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Should the U.S. Send Troops Into Liberia?
INTRO: As Liberian President Charles Taylor accepts asylum
offer in Nigeria, Democracy Now! hosts a debate with TransAfrica's
Bill Fletcher and Mel Foote of Constituency for Africa on
what the U.S. should do. This comes as President Bush starts
a five-nation tour of Africa.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Armed
Services Committee said yesterday that they want President
Bush to get congressional approval before sending any U.S.
troops to Liberia.
At the same time, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
said military leaders would prefer that West African armies
take the lead in any effort to end the brutal conflict.
Liberian President Charles Taylor said Sunday he would step
down from power. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo met
Taylor at Monrovia’s airport to offer him asylum, which
Taylor accepted. Taylor said “I thank my big brother
for coming. He has extended an invitation and we have accepted
an invitation.” This according to The New York Times.
Taylor urged the U.S. to send peacekeepers to ensure an “orderly”
exit from Monrovia, which is surrounded by rebel forces.
Taylor gave no timeframe for when he would quit power and
did not specify whether the deployment of US troops was a
condition for his departure.
Thousands have died in the 13-year civil war, and Taylor
has been indicted for war crimes by a U.N.-backed court in
Sierra Leone.
The US has been under growing international pressure to send
troops to participate in a peacekeeping force. West African
nations have said they will provide 3,000 soldiers for the
mission but have suggested that the United States send 2,000
more. Liberia was founded as a colony for freed American slaves
in the 1800s.
Bush leaves today on a five-nation tour in Africa. While
he not stopping in Liberia, he will visit Senegal, South Africa,
Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria.
- Mel Foote, President and CEO of Constituency for Africa,
a coalition of organizations and groups that educates Americans
about Africa and African issues.
Link: www.cfanet.org
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:35 Morale of US Troops and their Families Back Home
Reaches New Low as Three More Soldiers are Killed in Iraq
INTRO: Democracy Now! speaks with Global Exchange’s
Medea Benjamin who is leading an international group in Iraq
to launch an Occupation Watch Center.
Three U.S. troops were killed on Sunday within a 12-hour
period. First an American soldier was shot dead while visiting
Baghdad University shortly after noon. Nine hours late, a
member of the First Armored Division was killed while chasing
two Iraqis. A few hours late, a third soldier died after explosives
hit his truck.
The shootings came a day after seven Iraqi police recruits
were killed and 70 more people were injured when a bomb exploded
near the graduation ceremony of the first class of the new
U.S. trained Iraqi police force.
The deaths of the U.S. soldiers come at a time when the morale
of the troops and their families back home appear to be at
a new low.
The New York Times reports that in Fort Stewart, Georgia,
a colonel had to be escorted out of a session with 800 seething
spouses, most of them wives.
One official at Fort Stewart told the Times, "They were
crying, cussing, yelling and screaming for their men to come
back.”
The paper quotes letters written by soldiers to their elected
representatives in Washington.
One read: "Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts
just for a plane ticket home.”
Another read: "Make no mistake, the level of morale
for most soldiers that I've seen has hit rock bottom.”
- Medea Benjamin, co-founder and founding director of Global
Exchange. She is leading an international group in Iraq
to launch an Occupation Watch Center. The center, based
in Baghdad, will monitor the military occupation forces
and foreign corporations, host international delegations
to Iraq, and keep the international community updated about
the occupation. The center is supported by an advisory board
of international academics, writers, and human rights advocates.
It will function under the auspices of United for Peace
and Justice.
Contact: www.occupationwatch.org
Link: www.globalexchange.org
8:35-8:41 One Minute Music Break
Protests Held Outside “Crypto City,” the headquarters
of the top-secret National Security Agency
INTRO: Plowshare activists target the NSA for its role in
providing the White House intelligence that led to the invasion
of Iraq.
Plowshare activists including some from Jonah House in Baltimore
gathered near the National Security Agency’s headquarters
in Fort Meade, Maryland to protest the organization’s
role in the invasion of Iraq.
Although it gets little attention compared to the CIA, the
National Security Agency is the more powerful, more expensive
and more secretive of the two.
Much of what known about the organization comes from the
work of James Bamford. Over 20 years ago he wrote the first
book ever on the NSA. It was titled, ”The Puzzle Palace:
A Report on NSA, America's Most Secret Agency.” The
government threatened to prosecute him for a breach of national
security. Two years ago he wrote a follow-up, Body of Secrets:
Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency.
Today we talk to Bamford about the NSA’s role in providing
intelligence that led to the invasion of Iraq.
- James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets and The Puzzle
Palace.
Link: www.bodyofsecrets.com
Body of Secrets
8:41-8:58 Domestic Weapon Inspecting Nuns Face up to 8 Years
in Prison for Anti-Nuclear Protest Action
INTRO: Roman Catholic nun Ardeth Platte talks with Democracy
Now! about why she broke into a nuclear silo in Colorado to
hammer on a U.S. warplane. This weekend she protested outside
the National Security Agency for its role in providing the
intelligence that led to the invasion of Iraq.
A court in Ireland last week failed to reach a verdict in
a case involving an Irish woman who was charged with damaging
a U.S. warplane while it was stopped in an Irish airport for
refueling. The plane was headed for Iraq but was grounded
after the woman, Mary Kelly, caused up to $1.5 million Euros
in damage to the plane.
Anti-war activists and supporters cheered the hung jury last
week. Soon after the trial ended, Kelly, a 50-year-old mother
of four said, “It’s a great victory for Ireland.”
Here in the United States, three Roman Catholic nuns, Carol
Gilbert, Ardeth Platte and Jackie Hudson, will be sentenced
later this month for a related anti-war action
On the morning of Oct. 6, 2002 the Roman Catholic nuns cut
the chain securing a nuclear missile site in northeastern
Colorado, and entered.
They hammered on a 110-ton concrete lid covering the Minuteman
III missile silo. They poured their own blood in the shape
of crosses from plastic baby bottles. They sang, and they
prayed for world peace.
A Denver jury convicted them last month of injuring and obstructing
national defense, and of inflicting more than $1,000 of damage
to government property. Prosecutors said they will ask U.S.
District Judge Robert Blackburn to sentence the nuns to five
to eight years in federal prison and tens of thousands of
dollars in fines.
- Sister Ardeth Platte, Roman Catholic nun and Plowshares
activist.
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, Ana Nogueira and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer.
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