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Re: Rundown 7-10-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Joseph Wilson, Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Debunks Iraq-Niger
Uranium Deal and Why the U.S. Went to War
INTRO: Last year the Bush administration sent Wilson to
Niger to investigate reports that the African nation sold
uranium to Iraq to revamp nuclear program. He found no evidence
of the sale, but President Bush cited the “sale”
as a reason to invade Iraq.
A Survivor and the Children of One of the Victims Discuss
the Racially-Motivated Shooting at Lockheed Martin's plant
in Miss.
INTRO: Four of those killed were African-American and evidence
is mounting that the incident was a hate crime with colleagues
reporting racist incidents involving the killer.
A Tribute to KPFA & Pacifica News Reporter Chris Bruney
INTRO: Chris anchored KPFA's morning newscasts in Berkeley,
CA for the past ten years. He died yesterday at the age of
44 of an apparent heart attack. His colleagues at KPFA remembered
him in this tribute.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 A Survivor and the Children of One of the Victims
Discuss the Racially-Motivated Shooting at Lockheed Martin's
plant in Miss.
INTRO: Four of those killed were African-American and evidence
is mounting that the incident was a hate crime with colleagues
reporting racist incidents involving the killer.
An Assembly-line worker at a Lockheed Martin plant in Mississippi
on Tuesday shot dead five of his co-workers and then himself.
Four of those killed were African-American.
The evidence that the incident was a hate crime is mounting.
The killer was Doug Williams. Lynette McCall, who is African-American,
was one of those murdered by Williams on Tuesday. She had
told her husband of several racist incidents involving Williams
over the years. Her husband Bobby McCall told The New York
Times: "He said he was going to come in one day and kill
up a bunch of niggers and then he was going to turn the gun
on himself."
Other examples of Williams’ racism have emerged in
the last day.
When he overheard a black man complimenting a white woman
a on the factory floor, Williams stepped up to the man, used
a racial slur, angrily told him blacks had no business being
with blond women, and threatened him. This according to witnesses
and company officials.
Last month, a black colleague said the white protective head-covering
Williams was wearing looked like a Ku Klux Klansman's pointy
hood. Williams boss told him to take the head-covering off
or go home. Williams chose to go home, according to company
officials.
The Times reports on Monday, Williams, told his father he
was angry that he would have to attend the annual training
course on ethics and sensitivity the next morning.
When the training began on Tuesday, Williams was seated at
a table with three African-American men. According to witnesses
Brenda Dubose, he got up, said “You all can handle this,”
and left. He returned moments later with a semi-automatic
rifle and opened fire.
Local law enforcement claim it is not clear the shootings
were racially motivated. Sheriff Billy Sollie of Lauderdale
County claimed it appeared Williams had fired at random. He
noted the wounded included four blacks and five whites.
The President of the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company,
Dain Hancock, initially refused to disclose whether company
officials were aware of Williams’ history of racism
and potential for violence.
The Lockheed Martin factory he worked in built parts for
the C-130J Hercules and F-22 Raptor jets.
- Brenda Dubose, an African American worker at Lockheed
martin who suffered minor injuries in the shotgun attack
by Doug Williams.
- Erica and Jonathan Willis, children of Thomas Willis
who was one of the Lockheed Martin workers gunned down on
Tuesday by Doug Williams.
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Joseph Wilson, Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq,
Debunks Iraq-Niger Uranium Deal and Why the U.S. Went to War
INTRO: Last year the Bush administration sent Wilson to
Niger to investigate reports that the African nation sold
uranium to Iraq to revamp nuclear program. He found no evidence
of the sale, but President Bush cited the “sale”
as a reason to invade Iraq.
A top US intelligence official who served under the Bush
administration up until last year accused the White House
yesterday of lying about Iraq and misusing intelligence.
Gregory Thielmann, a former director in the state department's
bureau of intelligence, said yesterday: "I believe the
Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to
the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq.
Most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the
information they were provided."
Thielmann had access to the classified reports which formed
the basis for the US case against Saddam.
Thielmann went on to say, "This administration has had
a faith-based intelligence attitude ... 'We know the answers
- give us the intelligence to support those answers'."
Thielmann is one of the most high profile whistleblowers
that have gone public questioning Bush’s move toward
war.
Another whistleblower was Joseph Wilson, a lifetime U.S.
diplomat who served as the acting ambassador to Iraq in the
lead-up to the Gulf War.
Last year the CIA financed Wilson to go to Niger last year
to investigate reports that the African nation sold uranium
to Iraq. Wilson found no proof such a sale occurred but the
Bush Administration cited the alleged sale in making its case
for war.
Wilson told the Washington Post, "It really comes down
to the administration misrepresenting the facts on an issue
that was a fundamental justification for going to war. It
begs the question, what else are they lying about.”
In an piece written in the New York Times on Sunday, Wilson
wrote: "Based on my experience with the administration
in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice
but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's
nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi
threat.”
On June 14, Wilson spoke at a forum on Iraq hosted by the
Education for Peace in Iraq Center. He began by speaking about
an unnamed retired ambassador who recently traveled to Niger.
Over the weekend Wilson revealed that the ambassador he was
referring to was himself.
- Joseph Wilson, speaking at a forum on Iraq hosted by
the Education for Peace in Iraq Center on June 14th.
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 A Tribute to KPFA & Pacifica News Reporter
Chris Bruney
INTRO: Chris anchored KPFA's morning newscasts in Berkeley,
CA for the past ten years. He died yesterday at the age of
44 of an apparent heart attack. His colleagues at KPFA remembered
him in this tribute.
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, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Lenina Nadal, Ana Nogueira,
Elizabeth Press, and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo is our
music maestro and engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender,
Rich Kim, Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Jenny
Filipazzo and Ionnis Mookas.
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