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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Intelligence Scandal Escalates As Top Bush Aide Blamed For
Forcing False Iraq Nuke Claim Into Bush's State of the Union
INTRO: While Sen. Grahan says Bush could be impeached, Bush
and Blair meet in D.C. to defend why they invaded Iraq. We
broadcast portions of their press conference and yesterday's
heated White House press briefing. We talk to writer Rahul
Mahajan on the administration's lies that led to war. And
human rights attorney Michael Ratner outlines Britain's complaints
over Washington's plans to try two Britons by secret military
tribunal.
Number of U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq 3X Higher Than Media
Reports; Troop Morale Reaches New Lows
INTRO: As American troops begin to speak out, Army Gen.
John Abizaid declares that soldiers must silence their criticism.
We go to Iraq to hear from Jonathan Steele of the Guardian
reporting on the 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad.
For the Lucky Few Soldiers Returning Home From Iraq, Another
Battle Awaits: Anxiety, Sleepless Nights, Depression. A Look
at Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
INTRO: Democracy Now! speaks with the wife of a deployed
soldier and the Christian Science Monitor's Ann Scott Tyson
about the emotional and mental toll of war.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:30 Intelligence Scandal Escalates As Top Bush Aide
Blamed For Forcing False Iraq Nuke Claim Into Bush's State
of the Union
INTRO: While Sen. Grahan says Bush could be impeached, Bush
and Blair meet in D.C. to defend why they invaded Iraq. We
broadcast portions of their press conference and yesterday's
heated White House press briefing. We talk to writer Rahul
Mahajan on the administration's lies that led to war. And
human rights attorney Michael Ratner outlines Britain's complaints
over Washington's plans to try two Britons by secret military
tribunal.
Senior intelligence officials say it was a top aide of President
Bush's who urged the inclusion of a false line in his State
of the Union address that alleged that Iraq was attempting
to buy uranium from Africa.
The man Robert Joseph serves as the director for nonproliferation
at the National Security Council. He had previously served
in the Bush and Reagan White Houses and has been identified
as a close ally to neoconservative hawks including Richard
Perle and Elliott Abrams
CIA expert Alan Foley says he had warned Joseph and the White
House before the State of the Union that the CIA was not certain
about the credibility of the evidence connecting Iraq to Niger
and recommended that it be removed from the speech.
The White House has attempted to place the blame for the
misuse of the Iraq intelligence on the CIA. Last week CIA
Director George Tenet took responsibility for the inclusion
of the uranium deal in the State of the Union address. This
despite the fact that three months earlier Tenet personally
called on the President to remove any references to the uranium
transaction from another speech.
But after Tenet and other CIA officials testified on Wednesday
in a series of closed door intelligence hearings on Capitol
Hill the White House has been put back in the hot seat.
The intelligence scandal escalated on the same day that British
Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Washington to address
a special joint meeting of Congress. Both Blair and Bush defended
their choice to invade Iraq. Blair said that the invasion
was justified even if no weapons of mass destruction are ever
found in Iraq.
Speaking about the alleged threat weapons of mass destruction
Blair said, "If we are wrong... that is something I am
confident history will forgive."
As a sign that the White House sees itself on the defensive,
Vice President Cheney yesterday announced that his former
top PR consultant Mary Matalin has returned to the White House
to help shape the administration's communications strategy.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, July 17th Joint Press
Conference.
- Rahul Mahajan, author of the new book Full Spectrum Dominance:
U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond." He has a Ph.D. in particle
physics.
Link:
www.rahulmahajan.com/
- Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional
Rights.
Link: www.ccr-ny.org
8:30-8:31 One Minute Music Break
8:31-8:45 Number of U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq 3X Higher
Than Media Reports; Troop Morale Reaches New Lows
INTRO: As American troops begin to speak out, Army Gen.
John Abizaid declares that soldiers must silence their criticism.
We go to Iraq to hear from Jonathan Steele of the Guardian
reporting on the 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad.
Troops in Iraq are beginning to speak out.
But Army Gen. John Abizaid - who just took over from the
retired Tommy Franks – declared that American troops
must silence their criticism.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing he said, "None of us
that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging
about the secretary of defense or the president of the United
States. . . We're not free to do that.”
This comes after a group of U.S. soldiers Wednesday spoke
out on ABC News. Fed up with being in Iraq and demoralized
by their occupying role in a risky place they said they had
lost faith in the Army and their country’s leadership.
One soldier, a specialist, said, "If Donald Rumsfeld
was here, I'd ask him for his resignation." Another private
added, "I used to want to help these people, but now,
I don't really care about them anymore."
After months of previous delays, soldiers from the beleaguered
Third Infantry Division were told that their stay in Iraq
will extend into late fall. Some of them have been in the
Middle East since September 2002.
The Division was the first to reach Baghdad. They were told,
“The road to Baghdad is the road home.” But 9,000
of them remain in the city frustrated, demoralized and anxious.
The Pentagon has persistently promised the soldiers and their
worried families a quick return only to have their hopes dashed
each time.
And the publication Editor and Publisher has published a
report headlined “Media Underplays U.S. Death Toll in
Iraq.” According to Editor and Published, the number
of U.S. soldiers killed is three times higher than the official
counts cited by the media.
Most media reports claim that 33 have died since May 2 when
President Bush declared major combat to over. But in fact
85 U.S. soldiers have been killed since then. The difference
in reporting occurs because the media often does not include
so-called non-combat deaths.
On Thursday headlines around the country read: “American
combat deaths reach mark from 1991 Persian Gulf war.”
The papers repeatedly reported 147 U.S. had died in combat
in the current invasion of Iraq. But if you count all of the
U.S. troops killed the total number of killed in the current
invasion is 224 – about 50 percent more troops than
were killed during the first Gulf War.
8:45-8:58 For the Lucky Few Soldiers Returning Home From
Iraq, Another Battle Awaits: Anxiety, Sleepless Nights, Depression.
A Look at Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
INTRO: Democracy Now! speaks with the wife of a deployed
soldier and the Christian Science Monitor's Ann Scott Tyson
about the emotional and mental toll of war.
Today we are also going to talk about another battle soldiers
are facing: coming home and post traumatic stress disorder.
A piece in the Christian Science Monitor begins like this:
“On his first weekend home from Iraq, Sgt. 1st Class
Michael Gilmartin was driving down a sunny highway in Kissimee,
Fla., when something suddenly felt very wrong.
“In a panic, Sergeant Gilmartin stepped on the brakes
of his black Dodge Dakota pickup, jumped out in the middle
of the six-lane road and started searching around the truck.
Then it registered: He was looking for his M-16 rifle.
"I had basically an anxiety attack," Gilmartin
recalled. "I was missing something and needed to do something."
A policeman who had served in Vietnam approached Gilmartin
and took him to the side of the road to sit for a while.
Gilmartin, who returned here June 3 with his 3rd Infantry
Division artillery battalion, is among the first American
GIs to trickle back from the war zone. The troubles he recounts
- anxiety, sleepless nights, depression - represent the mental
and emotional toll experienced by many of those who fought
in the Iraq war.”
- Ann Scott Tyson, special correspondent of The Christian
Science Monitor. Her report “The other battle: coming
home” examines the trauma and stress of combat on
soldiers returning home from Iraq.
Link: www.csmonitor.com
- Dominique Marabello, wife of Anthony Marabello, a soldier
in the 3rd Infantry Division.
The wife of another soldier had agreed to speak with us anonymously
today to discuss her frustrations with life as a military
wife. She called at 6:30 Friday morning and cancelled after
speaking to her husband.
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,
and Elizabeth Press. 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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