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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Can the U.S. Legally Kill Saddam Hussein?
INTRO: The U.S. hunt for the former Iraqi president intensified
yesterday near Tikrit as troops carried out dozens of raids.
Democracy Now! hosts a debate between National Security Law
director Michael Turner and Marjorie Cohn of the Thomas Jefferson
School of law on whether the U.S. can assassinate Saddam.
Ex-Diplomat Joseph Wilson: Bush May Start Another War in
2004 To Win The Election
INTRO: Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson predicts
the situation in Iraq will deteriorate so much over the next
year Bush may resort to start another war in order to win
the 2004 election. Wilson is the retired diplomat who visited
Niger in a CIA-sponsored trip last year during which he determined
the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal was bogus. His conclusion
was ignored by the Bush White House.
U.S. Prison Population Jumps 3.7% to 2 Million; Increase
of 700 Inmates Every Week
INTRO: The rapid increase comes at a time when crime is
decreasing and state budget deficits are soaring. We speak
with the Justice Policy Institute’s Michael Blain.
Over 200 WTO Protesters Arrested in Montreal
INTRO: The mini-ministerial meeting in Montreal is a prelude
to a much bigger WTO gathering this September where all 146
members will meet in Cancun, Mexico. We speak with Margrete
Strand of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Can the U.S. Legally Kill Saddam Hussein?
INTRO: The U.S. hunt for the former Iraqi president intensified
yesterday near Tikrit as troops carried out dozens of raids.
Democracy Now! hosts a debate between National Security Law
director Michael Turner and Marjorie Cohn of the Thomas Jefferson
School of law on whether the U.S. can assassinate Saddam.
The Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya last night broadcast
an audiotape said to be from Saddam Hussein.
On the tape, Saddam Hussein allegedly offered condolences
to the Iraqi nation for the deaths of his sons. The voice
said, "I mourn to you the deaths of Uday and Qusay and
those who struggled with them. You are the honor of this nation.
America will be defeated."
Meanwhile, the UN secretary general's special representative
in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello called for Saddam to be captured
alive. He said it was too easy an end for Saddam to be killed.
There have been numerous debates in the media over the release
of the bloody and grisly photos of Uday and Qusay Hussein.
But few have asked whether killing them was justified at all.
In the legal periodical Jurist, law professor Marjorie Cohn
writes:
“Uday and Qusai Hussein should have been arrested and
tried in Iraqi courts or an international tribunal for their
alleged crimes. George W. Bush cannot serve as judge, jury
and executioner. This assassination creates a dangerous precedent,
which could be used to justify the targeted killings of U.S.
leaders.”
There are some who would argue differently. Robert Turner
of the University of Virginia School of Law writes on the
targeting of Osama Bin Laden:
“Intentionally killing a murderer like bin Laden when
necessary to prevent the slaughter of additional innocents
is not assassination.”
Today on Democracy Now! a debate on the US policy of assassination.
- Marjorie Cohn, professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School
of Law in San Diego, is executive vice president of the
National Lawyers Guild. Her article “Assassination
and Display in Iraq: The Killings of Uday and Qusai Hussein
in International Law” appears on the Jurist website.
Links: www.jeffersonlaw.edu;
www.nlg.org;
jurist.law.pitt.edu/forum/forumnew121.php
- Robert Turner, Associate Director of the Center for National
Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.
He worked in the Defense and State Departments in the Reagan
administration.
Link: www.law.virginia.edu/home2002/html/index.htm
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:33 Ex-Diplomat Joseph Wilson: Bush May Start Another
War in 2004 To Win The Election?
INTRO: Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson predicts
the situation in Iraq will deteriorate so much over the next
year Bush may resort to start another war in order to win
the 2004 election. Wilson is the retired diplomat who visited
Niger in a CIA-sponsored trip last year during which he determined
the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal was bogus. His conclusion
was ignored by the Bush White House.
Retired U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson is accusing the White
House of orchestrating a smear attack against him and his
wife. Wilson gained headlines earlier this month when he revealed
that he had personally traveled to Niger in 2002 in a CIA-financed
trip to investigate any nuclear link between the African nation
and Iraq. Wilson set off a firestorm of debate when he told
the media, the White House and CIA were both warned in 2002
of his findings.
Wilson now says the White House deliberately leaked to the
press that his wife, Valerie Plame, is a covert CIA operative
thus damaging her career and compromising past missions.
Writing on the Nation website, David Corn points out that
whoever within the Bush administration outted Wilson’s
wife may have committed treason. Disclosing information that
identifies covert agents violates the Intelligence Identities
Protection Act of 1982. Plame’s identify was first revealed
in a column by conservative Robert Novak who said government
officials leaked him the information.
Right now we are going to return to speech Wilson gave at
the Education for Peace in Iraq last month on what lies ahead
in Iraq over the next year.
- Joseph Wilson, speaking at a forum on Iraq hosted by
the Education for Peace in Iraq center on June 14th.
Link:
www.epic-usa.org
8:33-8:40 U.S. Prison Population Jumps 3.7% to 2 Million;
Increase of 700 Inmates Every Week
INTRO: The rapid increase comes at a time when crime is
decreasing and state budget deficits are soaring. We speak
with the Justice Policy Institute’s Michael Blain.
A new Justice Department report finds that the U.S. prison
population jumped by almost four percent last year meaning
an increase of about 700 inmates every week.
The total U.S. prison and jail population is just over 2
million. One out of every 143 residents is behind bars. African
American men between the ages of 20 and 39 accounted for about
a third of all sentenced inmates.
Some experts say mandatory sentences, especially for nonviolent
drug offenders, are a major reason inmate populations have
risen for 30 years.
Others argue that tough sentencing laws, such as the ``three
strikes'' laws that can put repeat offenders behind bars for
life, are a chief reason for the drop in crime.
The Justice Policy Institute warned against the rapid increase
which comes at a time that crime is decreasing and state budget
deficits are soaring.
A director at the Institute said, "As legislators are
struggling to fund education, health care and stave off spending
cuts, many are continuing to choose to pay for an expensive
justice system that damages communities and does not produce
safe, healthy neighborhoods."
- Michael Blain, Director of the Prisoners Justice Network
and Soros Justice Fellow with the Justice Policy Institute.
He was wrongfully imprisoned for 7 years in Virginia for
robbery.
Link: www.justicepolicy.org
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Over 200 WTO Protesters Arrested in Montreal
INTRO: The mini-ministerial meeting in Montreal is a prelude
to a much bigger WTO gathering this September where all 146
members will meet in Cancun, Mexico. We speak with Margrete
Strand of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
More than 300 activists took to the streets for a second
day yesterday in Montreal to oppose a World Trade Organization
meeting.
The demonstrations were significantly smaller than Monday’s,
when over 200 protesters were arrested by Montreal police.
Most of those arrested spent the night in jail. They will
be arraigned today.
The mini-ministerial meeting in Montreal is a prelude to
a much bigger WTO gathering this September where all 146 members
will meet in Cancun, Mexico.
Among the arrested was Canadian activist Jaggi Singh, who
was giving interviews to the mainstream media around when
police handcuffed him and charged him with unlawful assembly.
Images of Singh's arrest were captured and aired on Canadian
media. Montreal police took Singh and the others arrested
in busloads to three prisons throughout the city and have
given little information about their release.
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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