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Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 8-19-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 “The Kleptocrats Have Taken Over”
– Author, Columnist and National Radio Commentator Jim
Hightower on Taking Back the Country Through Democratic Struggle
INTRO: Jim Hightower argues that the U.S. is ruled by “thieves
of justice and liberty,” and it is time for the people
to take back their nation. He joins us in our firehouse studio
and we play a speech he gave last night at St. Peters church
in New York City.
“The kleptocrats have taken over.” That is how
Jim Hightower starts the introduction to latest book, Thieves
In High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country and It’s
Time to Take it Back. In it, he argues that the U.S. is ruled
by “thieves of justice and liberty,” and it is
time for the people to take back their nation.
Hightower, who describes himself as America’s #1 populist,
writes:
“To jettison our nation's ideals for nothing more than
the further enrichment of elites is no mere shift in policy
-- it's a moral failure, a betrayal of what the American experiment
represents. A fellow came up to me recently and politely introduced
himself. After only a moment of chitchat, he clutched my arm
and his eyes urgently sought mine, as though he might find
confirmation there of what he instinctively thought to be
happening. Leaning into me, almost in a whisper he said: "They're
changing America, aren't they?"
Hightower says and dedicates much of his book to offering
a national vision to take back the country through democratic
struggle, organization and agitation.
He is a national radio commentator, columnist and author
of several books on democracy and the government.
He spoke yesterday at St. Peters church at an even hosted
by Truthout.org. In his speech he said, “They are changing
America in a way that we won’t recognize and in a way
that we do not support and have not been consulted on -they
are changing our America of egalitarianism into their America
of elitism and empire.”
- Jim Hightower, speaking at St. Peters church on August
18th, 2003 at an event hosted by Truthout.org.
Link: www.truthout.org
- Jim Hightower, national radio commentator, columnist and
author of several books on democracy and the government.
Contact: www.jimhightower.com
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Jim Hightower CONT’D
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 “Don’t Kill the Truth”
– Hundreds in Hebron Mourn Palestinian Journalist Mazen
Dana Who Was Shot Dead by U.S. Troops in Baghdad
INTRO: Mazen Dana was killed covering a mortar attack on
a prison in Baghdad for Reuters on Sunday. U.S. soldiers claimed
they mistook the cameraman’s camera for a rocket propelled
grenade launcher. The Pentagon said the soldiers accidentally
“engaged a cameraman.”
“DON'T KILL THE TRUTH”
This was one of many messages delivered yesterday in Hebron
by hundreds of mourners marching for award- winning Reuter's
cameraman, Mazen Dana who was shot and killed by U.S. troops
in Baghdad on Sunday.
Mourners marched holding photos of the Palestinian cameraman
demanding that more be done to protect journalists.
Mazen Dana was killed covering a mortar attack on a prison
in Baghdad on Sunday. U.S. soldiers claimed they mistook the
cameraman’s camera for a rocket propelled grenade launcher
and shot him in the chest. Mazen Dana was 43 years old and
considered by Reuters to be one of its finest cameraman. He
is survived by his four children and his wife, Suzan.
His camera captured the last moments of his life. The video
shows a US tank driving towards Dana outside the prison. Two
shots ring out. His camera falls to the ground. Dana is hit
in the chest. Blood pours from a huge exit wound in his back.
His sound engineer told reporters that they had talked to
US soldiers just minutes before. He said "They saw us
and they knew about our identities and our mission."
The official line of the Pentagon was that soldiers accidentally
“engaged a cameraman.”
A military spokesman apologized for the killing, but tried
to justify it within the context of the ongoing guerilla war
in Iraq. He said "During war time, firing a warning shot
is not a necessity. There is no time for a warning shot if
there is potential for an ambush."
Reuter’s Press, the Committee to Protect Journalists
and Reporters Without Borders all expressed outrage yesterday
at the killing of Dana. They demanded a full, public investigation
by the U.S. military and contested U.S. troops’ rules
of engagement.
Dana is the eleventh journalist to die in combat in Iraq
since the U.S. invasion in March. That makes Iraq one of the
world's most dangerous places for journalists, outranking
hot spots like the West Bank and Colombia.
Dana was the second Reuters cameraman to die since the war
began March 20. Taras Protsyuk died April 8 after an American
tank fired at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad as U.S. troops
took the city.
The U.S. military recently absolved American forces of wrongdoing
in that incident, saying they fired in self-defense. Witnesses
said there was no gunfire from the hotel when the American
tank opened fire.
In 2001, the Committee to Protect Journalists awarded Mazen
Dana its International Press Freedom Award for his determination
to keep working despite several close calls.
In his acceptance speech Dana told CPJ, “[A]ll journalists
have a message, and they are carrying the message. They are
not part of the story of the conflict. They are filming what's
going on. And journalists and especially the camera man showing
the people the truth.”
- Paul Holmes, Worldwide General Editor of Political and
General News, Reuters. He is the former Bureau chief of
the Middle East where he supervised Mazen Dana during his
reports of the situation in Israel and Palestine.
Link: www.reuters.com
- Abed Qusini, Reuter’s cameraperson and a good friend
of Mazen Dana. He joins us today from the West Bank. He
last spoke to us in April after he witnessed the death of
Nazeh Darwazeh, an Associated Press cameraman gunned down
by an Israeli soldier.
Link: www.reuters.com
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, Nell
Geiser, Angie Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Lenina Nadal,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, and Parvez Sharma. 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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