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Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 9-08-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Bush in Crisis: Slipping in the Polls, GW Looks to Congress
for Money and UN for Troops
Israeli PM Sharon Makes Unprecedented Visit to India; Will
India and Pakistan Send Troops to Iraq?
Arafat Names New Palestinian PM as Abu Mazen Resigns
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Bush in Crisis: Slipping in the Polls,
GW Looks to Congress for Money and UN for Troops
INTRO: In a nationally televised prime-time address President
Bush said that he would ask Congress for $87 billion in emergency
spending for Iraq and Afghanistan. We go to Baghdad to hear
from Michael Birmingham of Voices in the Wilderness and we
speak with American Kurdish Information Network’s Kani
Xulam.
In a nationally televised prime-time address last night,
President Bush said that he would ask Congress for $87 billion
in emergency spending for military operations and reconstruction
in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that Iraq had now become what
he called "the central front" in the campaign against
terrorism.
The speech was Bush’s first from the White House since
he announced the bombing of Baghdad on March 19. He omitted
any mention of how long American troops would remain in Iraq,
how much the operation will ultimately cost and the administration’s
failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Citing Defense Department figures, USA Today is reporting
that the monthly bill for military operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan now rival the Pentagon's average monthly spending
during Vietnam. That tab doesn't include reconstruction costs.
Meanwhile, the latest Zogby America poll says that President
Bush has dropped to the lowest approval ratings of his presidency.
The poll says 54 percent of Americans rated Bush’s performance
as fair or poor. Only 40 percent said he deserved to be re-elected.
- Kani Xulam, Executive Director, American Kurdish Information
Network
Link: www.kurdistan.org
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Israeli PM Sharon Makes Unprecedented Visit
to India; Will India and Pakistan Send Troops to Iraq?
INTRO: As Ariel Sharon begins his three-day visit to India
and as the White House continues to pressure Indian troops
to come to Iraq- Democracy Now! goes to India and to Pakistan
and hosts a debate between journalists C. Raja Mohan, Praful
Bidwai and M. Ziauddin.
Ariel Sharon begins his three-day state visit to India today.
He is the first Israeli Prime Minister to ever visit the country.
Just hours before the visit, a Bhartiya Janata Party spokesperson
in Delhi said, "If any country is making an effort to
join the war against terrorism especially after September
11, we cannot ignore [Israel]."
Interestingly, Palestinian foreign minister Nabeel Shaath
was in India a week ago and said that India must not forget
its historical ties with the Palestinian struggle for independence.
Meanwhile, Pakistani papers have been talking about fears
of an anti-Muslim Jewish-Hindu axis.
The New York Times reports that, “Israeli munitions
have proved particularly valuable for India as it tries to
bulk up its conventional defenses against its nuclear-armed
neighbor, Pakistan. Israel has supplied India with surface-to-air
missiles, avionics, sophisticated sensors to monitor cross-border
traffic, remotely piloted drones and artillery. After Russia,
Israel is India’s second largest supplier of arms.
India and Israel are currently negotiating the transfer of
three Phalcon airborne early-warning radar, command, and control
systems – after the United States lifted its objection
this year to the sale. The Phalcon, long coveted by both India
and China, is a long-range Israeli-made system that will be
fitted onto Russian-built military transport planes.’
- C. Raja Mohan, Strategic Affairs Editor of The Hindu
and author of ‘Crossing the Rubicon-The Shaping of
India’s New Foreign Policy’ (New Delhi, Viking,
2003). Speaking from New Delhi.
Link: www.hinduonnet.com
- M. Ziauddin, Resident Editor, The Dawn, Islamabad
Link: www.dawn.com
- Praful Bidwai, former senior editor of The Times of India.
Bidwai is a freelance journalist and regular columnist for
several leading newspapers in India. He is an associate
editor of Security Dialogue, a member of the International
Network of Engineers and Scientists against Proliferation
and co-founder of the Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament.
His latest book, co-authored with Achin Vinaik and with
an introduction by author and peace activist Arundhati Roy,
is New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament
(Interlink 1999).
Link: timesofindia.indiatimes.com;
and www.inesap.org;
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Arafat Names New Palestinian PM as Abu
Mazen Resigns
INTRO: Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat picks
Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qureia as the
next PA prime minister. We speak to Middle East expert Mouin
Rabbani and professor Tanya Reinhart.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday picked
Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qureia as the
next PA prime minister, with a Fatah central committee meeting
approving the appointment last night.
Qureia has been lobbying American European diplomats for
the past few weeks, sounding them out about his replacing
Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned as prime minister on Saturday.
There was no immediate comment from either Washington or Jerusalem
on Qureia's appointment, which only becomes official after
a vote of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Ahmed Qureia was an architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords.
Qureia was bypassed earlier this year when U.S., European,
U.N. and Russian representatives pushed Arafat to accept Abbas.
Israeli officials have already indicated they may protest
the appointment, saying he is too closely associated with
Arafat.
- Mouin Rabbani, Middle East analyst speaking from Jordan.
- Tanya Reinhart, professor of linguistics at Tel Aviv
University and the University of Ultrecht. She is the author
of Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948. She is
joins us on the phone from the Netherlands today.
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,
Jeremy Scahill, Parvez Sharma 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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