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DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL: 9/11 TWO YEARS LATER (pt. 2 of 3)
Pakistani Family Mourns Loss of Son Who Went From Terror
Suspect to 9/11 Hero
Sept. 11, 1973: A CIA-backed Military Coup Overthrows Salvador
Allende, the Democratically Elected President of Chile
Sept. 11-12, 1977: Anti-Apartheid leader Stephen Biko Dies
From Brain Damage After Beating By South African Police
Sept. 11, 1990: U.S.-Backed Military Death Squad Murders
Guatemalan Anthropologist Myrna Mack
New York State Troopers Kill 39 Men in Raid To End Attica
Prison Uprising
8:01-8:06 Headlines
South Korean Farmer Dies After Stabbing Himself in
WTO Protest in Cancun
INTRO: 10,000 farmers from around the world gathered in
Cancun, Mexico to march on the World Trade Organization. Protests
became violent as riot police blocked demonstrators with an
eight feet steel fence.
- Big Noise Tactical working with Cancun Indymedia
Protesters Disrupt Rumsfeld Speech & Tell Him:
“You're Fired! Your Foreign Policy Is Based on Lies”
INTRO: The two protesters held a sign reading “bloody
hands” and kept screaming as security guards dragged
them out of the National Press Club.
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:10 DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL:
9/11 TWO YEARS LATER (pt. 2 of 3)
INTRO: September 11th has now become synonymous with the
tragic events of two years ago. It brings forth images of
the death and destruction here in the U.S. Around the world
this date evokes different images and memories of terror.
Today on Democracy Now!, we will spend the hour looking at
September 11ths throughout history.
Two years ago today, on September 11, 2001 at 8:47 am American
Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston crashed into the north tower
of the World Trade Center, tearing a gaping hole in the building
and setting it afire. At 9:03 am a second plane, United Flight
175 also from Boston crashed into the south tower. Both buildings
were ablaze. At 9:43 am American Airlines Flight 77 crashes
into the Pentagon. At 10:10 am, United Airlines Flight 93
crashes in Sommerset County, Pennsylvania. Some 2,792 people
died at the World Trade Center, 184 at the Pentagon and 40
in the plane crash in the Pennsylvania field. More than 90
nations lost citizens in these attacks. As the world's attention
is focused on the site now known as “Ground Zero,”
just blocks from our firehouse studios, we continue with Part
2 of Democracy Now!'s special 9-11 coverage.
September 11th has now become synonymous with the tragic
events of two years ago. It brings forth images of the death
and destruction here in the US: the towers crumbling, people
fleeing through streets or jumping from buildings, desperate
to learn anything about their missing loved ones. But for
others around the world this date evokes different images
and memories of terror. Today on Democracy Now!, we will spend
the hour looking at September 11ths throughout history.
We'll go back to September 11, 1973 the day Chile's democratically-elected
President Salvador Allende died in a CIA-backed military coup;
to September 11, 1977 the day anti-apartheid leader Stephen
Biko was being driven to Pretoria where he would die a day
later on a prison floor after being beaten by South African
police; to September 11, 1990 when Guatemalan anthropologist
Myrna Mack was murdered by US-backed death squads; to September
11, 1971 to the Attica Prison uprising that saw New York State
Troopers kill 39 men and wound 88 others.
8:10-8:25 Sept. 11, 2001: Pakistani Family Mourns
Loss of Son Who Went From Terror Suspect to 9/11 Hero
INTRO: Salman Hamdani died two years ago today after he
raced to the Twin Towers to help survivors. He earned a mention
in the Patriot Act for his bravery yet because he was a Muslim
immigrant, the New York Post and others considered him a suspect
until his DNA was discovered.
On the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11
attacks, Democracy Now! spent the evening with the parents
of a young man who died in the World Trade Center 2 years
ago. They were 2 of the hundreds of victims’ families
who marched from Union Square in New York to the spot where
the twin towers once stood.
Standing in front of Ground Zero last night, Pakistani immigrants
Talat Hamdani and her husband Saleem remembered their son,
Salman, as a hero--a New York City police cadet who died attempting
to save lives at the World Trade Center 2 years ago this morning.
Even though their son was singled out by President Bush and
mentioned by name in the Patriot Act as a hero, that was not
how their son was portrayed in the immediate aftermath of
9-11. The New York Post and other media outlets portrayed
Salman as a possible terrorist on the run.
The article from the New York Post was from October 12, 2001.
It was called: “MISSING - OR HIDING? - MYSTERY OF NYPD
CADET FROM PAKISTAN”
Here is an excerpt from that article:
“The NYPD is hunting for one of its former cadets,
initially reported missing in the Twin Towers attack, issuing
an urgent "hold and detain" order for the Pakistani
native.
Hamdani was last seen, Koran in hand, leaving his Bayside,
Queens home for his job as a research assistant at Rockefeller
University, but he never made it to work.
His family distributed missing-person fliers in the fear
that the 23-year- old, who is trained as an emergency medical
technician, went instead to the World Trade Center to help
and was killed.
But investigators for the FBI and NYPD have since questioned
the family about which Internet chat rooms he visited and
if he was political.
Hamdani, a graduate of Queens College with a biochemistry
degree, had been in the NYPD cadet program for three years.
He became "inactive" because he needed to work full
time, his mother said.
Police sources said he hadn't been to work at the NYPD since
April, but he still carried official identification.
One source told The Post: "That tells me they're not
looking for this guy at the bottom of the rubble. The thing
that bothers me is, if he is up to some tricks, he can walk
past anybody [using the ID card]."
Hamdani's mother, who has been in the United States for two
decades, denied her son was political or a religious fundamentalist.
Cops at the Midtown Tunnel reported spotting someone who looked
like Hamdani yesterday morning.”
Eleven days after this article was published, Congress passed
the Patriot Act, singling out Salman as a hero.
- Talaat and Mohammed Hamdani, Queens family who lost their
son in the World Trade Center attacks, interviewed blocks
from Ground Zero.
8:25-8:35 Sept. 11, 1973: A CIA-backed Military Coup
Overthrows Salvador Allende, the Democratically Elected President
of Chile
INTRO: 30 years ago today President Nixon and Secretary
of State National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger helped
orchestrate the coup that put General Augusto Pinochet in
power and President Allende dead. Pinochet would go on to
kill at least 3,000 Chileans over the next 17 years.
We turn now to another September 11: September 11, 1973.
30 years ago today, the democratically elected President
of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown and died in a bloody
CIA backed military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.
Pinochet oversaw the killing of at least 3,000 Chileans during
a brutal 17-year military reign, which lasted until 1990.
The coup was backed by then-President Nixon and Secretary
of State National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger. Salvador
Allende was honored yesterday in a ceremony at the palace
were he died 30 years ago.
In 1998, Pinochet was arrested in London on torture and genocide
charges on a warrant issued by a Spanish judge. British authorities
later released Pinochet after doctors ruled him physically
and mentally unfit to stand trial.
This past August, current Chilean president Ricardo Lagos
announced a plan to pay compensation to thousands of families
who had relatives killed during Pinochet’s military
regime.
- Vladimir Vega, refugee from Chile living in London. He
spent five years in prison and left the country as soon
as he was released in May, 1978.
- Peter Kornbluh, he is the author of “The Pinochet
File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability.”
He is a senior analyst at the National Security Archive,
a public-interest documentation center in Washington.
8:30-8:40 Sept. 11-12, 1977: Anti-Apartheid leader
Stephen Biko Dies From Brain Damage After Beating By South
African Police
INTRO: On Sept. 11, police transported Biko more than 700
miles to Pretoria lying naked and chained on the floor of
a police van the entire journey after being beaten unconscious.
He died the next day from brain damage.
On September 11th, 1977 South African police were transporting
Stephen Biko, the leader of the black consciousness movement
in South Africa more than 700 miles to Pretoria. He was lying
naked and chained on the floor of the police van the entire
journey after being beaten unconscious.
Early in the morning of September 12 he died of brain damage
on the floor of his prison cell.
Widely considered one of the great leaders of the struggle
against apartheid, Steve Biko is credited with developing
Black Consciousness - the militant ideological and psychological
tools which were crucial in the fight against apartheid.
For years, the United States government backed the apartheid
regime in South Africa, designating opposition groups such
Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress as terrorist
organizations.
Steve Biko was arrested in Port Elizabeth in August 1977
by the South African police force. He was detained for three
weeks without trial, and was kept naked and shackled in his
cell.
In the early morning hours of September 12, Biko died from
multiple injuries including brain damage in a Pretoria prison
cell. He was 30 years old. The medical treatment of Biko was
subsequently described by a Supreme Court judge as "
lacking any element of compassion, care or humanity".
News of his death sparked outrage and protest around the
world and the South African government was forced to order
an inquest. After testifying, the police and doctors involved
were exonerated. The official explanation was that Biko had
died of a self-imposed hunger-strike.
In his death Biko became a symbol of the martyrdom of black
nationalists whose struggle focused critical world attention
on South Africa.
- Nkosinathi Biko, Steve Biko’s son speaking from
South Africa.
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:40-8:50 Sept. 11, 1990: U.S.-Backed Military Death
Squad Murders Guatemalan Anthropologist Myrna Mack
INTRO: Mack was stalked and assassinated in retaliation
for her pioneering field work which had begun to expose and
document the destruction of rural indigenous communities in
Guatemala.
On September 11, 1990, renowned Guatemalan anthropologist
Myrna Mack was assassinated in Guatemala City. She had been
stalked for two weeks prior to her death by a U.S.-backed
military death squad.
Myrna had been targeted in retaliation for her pioneering
field work which had begun to expose and document the destruction
of rural indigenous communities in Guatemala.
Guatemala’s U.S backed state forces and allied paramilitary
groups were responsible for tens of thousands of rights violations,
including attacks against indigenous populations.
For over twelve years, Myrna’s sister, Helen Mack,
has fought tirelessly to bring to justice all persons involved
in the murder, including high ranking officials in the Guatemalan
armed forces.
In 1991, Helen Mack initiated and pursued a private prosecution
in Guatemala of those responsible for the assassination. Her
efforts led to the groundbreaking 1993 conviction of one of
Myrna's attackers -- a low ranking security official. Later,
her efforts led to the indictment and trial order of two colonels
and a general - the highest ranking officials in Guatemala
ever to face trial for human rights violations.
- Helen Mack, sister of Myrna Mack, a human rights activist
who was assassinated in Guatamala on Sept 11, 1990. Helen
has been working on bringing the officers and generals responsible
to justice for over a decade.
Link: www.wola.org
8:50-8:58 Sept. 9-13, 1971: New York State Troopers
Kill 39 Men in Raid To End Attica Prison Uprising
INTRO: The rebellion began on Sept. 9 as a protest against
jail conditions and ended on Sept. 13 as one of the bloodiest
days in the 20th century in the U.S. The state of New York
eventually paid the surviving prisoners $12 million in damages
for killing, beating and torturing prisoners.
32 years ago on Sept. 11, the Attica prison in upstate New
York was in the middle of a five-day uprising. Nearly 1,300
prisoners took control of the prison to protest the inhumane
treatment at the facility. The unnamed prisoners took control
of the prison for four days and held 39 prison guards hostage.
There was no attempted escape. Negotiations between the inmates
and the state took place. Then on Sept. 13, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller
ordered armed state troopers to raid the prison.
It would become one of the bloodiest days of the 20th century
in the United States. Troopers shot indiscriminately over
2000 rounds of ammunition. 39 men would die, 29 prisoners
and 10 guards. After the shooting stopped, police beat and
tortured scores of more prisoners. 90 of the surviving prisoners
were seriously wounded but were initially denied medical care.
And the state would originally claim that all of the guards
had died at the hands of the inmates. The New York Times reported
on its front page the throats of all of the guards were slashed.
But it was lies. The guards had been shot dead during the
raid. After a quarter century of legal struggles, the state
of New York would eventually award the surviving prisoners
of Attica $12 million in damages.
We are going to close today’s show by broadcasting
an excerpt from the film Ghosts of Attica a Lumiere Production
for Court TV.
The story is told by Frank “Big Black” Smith,
a prisoner who played a prominent role in the rebellion, and
Liz Fink, who served as the lead counsel for former Attica
prisoners in their civil rights case.
After his release from prison, Frank “Big Black”
Smith became a paralegal and litigant in a lawsuit that resulted
in a $12 million settlement with prisoners after a 26-year
legal battle, one of the longest court battles in New York
history.
- Ghosts of Attica, a Lumiere Production for Court TV made
by Brad Lichenstein and David Van Taylor. For more information
on the film contact First Run Icarus Films at 800-876-1710
or visit the website frif.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, Angie
Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Parvez Sharma, Jeremy Scahill,
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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