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Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 9-30-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
White House Rejects Demands by Congress Members for an Independent
Probe of White House Leak That Blew CIA Operative’s
Cover
Foreign Students Need Not Apply: A Look At the New Target
of U.S. Govt's Hunt For "Potential Terrorists"
Military Families And Soldiers Speak Out Against War
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 White House Rejects Demands by Congress
Members for an Independent Probe of White House Leak That
Blew CIA Operative’s Cover
INTRO: The CIA operative’s identity was first revealed
by senior administration officials in July a week after her
husband former ambassador to Iraq, Joseph Wilson, publicly
challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had tried to buy
uranium from Niger. When asked directly, White House press
secretary said for the first time Bush’s chief advisor
Karl Rove "wasn't involved. The president knows he wasn't
involved."
The Wilson affair has been pushed into the limelight, with
all major networks and newspapers asking the same question:
Is there a felon roaming the White House? The Justice Department
said it is looking into an allegation that senior administration
officials leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to
conservative columnist Robert Novak.
The operative's identity was published in July, a week after
her husband, former acting ambassador to Iraq Joseph C. Wilson
IV, publicly challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had
tried to buy uranium from Niger for possible use in nuclear
weapons.
Novak yesterday denied that he had been approached with the
information. On CNN’s Crossfire he said: “Nobody
in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July
I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador
Wilson's report when he told me the trip was inspired by his
wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction.”
However, Novak said back in July that his sources had come
to him with the information. In a July 22nd article in Newsday,
Novak says “I didn't dig it out, it was given to me.
They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and
I used it."
Meanwhile the White House rejected demands by congress members
for an independent probe into who leaked the information.
If the Justice Department finds grounds for a full investigation
Attorney General John Ashcroft will have to decide whether
to appoint a special counsel to oversee the case. This could
lead to a conflict of interest with the Bush Justice Department
investigating employees of the Bush White House.
The Washington Post reported that Wilson said he believes
Bush’s senior advisor Karl Rove "at a minimum condoned
the leak," but said he has no evidence Rove was the original
leaker. Wilson said "My knowledge is based on a reporter
who called me right after he had spoken to Rove and said that
Rove had said my wife was fair game." He said that conversation
occurred on July 21.
Wilson also said a producer from another network told him
about the same time that, "The White House is saying
things about you and your wife that are so off the wall that
we won't use them."
White House press secretary Scott McClellan yesterday spent
nearly half an hour responding to reporters’ questions
about the Wilson case. Notably, McClellan said Rove "wasn't
involved. The president knows he wasn't involved." McClellan
didn’t offer a blanket denial for anyone else at the
White House.
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Foreign Students Need Not Apply: A Look
At the New Target of U.S. Govt's Hunt For "Potential
Terrorists"
INTRO: A new monitoring system that took full effect Aug.
1st is generating fears that foreign students coming under
increasing government scrutiny may choose to study in other
countries. We host a debate between a New York University
Dean and a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.
The latest target in the Department of Homeland Security's
widening hunt for potential terrorists: foreign students.
A new monitoring system is generating fears that foreign
students, who now must sit for face- to-face interviews at
U.S. embassies, may choose to study in other countries instead.
Universities increasingly count on foreign students as a
source of revenue. A U.S. Institute for International Education
study found that foreign students contributed $11.9 billion
to the U.S. economy in tuition payments and other spending
last year.
Under the new system, universities must ensure that each
foreign student enters personal information, including current
home country and U.S. addresses, into a computer-based Student
and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. The system
took full effect on Aug. 1st.
Once student data are provided, federal agents in Washington
cross-check it against other government databases.
Students must be in the SEVIS system to get visas but once
in the database their names or homelands can trigger an in-depth
security review, especially countries suspected of ties to
terrorism, such as Syria, Libya and Iran.
And if a student is taking science courses listed on the
State Department's Technology Alert List – such as nuclear
technology, biomedical engineering and biochemistry, among
many others - that can also attract scrutiny.
The new system is generating hundreds of leads for federal
agents, Homeland Security officials say.
This fall, 600,000 foreign students are enrolled at U.S.
schools, according to The Associated Press.
- Catharine Stimpson, University Professor and the dean
of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University.
She wrote an Op-Ed piece in the LA Times on August 27, 2003
titled “Foreign Students Need Not Apply.”
Link: www.nyu.edu
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Military Families And Soldiers Speak Out
Against War
INTRO: A week after the White House's announcement that
thousands more National Guard and Reserve troops might have
to be called up if allies don't agree to send troops to Iraq,
we hear a speech by Nancy Lessin, founder of Military Families
Speak Out and from Abdul Henderson, a soldier who recently
returned from military duty in Iraq.
The largest force of North Carolina Army National Guard troops
since World War II will begin deploying to Iraq tomorrow.
On Friday, the Defense Department approved the Army's request
to mobilize the 4,500 members of the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade.
They were told in July to prepare to deploy, and reported
for active duty this month.
The units will be in Iraq for at least a year and possibly
as long as 18 months, according to the N.C. National Guard.
The mobilization orders came on the heels of the White House's
announcement last week that thousands more National Guard
and Reserve troops might have to be called up in the next
six weeks if allies don't agree to send troops. The United
States has about 130,000 troops in Iraq, and at least 20,000
of those are from the National Guard and Reserves.
Meanwhile in Iraq, one soldier was killed and three were
wounded in two separate roadside bombings west of Baghdad
today. One of the bombings prompted a firefight backed by
attack aircraft, tanks and helicopters as US soldiers battled
Iraqi resistance fighters for more than eight hours.
The U.S. military also announced the arrest of 92 people
in a series of raids aimed at those they say are responsible
for attacks against Americans north of the capital.
- Nancy Lessin, founder of Military Families Speak Out
speaking on September 9th, 2003. Her 25-year-old son served
in the Marine Corps in the Persian Gulf.
Link: www.mfso.org
- Abdul Henderson, served in the Marines in Iraq.
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 Jeremy Scahill, 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]
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