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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
“This is a Resistance Movement, Whether We Like It
or Not” – Robert Fisk on Iraq
Veteran Iraqi Journalist Discusses Iraqi Civilian Casualties,
the Media and The U.S. Occupation of Her Country
Tiger Force: A New Report Uncovers Multiple Atrocities Committed
By An Elite Platoon in 1967 Vietnam
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 “This is a Resistance Movement, Whether
We Like It or Not” – Robert Fisk on Iraq
INTRO: Britain Independent’s Middle East correspondent
Robert Fisk discusses the increasing resistance against the
U.S. occupation in Iraq and counters the Bush administration’s
claims that attacks on U.S. troops are coming from foreign
fighters.
Robert Fisk of the London Independent writes on Tuesday about
the series of bombings:
“In Baghdad, the message of the past two days was simple:
it told Iraqis that the Americans cannot control Iraq; more
important, perhaps, it told Americans that the Americans could
not control Iraq. Even more important, it told Iraqis they
shouldn't work for the Americans. It also acknowledged America's
new rules of combat: kill the enemy leaders.”
Fisk continues to say:
“Some of America's enemies may come from other Arab
countries, but most of the military opposition to America's
presence comes from Iraqi Sunnis; not from Saddam "remnants"
or "diehards" or "deadenders" (the Paul
Bremer titles for a growing Iraqi resistance), but from men
who in many cases hated Saddam.
They don't work "for" al-Qa'ida. But they have
learnt their own unique version of history. Attack your enemies
in the holy month of Ramadan. Learn from the war in Algeria.
And the war in Afghanistan. Learn the lessons of America's
"war on terror". Kill the leadership. You're with
us or against us, collaborator or patriot. That was the message
of yesterday's bloodbath in Baghdad.”
- Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London
Independent. Speaking from Beirut.
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Veteran Iraqi Journalist Discusses Iraqi
Civilian Casualties, the Media and The U.S. Occupation of
Her Country
INTRO: 20-year veteran of Iraqi journalism Nermin Al-Mufti
joins us in our firehouse studios. She recently arrived in
the U.S. from Baghdad to kick off a nationwide tour hosted
by major universities, municipalities, cultural and humanitarian
organizations.
Two more U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq after their tank
was hit by an explosive. The New York Times reports that the
attack marked the first time an M1 Abrams battle tank was
destroyed by Iraqi resistance fighters since major combat
operations ended.
In Baghdad, the U.S. military announced that the U.S.-appointed
deputy mayor of Baghdad Faris Abdul Razzaq Assam had been
assassinated on Sunday. He had been repeatedly warned that
his life was in danger if he continued to collaborate with
the U.S. occupying forces.
- Nermin Al-Mufti, 20-year veteran of Iraqi journalism.
She recently arrived in the U.S. from Baghdad. She is kicking
off a nationwide tour hosted by major universities, municipalities,
cultural and humanitarian organizations across the country.
Link: www.forusa.info/news/womentour.html
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Tiger Force: A New Report Uncovers Multiple
Atrocities Committed By An Elite Platoon in 1967 Vietnam
INTRO: We speak with the Toledo Blade reporter who uncovered
this month massacres committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam on
the scale of My Lai that had gone unreported for 36 years.
Tiger Force troops torched villages, executed prisoners, and
slaughtering unarmed farmers as well as their wives and children,
killing hundreds.
A report this month in the Toledo Blade uncovers massacres
committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam that has gone unreported
for 36 years.
In a story that has never been told, an elite platoon torched
villages, executed prisoners, and slaughtered an untold number
of unarmed civilians between May and November, 1967.
The platoon was called Tiger Force. A small, highly trained
unit of 45 paratroopers, Tiger Force was created to spy on
enemy forces in one of the most highly contested areas of
South Vietnam: the Central Highlands.
For seven months in 1967, they violently lost control and
carried out the longest series of atrocities in the Vietnam
War.
As their commanders looked the other way, Tiger Force troops
dropped grenades into underground bunkers where women and
children were hiding. They shot unarmed civilians, in some
cases as they begged for their lives. They frequently tortured
and shot prisoners, severing ears and scalps for souvenirs.
After learning about the atrocities a few years later, the
Army investigated the platoon for 4 1/2 years, finding numerous
eyewitnesses and substantiating war crimes. The case reached
the highest levels of the Pentagon and the Nixon White House.
But in the end, no one was prosecuted and the case buried
in the archives for three decades.
- Tape: Former Tiger Force team leader Sgt. William Doyle
speaking with the Toledo Blade’s Mitch Weiss describing
the mentality of Tiger Force soldiers.
- Tape: Former Tiger Force team leader Sgt. William Doyle
speaking with the Toledo Blades Mitch Weiss describing killing
farmers as they planted rice.
- Tape: Former Tiger Force member Sgt. Gerald Bruner recalling
an incident in an attack on a village. Bruner died of cancer
six years ago. This was recorded in 1988.
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 Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu
(RAY MA MU), Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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