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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 11-18-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Report: U.S. Casualties From Iraq War Top 9,000
FTAA Protesters Say Miami Police Violating 1st Amendment
Rights
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Report: U.S. Casualties From Iraq War Top
9,000
INTRO: We speak with UPI’s Mark Benjamin who reveals
that new Pentagon data puts the number of U.S. casualties
since the beginning of the Iraq invasion - including troops
killed, wounded or evacuated due to injury or illness –
at over 9,000, a significant increase over earlier estimates.
In his latest report, United Press International’s
investigations editor Mark Benjamin finds that the number
of U.S. casualties since the beginning of the invasion of
Iraq has passed 9,000 - according to new Pentagon data. The
figure includes troops killed, wounded or evacuated due to
injury or illness.
In addition to the over 400 soldiers killed and some 2,000
wounded, nearly 7,000 troops were medically evacuated for
non-combat conditions as of October 30, according to the Army
Surgeon General's office. This represents an increase of nearly
3,000 non-combat medical evacuations reported since the first
week of October. The Army has offered no immediate explanation
for the increase.
Joining us on the phone right now from Washington DC is Mark
Benjamin. His Oct. 17 piece for UPI exposed the substandard
conditions of sick and wounded soldiers in Fort Stewart. Sen.
Kit Bond (R-MO) credited the piece for triggering big improvements
in medical care for hundreds of sick and wounded soldiers.
- Mark Benjamin, UPI Investigations editor. His Oct. 17
piece exposed the conditions of sick and wounded soldiers
in Fort Stewart. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) credited the piece
for triggering big improvements in medical care for hundreds
of sick and wounded soldiers.
Link: www.upi.com/vaccine.cfm
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Report: U.S. Casualties From Iraq War Top
9,000
INTRO: We speak with UPI’s Mark Benjamin who reveals
that new Pentagon data puts the number of U.S. casualties
since the beginning of the Iraq invasion - including troops
killed, wounded or evacuated due to injury or illness –
at over 9,000, a significant increase over earlier estimates.
President Bush decided last night to cancel his planned speech
to Parliament during his state visit to Britain because he
feared being heckled by anti-war MPs.
Senior White House adviser Dr. Harlan Ullman told the UK
Mirror: "It would have been a great photo-opportunity.
But they were fearful it would to turn into a spectacle.”
The decision to abandon the speech came as extraordinary
security measures are placing London under a state of virtual
siege ahead of Bush's arrival today.
- Colin Brown, political editor of Sunday Telegraph. He
joins us from London.
Link: www.telegraph.co.uk
- Ghada Razuki, national organizer with Stop the War Coalition
in London. They are organizing the biggest national protests
in the UK throughout the week and on Thursday at Trafalgar
Square where they will be pulling down a statue of George
Bush.
Link: www.stopwar.org.uk
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 FTAA Protesters Say Miami Police Violating
1st Amendment Rights
INTRO: More than 20,000 protesters are expected to descend
on Miami where trade ministers from 34 Caribbean and Latin
American countries are convening for free trade talks. We
go to Miami to host a debate between the Miami Police Department
and the ACLU and we hear from Public Citizen’s Lori
Wallach.
Police arrested five people opposed to the Free Trade Agreement
of the Americas in Miami Saturday for obstructing the sidewalk
and refusing to clear out after repeated requests.
The arrests were made two days before the official start
of sessions in the free-trade talks, which began yesterday
and will continue through to Friday.
Deputy trade ministers from 34 countries convened in Miami
over the weekend to craft the world's largest trade bloc among
all countries of the Americas, excluding Cuba. Security forces
deployed bomb-sniffing dogs, offshore patrols, metal detectors,
fences and more to keep protesters away.
Miami police said they're ready to handle more than 20,000
demonstrators expected in the city this week. Activist groups
include environmentalists, union activists and anarchists
who reject moves toward free trade as a corporate grab and
a means to exploit labor.
On Thursday, the Miami City Commission unanimously adopted
an ordinance to bar protesters from carrying glass bottles,
water balloons, pieces of wood more than one-fourth-inch thick
and any hard metal or plastic objects. Critics say the law
is targeted specifically at opponents of the FTAA, overly
vague and a violation of 1st Amendment rights of free speech.
- Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, lawyer and the president of the
American Civil Liberties Union of the Greater Miami Chapter.
Link: www.aclufl.org
- Amy Salas-Jacobson, public information officer for the
Miami Police Department.
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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