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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
As Sentencing in the Lackawanna 6 Case Begins, A U.S. Court
Rejects Law That Criminalizes Unknowingly Supporting a Terrorist
Organization
Tariq Ali vs. Christopher Hitchens on the Occupation of Iraq:
Postponed Liberation or Recolonisation?
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 As Sentencing in the Lackawanna 6 Case
Begins, A U.S. Court Rejects Law That Criminalizes Unknowingly
Supporting a Terrorist Organization
INTRO: The federal law that criminalizes providing "material
support" to terrorist organizations was in the spotlight
yesterday. In Buffalo, sentencing began for six Yemeni-American
men, known as the "Lackawanna Six," who traveled
to Afghanistan before 9/11 and attended an Al Qaeda training
camp. In San Francisco, a federal court ruled parts of the
law unconstitutional. We talk to attorney David Cole.
A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Yemeni American to
10 years in prison for supporting a terrorist organization.
Mukhtar al-Bakri is the first of the so-called "Lackawanna
Six" members to be sentenced after pleading guilty earlier
this year to providing material support or resources to a
foreign terrorist organization – a charge carrying a
maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.
All six have admitted to the FBI and intelligence officials
that in 2001 they traveled to Afghanistan, received training
at a camp run by the al-Qaida terrorist network and heard
speeches by al-Qaida's leader, Osama bin Laden.
A lawyer for one of the men said they pleaded guilty only
after prosecutors had dropped heavy hints that they would
be declared 'enemy combatants' if they didn't. “It was
a factor my client took into account. He was worried about
it,” he said. Enemy combatant status places a detainee
outside of the civilian justice system where access to legal
counsel can be waived.
The other five defendants in the case are scheduled to be
sentenced this month.
The prosecution has been hailed as a triumph for law enforcement
by President Bush, U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft
and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, but critics call it
an example of America putting people in jail for "thought
crimes" and "guilt by association." None of
the six have been accused of planning or engaging in any act
of terrorism.
This comes as the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 9th Circuit rules part of the law the men are being
charged under unconstitutional.
- David Cole, professor at Georgetown Law School and author
of the book "Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional
Freedom in the War on Terrorism."
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:58 Tariq Ali vs. Christopher Hitchens on the
Occupation of Iraq: Postponed Liberation or Recolonisation?
INTRO: It has been 8 months since the U.S. began its invasion
of Iraq. In this time, U.S. forces have failed to produce
any weapons of mass destruction in the country˜the stated
reason for going to war against Baghdad.
According to the Pentagon's own figures, some 440 U.S. troops
have died in Iraq. Thousands have been wounded. There are
no solid estimates of the number of Iraqis who have been killed
since the start of the invasion. November was the bloodiest
month for U.S. forces in Iraq 79 soldiers died, 39 of them
were killed in the downing of 4 military helicopters. Saddam
Hussein remains at-large and the occupation forces face regular
attacks throughout the country.
Today, we take a look at the U.S. occupation of Iraq with
two renowned authors: Tariq Ali, author of Bush in Babylon:
The Recolonization of Iraq and Christopher Hitchens, jounalist
and author of A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of
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 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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