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Re: Rundown 12-11-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
“My Son Stepped on an American Cluster Bomb”
– Father of U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq Speaks Out
Success Without Victory: Lost Legal Battles and The Long
Road to Justice in America
Will He Run? Nader Discusses Plans for 2004
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 “My Son Stepped on an American Cluster
Bomb” – Father of U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq
Speaks Out
INTRO: We speak with Fernando Suarez del Solar whose son,
Jesus, was one of the first U.S. servicemen killed in the
invasion of Iraq. A new study finds that Jesus may be one
of eight U.S. soldiers killed by unexploded bomblet dropped
by U.S. forces. Fernando Suarez del Solar recently returned
from a week-long trip in Iraq. A USA Today study has found
that the U.S. dropped or fired nearly 11,000 cluster bombs
or cluster weapons on Iraq during the invasion and Britain
dropped 2,000 more. It is unknown how many Iraqis died from
cluster bombs.
One estimate puts the total at 370. And the attacks left
behind thousands of unexploded bomblets. At least eight U.S.
soldiers and an unknown number of Iraqis have been killed
by unexploded bomblets.
USA Today reports that one of the soldiers killed may have
been Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez del Solar. He died March 27 after
stepping on some type of unexploded ordnance while on reconnaissance
patrol outside Baghdad. He was 20 years old. A Marine investigation
concluded that the "origin of the ordnance is unknown
and really impossible to determine."
But the dead Marine's father, Fernando Suarez del Solar has
a different account. He says he was contacted by one of his
son's friends, who said the Army dropped cluster weapons on
March 26 and not all of the submunitions exploded. He is now
seeking an official explanation for his son's death.
Fernando Suarez del Solar joins in the studio today. He recently
returned from Iraq where he joined eight other Americans,
including veterans, activists and other parents of servicemen
on a trip organized by Global Exchange and the International
Occupation Watch Center. They spent a week traveling in Baghdad,
Fallujah and Tikrit and talking with Iraqi civilians and American
soldiers on patrol. They met with the U.S. administrator for
Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and with military officials.
- Fernando Suarez del Solar, the father of Marine Lance
Cpl Jesus Suarez, one of the first U.S. servicemen killed
in Iraq on March 27, 2003.
- Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and Occupation
Watch, and co-organizer of the delegation to Iraq.
Link: www.globalexchange.org
8:30-8:40 Success Without Victory: Lost Legal Battles
and The Long Road to Justice in America
INTRO: Jules Lobel of the Center for Constitutional Rights
and author of the new book Success Without Victory joins us
in our studio to discuss prominent cases in American legal
history - from Susan B. Anthony’s trial for voting illegally
to his own challenges to U.S. foreign policy during the 1980s
and 1990s.
- Jules Lobel, vice president of the Center for Constitutional
Rights. He teaches at the University of Pittsburgh Law School.
He is the author of the new book 'Success Without Victory.'
Link: www.ccr-ny.org
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Will He Run? Nader Discusses Plans for
2004
INTRO: Ralph Nader, 2000 Green Party presidential candidate,
discusses his plans for 2004 a week after he authorizes the
formation of a new presidential exploratory committee.
The New York Times is reporting today that President Bush's
political advisers are now all but certain that Howard Dean
will be the Democratic presidential nominee and are planning
a campaign that takes account of what they see as Dean's strengths
and weaknesses.
This comes a day after the nine democratic presidential candidates
debated each other in New Hampshire where the first primary
takes place on Jan. 27. Also yesterday, Democrat Gavin Newsom
narrowly beat Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez in San Francisco’s
mayoral race. If Gonzalez had won he would have become the
nation's highest-ranking Green Party member.
Today we are joined on the phone by 2000 Green Party presidential
candidate Ralph Nader. Last week he authorized the formation
of a new presidential
exploratory committee which could mark his first step
in another bid for the presidency. Debate has already begun
among Greens and Democrats over what role - if any - Nader
should take in 2004.
Before we speak with him we turn to Ralph Nader speaking
at the National Conference on Media Reform in Madison, Wisconsinn
this past November. After Nader gave a major address on media
issues, a member of the audience stood up and asked Nader
not to run for president again. We hear Nader’s response.
Tape: Ralph Nader, speaking at the National Conference on
Media Reform in Madison, Wisconsin.
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,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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