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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Who Will Judge Saddam? Former British MP Tony Benn Discusses
the Prosecution of Iraq’s Former Leader
British Intelligence Leaker Facing Prison Time For Exposing
U.S.-UN Surveillance Scandal
Former Jordanian Ambassador Discusses Saddam’s Capture,
WMDs and the U.S. Occupation of Iraq
Wesley Clark Testifies Against Milosevic in War Crimes Trial
That Could Serve As Model For Saddam’s Prosecution
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Who Will Judge Saddam? Former British MP
Tony Benn Discusses the Prosecution of Iraq’s Former
Leader
INTRO: Human rights groups want him tried by an international
court. The U.S.-appointed Governing Council wants him tried
in Iraq. The UN opposes sentencing him to death. As the debate
rages over what to do with Saddam Hussein, we go to London
to speak with former British MP Tony Benn.
Saddam Hussein's family wants the former Iraqi leader to
be tried by an international court instead of a special tribunal
set up by the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council.
His daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, said her father appeared
sedated in footage released after his capture saying, “He
would be a lion even when caged.”
Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council members are
confident that Saddam will be tried before the special war
crimes tribunal and could face the death penalty. Council
members told the Associated Press the trial will be televised
and could begin as soon as the next few weeks or as late as
summer.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday
the UN would not support bringing Saddam before a tribunal
that might sentence him to death. In Britain, Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw stated that while Britain opposes the death penalty,
it will respect an Iraqi courts' decision about the fate of
Saddam Hussein.
Meanwhile, a senior State Department official told Newsday
that the Bush administration "reserves the right"
to try Saddam for crimes against the United States. The official
did not rule out the possibility of multiple prosecutions,
adding that Kuwait and Iran also have an interest prosecuting
Hussein.
At a hastily arranged White House news conference, President
George W. Bush yesterday refused to commit the United States
to handing Hussein over to the Iraqis.
- President George Bush speaking at White House press conference
December 15, 2003.
- Tony Benn, Former
British Labor minister. He joins us on the phone from London.
8:30-8:40 British Intelligence Leaker Facing Prison
Time For Exposing U.S.-UN Surveillance Scandal
INTRO: Former British intelligence employee Katharine Gun
is facing up to two years in prison for violating the Official
Secrets Act when she disclosed a top-secret NSA memo in March
outlining a U.S. surveillance operation directed at UN Security
Council members ahead of the vote on Iraq.
In the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, the British newspaper
The Observer exposed a highly secret and aggressive surveillance
operation directed at United Nations Security Council members
by the U.S. ahead of the vote on Iraq.
The Observer obtained a top-secret NSA memorandum that outlined
a surveillance operation involves intercepting home and office
telephone calls and emails of UN delegates focusing “the
whole gamut of information that could give U.S. policymakers
an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals or to
head off surprises."
The target of the surveillance were the so-called 'Middle
Six' delegations, including Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico,
Guinea and Pakistan, who could swing a Security Council vote
on Iraq.
In a story that has received almost no media coverage in
the U.S., the former British intelligence employee who leaked
the memo, Katharine Gun, is now facing up to two years in
prison for violating the Official Secrets Act.
We speak with Norman Solomon of the Institute for Public
Accuracy about the case of Katharine Gun. His article “Telling
the Truth” published in the Baltimore Sun is one of
the few U.S. accounts of the story.
- Tony Benn, Former
British Labor minister. He joins us on the phone from London.
Former Jordanian Ambassador Discusses Saddam’s
Capture, WMDs and the U.S. Occupation of Iraq
INTRO: We go to Amman to speak with former Jordanian Ambassador
to the United Nations Hassan Abunimah. He recently returned
from Cairo, Egypt where he met with Arab officials from across
the Middle East.
- Hassan Abunimah, former Jordanian ambassador to the United
Nations.
8:50-8:58 Wesley Clark Testifies Against Milosevic
in War Crimes Trial That Could Serve As Model For Saddam’s
Prosecution
INTRO: Democratic presidential candidate and former NATO
commander Wesley Clark testified in the war crimes trial of
Slobodan Milosevic. Clark said authorities should consider
a similar court to prosecute former Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein. We go to The Hague to speak with Serbian columnist
Ljiljana Smajlovic.
Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark ended his
first day of testimony in the war crimes trial of Slobodan
Milosevic yesterday. Clarke is the former Supreme Allied Commander
of NATO and the man who led the 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia
in 1999.
Milosevic is officially charged with genocide and crimes
against humanity in a number of indictments spanning from
the wars in Croatia and Bosnia to the fighting in Kosovo.
He is a candidate for the Socialist Party in Serbia's parliamentary
elections on 28 December.
In an unprecedented agreement between the court and the United
States, Washington will be allowed to review Clark's testimony
before it is made public. The U.S. will have two days to apply
for parts of the testimony to be removed from the public record
if it considers them harmful to US national interests. An
edited recording is due to be made public on Friday.
Clark said before testifying that he expected to give information
on more than 100 hours of meetings over four years with Milosevic
during the 1990s.
Speaking outside the court afterwards, Clark told reporters
that authorities should consider a similar court to prosecute
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein: "It's the rule
of law, it's closure. It's a very important precedent for
what may be happening later with another dictator from another
part of the world,"
Regarding an eventual punishment for Hussein, Clark later
told an audience in a speech: "I don't believe that any
form of punishment should be off the table . . . including
the death penalty."
- Ljiljana Smajlovic, columnist for the leading Serbian
news weekly NIN.
8:41-8:50
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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