Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Thu., Dec. 18, 2003
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 12-18-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
The Lie Factory – How the Neocons & the Office
of Special Plans Pushed Disinformation and Bogus Intelligence
on Iraq
Wrongfully Convicted Pt. 1: NYC Agrees to Pay $5M For Jailing
Innocent Man For 7 Years
Wrongfully Convicted Pt. 2: Aaron Patterson On His First
Year After Being Released From Death Row in Illinois
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 The Lie Factory – How the Neocons
& the Office of Special Plans Pushed Disinformation and
Bogus Intelligence on Iraq
INTRO: We speak with investigative reporter Robert Dreyfuss
and retired Pentagon official Karen Kwiatkowski about a secret
Pentagon intelligence unit created weeks after 9/11 to push
disinformation and faulty intelligence to create the case
for war in Iraq.
As the U.S. occupation of Iraq extends into it eight month
and into 2004, some 460 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq
and thousands more have been wounded. U.S. forces have failed
to produce any of mass destruction in the country –
the stated reason for going to war against Baghdad.
A new investigation examines how a secret Pentagon intelligence
unit led the nation to war by pushing disinformation and faulty
intelligence to produce wildly exaggerated threats posed by
Iraq. A detailed article in this month’s issue of Mother
Jones reveals how just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the
Bush administration set up the secret Pentagon unit and war-planning
task force named the Office of Special Plans. Today we take
a look at “The Lie Factory.”
- Robert Dreyfuss, investigative reporter and contributing
editor at Mother Jones, the Nation and American Prospect.
His article “The Lie Factory” was just published
in this month's Mother Jones magazine.
Link: www.motherjones.com
- Karen Kwiatkowski, recently retired Air Force lieutenant
colonel who served in the Pentagon’s Near East and
South Asia (NESA) unit in the year before the invasion of
Iraq.
Her articles can be found at LewRockwell.com.
www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski-arch.html
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:35-8:45 Wrongfully Convicted Pt. 1: NYC Agrees
to Pay $5M For Jailing Innocent Man For 7 Years
INTRO: We speak with a man who won five million dollars
in the largest wrongful conviction settlement in New York
state history after spending over seven years in jail for
a crime he did not commit. Albert Ramos joins us in our studio
along with his lawyer who uncovered dozens of cases of prosecutorial
misconduct in the course of his investigation.
Today we look at the case of Albert Ramos. He served more
than seven years in jail after being wrongfully convicted
in 1984 of raping a 5-year-old girl at a day care center.
He was released in 1992 after the court found that the trial
prosecutor had withheld evidence that most likely would have
exonerated him. 11 years later he won a $5 million in the
largest wrongful conviction settlement in New York state history.
In the course of his investigation for the lawsuit Ramos’
lawyer, Joel Rudin, uncovered dozens of cases of prosecutorial
misconduct in the Bronx district attorney’s office that
did not result in disciplinary action.
Judge John Collins in 1992 said of Albert Ramos’ case:
“The greatest crime of all in a civilized society is
an unjust conviction. It is truly a scandal which reflects
unfavorably on all participants in the criminal justice system.”
- Alberto Ramos, served seven years after being wrongfully
convicted in 1984 of raping a 5-year-old girl at a day care
center. He was released in 1992 after the court found that
the trial prosecutor had withheld evidence that most likely
would have exonerated him. 11 years later he won a $5 million
in the largest wrongful conviction settlement in New York
state history.
- Joel Rudin, Albert Ramos’ lawyer. He uncovered dozens
of cases of prosecutorial misconduct in the Bronx district
attorney’s office that did not result in disciplinary
action.
8:45-8:58 Wrongfully Convicted Pt. 2: Aaron Patterson
On His First Year After Being Released From Death Row in Illinois
INTRO: We bring you the second part of our conversation
with Aaron Patterson, who spent 17 years on death row for
a crime he did not commit and is now running for Illinois
State House.
Today we bring you the second part of our conversation with
Aaron Patterson, who spent 17 years on death row for a crime
he did not commit is running for Illinois State House. Aaron
Patterson was one of four men pardoned this past January as
part of Illinois Gov. George Ryan's clearing of death row
in his final days in office.
Patterson was convicted of killing an elderly Chicago couple
in 1986. He spent 17 years on death row mostly in a 6-by-9-foot
cell despite repeated claims of innocence and accusations
that police tortured him to confess to the murder. He is now
39 years old and will run in the Democratic primary in March
against a representative from Chicago's southwest side, Patricia
Bailey.
But it is uncertain whether Patterson will remain on the
ballot. He has lived in the 6th House District for only six
months after being released in January and state law requires
two years of residency to hold the office.
- Aaron Patterson, spent 17 years on Death Row in Illinois
after he was wrongly convicted in a 1986 murder of an elderly
couple. He was released earlier this year. On Monday he
announced plans to run for a seat in the Illinois State
House.
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.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
