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DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL: Behind Bush's State of the Union
Arundhati Roy, Hans Von Sponeck Respond to Bush's State of
the Union on Iraq
A Look at Bush's Iraq Lies in the State of the Union and
Truth-Telling In the Media
Bush Calls For Renewal of Patriot Act in State of the Union
No Mention of Africa in Bush's State of the Union
Bush Denounces Gay Marriage in State of the Union
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL: Behind Bush's State
of the Union
INTRO: In the third State of the Union address of his term,
President Bush defended the war on Iraq, called for the renewal
of the Patriot Act, praised the improving economy and called
for a ban on gay marriage. We spend the hour listening to
responses to Bush's address that paint a different picture
of the State of the Union.
In his State of the Union address last night President Bush
defended the war on Iraq, called for the renewal of the Patriot
and reached out to the conservative Christian wing of the
Republican Party by calling for a ban on gay marriage.
Despite the loss of 2.5 million jobs since he took office,
Bush also rigorously praised the improving economy and called
for Congress to make last year's tax cuts permanent.
The address was deliberately scheduled to take place a night
after the Iowa caucus in an attempt to push the Democratic
presidential contenders from the news spotlight. Although
Bush never mentioned the election, the speech was seen by
many as the start of Bush's re-election campaign. It came
three years to the day after he took the oath of the office.
On Iraq, Bush claimed if the US did not invade Iraq, "the
dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue
to this day." But he did not acknowledge that U.S. inspectors
have uncovered no unconventional weapons.
A year ago at the 2003 State of the Union, Bush made the
case for war by claiming that Iraq had 25,000 liters of anthrax,
38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tones of sarin, mustard
and VX nerve gas and 30,000 munitions capable of delivering
chemical agents.
After 10 months of weapons searches, none of this has been
uncovered.
On foreign policy, Bush defended his unilateralist approach
saying "America will never seek a permission slip to
defend the security of our people." Later in the Democratic
response, Nancy Pelosi said "a go-it-alone foreign policy
that leaves us isolated abroad and that steals the resources
we need for education and health care at home."
We spend the hour listening to responses to Bush’s
address from award-winning Indian author and activist Arundhati
Roy, former head of the UN mission to Iraq Hans Von Sponeck,
the Institute for Public Accuracy’s Norman Solomon,
Leslie Cagan of the United for Peace and Justice, the ACLU’s
Anthony Romero, TransAfrica President Bill Fletcher and gay
community organizer Brendan Fay.
Arundhati Roy, Hans Von Sponeck Respond to Bush's
State of the Union on Iraq
INTRO: In his State of the Union address, Bush claimed if
the US did not invade Iraq, "the dictator's weapons of
mass destruction programs would continue to this day."
He did not acknowledge, however, that U.S. inspectors have
uncovered no unconventional weapons.
A year ago at the 2003 State of the Union, Bush made the
case for war by claiming that Iraq had 25,000 liters of anthrax,
38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tones of sarin, mustard
and VX nerve gas and 30,000 munitions capable of delivering
chemical agents. After 10 months of weapons searches, none
of this has been uncovered. We hear from acclaimed Indian
author and activist Arundhati Roy and Hans Von Sponeck, the
former head of the UN mission to Iraq.
- Arundhati Roy, acclaimed Indian author and activist,
who is recently back from the World Social Forum in Bombay,
India.
- Hans Von Sponeck, is a former Assistant Secretary General
of the United Nations. In the late 1990s, he was the coordinator
of the United Nations Humanitarian Mission in Iraq. He joins
us from Geneva, Switzerland.
A Look at Bush's Iraq Lies in the State of the Union
and Truth-Telling In the Media
INTRO: We speak with Leslie Cagan of the antiwar coalition
United for Peace and Justice about Bush's statements on Iraq,
she criticizes Bush for "talking about a war but not
mentioning that anybody has died in the war - either Iraqis
or U.S. soldiers."
And we hear from columnist and Institute for Public Accuracy
director Norman Solomon who likens the State of the Union
address to the "sanitized" media coverage of the
Iraq invasion and says, "you can pretend and have the
image of war as a glorious enterprise without referring to
the slaughter, the suffering, the continued anguish of people
and the mourning and also without reference to the deception
that was the cornerstone of the war to begin with."
- Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for
Public Accuracy and a nationally syndicated columnist. He
is co-author of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't
Tell You (Context Books, 2003).
Link: www.accuracy.org
Bush Calls For Renewal of Patriot Act in State of
the Union
INTRO: Bush called for a renewal of the controversial Patriot
Act saying, "key provisions of the Patriot Act are set
to expire next year. The terrorist threat will not expire
on that schedule." We speak with the Executive Director
of the American Civil Liberties Union.
- Anthony Romero, is the Executive Director of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Link: www.aclu.org
No Mention of Africa in Bush's State of the Union
INTRO: We speak with TransAfrica president Bill Fletcher
about why Bush did not mention Africa once in his State of
the Union address as compared to last year when Africa and
the issue of AIDS were a major part of his address.
Bush Denounces Gay Marriage in State of the Union
INTRO: Bush denounced gay marriage saying, "Our nation
must defend the sanctity of marriage." He also said a
constitutional ban on gay marriage may be needed if "activist
judges" ignored public will. We hear from a gay community
activist who traveled to Canada to get legally married.
- Anthony Romero, is the Executive Director of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Link: www.aclu.org
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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