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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
For the First Time Part of Patriot Act Unconstitutional
Democracy Now! Confronts Democrats About Previous Iraq WMD
Claims
Democrats, Not Just Bush, Made Claims of WMDs in Iraq
NH Last State To Celebrate Martin Luther King Day 31 Yrs
After His Assassination
Denied Direct Elections, Occupied Iraqis Get U.S. "Appointocracy"
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:15 For the First Time Part of Patriot Act
Unconstitutional
INTRO: A district judge ruled unconstitutional one provision
of the USA Patriot Act that bans certain types of support
for terrorist groups saying the law was so vague that it risked
running afoul of the First Amendment. We speak with the attorney
who argued the case.
For the first time a federal judge has ruled portions of
the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional. The Patriot Act
was signed into law six weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks and
has long been criticized by civil liberties groups. U.S. District
Judge Audrey Collins ruled unconstitutional one provision
that bans certain types of support for terrorist groups. The
judge said the law was so vague that it risked running afoul
of the First Amendment. The case was filed by the Humanitarian
Law Project which gave “human rights” training
to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is designated a terrorist
group by the U.S. government.
The group’s attorney David Cole told the Washington
Post, "Our clients sought only to support lawful and
nonviolent activity, yet the Patriot Act provision draws no
distinction whatsoever between expert advice in human rights,
designed to deter violence, and expert advice on how to build
a bomb.”
- David Cole, professor at Georgetown Law School and author
of the book "Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional
Freedom in the War on Terrorism."
8:15-8:25 Democracy Now! Confronts Democrats About
Previous Iraq WMD Claims
INTRO: As polls open in the nation's first primary, nearly
all the Democratic candidates are calling on President Bush
to offer an explanation for his false claims about Iraq possessing
weapons of mass destruction. But five of the candidates made
similar claims in the past. Correspondent Jeremy Scahill in
NH confronts the candidates about the discrepancy between
what they said then and now.
Polls have opened in New Hampshire today the country’s
first presidential primary. An estimated 184,000 voters are
expected to vote. The latest Zogby poll shows Senator John
Kerry narrowly beating former Vermont Governor Howard Dean
by a margin of 33 to 28 percent. Senator Edwards and General
Wesley Clark are polling third and fourth.
As part of a New Hampshire tradition polls opened in the
state’s two smallest hamlets, Dixville Notch, population
33, and Hart’s Location, population 39, last night at
midnight. Gen. Wesley Clark won in both locations with a total
of 14 votes.
The seven contenders spent Monday in a last-ditch attempt
to win over voters. Nearly all the candidates on the campaign
trail are calling on President Bush to offer an explanation
for his false claims about Iraq possessing weapons of mass
destruction.
After months of leading the U.S. search for weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, David Kay now says he believes stockpiles
of such weapons never existed. In an interview with Tom Brokaw
on NBC last night Kay said: “Clearly, the intelligence
that we went to war on was inaccurate, wrong…If there
weren’t stockpiles of weapons, there must have been
a production process which required plants, required people
and would have produced documentation. But we have seen nothing
that would indicate large-scale production… No scientist,
no documentation nor physical evidence of the production plants.”
Although the Democratic presidential candidates are harshly
critical of Bush’s claims of Saddam possessing weapons
of mass destruction, five of the candidates made similar claims
in the past.
Democracy Now! sent correspondent Jeremy Scahill in New Hampshire
on the hunt for to find out what candidates had to say of
the discrepancy between what they said before and now.
8:25-8:40 Democrats, Not Just Bush, Made Claims of
WMDs in Iraq
INTRO: We speak with Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public
Accuracy, which has released a list showing that five of the
Democratic presidential contenders at one point publicly said
Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
- Tape: Sam Husseni questioning House Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi at the National Press Club on January 16, 2004.
Link: www.accuracy.org/pelosi.htm
8:40-8:50 NH Last State To Celebrate Martin Luther
King Day 31 Yrs After His Assassination
INTRO: New Hampshire became the last state in the nation
to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1999.
We speak with Rev. Arthur Hilson, founder of the New Hope
Baptist Church in New Hampshire who was among those leading
the struggle to get New Hampshire to adopt a state Martin
Luther King holiday.
The nation’s first primary comes one week after people
around the country celebrated the federal holiday commemorating
the birthday of legendary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther
King. It took the government 15 years to create the federal
holiday, but it wasn’t for another 16 years that New
Hampshire became the last state in the nation to celebrate
the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1999.
Rev. Arthur Hilson, founder of the New Hope Baptist Church
in New Hampshire – where King preached in 1952 - was
among those leading the struggle to get New Hampshire to adopt
a state Martin Luther King holiday.
- Rev. Dr. Arthur Hilson, a community leader, founder of
the New Hope Baptist Church. He was among those leading
the struggle to get Martin Luther King Day observed in New
Hampshire.
8:50-8:58 Denied Direct Elections, Occupied Iraqis
Get U.S. "Appointocracy"
INTRO: The U.S. is continuing to deny Iraqis direct elections
despite repated mass protests around Iraq. We speak with author
and journalist Naomi Klein about the Iraqi election process
she calls an "appointocracy."
Acclaimed author and journalist Naomi Klein beings an article
in Canada’s Globe & Mail:
‘“The people of Iraq are free," declared
U.S. President George W. Bush in Tuesday's State of the Union
address. The day before, 100,000 Iraqis begged to differ.
They took to the streets of Baghdad shouting "Yes, yes
to elections. No, no to selection."
‘According to Iraq occupation chief Paul Bremer, there
really is no difference between the White House's version
of freedom, and the one being demanded on the street. Asked
on Friday whether his plan to form an Iraqi government through
appointed caucuses was headed toward a clash with Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani's call for direct elections, Mr. Bremer said
he had no "fundamental disagreement with him."
‘It was, he said, a mere quibble over details. "I
don't want to go into the technical details of refinements.
There are, if you talk to experts in these matters, all kinds
of ways to organize partial elections and caucuses. And I'm
not an election expert, so I don't want to go into the details.
But we've always said we're willing to consider refinements."
‘I'm not an election expert either, but I'm pretty
sure there are differences here that cannot be refined. Ayatollah
al-Sistani's supporters want every Iraqi to have a vote, and
for the people they elect to write the laws of the country
-- your basic, imperfect, representative democracy.’
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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