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Did Bush Spike Probe of Pakistan's Dr. Strangelove?
Tariq Ali on Pakistan's Nuclear Program, the Hutton Inquiry
and the Iraqi Resistance
Appeals Court Blocks Execution of Kevin Cooper
Federal Gov't Subpoenas College for Info on Peace Activists
Did Bush Spike Probe of Pakistan's Dr. Strangelove?
INTRO: BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast and Tariq
Ali discuss how the Bush administration stopped an investigation
that might have revealed Pakistan's top nuclear scientist
helped share nuclear secrets with Iran, North Korea and Libya.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged for the
first time yesterday that he long suspected his country's
top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan was sharing nuclear
secrets with other countries. This according to an hourlong
interview with the New York Times.
Khan stunned the country last week when he confessed on television
to selling nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
Khan invented Pakistan’s nuclear bomb and is considered
to be a national hero. He claimed he had acted without authorization
from the government and begged forgiveness. Musharraf pardoned
him days later.
At one point Musharraf suggested politics might have played
a part in overlooking any suspected wrongdoing on Khan’s
part saying "It was extremely sensitive. One couldn't
outright start investigating as if he's any common criminal."
But the reasons for the delayed investigation may run deeper.
Musharraf insists that although he suspected Khan for at
least three years, it was not until October of last year that
U.S. officials provided specific evidence of Khan’s
activities. A senior Bush administration official acknowledged
that this was true. The official added that the U.S. conveyed
more general warnings about Khan's activities starting in
2001.
- Tariq Ali, author of several books including Bush in Babylon:
The Recolonization of Iraq. He is also the editor of New
Left Review.
Link: www.newleftreview.net
Tariq Ali on Pakistan's Nuclear Program, the Hutton
Inquiry and the Iraqi Resistance
INTRO: Tariq Ali, author of Bush in Babylon: The Recolonization
of Iraq and editor of the New Left Review joins us in our
Firehouse Studios to talk about Pakistan, Tony Blair and Iraq.
In Iraq, at least 45 people have died today in a car bombing
destroyed a police station and court house in the town of
Iskandariya south of Baghdad today. Earlier another suicide
bomber set off a blast outside the home of a U.S.-backed tribal
leader in Ramadi. Four bodyguards were wounded.
We are joined today by Tariq Ali to talk about the Iraqi
resistance and the reaction Britain to the Hutton inquiry.
- Tariq Ali, author of several books including Bush in
Babylon: The Recolonization of Iraq. He is also the editor
of New Left Review.
Link: www.newleftreview.net
Appeals Court Blocks Execution of Kevin Cooper
INTRO: A federal appeals court in California blocked the
execution of Kevin Cooper Monday just before he was scheduled
to die by lethal injection in San Quentin Prison. The state
of California then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate
the execution but the high court turned down the state's appeal.
Kevin Cooper is still alive. Just hours before he was scheduled
to die by lethal injection, California death row prisoner
Kevin Cooper won a stay of execution.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request for
an 11-judge panel to rehear Cooper’s case. He was convicted
in 1983 of killing four people but has long maintained his
innocence.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had denied Cooper a clemency hearing
saying he saw no reason to doubt his guilt or spare his life.
But the appeals court ruled 9-2 yesterday to grant a stay
of execution for Cooper writing “No person should be
executed if there is a doubt about his or her guilt and an
easily available test will determine guilt or innocence.”
Cooper’s scheduled execution has drawn opposition on
a large scale. About 100 death penalty opponents gathered
Sunday near Schwarzenegger's home in Southern California,
and hundreds planned a candlelight vigil outside the prison
gates. Even three of the jurors who convicted Cooper were
calling for a stay of execution so hair and blood evidence
can be tested.
Cooper has also won support from actors who oppose the death
penalty including Denzel Washington, Sean Penn and Mike Farrell,
and from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rubin "Hurricane"
Carter.
- Gregory Evans, one of the laywers working on Kevin Cooper's
defense team.
Archived Democracy Now! coverage:
Federal Gov't Subpoenas College for Info on Peace
Activists
INTRO: The government has subpoenaed Drake University in
Iowa to hand over information about who organized and who
attended a National Lawyers Guild anti-war forum in November.
Lawyers say they have not seen such subpoenas since the McCarthy
era.
On November 15 of last year, Drake University in Iowa hosted
a forum titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard
Home!" 21 people attended.
At the time the forum received little attention anywhere
outside of the school’s campus.
But that all changed last week, nearly three months after
the fact.
That’s when the federal government issued a subpoena
to Drake University asking for information on who attended
the meeting and for detailed information on the local chapter
of the National Lawyers Guild which sponsored the forum.
In addition, four anti-war protesters who attended the forum
were also subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury which was
originally scheduled to convene today.
The subpoenas have sent a chill through the activist movement.
Georgetown law professor David Cole told the New York Times
"I've heard of such a thing, but not since the 1950's,
the McCarthy era. It sends a very troubling message about
government officials' attitudes toward basic liberties."
The government has said little about the inquiry but claims
it is simply trying to learn more about an individual who
they claimed tried to scale a security fence at an Iowa National
Guard based in a protest a day after the forum.
- Michael Avery, president of the National Lawyers Guild.
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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