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Blair Offers No Denial To UN Spying Allegations
A Debate on Electronic Voting: A Tool To Improve Elections
or Rig Elections?
Haiti Capital Braces For Attack
Blair Offers No Denial To UN Spying Allegations
British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday refused to confirm
or deny the accusation by former British Cabinet member Clare
Short that British intelligence agents spied on UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan in the run up to the Iraq war. [includes
transcript] Former British Cabinet member Clare Short, has
accused British intelligence agents of spying on U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan in the run up to the Iraq war. She told
the BBC she had read transcripts of private conversations
of Annan.
Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday refused to confirm or
deny the accusation saying, "I'm not going to comment
on the operations of our security services." He added,
"But I do say this: we act in accordance with domestic
and international law, and we act in the best interests of
this country, and our security services are a vital part of
the protection of this country."
Short responded by accusing Blair of using "pompous"
distraction tactics and denied putting the UK or its security
services at risk. Short, who quit the Caniet last May over
the invasion of Iraq, has accused Blair of being "reckless"
and misleading the country, and has repeatedly called on him
to resign.
Last year the Observer of London reported that the US and
Britain carried out a dirty tricks campaign by spying on officials
from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria, Guinea and Pakistan
in the lead up to the UN vote on Iraq.
This week the source of the Observer article, government
whistleblower Katherine Gun was cleared of violating the country's
Official Secrets Act after the government presented no evidence
against her.
- Martin Bright, reporter with the Observer newspaper of
London
A Debate on Electronic Voting: A Tool To Improve
Elections or Rig Elections?
With days to go before Super Tuesday, Electronic voting
critic Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting, debates the
head of Common Cause Georgia, Bill Bozarth, on whether electronic
voting could threaten the future of democracy. [includes transcript]
Millions of American voters are projected to use electronic
voting machines in the upcoming presidential election. Many
of these machines will get their first test when voters head
to the polls in 10 states holding Democratic presidential
primaries on March 2nd in what is known as Super Tuesday.
But concerns over security flaws in voting machines have
sparked wide-ranging public debate. Last week, a Sacramento
judge heard a request for an injunction against Secretary
of State Kevin Shelley and registrars of 18 counties using
electronic voting technology.
The lawsuit was filed by publicist-turned-investigative reporter
Bev Harris in an attempt to force counties not to use electronic
voting machines during next Tuesday's primaries.
In 2002, Harris uncovered a public Internet site that posted
the source code of major electronic voting machine manufacturer
Diebold, Inc., and found that the company had failed to meet
voting security standards.
Since then separate analyses of the code have claimed to
find alarming security flaws in Diebold's software. Voters
in California, Georgia and Ohio will use electronic voting
systems for the first time during the Super Tuesday vote.
- Bev Harris, publicist turned investigative reporter who
has written the book
Black Box Voting: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century.
She recently filed a lawsuit in California in an attempt
to force counties not to use electronic voting machines
during next Tuesday's primaries.
- Bill Bozarth, executive director of Common
Cause Georgia. He has defended
the use of electronic voting systems in Georgia.
Haiti Capital Braces For Attack
Port-au-Prince is on edge with flaming barricades up across
the city and armed masked men patrolling the streets as the
Haitian capital braces for an assault by armed gangs opposed
to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We go to Haiti to hear
a report from the streets of Port-au-Prince. The Haitian capital
of Port-au-Prince is on edge. Armed masked men patrol the
streets and flaming barricades are up across the city. Fearing
an imminent attack, Haitians loyal to President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide have built ramparts around the presidential palace.
The number of Haitians fleeing the country has escalated.
The Coast Guard says it has intercepted 546 people at sea
over the past three to four days.
In a live interview on CNN yesterday, democratically-elected
Haitian President Aristide said he would not step down saying
"I will leave the palace on Feb. 7, 2006, which is good
for democracy." Aristide called for a small international
force to be deployed to the country saying as little as "a
couple of dozen" soldiers could prompt the opposition
to stand down.
Opposition leaders say they are preparing an assault on the
capital and former Haitian police chief Guy Philippe says
he hopes to complete a takeover by Sunday.
When asked if President Jean Bertrand Aristide would be allowed
to stay in office, Philippe told the Washington Post "No
way, Jose."
At a U.N. Security Council meeting yesterday, Caribbean nations
called for a multinational force to end the violence but the
United States and France said they want a political settlement
before sending in any troops.
Meanwhile in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell
openly questioned whether Aristide can continue to serve effectively
as Haiti's leader. Powell said,"He is the democratically
elected president, but he has had difficulties in his presidency."
Powell's comments came a day after French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin called on Aristide to resign.
- Kevin Pina, independent journalist and filmmaker. He
joins us on the phone from Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
- Democratic Presidential candidates discuss Haiti in nationally
televised debate University of Southern California on February
26, 2004.
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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