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Return of the Dead: Photos of Soldiers' Coffins Revive Controversy
With the June 30 Handover Approaching, Neocons Try To Sabotage
UN Role in Iraq
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Pressed to Improve Depleted Uranium
Testing
The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communications Politics in
the 21st Century
Return of the Dead: Photos of Soldiers' Coffins Revive
Controversy
For the first time since the invasion of Iraq began, photos
of returning flag-draped coffins have begun appearing in the
press. The Pentagon enacted a ban on such a photos on the
eve of the war. The Seattle Times first ran a photo Sunday
taken by an employee of Maytag Aircraft, who was later fired.
Newspapers across the country are now running photos of returning
caskets taken by the military that were obtained through the
Freedom of Information Act.
Over 700 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the invasion
of Iraq began 13 months ago. Over 700 slain American men and
women returning home to the United States in coffins. But
due to a ban enacted by the Pentagon on the eve of the war,
not one photo of a flag-draped coffin has ever appeared in
the press. Until now.
This past Sunday the Seattle Times ran a photo of caskets
that were taken in Kuwait by an employee of the military contractor
Maytag Aircraft. The worker who took the photo and her husband
have since been fired after the Pentagon complained to Maytag.
Meanwhile, the website, thememoryhole.org filed a Freedom
of Freedom of Information Act with the Air Force and received
350 photos of flag-draped caskets taken by the military. They
were quickly circulated around the Internet. The photos are
now appearing on the front cover of newspapers across the
country today, including the New York Times, Washington Post,
Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe. According to the New York
Times, all of the major TV news channel ran photos as well,
with one exception -- Fox News. Meanwhile the Defense Department
has ordered no more such photos be released.
- Wilson "Woody" Powell, is the Executive Director
of Veterans
for Peace, which is based in St. Louis Missouri.
With the June 30 Handover Approaching, Neocons Try
To Sabotage UN Role in Iraq
UN reporter Ian Williams exposes how the neocons are trying
to turn an Iraq scandal over the oil-for-food program into
a reason why the UN should stay out of Iraq. Tariq Ali examines
the growiing anti-occupation resistance in Iraq.
Today in Basra, Iraq some 800 supporters of Iraqi Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held a demonstration in which they
alleged that the British were responsible for the multiple
suicide bombings in Basra earlier this week. In those bombings,
68 people were killed including 20 young children whose school
bus was blown up as they traveled to school. The protesters
carried signs saying that the people and the police are united
under a religious imperative. Meanwhile, as fighting in the
Iraqi city of Fallujah has intensified in recent days, it
also appears that US forces are gearing up for a major offensive
in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, which is a stronghold of
Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.
The Associated Press today quotes senior military officers
saying the order to attack Najaf will be made "at the
very highest levels of the U.S. government," an indication
that President Bush may have the final word on whether soldiers
there begin an offensive.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that Bush himself made the decision
that Fallujah would have to be massively punished for the
desecration of the bodies of the US mercenaries killed there,
and that Gen. John Abizaid strongly agreed. The Marines have
now reportedly given the people of Fallujah just "days"
to negotiate a final settlement, with an implied "or
else."
As the killings continue in Iraq, a controversy is brewing
at the United Nations over allegations of corruption within
the so-called oil-for-food program. The former head of that
program, Benon Sevan, has been accused of taking payment in
the form of an oil allotment from Saddam Hussein's government.
Sevan denies the allegation. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
said yesterday that if U.N. staff are found to be guilty "we
will deal with them very severely."
These allegations come as the deadline approaches for what
the Bush administration calls the handover of sovereignty
to Iraqis on June 30th. This week, senior State Department
and Defense officials told the Senate and House Armed Services
Committees that the new Iraqi interim government scheduled
to take control on July 1 will have only 'limited sovereignty'
and no authority over United States and other military forces
already there.
- Tariq Ali , author of several books including Bush in
Babylon: The Recolonization of Iraq and Clash of Fundamentalisms.
- Ian Williams, UN correspondent for The Nation and author
of the forthcoming book Deserter: George Bush, Soldier of
Fortune.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Pressed to Improve Depleted
Uranium Testing
Earlier this month, a New York Daily News special investigation
by Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez found the first confirmed
cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from the current
Iraq conflict. At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers
was questioned by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) about depleted
uranium testing policies .
Senior Bush administration officials came under harsh questioning
Tuesday at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The hearing was among a host of question-and-answer face-offs
Congress scheduled for administration officials amid increased
anxiety on Capitol Hill about the course of the Iraq invasion
and occupation.
Among those to appear before the committee were Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the key architects of the
invasion of Iraq, and General Richard Myers, the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
At the hearing, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton of New
York pressed Myers about the issue of depleted uranium. She
cited the Daily News investigation Democracy Now! co-host
Juan Gonzalez conducted earlier this month. She spoke about
testing in the U.S. compared to that in Japan and Germany
and asked Myers about what actions he would take regarding
the issue depleted uranium contamination.
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), questions Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers at the Senate Armed
Services Committee on April 20, 2004.
The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communications Politics
in the 21st Century
We speak with University of Illinois professor Robert McChesney
about his new book, The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communications
Politics in the 21st Century. McChesney is the author of eight
books and is the co-founder of Free Press organized which
last November's National Conference on Media Reform.
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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