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Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are Putting
the World at Risk
Brahimi's Iraq Caretaker Gov't Plan Opposed by Governing
Council and Top Pentagon Officials
Whistleblowers From Vietnam to 9/11: A Conversation with
Daniel Ellsberg and Sibel Edmonds
Bush's Scope of Power At Stake in Supreme Court Enemy Combatants
Cases
Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are
Putting the World at Risk
As President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney meet with
the 9/11 Commission at the White House, we speak with former
CIA and State Department analyst Mel Goodman about how the
Bush administration is using military force, not diplomacy,
as America's main tool of foreign policy. [includes
rush transcript]
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are meeting
with the 9/11 Commission today at the White House.
Their words will neither be recorded for history nor broadcast
to the nation. The White House is insisting that no recording
or transcript be made of their comments and only one member
of the 10-person panel will be allowed to take notes. Bush
and Cheney, who are not testifying under oath, will also be
joined by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and another
lawyer from the counsel's office.
- Melvin Goodman, former CIA and State Department analyst.
He is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy
and director of the Center's National Security Project.
He is the author of the new book "Bush League Diplomacy:
How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World at Risk"
(Prometheus)
Brahimi's Iraq Caretaker Gov't Plan Opposed by Governing
Council and Top Pentagon Officials
As violence escalates in Iraq, we take a look at the United
Nations special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi's post June
30 plan for a UN-appointed Iraqi caretaker government until
national elections scheduled for January 2005. We speak with
Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies
in Washington DC. [includes
rush transcript]
The United Nations special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi
two weeks ago proposed a possible way for the US to hand over
power in Iraq after June 30. Under the proposal, the US-appointed
Iraqi Governing Council would be dissolved and replaced by
a transitional government appointed by the UN until national
elections scheduled for January 2005. The Bush administration
has backed the plan, which would allow the US to remain in
charge of military and security matters.
Brahimi met with the UN Security Council Tuesday and said
the Iraqi caretaker government could be named by the end of
May, a month ahead of the so-called handover of sovereignty
from the United States.
Yesterday, Brahimi called for an end to military hostilities
in Iraq, affirming that there must be a voice for the city
of Fallujah in the new Iraqi government. He also said that
the deteriorating security situation would not be allowed
to postpone the transfer of sovereignty.
The proposed plan is running into heavy opposition from the
US-appointed Interim Governing Council, most of whom would
be excluded under Brahimi's rules.
Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi said this week
on Fox News Sunday "Mr. Brahimi is an Algerian with an
Arab nationalist agenda. He already is a controversial figure
in Iraq. He is not a unifying figure. He is supposed to be
a unifying figure, so he can choose a government that will
be effective."
NBC has a new story out this evening which reports that members
of Chalabi's INC in Iraq are currently being investigated
by the Iraqi police for abduction, robbery, "stealing
11 Iraqi government vehicles" and "assaulting police
by firing on them during a search".
- Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute
for Policy Studies in Washington DC, specializing in
Middle East and United Nations issues. She is the author
of the book Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the
September 11th Crisis.
Whistleblowers From Vietnam to 9/11: A Conversation
with Daniel Ellsberg and Sibel Edmonds
We speak with two whistleblowers from different eras about
their experiences in speaking out: Sibel Edmonds, a former
FBI translator hired to translate pre-9/11 intelligence, has
said the U.S. had considerable evidence that al Qaida was
planning to strike the U.S. with airplanes. The Bush administration
is now trying to block her from testifying at a major 9/11
lawsuit. And Daniel Ellsberg, perhaps the most famous whistleblower
in U.S. history who leaked the Pentagon Papers setting in
motion actions that would eventually topple the Nixon presidency
and end the Vietnam war.
The Bush administration is trying to block FBI whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds from testifying in a lawsuit filed by relatives
and survivors of Sept. 11.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said Monday he would hear
classified evidence next month from the government, which
is expected to cite laws regarding state secrets in order
to gag the Turkish-American translator. The administration
claims her evidence would "cause serious damage to the
national security and foreign policy interests of the United
States".
Edmonds was hired after Sept. 11 by the FBI to translate
pre-9/11 intelligence gathered by the agency. She has publicly
said on Democracy Now and other media outlets that the U.S.
had considerable evidence that Al Qaida was planning to strike
the US with airplanes.
She was subsequently subpoenaed by the law firm Motley-Rice,
which represents hundreds of families who are taking civil
action against a number of banks and two members of the Bush-connected
Saudi royal family for allegedly aiding al-Qaida.
The Bush administration had requested the hearing be closed
to the public and press. On Monday, journalists and activists
appeared at the court to object. Judge Walton yielded and
the hearing was subsequently opened to scrutiny. However,
Edmonds' testimony has been postponed to June, and the question
of whether her deposition will be allowed remains unresolved
until further review.
- Sibel Edmonds, former FBI translator who was hired shortly
after Sept. 11 to translate intelligence gathered over the
previous related to the 9/11 attacks. She speaks fluent
Farsi and Turkish.
- Daniel Ellsberg, in October of 1969 he began smuggling
out of his office and xeroxing the 7,000 page top-secret
study of U.S. decision making in Vietnam, known as the Pentagon
Papers. He did so with the intent of revealing these secrets
to Congress and the American public and in so doing, he
set in motion actions that would eventually topple the Nixon
presidency and end the Vietnam war. He is the author of
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. He
was once described by Henry Kissinger as "the world's
most dangerous man."
Bush's Scope of Power At Stake in Supreme Court Enemy
Combatants Cases
The Supreme Court heard argument in two cases yesterday
to determine whether the White House can detain US citizens
indefinitely without ever having to press charges or allowing
the citizen a chance to appeal their detainment in court.
We hear excerpts of the oral arguments and speak with author
and columnist Nat Hentoff. [includes
rush transcript]
The Supreme Court heard argument in two cases yesterday
to determine whether the White House can detain US citizens
indefinitely without ever having to press charges or allowing
the citizen a chance to appeal their detainment in court.
The cases involve two U.S. citizens who have been held as
enemy combatants, Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi. Padilla,
a US-citizen born in Brooklyn, was detained at Chicago's O'Hare
airport nearly two years ago for allegedly plotting to set
off a dirty bomb. Hamdi is an American-born Saudi who was
turned over to U.S. forces by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan
in 2001.
Both men have spent two years in military custody on a naval
brig in South Carolina. They have never been charged with
a crime and have been barred from seeing any evidence against
them. They both had no access to a lawyer until recently when
their attorneys were allowed to meet with them under supervision
from Navy officials.
The justices indicated at the hearing yesterday that a central
concern of the court is whether President Bush acted with
sufficient authorization from Congress to declare citizens
captured at home or abroad as "enemy combatants"
and then hold them indefinitely, without criminal charges,
for interrogation.
The justices yesterday seemed divided, with no clear majority
view discernible from their questions and remarks.
This is an excerpt of Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement's
opening argument in the case of Yaser Hamdi before the Supreme
Court yesterday.
- An excerpt of Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement's
opening argument before the Supreme Court.
- During the proceedings, Supreme court justice Sandra Day
O'Conner asked Yaser Hamdi's lawyer, Frank Dunham if he
felt Congress had given the president the authorization
to take whatever action needed after 9/11 to fight the war
on terror.
- An excerpt of Frank Dunham, Yaser Hamdi's lawyer making
his closing argument before the Supreme Court.
Nat Hentoff, author of the The War on the Bill of Rights
and the Gathering Resistance and syndicated columnist who
frequently writes on First Amendment issues for the Village
Voice, Editor & Publisher and other publications.
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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