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Iraqi Imam Imprisoned and Tortured Under Saddam Blasts U.S.
Abuse of Prisoners
Doctor Who Treated Thousands of GIs Wounded in Iraq: "Severest
Form of Injuries I've Seen in My Career"
Tattered Cover vs. U.S. Gov't: Denver Bookseller Leads Struggle
Against Patriot Act Civil Liberties Violations
Iraqi Imam Imprisoned and Tortured Under Saddam Blasts
U.S. Abuse of Prisoners
In his appearance two Arab-language networks President Bush
failed to apologize for the torture and humiliation of Iraqi
prisoners by the U.S. military. We speak with Ibrahim Kazerooni,
an imam at the Islamic Center in Denver who fled Iraq in 1974
at the age of 15 after being repeatedly imprisoned and tortured
for his religious beliefs and his brother, cousin and uncle
killed by the Baathist regime.
Compelled to publicly condemn the abuse of Iraqi prisoners
by the US military, President Bush appeared on two Arab-language
television networks Wednesday in an unprecedented damage-limitation
exercise.
Amid growing national and international furor over the torture
and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, Washington was reeling
yesterday after the Army revealed that 25 prisoners had died
in Iraq and Afghanistan while in U.S. custody. Soon after
the news came out, Bush appeared on the U.S.-sponsored al-Hurra
television network and the Dubai-based al-Arabiya to address
the Arab world. He did not speak to al-Jazeera, the most widely-watched
Arabic channel. Each interview lasted a brief 10 minutes.
It was the first time Bush made direct mention of the prisoner
abuse since photographs first surfaced a week ago. In the
interviews, the president stopped short of making a direct
apology.
- Ibrahim Kazerooni, Shia imam of the Islamic Center of
Ahl Al-Beit in Denver. He fled his native Iraq in 1974 at
the age of 15 after being repeatedly imprisoned and tortured
by the Baathist regime for his beliefs. His brother, uncle
and cousin were also killed.
Doctor Who Treated Thousands of GIs Wounded in Iraq:
"Severest Form of Injuries I've Seen in My Career"
We speak with Dr. Gene Bolles who for the last two years
served as the chief of neurosurgery at Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center - the largest hospital outside the U.S. for
troops stationed in Europe and the Middle East - about what
is not frequently discussed in the mainstream media: wounded
soldiers.
In the latest news from Iraq, six Iraqis and a US soldier
were killed in a massive car bomb outside the headquarters
of the US occupation authority in Baghdad.
Following the bloodiest month for US troops since the beginning
of the invasion, the total number of American soldiers killed
in Iraq has now topped 760. U.S. authorities have not bothered
to count the Iraqi dead, but some estimates put the number
as high as 11,000.
News reports and Pentagon briefings emerge daily announcing
the death of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. But what is rarely heard
in the U.S. media or from the Defense Department is the number
of U.S. soldiers wounded.
Some figures that have been briefly mentioned in the press
fall in the range of two to three thousand. But in a story
that received little national attention, the Pentagon reported
last month that the military made over 18,000 medical evacuations
- representing 11,700 casualties in the first year of war
in Iraq.
Nearly all those wounded US soldiers ended up in a US military
hospital in Landstuhl, Germany for treatment. Today we speak
with a doctor who has treated many of those casualties, Dr.
Gene Bolles.
- Dr. Gene Bolles, neurosugeon from Boulder, Colorado.
He was hired as a private contractor after the 9/11 attacks
to serve as the chief of neurosurgery at Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center, the largest hospital outside the U.S. for
troops stationed in Europe and the Middle East. He returned
from Landstuhl after more than two years treating wounded
US soldiers. Bolles was the surgeon who repaired the broken
back of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch after her rescue as a prisoner
of war in Iraq last April.
- Mark Benjamin, UPI Investigations editor. He has been
closely following the hidden US casualties from the Iraq
war. He was awarded the American Legion's top journalism
award for 2004 for his reporting last fall on the plight
of hundreds of sick, wounded and injured soldiers at Fort
Stewart, Ga.
Tattered Cover vs. U.S. Gov't: Denver Bookseller
Leads Struggle Against Patriot Act Civil Liberties Violations
We speak with Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover
bookstore in Denver, CO. A full year and a half before the
Patriot Act, Meskis was confronted by police who demanded
she turn over a patron's records. Meskis refused and has since
become a leading figure in librarians and booksellers' struggle
against civil liberties violations in Section 215 in the Patriot
Act.
President Bush signed the Patriot Act into law in the weeks
following the Sept. 11 attacks. Since then, 300 local and
state governments, representing more than 51 million people,
have approved a resolution condemning provisions of the Act
as violating basic civil liberties.
Despite this, Bush is now calling on Congress to make all
provisions of the Patriot Act permanent.
One of the most controversial provisions, Section 215, grants
federal agents the power to secretly demand records from librarians
and booksellers about patrons. Librarians and booksellers
have arguably been among the most vocal opponents of the Patriot
Act staging protests across the country and refusing to comply
with federal authorities.
But a full year and a half before the Congress passed the
Patriot Act, six police officers arrived at the Tattered Cover
bookstore in Denver, Colorado, armed with a search warrant
demanding that the owner Joyce Meskis turn over a patron's
records. She refused explaining this action violated her customer's
First Amendment rights. In 2002, the Colorado Supreme Court
agreed with her.
Joyce Meskis has become the leading figure in librarians
and booksellers' struggle against civil liberties violations
by the Bush administration.
- Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover bookstore in
Denver, CO. In 2000, she refused to turn over a patron's
sales records to the police, citing the customer's First
Amendment Rights.
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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