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Wedding Day: Massachusetts Becomes First State to Grant Same
Sex Marriages
Rumsfeld Knew: Iraq Prison Abuse Part of Pentagon-Approved
Black Ops Program
The Halliburton Agenda: The Politics of Oil and Money
Wedding Day: Massachusetts Becomes First State to
Grant Same Sex Marriages
We go to the steps of city hall in Northampton, Mass. to
speak with Gina Smith and Heidi Norton who are getting married
today three years after they sued the state for the right
to wed.
Hundreds of same gay and lesbian couples are beginning to
file for marriage licenses today across Massachusetts which
has become the first state in the union to recognize same
sex marriages.
On Friday the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an eleventh-hour
effort by conservative and religious groups to block the state
from giving out marriage licenses.
In Cambridge, the city hall opened its doors just after midnight
this morning as 250 couples waited in line to apply for licenses.
Susan Shepherd and her partner Marcia Hams were the first
to apply. Outside the City Hall, 10,000 supporters gathered
to mark the historic event.
In November, the state supreme court upheld the constitutionality
of gay marriage. This came after seven same-sex couples sued
the state for the right to marry.
We go now to speak with one of the couples who filed suit
in 2001. They are waiting in line on the steps of city hall
in Northampton, Massahusetts to apply for a marriage license.
- Gina Smith and Heidi Norton, Massachusetts couple who
sued the state three years for the right to get married.
Rumsfeld Knew: Iraq Prison Abuse Part of Pentagon-Approved
Black Ops Program
In a major expose in the New Yorker, investigative reporter
Seymour Hersh reveals that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
approved using harsh interrogation methods as part of a top-secret
program against Al Qaeda and in Iraq.
Seven army reservists face criminal charges in the abuse
of prisoners at Abu Ghraib - All seven of them say they were
following orders from superiors. The first court-martial is
scheduled to begin Wednesday in Baghdad.
A new report by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker magazine
begins:
“The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not
in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but
in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, t expand a highly secret operation, which
had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation
of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered
the American intelligenc community, damaged the effectiveness
of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects
in the war on terror
"According to interviews with several past and present
American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation,
known inside the intelligence community by several code words,
including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual
humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more
intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior
C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account
last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s
long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine
and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A."
The Halliburton Agenda: The Politics of Oil and Money
As protesters plan to demonstrate outside Halliburton's annual
shareholder meeting in Houston on Wednesday we speak with
Dan Briody, author of the 'Halliburton Agenda', and Pratap
Chattergee from Corpwatch which has just released an alternative
annual report for Halliburton called 'Houston, We Have A Problem'.
Hundreds of pig-snouted activists will be out in front of
the glamorous Four Seasons hotel in downtown Houston this
Wednesday to protest the Annual Shareholders Meeting of Halliburton
– what they call “bringing home the Hallibacon.”
Halliburton is the largest oil-and-gas services company in
the world and it is also one of the most controversial corporations
in the United States.
The company has been the number one financial beneficiary
of the invasion of Iraq, raking in some $18 billion in contracts
to rebuild the country’s oil industry and service US
troops.
It has also been accused of more fraud, waste and corruption
than any other Iraq contractor, with allegations ranging from
overcharging for tens of millions of dollars for fuel and
meals to outright bribery. Halliburton is also currently under
investigation by the Department of Justice.
And of course, the connections to the Bush administration
cannot run deeper - Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton’s
chief executive prior to taking office in 2000.
Today we take an in-depth look at Halliburton...
- Pratap Chatterjee, managing director of CorpWatch.org.
He is speaking to us from the KPFT studios in Houston where
Halliburton is holding its annual shareholders meeting on
Wednesday. CorpWatch has just issued an alternative annual
report for Halliburton titled "Houston, We Have A Problem."
- Dan Briody, author of the new book "The Halliburton
Agenda : The Politics of Oil and Money." His previous
book which came out a year ago is "The Iron Triangle:
Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group."
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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