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Army Deserter Camilo Mejia Witnessed Torture of Iraqi Detainees
in May 2003
Arundhati Roy On Indian Elections, Iraq and Occupation
Report from Rafah: Up to 23 Die As Israel Attacks Palestinian
Protest
Terrorism Trial Against Civil Rights Lawyer Lynne Stewart
Goes to Court
Malcolm X 79th Anniversary: “The Ballot or the Bullet”
Army Deserter Camilo Mejia Witnessed Torture of Iraqi
Detainees in May 2003
Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia faces court martial today for refusing
to return to Iraq. He eventually applied for conscientious
objector status in part because of the abuse of detainees
he witnessed in Iraq. We speak with his aunt Norma Castillo
en route to the court martial proceedings in Fort Stewart,
Gerogia.
In Baghdad, Specialist Jeremy Sivitsm pleaded guilty today
to three counts of abuse during a court martial proceeding
stemming from the Iraqi prison abuse scandal.
In a less covered court martial case, Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia
is facing court martial today at Fort Stewart in Georgia for
going AWOL for several months after he returned from Iraq.
He eventually applied for conscientious objector status in
part because of the abuse of detainees he witnessed in Iraq.
In his application for conscientious objector status, Mejia
provided details of torture and abuse of detainees which he
witnessed at the Al-Assad detention facility in early May
2003.
Mejia said, "I could not continue to do the things I
was doing in Iraq.... I'm completely against it because it's
an oil-motivated war."
- Norma Castillo, Camilo Mejia's aunt. She is en route
to Fort Stewart in Georgia to attend her nephew's court
martial proceedings.
Arundhati Roy On Indian Elections, Iraq and Occupation
As India's Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi stuns the
country by deciding to turn down the post of prime minister
we go to India to speak with acclaimed Indian author and activist
about elections in the world's largest democracy and occupation
in the Middle East.
India's Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi stunned her supporters
yesterday by deciding to turn down the post of prime minister.
Speaking before Congress party members in India's parliament
yesterday she said, "The post of prime minister has not
been my aim. I was always certain that if ever I found myself
in the position I am in today, I would follow my inner voice.
I humbly decline the post."
Her announcement sparked uproar among Congress MPs who shouted
and pleaded with her to reconsider. One man stood on the roof
of a car outside Gandhi's home, held a home-made gun to his
head and said he would kill himself if Ghandi didn't accept
the post. Gandhi had widely been expected to become prime
minister after her Congress party and its allies recorded
a surprise victory over the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata
party (BJP) in national elections that ended last week.
Following the win, Gandhi became the target of a campaign
led by the BJP to criticize her foreign origins and it has
been reported that her son and daughter were against their
mother taking up the position for safety reasons. Gandhi was
born in Italy and became an Indian citizen 21 years ago when
she married former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was assassinated
by a suicide bomber in 1991.
Gandhi has not publicly proposed an alternative candidate
but reports indicate former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh
is tipped to be next leader of the world's largest democracy.
After initial reports emerged that Gandhi was reconsidering
the post, the Indian stock market bounced back from the worst
losses in its history.
- Arundhati Roy, acclaimed Indian author and activist.
Her most recent book is The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile
a collection of interviews by David Barsamian. This summer
South End Press wil publish a new collection of essays titled
The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire.
Report from Rafah: Up to 23 Die As Israel Attacks
Palestinian Protest
We go inside a Palestinian hospital minutes after an Israeli
gunship bombed a demonstration in Rafah where Israel has been
launching one of its largest offensive ever. An Israeli helicopter
gunship fired today on a large crowd of thousands Rafah residents
demonstrating against the Israeli attack. Haaretz put the
death toll at 23. Other news agencies put it at around 15.
At least 60 people were injured. Haaretz reports many of the
casualties were women and children.
Twenty more died on Tuesday in Israel's largest offense --
dubbed "Operation Rainbow" -- in years.
The group Physicians for Human Rights is reporting the IDF
is preventing ambulances from traveling from nearby Khan Yunis
to Rafah.
Haaretz is also reporting that the Israeli military has ordered
all Palestinian men in Rafah over the age of 16 to gather
in a local school. The entire Rafah refugee camp is now without
water or electricity and has been sealed off from the rest
of Gaza.
Yasser Arafat accused Israel of carrying out a planned massacre.
He said, "What is happening in Rafah is an operation
to destroy and to transfer the local Palestinian population,
and this must not be accepted, not by the Palestinians, nor
the Arabs, nor by the international community."
The United Nations and European Union demanded the offensive
to end. President Bush spoke at an AIPAC conference Tuesday
and said he was troubled by the events but added, "Israel
has every right to defend itself.
- Mohammad Omar, Palestinian speaking from Rafah in Gaza.
He publishes a website
about his life in Rafah.
Terrorism Trial Against Civil Rights Lawyer Lynne
Stewart Goes to Court
A case starting today that pits the Justice Department against
New York civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart is being closely
watched by defense attorneys who fear the government aims
to limit their freedom to fight for unpopular clients. Stewart
is accused of providing assistance to her imprisoned client
- radical Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. [includes
rush transcript]
Last July, a US district court judge court dismissed charges
brought against her saying they were unconstitutionally vague
and revealed a "lack of prosecutorial standards."
But in November, Attorney General John Ashcroft personally
announced a new superceding indictment brought against Stewart,
accusing her of passing messages between her client Abdel
Rahman, and an Egyptian terrorist organization. Rahman was
convicted of conspiring to blow up several New York landmarks
and to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He is
serving a life sentence.
Stewart, who has denied the charges, is a familiar figure
in New York courts, frequently representing low-income and
minority clients. She joins us in our firehouse studio blocks
away from the court house.
-
Lynne Stewart, human rights attorney, arrested in April,
2002 on charges that she helped her client Sheik Omar Abdel
Rahman deliver messages from his Minnesota prison cell to
his followers in Egypt.
Malcolm X 79th Anniversary: “The Ballot or
the Bullet”
Malcolm X was born 79 years ago today. He was shot to death
in 1965 at the age of 39. We hear an excerpt of a speech he
gave in Detroit just a year before he was gunned down. It
is known as 'The Ballot or the Bullet.' [includes rush transcript]
On this day in 1925, Malcolm X was born. He would have been
79 years old today.
His mother, Louise Norton Little, raised the family's eight
children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist
minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus
Garvey.
His father was targeted by the KKK. His family was driven
from their home in Nebraska and their first home in Lansing,
Michigan was burned to the ground. When Malcolm was just six
years old, his father's body was found beaten to a pulp.
Malcolm excelled in school and graduated from junior high
at the top of his class. But he lost interest in school when
his favorite teacher told him his idea of becoming a lawyer
was "no realistic goal for a nigger."
He dropped out, and eventually wound up in Harlem, New York,
where he became a drug dealer and a thief. At the age of 20,
he was caught and sentenced to several years in prison for
robbery.
In prison, Malcolm renewed his studies and found the teachings
of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam.
By the time he got out of prison, Malcolm had converted to
Islam and changed his name. He considered "Little"
a slave name and chose the surname "X" to symbolize
his lost African name.
Malcolm was appointed a minister and national spokesman for
the Nation of Islam. He established new mosques in Detroit,
Michigan Harlem, and other cities. He was largely credited
with increasing the Nation of Islam's membership from 500
in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963.
As Malcolm X's fame began to supersede Elijah Muhammad's,
tensions grew within the Nation of Islam. FBI agents infiltrated
the organization. Shortly after learning Elijah Muhammad was
betraying his own teachings and having affairs with several
women, Malcolm X split with the Nation of Islam. He founded
the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
Malcolm X was shot to death on February 21, 1965 by Black
Muslims. Many believe the FBI helped to foment the tensions
between Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam.
- Malcolm X speaking in Detroit in 1964. The speech is
known as 'The Ballot or the Bullet.'
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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