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Remembering the Dead: Reagan Foreign Policy From the Target
End
"Reagan Was the Butcher of My People:" Fr. Miguel
D'Escoto Speaks From Nicaragua
Congressional Medal of Honor Winner: Reagan Was "An
Accomplice to the Death of Literally Thousands and Thousands
of People"
Journalist Allan Nairn: Reagan Was Behind "One Of The
Most Intensive Campaigns Of Mass Murder In Recent History"
"I Rock Iraq:" Hip-Hop Artist Michael Franti Speaks
From Baghdad
Remembering the Dead: Reagan Foreign Policy From
the Target End
We continue our week-long series "Remembering the Dead"
focusing on the policies of Reagan's administration. The history
of his 8 years in power represented one of the most bloody
eras in the history of the Western hemisphere as Washington
funneled money, weapons and other supplies to right wing death
squads. We look at Reagan's foreign policy in Central America
from the target end with former Nicaraguan foreign minister
Fr. Miguel D'Escoto, congressional medal of honor winner Charlie
Litkey and veteran investigate journalist Allan Nairn.
Memorial services for former president Ronald Reagan continue
today, as thousands of people file into his presidential library
to pay their respects. Yesterday, at the close of a brief
family ceremony at the library, Nancy Reagan touched her cheek
to the flag-draped casket, began to cry, and was embraced
tightly by her daughter, Patti Davis. A band played "Hail
to the Chief" and flags at half-staff gently waved under
an overcast sky as eight armed forces members removed the
casket from the hearse and placed it in the library rotunda
before the service. Meanwhile, Reagan's office announced that
former President George H.W. Bush, former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney will join current President Bush in eulogizing Ronald
Reagan at his funeral service Friday. But as the tributes
and memorials dominate the US media and Reagan is remembered
as "The Great Communicator" and the man who won
the Cold War, for many in Central America, Ronald Reagan is
being remembered very differently.
Today on the program, we continue our week-long series "Remembering
the Dead." We'll look at Reagan's legacy as seen from
the target end. The 8 years Reagan was in office represented
one of the most bloody eras in the history of the Western
hemisphere, as Washington funneled money, weapons and other
supplies to right wing death squads. And the death toll was
staggering - more than 70,000 political killings in El Salvador,
more than 100,000 in Guatemala, 30,000 killed in the contra
war in Nicaragua. In Washington, the forces carrying out the
violence were called "freedom fighters." This is
how Ronald Reagan described the Contras in Nicaragua: "They
are our brothers, these freedom fighters and we owe them our
help. They are the moral equal of our founding fathers."
"Reagan Was the Butcher of My People:"
Fr. Miguel D'Escoto Speaks From Nicaragua
We go to Managua, Nicaragua to speak with Fr. Miguel D'Escoto,
a Catholic priest who was Nicaragua's Foreign Minister under
the Sandinista government in the 1980s. [Includes transcript]
The 8 years Reagan was in office represented one of the most
bloody eras in the history of the Western hemisphere, as Washington
funneled money, weapons and other supplies to right wing death
squads. And the death toll was staggering - more than 70,000
political killings in El Salvador, more than 100,000 in Guatemala,
30,000 killed in the contra war in Nicaragua. In Washington,
the forces carrying out the violence were called "freedom
fighters." This is how Ronald Reagan described the Contras
in Nicaragua: "They are our brothers, these freedom fighters
and we owe them our help. They are the moral equal of our
founding fathers."
- Fr. Miguel D'Escoto, a Catholic priest based in Managua,
Nicaragua. He was Nicaragua's Foreign Minister under the
Sandinista government in the 1980s.
Congressional Medal of Honor Winner: Reagan Was "An
Accomplice to the Death of Literally Thousands and Thousands
of People"
We speak with Charlie Liteky a former US Army chaplain,
who won the congressional medal of honor for saving some 20
soldiers in Vietnam. In 1986, he laid that medal at the Vietnam
War memorial in protest of U.S. involvement in Central America.
[Includes transcript]
In 1986, Vietnam veteran Charlie Liteky laid his Congressional
Medal of Honor at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC.
He wrote a letter to then-President Ronald Reagan saying he
was returning the medal in protest of US support for right
wing death squads in Central America, such as the Contras
in Nicaragua. In Vietnam, Litkey was a US Army chaplain who
saved some 20 US soldiers. During the 1980s, Liteky spent
extensive time in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and el Salvador.
He was an organizer of the first ever protest at the US Army
School of the Americas, which trained many of the paramilitary
leaders in Central America.
- Charlie Liteky, won congressional medal of honor for
saving some 20 soldiers in Vietnam. In 1986, he laid that
medal at the Vietnam War memorial in protest of US involvement
in Central America.
Journalist Allan Nairn: Reagan Was Behind "One
Of The Most Intensive Campaigns Of Mass Murder In Recent History"
Journalist and activist Allen Nairn who has won a number
of awards for his reporting in Central America, from El Salvador
to Guatemala, discusses Reagan’s foreign policy couched
as a war against communism. [Includes transcript]
"I Rock Iraq:" Hip-Hop Artist Michael Franti
Speaks From Baghdad
We go to Baghdad to speak with hip-hop artist Michael Franti,
who joined a delegation of peace workers, musicians, artists
and filmmakers to see first-hand the effects of the war on
all those involved from Iraqi civilians to men and women in
uniform. [Includes transcript]
With the June 30 deadline for the so-called transfer of power
in Iraq just three weeks away, the killings and bombing continue
unabated. Today, at least 15 people, including an American
soldier, died in a pair of car bombings.
Meanwhile a unanimous UN Security Council vote is expected
on the revised Iraq resolution later today. The U.S. maintains
it is giving Iraq full sovereignty, but under the UN resolution
the US will keep its troops in Iraq and will have full say
over military operations.
Independent journalist and editor of the website Empire Notes,
Rahul Mahajan writes "it looks as if the United States
is going over to the more sensible (from an imperialist standpoint)
minimalist route espoused earlier by State and the CIA --
don't try to build a colonial administration from the ground
up, just prop up a corrupt puppet administration that will
do your bidding on important matters like foreign policy,
oil, and even lesser matters like arms contracts, but has
full responsibility over garbage collection."
This week, Hip-Hop artist Michael Franti embarked on a fact-finding
peace mission to Iraq and Israel. He joined a delegation of
peace workers, musicians, artists and filmmakers to see first-hand
the effects of the war on all those involved from Iraqi civilians
to men and women in uniform.
- Michael Franti, hip-hop artist speaking from Baghdad.
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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