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The Pinochet Principle: Bush Defends Torture in the Name
of National Security
Remembering the Dead: Reagan Armed Iraq and Iran in 1980s
War That Killed Over 1 Million
Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi: "The Same People That
Gave Saddam Hussein Chemicals to Make These Weapons Used it
as an Excuse To Attack Him"
The Reagan-Saddam Connection: "We Create These Monsters
And When It's Not Convenient We Cover Them Up"
The Pinochet Principle: Bush Defends Torture in the
Name of National Security
We speak with the president of the Center for Constitutional
Rights Michael Ratner about U.S. torture policy, ignoring
national and international law and the Bush administration
claim that the right to set aside law is "inherent in
the president." Attorney General John Ashcroft is refusing
to release or discuss memos detailing U.S. torture policy
as lawmakers accused him of trying to hide how the Bush administration
has justified the abuse of prisoners.
The administration has come under fire from human rights
groups and military lawyers in recent days for concluding
two years ago that it could ignore international and domestic
laws and allow US soldiers to torture detainees.
A series of leaked memos published in the press this week
outline how lawyers for the administration determined U.S.
soldiers could torture detainees during interrogations by
claiming it was in the interest of national security. The
memos indicate that lawyers from the Defense and Justice departments
as well as the White House and Vice President's office backed
the policy changes.
During three hours of testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee yesterday, Attorney General John Ashcroft refused
to provide copies of the memos in a session marked by several
sharp exchanges. During the hearing Ashcroft came under questioning
from Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
In July 2002, just one month before the August memo referred
to by Kennedy, the U.S. had opposed a United Nations draft
international treaty against torture that had taken a decade
to negotiate and would have set up an international system
of inspections for all sites where prisoners were held, to
insure that torture was not taking place. Kennedy yesterday
continued to press Ashcroft to release the memo when Delaware
Senator yielded the floor to him:
Remembering the Dead: Reagan Armed Iraq and Iran
in 1980s War That Killed Over 1 Million
We look at the policies of the Reagan administration in
the Middle East, specifically during the Iran-Iraq war, one
of the bloodiest conflicts in modern times in which more than
a million people were killed. Chemical weapons were used and
two of the most ancient societies on earth were devastated.
We speak with Iranian human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace
Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and journalist Alan Friedman about
how the Reagan administration armed Iran and normalized relations
with Iraq, selling weapons to both sides of the conflict.
As we continue our week-long series "Remembering the
Dead." We look at the policies of the Reagan administration
in the Middle East, specifically during the Iran-Iraq war.
That conflict lasted the better part of the 1980s and was
one of the most bloody in modern times: more than a million
people were killed, chemical weapons were used and two of
the most ancient societies on earth were devastated.
Now, with Saddam Hussein removed from power and US forces
occupying the country, that war is seldom talked about. But
the role Washington played in the Iran-Iraq war continues
to impact the people and politics of these countries. President
George W Bush labeled both countries part of an axis-of-evil.
But Bush has never acknowledged the fact that when his father
was Vice-president in Ronald Reagan's White House, Washington
was aggressively arming both Iran and Iraq.
While this fact is not included in the Bush administration's
history of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, it was Reagan's administration
that brought Iraq back into the American fold after years
of isolation.
US relations with Iraq had been severed since the 1967 Arab-Israeli
war. But in 1982, as the Iran-Iraq war escalated, the Reagan
administration removed Iraq from the list of nations that
allegedly sponsored terrorism. This permitted Reagan to sell
Saddam Hussein weapons. And Iraq began a buying frenzy. According
to a February 1991 Los Angeles Times article:
"First on Hussein's shopping list was helicopters --
he bought 60 Hughes helicopters and trainers with little notice.
However, a second order of 10 twin-engine Bell "Huey"
helicopters, like those used to carry combat troops in Vietnam,
prompted congressional opposition in August, 1983... Nonetheless,
the sale was approved."
In 1984, according to The LA Times, the State Department
- in the name of "increased American penetration of the
extremely competitive civilian aircraft market"-pushed
through the sale of 45 Bell 214ST helicopters to Iraq. The
helicopters, worth some $200 million, were originally designed
for military purposes. The New York Times later reported that
Saddam "transferred many, if not all [of these helicopters]
to his military."
In 1988, Saddam's forces allegedly attacked Kurdish civilians
with poisonous gas from Iraqi helicopters and planes. U.S.
intelligence sources told The LA Times in 1991, they "believe
that the American-built helicopters were among those dropping
the deadly bombs."
In response to the gassing, sweeping sanctions were unanimously
passed by the US Senate that would have denied Iraq access
to most US technology. The measure was killed by the Reagan
White House. Senior officials later told reporters they did
not press for punishment of Iraq at the time because they
wanted to shore up Iraq's ability to pursue the war with Iran.
Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi: "The Same People
That Gave Saddam Hussein Chemicals to Make These Weapons Used
it as an Excuse To Attack Him"
We speak with Iranian human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel
Peace Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi about the U.S. relationship
with Iraq under Reagan during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war.
- Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel
Peace Prize Winner.
The Reagan-Saddam Connection: "We Create These
Monsters And When It's Not Convenient We Cover Them Up"
Journalist Alan Friedman author of Spider's Web: The Secret
History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq discusses
how Reagan normalized U.S. relations with Iraq and sold chemical
weapons to Saddam Hussein.
- Alan Friedman, author of Spider's Web: The Secret History
of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq. He has reported
for the International Herald Tribune and for the Financial
Times. Previous
Democracy Now! coverage
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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