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Sierra
Club: Bush Endangered Lives of New Yorkers After 9/11 By Lying
About Dangers of Toxic Fallout
The Return of COINTELPRO: FBI Launches Nationwide Surveillance
Of Activists Ahead of GOP Convention
Kangaroo Courts in the New Haiti?: Death Squad Leader Jodel
Chamblain Acquitted of Murder Charge
Part II of Democracy Now!'s Conversation with Israeli Nuclear
Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
Sierra Club: Bush Endangered Lives of New Yorkers
After 9/11 By Lying About Dangers of Toxic Fallout
A new Sierra Club report raises new questions about the
Bush administration's handling of the cleanup of downtown
Manhattan in the days after 9/11. We'll speak with the author
of the report and a downtown Manhattan resident who suffers
respiratory illness from World Trade Center dust.
As Republicans prepare to descend on New York City for their
party Convention in less than two weeks, a leading environmental
group is raising new questions about the Bush administration's
handling of the cleanup of downtown Manhattan in the days
after 9/11.
A new report by the Sierra Club charges that the Bush administration
was guilty of reckless disregard by failing to inform Ground
Zero area workers, residents and rescuers of health risks
from toxic air after the collapse of the World Trade Center.
The report titled "Air
Pollution and Deception at Ground Zero" blames the
thousands of cases of long-term respiratory illness among
New Yorkers on the White House and the Environmental Protection
Agency, saying they downplayed health risks, shirked their
regulatory oversight roles and even urged financial district
workers to return to their jobs prematurely.
The EPA called the report "a blatant attempt to use
this tragedy for political gain."
In addition to misleading the public about the health hazards
of the smoke and dust at Ground Zero, the report finds that
the Bush administration's mistakes are now in danger of becoming
policy for handling future disasters.
- Jo Polett, downtown Manhattan resident who lives near
Ground Zero. She has was been diagnosed with reactive airways
disease and GERDS from World Trade Center dust in her apartment.
The Return of COINTELPRO: FBI Launches Nationwide
Surveillance Of Activists Ahead of GOP Convention
The FBI has begun interrogating activists in Colorado, Kansas
and other states about their plans to protest at the convention.
Meanwhile the NYPD has put 56 activists around the country
under 24 hours surveillance. Reports indicate the NYPD has
assigned one supervisor and six police officers to track each
of the 56 activists.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has visited political
activists in at least six states to question them about their
involvement in protests at the Democratic and Republican National
Conventions.
FBI officials describe the questioning as part of a larger
effort to track any planned disruptions related to the conventions,
the presidential debates or the November election.
An FBI spokesman told The New York Times this week that the
individuals visited in recent weeks are "people that
we identified that could reasonably be expected to have knowledge
of such plans and plots if they existed."
But civil rights groups say the 40 to 50 documented cases
of FBI questioning amount to harassment and result in the
chilling of free speech.
Now, ABC is reporting that the NYPD has identified 56 so-called
"primary anarchists" who will be followed 24 hours
a day. One supervisor and six cops will be assigned to each
person.
Several Democratic legislators this week issued a letter
to the Justice Department's Inspector General calling for
an investigation into the FBI questioning calling it"
"systematic political harassment and intimidation of
legitimate antiwar protesters."
Today, we hear several stories today from individuals who
have faced intimidation and interrogation from the FBI and
other law enforcement agencies.
- Esther Sassaman, Palestinian Rights Activist in Cleveland
who was told she was on a terrorist watch list and intimidated
at her job
- Eric Laursen, a member of the A31 Coalition which has
called for direct action protests on Aug. 31 during the
Republican National Convention.
Kangaroo Courts in the New Haiti?: Death Squad Leader
Jodel Chamblain Acquitted of Murder Charge
Former death squad leader Louis Jodel Chamblain who twice
helped coups against Jean Bertrand Aristide was acquitted
of murder in a secretive trial held during the middle of the
night. We speak with Brian Concannon, an international lawyer
and director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in
Haiti. [includes rush
transcript]
Former death squad leader Louis Jodel Chamblain who twice
helped coups against Jean Bertrand Aristide was acquitted
of murder Tuesday in a secretive trial held during the middle
of the night.
Chamblain was second in command of the paramilitary group
FRAPH, the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti.
In 1991 the group overthrew Jean Bertrand Aristide's government
and went on to kill thousands of Aristide supporters.
After years in exile, he returned to Haiti earlier this year
to play a key role in the February coup against Aristide,
who was Haiti's first democratically elected president.
In 1995, Chamblain and former police chief Jackson Joanis
were convicted in abstentia of assassinating pro-democracy
activist Antoine Izmery, who was a former justice minister
under Aristide.
But this week, the convictions were overturned during the
secretive proceedings. Chamblain praised the outcome, telling
The Associated Press that "it was a true trial, just
and equitable."
But Amnesty International criticized the actions of the new
U.S.-backed Haitian government and said, "This is a very
sad day in the history of Haiti." The U.S. State Department
also publicly criticized the proceedings. A spokesperson said
"We deeply regret the haste with which their cases were
brought to retrial, resulting in procedural deficiencies that
call into question the integrity of the process."
Both Chamblain and Joanis remain in prison to face other
charges.
- Brian Concannon, director of the Institute
for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He formerly worked
at the International Lawyers Office in Haiti, where he has
spent the last several years prosecuting crimes committed
during the 1991-1994 coup. Among the cases he has prosecuted
are those stemming from the 1994 Raboteau massacre in Gonaives
for which Chamblain is facing charges.
Part II of Democracy Now!'s Conversation with Israeli
Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
We hear the conclusion of our conversation with Israeli
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu who defied Israeli
government restrictions to speak to us. He discusses his views
on Ariel Sharon, the Israeli-Palestinian situation, and his
feelings on suicide bombings.
We end today's program with Part II of Democracy Now!'s national
broadcast exclusive conversation with Israeli nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu.
Vanunu was released from prison in Israel earlier this year
after serving 18 years for revealing to the world that Israel
had a nuclear arsenal. For more than 11 of those 18 years,
he was kept in solitary confinement.
Since his release, an international campaign has been launched
calling on the Israeli government to lift restrictions placed
on Vanunu, which - among other things - forbid him from leaving
the country and forbid him from speaking to foreigners.
Despite these restrictions, he agreed to talk to us around
midnight Israel-time on Tuesday night. Risking prison again,
Mordechai Vanunu spoke with us for an hour, discussing his
work as a nuclear technician at Dimona, his decision to blow
the whistle on Israel's secret nuclear program, his capture
and his 18 years in prison.
Today we hear the conclusion of our conversation with Mordechai
Vanunu.
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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