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"They
Are Not Enemies of the Iraqi People" - Italian and Iraqi
Aid Workers Kidnapped in Baghdad
Shirking Duty in a Time of War: Documents Reveal Bush Received
Special Treatment in National Guard
EXCLUSIVE: International War Whistleblowers Tell Why They
Exposed Their Governments
"They Are Not Enemies of the Iraqi People"
- Italian and Iraqi Aid Workers Kidnapped in Baghdad
In one of the most chilling abductions in the wave of kidnappings
that has gripped Iraq, two Italian and two Iraqi humanitarian
workers of the Italian organization "A Bridge to Baghdad"
were abducted by 20 armed men in broad daylight. We go to
Italy to speak with the coordinator of "A Bridge to Baghdad"
and we speak with Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the
Wilderness.
International Aid organizations and non-governmental organizations
are deciding whether to stay in Iraq after the abduction earlier
this week of two Italian and two Iraqi humanitarian workers
in broad daylight in Baghdad.
It was one of the most chilling abductions in a country gripped
by a wave of kidnappings. Witnesses said that on Tuesday 20
men armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols with silencers
stopped vehicles in a busy commercial area of the capital
and raided a building housing the humanitarian organization
"A Bridge to Baghdad," which has operated in Iraq
since 1992. The gunmen took Italians Simona Pari and Simona
Torretta, along with Iraqi staffers Raad Ali Abdul Azziz and
Mahnaz Bassam. Witnesses say the gunmen dragged Bassam away
by her hair screaming. Since April foreigners from more than
two dozen countries have been kidnapped as guerrillas try
to force foreign troops and firms to leave. More than 20 have
been killed.
It still isn't clear who abducted the aid workers or why.
A statement posted on an Islamic Web site by a group calling
itself Ansar al Zawahiri, claimed responsibility and said
the kidnapping marked "the first of our attacks against
Italy." The group demanded that Italy withdraw its troops
and "stop killing Muslims in Iraq and cooperating with
American forces." But there was no way of authenticating
the statement, which was not accompanied by the photos or
video footage typically issued by the groups who have seized
more than 100 foreign hostages in Iraq this year.
During the more than a decade of economic sanctions against
Iraq, most humanitarian organizations refused to operate in
the country. But A Bridge to Baghdad defied that in the belief
that the suffering of civilians should not be used as a political
bargaining chip. The group opposed the sanctions, it opposed
the invasion, and it opposes the occupation. In Italy, the
group has been a leading critic of the government's decision
to join the US-led coalition.
Dozens of organizations around the world have signed on to
an appeal to the kidnappers, saying that the 4 hostages "are
not enemies of the Iraqi people. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with them in calling for an immediate end to the occupation.
We appeal to those holding them to release them immediately.
- Ornella Sangiovanni, coordinator of the Italian humanitarian
group, A Bridge to Baghdad. Until the beginning of the invasion,
she was the head of the organization's anti-sanctions campaign.
She has worked with A
Bridge to Baghdad since 1996.
- Kathy Kelly, co-founder of the Chicago-based group Voices
in the Wilderness. She worked closely with A Bridge
to Baghdad for many years in Iraq.
Shirking Duty in a Time of War: Documents Reveal
Bush Received Special Treatment in National Guard
New information about President Bush's military record reveal
he fell short of his military obligations and received favorable
treatment at the National Guard. We speak with journalist
Ian Williams of The Nation and author of Deserter: George
Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past.
The United States reached the grim milestone this week of
1,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq. While Iraq remains a central
issue in the race for the White House, another war has become
a major focus of the media and presidential campaigns - Vietnam.
Republicans launched a relentless campaign against Kerry,
accusing the decorated Vietnam combat veteran of fabricating
the events which led to his five medals. Meanwhile, Democrats
are pointing the to gaps in Bush's stateside Air National
Guard service in 1972 and 1973 to say Bush shirked his duty.
In the latest news, new documents from Bush's squadron commander
say Bush discussed with him how to avoid drills during 1972.
The report on "60 Minutes" said the files were from
the personal records of Col. Jerry Killian, who died in 1984.
The files show that Killian grounded Bush from flying when
he missed a medical examination and failed to meet performance
standards. In one memo, dated Aug. 18, 1972, Killian wrote
that he was being pressured from higher-ups in the Guard to
gloss over Bush's poor performance and to "sugarcoat"
his evaluation.
At the same time, a former Texas Speaker of the House Ben
Barnes has come forward to say that he abused his position
power by helping Bush and others get a coveted slot in the
National Guard in 1968.
- Ben Barnes, former Texas Speaker of the House on 60 Minutes
II with Dan Rather.
Yesterday, the Boston Globe reported that a reexamination
of President Bush's military records show the president fell
well short of meeting his military obligations in the National
Guard. According to the Globe, twice during his Guard service,
Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments
or face a punitive call-up to active duty. But records show
he didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment.
And a group called Texans for Truth recently announced an
advertising campaign questioning whether Bush ever trained
with the Alabama Air National Guard. The ad quotes a retired
lieutenant colonel in the Alabama unit who says he searched
for Bush but never met him in 1972 or 1973.
- Ian Williams, UN correspondent for The Nation and author
of Deserter: George Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans,
and His Past.
EXCLUSIVE: International War Whistleblowers Tell
Why They Exposed Their Governments
In a Democracy Now! U.S. exclusive, two former intelligence
officials from Britain and Denmark discuss why they blew the
whistle on their governments in relation to the war in Iraq.
Katharine Gun is a former British employee who leaked details
of a secret U.S. spy operation on UN Security Council members
in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. Major Frank Grevil is
a former military intelligence officer from Denmark who was
fired for leaking classified reports that showed no weapons
of mass destruction would be found in Iraq. He currently faces
charges for breaching the country's official information law.
In the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, the British newspaper
The Observer exposed a highly secret and aggressive surveillance
operation directed at United Nations Security Council members
by the U.S. ahead of the vote on Iraq.
The Observer obtained a top-secret NSA memorandum that outlined
a surveillance operation involves intercepting home and office
telephone calls and emails of UN delegates focusing "the
whole gamut of information that could give U.S. policymakers
an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals or to
head off surprises."
The target of the surveillance were the so-called "Middle
Six" delegations, including Angola, Cameroon, Chile,
Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan, who could swing a Security Council
vote on Iraq.
In a story that has received almost no media coverage in
the U.S., the former British intelligence employee who leaked
the memo, Katharine Gun, faced up to two years in prison for
violating the Official Secrets Act before charges were lifted.
In her first appearance in the United States, Katharine Gunn
joins us from Washington DC today where she is attending a
gathering of whistleblowers organized by perhaps the country's
best whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg.
In 1971, Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York
Times and the Washington Post. The 7,000 page document exposed
the true story behind U.S. decision making in the Vietnam
War. He was charged with 12 felony counts posing a possible
sentence of 115 years. The charges were dismissed in 1973
on grounds of governmental misconduct against him.
Also attending the whistleblowers gathering is Major Frank
Grevil, a former military intelligence officer from Denmark
who was fired for leaking classified reports that showed no
weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq. He currently
faces charges for breaching the country"s official information
law. He also joins us from Washington DC.
- Katharine Gun , former British employee who leaked details
of a secret US spy operation on UN Security Council members
in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. In February spy charges
against her were dropped.
- Major Frank Grevil , former military intelligence officer
from Denmark who was fired for leaking classified reports
that showed no weapons of mass destruction would be found
in Iraq. He currently faces charges for breaching the country's
official information law.
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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