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Constitutional Lawyer on Ashcroft's Record: "Most Widespread
Campaign Of Ethnic Profiling Since WWII"
The Ohio Factor: Did Homeland Security and the FBI interfere
With the Vote Count?
As Vote Scandals Continue to Emerge Could John Kerry 'Un-concede?'
The Forgotten Casualties of War: Over 17,000 U.S. Troops
Wounded
Palestinian Foreign Minister Says Presidential Elections
Will Be Held If Arafat Dies
Constitutional Lawyer on Ashcroft's Record: "Most
Widespread Campaign Of Ethnic Profiling Since WWII"
As Attorney General John Ashcroft announces his resignation
from President Bush's cabinet, we speak with Georgetown Law
School professor David Cole who says Ashcroft has shown a
"willful blindness to any concerns about the basic principles
that this country was founded upon."
Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don
Evans have both announced they are resigning from President
Bush's cabinet. Ashcroft was widely criticized by civil liberties
group and seen as one of the most divisive members of the
Bush administration.
He shepherded the USA Patriot Act through Congress. He oversaw
the detention of thousands of Arabs and Muslims after Sept.
11. In December of 2001 he warned Senators that criticism
of the government's tactics "only aids terrorists."
And he dismissed critics of the Patriot Act, as "hysterics."
Anthony Romero, the head of the American Civil Liberties
Union, yesterday said "His legacy will show that he was
one of the worst attorney generals in American history, with
an outright hostility for civil liberties and overt disdain
for critics."
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said upon Ashcroft's
resignation "President Bush now has the opportunity to
appoint a new Attorney General who will protect not only our
safety, but our Constitutional rights as well."
Ashcroft was more upbeat in describing his accomplishments.
In an internal farewell letter to Justice Department employees
Ashcroft wrote that the past four years have "ushered
in an extraordinary era of justice and security for the American
people. We live today in an America that is safer and stronger
than ever before; an America where freedom is not a promise
but a birthright, not a dream but a reality."
In the letter Ashcroft goes on to quote from the Psalms and
ends with a reference to God. He wrote, "I know that
our efforts have not been in vain. The Builder of our city
and the Author of our freedom has stood beside us. He stands
beside us still."
Ashcroft said yesterday that he will continue to serve as
Attorney General until his successor is confirmed.
- David Cole, professor at Georgetown Law School and author
of the book "Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional
Freedom in the War on Terrorism."
The Ohio Factor: Did Homeland Security and the FBI
interfere With the Vote Count?
In Warren County, Ohio, election officials took a rather
unprecedented action on November 2: They locked down the building
where the votes were being tallied, blocking anyone from observing
the vote counting process. President Bush won 72% of the vote
in the county. We speak with the reporter who broke the story.
Earlier this week on Democracy Now!, we reported on a story
in Ohio's Franklin County. In one precinct, 638 people cast
ballots. Yet, George W Bush got 4,258 votes to John Kerry's
260. In reality, Bush only received 365 votes. That means
Bush got nearly 3,900 extra votes. And that was just in one
small precinct. This in a state that Bush officially won by
only 136,000 votes. Elections officials blamed electronic
voting for the extra Bush votes.
Now, questions are being raised across the state of Ohio.
In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the County's website shows its 29
precincts had more votes than voters. In fact, it wasn't just
a handful. It registered a whopping 93,000 more votes than
voters. In Fairview Park, twelve miles west of downtown Cleveland,
only 13,342 people were registered voters there, but they
cast 18,472 votes.
Meanwhile, in Warren County, Ohio election officials took
a rather unprecedented action on November 2. They locked down
the building where the votes were being tallied, blocking
anyone from observing the vote counting process. County officials
said they took the action in response to a terror threat warning
from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. County
Commissioner Pat South said they were told by an FBI agent
that the county was facing a level 10 security threat on a
scale of 1 to 10. George Bush won 72% of the county's more
than 92,000 votes.
As Vote Scandals Continue to Emerge Could John Kerry
'Un-concede?'
John Kerry may have conceded but the Electoral College still
hasn't cast its vote. We look at the ongoing controversy over
voting problems on November 2nd in Florida and elsewhere with
nationally-syndicated radio talk show host Thom Hartmann and
statistician Kathy Dopp.
With the resignations of Attorney General John Ashcroft
and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, President Bush is beginning
the process of reshaping his cabinet for his second 4-year
term.
But, controversy continues to rage over the fairness of the
November 2 presidential election. Stories are still emerging
from states like Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and New Mexico
of widespread problems with vote counting, voter suppression
and malfunctions of electronic voting machines. There are
now multiple activist campaigns urging John Kerry to un-concede.
In response to scores of emails he received as part of these
campaigns, John Kerry's brother Cam sent out a mass email
that said: "I am grateful to the many people who have
contacted me to express their deep concern about questions
of miscounting, fraud, vote suppression, and other problems
on election day, especially in Florida and Ohio. Their concern
reflects how much people care about the outcome of this election.
I want to you to know we are not ignoring it. Election protection
lawyers are still on the job in Ohio and Florida and in DC
making sure all the votes are counted accurately. I have been
conferring with lawyers involved and have made them aware
of the information and concerns people have given me. Even
if the facts don't provide a basis to change the outcome,
the information will inform the continuing effort to protect
the integrity of our elections."
- Thom Hartmann, nationally-syndicated radio talk show
host and the author of 14 books, his latest is "What
Would Jefferson Do?: A Return to Democracy" His latest
article posted on CommonDreams.org is titled "This
is a Game Where Principles are the Stake."
- Kathy Dopp, independent mathematician who has been closely
monitoring the patterns of the 2004 election
results in Florida.
The Forgotten Casualties of War: Over 17,000 U.S.
Troops Wounded
As President Bush visits wounded soldiers at the Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, we take a look
at what is rarely discussed in the corporate media: the thousands
of U.S. soldiers wounded in the invasion and occupation of
Iraq.
President Bush predicted victory in Fallujah and wished U.S.
soldiers "Godspeed" in their mission as the bloody
U.S. assault on the city entered its third day.
His comments came during a visit of wounded soldiers at the
Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. It was Bush's
sixth visit to wounded troops at the veteran hospital since
he launched his so-called "war on terror" in late
2001. He spent two hours with soldiers recuperating from injuries
suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush said "It's so
uplifting to see their spirit, their drive to become rehabilitated,
their love of their country, their support of the mission."
While Bush was with the recuperating wounded, American casualties
continued to mount. 10 U.S. troops have been killed in the
bloody urban warfare in Fallujah. The total U.S. death toll
in Iraq has surpassed 1,100. While the number of U.S. soldiers
killed is widely reported, what is rarely mentioned is the
many thousands more wounded.
- Mark Benjamin, UPI Investigations editor. He has been
closely following the hidden US casualties from the Iraq
war. He was awarded the American Legion's top journalism
award for 2004 for his reporting last year on the plight
of hundreds of sick, wounded and injured soldiers at Fort
Stewart, Ga.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Says Presidential Elections
Will Be Held If Arafat Dies
A team of senior Palestinian officials has arrived back
in the West Bank after visiting the Paris hospital where Yasser
Arafat is lying in a coma. We hear a statement by Palestinian
Foreign Minister speaking to reporters in France.
A team of senior Palestinian officials has arrived back in
the West Bank after visiting the Paris hospital where Yasser
Arafat is lying in a coma.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath spoke to reporters
yesterday in France about Arafat's condition.
- Nabil Shaath, Palestinian Foreign Minister speaking to
reporters in Paris, November 10, 2004.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath speaking to reporters
after visiting Arafat in France yesterday. He also added that
Arafat's nearly three-year confinement in Ramallah by Israeli
forces had contributed to his poor health. Shaat was joined
on his trip by Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, PLO deputy leader
Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian parliamentary speaker Rawhi
Fattuh.
They have returned to Ramallah where they are due to meet
political parties and factions, including Arafat"s Fatah
movement and the PLO executive committee.
There has been much confusion about Arafat's condition since
he was taken to a military hospital in Paris on October 29
after suffering stomach pains. Doctors have confirmed that
Arafat's coma has deepened and that he suffered a brain haemorrhage.
However, the reasons for his illness are still not clear.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat confirmed Arafat
would be buried in Ramallah - ending weeks of speculation.
The plan has been agreed on by the Israeli government, which
ruled out burying Arafat in Jerusalem.
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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