Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Tue., Nov. 16, 2004
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 11-16-04
PRSS Channel: A67.7
War Crime Caught on Tape: U.S. Marine Executes Wounded Unarmed
Iraqi
Colin Powell Resigns From Bush Cabinet
Bush Confidant Condoleeza Rice Expected to Replace Powell
Agriculture Secretary Veneman's Tenure Marked by Anthrax
Scare, Trade Disputes and Mad Cow Disease
Energy Secretary Abraham Served "Big Energy Contributors...More
Than the Public Interest"
Head of Teachers Union Labeled "Terrorist Organization"
by Rod Paige Responds to Resignation
War Crime Caught on Tape: U.S. Marine Executes Wounded
Unarmed Iraqi
An NBC cameraman caught on tape video of a US Marine executing
an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Fallujah.
We speak with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for
Constitutional Rights.
This news from Iraq: an NBC cameraman has caught on tape
video of a US Marine shooting dead an unarmed and wounded
Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Fallujah.
The NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the Iraqi man who
was killed was one of five Iraqis who had been injured after
the US raided a Fallujah mosque. Another 10 Iraqis had already
been killed in the raid.
The Marine is heard on tape claiming the Iraqi was faking
his death. A marine can be heard saying on the pool footage
provided to Reuters, "He's [expletive] faking he's dead.
He faking he's [expletive] dead."
The marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man's
head. The Marine involved in the shooting has been removed
from the field and was being questioned by the US military.
The NBC correspondent on the scene said the shot prisoner
"did not appear to be armed or threatening in any way".
The shooting came on the same day that another US soldier
was charged with murder for the killing of an Iraqi detainee
in Baghdad.
Colin Powell Resigns From Bush Cabinet
Secretary of State Colin Powell announced his resignation
yesterday. Powell was the first African American chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State. He was
the military architect of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and made
the case for the 2003 Iraq invasion before the United Nations.
We speak with TransAfrica president Bill Fletcher and John
Brady Kiesling, a 19-year Foreign Service veteran who resigned
in 2003 in protest over the invasion of Iraq.
Secretary of State Colin Powell announced his resignation
yesterday. He is the top official to quit since President
Bush's reelection and was one of four Cabinet resignations
announced by the White House on Monday. The others include
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Agriculture Secretary Ann
Veneman and Education Secretary Rod Paige. Six members out
of the 15 positions in the Bush Cabinet have resigned so far.
Today, we spend the hour taking a look at the latest resignations
from Bush's Cabinet. We begin with the most notable: Colin
Powell.
In a one-page resignation letter released by the White House,
Powell wrote "I am pleased to have been part of a team
that launched the Global War Against Terror, liberated the
Afghan and Iraqi people, brought the attention of the world
to the problem of proliferation, reaffirmed our alliances,
adjusted to the Post-Cold War World and undertook major initiatives
to deal with the problem of poverty and disease in the developing
world."
After the White House made the announcement, Powell spoke
to reporters in Washington.
- Colin Powell, Secretary of State speaking to reporters,
November 15, 2004.
Secretary of State Colin Powell speaking to reporters yesterday.
Administration officials say National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice - one of President Bush's closest and most trusted confidants
- will replace Powell. Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, will
replace her as National Security Adviser. An official announcement
is expected later today. The Washington Post calls the Cabinet
shake-up "the triumph of a hard-edged approach to diplomacy."
Powell is a retired four-star general who rose to become
the first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff and Secretary of State. He developed what is known as
the "Powell Doctrine" - using overwhelming force
in military interventions. As head of the Joint Chiefs, Powell
was the military architect of the 1991 Persian Gulf War; a
war in which Iraq's civilian infrastructure was systematically
targeted and more than 100,000 Iraqis were killed.
His turbulent four years as secretary of state were marked
by the September 11, 2001 attacks and the invasion of Iraq.
Washington-based investigative journalist Bob Woodward has
reported that in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, Powell was
a lonely voice in the Bush administration counseling restraint
and the pursuit of diplomacy. His position reportedly put
him at odds with other top administration officials, notably
Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But in February 2003, it was Colin Powell who made the case
for invading Iraq in an appearance before the United Nations
Security Council. In his 70-minute presentation, he used satellite
photographs, tapes of intercepted conversations between Iraqi
military officers and information from Iraqi defectors to
argue that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Such weapons have not been found. This is an excerpt of Powell
at the UN on February 5th 2003.
- Colin Powell, Secretary of State speaking before the
United Nations Security Council, February 5, 2003.
- Bill Fletcher, President of TransAfrica.
- John Brady Kiesling , spent 20 years in the U.S. Foreign
Service before resigning in protest on the eve of the war
in Iraq.
- Ann Wright, former U.S. Diplomat who resigned over the
administration's handling of the Iraq war. We spoke to her
at the Democratic National Convention in Boston on July
26, 2004.
Bush Confidant Condoleeza Rice Expected to Replace
Powell
One of President Bush's closest and most trusted confidants,
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is expected to
replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State. We speak with
radio host and author Laura Flanders.
Administration officials say National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice - one of President Bush's closest and most trusted confidants
- will replace Powell. Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, will
replace her as National Security Adviser. An official announcement
is expected later today. The Washington Post calls the Cabinet
shake-up "the triumph of a hard-edged approach to diplomacy."
- Laura Flanders, host of "Your Call" heard on
KALW-FM in San Francisco, and on the Internet, and author
of the new book "Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species"
(Verso). She is also the author of "Real Majority,
Media Minority; the Cost of Sidelining Women in Reporting."
Check out Laura Flanders' website
Agriculture Secretary Veneman's Tenure Marked by
Anthrax Scare, Trade Disputes and Mad Cow Disease
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman - the first woman to hold
the post - resigned from Bush's Cabinet. We speak with radio
host and author Laura Flanders and John Stauber, Executive
Director of the Center for Media and Democracy.
Yesterday's resignation of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman,
the first woman to hold the post, caught many in the farm
community by surprise. She had campaigned feverishly for President
Bush in key farm states in the run-up to the November 2 election.
At a teleconference with reporters last Tuesday, she sidestepped
a question about her future, saying only that, "the president
will be making decisions on personnel." But in a letter
to Bush just three days later, she declared that "now
is an appropriate time for me to move on to new opportunities."
Veneman's tenure spanned a tumultuous period that included
the 2001 anthrax scare, the 2002 farm bill; major agricultural
trade disputes with Europe, Asia and Brazil; and what was
presented as the first verified U.S. case of mad cow disease
earlier this year.
Among those mentioned yesterday as possible replacements
were Allen Johnson, the chief White House agricultural trade
negotiator; Chuck Connor, agricultural adviser to the president;
and two Texans with long terms on the House Agriculture Committee,
former congressman Larry Combest and Rep. Charles Stenholm,
who was defeated this month in a bid for a 14th House term.
- John Stauber, Executive Director of the Center
for Media and Democracy. Along with Sheldon Rampton,
he edits the publication PR Watch based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Stauber and Rampton have written a number of books including
"Weapons of Mass Deception" "Mad Cow USA"
and their latest "Banana Republicans."
Energy Secretary Abraham Served "Big Energy
Contributors...More Than the Public Interest"
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham resigned yesterday after
what many are calling a tenure marked by frustration. We speak
with Robert Kennedy Jr., author of Crimes Against Nature.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham resigned yesterday after
a what many are calling a tenure marked by frustration. Many
say his greatest disappointment is the administration's failure
to win congressional approval of President Bush's high-priority
energy bill, despite Republican majorities in both the House
and Senate.
In a letter to President Bush on Monday, Abraham said that
he was submitting his resignation because he wanted to devote
more time to his family, including three young children. He
said he would remain at the department until a successor is
confirmed early next year.
As a Republican senator from Michigan, Abraham once called
for dismantling the Energy Department. As Energy Secretary,
Abraham faced a number of major issues during his tenure,
from the nation's worst power blackout to record-high crude
oil and gasoline prices as well as a growing urgency to find
a place to bury the country's nuclear waste.
In his resignation letter he also said that 90 percent of
the recommendations issued by Vice President Dick Cheney's
2001 energy task force -- those that didn't need legislation
-- had been implemented.
- Robert Kennedy Jr. , author of the book "Crimes
Against Nature: How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals
Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy."
Head of Teachers Union Labeled "Terrorist Organization"
by Rod Paige Responds to Resignation
Education Secretary Rod Paige resigned after a tenure defined
by his defense of the No Child Left Behind Act. We speak with
Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association
which Paige called a "terrorist organization" for
the way it opposed the law. Late last week, reports began
to emerge that Education Secretary Rod Paige would not be
around for a second Bush term. His tenure was defined by his
defense of the No Child Left Behind Act, the biggest change
in federal education policy in decades. He also attacked opponents
of the Act in terms that shocked some. He referred to the
National Education Association, the country's largest teachers
union, as a "terrorist organization" for the way
it opposed the law. Paige apologized but maintained his criticism
of the union, which called for him to resign. Rod Paige also
pushed hard nationwide for controversial private-school vouchers.
- Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association,
the nation's largest teachers' union with 2.7 million members.
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.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
whole
show
