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Red Cross Estimates 800 Iraqi Civilians Killed in Fallujah
Family of Aid Worker Margaret Hassan Believed Executed: "Our
Hearts Are Broken"
Fmr. Iraq Oil-For Food Head: Kofi Annan "Should Open
the Doors, Open the Files"
Why Isn't Kerry Using $50M Unspent Campaign Money to Fund
Recounts?
U.S. Operating Secret 'Torture Flights'
Red Cross Estimates 800 Iraqi Civilians Killed in
Fallujah
Red Cross officials in Iraq are now estimating 800 Iraqi
civilians have been killed during the siege on Fallujah. We
go to Baghdad to speak with independent journalist Dahr Jamail
who broke the story.
Independent journalist Dahr Jamail is reporting that Red
Cross officials in Iraq are now estimating 800 Iraqi civilians
have been killed during the siege on Fallujah. Jamail quotes
an unnamed Red Cross official who insisted on remaining anonymous
out of fear of US military reprisal. The US military has claimed
that no civilians have been killed in the city even though
the city of 300,000 has recently witnessed some of the most
intense fighting of the Iraq war. The military has estimated
1200 fighters have been killed.
- Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist currently based
in Baghdad. He is one of the only independent, unembedded
journalists in Iraq right now. He publishes his reports
on a blog called DahrJamailIraq.com.
Family of Aid Worker Margaret Hassan Believed Executed:
"Our Hearts Are Broken"
Aid worker Margaret Hassan is believed to have been executed
in Iraq. She was kidnapped a month ago in Baghdad. We'll speak
to Denis Halliday, the former head of the UN Humanitarian
Program in Iraq.
Kidnapped British-Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan is believed
to have been executed. The Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera
said it received a videotape showing the slaying of a woman
believed to be Margaret Hassan. Hassan's family in London
said they believed she was dead.
A statement from her four brothers and sisters was released
by Britain's Foreign Office. It reads: "Our hearts are
broken. We have kept hoping for as long as we could, but we
now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at
last her suffering has ended." The statement went on
to say "nobody can justify this. Margaret was against
sanctions and the war. To commit such a crime against anyone
is unforgivable. But we cannot believe how anybody could do
this to our kind, compassionate sister. The gap she leaves
will never be filled."
The 59 year-old Margaret Hassan was the head of the Baghdad
operations of the British charity CARE International. She
held British, Irish and Iraqi nationality, was married to
an Iraqi man and had converted to Islam. She lived in Iraq
for 30 years, dedicating her life to addressing the many humanitarian
catastrophes in the country.
On October 19, she was kidnapped by armed men on her way
to work in western Baghdad early in the morning. Videos of
Hassan in captivity were released over the last few weeks,
but no group had claimed responsibility for her abduction.
In two of the videos, Hassan pleaded for her life and asked
Tony Blair to withdraw British troops out of Iraq.
- Margaret Hassan, pleading for her life in a video broadcast
by Al-Jazeera, October 22, 2004.
Relatives also begged Blair and the British government to
meet the kidnappers" demands. One of her sisters, Dierdre
Fitzsimons, said, "We are Irish, and we have no influence
on the British government."
Yesterday, Al-Jazeera announced it had received a tape showing
a blindfolded woman being shot in the head believed to be
Margaret Hassan. An Al-Jazeera spokesman said the station
was holding off airing it until it was convinced the woman
was Hassan. Yesterday, Margaret Hassan's husband Tahseen appealed
to the kidnappers to tell him the whereabouts of his wife's
body.
- Tahsin Ali Hassan, Margaret Hassan's Husband speaking
in Baghdad, November 16, 2004.
Margaret Hassan's husband Tahseen speaking yesterday. If
her death is confirmed, she will be the first female foreign-national
hostage to have been murdered in Iraq.
Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk of the London Independent
who has met Hassan several times writes "If Margaret
Hassan can be kidnapped and murdered, how much further can
we fall into the Iraqi pit? There are no barriers, no frontiers
of immorality left. What price is innocence now worth in the
anarchy that we have brought to Iraq? The answer is simple:
nothing."
- Denis Halliday, the former head of the UN Humanitarian
Program in Iraq and a former UN Assistant Secretary General.
In 1998, he resigned his post in protest of the US-led sanctions
against Iraq.
Fmr. Iraq Oil-For Food Head: Kofi Annan "Should
Open the Doors, Open the Files"
Denis Halliday, the former head of the UN Humanitarian Program
in Iraq during the Oil-for-Food program discusses the brewing
scandal at the UN, which is facing widespread charges of bribery,
corruption and is accused of a cover-up.
- Denis Halliday, the former head of the UN Humanitarian
Program in Iraq and a former UN Assistant Secretary General.
In 1998, he resigned his post in protest of the US-led sanctions
against Iraq.
Why Isn't Kerry Using $50M Unspent Campaign Money
to Fund Recounts?
Third-party candidates are requesting recounts in swing
states as reports of widespread voting problems and malfunctions
in electronic voting machines continue to emerge. Meanwhile,
Democratic candidate John Kerry is sitting on over $50 million
in unspent campaign funds, which could be used to fund recount
efforts. We speak with Green Party presidential candidate
David Cobb. [includes rush
transcript]
President Bush nominated Condoleeza Rice yesterday as he
continues to reshape his Cabinet for his second four-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.
Now three candidates in the 2004 presidential race are demanding
recounts. And not one of them is John Kerry.
In New Hampshire, independent candidate Ralph Nader is asking
for a recount to test the accuracy of optical scan vote-counting
machines. The request covers 11 of the state's 126 precincts
that use Diebold's Accuvote optical scanning machines to count
paper ballots. Backers urged Nader to request a recount after
a statistical analysis posted on the Internet appeared to
show that some New Hampshire precincts using the machines
gave President Bush up to 15 percent more votes than had been
expected on the basis of exit polls and the 2000 presidential
vote.
Meanwhile, the Green and Libertarian Parties announced they
raised $150,000 over the past week, enough to file the required
fee for a statewide recount of the vote in Ohio.
While they scrambled to raise the required $150,000 in time
to file the recount request, Democratic candidate John Kerry
has been sitting on over $50 million in unspent campaign funds.
According to the Center for Public Integrity, Kerry could
use that money to fund recount efforts.
- David Cobb, a lawyer from Texas. He now lives in California.
He is seeking the Green Party nomination for president.
U.S. Operating Secret 'Torture Flights'
The Sunday Times of London is reporting that it has obtained
evidence that the US government is leasing a special Gulfstream
Jet to transport detained suspects to other nations that routinely
use torture in their prisons. We speak with the reporter who
broke the story.
The Sunday Times of London has obtained evidence that the
US government is leasing a special Gulfstream Jet to transport
detained suspects to other nations that routinely use torture
in their prisons. Logs for the airplane show the Pentagon
and CIA have used the plane more than 300 times and dropped
off detainees in Syria, Egypt and Uzbekistan. The Gulfstream
and a similarly anonymous-looking Boeing 737 are hired by
American agents from Premier Executive Transport Services,
a private company in Massachusetts.
Analysis of the plane's flight plans, covering more than
two years, shows that it always departs from Washington DC.
It has flown to a total of 49 destinations outside the US,
including the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba and other
US military bases, as well as Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco,
Afghanistan, Libya and Uzbekistan.
Witnesses have claimed that the suspects are frequently bound,
gagged and sedated before being put on board the planes, which
do not have special facilities for prisoners but are kitted
out with tables for meetings and screens for presentations
and in-flight films. The US plane is not used just for carrying
prisoners but also appears to be at the disposal of defense
and intelligence officials on assignments from Washington.
- Stephen Grey, journalist with the Sunday Times of London
who exposed this week how the US is operating secret flights
to transport detainees to countries that torture prisoners.
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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