Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Tue., Dec. 21, 2004
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 12-21-04
PRSS Channel: A67.7
With Rumsfeld Under Fire New Questions Emerge About His Role
in Prisoner Torture
Attorney General Nominee Gonzalez Advised CIA on "Acceptable"
Torture Techniques
Paul Krugman on Social Security, the Decline of the Dollar
and Healthcare
With Rumsfeld Under Fire New Questions Emerge About
His Role in Prisoner Torture
As debate grows over President Bush's decision to keep Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for a second term, we speak with
columnist Joe Conason of Salon.com about a recently disclosed
FBI memo that indicates that "marching orders" to
abandon traditional interrogation methods came directly Rumsfeld
himself. [includes rush
transcript]
President Bush held the 17th press conference of his presidency
Monday, a day before he headed out to Camp David and Crawford
ranch for the holidays. At the hour-long news conference,
Bush strongly defended Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's
handling of the Iraq war, admitted serious problems in training
Iraqi forces, and laid out his second-term domestic agenda.
Today, we are going to be looking at a number of the issues
raised at Bush's end-of-the-year news conference including
his plan for Social Security, the White House policy on torture,
and Donald Rumsfeld.
Since claiming victory in the 2004 presidential election,
President Bush has moved swiftly in his unprecedented reshuffling
of his cabinet. And the process has certainly not been without
its share of controversy. Bush's nominee to replace Tom Ridge
at the Department of Homeland Security, Former New York City
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, went down amid widespread
allegations of corruption, possible tax fraud, mafia connections,
misuse of property and a litany of other concerns. In a moment
we are going to look at his nominee for Attorney General,
Alberto Gonzales, and the issue of the administration's use
of torture.
But first, we turn to one of the officials who is remaining
at his current post--Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. There
is a brewing debate in Washington, particularly within the
ranks of the Republican Party, over Bush's decision to keep
Rumsfeld on for a second term. Prominent Republican Senators
like Trent Lott and John McCain have both publicly questioned
Bush's decision to keep him. That controversy gained new fuel
this week when Rumsfeld admitted he had not personally signed
letters to families of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan,
relying instead on a rubber-stamp machine. On Monday, President
Bush defended Rumsfeld at a White House Press conference.
- President Bush, news conference, December 20, 2004.
- Joe Conason, author of the best-selling book "Big
Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How it Distorts
the Truth." He is the editor-at-large at The New York
Observer. He writes a column for Salon.com. His latest piece
is called "Torture Begins at the Top," about a
recently disclosed FBI memo that indicates that "marching
orders" to abandon traditional interrogation methods
came directly from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Attorney General Nominee Gonzalez Advised CIA on
"Acceptable" Torture Techniques
We speak with Newsweek investigative correspondent Michael
Isikoff about Alberto Gonzalez, President Bush's nominee for
Attorney General, and his role in advising the CIA on how
far could the agency go in interrogating suspects. And we
examine a secret Justice Department memo from 2001 that claims
there are effectively "no limits" on presidential
power to wage war. [includes rush
transcript]
As the debate over Rumsfeld's future continues, most politicians
on both sides of the aisle predict that Bush will have little
difficulty in passing his new cabinet nominees through their
Senate confirmation proceedings. But that doesn't necessarily
mean, his nominees won't face serious questions. One of the
most heated hearings could come when Bush's nominee to replace
John Ashcroft as the US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales,
appears in front of the Senate. That is the focus of a story
in the latest issue of Newsweek magazine called "Torture's
Path." The lead author of that piece is investigative
correspondent Michael Isikoff. In a moment, he will join us
on the phone from Colorado. But first, we wanted to play another
clip from yesterday's press conference when Bush was asked
about the use of torture in the so-called war on terror.
- President Bush, news conference, December 20, 2004.
- Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek.
Paul Krugman on Social Security, the Decline of the
Dollar and Healthcare
New York Times columnist and Princeton economics professor,
Paul Krugman discusses President Bush's Social Security plan,
the devaluation of the dollar and the healthcare debate. [includes
rush
transcript]
The Bush press conference yesterday wasn't only on international
issues. Several reporters questioned the president on what
many see as one of the premiere domestic issues now facing
the country: social security. But while reporters asked many
questions, the president's answers were, well, evasive. As
one analyst put it, Bush seemed intent on staking out an explicit,
principled position in favor of dodging the question. Here
is one of the exchanges Bush had with reporters when asked
about his social security plan.
- President Bush, news conference, December 20, 2004.
That was President Bush, well, not answering a question on
Social Security. We are joined now by New York Times columnist
Paul Krugman. He has been writing a lot on this issue. One
of his latest columns is called "Buying into Failure,"
where he accuses the Bush administration of trying to convert
Social Security into a giant 401(k).
- Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and Professor
of Economics at Princeton University. His latest book "The
Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way In The New Century"
is a collection of his New York Times columns.
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
