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Retired US General on Alberto Gonzales: "He Has Endangered
Our Soldiers"
Tsunami Warning Systems: Why Didn't Scientists Notify the
Press About the Impending Disaster?
Shakeup: Doctors Without Borders Tells Tsunami Donors to
Give to Other International Relief Efforts
Retired US General on Alberto Gonzales: "He
Has Endangered Our Soldiers"
As the Senate prepares for confirmation hearings on White
House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next attorney general,
we speak with retired Brigadier General James Cullen - one
of 12 retired Admirals and Generals who are calling on the
Judiciary Committee to scrutinize Gonzales' role in setting
the stage for U.S. torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo Bay.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings tomorrow
on the confirmation of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales
as the next attorney general of the United States.
Central to the hearings will be Gonzales" role in paving
the legal groundwork that led to the torture of detainees
at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. In a highly controversial
January 2002 memo, Gonzales wrote that the war on terror "renders
obsolete [the Geneva Convention's] strict limitations on questioning
of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
In August 2002, a Justice Department memo sought by Gonzales
contended the president has "commander-in-chief authority"
to order torture and proposed potential legal defenses for
U.S. officials who may be accused of torture. The memo also
argued that physical abuse of prisoners was torture only if
it was "of an intensity akin to...serious physical injury
such as death or organ failure," and mental abuse was
torture only if it caused "lasting psychological harm."
The confirmation hearings have become even more controversial
in the wake of a new Justice Department memo released just
last Thursday revising the August 2002 memo to significantly
broaden the definition of torture for which individuals could
be prosecuted.
The hearings may also become more contentious because the
White House has refused to provide copies of the memos to
the Judiciary Committee. Sen. Democrat Richard Durbin of Illinois
told the Associated Press "We go into the hearing with
some knowledge of what has occurred...but without the hard
evidence that will either exonerate or implicate Judge Gonzales
in this policy."
On Monday, a dozen retired generals and admirals, including
former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John
Shalikashvili released a letter to the Judiciary Committee
noting that Gonzales" recommendations "fostered
greater animosity toward the United States, undermined our
intelligence gathering efforts, and added to the risks facing
our troops serving around the world."
- Brigadier General James Cullen (Ret), among 12 retired
Admirals and Generals who yesterday released a letter to
the Senate Judiciary Committee urging Members to closely
examine Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales role in
setting U.S. policy on torture. Mr. Gonzales confirmation
hearings begin January 6, 2005. Cullen last served as the
Chief Judge of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
He currently practices law in New York City.
Tsunami Warning Systems: Why Didn't Scientists Notify
the Press About the Impending Disaster?
We speak with Australian journalist Peter Symonds about
the lack of warning systems in Asia that could have prevented
tens of thousands of people from being killed in the tsunami
disaster. [includes rush
transcript]
The death toll of the Dec. 26th tsunami disaster continues
to grow and now stands at 155,000 people killed across 11
countries. The World Health Organization estimates more than
half a million people are injured and in need of medical care
and fears are growing that diseases such as cholera and malaria
would break out among the five million people left homeless.
Children are the biggest victims of the disaster, making
up a third of the dead. U.N. officials said they are worried
that thousands of orphaned or lost children might be falling
prey to criminal gangs bent on selling them into slavery,
adding to worries about a "tsunami generation" of
children also under threat of disease and hunger.
Across Europe today, millions of people observed a three-minute
silence to remember those killed. The German stock exchange
stopped trading, cars remained motionless in the streets of
Stockholm, mourners stood shoulder to shoulder in Paris and
flags flew half-mast in the UK.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell traveled to Indonesia
today where he took a two-hour helicopter tour of Aceh. The
death toll there stands at nearly 100,000 people - two thirds
of the total casualties. Powell told reporters "I have
never seen anything like this."
After his tour of Aceh, Powell left for Indonesia's capital
Jakarta where U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other
world leaders were arriving for a global relief summit on
Thursday. Among issues to be discussed will be the implementation
of a regional tsunami warning system. Thailand's top weather
forecaster was fired for failing to issue a tsunami warning
out of fear it could harm the tourism industry.
- Peter Symonds, journalist based in Sydney Australia.
Just wrote an article
for the World Socialist Website that analyzes the warning
systems in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.
Shakeup: Doctors Without Borders Tells Tsunami Donors
to Give to Other International Relief Efforts
The medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without
Borders) urged donors Tuesday to stop sending it money for
Asian tsunami victims, saying it had collected enough funds
to manage its relief effort there and to focus on "humanitarian
needs in war-torn Darfur, Sudan, and elsewhere in the over
70 countries where MSF is working around the world."
[includes rush
transcript]
International aid efforts continue in response to the tsunami
disaster, but one medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontiers
(Doctors without Borders) urged donors Tuesday to stop sending
it money for Asian tsunami victims, saying it had collected
enough funds to manage its relief effort there.
In a statement
they write "We have received sufficient funds for our
currently foreseen emergency response in South Asia...We kindly
request that you contribute to our general Emergency Relief
Fund, which is enabling our quick response to the current
disaster in South Asia as well as humanitarian needs in war-torn
Darfur, Sudan, and elsewhere in the over 70 countries where
MSF is working around the world."
Their decision surprised other aid groups and drew criticism
that it could undercut an unprecedented wave of private giving
to provide relief to the region.
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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