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Pro Syrian Lebanese Government Resigns Amid Mass Street Protests
Haitian Police Open Fire on Thousands of Marchers Calling
for Return of Aristide
Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib: Detainees in Post 9/11 Sweep Allege
Abuse in New York Detention Center
Custer Battles: Why Won't the Justice Dept. Intervene to
Reclaim Millions From Military Contractor in Iraq?
Pro Syrian Lebanese Government Resigns Amid Mass
Street Protests
In an unexpected move, the Prime Minister of Lebanon announced
his resignation in front of the country's parliament Monday,
effectively terminating the rule of the current Syrian-backed
government, as tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated
outside. We go to Beirut to get a report.
In an unexpected move, Lebanese Prime Minister, Omar Karami,
announced his resignation in front of the country's parliament
Monday, effectively terminating the rule of the current Syrian-backed
government.
The announcement was aired live on television and greeted
with cheers from tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters
gathered outside the parliament building in defiance of a
government ban on demonstrations. They waved Lebanese flags
and demanded that Syria remove its 15,000 (fifteen thousands)
troops from the country. Protesters left in the early hours
of Tuesday only for a few hundred to return hours later, vowing
to keep up their street protests until Syrian withdrew its
forces. While the protests have been widspread, Shi'ite Muslims
who form Lebanon's largest community, have mainly stayed away
from the anti-Syrian rallies.
The resignation of the cabinet came two weeks after the killing
of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. Both
Karami's government and the Syrian government have been accused
of involvement in Hariri's assassination - charges they deny.
In his announcement, Karami said, "I am keen the government
will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for
this country. I declare the resignation of the government
that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon."
His announcement came as an opposition-sponsored motion of
no-confidence in the government was being debated in parliament.
The government will stay on as caretakers while President
Emile Lahoud consults on a new administration. The immediate
reaction from Syria, which backs the Lebanese government,
was non-committal, saying only that it was "an internal
affair" for Lebanon. Meanwhile, the White House hailed
the move as a step towards democracy. This is White House
Press Secretary Scott Mcllelan.
- Scott McLellan, White Press Secretary, February 28, 2005.
White House Press Secretary Scott Mcllelan. After Karami"s
announcement, Beirut"s English-language nespaper, the
Daily Star newspaper wrote in an editorial "Electricity
is in the air. Beirut is a sea of excitement, and activity
and turmoil. The word "revolution" is on many lips."
- Kate Seelye, freelance reporter based in Beirut.
Haitian Police Open Fire on Thousands of Marchers
Calling for Return of Aristide
In Haiti, police opened fire on thousands of demonstrators
who marched through the Bel-Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince
Monday to mark the anniversary of the coup that ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and call for his return. We go to Haiti
to speak with attorney Bill Quigley who attended the march.
[includes rush
transcript]
As we continue our coverage of the anniversary of the coup
in Haiti, which was carried out one year ago this week. In
a moment, we will go to Port-au-Prince where police opened
fire on a group of peaceful demonstrators who were calling
for the return of President Aristide. But first, we turn to
President Aristide himself. For months, he has been living
in exile in South Africa and has maintained a very low profile.
But a few days before the anniversary of the coup, Aristide
granted a rare interview to the famed Afro-French journalist
Claud Ribbe.
- "Aristide, 1 Year Later" - excerpt of documentary
by French journalist Claude Ribbe.
Aristide says, "I am the President of Haiti, even if
I am not in Haiti. I finish my term. I want to return to my
country before time goes by on the basis of a negotiated agreement
or a dialogue so that free, honest and democratic elections
could be held, as stated by the Constitution."
Arisitide also names two high level French emissaries who
he says threatened him in the days before his ouster to either
resign or be killed. He identifies them as Veronique de Villepin
- the sister of French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin
and the French Foreign Minister's appointee, Regis Debray.
Aristide maintains he was overthrown what he called a "modern-day
kidnapping" in the service of a coup d'etat backed by
the United States.
Meanwhile, in Haiti, police opened fire on thousands of demonstrators
who marched through the Bel-Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince
Monday to mark the anniversary of the coup.
Chanting "Aristide for life," the thousands of
protesters marched peacefully to demand Aristide's return.
As the demonstrators rounded a corner at a Bel-Air intersection,
police opened fire killing as many as three people. In response,
Democratic Congressmember Maxine Waters of California sent
a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice that expressing
"shock and outrage" and urging and investigation
into the incident.
Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib: Detainees in Post 9/11 Sweep
Allege Abuse in New York Detention Center
Some of the Middle Eastern immigrants arrested in the days
after 9/11 have alleged abuse at the hands of guards at a
detention center in New York City. In a class action lawsuit,
they detail these allegations, including humiliation, sleep
deprivation, physical and sexual abuse. We speak with the
New York Daily News reporter who broke the story, the attorney
in the suit and we go to Egypt to speak with one of the plaintiffs.
We return now to our in-depth coverage of the treatment of
people arrested, detained or imprisoned as part of the so-called
war on terror. Today's story takes us not to Guantanamo Bay
or to Abu Ghraib or to the Bagram Air Base. It happened right
here in New York at a facility some human rights lawyers are
calling "Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib."
In the days after the World Trade Center Attacks, 1,200 Middle
Eastern immigrants nationwide were picked up by the Immigration
and Naturalization service -- now folded into the Homeland
Security Department.
At least 84 of these detainees were held at the Metropolitan
Detention Center in Brooklyn. Some were detained for months
under a so-called "hold until cleared" policy. The
policy permitted Muslim and Arab non-citizens to be arrested
and held in custody until cleared by the FBI.
In 2002, seven plaintiff's filed a class action lawsuit against
employees of the Metropolitan Detention Center and the U.S
government -- challenging the constitutionality of this policy.
The plaintiffs have also alleged abuse during their time
in detention. The New York Daily News ran a major expose on
February 20th detailing these allegations, including humiliation,
sleep deprivation, physical and sexual abuse. And though the
Inspector General at the Justice Department substantiated
many of these charges -- the Department has refused to prosecute
any officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
The Bureau of Prisons did not return our calls when we asked
them to comment on the case. And the Justice Department did
not respond to our request for information on their investigation.
- Larry Cohler -Esses, reporter with the New York Daily
News. He wrote the article, "Brooklyn's
Abu Ghraib".
- Yasser Ibrahim, was held for 8 months at the Metropolitan
Detention Center in Brooklyn. He is a plaintiff in the case
Turkmen
v. Ashcroft filed by the Center for Consitutional RIghts
Custer Battles: Why Won't the Justice Dept. Intervene
to Reclaim Millions From Military Contractor in Iraq?
Two company whistleblowers are charging in a lawsuit that
military contractor Custer Battles defrauded the Coalition
Provisional Authority of tens of millions of dollars during
work in Iraq. The Justice Department has declined to intervene
in the suit. We speak with the Alan Grayson, the attorney
in the case and investigative journalist, Pratap Chatterjee.
A U.S. military contractor in Iraq is at the center of a
controversy over how American-forces disbursed and accounted
for hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraq.
The firm, Custer Battles is being charged in a lawsuit of
defrauding the Coalition Provisional Authority of tens of
millions of dollars during work in Iraq, which included securing
Baghdad International Airport.
Two former employees sued the company last year under the
False Claims Act, seeking to recover damages on behalf of
the US government. They allege that Custer Battles repeatedly
billed the occupation authorities for nonexistent services
or at grossly inflated prices. A few months after they filed
the suit, the Justice Department declined to intervene on
the whistle-blowers' behalf.
Because the case is the first to be unsealed involving the
charges of fraud in the multibillion-dollar Iraqi reconstruction
effort, it could set precedents.
- Alan Grayson, attorney in the lawsuit by two former employees
of Custer Battles. He testified about the case at a special
Congressional hearing in February.
- Pratap Chatterjee, the managing director of CorpWatch.org
and author of "Iraq, Inc."
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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