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U.S. Arrests Anti-Castro Cuban Tied To 1976 Airline Bombing
Attorney: Former Detainees Have Repeatedly Accused U.S. of
Desecrating Koran at Guatanamo
British MP Galloway Slams U.S. War in Iraq & Ties to
Saddam During Senate Testimony
Los Angeles Elects First Latino Mayor in 130 Years
25 Years Ago: The Kwangju Massacre in South Korea
U.S. Arrests Anti-Castro Cuban Tied To 1976 Airline
Bombing
Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles was arrested in Miami
shortly after he gave a press conference. Despite having been
jailed on terrorism charges in Venezuela and Panama, Carriles
managed to sneak into the United States in March in order
to seek political asylum.
Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles was arrested in Miami
Tuesday by immigration authorities as he was preparing to
leave the country. Posada is a 77-year-old former CIA operative
who has been trying to violently overthrow Fidel Castro's
government for four decades. He has been connected to the
1976 bombing of a civilian airliner that killed 73 passengers
- the first act of airline terrorism in the Western hemisphere.
He snuck into the United States in early March after years
of living in hiding in Latin America and is seeking asylum.
Hours before the arrest, Cuban President Fidel Castro led
about a million Cubans in a protest march in Havana to demand
that the United States act against Posada. Castro - who has
accused repeatedly accused Washington of double standards
in its war on terrorism - spoke to the crowd.
- Fidel Castro, Cuban president speaking on March 17 in
Havana
Posada's arrest at a house in Southwest Miami-Dade County
came on the same day the U.S. government summoned him to an
asylum interview. But instead of appearing at the interview,
Posada gave a news conference at an empty warehouse near Hialeah
where he denied the accusations against him.
- Luis Posada Carriles, speaking at a press conference
in Miami on March 17.
After the news session, Posada's lawyer told reporters his
client had dropped his US asylum petition and had intended
to leave the country. He was arrested at a house in Southwest
Miami-Dade County shortly afterwards.
Both Cuba and Venezuela have called for the Bush administration
to extradite him to face charges of terrorism. In a statement,
the Department of Homeland Security said "As a matter
of immigration law and policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement does not generally remove people to Cuba, nor
does ICE generally remove people to countries believed to
be acting on Cuba"s behalf." Homeland Security went
on to say it has 48 hours to determine Posada's immigration
status.
In an interview in Tuesday's Miami Herald, Posada said he
was amazed the U.S. government had not been looking for him.
He said "At first I hid a lot. Now I hide a lot less."
He also denied any involvement in the airliner bombing although
recently declassified documents from the CIA and FBI indicate
he attended at least two planning meetings for the attack.
Posada refused to confirm or deny involvement in other attacks,
telling the newspaper: "Let"s leave it to history."
- Ann Louise Bardach, award-winning journalist and Author
of Cuba Confidential. She interviewed Posada in 1998 for
The New York Times in one of his only in-depth interviews.
She is the director of the Media Project at the University
of California, Santa Barbara.
- Robert Parry, veteran investigative journalist and author
of the new book "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the
Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq." For years he
worked as an investigative reporter for both the Associated
Press and Newsweek magazine. His reporting led to the exposure
of what is now known as the "Iran-Contra" scandal.
- Ira Kurzban, Miami based lawyer who specializes in asylum
cases. Since 1991, he has served as General Counsel for
the government of Haiti.
Attorney: Former Detainees Have Repeatedly Accused
U.S. of Desecrating Koran at Guatanamo
In August 2003, 23 Yemeni detainees reportedly tried to
commit mass suicide after a guard stomped on the Koran. In
addition, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reported former
detainees said they saw the Koran being thrown into the toilets.
Three British citizens released last year from Guantanamo
reported similar treatment of the Koran in a 115-page dossier
on the conditions at the detention camp.
On Monday, under intense government pressure, Newsweek magazine
retracted a story that claimed U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo
Bay desecrated the Koran by flushing the holy book down the
toilet in front of detainees. The report, published in the
May 9th issue of the magazine sparked, wide-spread anti-American
protests throughout the Muslim world. During the protests
in Afghanistan, police killed at least 19 people in the worst
anti-American demonstrations since the US invaded the country
in 2001. Thousands also protested in Pakistan, Indonesia,
Yemen and Gaza.
Bush administration officials have blamed the Newsweek report
for sparking the protests and undercutting U.S attempts to
repair its reputation in the Muslim world after tha Abu Gharib
prison abuse scandal. Matt Drudge reported yesterday that
Michael Isikoff, the investigative journalist who was one
of the two reporters who wrote the story, offered to resign
from the magazine but his resignation was not accepted by
Newsweek's editors. Instead, the magazine retracted the story
and apologized for publishing it.
The Pentagon first complained about the article on Friday
following the deadly protests. On Monday, White House spokesperson
Scott McClellan said, "The report has had serious consequences.
People have lost their lives. The image of the United States
abroad has been damaged." McClellan also said that the
retraction was a, "good first step" but that that
the magazine had an obligation to reverse the effects of its
story and explain to the Muslim world "the policies and
practices of our military."
However, this is not the first time such accusations surfaced
about US guards desecrating the Koran. In August 2003, 23
Yemeni detainees reportedly tried to commit mass suicide after
a guard stomped on the Koran. In addition, the Bahrain Centre
for Human Rights reported former detainees said they saw the
Koran being thrown into the toilets. Three British citizens
released last year from Guantanamo reported similar treatment
of the Koran in a 115-page dossier on the conditions at the
detention camp. Up until now, the Pentagon had been unwilling
to say whether any of these allegations were investigated.
But yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said these
allegations were not credible. And last night the State Department
sent a cable to all embassies instructing them to inform host
countries of the Newsweek retraction. To talk more about this,
we are joined by Michael Ratner. He is an attorney and the
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights. We're also
joined on the phone from London by journalist and playwright
Victoria Britain who has spoken with many former detainees.
- Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional
Rights.
- Victoria Britain, longtime reporter for the Guardian
of London and author of a play about the Gauntanamo detainees
British MP Galloway Slams U.S. War in Iraq &
Ties to Saddam During Senate Testimony
On Tuesday British politician George Galloway testified
in Washington as part of the Senate's so-called oil for food
scandal. Galloway said "This is the mother of all smokescreens.
You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you
supported from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's
wealth." [includes rush
transcript]
The headline in the right wing New York Post today reads,
"Brit Fries Senators in Oil." That was their take
on the appearance of the fiery antiwar British politician
George Galloway before a US Senate Committee yesterday, where
he defended himself against accusations that he took kickbacks
from Saddam Hussein's government. Republican Senator Norm
Coleman has been investigating the so-called oil for food
scandal. Last week, Coleman's committee publicly accused Galloway
and an antiwar French politician of taking millions of dollars
in oil allocations from Saddam's government. After the report
came out last week, Galloway immediately said he would come
to Washington and blasted the committee for not having contacted
him during the course of its investigation.
On the eve of Galloway's appearance before the Senate, Democratic
staff on the investigations subcommittee released a report
that presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration
was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to
the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them. The
scale of the shipments involved dwarfs those previously alleged
by the Senate subcommittee against U.N. staff and European
politicians like Galloway and the former French Interior Minister
Charles Pasqua. In fact, the Senate report found that U.S.
oil purchases accounted for 52 percent of the kickbacks paid
to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil -- more than
those of the rest of the world put together. The report says
"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales
which violated U.N. sanctions and provided the bulk of the
illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing U.N.
sanctions. On occasion, the United States actually facilitated
the illicit oil sales."
Only two senators were present for the questioning of Galloway
-- Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democrat Carl Levin.
Levin spent much of his opening statement attacking the hypocrisy
of the US government. While Senator Coleman may have hoped
to corner Galloway, the antiwar member of the British parliament
turned the tables on the committee and used it as an opportunity
to blast the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Galloway: "Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens.
You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that
you supported from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's
wealth. Have a look at the real oil-for-food scandal. Have
a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the
first 14 months...when $8.8 billion of Iraq's wealth went
missing on your watch."
Galloway also used his appearance before the committee to
hammer away at the long record of U.S. support for Saddam
Hussein, in particular the current U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld.
Galloway: I have had two meetings with Saddam Hussein,
one in 1994 and once in August of 2002. By no stretch of
the English language can that be described as many meetings
with Saddam Hussein. As a matter of fact, I've met with
Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald
Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met
him to sell him guns and to give him maps to better target
those guns. I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions,
suffering and war and on the second of two occasions I met
him to try and persuade him to allow Dr. Hans Blix and the
United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country.
A rather better use of two meetings with Saddam Hussein
than your own Secretary of State for Defense made of his."
In building its case against Galloway, the Senate Committee
says it interviewed Saddam Hussein's former Iraqi Vice President
Taha Yassin Ramadan, who is currently in US custody. Senator
Coleman alleges that Ramadan confirmed that Galloway had received
compensation from the Iraqi government for his work in support
of the Iraqi people.
Galloway: I've never met Mr. Taha Yassin Ramadan, your
subcommittee apparently has. But I do know that he's your
prisoner. I believe he's in Abu Ghraib prison. I believe
he's facing war crimes, charges punishable by death. In
these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about
how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, in Bagram
air base, in Guantanamo Bay, including I may say British
citizens being held in those places, I'm not sure how much
credibility anyone would put on anything you managed to
get from a prisoner in those circumstances.
British member of parliament George Galloway speaking yesterday
in front of the Senate Committee investigating the so-called
oil for food scandal. Galloway was kicked out of the British
Labour Party for his opposition to the Iraq war and for attacking
Prime Minister Tony Blair. Galloway won reelection in the
last British elections, beating a key ally of Tony Blair.
Los Angeles Elects First Latino Mayor in 130 Years
Antonio Villaraigosa, a son of a Mexican immigrant, defeated
incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn. Villaraigosa took about 59 percent
of votes against 41 percent for Hahn, who beat Villaraigosa
in a bitter 2001 election. [includes rush
transcript]
The city of Los Angeles has elected its first Latino mayor
in over a century. Antonio Villaraigosa, a son of a Mexican
immigrant, defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn.
Villaraigosa took about 59 percent of votes against 41 percent
for Hahn, who beat Villaraigosa in a bitter 2001 election.
Turnout was low across the city at about 30 percent. Hahn
conceded shortly after midnight in a call to his opponent.
Villaraigosa said his victory was a moment of unity for a
city where Latinos make up 46 percent of the population. At
a victory party, he told supporters "I will never forget
where I came from, and I will always believe in the people
of Los Angeles."
Villaraigosa dropped out of high school in East LA before
paying his way through law school and rising to become the
speaker of the state assembly. Hahn, on the other hand, comes
from a powerful political dynasty and has been mayor since
2001. With last night's defeat, Hahn became the first Los
Angeles mayor to lose a reelection bid in over three decades
and the first to be denied a second term since 1933.
Villaraigosa's victory will make him Los Angeles' first Latino
mayor since Cristobel Aguilar in 1872 when the city was a
frontier town emerging from its days as a Mexican settlement.
Los Angeles is now the nation's second largest city.
- Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study
of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Guerra is
also an associate professor at LMU in the departments of
Chicano studies and political science.
25 Years Ago: The Kwangju Massacre in South Korea
Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez looks back at the 1980 pro-democracy
uprising that ended when South Korean soldiers opened fire.
The official body count was 500. Some human rights groups
have estimated the number of dead as high as 2,000. Despite
his public policy of supporting human rights, U.S. President
Jimmy Carter refused to back the pro-democracy protesters
in South Korea. [includes rush
transcript]
Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez's column "Freedom
Bid That Shames Us" (Daily News, May 17, 2005):
Kim Hyo Seok was just a high school teenager that day
in May 1980 when Special Forces arrived before dawn and
surrounded the downtown YMCA where he and other pro-democracy
protesters had barricaded themselves for several days.
Within minutes, the soldiers opened fire with their tanks
and M-16s. By the time the smoke had cleared a few days
later in the city of Kwangju, the official body count had
passed 500. Some human rights groups have estimated the
number of dead as high as 2,000.
No one knows for sure.
What we do know is that young Kim was arrested by soldiers
and thrown into prison with hundreds of others, and that
Gen. Chun Doo Hwan, who ordered the attack on Kwangju, became
the next in a line of South Korean dictators dating to the
end of World War II.
The general had assumed power in late 1979 after a previous
dictator was assassinated. Instead of allowing democratic
elections, he declared martial law. Then in May 1980, he
closed the country's universities, arrested all major political
opponents and imposed strict press censorship.
Among those he jailed was South Korea's most famous dissident,
Kim Dae Jung, who came from just outside of Kwangju.
Thousands of university and high school students poured
into the streets of that city on May 18 to demand democratic
elections and the release of Kim Dae Jung.
Police violence against the demonstrators resulted in
two deaths and scores of injuries. The repression so inflamed
the population that hundreds of thousands of residents joined
in massive demonstrations that paralyzed the city.
"When we saw all the lies in the media, calling us
students thugs and criminals, it made us even angrier,"
Kim Hyo Seok told me yesterday.
The demonstrators soon overran government buildings and
trashed the two main television stations.
On May 22, William Gleysteen, U.S. ambassador to South
Korea, wrote in a cable to President Jimmy Carter's security
advisers: "Kwangju is ... out of control and poses
an alarming situation for [the Korean] military ... at least
150,000 people are involved."
Despite his public policy of supporting human rights,
Carter refused to back the massive democracy uprising in
South Korea. At that very moment, the United States was
facing a huge crisis in Iran, following the uprising that
brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.
In public, the Carter administration condemned the bloody
attack on Kwangju. But in private, White House officials
feared Korea would spin out of control. Carter's top aides
quietly backed Gen. Chun's use of South Korea's Special
Forces to gain control of Kwangju.
The full story of this sellout of Korea's democracy movement
was uncovered a few years ago in the "Cherokee files,"
thousands of secret documents about the Kwangju events that
our government released in a Freedom of Information request
from Journal of Commerce reporter Tim Shorrock.
After democracy finally came to South Korea in the late
1980s, Gen. Chun was put on trial and jailed for treason
for his role in the Kwangju massacre.
The protesters who died in the uprising were all declared
martyrs for democracy, and the South Korean government has
paid compensation to more than 4,000 who suffered injuries.
Kim Dae Jung, the dissident whose arrest touched off the
uprising, was elected president in 1997 and won the Nobel
Peace Prize a few years later for his efforts to end the
divisions between North and South Korea.
As for Kim Hyo Seok, the high school student who was arrested
at Kwangju, he now heads Light of May, a Korean human-rights
organization, and is co-chairman of his nation's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
This month, on the 25th anniversary of Kwangju, Kim Hyo
Seok is touring the United States, telling the story of
a fight for democracy few Americans have heard about. One
that triumphed even when our government turned its back.
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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