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Iraqi Feminist Yanar Mohammed on the Iraq Constitution Vote
Should The New York Times Fire Judith Miller and Apologize
to Readers?
New York Times Contributor Barbara Ehrenreich: Judith Miller's
Access to Power Was More Important to the Times' Than the
Truth
Barbara Ehrenreich: "Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit
of the American Dream"
Iraqi Feminist Yanar Mohammed on the Iraq Constitution
Vote
In Iraq, early election results suggest that voters have
approved a new US-backed constitution. Millions of ballots
are still being counted two days after the referendum which
was a simple "Yes" or "No" on whether
to accept the document. [includes rush
transcript]
Preliminary counts indicate the vote split as expected along
largely ethnic lines. Most Kurds and Shia Muslims are almost
certain to have backed the constitution. The key issue is
whether the minority Sunnis have been able to block it. Many
Sunnis fear it will create richer mini-states for the Kurds
and Shias and leave the Sunni areas in the centre and west
impoverished.
Overall, turnout was running at over 60 percent and could
go higher, according to the Electoral Commission. Early election
results indicated a strong "Yes" vote in the Shiite
provinces of the south and massive rejection in the Sunni
areas of the north and west. Despite high turnout in some
Sunni Arab areas, partial counts suggested the charter's opponents
did not muster enough "No" votes to veto it. According
to the referendum rules, a two-thirds "No" vote
in three of Iraq's 18 provinces would block the constitution
from passing.
This is Iraq's government spokesman, Laith Kubba.
- Laith Kubba, Iraqi government spokesperson
If the constitution passes, Iraqis will vote again in December
for a new, four-year parliament. Should it fail, the country's
politicians would have to go back to the drawing-board.
In Washington, President Bush congratulated Iraqis on the
referendum.
- President Bush: "The vote today in Iraq stands in
stark contrast to the attitudes and philosophy and strategy
of al Qaeda and its terrorist friends and killers. We believe,
and the Iraqis believe, the best way forward is through
the democratic process. Al Qaeda wants to use their violent
ways to stop the march of democracy because democracy is
the exact opposite of what they believe is right. We're
making progress toward peace. We're making progress toward
an ally that will join us in the war on terror, that will
prevent al Qaeda from establishing safe haven in Iraq, and
a country that will serve as an example for others who aspire
to live in freedom."
Saturday's vote was largely peaceful as a huge security clampdown
prevented all but a handful of strikes, although five U.S.
soldiers and a Marine were killed in western Iraq. On Sunday,
US helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near Ramadi
in western Iraq. The US military said 70 people were killed
in the attacks, all of whom were militants, but eyewitnesses
are quoted saying that many were civilians.
We are joined by Iraqi feminist, Yanar Mohammed. She is Director
of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, a group that
works to stop atrocities against Iraqi women and defend their
rights. She also serves as the Editor in Chief of the newspaper
Al-Mousawat which stands for "Equality." She joins
us from a studio in Toronto.
- Yanar Mohammed, director of the Organization of Women/s
Freedom in Iraq, a group that works to stop atrocities against
Iraqi women and defend their rights. She also serves as
the Editor in Chief of the newspaper Al-Mousawat which stands
for "Equality."
Should The New York Times Fire Judith Miller and
Apologize to Readers?
On Sunday, Miller revealed that she spoke with Scooter Libby
about undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame weeks before her
name appeared in the press, but Miller claims she can't remember
who leaked the name. Meanwhile it has been revealed Miller
had a special Pentagon security clearance and was removed
from covering Iraq and WMD stories by her editors. [includes
rush
transcript]
This weekend, The New York Times published its long awaited
account of Judith Miller's involvement in the Valarie Plame
affair. Miller, a New York Times reporter, was released from
jail late last month after agreeing to testify before a grand
jury investigating who in the Bush administration leaked the
identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.
The Times account revealed several new details about Miller's
conversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice-President
Dick Cheney"s Chief of Staff. Libby and President Bush"s
Senior advisor, Karl Rove, face possible indictiments for
their roles in the affair.
Miller is claiming that she doesn't know who gave her Plame's
name but admitted discussing her with Libby. Miller's notes
reveal that she wrote the name "Valerie Flame" in
the same notebook she used to interview Libby.
The Times report also makes clear that Miller initially believed
that Libby"s Lawyer, Joseph Tate was sending her a message
that Libby did not want her to testify and was seeking assurances
that she would exonerate Libby.
The New York Times coverage also reveals that there has been
wide discontent at the paper about its handling of the story
and about Miller's reporting in general.
When asked what she regretted about the newspaper's handling
of the Miller matter, managing editor Jill Abramson said "The
entire thing."
In 2003 the paper's executive editor Bill Keller told Miller
she could no longer cover Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.
Miller had written several of the key articles that claimed
Iraq had an extensive weapons of mass destruction program
ahead of the Iraq invasion.
Miller even wrote in her own notes "W.M.D. -- I got
it totally wrong. The analysts, the experts and the journalists
who covered them -- we were all wrong. If your sources are
wrong, you are wrong."
In today's Washington Post, a former colleague of Miller's
revealed that he refused to work with her.
Craig Pyres - who now works with the Los Angeles Times -
wrote a memo to his editors five years ago and asked that
his byline not appear on one piece. Pyres wrote "I do
not trust her work, her judgment, or her conduct. She is an
advocate, and her actions threaten the integrity of the enterprise,
and of everyone who works with her.... She has turned in a
draft of a story of a collective enterprise that is little
more than dictation from government sources over several days,
filled with unproven assertions and factual inaccuracies."
Questions are also being raised about Miller's relationship
not just with Libby but with the Pentagon.
Miller revealed in her article that she had a Pentagon security
clearance while embedded with US military teams hunting for
banned weapons in Iraq.
Retired CBS News correspondent Bill Lynch said, "This
is as close as one can get to government licensing of journalists."
Lynch went on to write "Miller violated her duty to
report the truth by accepting a binding obligation to withhold
key facts the government deems secret, even when that information
might contradict the reportable "facts.""
On the phone to talk with us about these latest developments
is Michael Isikoff and Greg Mitchell.
- Michael Isikoff, investigative reporter with Newsweek.
His latest article is about Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin.
It is titled "Karl Rove's Consigliore."
- Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher. His
most recent column is titled "After 'NY Times' Probe:
Keller Should Fire Miller--and Apologize to Readers."
New York Times Contributor Barbara Ehrenreich: Judith
Miller's Access to Power Was More Important to the Times'
Than the Truth
Ehrenreich discusses the latest about Times' reporter Judith
Miller and the CIA leak story. She criticizes the Times' editors
for their handling of the affair: "This has called into
question the judgment of the newspaper that I rely on."
- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of thirteen books, including
the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed. A frequent
contributor to the New York Times, Harpers, and the Progressive,
she is a contributing writer to Time magazine.
Barbara Ehrenreich: "Bait and Switch: The (Futile)
Pursuit of the American Dream"
The best-selling author discusses going undercover as a
middle-aged professional trying to get a white-collar job
in corporate America. She finds that the people who are playing
by the rules -- going to college, being loyal to the to their
employer -- are too often ending up in financial ruin.
Throughout her three decades of journalism and activism,
Barbara Ehrenreich has been one of the most consistent chroniclers
of class in America. She is the author of thirteen books,
including the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed:
Surviving in Low-Wage America. That book, which was inspired
in part by welfare reform legislation that pushed some 12
million women into the labor market, described her attempt
to live on low-wage jobs making, between $6 and $7 dollars
an hour. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, Ehrenreich
worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing
home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She found that with
even all of her advantages - race, education, good health
and lack of children, her income barely covered her monthly
expenses.
In her latest book, "Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit
of the American Dream, Ehrenreich explores the plight of white-collar
workers forced from jobs by corporations constantly on the
hunt for lower-salaried younger workers. She goes undercover
again, this time as a middle-aged professional trying to get
a white-collar job in corporate America and finds that the
people who are playing by the rules -going to college, being
loyal to the to their employer- are too often ending up in
financial ruin.
- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of thirteen books, including
the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed. A frequent
contributor to the New York Times, Harpers, and the Progressive,
she is a contributing writer to Time magazine.
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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