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Killing the Witness: Spanish Judge Orders Arrest & Extradition
of U.S. Soldiers in Death of Spanish Journalist Jose Couso
in Iraq
Saddam Hussein Pleads Innocent in Trial Over 1982 Shiite
Massacre
Robert Fisk: War is the "Total Failure of the Human
Spirit"
Killing the Witness: Spanish Judge Orders Arrest
& Extradition of U.S. Soldiers in Death of Spanish Journalist
Jose Couso in Iraq
The judge said the action was needed because the U.S. had
provided "no judicial cooperation" in trying to
resolve the death. We hear response from the Couso family
and air excerpts from the documentary "Hotel Palestine:
Killing the Witness," featuring eyewitnesses to the shooting
including reporters and two of the U.S. soldiers facing arrest.
A Spanish court has issued international arrest warrants
for three U.S. soldiers connected to the killing of Spanish
tv cameraman Jose Couso in Iraq.
On April 8 2003, the U.S. military opened fire on the Palestine
Hotel in Baghdad, killing two journalists: Taras Protsyuk,
a Reuters cameraman from Ukraine, and Couso who worked for
the Spanish TV network, Telecinco.
On Wednesday, the Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz issued arrest
warrants for Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, Captain Philip Wolford
and Sgt. Shawn Gibson all of the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
The judge also requested the soldiers be extradited to Spain.
The soldiers have not been formally indicted but if they
were brought to trial they could face jail sentences of up
to 20 years for murder and "crimes against the international
community".
Under Spanish law, a crime committed against a Spaniard abroad
can be prosecuted in Spain if it is not investigated in the
country where it is committed.
In a statement issued to Democracy Now, Army spokesperson
Lt. Col. Barry Venable defended the actions of the American
troops in Iraq.
He said "U.S. Central Command fully investigated the
incident and determined that the U.S. service members acted
appropriately during that combat action."
Venable also said the Pentagon has "cooperated previously
with the Spanish Government, including by providing information
concerning the incident and resulting investigation."
But Spanish officials disagree. The arrest warrant said the
U.S. had provided "no judicial cooperation" in trying
to resolve the death.
After the judge issued the arrest warrants, Jose Couso's
borhter, Javier held a press conference in Madrid.
- Javier Couso, brother of slain journalist Jose Couo,
speaking to reporters in Madrid Wednesday.
- Maribel Permuy Lopez, mother of Jose Couso. She was interviewed
in Washington D.C. on Sept. 24 at the antiwar march.
We turn now to the documentary, "Hotel Palestine: Killing
the Witness," produced by Jose Couso's network, Telecinco,
and broadcast on Spanish TV. It includes interviews with numerous
journalists who were inside the Palestine Hotel, the AP reporter
embedded with US forces at the time of the attack as well
as two of the soldiers named in the warrants as well as two
of the soldiers wanted in Spain, Shawn Gibson and Lt. Col.
Philip de Camp.
- "Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness"
Saddam Hussein Pleads Innocent in Trial Over 1982
Shiite Massacre
We speak with writer Larry Everest on how many of Saddam
Hussein's war crimes occurred when Iraq was backed by the
United States and the upcoming Bush Commission in New York
where a group of academics and attorneys plan to accuse the
Bush administration of war crimes in Iraq.
Saddam Hussein's trial has begun in Baghdad with the former
Iraqi leader defiantly questioning the validity of the court
before pleading not guilty for crimes against humanity.
He and seven associates all pleaded not guilty to charges
of ordering and killing of 143 Shia men in 1982 in the village
of Dujail. If convicted they could face the death penalty.
Saddam Hussein entered the courtroom wearing a dark jacket
over an open-necked shirt and carrying a copy of the Koran.
He refused to identify himself and questioned the validity
of the proceedings. He told the judges "I preserve my
constitutional rights as the president of Iraq. I do not recognize
the body that has authorized you and I don't recognize this
aggression. What is based on injustice is unjust ... I do
not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect."
Later, as the trial adjourned, he was involved in what appeared
to be a scuffle with the guards who wanted to grab his arms
to escort him out.
The case is being heard in a specially built courtroom in
the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital. The
courtroom is ringed with ten-foot-high blast walls and US
and Iraqi troops.
Saddam Hussein's co-accused include his half-brother, Barzan
Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who was his intelligence chief and former
Vice-President, Taha Yassin Ramadan.
The trial is being presided over by five judges. It had been
suggested that their identities and backgrounds would be kept
secret for their own protection, but the lead judge has now
been named as Rizgar Mohammed Amin, an ethnic Kurd.
While a small number of observers and journalists were allowed
in the courtroom, the public was excluded. The trial was broadcast
on satellite stations around the world with a 20-minute delay.
The case is the first of many expected to be brought against
the 68 year-old Saddam Hussein. It concerns the rounding up
and execution of 143 men in Dujail, a Shia village north of
Baghdad, following an attempt there on Saddam Hussein"s
life. Iraqi mother Um Ahmed is one of those who may give evidence
in the trial. She remembered what happened in 1982.
The charge against Saddam Hussein and his associates carries
the death penalty, though they have the right to appeal if
they are found guilty.
Prosecution lawyers are also expected to bring charges concerning
the gassing of 5,000 people in the Kurdish village of Halabja
in March 1988, and the suppression of a Shia revolt following
the first Gulf War. Iran said on Tuesday it had asked the
court to charge the former Iraqi leader over the use of chemical
weapons in the Iran-Iraq war.
After just over three hours, the trial was adjourned until
November 28th. Saddam Hussein's defense team had said they
wanted a postponement to prepare their case, but Reuters quoted
the chief judge as saying the main reason was witnesses had
not shown up.
Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, told the German
newspaper Der Spiegel earlier this week "The entire proceeding
is a farce. Nothing is occurring according to procedure. We
did not receive any official documents until September 25.
This is a dramatic violation of Iraqi laws."
Human rights groups, too, have expressed concerns. Both Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International have questioned the
impartiality and independence of the court. The United States
drew up the original statutes of the special tribunal and
is partly funding it.
We are joined now by Larry Everest. He is author of the book
"Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda."
He writes frequently for the Revolutionary Worker newspaper.
- Larry Everest, author of the book "Oil, Power &
Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda." He writes
frequently for the Revolutionary Worker newspaper. He is
heading up an international commission of inquiry on cimes
against humanity committed by the Bush administration on
October 21 and 22 in New York City. For more information,
go to: www.bushcommission.org.
Robert Fisk: War is the "Total Failure of the
Human Spirit"
We play an interview with veteran Middle East correspondent
Robert Fisk of the London Independent, speaking last month
in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Fisk says, "The Americans must
leave [Iraq]. And the Americans will leave but the Americans
can't leave. And that's the equation that turns sand into
blood. Once you become an occupying power, you take on the
responsibilities for the civilians, which we have not done.
But you also have a responsibility to yourself. You have to
keep justifying, over and over and over again to your own
populations, you were right to do it."
Veteran Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk of the London
Independent discusses Iraq, the media and what gives him hope.
During the thirty years that he has been reporting on the
Middle East, Fisk has covered every major event in the region,
from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution, from
the American hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War,
from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan to Israel's invasions
of Lebanon, from the Gulf War to the invasion and ongoing
war in Iraq.
Amy Goodman interviewed Robert Fisk in Santa Fe, New Mexico
last month at an event sponsored by the Lannan Foundation.
He was in a studio in Toronto, Canada and was brought in by
satellite into a packed Lensic Theater on a huge screen. Fisk
is author of the new book, "The Great War for Civilisation:
The Conquest of the Middle East."
- Robert Fisk, speaking in Santa Fe, New Mexico, September
21, 2005.
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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