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Iraqi-American Member of Muslim Peacemaker Team Speaks Out
for Four Kidnapped Colleagues
Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight the Insurgency?
Rep. Jose Serrano: One of Three Congressmembers to Vote for
Immediate U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Iraq, One of Two to Accept
Venezuelan President Chavez' Offer of Cheap Oil to Poor U.S.
Communities
50th Anniversary of Montgomery Bus Boycott
Iraqi-American Member of Muslim Peacemaker Team Speaks
Out for Four Kidnapped Colleagues
As a group of influential Sunni scholars in Iraq calls for
the release of four kidnapped aid workers of the Christian
Peacemakers Team, we go to Najaf to speak with Sami Rasuli,
an Iraqi American who is a member of the Muslim Peacemaker
Team that was founded in conjunction with the CPT. [includes
rush
transcript]
A group of influential Sunni scholars is calling for the
release of five Westerners taken hostage last week in Iraq.
The Association of Muslim Scholars said the captives should
be granted their freedom as a humanitarian gesture. The group
has helped mediate the release of kidnapped foreigners in
the past.
The five captives include four aid workers from the humanitarian
group Christian Peacemaker Teams - two Canadians, a Briton
and an American - as well as German archaeologist Susanne
Ostoff, who was seized with her Iraqi driver last Friday.
Ostoff was working for a German aid organization distributing
medical supplies in Iraq since before the 2003 US invasion.
The group of Sunni scholars said releasing her would recognize
Germany's "positive" stance on Iraq.
The Association of Muslim Scholars said the release of the
four aid workers from Christian Peacemaker Teams would recognize
their "good efforts in helping those in need." The
non-missionary aid group has been operating in Iraq since
2002, and has had a presence in Gaza and the West Bank for
the past decade. It has previously operated in Afghanistan,
Chechnya and Bosnia.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the top Palestinian Muslim
cleric - Mufti Ikrema Sabri - also called for their release.
The four members of the group were taken captive Saturday
and appeared in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera. The video
bears the insignia of a group calling itself the Swords of
Righteousness Brigade who accused the four of being undercover
spies working as Christian peace activists. In the tape, the
men identified themselves on camera as Tom Fox of Clearbrook
Virginia, James Loney of Toronto and Harmeet Singh Sooden
of Canada and Norman Kember of Britain.
- Sami Rasuli, he is a member of the Muslim Peacemaker
Team which was founded in Iraq in conjunction with the Christian
Peacemaker Teams. He joins us on the line from Najaf.
Click here
to watch an extended Democracy Now! interview with Sami Rasuli.
Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight
the Insurgency?
In what the White House billed as a major policy address,
President Bush outlined the administration's Iraq war strategy.
Bush again linked a withdrawal of U.S. troops to improvements
in the capability of Iraqi security forces. We speak with
independent journalist Arun Gupta about the presence Iraqi
death squads and the U.S. training of Iraqi security forces.
[includes rush
transcript]
President Bush sought to overcome mounting criticism of
the Iraq war Wednesday in what the White House billed as a
major address outlining the administration's strategy.
In a 45-minute speech before the US Naval Academy, Bush again
rejected a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops and recounted
improvements made by Iraqi security forces. The speech was
the first of a series of four Bush plans to give before the
December 15th parliamentary elections. The president yesterday
reiterated that Iraqi troops will eventually take over from
US forces in fighting the insurgency.
President Bush, November 30
"Our goals are to train enough Iraqi forces so they
can carry the fight and this will take time and patience
and it is worth the time and it is worth the effort because
Iraqis and Americans share a common enemy and when that
enemy is defeated in Iraq, Americans will be safer here
at home. And as Iraqi security forces stand up then coalition
forces can stand down and when our mission of defeating
the terrorist is complete our troops can come home to a
proud nation."
Bush has repeatedly linked a U.S. withdrawal to improvements
in the capability of Iraqi forces. But the mainstream media
has recently detailed the existence of death squads within
the largely Shiite police and special commandos.
Operating through or with the Iraqi security forces, these
militias have abducted, tortured and executed hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of Sunnis. The New York Times reported Tuesday
"Some Sunni males have been found dead in ditches and
fields, with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on
their skin, and holes in their bodies apparently made by electric
drills. Many have simply vanished."
At a Pentagon press conference on Tuesday, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld was questioned about the death squads.
Pentagon press conference, November 29
Q: Mr. Secretary, are you concerned over -- and in fact,
is the United States looking into growing reports of uniformed
death squads in Iraq perhaps assassinating and torturing
hundreds of Sunnis? And if that's true, what would that
say about stability in Iraq?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I'm not going to comment on hypothetical
questions. I've not seen reports that hundreds are being
killed by roving death squads at all. We know for a fact
that it's a violent country. We know for a fact that there
have been various militias. We know that there have been
some militias that have been Iran-oriented. We also know
there's been some militias in the north that have been very
helpful. The Peshmerga have been very constructive in what
they've done. But I'm not going to get into speculation
like that.
Q: But, sir, that's not a hypothetical, I don't believe.
The Sunnis themselves are charging that hundreds have been
assassinated, people shot in the head, found in alleys.
SEC. RUMSFELD: What you're talking about are unverified
-- to my knowledge, at least -- unverified comments. I just
don't have any data from the field that I could comment
on in a specific way.
While the story only recently made front-page news, it actually
first appeared in the press over six months ago. Investigative
journalist Arun Gupta was one of the first to report on the
presence of death squads in Iraq back in April of this year.
We interviewed
him at the time, he joins us again in our firehouse studios.
Arun is an editor with New
York City Independent Media Center's newspaper, The
Indypendent.
- Arun Gupta, investigative journalist who writes frequently
for Z Magazine, Left Turn and the Indypendent newspaper
in New York. He is an editor at the
Indypendent and a former editor at the Guardian weekly
in New York.
Rep. Jose Serrano: One of Three Congressmembers to
Vote for Immediate U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Iraq, One of
Two to Accept Venezuelan President Chavez' Offer of Cheap
Oil to Poor U.S. Communities
We speak with Rep. Jose Serrano (D - NY), one of only three
Congressmembers out of more than 400 who voted for an immediate
withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. He's also one of the two
to take up an offer by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for
cheap oil here in the United States. [includes rush
transcript]
We turn to the issue of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
and his offer of cheap oil for poor US communities. New York
Congressmember Jose Serrano is one of the few members of Congress
promoting this effort. He's also one of the few to have voted
last month for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and we want
to talk to him about that first.
Last month, Democratic Congressman John Murtha sparked an
intense debate on Capitol Hill after he introduced a bill
calling for the deployment in Iraq to end "at the earliest
practicable date." He also called for a rapid reaction
force to stay in the region.
In response, the Republican leadership introduced a non-binding
bill that proposed "the deployment of United States forces
in Iraq be terminated immediately." It was rejected by
403 to 3.
The only three House Democrats to vote for the bill were
Serrano, Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and Robert Wexler of
Florida.
- Rep. Jose Serrano (D - New York), he represents the South
Bronx.
Website: House.gov/Serrano
Poor residents in the South Bronx section of New York City
and in Boston, Massachusetts will be receiving a huge gift
this winter - inexpensive home heating oil from Venezuela.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently completed historic
agreements with Congressmen Jose Serrano of New York and William
Delahunt of Massachusetts.
Under the agreements Citgo, the Houston-based American subsidiary
of Venezuela's state owned oil company, will provide 8 million
gallons of discounted home heating oil to residents of the
South Bronx and 12 million gallons to low-income residents
of Boston.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to benefit from
the deals, which could produce savings of more than $20 million
dollars.
The deal comes as Chavez continues to fiercely criticize
President Bush. Last month, at the Latin American Summit in
Argentina, he led a rally of 25,000 people to protest Bush
and his economic policies in the region. The deal also comes
as U.S oil companies have come under scrutiny for their record
high profits while at the same time, oil prices are expected
to reach record highs this winter.
Congressmember Serrano told the New York Times that the Citgo
deal "sends an incredible message to other oil companies.
It tells them that if these people in Venezuela can share
their profits with poorer communities, then they should too."
Chavez first made the offer in August in Caracas. He made
it again two months ago during an interview with Democracy
Now. At that time Chavez said the Venezuelan company Citgo
has 14,000 gas stations and eight refineries in the U.S. He
went on to outline his offer of cheap oil.
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez interviewed on Democracy
Now!
Check out the full interview with Chavez: Part
1 || Part
2
Congressmember Serrano joins us one line from New York.
- Rep. Jose Serrano (D - New York), he represents the South
Bronx.
Website: House.gov/Serrano
50th Anniversary of Montgomery Bus Boycott
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott. Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was arrested
December 1st, 1955, for violating segregation laws when she
refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.
The move sparked a one-year boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.
We hear some of the voices of people who were outside Parks'
memorial in Washington DC last month. [includes rush
transcript]
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott. Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was arrested
December 1st 1955 for violating segregation laws when she
refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.
Civil rights leaders called for a one-day boycott of the
city's segregated buses days later. On December 5th, ninety
percent of Montgomery's black citizens stayed off the buses.
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. led the boycott that stretched
on for over a year. 50,000 boycotters carpooled, used church
vehicles and walked to work for 381 days.
The bus boycott ended soon after the US Supreme Court ruled
the bus segregation unconstitutional in June 1956.
Rosa Parks became known as the "mother of the civil
rights movement." She died last month at the age of 92
and was the first woman to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol.
Amy Goodman went to the Rosa Parks memorial service along
with Democracy Now! producers Yoruba Richen and Elizabeth
Press last month in Washington D.C. and interviewed some of
those outside.
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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