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Iraqi Women Make Rare Trip to U.S. to Tell Their Stories
of Life Under Occupation
Come Hell or High Water: Michael Eric Dyson on Hurricane
Katrina and the Color of Disaster
Iraqi Women Make Rare Trip to U.S. to Tell Their
Stories of Life Under Occupation
This weekend, five Iraqi women arrived in New York City
to begin a speaking tour to educate Americans about the reality
in Iraq and meet with UN and US officials to call for a peace
plan. Two of them join us in our firehouse studio: Faiza Al-Araji
is a civil engineer and blogger, whose family recently fled
to Jordan after her son was temporarily kidnapped, and Eman
Ahmad Khamas, an Iraqi journalist, translator and human rights
activist. [includes rush
transcript - partial]
We turn now to the War in Iraq. Nearly three months after
a December election, Iraq's divided political leaders are
still fighting over the crucial post of prime minister in
the new government. Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said Monday
he would convene parliament in six days but there is little
chance of forming a unity coalition. Talabani is leading a
group of Sunni, Kurds and others opposing Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari's bid for a new term amid anger over the recent
surge violence in the country.
In the latest bloodshed, a car bomb in Baquba north of Baghdad
killed six people, two of whom were girls under four years
old. As many as 1,300 Iraqis were killed the week following
the February 22nd bombing of the gold dome of the Askariya
shrine in Samarra - one of the holiest sites to Shiite Muslims.
It marked one of the bloodiest periods since the U.S. invaded
the country nearly three years ago.
While the bloodshed appears to have at least temporarily
subsided, the outbreak of violence last week has raised new
concerns about where Iraq is headed and the prospect of an
outbreak of all-out civil war. But back in Washington, the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace
was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" how things are
going in Iraq. He replied, "I'd say they're going well.
I wouldn't put a great big smiley face on it, but I'd say
they're going well."
Pace's comments come as Amnesty International releases a
new report condemning what it calls the "arbitrary"
detention of tens of thousands of people in Iraq. In a new
report, the human rights group says the situation has become
"a recipe for abuse." Amnesty International UK Director
Kate Allen said: "As long as U.S. and U.K. forces hold
prisoners in secret detention conditions, torture is much
more likely to occur, to go undetected and to go unpunished."
Today we speak about Iraq with Iraqis. This weekend, five
Iraqi women arrived in New York City to begin a speaking tour
to educate Americans about the reality in Iraq and meet with
UN and US officials to call for a peace plan. We are joined
by two of them in our firehouse studio:
- Faiza Al-Araji, a civil engineer and blogger. She is
a religious Shia with a Sunni husband, and mother of three.
After one son was recently held as a political prisoner
by the Ministry of the Interior, the family fled to Jordan.
Her blog is afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com
- Eman Ahmad Khamas, journalist, translator and activist.
She is a member of the Women's Will organization, which
focuses on defining and defending women's rights. For the
past three years she has been documenting crimes committed
by US and Iraqi forces. She is the former Director of International
Occupation Watch Center Baghdad. She is married with
two daughters and lives in Baghdad.
Come Hell or High Water: Michael Eric Dyson on Hurricane
Katrina and the Color of Disaster
As President Bush prepares to pay a visit to the Gulf Coast
six months after Hurricane Katrina hit, we speak with University
of Pennsylvania professor and preacher Michael Eric Dyson
about his new book "Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane
Katrina and the Color of Disaster." [includes rush
transcript - partial]
We turn now to the issue of race and the government's response
to Hurricane Katrina. President Bush is expected to pay a
visit to the Gulf Coast this week. Back in Washington, meanwhile,
congressional hearings on the government response to the disaster
continue. The Senate appropriations committee spends two days
inspecting Bush's latest spending request for hurricane recovery.
On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs examines "Hurricane Katrina: Recommendations
for Reform."
This comes following last week's release of confidential
video footage of President Bush's final briefing before Hurricane
Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. It shows the President was
given dire warnings the storm could breach levees and threaten
the lives of residents of New Orleans. Yet days later, President
Bush said the breach of the levees hadn't been anticipated.
The release of the video came as Bush's approval rating is
at an all time low. A new CBS News poll has found the number
of Americans who approve of President Bush's overall job performance
is just 34 percent. Less than a third of Americans believe
the president has adequately responded to the needs of victims
of Hurricane Katrina. In the days after the storm hit, Bush
made a pledge to the residents of the devastated city of New
Orleans that the city "will rise again."
President Bush speaking last September. Six months later
much of New Orleans remains obliterated and the city is struggling
to rebuild. In the aftermath of the Hurricane, the government's
response to the disaster came under heavy criticism. During
a nationally televised telethon days after Katrina hit, hip-hop
artist Kanye West broke away from his scripted comments and
said "George Bush doesn't like black people."
For a look at the government response to Hurricane Katrina
we are joined by professor, preacher Michael Eric Dyson.
- Michael Eric Dyson, professor of humanities at the University
Of Pennsylvania and an ordained Baptist minister. He is
author of a number of books, his latest is "Come Hell
or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster."
Other books lnclude The New York Times bestseller "Is
Bill Cosby Right?", "Holler If You Hear Me: Searching
for Tupac Shakur," "Race Rules: Navigating the
Color Line" and "Between God and Gangsta Rap."
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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