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Georgetown Faculty Object to Appointment of Iraq War Architect
Douglas Feith as Professor in School of Foreign Service
Controversy Brews at New School Over Pick of McCain as Graduation
Speaker
Crackdown in Mexico: 200 Jailed, Women Claim Sexual Abuse
by Police
Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and
the Rise of the New Imperialism
Georgetown Faculty Object to Appointment of Iraq
War Architect Douglas Feith as Professor in School of Foreign
Service
A number of faculty members at Georgetown University are
objecting to the appointment of Douglas Feith - the former
Under Secretary of Defense and a chief architect of the invasion
of Iraq - as a visiting professor in the School of Foreign
Service. We host a debate with one of the key faculty members
speaking out and the dean of the school. [includes rush
transcript]
Students and faculty at universities across the country
are speaking out against the honoring of pro-war politicians
at their campuses. Yesterday we looked at Boston College where
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is being awarded an honorary
degree - hundreds of faculty members are coming out against
the move.
In a moment we will examine the brewing controversy at the
New School where Republican Senator John McCain has been invited
to speak at this year's graduation ceremony. But first we
look at a story out of Georgetown University.
On May 1st, Georgetown announced that the former Under Secretary
of Defense, Douglas J. Feith, had been appointed as a visiting
professor in the School of Foreign Service. Feith has worked
in government for many years and has had stints at the Pentagon
and the National Security Council. He served as Under Secretary
for Defense of Policy from 2001 to 2005 and was intimately
involved with the planning of the invasion of Iraq.
The official announcement immediately brought condemnation
from faculty members both within and outside of the department.
A letter objecting to Feith's appointment has been signed
by 35 professors so far. It reads in part: "Mr. Feith
has been accused of ethical conflicts during his term in charge
of Iraq reconstruction. More seriously, he has sought to diminish
the importance of the Geneva Conventions and has defended
the use of torture in a number of public writings and talks.
He speaks regularly against the relevance of international
law to conflicts in the Middle East and opposes diplomatic
solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Perhaps most
seriously, he was a central figure in the dissemination of
false justifications for the illegal invasion of Iraq, behavior
that many experts consider to constitute war crimes, and which
the most sympathetic would have to think a highly dubious
grounds for further employment."
To debate the issue we are joined by two guests from Georgetown
University.
- Mark Lance, associate professor in the Philosophy Department
and Georgetown and current professor in the Program of Justice
and Peace at Georgetown University. He is the co-editor
of Peace and Change.
- Robert Gallucci, Dean of the School of Foreign Service
at Georgetown University.
Controversy Brews at New School Over Pick of McCain
as Graduation Speaker
Students and faculty at the New School in New York City
have objected to the pick of Arizona Republican Senator John
McCain as commencement speaker for this year's graduation.
We speak with one of the students speaking out. [includes
rush
transcript]
Students and faculty at the New School in New York City have
objected to the pick of Arizona Republican Senator John McCain
as commencement speaker for this year's graduation. Bob Kerrey,
the President of the New School and former Democratic senator
and Governor of Nebraska, picked McCain to deliver the address.
McCain is also scheduled to give the commencement address
at Liberty University- the institution founded by the Reverend
Jerry Falwell. Hundreds of students, faculty and staff have
signed a petition asking that the school revoke McCain's invitation.
- Brittany Charlton, Vice-Chair of the University Student
Senate. Brittany is a first semester senior and will be
graduating in December.
Crackdown in Mexico: 200 Jailed, Women Claim Sexual
Abuse by Police
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has launched an
investigation into last week's police crackdown in the town
of San Salvador Atenco outside of Mexico City. Over 200 people
have been arrested and over 20 women have said they were raped
or sexually abused by police inside jail.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has launched an
investigation into last week's police crackdown in the town
of San Salvador Atenco outside of Mexico City.
A week ago Wednesday, over 1,000 police officers raided the
town and conducted house-to-house searches arresting over
200 people. Images of police officers beating residents were
broadcast on national TV in Mexico.
As of last night almost all of the 200 people arrested remained
in jail. The police have also been accused of brutality inside
the jail.
At least seven women have said they were raped while another
16 said they were sexually abused.
The police action came a day after a peasant uprising in
Atenco that began after police forced a group of peasants
to stop flowers in a nearby town.
Police said the crackdown was justified because residents
of Atenco had taken a group of police officers hostage.
On Friday, the Zapatista leader Marcos led thousands on a
march to protest the police response. He announced that he
was suspending his nationwide tour, called the Other Campaign,
until the dispute in Atenco is settled.
- Marcos, Zapatista leader.
On Wednesday Democracy Now reached a Chilean woman named
Valentina Palma. She was arrested last week during the raid
in Atenco. Because she was a foreigner, Valentina was one
of the first detainees released. She said the police sexually
harassed her and raped at least two women.
- Valentina Palma, arrested during Atenco raid. She was
deported back to Chile after she was released from jail.
For more on the latest we go to Mexico:
- John Gibler, human rights fellow at Global
Exchange. He has been closely monitoring the events
in Atenco.
Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States,
and the Rise of the New Imperialism
We speak with historian and New York University professor
Greg Grandin about his new book, "Empire's Workshop:
Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New
Imperialism." It examines how U.S. foreign policy in
Latin America has served as model for U.S. actions in the
Middle East and beyond.
We turn now to another story out of Latin America. Historian
and NYU professor Greg Grandin has just published a new book
examining how U.S. foreign policy in Latin America has served
as model for U.S. actions in the Middle East and beyond.
In the book titled "Empire's Workshop: Latin America,
the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism,"
Grandin writes, "After World War II, in the name of containing
Communism, the United States, mostly through the actions of
local allies, executed or encouraged coups in, among other
places, Guatemala, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina and
patronized a brutal mercenary war in Nicaragua."
Grandin goes on to write, "Indeed, Reagan's Central
American wars can best be understood as a dress rehearsal
for what is going on now in the Middle East. It was in these
wars where the coalition made up of neoconservatives, Christian
evangelicals, free marketers, and nationalists that today
stands behind George W. Bush's expansive foreign policy first
came together."
- Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history at
NYU and author of the new book "Empire's Workshop:
Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New
Imperialism."
- Read Greg Grandin's article: "The
Wide War: How Donald Rumsfeld Discovered the Wild West in
Latin America
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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