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Afghanistan in Turmoil: 330+ Killed in One Week, U.S. Bombing
Raids Continue, Taliban Seizing Control in Southern Region
While Some See Compromise, Critics Say Senate Immigration
Bill Punishes Undocumented Immigrants
U.S. Court Rules Wrongfully-Held Detainee Khaled El-Masri
Can't Sue CIA For Kidnapping Him
Special Memorial Day Preview...Fmr. British Navy Spokesman
Lieutenant Commander Steve Tatham on Losing Arab Hearts and
Minds
Afghanistan in Turmoil: 330+ Killed in One Week,
U.S. Bombing Raids Continue, Taliban Seizing Control in Southern
Region
In Afghanistan, more than 330 people have died over the
past week in some of the heaviest fighting since the war began
almost five years ago. Taliban have moved out of the mountains
and seized large areas in the south. We speak with an Afghan
human rights activist who was forced to flee the country because
of his work documenting human rights abuses committed by U.S.
forces. [includes rush
transcript]
In Afghanistan, more than 330 people have died over the
past week in some of the heaviest fighting since the war began
almost five years ago.
On Monday U.S. A-10 fighter jets and Apache helicopter gunships
bombed homes in the village of Azizi, west of Kandahar.
The air strikes, which lasted for hours, killed about 100
people including as many as 30 civilians. U.S. officials said
the raids targeted Taliban fighters who were involved in a
series of deadly attacks last week.
The increase in fighting comes just two months before the
United States is scheduled to hand over command of southern
Afghanistan to NATO forces.
Fighting has greatly increased in Southern Afghanistan as
the Taliban have moved out of the mountains and seized large
areas of the region.
Last week the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Karl
Eikenberry, admitted that the Taliban are now better trained,
armed and organized than in the past. He said the Taliban
has adopted tactics used in Iraq including suicide attacks
and roadside bombs.
Meanwhile the Afghan government has accused Pakistan of recruiting,
training and coordinating attack missions for the Taliban.
Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said, "Pakistani intelligence
gives military training to people and then sends them to Afghanistan
with logistics." The Pakistani government has rejected
the charge.
For more we are joined by Habib Rahiab - he is an Afghan-born
human rights activist. Up until two years ago he lived in
Afghanistan where he helped "Human Rights Watch"
document human rights abuses committed by U.S. forces -- including
some similar to those that later surfaced in the Abu Ghraib
scandal in Iraq. He is now a fellow at Harvard Law School.
- Habib Rahiab, Afghan-born human rights activist who was
forced to flee Afghanistan two years ago because of his
work documenting human rights abuses.
While Some See Compromise, Critics Say Senate Immigration
Bill Punishes Undocumented Immigrants
The Senate version of the immigration bill is expected to
be voted on as early as today. While the bill is being hailed
as a compromise solution to immigration, many immigrant advocates
point to a number of adverse provisions in the bill that they
say will actually bar millions from legalization and threaten
their civil liberties. [includes rush
transcript]
We take a look at the Senate immigration bill, which is
expected to be voted on as early as today. The bill, which
has caused much debate in Congress, would heighten enforcement
measures, establish a temporary guest worker program, punish
employers who hire undocumented immigrants and open a route
to citizenship for at least some undocumented immigrants.
But many immigrant advocates point to a number of adverse
provisions in the bill that they say will actually bar millions
from legalization, threaten their civil liberties and declare
English the country's national language.
If passed, the Senate bill would have to be reconciled with
the draconian Sensenbrenner bill passed by the House in December.
That bill focuses strictly on enforcement and would consider
undocumented immigrants to be felons. It would also make it
a crime for priests, nuns, health care workers and other social
workers to offer help to undocumented immigrants. The passage
of the Sensenbrenner Bill sparked the massive protests in
support of immigrant rights that recently took place around
the country
To discuss this legislation we host a roundtable discussion:
U.S. Court Rules Wrongfully-Held Detainee Khaled
El-Masri Can't Sue CIA For Kidnapping Him
German citizen Khaled El-Masri tried to sue the CIA for
wrongfully kidnapping and abusing him. But last week, a U.S.
District Court dismissed the case on the grounds it would
jeapordize state secrets. We're speak El-Masri's attorney,
Ben Wizner of the ACLU. [includes rush
transcript]
We turn now to the case of Khaled El-Masri. He is the German
citizen who sued the CIA for illegally kidnapping him in Macedonia
two and a half years ago. After accusing him of being a member
of al Qaeda, the CIA flew him to a secret prison in Afghanistan
and held him for five months.
While in CIA custody, El-Masri says he was repeatedly beaten,
drugged, roughly interrogated by masked men, detained in squalid
conditions and denied access to an attorney or his family.
He was only released after the CIA realized they had detained
the wrong man, and left him alone on an abandoned road in
Albania.
In December, El-Masri sued the United States but last week
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
dismissed the case. Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that holding
the proceedings would jeopardize state secrets.
In a moment we will be joined by Khaled El-Masri's attorney,
Ben Wizner. But first we hear Khaled El-Masri describing his
treatment at the hands of the CIA. He spoke publicly for the
first time last December shortly after the American Civil
Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on his behalf.
- Khaled El-Masri, speaking December 6, 2005.
For more on this case, we are joined by El-Masri's attorney:
Special Memorial Day Preview...Fmr. British Navy
Spokesman Lieutenant Commander Steve Tatham on Losing Arab
Hearts and Minds
We bring you a sneak preview of this upcoming Memorial Day
on Democracy Now: An exclusive interview with British Lieutenant
Commander Steve Tatham, the former head of the British Royal
Navy's Media Operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf during
the Iraq war and author of "Losing Arab Hearts and Minds:
The Coalition, Al Jazeera and Muslim Public Opinion."
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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