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Zarqawi's Death "Another Step in the Endless Cycle of
Violence" - Father of Beheaded Iraq Hostage
In Death, Zarqawi's Influence Remains A Matter of Debate
Student Takes on McCain Over Iraq War Support at New School
Graduation
House Passes Controversial COPE Telecom Bill, Rejects Amendment
to Protect Net Neutrality
A Mother Under Occupation: Palestinian Journalist Laila El-Haddad
on Life in the Occupied Territories
Zarqawi's Death "Another Step in the Endless
Cycle of Violence" - Father of Beheaded Iraq Hostage
We get reaction on the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from
Michael Berg, whose son, Nicholas Berg, was captured and killed
in Iraq two years ago. It is believed he was beheaded al-Zarqawi.
[includes rush
transcript]
We turn to Iraq and the reported killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The Iraqi and U.S. governments say he was killed on Wednesday
when U.S. fighter planes dropped a pair of 500-pound bombs
on a safe-house outside of the town of Baquba.
To many Zarqawi was the face of the Iraqi resistance. He
was accused of carrying out countless bombings, murders and
other acts of violence including the beheading of hostages
in Iraq. CIA officials said it was probably Zarqawi himself
who beheaded Nicholas Berg, the 26-year-old American who died
in May 2004.
A graphic video showing the beheading appeared on the Internet.
In the video his captors read a statement denouncing the abuse
of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib.
U.S. military officials found Berg's body on May 8, 2004
- just two weeks after 60 Minutes first broadcast images of
the U.S. abuse at Abu Ghraib.
To talk about the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, we are joined
in Wilmington, Delaware by Michael Berg, the father of Nicholas
Berg. Since his son's death Michael has become a vocal critic
of the Iraq war and the Bush administration. He is running
for Congress on the Green Party ticket.
- Michael Berg, son killed in Iraq. Running for Congress
on the Green Party ticket.
In Death, Zarqawi's Influence Remains A Matter of
Debate
We continue our coverage of what Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's
death will mean for Iraq. Arun Gupta, editor with the New
York City Independent Media Center's newspaper, The Indypendent,
joins us with his analysis. [includes transcript]
To talk more about the impact Zarqawi's death will have on
the Iraqi resistance and the ongoing war in Iraq we are also
joined by Arun Gupta, an editor and reporter at the New York
newspaper The Indypendent.
Student Takes on McCain Over Iraq War Support at
New School Graduation
We play what may have been the most controversial speech
at a college campus this spring when 21-year-old student Jean
Sara Rohe blasted Sen. John McCain (R - AZ) - who delivered
the keynote address at the ceremony - over his support for
the Iraq war. [includes rush
transcript]
We turn now to what may have been the most controversial
speech at a college campus this spring.
It occurred at the New School graduation ceremony in New
York where Republican Senator John McCain gave the keynote
address. McCain was invited to speak by New School President
Bob Kerrey, the former Senator and longtime friend of McCain.
Nearly 1,000 people signed a petition urging Kerrey to rescind
McCain's invitation. The protests continued even at the graduation
ceremony when one of the student speakers directly confronted
McCain over his support for war. The student was Jean Sara
Rohe, a 21-year-old graduate from New Jersey.
- Jean Sara Rohe,speaking at the New School graduation
ceremony.
Soon after Senator John McCain's chief of staff, Mark Salter,
wrote a comment on the website HuffingtonPost.com attacking
the student.
Salter wrote, "The only person you have succeeded in
making look like an idiot is yourself." He went on to
tell the student protesters: "You might look back on
the day of your graduation and your discourtesy to a good
and honest man with a little shame and the certain knowledge
that it very unlikely any of you will ever posses the one
small fraction of the character of John McCain."
House Passes Controversial COPE Telecom Bill, Rejects
Amendment to Protect Net Neutrality
The House voted on legislation yesterday that could determine
the future of the Internet and public access television in
this country. We examine the implications of the Communications
Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act - known as the
COPE bill - with Anthony Riddle of the Alliance for Community
Media. [includes rush
transcript]
The House voted on legislation yesterday that could determine
the future of the internet and public access television in
this country. In a vote of 321 to 101, the House voted to
pass the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement
Act, known as the COPE bill. This controversial telecommunications
legislation would permit phone and cable companies to operate
Internet and other digital communications service as private
networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight.
The bill would effectively end what is known as "net
neutrality" which is the concept that that everyone,
everywhere, should have free, universal and non-discriminatory
access to the Internet. The bill would also cut back the obligation
of cable TV companies to devote channels to public access
and fund the facilities to run them. And the COPE bill would
replace local cable franchises with national franchises.
Democratic Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey had proposed
an amendment to the COPE bill that would have included stiff
net neutrality regulations and prevented broadband providers
from treating some Internet sites differently from others
but the amendment was rejected.
- Rep. Ed Markey (D - MA), speaking on the House floor,
June 8th, 2006.
Opposition to the COPE bill came from all corners. The "Save
The Internet" coalition, representing musicians, special
interest groups, bloggers, and others, delivered almost 800,000
petition signatures to Congress in favor of net neutrality.
Internet companies have also spoken out against provisions
in the bill. Sergey Brin, co-founder of the search engine
Google, met with members of the Commerce Committee to explain
the importance of net neutrality for promoting Internet commerce
and the CEO of E-bay Meg Whitman took the unusual step of
personally e-mailing the auction site's users to ask their
support for promoting net neutrality protections. eBay stated
that the e-mail reached over a million users.
A Mother Under Occupation: Palestinian Journalist
Laila El-Haddad on Life in the Occupied Territories
We speak with Palestinian journalist and mother, Laila El-Haddad
about life in the Occupied Territories. El-Haddad writes for
Aljazeera.net and maintains her own blog titled "Raising
Youssef: A Diary of a Mother Under Occupation." She lives
in Gaza and the U.S. [includes rush
transcript]
A senior member of the Hamas government was assassinated
in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza town of Rafah on Thursday.
Three of his bodyguards were also killed in the attack. The
government official, Interior Ministry general director Jamal
Abu Samhadana, was also a founding member of the Popular Resistance
Committees who had been accused of plotting attacks inside
Israel. Samhadana had narrowly escaped four previous assassination
attempts.
Earlier that day three Palestinians were shot dead near a
border crossing in the Gaza Strip. Israel said its troops
had opened fire on "three suspect silhouettes" moving
towards the border. Palestinians said the dead were policemen
on patrol.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials are having talks over a
peace plan by the Palestinian Authority president that implicitly
recognizes Israel. President Mahmoud Abbas has given Hamas
until Saturday to accept the 18-point plan or he will put
it to a referendum.
This comes as the Bush administration has cancelled international
talks that were expected to lead to emergency payments of
salaries for Palestinian workers. Thousands of Palestinian
government employees have gone without pay following an international
aid-freeze on the Hamas-led government. A European diplomat
told the Independent of London the cancellation is stoking
fears the US government is committed to "regime change"
in the Occupied Territories.
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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