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Subcomandante Marcos Says Zapatistas Received Reports of
Electoral Fraud in Mexico Presidential Election
Seymour Hersh: Senior Pentagon Officials Challenging President
Bush's Iran War Plans
Did Bush Administration Policy on North Korea Help Provoke
Ballistic Missile Tests?
Vietnam-Era Veteran Arrested at VA Medical Center for Wearing
Peace T-Shirt
Subcomandante Marcos Says Zapatistas Received Reports
of Electoral Fraud in Mexico Presidential Election
Mexico's presidential election is still too close to call
as electoral authorities work round the clock to verify vote
tallies from Sunday's poll. Populist candidate Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador refused to accept preliminary results issued
earlier this week alleging voter fraud. In a national broadcast
exclusive, we air an excerpt of a radio broadcast with Zapatista
leader Subcomandante Marcos who says he also received reports
of electoral fraud. [includes rush
transcript]
Mexico's presidential election is still too close to call
as electoral authorities work round the clock to verify vote
tallies from Sunday's poll.
With nearly 98 percent of the vote tallies recounted, conservative
candidate Felipe Calderon holds a razor-thin lead over populist
rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Both candidates have insisted
they will win the election.
The Federal Electoral Institute says it expects to announce
the result soon. As the final figures come in, the gap between
the two candidates has narrowed to just thousands of votes
out of a total of 41 million ballots cast.
Lopez Obrador refused to accept preliminary results issued
earlier this week that gave Calderon a narrow lead. He alleged
there had been "serious evidence of fraud", and
said that if he lost he would call for a ballot-by-ballot
recount. He said the initial results had "many inconsistencies"
and his party claimed some voting places were counted twice
while others were not counted at all. Lopez Obrador isn't
the only one alleging voter manipulation. Zapatista leader
Subcomandante Marcos says he also received reports of electoral
fraud. He spoke about the election in a radio insurgente broadcast
in Mexico City on Monday.
- Subcomandante Marcos, radio broadcast on July 3rd, 2006.
Taped and translated by independent filmmaker Rick Rowley
of Big Noise Films.
Seymour Hersh: Senior Pentagon Officials Challenging
President Bush's Iran War Plans
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reports
that the Defense Department has been drawing up plans, at
President Bush's direction, for a major bombing campaign inside
Iran. Hersh says that generals and admirals have told the
Bush Administration the bombing campaign will probably not
succeed in destroying Iran's nuclear program and that war
planners are not even sure what to target. [includes rush
transcript]
North Korea acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that
it had test-fired a series of missiles and vowed to continue
launching them. It also threatened to use force if the international
community tired to stop it.
The UN Security Council is due to reconvene later to discuss
a draft resolution in response to the launches. President
Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are pushing
for sanctions against Pyongyang. We'll have more on North
Korea later in the program, but first, we take a look at another
member of the Bush administration's so-called "axis of
evil:" Iran.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that
Iran should respond by July 15th to an international offer
aimed at halting its controversial nuclear program. The package
demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment in return for
economic and political incentives.
Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and is
designed to meet its energy needs, but the United States says
it is using it to develop nuclear weapons.
The Bush administration agreed earlier this year to engage
in direct talks with Iran but the military option is still
very much on the table. The Defense Department has been drawing
up plans, at the President's direction, for a major bombing
campaign inside Iran.
In this week's issue of the New Yorker magazine, Pulitzer
prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reports that senior
Pentagon officials are increasingly challenging the President's
plans. Hersh writes that generals and admirals have told the
Administration the bombing campaign will probably not succeed
in destroying Iran's nuclear program and that war planners
are not even sure what to target.
- Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter for the
New Yorker magazine. Read Hersh's article "Last
Stand."
Did Bush Administration Policy on North Korea Help
Provoke Ballistic Missile Tests?
North Korea launched its first ballistic missile tests in
eight years on Wednesday firing seven missiles over the Sea
of Japan. Leon Sigal, author of "Disarming Strangers:
Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea" says that the Bush
administration's policy on North Korea "provoked Kim
Jong-il to accelerate nuclear arming and missile development."
On Wednesday, North Korea launched its first ballistic missile
tests in eight years firing seven missiles over the Sea of
Japan. One of the missiles was the long-range Taepodong 2,
which American spy satellites have been tracking for over
a month. The action by North Korea came after weeks of speculation
and warnings by President Bush and the governments of Japan,
South Korea and China not to break a moratorium on long-range
missile launches established in 1999.
After reports of the launch, the United Nations Security
Council met in an emergency session to consider a resolution
condemning the tests. Japan, backed by the United States and
Britain, called for a resolution imposing sanctions on North
Korea. The resolution demands that countries withhold all
funds, material and technology that could be used for North
Korea's missile program. Russia and China made clear they
would oppose any sanctions.
- President Bush, speaking from the Oval Office, July 5th,
2006.
- Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, speaking July 5th,
2006.
For more on the situation in North Korea we are joined by
Leon Sigal:
- Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative
Security Project at the Social
Science Research Council in New York. He is author of
"Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North
Korea."
Vietnam-Era Veteran Arrested at VA Medical Center
for Wearing Peace T-Shirt
Mike Ferner, a Vietnam-era veteran, says he was arrested
at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center in Chicago for wearing
a Veterans for Peace T-Shirt. We also speak with longtime
peace activist Kathy Kelly about the crackdown on dissent.
Getting arrested for wearing a peace T-Shirt. Sound unlikely?
That's what a Vietnam-era veteran says happened to him just
a few days ago at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's
south side.
He says a Veteran Administration cop detained him while he
was drinking a cup of coffee and wearing a Veterans for Peace
T-Shirt.
That Vietnam-era veteran joins us now from a studio in Chicago.
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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