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NATIONAL EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Talks
With Former US Diplomats on Israel, Prisoners and Hezbollah’s
Founding
After 2+ Years in Prison, Hunger Striking Former Haitian
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is Freed
Chicago Approves Living Wage Over Objections of Mayor, Wal
Mart
NATIONAL EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah
Talks With Former US Diplomats on Israel, Prisoners and Hezbollah’s
Founding
The US government considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization,
but several former former US diplomats sat down with the group’s
leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon earlier this year. In
a US national exclusive, we play excerpts of the interview,
and speak to former US Ambassador and White House Terrorism
Task Force Director Edward Peck, who took part in the meeting.
[includes rush
transcript]
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is the leader of the Lebanese militant
group Hezbollah. Although the United States considers Hezbollah
a terrorist organization, three former U.S. diplomats had
a chance to meet with Nasrallah this past February in Lebanon.
The diplomats were members of a delegation organized by the
Council for the National Interest.
During the meeting, Nasrallah discussed Hezbollah’s
strategy to free Lebanese prisoners being held in Israel.
He also spoke about the origins of Hezbollah, and recounted
an event that is back in the news this week—Israel’s
bombing of a UN observation post in the southern Lebanese
town of Qana in 1996 which killed 106 Lebanese refugees.
One of the retired diplomats who met with Nasrallah in February
was Edward Peck - he joins us from our Washington studio.
Edward Peck is the former U.S. chief of mission in Iraq and
ambassador to Mauritania. He served as the deputy director
of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan administration.
- Edward Peck. Former U.S. Chief of Mission in Iraq and
ambassador to Mauritania. He served as deputy director of
the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan Administration.
After 2+ Years in Prison, Hunger Striking Former
Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is Freed
After more than two years in prison and a fifteen month hunger-strike,
former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune was freed Thursday.
The most high profile political prisoner detained by the U.S.-backed
interim government in Haiti, Neptune was jailed shortly after
the 2004 coup that ousted Haitian President Jean Bertrand
Aristide. He was never charged with a crime. [includes rush
transcript]
Haiti’s former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has been
freed after spending more than two years in prison. On Thursday,
Neptune walked out of the National Penitentiary. Two UN peacekeepers
then helped him into an ambulance that took him to a hospital.
He was frail and barely able to speak, after spending much
of the past 15 months on a hunger strike. Yvon Neptune was
jailed shortly after the 2004 coup that ousted Haitian President
Jean Bertrand Aristide.
He was never charged with a crime and was the most high
profile political prisoner detained by the U.S.-backed interim
government.
Supporters and relatives celebrated his release less than
two weeks after over 3,000 people marched in Port-Au-Prince
calling for the return of Aristide and the release of all
political prisoners. Many of the demonstrators were members
of Aristide’s Lavalas party.
Patrick Elie joins us on the line from Port Au Prince. He
is a human rights activist in Haiti who campaigned for Neptune’s
release. He also served as Haiti’s Drug Czar and Undersecretary
of State for Defense in Aristide’s cabinet in the 1990s.
He was one of the key figures in dismantling the Haitian military.
- Patrick Elie. Human rights activist in Haiti who campaigned
for Neptune's release, and former Haitian Undersecretary
for Defense and Drug Czar under Aristide.
Chicago Approves Living Wage Over Objections of Mayor,
Wal Mart
The Chicago City Council has approved a measure requiring
large retailers to pay employees a living wage – making
Chicago the largest city with such a rule. The vote passed
over the strong lobbying of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and
the retail giant Wal-Mart. We speak to a community organizer
and a Chicago city Alderman who backed the campaign. [includes
rush
transcript]
On Wednesday, Chicago’s City Council approved a groundbreaking
measure requiring large retailers to pay employees a living
wage. Retailers with over $1 billion dollars in sales will
be required to pay workers at least ten dollars an hour plus
three dollars in benefits by the year 2010. The vote makes
Chicago the largest city with such a rule.
The measure passed 35 to14 despite opposition from Chicago
Mayor Richard Daley and threats from retail giants like Wal-Mart
and Target that it would focus its attention on suburban locations
if the measure was approved.
The passage of the Chicago ordinance comes a week after
a Federal judge struck down a measure in Maryland that would
have forced Wal-Mart to pay more for health care for its employees.
It also comes on the heels of Congress’s rejection earlier
this month of a proposal to increase the Federal minimum wage
from the present five dollars and fifteen cents an hour.
We speak with Alderman Joe Moore, the chief sponsor of the
measure, and Shiren Rattigan, a field organizer with the community
organization ACORN that campaigned for the bill.
Illinois Retail Merchants Association declined to be on
the program -- so did a reprentative from Wal-Mart. However
Wal-Mart did send us a statement that reads in part QUOTE
"This vote sends a message that Chicago is closed for
business, closed for development and closed for job creation."
- Alderman Joe Moore. Chicago city alderman and chief sponsor
of the measure.
- Shiren Rattigan. Community organizer with ACORN.
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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