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As Hezbollah Rocket Attacks Kill 15 in Northern Israel, An
Israeli Red Cross Official Describes Haifa Under Siege
Death Toll in Lebanon Reaches 1000; Humanitarian Crisis Mounts
As 1/4th of Lebanese Residents Are Displaced
“The War The World Ignores”: A Look at War-Devastated
Congo & The Country’s First Multi-Party Elections
in 45 Years
Protesters Target Bechtel for War-Profiteering In Iraq &
Its Ties to Nuclear Industry
As Hezbollah Rocket Attacks Kill 15 in Northern Israel,
An Israeli Red Cross Official Describes Haifa Under Siege
After the bloodiest day for Israel in the Middle East Conflict,
the Israeli death toll has topped 75. Twelve soldiers were
killed Sunday in the town of Kfar Giladi and three civilians
were killed in Haifa. As the world awaits an official comment
from Tel Aviv on a long-awaited UN ceasefire proposal, we
go to Haifa to speak to Erez Gellar of the Israeli relief
service Magen David Adom. [includes rush
transcript]
On Sunday, the US and France reached a long-awaited agreement
for a draft ceasefire resolution in Lebanon. While Tel Aviv
has yet to officially comment on the draft, Beirut has opposed
the resolution because it fails to call for the withdrawal
of Israeli troops from Lebanese soil. Meanwhile Sunday was
the deadliest day for Israel since the war began nearly a
month ago. 12 soldiers in the town of Kfar Giladi and three
civilians in Haifa were killed by Hezbollah rockets. Erez
Gellar, Paramedic Supervisor for the Israeli branch of the
Red Cross: Magen David Adom, joins us from Haifa where he
has spent the past several days directing relief efforts.
- Erez Gellar. Paramedic supervisor with Magen David Adom.
He is based in Haifa.
Death Toll in Lebanon Reaches 1000; Humanitarian
Crisis Mounts As 1/4th of Lebanese Residents Are Displaced
The Israeli military is reportedly planning to ramp up its
attacks on Lebanon by targetting more of the civilian infrastructure
as well as symbols of the Lebanese government. One military
official told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz "It could
be that at the end of the story, Lebanon will be dark for
a few years.” We speak to Catholic Relief Services representative
Mark Shnellbaecher, who suggests that Lebanon could run out
of fuel within the week, leading to a humanitarian catastrophe
that will not be easily solved by ceasefire alone. [includes
rush
transcript]
Overall, the Israeli death toll has risen to about 75 people.
The number of Lebanese deaths has reached 1,000 -- more than
90 percent of them have been civilians. Over the weekend Israeli
airstrikes continued to pelt Beirut's southern suburbs, as
well as Southern Lebanon. Airstrikes also destroyed at least
four major bridges on aid routes leading north from Beirut.
Dozens of Lebanese civilians were killed in the weekend's
attacks. A bomb Friday killed at least 33 Kurdish farm workers.
We discuss the humanitarian situation on the ground and the
long term effects of war with Mark Shnellbaecher, regional
director of Catholic Relief Services in Beirut.
- Mark Shnellbaecher. Regional director of Catholic Relief
Services for the Middle East. He is based in Beirut.
“The War The World Ignores”: A Look at
War-Devastated Congo & The Country’s First Multi-Party
Elections in 45 Years
The conflict in Congo has been called the world's largest
forgotten war. Yet while millions have died since the start
of the most recent violence in 1998, the country has been
torn apart by resource exploitation and government repression
for decades. On July 30, Congo's voters went to the polls
for the first time in over 45 years, however allegations have
surfaced that the elections were marred by fraud and international
meddling. We speak to Alexis Motunda, national secretary for
Congo's main opposition party, as well as to journalist Johann
Hari of the UK Independent, and the Congo Education Council's
Tshimanga John Metzel. [includes rush
transcript]
The Democratic Republic of Congo is awaiting the results
of the country's first multi-party elections in over 45 years.
Last month month thirty- two candidates -including incumbent
Joseph Kabila -ran for the presidency and more than 9,000
candidates ran for the Parliament.
Official results are not expected for weeks. If no single
candidate gets fifty percent of the vote, citizens will choose
between the two top contenders in October. Most media have
been reporting that Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre
Bemba are the top candidates but several other presidential
candidates and some human rights groups allege that there
has been widespread fraud. Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human
Rights Watch said that she had personally witnessed the dumping
of ballots outside of counting offices. And the main opposition
party, led by Etienne Tshisekedi, boycotted the elections
altogether.
Tshimanga John Metzel joins us from the studio in Washington,
D.C. -- He is a Country Conditions expert with Human Rights
First. He also works with the Congo Educational Council.
And on the phone from the Congo we are joined by Alexis Mutanda.
He is the National Secretary for the Union for Democracy and
Social Progress which is the main oppoistion party in the
country. He is also editor of the La Tempete des Tropiques,
a newspaper in Kinshasa.
Johann Hari joins us on the line from Scotland -- He is a
Journalist for the Independent of London, and his article
“The War The World Ignores” was published in the
Independent earlier this summer.
- Alexis Motunda. National Secretary for the Union for
Democracy and Social Progress which is the main oppoistion
party in Congo.
- Johann Hari. Journalist, UK Independent
- Tshimanga John Metzel. Country Conditions expert with
Human Rights First. He also works with the Congo Educational
Council.
Protesters Target Bechtel for War-Profiteering In
Iraq & Its Ties to Nuclear Industry
Last week, the U.S. government announced that it was going
to cancel a $50 million dollar contract with Bechtel, after
a federal audit exposed gross mismanagement of a project to
build a Children's Hospital in Basra, Iraq. The auditors plan
to expand their investigations to all of Bechtel's $2.85 billion
in Iraq contracts. Author and Activist Antonia Juhasz joins
us from San Francisco. [includes rush
transcript]
Sunday began a week of events marking the anniversaries of
the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Activists
have targeted facilities run by the Bechtel Corporation, one
of the world's leading leading nuclear weapons contractors
and engineering firms. Protests took place over the weekend
at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California, Los Alamos
Laboratory in New Mexico and Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory
in Pennsylvania-which is operated by Bechtel under a 4.2 billion
dollar contract. On Wednesday there will be protests at Bechtel's
corporate offices in San Francisco and New York City.
Last week, the U.S. government announced that it was going
to cancel a $50 million dollar contract with Bechtel, after
a federal audit exposed gross mismanagement of a project the
company was overseeing in Iraq. Bechtel had been contracted
to build a Children's Hospital in Basra, but the report found
numerous schedule and budget irregularities. The auditors
plan to expand their investigations to all of Bechtel's $2.85
billion in Iraq contracts. Author and Activist Antonia Juhasz
joins us from San Francisco.
Her book "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy
at a Time,” was published last spring. Her articles
have appeared in numerous publications - and her latest article,
"Bechtel
Takes a Hit for War Profiteering" is posted now on
Alternet.org. More
information of the Bechtel protests is at www.august6.org.
- Antonia Juhasz. Author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading
the World, One Economy at a Time,” published last
spring. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications
- and her latest article, "Bechtel Takes a Hit for
War Profiteering" is posted now on Alternet.org.
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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