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Lebanon Ceasefire Holds As Negotiations Continue
Fox News Producer Resigns Over Middle East Coverage
Victoria Gray Adams 1926-2006: Civil Rights Pioneer, Founder
of Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Dies at 73
Fearing Prosecution, Bush Admin Tries to Change War Crimes
Act
Lebanon Ceasefire Holds As Negotiations Continue
The ceasefire in Lebanon continues to hold in its third
day but there are growing questions over how long it will
last. Negotiations are under way to form the United Nations
peacekeeping force planned to back up the agreement. We go
to Lebanon to speak with American University in Beirut professor,
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb and Declan Walsh, a Guardian reporter in
Bint Jbeil. [includes rush
transcript]
The ceasefire in Lebanon continues to hold in its third
day but there are growing questions over how long it will
last. Negotiations are under way to form the United Nations
peacekeeping force planned to back up the agreement. The UN
hopes to get thirty five hundred troops on the ground in southern
Lebanon within two weeks. Meanwhile, thousands of displaced
Lebanese are returning home from the north despite the continuing
Israeli presence and unstable truce.
- Declan Walsh, correspondent for the London Guardian.
He joins us on the line from southern Lebanon.
- Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a professor at the American University
in Beirut. She is the author of " Hizbu'llah: Politics
and Religion", and is currently on the line from Beirut.
Fox News Producer Resigns Over Middle East Coverage
Two weeks ago, two producers working for Fox News in Amman,
Jordan resigned in protest of the network's coverage. In their
resignation letter, Serene Sabbagh and Jomana Karadsheh wrote
"We can no longer work with a news organization that
claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that."
We go to Amman to speak with producer Serene Sabbagh.
As the ceasefire in Lebanon enters its third day, the Middle
East crisis continues to be one of the top news stories in
the US press. But the coverage of the conflict in the corporate
media has come under criticism from some quarters.
Two weeks ago, two producers working for Fox News in Amman
Jordan resigned in protest of the network's coverage. In their
resignation letter, Serene Sabbagh and Jomana Karadsheh wrote
"We can no longer work with a news organization that
claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that."
They went on to write "Not only are you an instrument
of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war
mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism."
One of the two authors of that letter joins us on the line
from Amman, Jordan.
- Serene Sabbagh, freelance TV producer who has worked
with CNN, ABC News, Al Jazeera and Fox News. She joins us
on the line from Amman, Jordan.
Victoria Gray Adams 1926-2006: Civil Rights Pioneer,
Founder of Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Dies at 73
Civil rights pioneer Victoria Gray Adams has died at the
age of 73. She was the co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party along with Fannie Lou Hamer and Annie Devine.
We play an excerpt of the documentary "Standing On My
Sisters Shoulders" that chronicles the vital role played
by women from Mississippi in the civil rights movement. [includes
rush
transcript]
Civil rights pioneer Victoria Gray Adams has died at the
age of 73. She was the co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party along with Fannie Lou Hamer and Annie Devine.
In 1964 they attempted to unseat the all-white Mississippi
Democratic Party delegation during the Democratic National
Convention in Atlantic City.
Victoria Gray Adams began her Civil Rights work in Hattiesburg
Mississippi where she taught voter registration and literacy
classes that assisted other African Americans to pass the
voter registration test. At that time, although 30 per cent
of Hattiesburg's citizens were African Americans, only 50
of them had been allowed to register to vote.
Victoria Gray Adams later became the first woman to run for
the U.S. Senate from Mississippi. She also served on the board
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by the
Rev. Martin Luther King.
We turn to the documentary "Standing On My Sisters Shoulders."
It chronicles the vital role played by women from Mississippi
in the civil rights movement.
Fearing Prosecution, Bush Admin Tries to Change War
Crimes Act
The White House recently proposed changes to the War Crimes
Act that would narrow the scope of punishable offenses under
the Geneva Conventions. The new list would exclude humiliating
or degrading treatment of prisoners. We host a debate with
attorneys Scott Horton and David Rivkin.
Ten years ago the Republican-led Congress approved legislation
to make it a felony to violate the Geneva Conventions.
The Bush administration now fears the War Crimes Act of 1996
could be used to prosecute civilians involved in the mistreatment
and torture of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo.
The White House recently proposed changes to the War Crimes
Act that would narrow the scope of punishable offenses. The
new list would exclude humiliating or degrading treatment
of prisoners. Military law experts believe the Bush administration
is effectively re-writing parts of the Geneva conventions.
According to the New York Times, President Bush wants Congress
to make the United States the first country to repudiate the
language of the Geneva Conventions.
- Scott Horton, adjunct law professor at Columbia University
and the former chair of the Committee on International Human
Rights at the City Bar Association in New York.
- David Rivkin, a partner in the Washington office of Baker
& Hostetler. He served in the Department of Justice
and the White House in the Reagan and George HW Bush Administrations.
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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