Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Thur., Oct 12, 2006
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 10-12-06
PRSS Channel: A67.7
Co-Author of Medical Study Estimating 650,000 Iraqi Deaths
Defends Research in the Face of White House Dismissal
Did VA Hide Figures Showing 1 in 4 US Veterans of Iraq and
Afghanistan Disabled From Service?
New Jersey Prisoners Threaten Hunger Over “Abu-Ghraib-like”
Conditions
Abu Ghraib at Home: New Human Rights Watch Report Says US
Using Dogs to Terrify Prisoners
Co-Author of Medical Study Estimating 650,000 Iraqi
Deaths Defends Research in the Face of White House Dismissal
The White House is dismissing the findings of a medical
study that says 650,000 people have died in Iraq since the
U.S.-led invasion. The study was conducted by American and
Iraqi researchers and published in the prestigious British
medical journal, The Lancet. We’re joined by the report’s
co-author, epidemiologist Les Roberts. [includes rush
transcript]
More than 650,000 people have died in Iraq since the U.S.
led invasion of the country began in March of 2003. This is
according to a new study published in the scientific journal,
The Lancet. The study was conducted by researchers at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya
University in Baghdad. Researchers based their findings on
interviews with a random sampling of households taken in clusters
across Iraq. The study is an update to a prior one compiled
by many of the same researchers. That study estimated that
around 100,000 Iraqis died in the first 18 months after the
invasion.
Les Roberts joins us now from Syracuse, New York -- He is
one of the main researchers of the study. He was with Johns
Hopkins when he co-authored the study but has just taken a
post at Columbia University.
- Les Roberts. Co-author of the study on civilian mortality
in Iraq since the invasion. He was with Johns Hopkins when
he co-authored the study but has just taken a post at Columbia
University.
Did VA Hide Figures Showing 1 in 4 US Veterans of
Iraq and Afghanistan Disabled From Service?
Newly released documents reveal that more than 150,000 soldiers
who left the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan
have been at least partly disabled as a result of service
- this translates to one in four veterans. What’s more,
it appears the Department of Veterans’ Affairs was trying
to hide the figures. We speak with Paul Sullivan of Veterans
for America. [includes rush
transcript]
While the number of Iraqi deaths since the US-led invasion
is the subject of much dispute, the number of American soldiers
killed is a carefully recorded figure. So far, 2,754 US troops
have been killed in Iraq. While the US death toll is widely
reported in the media, the hidden cost on soldiers who return
from fighting is not.
Newly released documents reveal that more 150,000 soldiers
who left the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan
have been at least partly disabled as a result of service
- this translates to one in four veterans. What’s more,
it appears the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has tried
to hide the figures.
The documents on the number of disability claims filed by
veterans were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
But the VA initially denied the existence of the records for
nine months. It was only after the Archive advised the VA
that it was prepared to file a lawsuit did the agency manage
to locate the records.
Paul Sullivan is the director of programs for Veterans for
America and a former VA analyst. He helped the Archive with
their FOIA request.
- Paul Sullivan. Director of Programs for Veterans for
America, an advocacy group, and a former V.A. analyst.
New Jersey Prisoners Threaten Hunger Over “Abu-Ghraib-like”
Conditions
As many as fourteen hundred prisoners at New Jersey State
Prison are threatening to begin a hunger strike today to protest
prison conditions. Last week the prisoners complained in a
letter that conditions inside were “reminiscent of Abu
Ghraib.” [includes rush
transcript]
As many as fourteen hundred prisoners at New Jersey State
Prison are threatening to begin a hunger strike today to protest
prison conditions. Last week the prisoners complained in a
letter that conditions inside were “reminiscent of Abu
Ghraib.” The prisoners wrote they were forced “to
wear underwear, reminiscent of Abu Ghraib, with hands held
on their heads, while being herded along a gauntlet of offices,
with dogs, stretched to the full extent of their lease, barking
incessantly for close to an hour at a time.” The prisoners
have threatened to begin the hunger strike unless 16 demands
are met.
Larry Hamm joins us in our Firehouse studio. He is the chair
of the New Jersey-based People’s Organization for Progress.
He has been closely monitoring the situation in the New Jersey
prisons.
- Larry Hamm. Chairman of the New Jersey-based People’s
Organization for Progress.
Abu Ghraib at Home: New Human Rights Watch Report
Says US Using Dogs to Terrify Prisoners
A new report from Human Rights Watch reveals that five U.S.
state prison systems — Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa,
South Dakota, and Utah — authorize the use of large
unmuzzled dogs to terrify and even attack prisoners to extract
them from their cells. According to Human Rights Watch, no
other country in the world authorizes the use of dogs to attack
prisoners who will not voluntarily leave their cells. [includes
rush
transcript]
Two years ago, the U.S. military was widely criticized after
photographs were published showing how dogs were used to terrorize
Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. One photograph showed two dogs
approaching a naked prisoner. Another showed a prisoner crouching
in terror as he was threatened with an unmuzzled German Shepherd.
A new report from Human Rights Watch examines how dogs are
used in prisons -- not in Iraq, but here at home.
The study reveals that five U.S. state prison systems —
Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota, and Utah —
authorize the use of large unmuzzled dogs to terrify and even
attack prisoners to extract them from their cells. According
to Human Rights Watch, no other country in the world authorizes
the use of dogs to attack prisoners who will not voluntarily
leave their cells.
Jamie Fellner joins our conversation now -- She is the director
of the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch obtained a training video formerly used
by the Arizona Department of Corrections that shows a series
of simulated cell extractions.
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.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
whole
show
