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War Crimes Suit Filed in Germany Against Rumsfeld, Other
Top U.S. Officials Over Prisoner Torture
Torture Suit Star Witness, Fmr. Abu Ghraib Head Janis Karpinski
Points to Signed Rumsfeld Memo Listing Harsh Interrogation
Techniques
Plaintiff in Suit Against Rumsfeld Subjected to Sexual, Religious
Humiliation at Guantanamo
Corporate Propaganda Still On the News: Study Finds Local
Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs
War Crimes Suit Filed in Germany Against Rumsfeld,
Other Top U.S. Officials Over Prisoner Torture
Attorneys with the Center for Constitutional Rights filed
a war crimes lawsuit today in Germany against outgoing Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and other high-ranking U.S. officials,
for their role in the torture of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo.
We go to Berlin to speak with CCR president Michael Ratner.
[includes rush
transcript]
The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a criminal complaint
in Germany today against outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld. The complaint requests that the German Federal Prosecutor
open an investigation - and ultimately, a criminal prosecution
- looking into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials
for authorizing war crimes in the name of the so-called "War
on Terror."
Former White House Counsel and current Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez and former CIA Director George Tenet, are also charged
in the complaint. The suit is being brought on behalf of a
dozen torture victims - 11 Iraqi citizens who were held at
Abu Ghraib prison and one Guantánamo detainee. The
plaintiffs claim they were victims of electric shock, severe
beatings, sleep and food deprivation and sexual abuse. The
complaint filed today is related to a 2004 complaint that
was dismissed. This new complaint is filed under new circumstances
including the recent resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Germany"s
laws on torture and war crimes permit the prosecution of suspected
war criminals wherever they may be found.
Torture Suit Star Witness, Fmr. Abu Ghraib Head Janis
Karpinski Points to Signed Rumsfeld Memo Listing Harsh Interrogation
Techniques
A group of lawyers filed a lawsuit today calling on German
prosecutors to investigate outgoing Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld for allegedly sanctioning torture. We go to Berlin
to speak with former Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who
served as the commanding officer at Abu Ghraib. She is the
highest-ranking US military officer reprimanded over the Abu
Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. [includes rush
transcript]
Attorneys with the Center for Constitutional Rights filed
a war crimes lawsuit today in Germany against outgoing Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his role in the torture of prisoners
in Iraq and Guantanamo.
We go to Berlin to speak with former Brigadier General Janis
Karpinski. She was the Commander of three large US and British-led
prisons in Iraq in 2003. She oversaw all military police in
Iraq and was the first female ever to command soldiers in
a combat zone. In May 2005, she was demoted from Brigadier
General to Colonel over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
She remains the highest-ranking military officer reprimanded
for the abuse. Wolfgang Kaleck, the German lawyer leading
the litigation said Karpinski would be the "star witness"
of the case.
- Janis Karpinski, former Brigadier General and author
of "One Woman's Army : The Commanding General of Abu
Ghraib Tells Her Story."
Plaintiff in Suit Against Rumsfeld Subjected to Sexual,
Religious Humiliation at Guantanamo
Guantanamo prisoner Mohammedal-Qahtani is among the plaintiffs
named in a war crimes lawsuit filed in Germany today against
outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Attorneys with
the Center for Constitutional Rights accuse Rumsfeld of being
directly involved in the brutal interrogation of al-Qahtani.
We speak with al-Qahtani's attorney, Gita Gutierrez. [includes
rush
transcript]
Corporate Propaganda Still On the News: Study Finds
Local Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs
A new study by the Center for Media and Democracy says Americans
are still being shown corporate public relations videos disguised
as news reports on newscasts across the country. In April,
the Center identified 77 stations using Video News Releases
in their newscasts. The findings led to an investigation by
the FCC. A followp-up study has found 10 of those stations
are still airing VNRs today for a total of 46 stations in
22 states. [includes rush
transcript]
Corporate propaganda on the six o'clock news --- A new study
by the Center for Media and Democracy says Americans are still
being shown public relations videos disguised as news reports
on newscasts across the country. The fake reports are called
Video News Releases, or VNRs. They're produced by marketing
firms hired to promote products or political messages.
If this story sounds familiar, it's because dozens of stations
have already been caught in the act. As we reported on Democracy
Now! in April, the Center for Media and Democracy identified
seventy-seven stations using VNRs in their newscasts. The
findings led to an investigation by the Federal Communications
Commission.
Well, despite the controversy, ten of those stations are
still airing VNRs today, for a total of forty-six stations
in twenty-two states. Most of the VNRs have aired on stations
owned by large media conglomerates, such as News Corp., Tribune,
and Disney. They've also been sponsored by some of the country's
biggest corporations, including General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline,
and Allstate Insurance.
In all but six cases, the television stations failed to identify
where the VNRs came from. In twelve cases, television stations
even edited out disclosures included in the original fake
report. And in four cases, the television stations failed
to disclose the reporters on the screen were actually publicists.
We're going to speak with one of the authors of the report
in a minute, but first, let's take a look at one of the VNRs
that made it to air. In June of this year, the PR firm Medialink
Worldwide put out a VNR that sought to disprove the link between
Global Warming and Hurricanes.
- Original TCS Daily VNR, created by Medialink.
This VNR was produced for the firm "TCS Daily Science
Roundtable." Until last month, TCS was owned by the Republican
lobbyist DCI Group. TCS was also the recipient of a $95,000
dollar grant from the oil giant ExxonMobil for QUOTE: "climate
change support."
But when ABC affiliate WTOK-11 in Meridian, Mississippi aired
the VNR in May, none of these details were mentioned. Instead,
viewers were shown an edited version of the VNR, with the
station's news anchor reading the same script.
- WTOK-11 10PM newscast, May 31, 2006.
We asked a representative of ABC affiliate WTOK-11 in Meridian,
Mississippi to join us on the program but we did not get a
response. Another fifteen stations either turned down our
request or did not respond.
We did hear back from a few stations. Fred D"Ambrosi,
news director at the San Diego CBS affiliate KFMB-TV, responded
to our request about a VNR that failed to disclose the "reporter"
was actually a publicist hired by General Mills. D"Ambrosi
says the fake report aired by mistake and that he doesn't
think VNRs should air at all without proper disclosure.
We also called the Radio-Television News Directors Association
They sent a petition to the FCC last month urging them to
halt their investigation into VNRs. They declined our request
to join us on the program today.
Diane Farsetta is co-author of the Center for Media and Democracy
study, it's called "Still
Not the News: Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs"
. She joins us from Washington DC.
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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