Home > Programs
> Flashpoints
> Mon., Mar. 31, 2003
Flashpoints
Flashpoints.net
Today's headlines:
US Troops Kill 7 Women and Children at a Checkpoint in Iraq;
Another Ferocious Bombing of Baghdad: We’ll Feature
a Special Report from the Ground on the Ongoing Bombing and
the Killing of Over 50 People in a Crowded Marketplace on
Friday;
A Member of Voices in the Wilderness Confirms the Bombing
of Children’s Hospital in the Town of Rutba, Iraq.;
Secretary of State Colin Powell Threatens Syria and Iran with
an Expanded War;
Israel as a Model for the US in the War Against Iraq;
The Knight Report
8:00:00 PM PST
Dennis Bernstein: introduction: US Troops Kill 7 women and
children at a checkpoint in Iraq; Another ferocious bombing
of Baghdad: special report from the ground on the ongoing
bombing and the killing of over 50 people in a crowded marketplace
on Friday; A member of 'Voices in the Wilderness' Confirms
the bombing of children’s hospital in the town of Rutba,
in Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell threatens Syria and
Iran with an expanded war; Israel as a model for the US in
the war against Iraq
8:00:00 PM PST
Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: US soldiers
kill seven women and children at an illegal checkpoint in
Iraq.. following a suicide attack (Fisk report) by a Iraqi
soldier.. Peter Arnett fired for interview with Iraqi TV..
8:03:40 PM PST
Dennis: now to Baghdad with independent journalist, Mae Ying
Welsh.. Mae: we're not allowed to give any information about
which targets are being attacked until we are taken there..
but I can tell you there are huge plumes.. heavy bombardment
today.. Friday night a civilian marketplace bombed, 50 people
killed.. we went there a few hours after the bombing.. a huge
crater right in front of the market.. the people wailing and
screaming in the streets.. 5:30PM when the market was most
crowded.. absolutely packed.. the dead being put into coffins..
when we got to the mosque 20 coffins, people wailing, pure
grief.. children and women in the coffins, still covered in
blood.. according to tradition, you don't wash the bodies
of *martyrs*.. everyone believed it was an American missile..
some people saw the plane, others heard the plane.. and Iraqi
weapons too small to make such a huge crater.. they feel the
US is bombing them continuously.. the Iraqi government anxious
to have us cover this event.. they know.. bombs are falling
in civilian neighborhoods everyday.. the Red Cross says 100
civilian casualities everyday.. even the government palaces
and modern buildings have old neighborhoods packed all around
them.. the bombing is continuing now.. a huge bombing just
before you called, rocked the building I am in, shook the
windows.. Dennis: a missile hit the Al Jazeera TV antenna..
Mae: the Ministry of Information hit, out of which all 600
foreign journalists must work.. lucky it was night and we
were all gone.. six major communication centers in Baghdad
hit.. phone, telex, telegraph.. but I have a satellite telephone..
the regular phones in Iraq not working though.. I know three
Iraqi journalists whose homes have been destroyed.. Dennis:
an Iraqi missile launched into Kuwait.. Mae: they admit it..
Dennis: the suicide bombing?.. Mae: the only real martyrdom
operation we know of.. an Iraqi military spokesman was asked,
aren't you making the US soldiers treat Iraqi civilians suspiciously..
Mae gives his response.. Mae: Al Jazeera TV has a live presence
in Basra.. Basra has no power, 50% water.. the Red Cross is
back in Basra.. the US in control of the Basra water plant..
we're ok in Baghdad, have food, water, but nobody can leave,
too poor.. no passport office.. a lot of journalists have
come here with money, very prepared, chemical suits, gas masks..
I don't have any of that stuff, but I have the money to get
out.. Dennis: US studying Israeli tactics in Jenin for street
fighting.. are the Iraqis prepared?.. Mae: the Iraqi government
very tight lipped.. but at night the Iraqi military in every
nook and cranny.. in the shadows.. I thing they have the city
pretty well covered.. Dennis: why are you there?.. Mae: there
are two sides to every story.. not just reported from embedded
troops, but from journalists embedded with the Iraqi civilians..
who else is going to do it?.
8:21:26 PM PST
Dennis: now w Shane Clayborn with Voices in the Wilderness
and Iraq Peace Team, now in Amman, Jordan, just back from
Baghdad.. Shane: we've been a group of folks accompanying
Iraqi civilians during the sanctions.. I've also been going
to hospitals since the bombing began, visiting the people..
also we have gone to bombing sites.. a school hit, blew out
all the windows.. about one of the first casualties of the
bombing.. 4 years old.. her back hit by part of a missile,
paralyzed, in a lot of pain.. another young guy, a missile
fell.. his father told me, tell America about my son, "what
kind of *liberation* would do this to my son?.. if this is
liberation then we don't want it, if this is democracy you
can keep it".. about the scene at the marketplace.. two
cars thrown into the air.. two people burnt to death in one
car.. windows blown out, you could see blood in the homes..
a copy of the Koran the only thing not burnt, inspired religious
people to predict ultimate victory for Islam.. a tremendous
amount of pain.. Dennis: Shane left Iraq this weekend.. an
extraordinay ride?.. Shane: outside Baghdad we began to see
vehicles bombed and burnt out.. we saw tanks and trucks, buses,
cars, an ambulance all bombed and burnt.. bridges bombed..
lightpoles fallen in the street.. dodging debris on the road..
we were driving quickly.. we saw several bombings not too
far away.. our tire hit something, exploded, the car spun
off the road, and flipped into a ten foot ditch.. we were
all injured.. we had three people with severe injuries, several
had broken bones.. a vehicle stopped there, filled with Iraqi
civilians, helping load us into their car.. they were risking
their lives.. they drove us into a town, Rutbah, while an
aircraft flew over head.. the driver waved a white sheet trying
to show we were unarmed.. the town began to take care of us,
they told us three days ago your military attacked our childrens'
hospital.. we saw lots of bombing damage to civilian buildings..
the doctor was amazing, spoke fluent English.. I thought what
if the opposite had happened?, if Iraq had bombed Philidelphia,
would a carfull of Iraqis have gotten the same kind and generous
treatment?.. they gave us amazing attention.. we tried to
pay them, they wouldn't take it.. they asked us to please
tell the world that the US has bombed our children's hospital..
Dennis: Iraqis and others heading back into Iraq to fight
the US?.. Shane: I don't know about that, but we met many
Iraqis prepared to fight and defend their families.. if there
is a ground war in Baghdad, it could be very scarey.. about
why Shane went to Iraq.. the treasure of meeting the Iraqi
people.. the tragedy of what is happening there.. I can leave,
but the Iraqis don't have a choice.. their families are dying..
8:35:34 PM PST
music break
8:36:19 PM PST
Dennis: about the role of Israel in the war.. US policy advised
by Israel.. now with A'sad Abu-Khalil, professor of political
science.. Dennis: US troops killed seven Iraqi women and children
at a checkpoint today, sounds like Israeli routine murder
of Palestines?.. A'sad: Israel behind the scenes.. I don't
blame Israel, though, I blame the Bush administration.. US
putting Patriot missiles around the nuclear weapons storage
facilities of Israel.. Rumsfeld insisted inviting key Israelis
from Jenin to lecture how best to kill Arabs.. and he overruled
the CIA and listened to the Israelis who told him the regime
will crumble.. the new US adminstrator of Iraq, a pro Israeli
supporter linked to wacko right wing Israeli.. about the killing
of women at the US checkpoints.. the shifting standards of
the US definition of terrorism.. General Franks dangling the
promise of food and water if the Iraqis will wave the American
flag.. a speech Cheney gave last August, predicted would the
Arab streets would erupt in joy for the American invasion..
the same time of autonomy that Israel gives the Palestinians..
GW has managed to make a brutal tyrant popular among Arabs..
young men flocking to Iraq to fight the US.. in Jordan, a
man arrested, for a crime he might commit in the future..
Ashcroft slobbers.. a petition to the king, demanding the
king come out against the war.. about the scenes of injured
and dead Iraqis shown on Arab TV, but deemed 'too real' for
US TV.
8:47:48 PM PST
Dennis: Colin Powell spoke at AIPAC, ie the US Jewish Lobby..
warning Syria and Iran.. now w Lamis Andoni, an independent
journalist, a reporter with the Christian Science Monitor..
Lamis: ironic that last week the US state department released
a statement to the Arab world.. then Powell goes in front
of AIPAC and threatens to widen the war.. saying to the Arabs
that the US will not tolerate any dissent in the region..
Jordan supporting the US.. now Powell is embarrassing these
governments.. saying to the Arab government that they have
to conform to US policy.. when the Arab governments respond
to their own public opinion they are punished.. Syrians as
individuals are volunteering to go into Iraq and fight the
US.. Powell confirming Arab suspicions that this is an US-Israel
attack.. the Shias say this in an occupation of Iraq.. a total
harmony between Israel and US.. how will Jordan deal with
growing dissent?.. watch the Arab street very carefully..
8:54:48 PM PST
Marvelous Mary Bishop: wrapup
8:55:30 PM PST
End today's show. today's review by John Lionheart
[top]
|
Listen
to the show
Help
stream
download
