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> Wed., June. 11, 2003
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Today's lead stories:
More Israeli and Palestinian Attacks
Where are the WMD’s? - Pressure Mounts on Administration
Part 1: Roots of Congo Crisis
Kurds in Turkey Elect New Leader
Where to Now for Peace Movement?
More Israeli and Palestinian Attacks
Israel is defending its policy of pre-emptive strikes against
opponents after rare criticism of the policy from the US--
the rebuke came after Israel yesterday tried - but failed
- to kill Hamas spokesman Abdul Aziz Rantisi in Gaza. As Hamas
vowed to avenge the attack - a suicide bomber detonated a
huge bomb on a bus in Jerusalem just hours ago killing 17
and wounding scores more - with Israel an hour later attacking
Hamas leaders in Gaza city, killing six. The Palestinian president
Yasser Arafat made a brief statement live on Palestinian television
today in which he denounced the Jerusalem bombing as a terrorist
attack against Israeli civilians, he also condemned the attempted
assassination of Rantisi and called on Palestinian factions
to “live up to their responsibilities towards the Palestinian
people and not get carried away by the provocations of the
Israelis”. Commentators in Gaza say the strike couldn't
have been retaliation to the suicide bombing, because the
it happened less than an hour after the bombing in Jerusalem,
and such a strike needs a longer planning and reaction time.
Irris Makler reports from Gaza city.
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Where are the WMD’s? - Pressure Mounts on Administration
A new national poll by the Program on International Policy
Attitudes finds as much as 40 percent of the American public
believes the US has found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
But with the possible exception of a pair of suspected mobile
chemical laboratories, no evidence of such programs have been
uncovered so far. Republicans were on the defensive today
as a few Democrats are questioning the intelligence used to
justify the invasion. Josh Chaffin reports from the capitol.
[top]
Part 1: Roots of Congo Crisis
As Britain announced today that they will be sending a sizeable
contingent of troops to the Congo, French forces on the ground
have begun to set up checkpoints in an attempt to bring the
violence under control. The war in the Democratic Republic
of Congo has killed an estimated four million people since
it began in 1998. It is the deadliest war since WWII and the
deadliest war ever on the African Continent. Recently the
war has begun to gain media attention because of a UN sponsored
peacekeeping intervention aimed at calming tensions between
ethnic Hema and Lendu in the Eastern city of Bunia. But what
is not being reported is that many Congolese say the root
cause of the crisis in the Congo is largely being ignored.
The exploitation of one of the wealthiest countries in the
world in terms of natural resources is fueling the war and
attracting a large contingent of international individuals
and corporations involved in the illegal export of gold, coltan,
diamonds and timber of the Congo. FSRN’s Dena Montegue
has recently returned from an investigative reporting trip
to the Congo and she has this first of three part special
series examining the crisis in the Congo.
[top]
Kurds in Turkey Elect New Leader
Over the weekend Kurds belonging to the Democratic People's
Party, or DEHAP, met in Ankara to elect a new leader. This
as the outgoing leader of DEHAP, Mehmet Abbasoglu urged the
Turkish Government to allow Kurdish fighters to return to
Turkey without any penalties. FSRN’s Ozlem Sariyildiz
reports form the Conference in Ankara, Turkey.
[top]
Where to Now for Peace Movement?
Hundreds of activists are returning this week to their local
communities from an historic national convention held over
the weekend in Chicago by the country's largest peace and
social justice coalition, United For Peace and Justice. More
than 500 Delegates from local peace groups, unions, churches,
immigrant rights and civil rights organizations gathered for
the three day conference to decide the future direction for
the coalition and how best to build the movement. Evan Davis
was there and filed this report.
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