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> Thur., Dec. 11, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
US Defends Decision on Iraq Contracts
Does Campaign-Finance Decision Go Far Enough?
US Denying Worker Rights
French Commission: Ban Headscarves
Texas Stays Three Executions
Humanitarian Exchange in Colombia?
Free Speech Radio News Headlines by Randi
Zimmerman
No Iraqi Death Count
Iraqi civilian deaths from the U.S. led invasion and occupation
will no longer be counted, according to the Associated Press.
The Iraqi health minister denied the allegation. Yet the head
of the Iraqi Ministry of Health’s statistics department
made the comment to an AP reporter, saying the order had come
down from the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority. The
ministry issued a preliminary number of 1-thousand, seven
hundred and 64 Iraqi deaths during the summer. According to
Pentagon officials, 115 U.S. soldiers were killed during the
invasion. 195 died since President Bush announced that the
hostilities ended. 85 so-called coalition forces have also
been killed in Iraq.
Iraqi Trade Unions Crushed
Trade union federations around the world are protesting the
treatment of Iraq's fledgling trade union movement at the
hands of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority. From
the Workers Independent News Service, John Hamilton has more.
Israeli Military Raid in Gaza
The Israeli occupation army has conducted its largest raid
into the southern Gaza strip town of Rafah since early October.
Mohammed Ghalayini reports from Gaza City.
Lional Tate Gets New Trial
A 16-year-old African American boy sentenced to life in prison
with no possibility of parole for killing a 6-year-old playmate
when he was 12 is entitled to a new trial. From WMNF in Tampa,
Mitch Perry reports.
[top]
US Defends Decision on Iraq Contracts (1:15)
CNN is reporting that 300 of the 700 members of the new
Iraqi army have resigned. The reasons given by a representative
of the US Administration in Iraq were unhappiness with the
terms, conditions and pay and with the instructions of the
commanding officers. Meanwhile there is more criticism today
of the White House decision to bar opponents of the invasion
of Iraq from reconstruction contracts. UN Chief Kofi Annan
said the United States is hurting efforts to build a consensus
on rebuilding post-invasion Iraq. The policy effectively shuts
out Russia, France, Germany and Canada – as well as
many other nations. President Bush says he hopes those nations
will still forgive Iraq’s debt burden. Joining us now
is Rania Masri is the co-director of the Campaign to Stop
the War Profiteers and End the Corporate Invasion of Iraq
at the Institute for Southern Studies.
[top]
Does Campaign-Finance Decision Go Far Enough?
(3:44)
A report released today called the Color of Money shows
that approximately 9 out of 10 people who make economic political
campaign contributions are affluent Caucasians. The authors
of the report say that privately financed elections are disenfranchising
ethnic minorities while providing disproportionate power and
access to wealthy and predominately white neighborhoods. The
report comes just a day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld
two of the major provisions in the McCain-Fiengold campaign
finance law that prohibits the donations of soft money to
political parties. Though campaign finance organizations applaud
the decision, they say there still exists many other ways
for corporations to fill the pockets of politicians. Mitch
Jeserich reports.
[top]
US Denying Worker Rights (3:32)
Making the case that workers' rights are human rights, hundreds
of unionists from around the country marked Human Rights Day
on the steps of the Labor Department yesterday. The internationally-recognized
holiday commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that states
unequivocally that everyone has the right to form and join
a trade union for the protection of his or her interests.
According to the many union members in attendance at yesterday's
rally, the Bush administration is denying US workers that
human right. Sarah Turner reports from Washington.
[top]
French Commission: Ban Headscarves (4:03)
In France today, a state commission released its findings
on issues relating to religion and the state, recommending
a ban on Islamic headscarves in schools as well as Jewish
skull caps and large Christian crosses. France’s Muslim
population is around 5 million, the largest Islamic population
in Europe. French president, Jacques Chirac will announce
next week whether he supports the commission’s recommendations
on the question of French secularism. Zeenat Hansrod has more
from Paris.
[top]
Texas Stays Three Executions (3:51)
Five Texas Death Row prisoners were set to die in a two-week
period, but only two were carried out. As Renee Feltz reports
from KFPT, three stays of execution this week resulted from
a variety of pressures on the state known as the death penalty
capital of the world.
[top]
Humanitarian Exchange in Colombia? (3:25)
Gearing up for International Human Rights Day, yesterday
25 relatives of people kidnapped by Colombia’s largest
guerrilla group took over Bogotá’s main Cathedral
in a pacific action, demanding that the government begin negotiations
to free their loved ones. Most are families of policemen and
soldiers who have been held as prisoners of war, many for
five or six years, by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
or the FARC. The FARC are holding dozens of political prisoners,
soldiers, policemen, politicians and 3 US Defense contractors,
whom they want to exchange for guerrillas held in government
jails, in what in Colombia is referred to as a humanitarian
exchange. From Bogotá, Nicole Karsin has more.
[top]
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