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> Thur., Feb. 19, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Bush’s Economic Spin Unravels
South Asia Peace Talks Wrap Up
UN Says No Iraq Elections Before June 30
Poland Upset Over Iraq Contract Process
Chevron Shuts Down Third of Production in Niger Delta
Neo-Confederate Church in Moscow, Idaho
FSRN Headlines
US Military Team to Haiti
Pentagon officials have granted the U.S. Ambassador’s
request for a military team to assess the situation in Haiti.
Reportedly, the Ambassador merely wants the small team of
3 or 4 officers to decide if the embassy is safe in the Caribbean
nation fraught with internal violence. Earlier this week,
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the U.S. is looking for
a political solution to the crisis. Bands of men, described
as everything from paramilitaries to thugs, claim the government
is illegitimate and corrupt. They are calling for President
Aristede to step down. Reports from Haiti Progré and
other news sources indicate the bands are receiving arms from
France. Aristede, a former priest, says he will remain in
office until his term ends in February 2006. The Associated
Press is reporting the Bush administration is privately exploring
how to change leadership in Haiti without undercutting democratic
rule.
Enron Executive Skilling Charged
This morning, former Enron Executive Jeffrey Skilling turned
himself in to federal authorities and quickly responded with
“not guilty” to charges he helped the energy giant’s
massive fraud against clients and stockholders. Pokey Anderson
reports from Houston.
Prisoners at Gitmo Heading to UK
Five of the nine British prisoners being held at the US military
base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are to be released. Naomi Fowler
reports from London.
Presidential Debates Unfair Process
Political foes joined together to file a complaint against
the Commission on Presidential Debates. Jay Tamboli reports
from D.C.
Mentally Ill Must Take Meds
Mentally ill patients in New York can be forced to comply
with treatment if family members or even roommates seek a
court order against them, as another state supports the so-called
Kendra’s law. Geoff Brady reports from New York.
[top]
Bush’s Economic Spin Unravels
Over 60 scientists, some of them Nobel Laureates, are accusing
the Bush administration of manipulating scientific government
reports to support the administration’s policy goals.
A report by the group Union of Concerned Scientists says the
executive branch has suppressed data on several reports ranging
from climate change to the prevention of sexually transmitted
diseases. This report comes as the mainstream media is beginning
to question the President’s credibility. Just yesterday
Bush backed off his previous prediction that 2.6 million jobs
will be created in the next year. Though unemployment is still
high, today Bush continued with his upbeat economic predictions
for the future. Mitch Jeserich reports.
[top]
South Asia Peace Talks Wrap Up
In what has been called an historic first round of peace
talks between India and Pakistan which wrapped up in Islamabad
yesterday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today announced
that the next round of talks would be held later this year,
though no official date was given. While the 3 day meetings
were mostly conducted between low level foreign ministry officials
from both countries, and were aimed at coming to consensus
over the next round of more formal talks, Beena Sawa, a Pakistani
journalist, tells Deepa Fernandes that the meetings should
be viewed as a success and a good first step towards peace
between the two nations.
[top]
UN Says No Iraq Elections Before June 30
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today said that he backed
the US position that no elections could be held in Iraq before
June 30 this year. Annan did not make any recommendations
for how a formal transfer of power could occur or how soon.
Annan did however say the June 30 date for the US to restore
sovereignty to Iraq must be respected. American administrator
in Iraq Paul Bremer reiterated his statement that no direct
elections could be held in Iraq due to concerns that the constitution
would become too heavily steeped in Islamic law.
[top]
Poland Upset Over Iraq Contract Process
More controversy over the US contracts to rebuild Iraq when
yesterday US war ally Poland lodged a protest that Washington
was not being true to its promise of sharing contracts with
countries that had supported the war effort. A state-owned
Polish arms company lost the bidding to equip the new Iraqi
army to an obscure company which is a member of the winning
American consortium. 18 bidders joined the first tender, the
next one is scheduled for March. As Danuta Szafraniec reports
from Warsaw, even the political lobbying of the Polish president
directly with the Bush Administration has failed to win Poland
any contracts which has many in Poland growing increasingly
impatient.
[top]
Chevron Shuts Down Third of Production in Niger Delta
In Nigeria today heads of state from Bangladesh, Egypt,
Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Nigeria attended
the 4th annual summit of the “Developing Eight"
group that was formed in the late 1990s to promote economic
cooperation among the eight states, which have a combined
population of more than 600 million people, many of whom are
Muslims. The high-level meetings in Nigeria come as communal
unrest in the Niger Delta region has forced Chevron Texaco
to suspend its operations in several key places. The company
has cut its daily oil output in the area by as much as a third.
Chevron Texaco says it is suffering huge losses. Crude oil
accounts for more than ninety percent of Nigeria’s export
earnings. The Nigerian government has started deploying troops
to the affected area to enable Chevron Texaco to resume operations.
But local communities say the company’s absence from
their land is a respite from the environmental problems Chevron
Texaco has caused them. Sam Olukoya reports from the Abiteye
village.
[top]
Neo-Confederate Church in Moscow, Idaho
A conservative church that has spent two decades quietly
building an empire in a western university town has been the
focus of a human rights march and a ‘not-in-our-town’-style
campaign after ties were found to the neo-confederate movement.
Pastor Doug Wilson of Moscow, Idaho's Christ Church denied
supporting bigotry after community revelations that he co-authored
Southern Slavery: As It Was, a revisionist pamphlet suggesting
American slavery was a harmonious institution. Adding to the
uproar are Wilson's controversial biblical views on homosexuality
and the role of women, along with the belief that the steady
stream of followers moving to town shows he has a political
agenda for the area. Leigh Robartes has more.
[top]
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