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> Tues., Mar. 30, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Supreme Court Update
Military Draft on the Cards?
US Targets Iraqi Media
Congressional Support to Close SOA
US Engaged Militarily in Uganda
FSRN Headlines
White House officials announced today that National Security
Director Condoleeza Rice will publicly testify in front of
the September 11th Commission. Rice has been highly criticized
for arguing that the quality of her advise to the President
would be compromised if her comments could be made public.
Surviving relatives of those who died in the 9-11 hijackings
and members of the bipartisan committee say that Rice could
reveal missing and essential information about that day and
days subsequent.
Laura Flanders, author of the just released book "Bushwomen:
Tales of a Cynical Species," says the importance of Rice’s
testimony is pure hype. SOUND
President Bush and Vice President Cheney have also agreed
to testify but in private, closed meetings. In order to get
Rice to speak publicly, the Commission agreed not to summon
any other White House staffer.
Accusations that Congress and the U.S. public were misled
on the costs of the recently passed Medicare bill were asserted.
From WPFW, Selina Musuta files this report.
10 members of the African American community are suing three
companies for "aiding and abetting the commission of
genocide" by allegedly insuring slave ships that brought
Africans to the Americas. Ama Buadi has more:
Yesterday the Maine legislature passed a bill that aims to
address the impact of free trade policy on the state. From
WERU in Bluehill, Maine, Meredith DeFrancesco reports.
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Supreme Court Update
Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that
asks whether a legal team must prove in court that the opposing
party dismissed potential jurors based on race. The issue
stems from a California case in which Jay Johnson, an African
American man, was convicted by an all white jury of murdering
an 18 month old Caucasian child. Johnson appealed the decision
on the grounds that the prosecutors dismissed all African
American potential jurors. In another case heard today, the
Bush administration is challenging a 200 year old law that
allows for international human rights violations to be addressed
by a federal court. Mitch Jeserich reports from the Supreme
Court.
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Military Draft on the Cards?
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today
on a bill that would increase the access of military recruiters
to colleges and universities. There is also growing concern
about the possibility of a military draft regardless of who
is sworn in as president in January of 2005. Kellia Ramares
filed this report.
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US Targets Iraqi Media
The US military has acknowledged it was responsible for
killing two journalists working for Dubai-based satellite
channel al-Arabiya who were shot close to a checkpoint in
the Iraqi capital earlier this month. Colleagues said US troops
fired on their car near a checkpoint in central Baghdad. The
US military initially said it was unlikely its bullets had
killed the journalists. But yesterday, a US military official
said an investigation into the deaths showed troops were responsible,
but had acted within what he called "the rules of engagement"
because they were aiming at a Volvo that ran one of their
check-points. The admission comes at a time of increased tension
between the US military and journalists in Iraq. From Baghdad,
Aaron Glantz reports on the closure of one of the country's
most important Shi'ite newspapers. (For more of Aaron Glantz’s
diary dispatches from Iraq visit: www.pacifica.org)
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Congressional Support to Close SOA
The campaign to shut down the military training facility
formerly known as the School of the Americas gained increased
momentum this week with the release of a study on human rights
abuses by the school's graduates and heightened grassroots
pressure on Congress. Representative John Conyers of Michigan
has now signed on as a co-sponsor of HR 1258, a bill to close
the school and mandate a congressional investigation. Darby
Hickey of the D.C. Radio Coop at WPFW reports.
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US Engaged Militarily in Uganda
Human Rights Watch released a report yesterday charging
that Ugandan security forces are illegally detaining, torturing
and killing opposition supporters, and that their actions
are encouraged by a government that views its political opponents
as rebels. With a 17 year uprising raging in the north, the
United States confirmed last week that it had intervened in
assisting the Ugandan government in fighting the Lord's Resistance
Army, but many say that US military “assistance”
is not the answer. FSRN’s Joshua Kylimpa reports from
Uganda.
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