Pacifica's Peace Watch
Tues. Dec. 3, 2002
Today's Stories:
Rumsfeld downplays success of weapons inspections
Amnesty International charges British government is manipulating
its report
Turkey weighs Kurdish factor in supporting U.S.
Peace vigiler arrested in Washington
Vigil continues at White House
Chomsky
“It’s the oil wells, stupid”
Martin Luther King’s words still ring true today
The audio of today's show is posted at http://www.radio4all.net/
Story: Rumsfeld downplays success of weapons inspections
As Washington continued casting doubts on the ability of
the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, the team launched
a surprise inspection of one of Saddam Hussein's Presidential
palaces on Tuesday. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he
was pleased with the progress, and he praised Iraqi cooperation.
Meanwhile, speaking at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday afternoon,
War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld downplayed the success of the
weapons inspections, and he repeated the U.S. claim that Iraq
harbors weapons of mass destruction, but he failed again to
offer any concrete evidence. Rumsfeld also called for Iraq
to comply with the United Nations resolution to disclose and
eliminate all of its alleged weapons of mass destruction,
and he cited a recent British dossier on Iraq's history of
human rights abuses as justification for going to war...
Tape: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Story: Amnesty International charges British government
is manipulating its report
The British dossier Rumsfeld cited has been the source of
quite a bit of controversy over in the United Kingdom. Amnesty
International-- whose reports were used in the construction
of the dossier-- has charged the British and American governments
with manipulating its findings to suit their own political
purposes.
Tape: Ariela Blotter, Amnesty International's Director of
Crisis Preparedness and Response
Story: Turkey weighs Kurdish factor in supporting
U.S.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is in Turkey
pressing Turkish leaders to support a war with Iraq. The Kurds
in Turkey have been at war for over 15 years and the U.S.
and British support for an independent Kurdish state in Iraq
further complicates things in the region.
Tape: Vera Saeedpour, founder and director of the Kurdish
Library and Museum in Brooklyn, NY
Story: Peace vigiler arrested in Washington
Diane Wilson is a fourth generation fisherwoman from a small
village in Texas. She has been on a hunger strike for 12 days
as part of a group of women calling themselves "Code
Pink," protesting the Bush administration plan to go
to war in Iraq. Wilson was arrested at Lafayette Park in Washington,
DC on Thanksgiving Eve for being within 3 blocks of the White
House, in violation of a prior restraining order. Wilson and
three other women had tried to raise a banner at the gate
of the White House, urging Congress to deny the president
the resolution authorizing the use of force. In court today,
Wilson got a new restraining order that bans her from entering
the city of Washington for one year. She says the punishment
is unconstitutional, and she intends to fight it.
Tape: Diane Wilson, interviewed by Ryme Katkhouda of WPFW
Story: Vigil continues at White House
Peacewatch sent reporter Josh Chaffin to the White House
today to see how the vigil is going. It's a cold day in Washington
DC, but that didn't deter a handful of die-hard activists
from their task... bringing the anti-war message to 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue…
Tape: Josh Chaffin speaks with White House vigelers
MUSIC BREAK
Story: Chomsky
Linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky has been called
"the greatest living intellectual". He is a harsh
critic of US foreign policy, drawing attention to atrocities
committed by the CIA for the sake of US economic interests.
In a recent speech at the University of Texas at Austin, Chomsky
was asked about the possible nuclear threat from North Korea...
and about the fear U-S officials are creating about a nuclear
threat from Iraq. For the record, he does not advocate the
overthrow of Iraq by Iran, but he uses the illusion to show
the White House seems more intent on war than on its stated
goal of "regime change", or disarming Saddam Hussein.
Tape: Noam Chomsky at the University of Texas at Austin,
recorded by Shannon of Pacifica station KPFT
Story: “It’s the oil wells, stupid”
Gopal Dayaneni, is the Oil Campaign Coordinator for Project
Underground, an organization dedicated to supporting communities
resisting human rights abuses by the oil and mining industries.
Dayaneni says oil is the lifeblood of globalization and anyone
conducting human rights support work has to take on the oil
industry. He believes there’s a trail of oil leading
from the Bush White House to the Presidential palaces in Iraq.
Tape: Gopal Dayaneni of Project Underground
Tape: Song, “Lubricate the Red, White and Blue,”
by Dana Lyons
Story: Martin Luther King’s words still ring
true today
As the nations of the world appear to move closer to supporting
an attack on Iraq, we thought it would be interesting to look
back at a chapter in our past to see what lessons could be
learned: a time when the US was engaged in war against another
smaller nation. On February 4th, 1968, at the Ebenezer Baptist
church in Atlanta, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
spoke eloquently about America’s imperialistic tendencies.
Though King was addressing the war in Vietnam, the words seem
chillingly appropriate today.
Tape: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking February
4,1968
[top]
For a copy of today's show, please contact Pacifica
Radio Archives at 800 735 0230.
|
