Pacifica's Peace Watch
Mon. Jan. 13, 2003
Today's Stories:
Allied Support for Bush’s War Dwindles
Yasser Esam Hamdi: US Citizen Held Incommunicado for Nearly
A Year
INS Fiasco in California: American Arab Anti Discrimination
Committee
San Francisco INS Rally
INS Rally in Los Angeles
Boys Will Be Boys
Kurdish Musicians
The audio of today's show is posted at http://www.radio4all.net/
Story: Allied Support for Bush’s War Dwindles
US Allies including the British and the French have sided
with UN weapons inspection chief Hans Blix and International
Atomic Energy Agency chair Mohammed El Baradei over the past
week. Their stance that that the inspectors need more time
for their investigations before determining whether Iraq presents
a threat is likely to weaken the U.S. war effort and delay
attempts to launch an attack in early February, as had previously
been suggested.
Tape: Phyllis Bennis, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute
for Policy Studies
[top]
Story: Yasser Esam Hamdi: US Citizen Held Incommunicado
for Nearly A Year
For almost a year, an US citizen has been held incommunicado,
without access to legal counsel. He is being held solely on
the word of one of the Northern war lords of Afghanistan.
Apparently last February, Yasser Esam Hamdi was captured in
northern Afghanistan. He was purported to have been fighting
with the Taliban. To date, he has not been charged with any
crime, and is held without the benefit of habeas corpus. A
US citizen, born in Baton, Rouge LA, Hamdi sits in a military
brig in Norfolk VA.
Last week the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down
a decision stating in part that the president in his sole
discretion decides who is an enemy combatant. Hamdi is in
the custody of intelligence officers and has been denied the
benefit of communicating with counsel. According to Constitutional
experts, the category of enemy combatant does not exist under
international law. It is simply a term that means soldier,
but allows the Bush administration to hold people indefinitely,
without the benefit of counsel.
Tape: Frank Dunham the federally appoint attorney for Hamdi
[top]
Story: INS Fiasco in California: American Arab Anti
Discrimination Committee
On Friday, the deadline for men and boy nationals of ten
countries were require to report to INS. The event was fraught
with disarray and confusion. Stories from around the country
continue to chronicle the chaos. Peacewatch spoke with Karem
Shora, legal adviser for the American Arab Anti Discrimination
Committee.
Tape: Karem Shora of the American Arab Anti Discrimination
Committee
[top]
Story: San Francisco INS Rally
Friday was the deadline for thousands of immigrant Arab
men from a dozen Middle Eastern and North African countries--
as well as North Korea—to register with the Immigration
and Naturalization Service. Tensions were running high, in
the aftermath of last month's arrest of 700 men who reported
to the INS offices in Los Angeles for what they thought would
be a routine registration process.
In San Francisco last week, over 18 peace organizations
held emergency solidarity actions outside the INS building.
On Friday, a rally and press conference brought as many as
a thousand to the streets in front of the building, in an
effort to prevent further detainments of Middle Eastern immigrants
in the second round of the INS special registrations.
Tape: Report from Pauline Bartolone and Sarah Olson
[top]
Story: INS Rally in Los Angeles
More than 10,000 people gathered in downtown Los Angeles
this Saturday to protest a United States war with Iraq. It
was the largest anti-war demonstration in Los Angeles since
the Vietnam era. KPFK Los Angeles recorded the event and interviewed
many attendees.
Tape: Voice of Protest Produced by Christopher Sprinkle
and Dan Pavlish
[top]
Story: Boys Will Be Boys
Dr. Myriam Miedzian has written extensively on issues of
gender and violence. Her most recent book is entitled Boys
Will be Boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence.
We spoke with her earlier today to hear her analysis of the
current political crisis.
Tape: Dr. Myriam Miedzian
[top]
Story: Kurdish Musicians
The Kurdish population in Turkey has been historically oppressed.
They are unable to speak the Kurdish language or celebrate
Kurdish traditions. But as Pratap Chatergee reports things
are slowly beginning to change.
Tape: Reporter Pratap Chatergee in Turkey
[top]
For a copy of today's show, please contact Pacifica
Radio Archives at 800 735 0230.
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