Pacifica's Peace Watch
Wed., Feb. 5 2003
Today's Stories:
US Secretary of State before the UN
Colin Powell Moderate Dove or Hawk -NORMAN SOLOMON
Iraqi Ambassador Mohammad Al Douri’s Response to Secretary
Powell Address to UN Security Council
Retired British Parliamentarian Tony Benn Meets with Saddam
Hussein
Hajj to Mecca Proceed in light of Impending War
Student Walk Out and Comparison Between Saddam’s Regime
and the USA by A
White House Cancels Poet Symposium - Sam Hamill, Poet
The audio of today's show is posted at http://www.radio4all.net/
Tape: US Secretary of State Colin Powell
Did Secretary of State Collin Powell make the case for war
before the members of the UN Security Council and in the court
of public opinion? With the use of satellite photos, wiretapped
conversations and alleged eyewitness accounts, Powell painted
a picture of a Saddam Hussein as a man who’s cleverly
evaded UN weapons inspectors by shuttling mobile weapons producing
labs on trucks throughout Baghdad while monitoring the inspectors.
Tape: US Secretary of State Colin Powell
Powell gave more specifics accusing Iraq of evading the
inspectors and keeping them from doing meaningful work.
Tape: Colin Powell
William Rivers Pitt is the co-author of War on Iraq: What
Team Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know.’ He listened
to Powell’s speech with particular interest.
Tape: William Rivers Pitt is the co-author of War on Iraq:
What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know
Powell was tasked with convincing the U-N Security Council
members and just as importantly the American public that Saddam
Hussein poses enough of a threat to the U.S. that war is mandatory.
He drew a connection between Hussein and an Al Qaeda network
operative Zookouwee that was responsible for attacking the
World Trade Centers and the Pentagon.
Tape: US Secretary of State Colin Powell
James Jennings is the president of Conscience International,
a humanitarian relief organization. He recently returned from
Baghdad with a group of 32 professors. Jennings was confused
by Powell’s speech which he says lacked specificity.
Tape: James Jennings, president of Conscience International,
a humanitarian relief organization
[top]
Story: Colin Powell Moderate Dove or Hawk -NORMAN
SOLOMON
We continue our conversation with Norman Solomon; executive
director of the Institute of Public Accuracy and author of
Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You Solomon
has visited Iraq several times in recent weeks and seen first
hand the conditions that exist today. We asked him of the
general impression of Colin Powell as the moderate dove in
the Bush administration.
Tape: Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute
for Public Accuracy and author of the book Target Iraq: What
the News Media Didn’t Tell You.
[top]
Story: Iraqi Ambassador Mohammad Al Douri’s
Response to Secretary Powell Address to UN Security Council
What do the Iraq’s have to say about Secretary Powell’s
report to the UN Security Council? We go next to the Iraq
Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Al Douri as he addressed the
Security Council.
Tape: Iraq Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Al Douri
[top]
Story: Retired British Parliamentarian Tony Benn
Meets with Saddam Hussein
To coincide with today’s presentation before the Security
Council by Secretary of State Colin Powell, retired British
Parliamentarian Tony Benn met with Saddam Hussein recently
and conducted an interview that is excerpted here. Saddam
discusses weapons of mass destruction alleged links with Al
Qaeda and the role of Iraqi oil in US policy.
Tape: prepared by Robert Knight of Pacifica station WBAI
[top]
Story: Hajj to Mecca Proceed in light of Impending
War
The Hajj pilgrimage will climax this year on February 10th
a day before the Eid feast when an expected two million Muslims
will stand on Mount Arafat on the outskirts of Mecca, Saudi
Arabia. The Iraqi crisis does not seem to refrain the Muslim
pilgrims from performing the fifth pillar of Islam as more
of them are expected this year.
Tape: Report by Raphael Krafft from Amman, Jordan
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Story: Student Walk Out and Comparison Between Saddam’s
Regime and the USA by A
Ashraf Nubani, an Arab-American civil rights activist says
democracy is not a reality in the US. According to Nubani,
the power elite in the Arab world has alliances with those
dominating the US and the people’s struggle for power
is the same.
During the Wilson High School student walk out in Washington,
DC, Nubani spoke to PeaceWatch producer Ryme Katkhouda and
compared activism in the USA and the Arab world.
Tape: Ashraf Nubani, retired Egyptian-American professor
from Michigan University. Produced by Ryme Katkhouda, Peace
watch’s producer for WPFW Pacifica station in Washington,
DC
[top]
Story: White House Cancels Poet Symposium - Sam Hamill,
Poet
The first Lady Laura Bush had scheduled a symposium at the
White House on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes
and Walt Whitman and invited many noted poets. Sam Hamill,
founder of Copper Canyon Press, was one of the invited poets.
Hamill, author of 13 volumes of poetry, has taught in prison
for 14 years and worked extensively with battered women and
children. Hamill not only declined the invitation but also
called upon other poets to write poems in opposition to the
impending war in Iraq.
PeaceWatch spoke with Hamill yesterday about his letter
to the first lady and what motivated him to decline her invitation.
Tape: Sam Hamill, founder of Copper Canyon Press
Credits
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For a copy of today's show, please contact Pacifica
Radio Archives at 800 735 0230.
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