Pacifica's Peace Watch
Mon.; Feb. 10, 2003
Today's Stories:
Emergency NATO meeting held
No fly Zones in Iraq and U-2 Planes
Secretary Colin Powell’s Report to the UN Security Council
Powell’s Speech Plagiarized
Childhood Friend of Secretary Colin Powell
Jordanian Palestinians
Pilots on Drugs
The war in Iraq and Healthcare in the US
Folk Singer Fred Starner
The audio of today's show is posted at http://www.radio4all.net/
An emergency NATO meeting
today called by Turkey seeking approval of a plan to protect
Turkey in the event of an American led attack on Iraq, ended
today in continued deadlock. France, Germany, Belgium and
later Russia insisted more diplomacy is needed before readying
for war. France and Germany’s veto deepened divisions
in the NATO alliance over Iraq, with American ambassador Nicholas
Burns saying the move had plunged NATO into crisis. Turkey
invoked the alliance's mutual defense treaty, calling unscheduled
consultations. In Washington, Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States and the
16 other countries in the alliance would go ahead with planning
"outside of NATO if necessary.
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Story: No fly Zones in Iraq and U-2 Planes
The Bush administration dismissed Iraqi overtures to cooperate
with U.N. weapons inspections today and stepped up its rhetorical
campaign against Saddam Hussein with accusations he would
use civilians to shield his troops.
In stark contrast to Bush’s assessment of Saddam Hussein,
Chief weapons inspectors Hans
Blix and Mohammed El Baradei emerged from talks over the
weekend saying, “there had been a change of heart from
Baghdad”. Peace Watch Correspondent Jeremy
Scahill is in the Iraqi capital where he filed this report.
Tape: Jeremy Scahill reporting from Iraq
Since that interview this morning Iraq approved U-2 surveillance
flights - a key demand of inspectors searching for banned
weapons but the Bush administration said it was too little,
too late.
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Story: Secretary Colin Powell’s Report to the
UN Security Council
When Secretary
of State Colin Powell made his presentation before the
UN Security Council last week-- attempting to make the case
for military intervention in Iraq he claimed that his multimedia
display was well-researched and documented
Tape: Secretary of State Colin Powell
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Story: Powell’s Speech Plagiarized
Unfortunately, that British dossier that Powell cited wasn’t
quite as solid as he claimed. It turns out that large portions
of it were plagiarized from several sources, including a chunk
from a thesis by Ibrahim al-Mirashi, a post-graduate student
in California whose essay was published in the scholarly journal,
the Middle East Review.
Tape: Glen
Rangwala, the editor of Middle
East Review
Peacewatch also reached Ibrahim al-Mirashi who’s now
a Research Associate at the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies--
and asked for his response.
Tape: Ibrahim al-Mirashi, Research Associate at the Center
for Non-Proliferation Studies
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Story: Childhood Friend of Secretary Colin Powell
Fall out from Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation
last week to the UN Security Council continues to build. PeaceWatch
spoke with a childhood friend of Secretary Powell who has
carefully followed his career. Elombe
Brath, chair of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition and host
of Pacifica Station WBAI's Afrikaleidescope says that he is
not surprised by Powel's performance before the UN, and characterized
Powell as one who goes along with the "party line."
Tape: Elombe Brath, childhood friend of US Secretary of
State Colin Powell.
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Story: Jordanian Palestinians
Stuck in between the Iraqi crisis on one side and the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict on the other, Jordan is concerned about the consequences
a war in Iraq could have on its fragile stability. Along with
a possible influx of Iraqi refugees on its soil, his major
concern is the development of the Palestinian intifada. Jordan’s
foreign minister Marwan Muasher met with Ariel Sharon’s
chief of cabinet Dov Weisglass yesterday in Amman, Jordan.
Tape: Raphael Krafft filed this report.
Today members of the Dorothy Day House Catholic Workers
came together to offer officers and personnel inside the Marine
Corps barrack in Washington, DC an alternative to fighting
in the impending war against Iraq. David Russo filed this
report
Tape:
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Story: Pilots on Drugs
The U.S. military has been working on a 'super soldier'
program for years now- trying to engineer a better soldier
through the use of steriods, amphetemines, and a variety of
other means. The project is run by DARPA
net, the same people who brought you the 'Total
Information Awareness' ubiquitous eavesdropping plan.
Jerry Quickley from Pacifica station KPFK
in Los Angeles spoke with Gulf War veteran Joyce Riley about
the super soldier program and the drugs being given to U.S.
combat pilots operating in Iraq...
Tape:
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Story: The war in Iraq and Healthcare in the US
While stories about the Bush administration’s buildup
for an attack on Iraq dominate the headlines, a bill requesting
universal access to free health care for US citizens got very
little attention. Ryme Katkhouda,
Peace Watch producer for Pacifica station WPFW in Washington,
has more in this report.
Tape:
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Story: Folk Singer Fred Starner
Finally, on a somewhat lighter note we turn to folk singer
and self described “peacenick,” Fred
Starner who has been singing out and sitting in for over
thirty years. Starner has written extensively about the Bush
administration and US acts of aggression at home and abroad.
PeaceWatch spoke with him recently about what drives his activism.
Tape: Fred Starner, activist and folk singer
Credits
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For a copy of today's show, please contact Pacifica
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