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> Mon. Mar. 3, 2003
Pacifica's Peace Watch
Today's Stories:
Memo Leaked Re: U.S. Spying on Security Council Members
Turkey Votes ‘No’ to U.S. Troop Deployment
Khalid Sheik Mohamed: Mastermind of 9/11
Idaho “Terrorists” Arrests: L. Robartes
Arab Summit Oula
Lysistrata WPFW
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It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to determine
when the first Gulf war ended and whether the next one has
already begun. Britain and the United States have all but
fired the first shots of the second Gulf war by dramatically
extending the range of targets in the "no-fly zones"
over Iraq to soften up the country for an allied ground invasion.
As Baghdad threatened to stop destroying its Samoud 2 missiles
if the US presses ahead with its invasion plans, allied pilots
have attacked surface-to-surface missile systems and are understood
to have hit multiple-launch rockets. Targets hit in recent
days include the Ababil-100, a Soviet-designed surface-to-air
missile system adapted to hit targets on the ground, and the
Astros 2 ground rocket launcher with a range of up to 56 miles.
These would be used to defend Iraq in the event of an invasion
or to attack allied troops stationed in Kuwait. Analysts confirm
there has been an intensification of what is known as "the
undeclared war".
The allied action will prompt allegations that Britain and
the US have unilaterally changed the rules of the no-fly zones.
These zones were established after the last Gulf war to protect
Shias in the south of Iraq and Kurds in the north.
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Story: Memo Leaked Re: U.S. Spying on Security Council
Members
The Bush administration is pulling no punches in it’s
quest to gain international support from the United Nations
Security Council vote to use military force against Iraq.
Someone leaked a high level U.S security document from the
National Security Agency to the London Observer newspaper
over the weekend, revealing a spying campaign the Bush administration
is conducting against members of the Security Council. Martin
Bright is a senior journalist with the Observer, broke the
story over the weekend titled: Revealed: U.S. Dirty Tricks
to Win Vote on Iraq War. Earlier today on Peacewatch he discussed
the details of the memo.
Tape: Martin Bright, senior journalist with the London Observer
newspaper
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Story: Turkey Votes ‘No’ to U.S. Troop
Deployment
Under intense American pressure, Turkey's foreign minister
indicated today that his government would ask Parliament to
vote a second time on whether to allow American troops to
use the country as a base for a military attack against Iraq.
The minister, Yasar Yakis, spoke one day after lawmakers here
rejected such a plan. After a marathon meeting of senior officials,
Mr. Yakis said that his government would take a new resolution
to Parliament later this week after the government completed
an assessment of the first vote.
But members of Parliament who voted against the resolution
told Free Speech Radio News/Pacifica they doubt Prime Minister
Abdullah Gul will submit a new request to Parliament for fear
his government would collapse.
Tape: From Ankara, Aaron Glantz has the story...
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Story: Khalid Sheik Mohamed: Mastermind of 9/11
A key Al Qaeda operative Khalid Sheik Mohamed was arrested
over the weekend in Pakistan. He’s described as the
man who masterminded the September 11th terrorist attacks,
but Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk says there are a
lot of unanswered questions. He spoke with Peacewatch today
and discussed those concern.
Tape: Middle East Correspondent Robert Fisk
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Story: Idaho “Terrorists” Arrests: L.
Robartes
While the hunt for suspected terrorists continues abroad,
it also continues. Here at home in a case authorities say
is tied to terrorism, a university of Idaho student from Saudi
Arabia plead not guilty Thursday to seven counts of lying
to immigration officials and visa fraud. The FBI implied a
connection between the arrest of the 34-year old computer
science doctoral student in Idaho and three other men arrested
at the same time in the Syracuse, NY area. Those three were
charged with illegally sending four million dollars in aid
to Iraq through the charity Help the Needy.
The Idaho indictment has some local attorneys suspecting
a government witch-hunt. As the FBI and INS continue their
investigation in the university town of Moscow, foreign students
are fearful of what is to come.
Tape: Leigh Robartes reports from Moscow, Idaho
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Story: Arab Summit Oula
Arab royalty and heads of states held a one-day pan-Arab
summit over the weekend. The Iraqi issue occupied most of
the discussions between the 22 members of the Arab league.
As widely expected, the meeting called on Baghdad to fully
comply with UN resolutions and demanded that Washington give
diplomacy a chance.
Tape: Oula Farawati in Amman has more...
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Story: Lysistrata WPFW
Four thousand years ago, Aristophanes wrote the play Lysistrata.
It is from this play that the popular term “make love
not war” derives. With the Bush administration moving
closer and closer to war, the peace movement under the auspices
of The Lysistrata Project has organized over 850 live readings
of Lysistrata today all around the world. From, subway stations
in New York City to Viet Nam, and Bangkok, amateur and professionals
are reading Lysistrata today. Our Pacifica station WPFW in
Washington, DC produced the following live reading from which
we offer excerpts.
The drama begins with the fictitious character of Lysistrata,
the leader of the Athenian women, attempting to convince the
women of Sparta, Athens and Greece to abstain from familial
duties until their husbands agree to stop the war and sign
a treaty of peace.
Tape:
The women have taken over the Acropolis, the place where
the Greece treasury is kept. All the young men are at war.
Only the old men remain in the Cities. The old women have
lock themselves in the Acropolis and are besieged by the old
men.
Tape:
The men have lost control of the money and their homes.
We join two of the peace organizers Mirrine and Lysistrata,
as they plot to torment Mirrine’s husband, Cinesias
to make him agree to sign the peace treaty.
Tape: The script was adapted by George Brosi.
Credits
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