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> Thurs. Mar. 27, 2003
Pacifica's Peace Watch
Today's Stories:
Bush and Blair Meet for War Summit
Emergency Conference at the United Nations Regarding War on
Iraq
Voices in the Wilderness in Baghdad Peggy Gish
US and UK Troops Under Fire in Southern Iraq - Lamis Andoni
pt.2
Oil As Motive for War in Iraq Jim Valette pt.2
Peace Protesters Block Rockefeller Center Today In Die In
Hundreds Peace Activists Arrested Today in New York City
Human Rights Watch Refuses to Place Blame on US for Iraqi
Refugee Crisis
Turkey Human Rights
Faces of Iraq Exhibit
Reverend William Sloan Coffin speaks at Yale University
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Massive explosions rocked central Baghdad late Thursday night,
sending a towering plume of smoke skyward in the strongest
blasts felt in the city in days. Shortly after 11 p.m. in
Baghdad (3 p.m. EST), explosions shook the capital near the
city center. Buildings close to the Information Ministry appeared
to have been hit, sending a huge plume of smoke skyward.
Story: Bush and Blair Meet for War Summit
With Iraqi troops dug in around Baghdad, President Bush
pledged Thursday to battle Saddam Hussein's forces "however
long it takes to win." Bush and British war ally Tony
Blair said the U.N. should help rebuild Iraq later, though
an exact role was left uncertain. The prime minister, standing
alongside Bush at the president's mountaintop retreat, declared
in words similar to Bush’s that, "Saddam Hussein
and his hateful regime will be removed from power." The
two discussed a timetable for the war in Iraq. Bush dismissed
questions that the U.S. led invasion may take longer than
expected.
Tape: President-select Bush
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Story: Emergency Conference at the United Nations
Regarding War on Iraq
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations walked out of
a debate on the Iraqi war Thursday after Iraq's ambassador
accused the United States of trying to exterminate the Iraqi
people. "I did sit through quite a long part of what
he had to say but I'd heard enough," U.S. Ambassador
John Negroponte said.
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Story: Voices in the Wilderness in Baghdad
Peggy Gish
Peggy Gish is a 60-year old farmer and conflict manager
consultant from Athens, Ohio. She is a member of the humanitarian
group the Iraq Peace Team. She’s living in Baghdad now
through the bombing to serve as a witness for the Iraqi people.
Peace Watch producer Scott Gurian spoke with Peggy Gish
Tape: Peggy Gish, Voices in the Wilderness
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Story: US and UK Troops Under Fire in Southern Iraq
- Lamis Andoni pt.2
For several days now, the US and British media have reported
conflicting stories of uprisings in the town of Basra, Iraq.
Independent journalist, Lamis Andoni, has been reporting on
the Middle east and monitoring Arab-language media for more
than two decades. Andoni joined PeaceWatch yesterday to shed
light on reports coming out of Iraq from independent sources
and to respond to allegations that Iraqi civilians are turning
guns on each other.
Andoni has a relative in Basra, who says the water treatment
facility has been bombed, but there are no uprising in the
streets. Al Jazeera has been criticized for showing pictures
of US and UK POW’s, but Andoni asserts that several
other news services also displayed the captured troops.
In part two, Andoni offers insight into why US and British
troops continue to come under fire from civilians in Southern
Iraq.
Tape: Lamis Andoni, independent journalist and monitor of
Arab-language media
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Story: Oil As Motive for War in Iraq Jim Valette
pt.2
In Baghdad today, the skies have begun to clear after rain
yesterday. This brings relief from the smoking oil fires that
have set all around the city to obscure the vision of the
attacking US and Britain planes. Meanwhile, the US is going
ahead with plans for restructuring Iraq, including a no-bid
contract awarded to Halliburton to put out oil well fires.
Vice President Dick Cheney is former CEO of Halliburton.
Today we continue part two of an interview with Jim Valette,
the author of ‘Crude Vision: How Oil Interests Obscured
U.S. Government Focus On Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein.”
Valette says he’s uncovered new evidence that oil has
‘long been the driving concern behind US-Iraqi relations.”
Through research of memos, telegrams and documents dating
back to the Reagan administration he discovered plans for
the Bechtel Corporation to build an oil pipeline through Jordan.
Tape: Jim Valette is the author of ‘Crude Vision:
How Oil Interests Obscured U.S. Government Focus On Chemical
Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein.”
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Story: Peace Protesters Block Rockefeller Center
Today In Die In
The NY Die-In symbolized the real deaths taking place each
day in Iraq, as the US-led invasion exacerbates civilian deaths
and refugee crises. But, as Peacewatch producer Robert Knight
discovered today in an interview on New York Pacifica station
WBAI’s “Wake Up Call,” some human rights
organizations are hesitant to place direct blame on the Bush
administration for the current refugee crisis in northern
Iraq, which remains under the non-UN-mandated control of the
US military and CIA. Knight spoke with Allison Parker, director
of Refugee Policy for Human Rights Watch
Tape: Allison Parker is the director of Refugee Policy for
Human Rights Watch; interviewed by Robert Knight on Pacifica
station WBAI’s “Wake Up Call.”
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Story: Hundreds Peace Activists Arrested Today in
New York City
Hundreds of anti-war protesters were arrested today in midtown
Manhattan after blocking 5th Ave near Rockefeller Center for
almost 3 hours. Jamming intersections and chaining themselves
together, members of M27,
a coalition of anti-war groups, staged this mock “die
in” to symbolize Iraqi war victims. One of the organizers
of the protest, Mark Milano, from Act Up, spoke to Peacewatch
from a New York City holding cell shortly after he was arrested.
Tape: Mark Milano, one of the organizers of today’s
anti-war protest in New York City.
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Story: Human Rights Watch Refuses to Place Blame
on US for Iraqi Refugee Crisis
As Peacewatch producer Robert Knight discovered today in
an interview on New York Pacifica station WBAI's "Wake
Up Call," some human rights organizations are hesitant
to place direct blame on the Bush administration for the current
refugee crisis in northern Iraq, which remains under the non-UN-mandated
control of the US military and Central Intelligence Agency.
Tape: Allison Parker, director of Refugee Policy for Human
Rights Watch...
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Story: Turkey Human Rights
Human Rights Watch warned Turkish authorities today against
repeating past violations in any operations it might undertake
in northern Iraq. In a letter sent to Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the group recalled gross violations
committed in the fifteen-year conflict in southeastern Turkey.
Those violations included widespread arbitrary detentions,
torture, extrajudicial executions, unlawful expulsions, and
destruction of civilian property. Although the conflict with
the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party-- or PKK-- essentially
ended with a unilateral PKK ceasefire in 1999, little has
been done in Turkey to hold accountable those responsible
for the abuse, or to purge the security forces of human rights
violators. The Turkish Parliament voted last week to send
the country's troops to Northern Iraq.
Tape: From the Turkish Capital, Ankara, Aaron Glantz
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Story: Faces of Iraq Exhibit
When most Americans think of Iraq, they think of war and
destruction. In the news we see images of Iraqis demonstrating
their support for Saddam Hussein, or images of malnourished
children standing in war torn streets. One Photographer decided
to show America a different side of Iraq.
Gabriela Bulisova put together an exhibit in collaboration
with six other photographers that attempts to bridge the gap
between Americans and Iraqis by displaying the humanity and
diversity of the Iraqi people. Peacewatch producer Scott Gurian
spoke with her about Faces of Iraq. The Faces of Iraq Exhibit
is currently on display in upstate New York and will be traveling
across the country.
Tape: Photographer Gabriela Bulisova speaking with Peacewatch
producer Scott Gurian.
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Story: Reverend William Sloan Coffin speaks at Yale
University
The Rev. William Sloan Coffin, one of the most respected
leaders of the anti-Vietnam war movement, served as chaplain
at Yale University from 1957 to 1975. In 1968 he and four
other men over draft age were convicted of conspiracy to aid
and abet draft resistance. They faced five years in prison,
but the charges were dropped on appeal.
Coffin spoke recently at Yale in conjunction with the opening
of an exhibit at the school's library called Give Peace a
Chance. It's a look at anti-war activism from World War I
through the 1980s, based in part on Coffin's papers that he
donated to the university. We present, now, part two of that
speech...
Tape: Thanks to Peacewatch correspondent Melinda Tuhus for
producing that segment.
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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