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> Fri. Mar. 28, 2003
Pacifica's PeaceWatch
Today's Stories:
War on Iraq Not a cakewalk Bill Hartung
Resurgence of Hate Crimes in America Sosum Attar
Peace Protests in Cairo, Egypt
Crack Down on Dissent Oregon
Gore Vidal Likens Bush Tactics to Ancient Rome
Last Ditch Diplomatic Efforts Succeed In Iraq and are Rejected
by Bush Administration Walter L. Fauntroy, former US Representative
for District of Columbia
Veteran War Correspondent Phil Smucker Expelled from Iraq
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One missile struck a market in western Baghdad today killing
more than 50 people. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera said 55 civilians
were killed today at the market in a residential neighborhood.
Al Arabiya television said at least 52 people died. Footage
showed the injured, many of them children, lying in hospital
beds with their faces and heads wrapped in bandages.
President Bush, accusing Saddam Hussein's regime of committing
scores of atrocities against the Iraqi people and prisoners
of war, said those responsible would be "hunted relentlessly
and judged severely." Speaking to war veterans in the
East Room of the White House, the president said U.S.-led
forces were closing in on Baghdad, loosening Saddam's grip
on power with every advance.
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Story: War on Iraq Not a cakewalk Bill Hartung
That’s the Presidents’ version of how the war
is going. Others see things differently…the Philadelphia
Inquirer is reporting that five days into the war optimistic
assumptions of the pentagon Bill Hartung a senior fellow at
the World Policy Institute says the Bush administration has
announced the war will be longer and more difficult as a public
relations strategy.
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Story: Resurgence of Hate Crimes in America
Sosum Attar
While people in Iraq live through daily bombing at the hands
of US and British forces, Iraqi Americans are glued to their
telephones and television sets, waiting anxiously for the
latest news from their friends and relatives.
Sonali Kolhatkar of Pacifica station KPFK spoke recently
with Sosum Attar, an Iraqi-American with the Muslim Public
Affairs Council about her first reaction to the so-called
liberation of Iraq, and the resurgence of hate crimes in America.
Attar says the war came as no surprise for many Iraqi Americans.
Tape: Sosum Attar, an Iraqi-American with the Muslim Public
Affairs Council, speaking with KPFK host Sonali Kolhatkar.
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Story: Peace Protests in Cairo, Egypt
15 thousand Egyptians demonstrated in Cairo today in the
first anti-war demonstration authorized by president Hosni
Moubarak in several months. Previous demonstrations in the
Egyptian capital were strongly repressed by security forces,
and hundreds of politicians, students and peace activists
are still detained by Egyptian security forces. Raphael Krafft
reports from a protest following this morning's prayer in
Cairo...
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Story: Crack Down on Dissent Oregon
An Oregon senator has introduced a bill that would undermine
the constitutional right to political protest, state immigration
laws, and give police spying powers beyond what is allowed
by state law. But it appears he may have chosen the wrong
community to challenge, and his bill came to committee in
the wrong political climate.
Tape: From Portland, Andrew Stelzer has the story...
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Story: Gore Vidal Likens Bush Tactics to Ancient
Rome
Gore Vidal, the author of a new collection titled "Dreaming
War: Blood for Oil and The Cheney-Bush Junta," has been
watching the current administration's key players and their
global behavior, which he likens to the tactics of ancient
Rome. Vidal recently discussed this and other matters, including
the invasion of Iraq on Pacifica station WBAI'S "Wake
Up Call" with Peacewatch producer Robert Knight.
Tape: Gore Vidal is the author of "Dreaming War: Blood
for Oil and The Cheney-Bush Junta,"
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Story: Last Ditch Diplomatic Efforts Succeed In Iraq
and are Rejected by Bush Administration Walter L. Fauntroy,
former US Representative for District of Columbia
Several weeks ago, the Reverend Walter L. Fauntroy, pastor
of New Bethel Baptist Church, founder of the Congressional
Black Caucus, lead spiritual leaders from every spiritual
community in the United States to Baghdad to negotiate with
Iraqi leadership to find an alternative to war. While in the
US congress, Fauntroy served on two House Banking committees
and was instrumental in developing policy for US banks and
the International Monetary Fund. Fauntroy was interested in
persuading Iraq to reverse its decision to have all oil transactions
made in Euro Dollars rather US dollars, which has had a devastating
effect on the US economy and tended to weaken the US dollar
abroad.
PeaceWatch spoke with Fauntroy today about his negotiations
in Iraq and the Bush administration’s response upon
his return to the US.
Tape: Reverend Walter L. Fauntroy, pastor of New Bethel
Baptist Church, founder of the Congressional Black Caucus
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Story: Veteran War Correspondent Phil Smucker Expelled
from Iraq
Dozens of journalists, including CNN’s Nic Robertson
and Pacifica Radio’s Jerry Quickly have been expelled
from Baghdad over the past several weeks. Late yesterday,
veteran war correspondent Phil G. Smucker was also asked to
leave, but not by the Iraqi government.
Smucker had been traveling with the 1st and 2nd battalions
of the 5th regiment of the US army. During a report to CNN,
he was cautioned to not be too specific in his report, lest
he accidentally give out sensitive information. Shortly thereafter,
he had his satellite phone and computer confiscated and was
put on a truck to be escorted by military personnel out of
the country. PeaceWatch spoke with Smucker’s father,
retired 2nd lieutenant, John Smucker today regarding his son’s
expulsion from Iraq.
Tape: John R. Smucker, father of Philip Smucker, veteran
war correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, expelled
from Iraq by the Pentagon on Late Tuesday or early Wednesday
morning.
Credits
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