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> Mon., Apr. 7, 2003
Pacifica's PeaceWatch
Today's Stories:
African American Perspective on War
Coverage - George Curry
General Jay Garner To Govern Post-War Iraq - Ian Williams
Festival For Peace and Non-Violence
Police Open Fire on Peaceful Demonstrators in San Francisco
Protest
The Carlyle Group Targeted in New York City
Native American Soldier Killed in Iraq Vernon Bellchord
The Erosion of Civil Liberties - Ron Daniels
Rachel Corrie
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Story: African American Perspective on War Coverage
- George Curry
The U.S. military is testing samples from a site in Iraq
where soldiers found metal drums containing possible chemical
weapons according to defense officials. But officials say
tests at laboratories in the United States have to be completed
before the presence of chemical weapons would be determined.
Hundreds of journalists from around the world are in the
region reporting on the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq
and among them is George Curry, Editor and Chief of the National
Newspapers Publishers Association …a news service. He’s
just arrived in Qatar, the headquarters for the U.S. military’s
Central Command post - about 700 miles south of Baghdad. We
spoke with Curry this morning about the challenges for journalists
in the region attempting to cover the war under the watchful
eye of the military.
Tape: George Curry, is Editor and Chief of the National
Newspapers Publishers Association News Service…speaking
with us from Doha, Qatar.
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Story: General Jay Garner To Govern Post-War Iraq
- Ian Williams
Though the US military's entrance into Baghdad is still
in its initial stages, the question of who will lead Iraq
after Saddam Hussein is gone, and the issue of post-war reconstruction
is very much on everyone's minds. Peacewatch spoke earlier
today with Ian Williams, UN Correspondent for The Nation magazine,
about the prospects for Iraq's future government and the Bush
administration's choice of a former arms dealer to lead the
country.
Tape: Ian Williams, UN Correspondent for The Nation magazine
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Story: Festival For Peace and Non-Violence
An audio mix from the festival for peace & nonviolence
held Saturday at the Washington Monument to oppose the invasion
of Iraq
Tape: Thanks to Cristell Lewis, Kam Phomas, Maya Bhullar,
Hakim, Takash, and Avishay Arsty of the DC Radio Co-Op and
Ryme Katkhouda of Pacifica Station WPFW in Washington, DC
[top]
Story: Police Open Fire on Peaceful Demonstrators
in San Francisco Protest
Even as tanks rumble into Baghdad and President Bush and
Prime Minister Tony Blair began the work of dividing the spoils
of war… millions of protestors continue to raise their
voices in dissent and put their bodies on the line to stop
what they consider to be an unjust and immoral war. Increasingly,
police are cracking down harder on anti-war protestors in
this country.
This morning in Oakland, California police wearing bulletproof
vests, fired shotguns using rubber bullets on demonstrators
at the Port of Oakland dock. According to the Associated Press
several longshoremen standing by were caught in the line of
fire and injured. AP is running photographs of a woman protestor
who was severely beaten about the neck and face by Oakland
police at the dock…. and Reuters is running a picture
of a man bearing wounds in his back from the rubber bullets
used by police.
Members of Direct
Action to Stop the War, who are targeting businesses that
are profiting from the war, staged the protest. Joshua Clover
is a professor at the University of California - - - he participated
in this mornings protest. He spoke with Peacewatch from the
Port of Oakland dock where demonstrators sought to shut down
the American President’s line that ships arms to Iraq.
Tape: Joshua Clover is an English Literature professor at
the University of California and a member of Direct Action
to Stop the War.
[top]
Story: The Carlyle Group Targeted in New York City
Meanwhile, across the country, close to a
hundred people were arrested this morning at the New York
offices of the Carlyle Group, a defense contractor and investment
firm with close
ties to the Bush administration. Peacewatch spoke earlier
today with activist Eric Larson, from his cell phone in the
back of a police van.
Tape: Peace activist Eric Larson arrested outside the New
York City headquarters of the Carlyle Group earlier this morning.
[top]
Story: Native American Soldier Killed in Iraq
Vernon Bellchord
Over the weekend, hundreds of people flocked to the Native
American reservation town of Tuba City, Arizona, to mourn
the death of 23-year-old Private Lori Ann Piestewa. She was
the first female American soldier to be killed in the war
on Iraq, and the first Native American.
Piestewa was killed with at least 10 others in an Iraqi
ambush, when her supply convoy consisting of mechanics, clerks
and cooks came under heavy fire near the Southern Iraqi city
of Nasiriyah on March 23rd. She was one of 57 Native Americans
currently serving in the US military's so-called Operation
Iraqi Freedom, and one of 49 who had been deployed to fight
in Iraq.
Piestewa was a member of the Dine Nation-- widely known
as Navajo-- which has been outspoken on the issue of the war
with Iraq. A few weeks ago, the Navajo Nation’s President
Joe Shirley Jr. and Vice-President Frank Dayish Jr. asked
the Nation’s members to pray for the Native men and
women in the front lines and for those who work in Homeland
Security.
The official announcement recognizes the rights of Natives
to dissent, but it lets them know they will be watched. Furthermore,
it shows that the Navajo Nation’s government will seek
funds from the Homeland Security office in order to "respond
to terrorism."
Tape: Vernon Bellchord, Director of International Affairs
with the American Indian
Movement. He spoke with KPFT’s Fernando Velazquez.
[top]
Story: The Erosion of Civil Liberties - Ron Daniels
As the war in Iraq continues to grab headlines, another
war is taking place much closer to home. Ron Daniels, executive
director of the Center for
Constitutional Rights spoke recently about the war against
civil liberties.
Tape: Dr. Ron Daniels, executive director of the Center
for Constitutional Rights speaking in Boston, MA. Special
thanks to David Goodman for that piece.
[top]
Story: Rachel Corrie
A U.S. peace activist volunteering as a human shield on
the West Bank of the Jordan River was seriously wounded Saturday
when Israeli troops reportedly opened fire on him. Brian Avery,
24, from Albuquerque, N.M., heard shots fired and came out
of his apartment building in Jenin to investigate just as
an Israeli armored personnel carrier rounded a corner, according
to Tobias Karlsson, a fellow activist from Sweden.
Avery and Karlsson are members of the International Solidarity
Movement, which uses non-violent methods to protest against
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. "We had
our hands up and we were wearing vests that clearly identified
us as international workers when they began firing,"
Karlsson said. "Brian was shot in the face and it looks
like he was hit by a heavy caliber bullet because of the extent
of the wound." Avery was taken to a Jenin hospital. Karlsson
said Avery was semiconscious when taken in the ambulance.
The army said homemade firebombs were reportedly being thrown
at troops and it returned fire at gunmen in the area, although
it was not aware of hitting anyone. An eyewitness to the account
reported this morning on Democracy Now - - - that the army’s
account is an outright lie. Avery had written home, saying
he wanted to carry on the work of Rachel Corrie, another American
member of the group who was killed March 16, 2003 while trying
to stop an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. Corrie
courageously sat in front of the machine, which ran over her
and then backed up.
Israeli officials said the incident was an accident and
the bulldozer driver didn't see her. The army says the driver
is back on the job today. Avery had just written about Rachel
Corrie, letting people know back home what happened and that
people were standing in her name and continuing her work."
Tape: Rachel Corrie Song
Credits
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