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> Fri., July. 11, 2003
Pacifica's PeaceWatch
Today's Stories:
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky Responds
to Bush’s Retraction of Statement Re: Iraq’s Alleged
Nuclear Program
Rania Masri on Iraq’s Mysterious Missing Weapons
Columnist Clarence Page Characterizes Iraq as a Quagmire
Is Oil On The U.S. Agenda For Africa Part Two
Peace Activists at the Crossroads
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Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky Responds to Bush’s
Retraction of Statement Re: Iraq’s Alleged Nuclear Program
President Bush is blaming the CIA for the false statement
he made to the nation about Iraq trying to buy nuclear material
from the African country of Niger. Bush said today that intelligence
services cleared his State of the Union speech, which included
a now-discredited allegation that Saddam Hussein was seeking
to purchase nuclear material from Africa.
Bush's national security adviser Condoleeza Rice said the
CIA had vetted the speech. If CIA Director George Tenet had
any misgivings about that sentence in the president's speech,
"he did not make them known" to Bush or his staff,
said Rice.
Senior U.S. officials said earlier this week American intelligence
officials expressed doubts - - - before and after his state
of the union address - - - about a British intelligence report
Bush cited to back up his allegations.
Those doubts were relayed to British officials before they
made them public, and were passed to people at several agencies
of the U.S. government before Bush gave his nationally broadcast
speech. The White House this week admitted the charge about
Iraq seeking uranium should not have appeared in his speech.
When asked during a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni how erroneous material had ended up in the address
Bush said, "I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared
by the intelligence services." He did not answer when
pressed again on how it wound up in his speech.
Democratic representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois has
co-authored a house resolution calling for an independent
commission to investigate the intelligence used to justify
launching a pre-emptive attack against Iraq.
Peacewatch spoke with her today about the significance of
the White House’s acknowledgement.
Tape: US Representative Jan Schakowsky of the Ninth District
of Illinois.
[top]
Rania Masri on Iraq’s Mysterious Missing Weapons
The White House’s acknowledgment Monday that President
Bush had made inaccurate claims about Iraqi attempts to obtain
uranium from Africa came in response to a similar, brewing
controversy in the United Kingdom. Earlier this week, the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament released
a report questioning the reliability of British intelligence
about Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction
in the run-up to the war in Iraq. An intelligence consultant
confirmed that Bush was told the intelligence was questionable,
but he chose to use it anyway. Additionally, Bush’s
national security advisors apparently urged him not to include
the claim in his State of the Union address. This little matter
has caused a much greater political uproar in Britain than
it has here in the United States.
Meanwhile, no weapons of mass destruction have turned up
inside Iraq, itself. One Kurdish official described the hunt
for weapons as a "Giant Easter Egg Hunt," and he
said with frustration, "I can't get hold of any American
officers because they are all out trying to win promotions
by being the first to find WMDs."
Sonali Kolhatkar of Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles
spoke earlier this week with Rania Masri, an Arab American
antiwar activist with the Institute for Southern Studies and
the Director of the Southern Peace Research and Education
Center. Masri gave an in-depth analysis of the current situation
on the ground in Iraq, but she began by discussing the recent
New York Times editorial by former ambassador Joseph Wilson,
where he stated that he had refuted intelligence linking Iraq
to uranium sales from Africa almost a year before Bush’s
January 28th State of the Union address.
Tape: Rania Masri is an Arab American antiwar activist with
the Institute for Southern Studies and the Director of the
Southern Peace Research and Education Center. She was interviewed
by Sonali Kolhatkar of Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles.
[top]
Columnist Clarence Page Characterizes Iraq as a
Quagmire
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated yesterday that
the estimated cost to maintain the current force level of
force in Iraq is $3.9 billion dollars per month; almost double
the administration’s April estimate of $2 billion per
month. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee,
US General Tommy Franks said that the current violence and
uncertainty in Iraq have made it unlikely that troop levels
will be reduced “for the foreseeable future.”
All of this has gotten Peacewatch commentator Clarence Page
thinking, if Iraq isn’t a Vietnam-like quagmire, it’s
a pretty close imitation.
Tape: Clarence Page is a columnist with the Chicago Tribune.
His column is distributed by Tribune Media Services.
[top]
Is Oil On The U.S. Agenda For Africa Part Two
As Bush travels around Africa, the world's spotlight is suddenly
falling on a part of the world that generally receives little
coverage in the American media. With the civil war in Liberia
looming in the background, Bush has pledged to deliver 15
billion dollars to combat AIDS and spur economic growth on
the African continent. Among Africa's most valuable assets
is oil, and it's been estimated that as much as 20-25 percent
of US oil imports will likely come from West Africa by the
year 2005. One of the main oil producers, and also Africa's
most populous country, is Nigeria. President Bush arrived
in Nigeria today and will spend today and tomorrow there.
Peacewatch spoke earlier today with Daphne Wysham, a Fellow
at the Institute for Policy Studies, about Nigeria's strategic
importance to the US, and the US's plan to send troops to
protect its oil interests in the region.
Tape: Daphne Wysham, a Fellow at the Washington-based Institute
for Policy Studies. We'll have more of our discussion with
her tomorrow on Peacewatch.
[top]
Peace Activists at the Crossroads
Finally, tonight, as the nation went to war in Iraq, cities
across the country put themselves on the war-resisters map
with various demonstrations, anti-war resolutions and creative
peace protests. Among the more outspoken residents of one
small California town is Utah Phillips, who hosts “Loafer's
Glory's” on his local community radio station, KVMR.
Phillips keeps busy in his hometown, not only with his singing,
storytelling and gardening, but also with his passionate peace
activism. Last winter, a bold idea he had led to a significant
action in his community. Peacewatch correspondent Carolyn
Crane has this report.
Tape: Carolyn Crane
Credits
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