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> Tues., Aug. 19, 2003
Pacifica's PeaceWatch
Today's Stories:
Blast rips through UN Headquarters
in Baghdad, Kills High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio
Vieira de Mello and 17 others
Voices in the Wilderness Investigates US Slaughter of Iraqi
Family
Joel Campagna of the Committee to Protect Journalists on Shooting
of Cameraman of Mazen Dana
Protesters, Supporters Greet Bush at LA Appearance
Plowshares Activists Sister Jackie Hudson On Non Violence
Activism
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Blast rips through UN Headquarters in Baghdad, Kills
High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello
and 17 others
A bomb planted in a vehicle outside UN Headquarters in Baghdad
exploded this afternoon, wounding some 100 UN officers and
civilians and killing 18, including Sergio Vieira de Mello,
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the highest-ranking
UN official in the country. UN flags were lowered to half-mast
in mourning of the casualties, and in New York, UN spokesperson
Fred Eckhard read this statement from Secretary General Kofi
Annan.
Tape: UN spokesperson Fred Eckhard, reading a statement
from Secretary General Kofi Annan, who’s traveling in
Northern Europe.
Peacewatch spoke earlier today with Cameron Barr, Mideast
correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, who visited
the scene of the explosion.
Tape: Cameron Barr is a Mideast correspondent for the Christian
Science Monitor. We reached him in Baghdad.
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Voices in the Wilderness Investigates US Slaughter
of Iraqi Family
Many analysts have said that the continuing failure of US
forces to fully restore public services in Iraq, as well as
a series of mishaps where soldiers have inadvertently killed
unarmed civilians, have helped fuel the flames of anti-American
resentment. One such incident occurred earlier this month,
when panicking US troops opened fire on a car trying to make
it home before curfew. Robert Knight of Pacifica station WBAI
in New York spoke earlier today with Caoihme Butterly, a volunteer
with Voices in the Wilderness and the Iraq Occupation Watch,
who just completed conducting an investigation into the incident.
Tape: Caoihme Butterly is a volunteer with Voices in the
Wilderness and the Iraq Occupation Watch. She spoke with Robert
Knight of Pacifica station WBAI in New York.
[top]
Joel Campagna of the Committee to Protect Journalists
on Shooting of Cameraman of Mazen Dana
On Sunday, award-winning photographer Mazen Dana was shot
in the chest by a US soldier with a tank, while filming at
the Abu Gharib prison. The area where Dana was killed was
crawling with journalists investigating what was an apparent
terrorist attack on the prison that is being used by the US
for civilian as well as military prisoners.
According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the tank fired
on Dana, after Dana started to photograph him. Stephan Breitner
of France 2 Television said, “After they shot Mazen,
they aimed their guns at us. I don’t think it was an
accident! They are crazy! They are young soldiers and they
don’t understand what is happening.” End Quote.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has requested a full
investigation of the shooting. Joel Campagna of CPJ spoke
to Peacewatch today about the death of Mazen Dana.
Tape: Joel Campagna, senior program editor of the Committee
to Protect Journalists.
[top]
Protesters, Supporters Greet Bush at LA Appearance
Last Friday, George W. Bush arrived in Los Angeles area
for a meeting at the National Forestry Park in Thousand Oaks.
Critics say the trip helped provide a cover for the President’s
fundraising efforts for the Republican Party so that taxpayers
could fund the travel costs. As Bush arrived, peace activists,
students and teachers, who questioned Bush’s foreign
and domestic policy, greeted his motorcade. There were also
many pro-Bush supporters at the protest. Fidel Rodriguez of
Pacifica station KPFK spoke to some of them, and he prepared
this piece.
Tape: Supporters and protestors outside a recent appearance
by President Bush in the Los Angeles area. They spoke with
Fidel Rodriguez of Pacifica station KPFK.
[top]
Plowshares Activists Sister Jackie Hudson On Non
Violence Activism
Finally, tonight, we hear from another peace activist, 68-year-old
Dominican nun Jackie Hudson, who was recently sentenced to
2 and half years in federal prison. Along with her fellow
Sisters Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert-- who received sentences
ranging from 2 to 3 years-- Hudson cut through a chain-link
fence in Northwest Colorado last October and entered the US
military’s Minuteman III missile silo. Wearing white
outfits bearing the title “disarmament specialists”
and calling themselves the “Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares
II,” the nuns proceeded to hammer on the concrete silo
lid, enacting the biblical prophesy of hammering swords into
plowshares and bringing an end to war. Several weeks before
her sentence was handed down, Hudson spoke to a crowd in Seattle,
Washington about nonviolent action as a force for positive
social change.
Tape: Dominican nun Jackie Hudson, speaking last month in
Seattle, Washington. Thanks to Ed Mays and Mike McCormick
for production assistance with that piece.
Credits
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