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> Wed., Oct. 1, 2003
Pacifica's PeaceWatch
Today's Stories:
Columnist William Rivers Pitt on Karl
Rove: “The Most Insidious of Traitors”
David Brock Manipulation of the Media and War on Iraq
Constitutional Law Scholar Erwin Chemerinsky on the Patriot
Act and Related Threats
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Iraqi police opened fire in downtown Baghdad today after
demonstrators stormed a police station, demanding jobs they
claimed to have paid bribes for. According to the Toronto
Star, when the gunfire stopped after about 30 minutes, fistfights
broke out between some demonstrators and police. At lease
one demonstrator was injured in the shooting but his condition
was not known.
The protestors said they had been promised police jobs in
July - - - in some cases having paid bribes for them, but
the positions had not been given out.
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Senate Republicans pressed for speedy approval of President
Bush's request for $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, even
as some GOP lawmakers questioned whether Iraqis should be
required to eventually pay back some of the money.
Opening Senate floor debate on the proposal Wednesday, Sen.
Thad Cochran, R-Miss., described Bush's request as "a
matter of urgency."
Noting a series of Democratic amendments narrowly rejected
by the Senate Appropriations Committee, Cochran said, "I'm
sure we'll have the opportunity to reconsider some of the
suggested changes on the floor of the Senate."
One of those amendments, by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called
for Iraq to use future oil revenues to leverage loans to pay
for some of the rebuilding costs. Though defeated in a 15-14
party-line vote, similar proposals will probably re-emerge
on the Senate floor. The Bush administration strongly opposes
The White House staff began going back through records and
telephone logs today in search of any information relevant
to the criminal investigation into public disclosure of a
CIA undercover officer's identity, President Bush's spokesman
said. Press secretary Scott McClellan said he had no knowledge
about anyone going to the Justice Department with any information
about the case, as Bush had urged. Similarly, he said he did
not know of anyone hiring legal counsel.
"At this point, all the Department of Justice has asked
us to do is preserve any and all information that could be
related," he said. McClellan indicated the White House
would consent, if asked, to polygraph tests for staff. "We
will cooperate fully, at the direction of the president ...
Full cooperation is full cooperation."
One day after the probe was announced, there was no sign
of investigators at the White House, McClellan said.
Yesterday Bush said, "I want to know who the leakers
are" and he voiced confidence that career Justice Department
lawyers and FBI agents can impartially conduct the investigation.
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Columnist William Rivers Pitt on Karl Rove: “The
Most Insidious of Traitors”
Congressional lawmakers clashed today over whether the Bush
Justice Department could fairly investigate allegations that
a senior White House official illegally leaked the name of
an undercover CIA operative. The agent was Valerie Plame,
and critics suspect that White House chief of staff Karl Rove
was the one who revealed her identity to New York Times columnist
Robert Novak last July. They say it was in retaliation for
the outspoken criticism by Plame’s husband—Ambassador
Joe Wilson—of the faulty intelligence used by the Bush
administration to justify the war on Iraq.
The CIA dispatched Joe Wilson to the African country of
Niger in February 2002 to investigate claims that Iraq had
tried to purchase weapons-grade uranium. Wilson reported back
that the charges were without merit, yet President Bush used
the Niger claims in his 2003 State of the Union address to
dramatize the nuclear threat he claimed Iraq possessed. Wilson
went public with his criticism, and one week later, Novak’s
column appeared.
Congressional Democrats today demanded that the Bush administration
appoint a special counsel to investigate the leak, which is
considered a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.
Peacewatch spoke earlier today with William Rivers Pitt, author
and columnist with the website truthout.org, to get some background
info on the case.
Tape: William Rivers Pitt is a columnist with the website
truthout.org. He’s also the co-author with former weapons
inspector Scott Ritter of War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t
Want You to Know.
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David Brock Manipulation of the Media and War on
Iraq
David Brock, described by his friends as a ' notorious right-wing
hit man and partisan attack machine' tells all in his latest
book; Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative.”
Brock had a career that spanned two presidents, the first
Bush and Bill Clinton and worked diligently to promote and
defend the policies and ideas of the ultra conservative right.
When he wrote his book, The Seduction of Hilary Rodham, he
found himself out in the cold.
Peacewatch spoke with Brock recently about his former life
as a Right-winger and about the increasingly conservative
media coverage of the peace movement and the war on Iraq and
issues of the day.
Tape: David Brock, author of "The Real Anita Hill,"
The Seduction of Hillary Rodham and most recently Blinded
by the Right: A Memoir of An Ex-Conservative; former columnist
for the Spectator and the Washington Times.
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Constitutional Law Scholar Erwin Chemerinsky on the
Patriot Act and Related Threats
For the rest of today’s show, we’ll hear from
Constitutional law scholar and University of Southern California
Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky. Speaking recently at an event
hosted by the Coalition for Civil Liberties, Chemerinsky warned
that a number of threats exist that endanger our constitutionally-guaranteed
freedoms traditionally protected under the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights.
Tape: Erwin Chemerinsky is a Constitutional and Public Interest
Law Scholar and a Law Professor at the University of Southern
California. The L.A. Sound Posse prepared this speech before
the Coalition for Civil Liberties for us.
Credits
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