Democracy Now! February 9, 1999

Investigation into New York Police Brutality Demonstrators are gathering today at NY's City Hall to protest the killing of Ahmed Amadou Diallo, a 22-yr old Guniean immigrant who was killed last Thursday evening by four plainclothes police officers. According to police, the offeicers mistook Diallo for a rapist they were persuing and thought that he was holding a gun. They fired 41 shots at him as he stood in the lobby of his apartment building, where he had apparently gone to get some fresh air. No weapons were found on him. The four officers involved in the shooting were part of the street crime unit, whose motto is "we own the night." The unit has been criticized repeatedly - last month, officers from that unit also fired on rapper ODB during a traffic stop, thinking he had a gun. Many critics are asking for the unit to be disbanded. GUEST: Ambassador Mohamed Aly Thiam, Guinea's ambassador to the U.S. He met with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Sunday to discuss the shooting. GUEST: Kyle Watters, attorney for the Diallo family. GUEST: Lloyd Bailey, whose son, Patrick Bailey, was shot and killed by Kenneth Boss, one of the police officers that killedamadou Diallo. GUEST: Ahmed Diallo, cousin of Ahmed Amadou Diallo. GUEST: Stephen Worth, attorney representing the four officers who shot and killed Amadou Diallo. Weapons of Mass Distraction The Clinton administration last week announced a new policy against terrorism, threatening to bomb government facilities in countries that the U.S. considers to be harboring terrorists. Clinton's coordinator for counter-terrorism, Richard Clarke, said that in addition to striking terrorist strongholds, the U.S. "May also choose to retaliate against the facilities of the host country, if that host is a knowing, cooperative sanctuary." U.S. air strikes and even the threat of air strikes in recent months have had a particular characteristic to them--they have coincided neatly with teh impeachment process -- from the threat of force against Iraq on the very day that Monica lewinsky was testifying in front of Ken Starr and the grand jury, to the actual air striks against Iraq on the very date that the impeachment trial was to begin. GUEST: Christopher Hitchens, contributing editor of the Nation.