Democracy Now! September 20, 2001

BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRESSES FOR AUTHORITY TO DETAIN IMMIGRANTS INDEFINITELY AND DEPORT THEM WITHOUT HEARING Since the brutal attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., thousands of people have expressed their grief and sympathy for the victims and their families with candles, flowers, pictures and notes of support around the city. The American flag has also appeared, with people donning red, white, and blue ribbons and armbands, and placing flags on cars and buses, in subway stations, on walls, in every public place imaginable. But as the nation rallies behind the spirit of the U.S. flag -- the ideals of democracy, freedom, and equality -- many are worried that those very ideals will be eroded in time of war. Congress today will consider controversial new legislation that would give authorities the right to lock up foreigners considered to be terrorist suspects, and to have them deported without presenting any evidence. The legislation is part of a broader so-called "anti-terrorism" package the Bush administration presented to Congress yesterday. The legislation also expands law enforcement's electronic surveillance capabilities, and broadens or changes criminal procedures in terrorism cases, involving -- among other things -- subpoenas, search warrants and seizure of assets. Immigrants were already targeted. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced new rules that would allow legal immigrants to be detained indefinitely during a national emergency. Citing the new powers, the Justice Department said it would continue to hold 75 immigrants arrested in connection with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Supreme Court questioned the constitutionality of indefinite detention last summer. Then it ruled that the government could not order open-ended detention of illegal, clearly deportable immigrants simply for lack of a country willing to take them. Human rights groups have long criticized indefinite-detention laws in other countries, noting that they are often used by repressive governments to lock up dissidents for months or years under the guise of "emergency" conditions. Guests: Jeanne Butterfield, Executive Director, American Immigration Lawyers Association. avid Cole, professor of law at Georgetown University. AS THE U.S. SENDS AIRCRAFT AND TROOPS TO THE MIDDLE EAST, AN INTERVIEW WITH AMBASSADOR FARHADI, AFGHANISTAN'S PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE U.N. Bush will address the nation tonight about the US military response to last week's terrorist attacks. Analysts say the US response is likely to be a series of air strikes and relatively small-scale raids by special forces. The military deployments ordered today involved about two dozen bombers, tankers and support aircraft. In addition today, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its accompanying battle group left Virginia and headed eastward to an undisclosed location. With the carrier's air wing of about 70 attack aircraft, the US was moving nearly 100 aircraft to a region where there is already a robust American military presence. We turn now to Ambassador Farhadi, who is the permanent representative of the Islamic state of Afghanistan to the UN. He represents the Northern Alliance, the opposition party to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Guest: Ambassador Ravan Farhadi, permanent representative of the Islamic state of Afghanistan to the UN. SECOND HOUR NEWS HEADLINES US PRESSURES JAPAN TO CHANGE ITS PACIFIST CONSTITUTION TO SUPPORT MILITARY ACTION AGAINST AFGHANISTAN Offering his support to Washington's campaign against terrorism, Japan's prime minister said Wednesday that Tokyo may consider enacting a new law that would broaden the self-defense force's responsibilities in overseas conflicts. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi insisted that Japan won't change its pacifist constitution, and that any legal revision won't involve putting Japanese soldiers onto the battlefield. But he opened the possibility of Japan contributing more - in terms of logistics and medical aid - to a coordinated attack by the United States and its allies against the perpetrators of the terror assaults in New York and Washington. He also said Japan would consider offering aid to Pakistan. Koizumi's announcement comes after intense and increasing pressure from first the Clinton and now the Bush Administration for Japan to take a greater role in policing Asia, even if that means changing the Japanese constitution, a move that would have tremendous domestic repercussions. Guest: Steven C. Clemons, Executive Vice President New America Foundation. DAYS BEFORE THE BOMBING, THE U.S. PULLED OUT OF THE U.N. CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SPEAKER OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ASSEMBLY ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN REACTION TO THE ATTACKS AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S DRUMBEAT TO WAR Author Susan Sontag writes in the current issue of the New Yorker: "The disconnect between last Tuesday's monstrous dose of reality and the self-righteous drivel and outright deceptions being peddled by public figures and TV commentators is startling, depressing. The voices licensed to follow the event seem to have joined together in a campaign to infantilize the public. Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?" She continues, "a lot of thinking needs to be done' about the ineptitude of American intelligence and counter-intelligence, about options available to American foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, and about what constitutes a smart program of military defense..." In addition to the issues Sontag raises, the U.S. withdrew from the U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africa just days before the attack. We're joined right now by Frene Ginwala, the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, to talk about her own reaction to the bombing. Guest: Frene Ginwala, Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa. A HIGH RANKING PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL WHO ONCE ENGAGED IN HIJACKING CONDEMNS THE ATTACK ON NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON, DESCRIBES ISRAEL'S CRACKDOWN ON THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN THE AFTERMATH Repercussions of last week's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have been felt throughout the world, but particularly in the Middle East. In the Gaza Strip, where some 700,000 of the Palestinian residents live as refugees, Palestinians say the military crackdown has intensified in the occupied territories. Since last September, almost none of the 40,000 Gazans who worked in Israel have been able to cross the border. The United Nations estimates that the unemployment rate has shot up to about 50 percent from 25 percent. We go now to Bassam Abu Sharif, once considered one of the most dangerous Palestinian terrorists, now special advisor to President Yassar Arafat, and working for peace in the Middle East. Bassam Abu Sharif was dubbed the face of terror by Time Magazine because of his role in the multiple hijacking and then spectacular demolition of Pam-Am, Swiss Air, and TWA aircrafts in Jordan in 1970. No one was killed in the hijackings. Three years later the Israeli secret police tried to assassinate Abu-Sharif by mailing him a letter bomb. The bomb exploded, blowing off four of his fingers and depriving him of his mobility. That was seven days after Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by a car bomb. Abu Sharif, who was a member of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has sustained 37 wounds on his body from various attempts on his life. In 1978, he became Special Advisor to President Yasser Arafat and joined the PLO. In 1988, Abu-Sharif broke with many of his associates and became the first PLO official to urge the recognition of Israel-- which the PLO did a few months later at a UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva. Abu Sharif authored a peace initiating article which called for negotiating peace with the Israelis. Since then, Abu Sharif has worked to negotiate two states solution in the historic land of Palestine. Guest: Bassam Abu-Sharif, special advisor to Yassar Arafat in the occupied territories.