Democracy Now! April 17, 2003

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:06 Headlines 8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break 8:07-8:20: Earlier this week the Iraqi city of Mosul made headlines around the world when US troops fired on a crowd of civilians there. Al Jazeera reports over a dozen people died in the shooting. Dozens more were injured. Eyewitnesses say the newly-appointed governor of Mosul, Mashaan al-Juburi, was exhorting people to cooperate with the US when chaos broke out. The crowd called him a liar and insisted he end his speech. When he continued, the angry crowd threw stones at him and ran towards him. That was when US troops opened fire. Many among the wounded say the besieged governor asked US troops to open fire. Well today we are going to look at life in the Iraqi city of Mosul from what may now seem like a distant era Pre U.S. invasion. We are talking about the Mosul of a month ago. May Ying Welsh recorded a video journal in the city just before the war started. This is a glimpse of the stresses caused by previous wars and the effects of sanctions illustrated through one Iraqi doctor s experiences. Tape: May Ying Welsh, independent reporter in Iraq who produced a video journal in Mosul last month. 8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break 8:21-8:40: The looting of museums in Iraq has left thousands of invaluable artifacts missing, including the limestone Warqa Vase of 3,500 BC, the bull's head harp of Ur, and the squatting Akkadian king of 2,300 BC. According to Irving Finkle, of the Ancient Near East department of the British Museum, at least four of the looted objects were so vast that it would have taken a fork-lift truck to move them. Meanwhile at home, controversy surrounds the intentions of a coalition of wealthy and influential American antiquities collectors at home. Months before the US-led invasion of Iraq, the group met with defense and state department officials to discuss the fate of the country s artifacts. Nine British archaeologists published a letter in the London Guardian, charging that the coalition is persuading the Pentagon to relax legislation that protects Iraq s heritage by prevention of sales abroad, arguing that antiquities will be safer in American museums and private collections than in Iraq. The main group behind this alleged move was the recently formed, The American Council for Cultural Policy. They have denied the allegations. * Geoffrey Wainwright, President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association * William Pearlstein, treasurer of the American Council for Cultural Policy 8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break 8:41-8:58: In many ways Victoria Clarke has become the voice of the Pentagon. As the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Clarke oversees daily press briefings. She has also been credited with forming the idea of embedded journalists. Her ability to spin the news should come as little surprise. Clarke came to the Pentagon after a successful career at PR giant Hill and Knowlton. You may recall Hill and Knowlton and its role before the first Gulf War. A decade ago, Hill & Knowlton crafted a PR campaign that purposely mislead Congress to help justify the bombing of Iraq. At a Congressional hearing, Hill and Knowlton represented a woman who testified she saw Iraqi soldiers throw Kuwaiti babies out of hospital incubators. But what Hill and Knowlton didn't say was that the 15-year-old girl identified as Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and that what she said wasn't true. She had left Kuwaiti long before the Iraqi soldiers arrived. The White House has also tapped another PR pro, Margaret Tutwiler, to serve as spokesperson to the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq. Tutwiler served as the State Department s spokesperson during the first Gulf War. She also helped shape the media strategy of the Bush/Cheney campaign during the recount of the presidential vote in Florida in 2000. She is currently ambassador to Morocco. * Rick MacArthur, publisher of Harpers Magazine and author of Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War 8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Ana Nogueira and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo is our music maestro and engineer.