Democracy Now! April 21, 2003

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:10 Headlines 8:10-8:11 One Minute Music Break 8:11-8:20: Last week Christian Science Monitor reporter Scott Peterson filed a story titled Setbacks in winning Iraqi hearts. It began: The night after Baghdad fell, three Bradley Fighting Vehicles, fresh from battle, came across some Iraqi military trucks loaded with ordnance in residential District 405. What happened next would become a tragedy for both the American soldiers and the Iraqi civilians. After warning the residents along Street No. 2 to stay in their homes, the lead US vehicle fired explosive rounds into the parked trucks. The resulting fireball destroyed four houses, broke windows up to six blocks away - and killed the Bradley commander. As US troops attempt to restore safety and order to Baghdad, events like these are complicating the postwar campaign to win Iraqi hearts and minds. The incidents also raise the issue of who should pay for the unintentional mistakes of war. Damaged beyond repair is District 405 resident Abdulkarim Al-Fardousi's faith that Americans had come to free his people from dictatorship and make a better future for Iraq. "The happiness at the fall of Saddam has faded away in that single incident," says Fardousi, owner of an advertising agency, as he picks through mangled wreckage that included four computers and six monitors - brought home from work for safety during the war. "If this is freedom, I don't want it," Fardousi says. The blast knocked out hearing in his right ear, but the 27 other family members crammed into the back of the house survived that night, April 10. In the block, eight people were lightly wounded. "Who is going to compensate for all this loss?" Fardousi asks. "This was an American mistake - they told us that." * Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor reporter in Iraq. 8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break 8:21-8:40: U.S. intelligence diplomats and intelligence officials have told UPI that the CIA helped support Saddam Hussein more than 40 years in an attempt to assassinate then Iraqi Prime Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim. UPI reporter Richard Sale wrote: U.S. forces in Baghdad might now be searching high and low for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but in the past Saddam was seen by U.S. intelligence services as a bulwark of anti-communism and they used him as their instrument for more than 40 years, according to former U.S. intelligence diplomats and intelligence officials. United Press International has interviewed almost a dozen former U.S. diplomats, British scholars and former U.S. intelligence officials to piece together the following account. The CIA declined to comment on the report. While many have thought that Saddam first became involved with U.S. intelligence agencies at the start of the September 1980 Iran-Iraq war, his first contacts with U.S. officials date back to 1959, when he was part of a CIA-authorized six-man squad tasked with assassinating then Iraqi Prime Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim. . * Richard Sale, UPI intelligence correspondent and author of Saddam Key in early CIA Plot 8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break 8:41-8:58: He has been called the country s leading Islamophobes. He claims that up to 15 percent of Muslims are potential killers. He says Muslim government police officers, soldiers and diplomats QUOTE "need to be watched for connections to terrorism." And he contends that QUOTE "mosques require a scrutiny beyond that applied to churches and temples." His name is Daniel Pipes. He is the founder of the Middle East Forum and a columnist for the New York Post. He has now been nominated by President Bush to serve on the United States Institute of Peace. Muslim groups have protested Bush s selection. Now the Washington Post has called on Bush to rescind the nomination. So far Pipes has generally refused to discuss the nomination. Last week Pipes walked off the set of an Al Jazeera news show when he learned representatives from the Council on American Islamic Relations would also appear on the show. Almost two weeks ago we talked with Pipes, as well as Hussein Ibish of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American Islamic Relations. Since it was a phone interview Pipes couldn t walk off the set. But he did the next closest thing. He hung up. Not once but twice. But we were able to ask him a few questions. I began by asking for his response to the charge that he was the nation s leading Islamophobe. * Daniel Pipes, founder of the Middle East Forum Link: http://www.danielpipes.org * Hussein Ibish, communications director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Link: http://www.adc.org * Ibrahim Hooper, spokesperson for Council on American Islamic Relations Link: http://www.cair-net.org/8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits 9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:10 Headlines 9:10-9:11 One Minute Music Break 9:11-9:30: An Israeli soldier shot and killed an Associated Press cameraman in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday. 45 year old Nazeh Darwazeh was filming a skirmish Israeli troops firing on rock-throwing Palestinians. Then, an Israeli soldier pointed his gun at the journalists and fired. Darwazeh was shot in the head. He and the other cameramen covering the melee wore brightly colored vests that said Press in bold letters. The IDF has killed seven journalists - six Palestinians and one Italian - in the past two years in the territories. Darwazeh had lived in Nablus all his life and had worked for AP for two years. He is survived by a wife, Raeda, and by five children ranging in age from 6 months to 9 years. Demonstrations protesting the IDF's shooting were held in Ramallah and Bethlehem yesterday. Haaretz reported the demonstrators covered their mouths with black cloth, symbolizing the "gagging" of the media. Haaretz went on to report: Video films from the time of shooting show an IDF soldier kneeling by a tank and shooting. Witnesses say the shot hit Dawarzeh's camera and head. Dawarzeh was not standing between the soldiers and the Palestinians, they said. Films from Reuters, Nablus Television and Dawarzeh's own camera -- document the soldier shooting and Dawarzeh being hit, but it is not clear whether the soldier was aiming toward the journalists. The Foreign Press Association in Israel called for a comprehensive investigation into Dawarzeh's shooting. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights yesterday accused the IDF of stepping up the attacks on the media, "in an attempt to gag it and prevent public debate on the acts of the Israeli army." The Israeli military had no immediate comment but said it was looking into the shooting. Meanwhile in Gaza, five Palestinians and an Israeli combat photographer were killed in an early morning tank and helicopter raid on the densely populated Rafah refugee camp. This came during one of Israeli s largest attacks on Gaza since the second intifada began 30 months ago. We are joined now by Abed Qusini a Reuters photographer who was standing next to Nazeh Darwazeh when he was shot. * Abed Qusini, Reuters photographer in Nablus who was standing next to Nazeh Darwazeh when he was shot. 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:30 Palestine cont d 9:30-9:40: The New York Times reported on Saturday the Bush administration is planning to ask the United Nations to lift the sanctions against Iraq in phases. The UN would maintain its supervision of Iraqi oil sales for now. This comes after Russia, France and other Security Council members made it clear they will not support the lifting of sanctions unless the UN is given a central role in the rebuilding of Iraq. The Times also reported some Bush administration officials fear a messy situation in which the US or US-occupied Iraq could be sued for selling oil in defiance of UN measures and in violation of international law. This appears to be the first evidence that the Bush administration had been considering selling Iraq s oil illegally, before the sanctions are lifted. * Dennis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq and former Assistant Secretary-General. Phone: 212-288-5895 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58: This week is Passover. During the 8-day holiday Jews around the world remember their liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. Traditionally, on the first two nights of Passover, Jewish families hold dinners, or Seders. where friends and family gather to reflect and tell stories. Years ago, I went to an unusual Seder in New York City. It was a tradition begun in 1976 by Gloria Steinem and Jewish feminist writers Esther Broner and Phyllis Chesler. The unique Passover dinner celebrated women and liberation. And even 12 years ago, these women were voicing their opposition to the Israeli occupation. Esther Broner officiates. She wrote, The Telling and The Women's Haggadah. Sounds of a Feminist Seder, including feminist writers Esther Broner, Naomi Wolf, Phyllis Chesler, Robin and Letty Pogrebin. 9:58-9:59 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.