Democracy Now! June 4, 2003

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:06 Headlines 8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break 8:07-8:13: An Army reservist was kicked out of the service last week for refusing to take the anthrax vaccine. A military panel took 40 minutes to return a guilty verdict against Private Kamila Iwanowska and two hours to determine her penalty. Iwanoska was charged with a bad conduct discharge, which is just one level behind dishonorable discharge. The prosecutor had asked the panel to give Iwanowska six months in jail. Iwanoska is a Polish immigrant who became an American citizen last year. * Private Kamila Iwanowska 8:13-8:58: Federal regulators last week approved a plan by biotechnology company, VaxGen to test its experimental anthrax vaccine on about 100 people. The human volunteers will be injected with the experimental vaccine to see if it's safe and produces the desired immune response. VaxGen was awarded a $13.6 million federal contract to begin work on the anthrax vaccine. The company is applying for two more anthrax vaccine contracts. The contracts are expected to be awarded later this year for advanced testing and manufacturing of 25 million doses. In the last few years, a number of published studies have linked anthrax vaccination to the development of Gulf War Syndrome, among them a study in the British medical journal the Lancet. Hundreds of soldiers have refused the shots after evidence emerged that the vaccinations are connected to a variety of illnesses. But then the Bush administration went on the offensive. The Pentagon funded an Institute of Medicine study which concluded in March 2002 the anthrax vaccine is safe and effective against all anthrax strains and routes of infection. Its conclusions were based on unpublished research - also funded by the Pentagon. The story doesn't stop there. Bioport, the nation's sole, licensed anthrax vaccine lab has repeatedly failed FDA inspections which found among other things, contamination. The FDA cleared BioPort's manufacturing plant to begin producing the vaccine again in January 2002 - months after the letters containing anthrax were sent to Congress and news organizations. Bioport was also allowed to distribute the 500,000 doses of the vaccine already in stock. The vaccine was offered to some postal workers and others who were exposed. But most refused to take it. The anthrax vaccine is mandatory for all military service members assigned to high-risk areas. At least part of the six-shot series, which takes a year and a half to administer, has been given to about 700,000 service members. It will be eventually administered to all 2.5 million service members. Since 1998, when the vaccinations began, nearly 500 active-duty service-members have refused the vaccine, and more than 100 have been court-martialed. According to government figures, approximately 500 to 1,000 pilots and flight crew members have quit, resigned or transferred from the Air National Guard or reserves rather than take the vaccine. Award-winning documentary Direct Order tells the story of members of the military who were ordered against their will to receive the controversial anthrax vaccine. * Direct Order - award-winning documentary directed by Scott Miller and narrated by Michael Douglas. Link: http://www.directaction.org Direct Action 8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY GO TO WWW.DIRECTACTION.ORG 9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:06 Headlines 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break 9:07-9:20: As President Bush Meets with the Palestinian and Israeli Prime Ministers for the first time, a debate on U.S. involvement on the Middle East. Henry Siegman calls Sharon a destructive force and recalls Sharon is the granddaddy of the settlement movement, which was designed to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Former Head of the American Jewish Congress Says There Will Never be an Independent Palestinian State as Long as Sharon is in Power Today, President Bush convenes a three-way meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers. At the close of the summit, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon plans to voice support for the creation of an interim, demilitarized Palestinian state under the so-called road map to peace. Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas will declare that the Palestinians are ready to immediately start implementing the U.S.-backed plan. Abbas will also urge Palestinian militants to lay down their arms. This according to Haaretz. The meeting marks the first time leaders from both sides of the Palestine-Israeli conflict have met since the onset of the Intifada in November of 2000. It is also the first meeting between the President and any representative from the Palestinian Authority. Bush has succeeded in sidelining Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from the process. Israel has long insisted Arafat be removed from his leadership position, and the White House did not invite Arafat to the talks. Yesterday, Bush met with Arab leaders in Egypt. He said Israel must deal with their settlements on Palestinian land. Senior Likud party member Reuven Rivlin told an Israeli newspaper Sharon is planning to evacuate some 17 relatively minor settlements to allow a Palestinian state contiguous territory. But he will insist on keeping several other major settlements in the occupied territories. Phase One of the so-called roadmap to peace calls on Israel to dismantle illegal settlements and withdraw from zones in the occupied territories. Joining us to discuss the President s trip and the peace process are three of our nation s leading experts on the conflict. * Roane Carey, Editor of The Nation magazine, editor of The New Intifada: Resisting Apartheid in Israel, and co-editor of The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent * Norman Finklestein, political science professor at DePaul University in Chicago. He is also author of Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict and The Holocaust Industry Links: http://www.normanfinklestein.com * Henry Siegman, Senior fellow at The Council on Foreign Relations. He is the former Director of the American Jewish Congress is the author of over a hundred articles and essays on the Middle East. 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:40 Peace Process CONT D 9:41-9:58: One of the major features of the so-called war on terror was been a major campaign to reduce civil liberties in the United States to increase the power of the government over the individual. Arab Anti-Discrimination Communications Director, Hussein Ibish Discusses Civil Liberties During the War on Terror Hussein Ibish spokesperson for the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee reflects on how civil liberties have been affected by the war on terror at a teach-in for the United for Peace and Justice in Washington D.C. *Hussein Ibish, Communications Director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Link: http://www.adc.org/ American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press with help from Noah Reibel and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo is our music maestro and engineer. Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Emily Kunstler, Orlando Richards, Simba Rousseau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Karen Ranucci, Fatima Mojadiddy, Denis Moynihan and Jenny Filipazzo.