Democracy Now! June 9, 2003

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:06 Headlines 8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break 8:07-8:30: More than 13,000 Arab and Muslim men are facing deportation in what could result in the largest wave of deportations since the Sept. 11 attacks, this according to a report in the New York Times. Those facing deportation are among the 82,000 men from Arab and Muslim countries who voluntarily registered with immigration officials over the six months. The Pakistani community has been particularly hard hit. Bobby Khan of the Coney Island Avenue Project told the New York Times that between 40 to 50 percent of the 120,000 Pakistanis who lived in the area before Sept. 11 have since been detained, deported or have left the area. Officials have acknowledged that almost all of the immigrants who face deportation have no ties to terrorism. So far the government has claimed only 11 of those who registered had links to terror groups. News of the mass deportations comes just a week after the release of a Justice Department report that concluded authorities violated the civil rights of hundreds of immigrants detained since Sept. 11. The review by the Office of the Inspector General found FBI officials made little attempt to distinguish between immigrants with possible ties to terrorism, and those who simply had the misfortune to be swept up in the investigation. Without bail, detainees remained in jail for an average of nearly three months. They had to wait for weeks until they were allowed to make phone calls and find lawyers. Some were kept for months in cells illuminated 24 hours a day and were escorted in handcuffs, leg irons and waist chains. At the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where over 80 people were held, the report found a pattern of physical and verbal abuse. While the report has been viewed as very critical, the situation may be worse. The study only looks at immigrants picked up between September 2001 and August 2002. Newsday is reporting that a group of hundreds of detainees in Brooklyn and New Jersey suing the government plan to amend their suit based on the new report. Attorneys for the detainees wrote the oversight report "provides a wealth of previously unknown detail that substantiates the plaintiffs' allegations they were wrongfully designated as individuals 'of interest' to the government's investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subjected to an array of unconstitutional policies. Despite the critical report, Attorney General John Ashcroft is urging Congress to give the Justice Department more power. Late last week he asked Congress to expand the USA Patriot Act to permit the government to hold more suspects indefinitely, and to extend the death penalty to more people accused of terrorist crimes. * David Cole, professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He is the author of the forthcoming book Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism. An article of his titled We ve Aimed, Detained and Missed Before that appeared in yesterday s Washington Post. 8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break 8:30-8:58: Tens of thousands of people have fled the Liberian capital of Monrovia as rebels from the Liberian United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) fight their way into the city. Military helicopters began evacuating Americans and Europeans from Liberia's besieged capital at dawn today. They were evacuated out of embassy compounds for a French ship waiting in the Atlantic. The EU mission in Liberia told AP that a total of 91 international residents of Liberia were to be evacuated from the EU compound. They included foreign staff of the International Red Cross Committee and U.N. agencies. Refugees have taken shelter in the football stadium and the crackle of gunfire can be heard in the distance. The rebels now claim control of the entire country except for Monrovia. They have delivered a 72-hour ultimatum to the country s President, Charles Taylor, to step down. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes since LURD rebels began their campaign to oust him in 1999. Rebels gained momentum Wednesday when a U.N. backed War Crimes court indicted Taylor on charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the civil war in Sierra Leone. The announcement of the indictment came as Taylor arrived in Ghana for peace talks aimed at ending the civil war. No attempt was made to arrest him, and Taylor immediately flew back to Monrovia to face the growing threat to his regime. Taylor launched his own rebellion in 1989 in Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th Century. Since then, Liberia has suffered almost uninterrupted civil wars that have left an estimated 200,000 dead. In 1991, Sierra Leone s civil war erupted after Taylor helped organize the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel group that sought to topple the government and control the country s diamond mines. During the brutal civil war that followed, the RUF became infamous for their use of child soldiers, who were often drugged, and for amputating the arms and legs of their enemies. Taylor has fought a series of wars and skirmishes with neighboring countries all the while facing resistence at home. David Crane, the American who is the Chief Prosecutor for the special court for Sierra Leone, said his team of investigators were charged with finding out where responsibility lay for the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone and to QUOTE follow the evidence wherever it leads. It leads unequivocably to Taylor. * Reed Brody, Human Rights Watch Link: http://www.hrw.org/* Tarty Teh, Chief Political Representative of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) in the United States. LURD rebels are leading the battle to unseat Pres. Charles Taylor. * Douglas Farah, former Washington Post bureau chief for West Africa, Taylor's government targeted him for assassination after he published links between Taylor and Al Qaeda. 8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break 8:41-8:58 Liberia cont d 8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits 9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:06 Headlines 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break 9:07-9:40 A Gulf War Marine and a War Correspondent Speak About the Reality of War Military recruiters have just launched a new campaign to recruit the next generation of the U.S. military. And the new target are car racing fans. According to the Star Ledger of New Jersey, the U.S. military plans to spend $30 million this year on NASCAR sponsorships. For the first time the logos of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and National Guard will appear on race cars. Major Frederick Rice of the Army s recruiting command told the Star Ledger: "The fan base of NASCAR is well suited to the direction we're going. They're patriotic and interested in speed, power, technology and teamwork. So are we." Well, today we are going to have a discussion on the aspects of war the military recruiters may glaze over. We are joined by Chris Hedges whose first book, War is a Force Which Gives Us Meaning, was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award last year. In that book, Hedges reflected on his 15 plus year career as a war correspondent -- a profession that feeds off the adrenaline rush of war even as it tries to provide an accurate account of its perils. Hedges latest book is an unflinching look at the reality of military life. It is titled What Every Person Should Know About War. Hedges employed a team of researchers to help him uncover the cold, hard facts of life in a modern war zone as it is lived by the men and women who fight and die in America s wars. The book takes a simple question and answer approach to tackle questions new recruits may have about war. We are also joined by the book s chief researcher Cabe Franklin, who combed through thousand of pages of documents, books and statistics to help answer the questions in What Every Person Should Know About War. And we are also joined by Anthony Swofford, who recently published his memoir, Jarhead: A Marine s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles. Swofford was a young person when he first became enamored of the military life. Swofford was the son of a military family: his Father served in Vietnam and the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American service personnel made a grave impression on him when he was thirteen. He writes: I got caught up in the narrative of defending the flag against enemy forces. He enlisted with the Marines when he was 17 years old, and entered the armed services at 18. During the Gulf War, Swofford was a lance corporal in a United States Marine Corps who saw combat in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He was shot at by both Iraqis and Americans. He considered committing suicide. He once pulled a gun on one of his fellow Marines. At the end of the war, Swofford hiked for miles through a landscape of incinerated Iraqi soldiers and later was nearly killed in a booby-trapped Iraqi bunker. * Chris Hedges, war correspondent and author of War is a Force Which Gives Us Meaning and What Every Person Should Know About War. * Cabe Franklin, chief researcher for What Every Person Should Know About War * Anthony Swofford, author creative writing professor at Portland State University 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 For the First Time in New York History, the Green Party Wins Control of a Village For the first time in history, New York State has a Green Party mayor. Jason West, is 26 years-old, a house painter, puppeteer and activist. And on June 1st, he became mayor of the Village of New Paltz. Green Party candidates Jason West and two running mates Rebecca Rotzler and Julia Walsh won majority control of the village in elections last week. He was inaugurated this weekend. As the first Green Party mayor in New York State, Jason West will succeed 71-year old Democrat and Korean War veteran, Thomas Nyquist. The new mayor plans to improve the sewers and run village vehicles on soy-based fuel. New Paltz is a village of about 6,000 dominated by the State University of New York at New Paltz. Newsday reports that some people say students tipped the election this month. Each candidate has ties to the school. Jason West and trustee 41 year-old Rebecca Rotzler, are graduates. The other trustee, 23-year-old Julia Walsh, is a New Paltz student who spent the weeks after the Election Day studying for finals. West figures his team's entire campaign cost about $2,500. Some people are not pleased with the result. The Republican chairman of Ulster County, Peter Savago, called the election a travesty. Former mayor, Thomas Nyquist, is openly bitter and refuses to even discuss the issue. * Jason West, newly elected mayor of New Paltz, New York. Link: http://www.innovationcampaign.org Innovation Campaign 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.