Democracy Now! January 29, 2002

9:01-9:06 HEADLINES [See comments] 9:06-9:07 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:07-9:20 COMING HOME FROM ONE GROUND ZERO TO ANOTHER That was Rita Lasar, speaking from Afghanistan. She lost her brother, Abe Zelmanowitz, in the attacks on September 11th at the World Trade Center. The Pentagon is reporting that American special forces descended on two Taliban compounds last Thursday, killing 15 and taking tens more captive. In the days since the raid, Afghans living in the area have begun to tell a different story. They say that the U.S. forces attacked a school not a compound, and that those killed were neither Taliban nor al-Qaida, but local people sent to negotiate the surrender of weapons from Taliban in the area. The Pentagon has denied the allegations, but on Sunday, a delegation of villagers arrived in Kandahar to complain to Afghan authorities that the U.S. Army had killed innocent people in its violent raid. The villagers had traveled some 100 miles to tell their story; it had taken them more than three days. Meanwhile, a small delegation of Americans was making its own kind of pilgrimage to bear witness. Four people who lost loved ones in the September 11th attacks, traveled to Afghanistan to meet others who had lost loved ones. For nine days, they toured the country, sharing their grief and gathering the stories of the second Ground Zero. When it was over, they vowed to tell the tales of the forgotten victims and to demand that the United States create a compensation fund for innocent Afghans like the one they created for innocent Americans. Yesterday, three members of that delegation visited us in our firehouse studio: Rita Lasar, whose brother Abe Zelmanowitz died in the attack on the World Trade Center; Kelly Campbell, an environmental campaign coordinator, traveling on behalf of her brother-in-law; and Medea Benjamin, founding director of Global Exchange, the human rights group that organized the trip to Afghanistan. GUEST: RITA LASAR, who lost her brother, Abe Zelmanowitz, at the World Trade Center GUEST: KELLY CAMPBELL, whose brother-in-law Craig Amundson was killed in the Pentagon attack GUEST: MEDEA BENJAMIN, founding director of Global Exchange, the group that organized the trip to Afghanistan 9:20-9:21 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:21-9:40 COMING HOME FROM ONE GROUND ZERO TO ANOTHER CONTD 9:40-9:41 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BREAK 9:41-9:58 COMING HOME FROM ONE GROUND ZERO TO ANOTHER CONTD 9:58-9:59 OUTRO AND CREDITS