Democracy Now! March 31, 2003

Program Title:
Democracy Now! March 31, 2003
Series Title:
PRA Archive #: 
PZ0517.130
Description: 

Hour 1: The prince of darkness resigns: A look at the controversial businesses dealings of Pentagon adviser and war hawk Richard Perle; Three Dominican nuns face 50 years in prison for conducting citizens weapons inspections: Trial begins today in Colorado; What will a U.S. occupation of Iraq look like? A speech by Asla Bali of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Hour 2: Six journalists still missing in Iraq including two from Newsday: We talk to Newsday editor Les Payne and Pacifica s unembedded reporter Jerry Quickly who was expelled from Iraq last week; War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly rejected advice from top Pentagon planners on how to invade Iraq: Former Marine & UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter explains why the U.S. may lose the war

8:00-8:01 Billboard 8:01-8:10 Headlines 8:10-8:11 One Minute Music Break 8:10-8:30 The prince of darkness resigns: A look at the controversial businesses dealings of Pentagon adviser Richard Perle Last week, Richard Perle, the influential Pentagon adviser, was speaking on his mobile phone outside a Senate office building when trouble came from an unlikely source: the parking attendant. "It's not about the oil," Mr Perle was heard to shout at the attendant in apparent frustration before returning to his call. It was that sort of week for Mr Perle, one of the leading architects of the US policy on Iraq, who has been embroiled in a storm of controversy over his outside business interests. That was the opening of a piece in the Financial Times on Saturday. The paper went on to report: Mr Perle was appointed chairman of the Defense Policy Board in 2001 by Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary. Although the board members are not paid government employees, they have grown in stature because of Mr Perle's close ties to the administration's hawks. His role came under scrutiny after the New Yorker magazine reported that Mr Perle had attended a lunch in January with two Saudi businessmen to seek funding for his venture capital group, Trireme Partners, which invests in defence and security companies. One of the Saudis was alleged to be Adnan Kashoggi, the arms dealer at the centre of the Iran-Contra scandal. Mr Perle denied the allegations, and threatened to sue the publication for libel in London. But the controversy did not end. He finally resigned his chairmanship on Thursday night after his work for Global Crossing, the bankrupt telecommunications company, sparked calls in Congress for an ethics investigation. Mr Perle was to be paid $750,000 by the company to help win government approval to sell its assets to a Chinese-controlled company. The deal has been blocked by the defense department and the FBI, which object to a Chinese company controlling the vital fiber-optic network that the government uses. Mr Perle had bristled at the suggestion that he has done anything improper, or should leave the board altogether. He said in a letter to Mr Rumsfeld that he was resigning his post to prevent a political distraction. Asked about the controversy last week, he suggested it was the work of a leftwing conspiracy. He told the Financial Times, "I'm beginning to think that people who've been saying on the internet that I am part of a small neo-conservative cabal that runs the world actually believe what they are saying." Guest: Frida Berrigan, Senior Research Associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Instituteand author of the piece Richard Perle: It Pays To Be the Prince of Darkness which appeared recently in In These Times. Links: http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=126_0_7_0_C 8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break 8:21-8:30 Perle Cont d 8:30-8:40 Three Dominican nuns face 50 years in prison for conducting citizens weapons inspections: Trial begins today in Colorado In Colorado, three Dominican nuns stand trial today for staging a peaceful protest at a Minuteman III missile silo. The cut through a fence at the site used their own blood to paint a cross on the side of the silo and hammered away at the military structure. The women, Ardeth Platte, 66, Carol Gilbert, 55, and Jackie Hudson, 68, could face 50 years in prison. The nuns, jailed since their Oct. 6 protest near Greeley, maintain they were a ``Citizens Weapons Inspections Team'' that was symbolically disarming the United States. About 50 peace advocates are expected to attend the trial, including Elizabeth McAlister, the widow of longtime peace activist Philip Berrigan, and their daughter, Frida Berrigan who joins us on the phone. Gilbert and Platte both lived at Jonah House, the communal residence Berrigan founded in Baltimore. Hudson belongs to a similar group in Poulsbo, Wash. Guest: Frida Berrigan, speaking to us from Colorado before the trial begins 8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break 8:41-8:58 What will a U.S. occupation of Iraq look like? A speech by Asla Bali of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Asli Bali recently spoke a Not in Our Name conference in New York. Bali is an attorney in a private practice and a Board member of the American-Arab anti-Discrimination Committee s New York Chapter Guest: Asla Bali, an attorney in private practice and a Board member of the American-Arab anti-Discrimination Committee s New York Chapter 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 9:07-9:20: The Committee for the Protection of Journalists reports there are now six international journalists missing in Iraq. They are Matthew McAllester and Moises Saman of Newsday in New York. Johan Rydeng Spanner, a free-lance photographer with a Danish daily paper. U.S. Free lance photographer Molly Bingham. And a pair of journalists from the British ITV News, cameraman Fred Nerac and translator Hussein Othman. The Committee reports that three journalists have died so far. On March 22, Terry Lloyd, a reporter for Britain's ITN, was killed, perhaps by "friendly fire" from U.S. or British troops, near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The same day, Paul Moran, a free-lance cameraman on assignment for the Australian Broadcasting Corp., was killed in an apparent suicide attack when a man detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint in northeastern Iraq. Another ITN reporter, Gaby Rado was found dead Sunday in a parking lot of the Abu Sanaa hotel in Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq, where he and other reporters were staying. The families of the two Newsday journalists missing in Baghdad asked the Rev. Jesse Jackson yesterday to help locate their loved ones and secure their release. In related news, the U.S. military has expelled at least five journalists over the past week. Two Israeli and two Portuguese journalists are charging that U.S. forces detained them for 72 hours, denying them food and water and making them stand overnight in the cold. One of the Israeli reporters said, "They made us lie on the ground with our face in the sand for hours before we were given a thorough body search. One of the Portuguese journalists were reportedly beaten by five U.S. soldiers. And Christian Science Monitor stringer Philip Smucker was also removed by the military from Iraq. He is now reporting from Kuwait. Last week the U.S. military expelled him from Iraq for disclosing what the Pentagon claimed to be sensitive information. Well today we are joined by Pacifica s own unembedded reporter, Jerry Quickly who left Baghdad last week after being expelled by Iraqi officials. * Les Payne, deputy managing editor of Newsday * Jerry Quickly, reporter with Pacifica Radio who was recently expelled from Baghdad by Iraqi officials 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:30 Reporters cont d 9:30-9:58 War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly rejected advice from top Pentagon planners on how to invade Iraq: Former Marine & UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter explains why the U.S. may lose the war. War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from top Pentagon planners that substantially more troops would be needed to fight a war in Iraq. This according to a report by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine. Rumsfeld insisted at least six times in the run-up to the invasion that the proposed number of ground troops be sharply reduced and got his way. He also miscalculated the level of Iraqi resistance and overruled advice from war commander Gen. Tommy Franks to delay the invasion until troops who were denied access through Turkey could find another route. And the Washington Post is reporting that more than a dozen officers interviewed, including a senior officer in Iraq, said Rumsfeld took significant risks by leaving key units in the United States and Germany at the start of the war. That resulted in an invasion force that is too small, strung out, underprotected, undersupplied and awaiting tens of thousands of reinforcements who will not get there for weeks. Current and former U.S. military officers are blaming Rumsfeld and his aides saying the civilian leaders "micromanaged" the deployment plan out of mistrust of the generals and an attempt to prove their own theory that a light, maneuverable force could handily defeat Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld yesterday repeatedly denied the reports on the Sunday talk shows, insisting the war is going as planned. We are now joined by Scott Ritter who has predicted the U.S. will lose the war. * Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector and US marine. In a recent interview on Irish radio he warned the US will lose the war with Iraq. Ritter said: "We find ourselves... facing a nation of 23 million, with armed elements numbering around 7 million --who are concentrated at urban areas. We will not win this fight. America will loose this war." Links: US Will Lose the Iraq War at http://www.GuluFuture.com 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 Ritter cont d 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.

Date Recorded on: 
March 31, 2003
Date Broadcast on: 
March 31, 2003
Item duration: 
118 min.
Keywords: 
These terms will not bring up a complete list of all items in our catalog associated with this subject. Click here to search our entire catalog.
Distributor: 
WBAI; Amy Goodman, host., March 31, 2003
PRA metadata viewPRA metadata view
This recording is currently on a 1/4” reel tape and has not been digitally preserved. If you would like to contribute to the cost of transferring this recording, and receive your own personal copy on CD, please complete this form and we will return your request with pricing information. You will hear from an archive staff member once your request has been researched. We can also be reached by phone at 800-735-0230.