Flashpoints July 23: Dr. Mustafa Barghouti; Salvador torture trial, Coke Kills

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction:
-00:42 now with Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: controversy mounts over attack by Israeli death squad in fly-by bombing.. Islamic Jehad vows revenge.. Sharon calls this a 'great success'..
another Israeli pol says 'the assassination method was wrong, an act of terror'.
-04:09 Dennis: an F16 bombed a crowded Gaza apartment building while the residents were asleep, killing 15 including 9 children, wounding over 150.. In Depth Story.. THE ATTACK CAME ONE DAY AFTER THE PALESTINIAN GROUP HAMAS ANNOUNCED IT’S WILLINGNESS TO STOP BOMBING ISRAELI TARGETS, IN EXCHANGE FOR THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE ISRAELI ARMY FROM RECENTLY OCCUPIED WEST BANK CITIES, AND THE END OF THE ASSASSINATION POLICY CARRIED OUT BY THE RIGHT-WING GOVERNMENT OF PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON. the offer was made by Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas during an interview with Al Jazeera satellite television. THE ISRAELI RESPONSE HOWEVER CAME IN A DIFFERENT FORM THAN EXPECTED. (more story).. [The names of some of those killed are: Muna Fahmi Al-Huwaiti, 30 and her two children, Subhi, 4 ½ years old and Muhammad 3. Iman Hassan Mattar, 27 and her three children, Dunya 5 years, Muhammad 4 years, and Ayman 1 year old. Also Ahmed 3 years old, Dunya Rami Mattar, 3 months, Ala Muhammad Mattar, 11 years old, Muhammad As-Shawa, 40 and Salah As-Sahadi, 40.. (read list)].. SHARON CALLS THE OPERATION A 'MAJOR SUCCESS'.. [indymedia reports: 1 2 3 ] now w Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, President of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees - winner of the health development prize from the World Health Organization in 2001. Dr. Barghouti is a renowned health and human rights activist.. Dr. Barghouti: one thousand pound missiles, three.. building collapsed.. people were buried.. mostly children who died.. between 3 months and 11 years old.. we expect more to die of their injuries.. heartbreaking to see all these injured people.. a war crime.. TERRORISM IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD.. THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO KILL 14 OTHERS AND WOUND 150 JUST TO GET ONE PERSON.. THEY KNEW EXACTLY THE IMPACT THAT THIS WOULD HAVE.. THIS IS STATE TERRRISM, NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS.. a poor neighborhood like most of Gaza.. Gaza a very small area.. has 1.2 millions people living there.. 2,500 per square kilometer, one of the most dense places in the world.. the whole building collapsed.. Dennis: Sharon considers this one of his best military adventures ever?.. Dr. Barghoutti: THIS IS NOT A NORMAL PERSON, THIS IS A WAR CRIMINAL.. (Barghouti statement #1; #2.. and strangely, this attack came a few hours after Hamas committed to stopping suicide bombings, if Israel would withdraw.. Sharon trying to undermine any opportunity for peace.. not the first time Sharon does that.. the 16th of December.. no Palestinian attacks for 21 days, during that time Sharon conducted 16 attacks.. this was in cold blood, he planned it so there would be no ceasefire, no peace.. Dennis: do Pals hold the US citizens responsible?.. Dr. Barghouti: there is responsibility on part of the United States.. US Taxpayer money.. bad for the image of the US.. Palestinians want good relations with the people of the United States.. we want the American public to know the truth, and believe that when they learn the truth, they will act.. [Indymedia report: 300,000 march in Gaza funeral tonight]
-14:42 music break
-15:05 Dennis: NPR persists in reporting on one side of this war.. when Palestinian children are killed they can't even figure out what their names are.. call the NPR ombudsmen, Ariana or Jeff: 202-513-3246.. and you should call KQED: 415-864-2000; KQED newsroom: 415-553-2361, KQED newsroom fax: 415-553-2118 [send an email message to *all* KQED website listed email addresses (could be considered spamming, so I started *my* complaint this way: 'Dear KQED, I couldn't tell from the email roster exactly who would receive this message, and I want to complaint about a bias in your news coverage, please forward this email to the responsible party/s at KQED. And please to them, let me know exactly to whom I should address such complaints in the future so as not to inconvenience other KQED personnel. thanks')
-16:55 Dennis: a Florida civil jury today found 2 Salvadoran generals guilty of murder.. fined them 54 million dollars.. 75,000 unarmed civilians killed with the support from the US.. now w attorney James Green: 2 generals, both former ministers of defence.. conducted a reign of terror against unarmed civilians.. our three plaintiffs: one: Dr. Lagosa, working with the Catholic Church in medical clinics.. while he was treating patients, soldiers and guardsmen opened fired on people in the clinic.. he was shot in the foot, arrested for subversion.. taken in a helicopter.. stripped, bound spread eagle, tortured.. beaten, electric shock administered to his tongue, testicles, wounds until he lost consciousness.. revived by cigarette burning.. two: Mrs Gonzales, 8 months pregnant, abducted.. detained, repeatedly tortured.. burn with cigarettes.. pulled out her fingernails with a pair of pliers.. cut with razor blades.. gang raped.. had to watch the torture of a 14 year old boy, watch his eyes dug out of his head.. the place strewn with human body parts.. three: Prof ^^^^: abducted by the secret police.. tortured for days.. Attorney Green: the strongest evidence we had against these generals was the US government cables themselves.. these generals were the US's worst enemy.
-30:19 Dennis: background on this US supported terror war in Latin America.. now w Larry Birns of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (link2).. Larry: these two generals very well known to us.. particularly General Garcia.. murdered four American church women in the 80's.. the Reagan adminstration worked overtime to cover up the case.. the Salvadoran military knew that no atrocity would disqualify them from receiving US aid.. they were immune and they knew Elliot Abrams back in Washington would protect them.. they came to the US as former assets of the CIA, automatically given refuge in the US.. 500 other Salvadoran murderers, rapers, and thugs given asylym here too.. Larry: US thought that the Russians were shipping arms to the Salvadoran guerillas.. about a shipment of arms report found to be a hoax by a military attache.. but Carter had already made a speech, charging Nicaragua with internationalizing the war.. started giving lethal aid to El Salvador.. no country witnessed a larger casualty rate.. 34 priests killed.. labor leaders killed.. El Salvador's leader, Napolean Dwarte, a pathetic man.. Christian Democrats, a pathetic party.. Dennis: statistics?.. 75,000 civilians killed.. like 4,000,000 Americans dying today.. not just the deaths, but the dispersal of the population.. many fled to Mexico, to the US.. today a resusitation of the death squads.. the same thing happening again..
-40:03 Dennis: now w psychologist Dr. Felix Curry, whose relatives were tortured.. Dr. Curry: this an important victory for us.. we will continue.. the nightmare has begun for the generals.. sleeping in comfortable homes in Florida.. an important moral victory, nothing to do with the money.. torture, rape of women and children..
-42:45 music break
-42:16 Dennis: NINE OUT OF TEN ASSASSINATIONS OF TRADE UNIONISTS WORLDWIDE HAPPEN IN COLOMBIA.. 201 TRADE UNIONISTS KILLED IN COLOMBIA LAST YEAR ALONE.. now w Sandra Alvarez of Global Exchange.. Sandra: I'm in Atlanta, GA, HQ of Coca Cola International.. Coca Cola (Coke) workers from Colombia put in a lawsuit against Coca Cola International.. 7 assassinations of Colombian Coke workers last year.. (COHA link).. in October another public hearing in Brussels.. workers threatened by bosses with paramilitary.. one worker killed on the factory floor.. an eyewitness here protected by the AFL-CIO.. Coke says the claims are false.. Drummond Corporation being sued too.. three union leaders killed last year.. families being attacked too.. happening all over.. the health and education sectors most targeted.. because IMF affected.. Dennis: this brutal treatment can be traced back to structural adjustments mandated by the IMF.. Sandra: paramilitaries and factory bosses seen dining together.. Coke gives coke to paramilitaries for their parties.. military shares funds and arms with the paramilitaries.. about the oil pipelines, the so-called war on drugs.. and the so-called war on terrorism.. now trade unionists called terrorists.. oil pipeline 98 million dollars.. we're seeing the hands of the corporations who profit.. the corporations pushing hard.. 35% of the trade unionists murdered are in the education sector.. many from the energy sector too..
-56:10 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart

Monday, July 22, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction: James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets, Anatomy of the Ultra Secret National Security Agency (NSA)
-00:30 now with Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: Nigerian women take over a second oil facility.. Rwanda and Congo reach a peace agreement.. using American supplied F16 fighter bombers, Israeli kills 10 Gaza Palestinians.. Israelis debating the merits of attacking the families of terrorist suspects.. Cheney's daughter.. Joseph Biden echoes Thomas Ridge in calling for armed forces to "be called in" on domestic terrorism issues.
-06:20 Dennis: the National Security Agency (NSA) is the most powerful intelligence agency in the world, and the most secret.. the greatest threat to our security and privacy may be the NSA itself.. now with James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets, Anatomy of the Ultra Secret National Security Agency.. (Random House).. Bamford: NSA has the largest budget of any of the US intelligence agencies.. most of the intelligence collected by the US comes from the NSA.. 80% of the intelligence comes from them.. eavesdropping on emails, telephone, faxes.. the budget is $4 billion dollars a year plus $3 billion for satelites.. who's in charge? somebody nobody ever heard of.. very behind the scenes, doesn't get involved in politics.. Dennis: the NSA's role in the current global war on terrorism?.. Bamford: THEY PICKED UP INDICATIONS OF A POSSIBLE TERRORIST INCIDENCE ON SEPT 10, BUT DIDN'T TRANSLATE IT UNTIL SEPT 12.. in 1976.. the Church Committee formed to protect the privacy of us citizens.. NSA has a horrible history of violating civil liberties.. a very secret order issued that NSA didn't have to obey the laws.. about operation Shamrock, secret agreement with Western Union, would get computer tapes of all telegrams sent every day.. antiwar protesters watched in the Nixon years.. somewhat corrected by the Church Committee.. looked into abuses, created reforms.. these reforms now being cast aside.. watered down, weakened, done away with.. Congress doesn't even know.. and NSA has a tremendous difficulty with translators.. the Sept 10 warning, not translated until Sept 12.. millions of communications.. one possibility, creating a 'linguistic reserve'.. over 6,500 languages in the world..
-19:00 Dennis: about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty.. (Wash.Report) (search).. Bamford: at the time of the six day war June 1967, the USS Liberty sailing around the coast of Africa.. a NSA listening post, sailing in a dogleg pattern off the Sanai in international waters.. flying an enormous US flag on the back, listed in Jane's Fighting Ships.. the whole ship covered with antennas.. sailing slow about 3 knots.. the Israelis did 13 surveillance flights (photo) (more photos) in the morning.. then at 2PM they came in strafing back and forth, dropped a bomb on the ship, napalmed the ship.. then three torpedo boats in firing squad stance, fired all their torpedoes.. enough to sink several aircraft carriers.. one hit amidships.. blew a 40 foot hole.. by the time it was over 34 Americans dead, 171 wounded.. they fired on the lifeboats, fired on people jumping off the ship.. one of the torpedo boats even grabbed one of the US lifeboats and put it on their ship.. this was broad daylight.. THE ISRAELIS SAID THEY THOUGHT IT WAS AN EGYPTIAN HORSE CARRIER.. THE SHIP SAID USS LIBERTY IN 13 FOOT LETTERS.. A MISTAKE? NOBODY IN AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE BELIEVED THAT.. ALL EVIDENCE POINTS TO IT BEING DELIBERATE.. the Congress cowardly refused to hold a hearing (sign a petition for a Congressional Investigation and/or write your Congresspeople), and President Johnson swept it under the rug.. an act of terrorism against US forces.. US never sent one investigator to Israel to explore why this happened.. the US at the time was supplying money and equipment to Israel, and Israel was a close ally, no reason we couldn't have sent investigators to Israel.. Dennis: Why did America's closest ally do this? Bamford: it's all speculation.. there has been no investigation.. about what was going on that Israel would have wanted to hide.. about deputy director of the NSA, Lou Tordella, who thought the Israelis didn't want the US to find out about what they were doing.. on the Sanai Peninsula.. about the slaughter of Egyptian prisoners of war (POWs).. maybe as many as 900.. but kept secret until 1995.. when revealed by Israeli historians.. background: in 1967 Israel pushed quickly through the Sanai.. in a hurry to occupy as much of the Sanai as possible.. collected a lot of POWs, no place to put them.. decided to execute them.. some had to dig their own graves.. Dennis: about the crew? and families of the dead?.. Bamford: the Liberty Veterans Association (link2).. initially enormous pressure on the survivors NOT to talk or THREATENED they would be put in jail.. finally in 1982, the veterans braved to speak out.. Captain McGonagle given the Congressional Medal of Honor.. President Johnson afraid of Israel, wouldn't give the medal to Captain McGonagle publicly.. Dennis: recently Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney raised this issue along with a (Wisconsin legislator).. she was called a traitor.. Bamford: the last thing Congress wants to do is offend the Israeli lobby. (OFFICIAL SITE OF THE LIBERTY SURVIVORS)
-35:30 Dennis: about Operation North Woods and the joint chiefs plan to attack Americans and blame it on Cuba.. Bamford: to be fair, NSA had nothing to do with this.. an extraordinary operation.. the Bay of Pigs a total failure, Castro forces killed or captured most of the invaders.. the joint chiefs wanted to go in with US forces and institute our own puppet government.. in order to do that, they wanted to have support of the citizens and world.. WANTED TO SHOW CUBA ATTACKING THE UNITED STATES, BUT CUBA WASN'T ATTACKING THE US.. THEY CAME UP WITH A PLAN.. TO CREATE TERRORISM IN THE UNITED STATES.. CITIZENS WERE TO BE SHOT ON AMERICAN STREETS, BOMBS TO BE EXPLODED IN MIAMI AND DC.. BLOW UP A PHONEY PLANE IN THE CARRIBEAN AND BLAME IT ALL ON CUBA.. SINKING REFUGEE BOATS.. JOHN GLENN ABOUT TO GO INTO SPACE.. THE JOINT CHIEFS HAD A PLAN TO BLAME CUBA IF THE ROCKET BLEW UP.. ALL TO ANGER THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.. THE HIGHEST MILITARY STRUCTURE IN THE COUNTRY PLANNING TO KILL AMERICANS.. blow up an American ship in Havana harbor, the Remember the Maine scenario.. made its way to Sec of Defence, he turned it down.. the plan never went far, but important to note it went as high as it could in the American military.. the name for this kind of operation, a pretext operation.. in Vietnam, there were pretext operations, we think, that led to American involvement.. the attacks described against the Maddox and Turner Joy never took place.. led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.. Dennis: no surprising some people want a full investigation into 9/11.. Bamford: a popular movie, Seven Days in May, about a military coup in the US.. this thought didn't come out of thin air.. about Ken Starr, who tried to prosecute me for writing The Puzzle Palace.. when I wrote Body of Secrets a change of attitude, they let me interview the director and get Freedom Of Information documents.. post 9/11 the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) under attack.. I was very surprised to find out some of the things I did.. about North Woods.. how easily information is eavesdropped on today..
-50:45 about investigative journalism.. Bamford: scores of people told me you couldn't write a book on the NSA.. my advice is to ignore the naysayers and go ahead and do it..