Flashpoints June 27: CNN caves to Israel; ICC hit by US; WorldCom sucks : Indybay

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The Sad and Sordid Whereabouts of bin Cheney and bin Bush, - A Free Online Chapter addition to "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore, "The bottom line: Anyone who would brazenly steal an election and insert themselves into OUR White House with zero mandate from The People is, frankly ? sadly ? capable of anything."

Thursday, June 27, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction: CNN caves in to Israeli pressure and apologizes for being 'pro Palestinian'.. WorldCom just caves.. US tries to stonewall the nascent ICC.
-01:00 now with Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: more controversial rulings.. yesterday an SF federal court rules the Pledge of Allegance's phrase "under God" unconstitutional.. today the US Supreme Court oks public tax money vouchers to religious schools.. G8 statement on AIDS, peanuts to Africa.. Zimbabwe.. in the Congo, 150 people slaughtered in a diamond producing district.. Europe leaders challenge Bush over Israel policy.. US made Apache homicide heliocopters.. Israel: "we will destroy everything"..
-5:35 Dennis: following the lead of the Bush and Sharon, CNN apologizes for their so-called 'pro Palestinian' bias.. Sharon's buddy, Uri Dan is the Fox Jerusalem bureau chief.. now w Ali Abunimah of the Arab-American Action Committee and Electric Intifada.. Ali: like putting David Duke in charge of civil rights coverage in the US.. Israel threatens to boot CNN from Israel cable and replace them with Fox if they don't toe the line.. Israel shooting more kids in phoney curfews.. Israel says they fire tank shells for 'crowd control' (instead of the usual tear gas).. Dennis: NPR's Linda Gradstein not reporting the names of the dead Pal kids.. about CNN's apology, that they are 'a bit biased towards Palestine'.. Ali: Harretz says: Israelis 'rubbing their hands with glee'.. CNN now labeling all Palestinian violence as 'terrorism'.. says 225 innocent Israeli civilians killed by terrorists.. but the number of innocent Palestinian children killed by Israel is more than ALL the Israelis killed of any age.. What about that?.. the Israeli ambassador to US, Pinkas, told Harretz that he has found NO pro-Palestinian bias on CNN.. "Nonsense" he said.. Ali: and CNN head Walter Isaacs asked me for my opinion.. He said: THERE IS NO PRO-PALESTINIAN BIAS ON CNN.. CNN now identifies Jewish only Israeli settlements on illegally occupied Arab land, as simply and dishonestly 'Jewish neighborhoods'.. truly extraordinary.. two weeks ago, CNN owner, Ted Turner, said *anyone* who attacks civilians is using terrorism, be they Palestinian or Israeli.. after those comments, CNN threatened with removal from Israeli cable.. Israel driving the networks into the far right camp.. the scandal is that our media going along with it.. about right wing US Jewish attorney, Nathan Luwin, writing articles urging the killing of suicide bombers' families (link1) (link2) (counterpunch) (link4 ).. a prominent lawyer, has appeared in front of the US Supreme Court 30 times.. in the Jewish journal, Sh?ma.. imagine what would happen if a Palestinian American wrote a similar article in the US about the families of Israeli terrorists.. more info: Electric Intifada
-18:26 Dennis: countries around the world voted to create an International Criminal Court.. now w Human Rights Watch, International Justice Program, Brigetta Suhr (sp?).. the ICC is a permanent international tribunal.. enters into force July 4, 2002.. only three countries voted against the court.. but Bush 'unsigned' the treaty on May 6, 2002.. a mistrust for the creation of a court that could judge US personnel.. based on misinformation, and a mistrust of multilaterism.. US reserving the right to protect its own actions that may include war crimes.. MISTAKES DON'T COUNT AS CRIMES.. IF THE US PLANS ON COMMITTING WAR CRIMES, THAT IS A DIFFERENT STORY.. NO ONE SHOULD GET AWAY WITH WAR CRIMES.. Dennis: The US threatening to withdraw funding.. Brigetta: the US proposing to the UN Security Council to limit jurisdiction over UN peacekeepers.. the ICC requires that either the country in which the crimes happens or the country of the perpetrators must have been signed the treaty.. Dennis: this makes the US a renegade nation.. Brigetta: NY Times today called what the Bush administration doing a 'unhealthy obsession'.. the things that have happened in Guatamala, Congo, Rwanda, El Salvador are the type of things that the ICC would address and should be addressed.. the most resistance in Congress, would restrict.. suggests the US could invade the Netherlands and 'liberate' any American being held for trial there.. the big fight right now is in the US security council.. US leaning on France and England.. the US citizens should form an opinion.. and lean on their congresspeople.
-29:50 music break Spearhead
-30:50 Dennis: once again accounting giant, Arthur Anderson, front and center, this time in the WorldCom scandal.. now w Russell Mokibber, of Corporate Crime Reporter.. Russell: WorldCom started by an exbouncer in Mississippi, started a telecom company and started buying up other telecom companies.. 80,000 WorldCom workers facing the axe.. pension funds losing hundreds of millions.. the lesson: we can no live by the the Chicago rule.. make profit at the the expense of the law even.. made regulation, law and order, a dirty word.. we have to change the fundamental structure of hte system.. about the bouncer.. how did he learn to cook the books.. Bernie Evers.. one person can't pull this kind of thing off.. today a house committee subpenaed Evers.. we have a conflicted system right and left.. an analyst recommended WorldCom to the end.. exposed by Martin White.. he looked at ratings by investment banks.. 47 of the 50 investment banks gave a buy or hold rating to these bankrupt companies.. conflicted.. making money selling the company stock.. the cops are pulling punches.. the DOW below 9,000, and justice nowhere to be found.. Dennis: could these guys have done this without AA?.. now w investigative reporter Lucy Komisar.. Lucy: NO, they need experts.. accountants are not surprised when they see this stuff.. try to cover their tracks after.. Senator McCain said put some of these people in jail.. also the people supposed to be regulating these people.. you would thing they would want good accounting.. but no these people are crooked.. Japan says a great deal of lost confidence.. when CEO's are crooks.. when Europe withholds investment, a dangerous spiral.. a frightening effect on this country.. Rubin acted against the interests of this country.. Dennis: how do you hide 3.9B from your accountant?.. Lucy: either you have a really dumb accountant, or a crooked accountant.. Dennis: politicians don't even seem to be upset Russell: the two parties all manuevering for political advantage, not really addressing the issues.. will probably manipulate the terrorism story to cloak the financial.. will take a grass roots movement of citizens.. even Martha Stewart chopping cabbage, said the charges were ridiculous.. Lucy: the Europeans have an accounting standard, if you sign off on a company, you have to back up your accounting.. the US is different.. finangaling.. need to have criminal penalties.. if you rob someone of a hundred dollars in the street, you will go to jail.. but if you rob the public of hundreds of millions of dollars, the lawyers will get you off.. Russell: yes, about 'deferred prosecution agreements'.. to avoid criminal charges.. Lucy: there is supposed to be punishment to deter people from doing the crime.. but just the opposite for financial crimes.. the penalties a tiny percentage of the illegal gains.. such a complex thing you don't find the public outrage.. Russell: Ted Kennedy introduced legislation to restrict the size of companies.. in the Anderson case, the size.. we have to look at fundamental issues.. the state.. corporate charters.. totally perverted.. we need to bring them back under public control.. Lucy: we are headed to monopoly control.. once you get that kind of monopoly, like Microsoft.. Windows is terrible, but they have killed the competition.. that is what happens when you get monopoly.. bad products, but you also get political power.. I don't know what the answer is except a political revolution.. we will learn a lot by what kind of legislation gets passed.. maybe they do really control our govermnent and ordinary people have been rendered powerless..
-56:20 Mary Bishop: wrapup
-57:20 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - Start Audio

-00:00

Dennis Bernstein: introduction: US complicit in Afghanistan war crimes against captured Taliban prisoners?; Nationwide protests June 28 and in DC June 29 against FBI abuses.
-00:40 now with Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: SF federal court rules in favor of freedom from religion.. Pledge of Allegance's phrase "under God" ruled unconstitutional.. written in 1892 by a Socialist.. why the phrase 'with liberty and equality for all' was changed to 'with liberty and *justice* for all'.. Bush may challenge the results of another election next January, the Palestinian election.. says: 'consequences if the Palestinian voters re-elect Arafat'.. Bush makes more threats.. a Belgian appeals court throws out war crimes charges against Sharon.. lawyers promise to appeal.. El Salvador generals charged with war crimes.
-6:25 Dennis: Amnesty International calling

for an investigation into the massacre of Taliban prisoners.. now w independent British filmmaker, Jamie Duran, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has been producing films for the past 22 years. He spent seven years working for the BBC before establishing his own independent television company. He has spent much of the last eight months working in Afghanistan on film projects.. Jamie: 1000's of Taliban prisoners.. sealed in trucks.. and transferred to a US controlled prison.. mass grave..Jamie's latest film, Massacre in Mazar (Guardian) (rense.com) (wsws.org).. now with Jamie: neck breaking at the hands of American soldiers.. 8,000 surrendered.. 3,500 left, where are the rest?.. sealed into containers without air, when the prisoners cried out for air, the Northern Alliance soldiers fired into the containers.. "blood from three containers".. one eyewitness talks of a US officer directing the containers away from satellite observance.. many of the dead were.. taken out to the desert.. the ones still alive lined up and machine gunned.. one of the drivers said, 30 to 40 American soldiers accompanied the containers into the desert.. about the prisoners transported into the prison.. in the film, an eyewitness says he saw an American soldier break the neck of a prisoner, and pour acid on others.. done fairly openly to frighten the other prisoners.. Dennis: you have shown the film to the German Parliment, why?.. Jamie: the greatest evidence lies in those mass graves.. no one who is innocent should have anything to fear from.. a proper exhumation of those bodies.. now w human rights attorney, Andrew McEntee, former chair of Amnesty International.. Andrew: from a lawyer's point of view plenty of evidence of violations of international law.. implications of US involvement.. US military should conduct its own investigation.. torture.. about the containers.. the prison under control of the US forces.. up to 7,500 unaccounted for.. many died in the containers.. at least a failure to act to prevent war crimes.. letting perpetrators hide the evidence.. the first five containers had some dead and some alive.. amounting to war crimes.. Physicians for Human Rights and the UN have seen the mass graves, but not dug them up.. unless there is an investigation, hard to see how this will go away.. we do need the truth to come out.. 3,000 bodies in Afghanistan should be treated the same as 3,000 bodies from 9/11.. Amnesty International has documented mass graves from atrocities committed by the Taliban (HRW).. what makes this different, the witnesses making confessions implicating Americans.. Jamie: PHR when they went out with the UN.. Andrew: the UN took some DNA samples for testing.. US prosecutors.. the values which the west is said to fight for, the rule of law.. US Military Law.. in 1955 the US signed onto the Geneva Convention.. the US Army field manual discusses the penalties for war crimes.. about My Lai, Charlie Company, Lt Calley.. I don't think there should be any expectation.. that 3,000 people are irrelevant.. Dennis: you are concerned what could happen to your witnesses, are they in hiding?.. Jamie: they are being *protected* by the fact that I haven't identified them.. one has gone into hiding.. Dennis: do you have any evidence that "a skirmish in the prison escalated into a gun battle".. Jamie: at Jala-I-Qanghi Prison.. after the battle, not one wounded person, but hundreds of dead.. every single one of them was dead, no wounded.. an extremely unusual situation.. Dennis: how did the German Parliment react?.. Jamie: I thought Afghanistan very much off the agenda.. but standing room only.. I have been absolutely astonished by the strength of response.. about showing the film to the US Congress.. Andrew: about the US opposition to the International Criminal Court.. American investigators (such as in the case of My Lai) should be doing their own investigations.. they have an obligation to do it..
-38:15 Dennis:

on June 28 a march and rally in a number of cities against FBI abuses.. now w attorney Mara Van Haden Hilliard: we've been working since 9/11 for folks being attacked by Bush and company.. Arab Muslim South Asian community.. repressive tactics.. people picked up and questioned by the FBI.. 1,200 people disappeared in the US prison system.. even now still the government will not say who is in custody.. law as a political weapon.. the Patriot Act.. survellance.. George Bush has the power to say any American citizen an 'enemy combatant' is an an 'enemy of the state' and put them in jail for the rest of their lives.. about Jose Padilla.. no check no balance.. Bush can take any citizen of the US and put them away forever.. now w ^^^^: the government can now check your library card record and arrest you for reading certain books.. we have to put a stop to this before it goes any further.. the ANSWER Coalition.. calls for demonstrations June 28 and June 29.. we have to call for a halt.. Dennis: talk about Israeli as an example of how to use torture.. I was in the West Bank a month ago.. 8,000 men rounded up, held under deplorable conditions.. 1300 selected and military tribunals.. a five minute procedure.. sentenced to 3 or 6 month detention, renewable forever.. Dennis: the US military rehearsing for counterinsurgendy actions like in Israel.. Mara: the Bush administration.. probable cause no longer required.. tearing down our civil liberties.. with no control.. IF WE DON'T SPEAK OUT NOW, WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?.. THE ONLY TIME GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN BEATEN BACK.. IS WHEN PEOPLE SPEAK OUT.. about attorney Lynn Stewart.. the more people come out, and the more fearlessly they come out.. the power of people coming out together.. ^^^^: Mara hits the nail on the head.. the government suffered a big setback when 100,000 people marched in Washington.. trying to intimidate people again.. if we retreat we give them the victory they are trying to achieve, ie the intimidation of American.. critical for people to publicly speak out.. most important that people come out June 28 in SF 5PM Powell and Market.. and in DC, June 29.. the FBI, Bush, Ashcroft trying to create this atmospere of fear.. the best antidote to come out publicly and take a stand.. more info: www.InternationalAnswer.org 415-821-6545 .. outstanding speakers in SF: ILWU, Labor Council.. DC protest info: Parthership for Civil Justice.. or call 202-332-5757
-55:45 Mary Bishop: wrapup
-56:26 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart

Flashpoints June 27: CNN caves to Israel; ICC hit by US; WorldCom sucks

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