Flashpoints Sept 20: 12 language US poll; Norman Solomon; Prof Nassar Aruri

Tuesday, Sept 10, 2002 - Start Audio

the drumbeat for war keeps growing, and the corporate media is its cheerleader.. this 9/11 has gone from a being a commemoration to being a drumbeat for the next war.. now w Norman Soloman, syndicated media critic with Media Beat.. Norman: wispy allegations that 9/11 has something to do with Iraq.. doesn't stop Bush, doesn't stop the media.. the phrase 'terrorism' being strethched.. last weekend the NPR correspondent.. described the attack on Iraq as part of the 'war on terrorism'.. this phrase becoming routine.. the framing of the debate, between Condi Rice on one hand, and Colin Powell on the other.. a lot of well meaning people accepting.. good cop, bad cop.. we're in deep doodoo.. if we start holding up people like Powell as representing the left.. Dennis: the involvement of the media and the administration.. Norman: bait and switch with *Old Glory*.. right after 9/11 an outpouring of grief.. the American flag used quite sincerely.. gradually bait and switch, take old glory out of grief, and affixing it to bombs and aircraft that killed 1000's of civilians in Afghanistan.. now old glory being used as a segue to the 'war on Iraq'.. completely unrelated to 9/11.. Dennis: disinformation.. the stories lately.. Mark Twain said, a lie could get halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.. about the lie of the babies on incubators that were ripped out by the invading Iraqis.. a big lie that pushed public (and Congressional) sentiment in favor of the Gulf War.. an endless stream of stories coming out now.. saying Iraq has/will have/wants nuclear weapons.. Scott Ritter in Baghdad last weekend, says 'show me the evidence'.. Scott a former US Marine Corp. officer, says 9/11 was a crime against human beings on a massive scale.. now he is undergoing a massive character assassination on CNN.. because Scott tells how the US manipulated the inspection process in 1998, the US pulled out the inspectors, not the Iraqis.. it's not an Iraqi allegation, it was reported on the front page of the NY Times in 1999.. journalists are supposed to be independent, not just stenographers for war planners in Washington.. at the grassroots we have to peacefully resist emphatically any way we can.

Monday, Sept 9, 2002 - Start Audio

US warlord Henry Kissinger advocates an 'stringent inspection process' to create a pretext for military action.. Tony Blair announces he will give the UN one last chance.. French premier demands immediate access.. Canada says it will not support an invasion.. Saddam Hussein says inspectors are actually US spies.. Iraq curfews in Southern Iraq.. plans to breech dams in the north.. old Iraqi nuclear plant.. reporter tour reveals a mushroom farm.. psychedelics of mass destruction?

Friday, Sept 6, 2002 - Audio OK

from jerusalem.indymedia - VIDEO: Israelis kill Palestinian mother in her home in Bethlehem - this video was supposed to be censored - but played on Israel channel 2 TV. It is not widely known, but Israel censors all photos and videos leaving the Occupied Territories. Attempting to smuggle video out of the areas could result in imprisonment (if you are an International) or torture or death if you are a Palestinian. Play Video Clip

Bush continues to threaten an invasion of Iraq.. now w Scott Ritter, former chief UNSCOM weapons inspector in Iraq (link2).. Scott: I'm a former Marine Corp Intelligence Officer.. I cut my arms control teeth on the Soviet Union.. (more on Scott's background).. during Desert Storm I worked to interdict Iraqi missiles aimed at Israel.. when the UN needed an intelligence officer they called me.. I'm a no-nonsense person.. Dennis: Bush saying Iraq posing a terrorist threat.. your understanding?.. Scott: Iraq has never completly complied.. a real need to get weapons inspectors back in.. since 1996, inspite of the obstacles Iraq put in front in.. 95% of arms manufacture eliminated.. I get upset now when I hear people say that they know Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.. for Iraq to have weapons today, they would have had to reconstitute the.. Bush has to prove this.. WE DESTROYED THE FACTORIES.. STOCKPILED BIOLOGICALS WOULD BE DEGRADED, WORTHLESS TODAY.. NOT A REAL THREAT WORTHY OF WAR, INSTEAD A WAR BEING FOUGHT FOR POLITICAL REASONS.. for 'regime change'.. the Republicans and some Democrats have boxed themselves into a rhetorical trap.. Dennis: Senator Biden recently held hearings.. you weren't invited, but Richard Butler was?.. Scott: Richard is entitled to his opinions, but he simply doesn't know anything.. now allowed by the policital powers that be.. to lie to the Senate.. the head UN diplomat currently said the weapons inspectors have no evidence.. Biden picked Butler to present.. a pre-ordained finding that Saddam must go.. told egregious lies.. maybe Biden forgot my phone number.. he didn't want me, because I would have brought truth to bear.. I pressed for the hearings.. Biden initially demurred.. but over the summer something changed.. now he held a sham hearing.. with forgone conclusions.. Biden never intended to have a truthful hearing.. the final expulsion of inspectors in 1998 didn't occur the way Butler says.. Butler worked hand in hand with Clinton.. to use the inspections to feed information for American bombing... the Americans went after 200 targets, most had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction.. Butler allowed the inspection process to be abused by the US.. the Iraqis would be damn fools to let inspectors back under such circumstances.. their manufacturing base has been eliminated.. THE US DOES NOT WANT INSPECTORS BACK IN.. THE SANCTIONS WOULD BE LIFTED AND IRAQ WOULD BE WELCOMED BACK INTO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.. THE US SHOULD BE HONEST.. PUTTING *REGIME REMOVAL* AHEAD OF DISARMAMENT.. THE US IS LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.. THE MOST DANGEROUS THING, WE'RE GOING TO LOSE THE WAR ON TERROR.. US IS REINFORCING BIN LADEN'S MESSAGE, THAT THE US WANTS TO DESTROY THE ARAB WORLD.. A WAR ON IRAQ WOULD DESTABILIZE THE MIDDLE EAST.. CONDEMNING THE WORLD TO TERROR WAR.. THE US PEOPLE WOULD LIVE IN FEAR.. A KIND OF WAR WE DON'T WANT, BUT AN ATTACK ON IRAQ WILL GUARANTEE THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN.. EMPOWERING THE FORCES OF ANTI-AMERICANISM FOR DECADES TO COME.. about a pro-American Kurdish group.. since 1992 Saddam has tried to destroy this group.. beware of this kind of speculative allegation.. Dennis: Condi Rice said there is no choice, we *have to* do it.. Scott: she is showing her ignorance.. this is a dire situation.. a threat to national security?.. when is war moral?.. I've been there, she hasn't.. a moral crusade? shows how empty US policy is.. we knew Iraq was going to use chemical weapons against Iran, and did nothing.. because the US wanted them to.. to use this event as a rational for war now is hypocrisy.. Dennis: Poppy Bush helped plan the Iraq invasion of Kuwait?.. Scott: for the US to pretend we didn't know about Iraqi intentions is a lie.. Saddam was/is a brutal dictator.. but US looked on Saddam as a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalism out of Iran.. a huge debate in Poppy Bush's whitehouse.. Bob Dole physically embraced Saddam, called him a 'true friend of the American people'.. we need to fall back on the foundation of international law.. we need to get weapons inspectors back in.. END THE SANCTIONS.. THE BEST WAY TO GET RID OF SADDAM, IS TO STOP FOCUSING ON THE PERSON OF SADDAM.. REBUILD IRAQ'S ECONOMY, REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS.. WE WOULD HAVE THE ENTIRE WORLDS' SUPPORT.. Dennis: about Dennis Kucinich.. Scott: a man concerned with the truth.. I was invited to a hearing by Kucinich, showed on CSPAN.. I will support him in anyway possible.. Dennis: you have stood up to the president, the fallout?.. Scott: the US muddied up the inspection issue with their political bombings.. I've been consistent.. I adhere to what I know.. I am proudest of.. no journalist has been able to contradict me on a point of fact.. THIS IS ABOUT DEMOCRACY.. PEOPLE HAVE TO GET INVOLVED.. I feel an obligation to share my expertise.. my message is a simple one: the TRUTH.. that's the most patriotic thing I can do right now.