Flashpoints Dec 31: Jeremy Scahill on Iraq; Catherine Austin Fitts; HRW to Bush

Tuesday, Dec 31, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: reporter Jeremy Skahill on Saddam Hussein and his buddy Donald Rumsfeld.. another episode of The Real Deal with Catherine Austine Fitts.. .. Human Rights Watch calls for an investigation into alledged US torture against Afghanistanis..
-00:48 Dennis: reporter Jeremy Scahill wrote an article that appeared in Common Dreams and excerpted by the Washington Post.. Jeremy: called, The Saddam in Rumsfeld's Closet.. in August 2002.. I was watching the Congressional hearings to give Bush war powers.. bubbling with ire.. did 10 hours of research.. in 1983 the Iran-Iraq war getting very bloody.. Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq, met Saddam, gave him a letter from Reagan.. also gave him a pair of golden cowboy spurs.. in 1984 Jeanne Kirkpatrick said the US had evidence that Iraq had used gas.. said the US had warned Iraq.. but Rumsfeld returned to Iraq in fall of 84.. didn't raise the issue, had cordial meetings with Saddam.. Rumsfeld said absolutely nothing about their ongoing use of chemical weapons.. Rumsfeld was a hit man for Reagan, managing covert diplomacy in the Middle East.. encouraging Iran and Iraq to kill each other, to quote Kissinger.. Dennis: the Pentagon provided satellite imagery to Iraq?.. Jeremy: crucial for Iraq to determine where to launch attacks.. Dick Cheney and Bush the Elder in the know on all of this.. now when they stand up and say to the American public.. they have never been upset before about Saddam's cruelty.. Dennis: the US lent Iraq money to buy chemical weapons?.. Jeremy: yes.. about an Iraqi, fluent speaker, going to dinner parties with Reagan people, and the Jewish Lobby.. US policy.. Ronald Reagan removed Iraq from the list of countries supporting terrorism, so that Iraq could buy weapons.. Dennis: about Henry Gonzales Senate investigation of Iraq-Gate.. Dennis: some people say the US was abetting Iraq's use of chemical weapons to learn from it.. Jeremy: no direct evidence of that, but the US has always used human guinea pigs in testing weapons.. ?and did you know, the first people to use weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, were the British.. Winston Churchill used gas on the 'hill people', the Kurds in the 1920's.. Dennis: Rumsfeld was asked if the US helped arm Iraq.. said, well, no, duh, he didn't think so.. Jeremy: an outright lie.. (details more lies by Rumsfeld).. Dennis: US saying now Israel in grave danger from Iraq, but in the 80's they knew Iraq wanted to attack Israel and went ahead and helped arm them.. Jeremy: Israel invaded Iraq airspace and bombed a civilian nuclear facility.. the US built up Iraq and sold them these weapons.. the US support for Israel right now, and Israel.. ISRAEL USING CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON THE PALESTINIANS.. ISRAEL IS ABSOLUTELY OUT OF CONTROL.. THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION BEING LED AROUND BY ISRAEL.. Dennis: this is on the table and these are real and grave possibilities.. did you ever try to call Rumsfeld.. Jeremy: the Pentagon told me Rumsfeld had never been in Iraq.. the press should not let him get away with it.. now when they are showing us no evidence whatsoever.. when Saddam had a chance to use non-conventional weapons against Israel, Saudi Arabia, he didn't.. THE ONLY TIME SADDAM USED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IS WHEN HE WAS CHUMMY WITH RUMSFELD.. about the Washington Post article.. the administration using thse... Rumsfeld has lied, he is not credible, does not give a damn about chemical weapons as long as they are in the hands of allies.. like Israel.. I have visited sites named and labeled as having weapons, and the inspectors have visited.. there is no smoking gun.. I think we are looking at the beginning of a massive bombing in late February.. under the mandate of the UN.. all citizens of the world should be outraged.. reserves being put on active duty.. about the hatred for George W. Bush building around the world.. I think we are looking at the beginning of a new Vietnam.. millions of dead Iraq civilians, and bodies of US troops floating down the Tigris River.. more info: www.IraqJournal.org..
-22:20 Dennis: now another episode of The Real Deal with Catherine Austine Fitts.. are the NY banks trying to shift the blame for their money laundering to the mafia?.. and does it connect to why one million Americans have lost unemployment benefits?.. you bet.. Fitts: Time Warner sponsors The Sopranos.. had three segments on HUD fraud.. I got hired by Clinton to clean up HUD.. fired.. and now the fraud has ballooned.. and HBO and TW *just happened* to run these Soprano shows.. making the viewer belief all the HUD problems are due to the mafia.. I cleaned up the Oliver North fraud.. one scheme they used, take an apartment building and refi it many time, never putting the money into the building, but into covert ops.. diversionary scandals.. remember Robin Hud?.. no its not Tony Soprano stealing the US blind.. much bigger than that.. Dennis: a couple women and a black person got indicted.. Fitts: the people who stole the money in Iran Contra now running the country.. in 1989 $59 billion was missing from HUD.. now $110 billion missing.. went into somebody's pocket.. do you really think the people who run the country are going to let $110 billion go into Tony Soprano's pocket?.. Dennis: would need bigger pants.. Fitts: (laughs).. a variety of corporations and banks running around the world getting assets for 10 cents on the dollar.. privatization not like more efficient, but privatization like rape.. very important when discussing privatization, is it privatization or theft?.. Dennis: these properties were to made available to poor people for affordable housing.. but the properties taken over by the same people who caused the $500 billion S/L crisis.. Fitts: yes.. who got all our money and how do we get it back.. the cost of expending unemployment benefits, $5 billion dollars.. but all the money is gone to theft.. Dennis: the medicare system about to go belly up, we could get that back for $25 billion.. Fitts: we knew in 1995 what we needed to keep our economy healthy, instead we built our economy on fraud.. Dennis: now John Negroponte.. Fitts: HUD is being run as a criminal enterprise.. run by corporate contractors.. the government is run as a criminal enterprise.. Dennis: Time Magazine picked three women whistleblowers.. Fitts: the biggest bunch of corporate ya ya ever.. the Enron whistleblower got up and defended Ken Lay.. absurd and misleading.. did more damage than good.. the whistleblower from the FBI did great, but her testimony misused.. the male whistleblowers at Enron, FBI where are they?.. the implication, is that if you're a woman, you get rewards.. if you're a man you get slaughtered.. the one thing they didn't ask, where is the money, how are we getting the money back?.. until we get the money back, the system doesn't work.. I'm not prepared to let my pension go down the drain.. We can get our money back..
-40:44 music break
-41:15 Dennis: in a letter to Bush, Human Rights Watch says they are deeply concerned.. Lady: over allegations made in a Washington Post story.. some persons turned over to other countries for torture.. we're reminding Bush about the absolute prohibition on torture.. Dennis: what specifically are you concerned about Lady: sleep deprivation, shaking, bright lights, beat them up, deprive the wounded of pain medication, confining people in painful positions.. Dennis: if we turn someone over to a third party for torture, are we culpable?.. Lady: yes, if they reasonably knew that would happen.. torture is a war crime.. the adminstration talking about Al-Qaeda, Iraq war crimes.. US personnel could be tried in any country.. Bush need to take steps to find out if this is going on, and stop it.. Dennis: what if the US says.. Jeremy: No, the laws of war are crystal clear.. torture may never be used.. the clearest, most unambiguous law.. Dennis: Bush has given the go ahead for Americans to execute suspected terrorists.. Jeremy: if there is a combatant you can shoot first.. without asking them to put down their weapons.. now we have 'enemies'.. but where is the battlefield.. all do you know all the people in that car in Yemen were combatants?.. the American public maybe don't understand.. what happened in Yemen maybe was permissible.. but the US should be able to positively identify.. but should we be even using the concept of war to fight terrorism.. about the case of Jose Padilla.. taken into custody.. treated as an enemy combatant.. if he was really an enemy combatant the US theorically shot and killed him as he got off the plane.. Dennis: if two people in the Yemen car were hitchhikers, could they sue?.. Lady: no, not if you consider the US at war with the other people in the car.. in war there are civilian casualties.. not called murder.. if you put down your arms and hold up your hands, you can not be killed..
-54:45 Dennis: wrapup
-55:29 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart