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Violence Continues to Rock Iraq: 80 Iraqis, 11 U.S. Soldiers
Killed in Weekend Attacks
Yes Men Hoax on BBC Reminds World of Dow Chemical's Refusal
to Take Responsibility for Bhopal Disaster
The State of U.S.-Africa Relations: A Look at Debt Repayment,
HIV/AIDS and the Impact of Bush's Reelection in Africa
Violence Continues to Rock Iraq: 80 Iraqis, 11 U.S.
Soldiers Killed in Weekend Attacks
Widespread violence continues across Iraq, particularly
in Sunni areas of the county, as three days of bloody attacks
left more than 80 people dead. Eleven U.S. troops have also
been killed since Friday. We go to Baghdad to speak with independent
reporter Dahr Jamail. [includes rush
transcript]
Widespread violence continues across Iraq, particularly in
Sunni areas of the county, as three days of bloody attacks
left more than 80 people dead.
The cities of Tikrit, Baji and Latifiya all saw violence
with the Iraqi resistance mainly targeting Iraqi security
forces and civilians working with the US military. Fears of
the outbreak of all-out civil war in Iraq were heightened
as fighting in the town of Latifiya, south of Baghdad, saw
the first set-piece battle between Shiite and Sunni militiamen
since the fall of Saddam Hussein. This according to the Washington
Post.
Mosul was the site of one of the weekend's bloodiest attacks
when a suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying Kurdish peshmerga
fighters, killing 16 people.
Eleven U.S. troops have also been killed since Friday.
Meanwhile, unrest continues in Fallujah despite US claims
last week of a military success in retaking the city. US marines
still face an up-close, urban battle and continue to take
casualties. The only aid agency in Fallujah - the Iraqi Red
Crescent Society - withdrew from the town Sunday. The Boston
globe is reporting the US military is closely monitoring the
movement of all the city's residents, creating what looks
like a police state. So-called "citizen processing centers"
have been set up where the US military takes DNA samples of
residents and makes scans of their retinas. In addition residents
are given ID badges that must be worn at all times.
- Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist currently based
in Baghdad. He is one of the only independent, unembedded
journalists in Iraq right now. He publishes his reports
on a blog called DahrJamailIraq.com.
Yes Men Hoax on BBC Reminds World of Dow Chemical's
Refusal to Take Responsibility for Bhopal Disaster
The 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy was a day
of embarrassment for Dow chemicals and the major news media
around the world when the BBC fell victim to a hoax from a
man claiming to be a Dow spokesperson who claimed full responsibility
for the tragedy and announcing a multibillion dollar compensation
package. We play the interview and speak with "Jude Finiseterra,"
a member of the Yes Men, which played the hoax. The 20th anniversary
of the Bhopal gas tragedy was a day of embarrassment for Dow
chemicals, the present owner of Union Carbide and the major
news media around the world.
On Friday the BBC World Satellite television channel broadcast
an interview with a man identified as Jude Finisterra, who
claimed to represent Dow chemicals.
Dow, which bought Union Carbide three years ago, has always
maintained it "has no responsibility" for the 1984
disaster when tons of lethal gases leaked from a Union Carbide
pesticide factory in the city of Bhopal, India. 7,000 people
lost their lives within days. 15,000 more lost died in the
following years. Around 100,000 others are still suffering
chronic and debilitating illnesses. It was one of the worst
industrial disasters in history and for years activists have
called on the firm to take full responsibility for the disaster
and to clean up the contaminated site.
In the interview, Finisterra said Dow had accepted responsibility
for the accident and had set-up a multibillion dollar compensation
package. The hoax ran twice on BBC World and was picked up
by the major news wires before the BBC determined that no
man named Jude Finisterra worked at Dow and he was an imposter.
The company was forced to remind the world it did not take
responsibility for the disaster and said there was no compensation
fund set-up for the victims.
In Frankfurt, Dow's share price fell 4.2 percent in 23 minutes,
wiping $2 billion off its market value before recovering all
the day"s losses three hours later. The BBC is continuing
to apologize for running the interview today and says it has
lunched an internal investigation. Later the man calling himself
Finisterra told BBC radio he was part of the Yes Men.
- Jude Finisterra, aka Andy Bichlbaum, a member of The
Yes Men.
- BBC World interview with Jude Finisterra.
- BBC apology for interview.
- Dow Chemical statement on interview.
The State of U.S.-Africa Relations: A Look at Debt
Repayment, HIV/AIDS and the Impact of Bush's Reelection in
Africa
We host a roundtable discussion on the state of U.S.-Africa
relations with three experts: Rev. Molefe Tsele of the South
African Council of Churches, Muthoni Wanyeki of the African
Women's Development and Communications Network and Salih Booker
of Africa Action. [includes rush transcript]
The British aid agency Oxfam is warning that 45 million children
will die needlessly over the next 10 years because rich nations
have failed to live up to promises to fight global poverty.
The group has released a new report titled Paying the Price
that reveals that inn real terms, the aid budgets of rich
countries are half what they were in 1960. Oxfam is also estimating
that poor countries are now paying $100 million a day in debt
repayments.
We are going to spend the rest of the hour taking a look
at the state of U.S.-Africa relations, the HIV/AIDS epidemic
in Africa, the impact of Bush's reelection, African foreign
debt and how the war on terror has affected the continent.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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