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Talk Nation Radio for November 26, 2008

Darryl Li on Gaza, legal and political rights remain important despite ongoing stories about hunger, shortages of medical care and fuel.

Listen to this week’s show here or download below.

Produced by Dori Smith at WHUS, FM 91.7, a Pacifica Affiliate station at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT

TRT: 26:53

Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here
Or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

MidEast Scholar and Yale Law School JD candidate Darryl Li, joins us to talk about his article in Middle East Report online, ‘Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism.’

The scene in Gaza, says Li, has gone from Bantustan, to Internment Camp, to animal pen.

In his piece that appeared February 16, 2008 Darryl Li comments: “Talk about the ‘humanitarian crisis’ should not distract us from Israel’s policy of treating Gaza like an animal pen: a space of near total confinement whose wardens are concerned primarily with keeping those inside alive and tame, with some degree of mild concern as to the opinions of neighbors and other outsiders. The needs, aspirations and rights of 1.4 million human beings have been reduced to an exercise in counting calories, megawatts and other abstract, one-dimensional units measuring distance from death.”

Darryl Li is a doctoral candidate in anthropology and Middle Eastern studies at Harvard University and a J.D. candidate at Yale Law School. He has worked in Gaza for Human Rights Watch, B tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. He is author of Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism <> Middle East Report Online.

This week’s show produced the week of Thanksgiving 2008 is dedicated to the world’s hungry, and we will be focusing on the people of Gaza who are struggling to survive with limited food, water, electricity and medical supplies, due to an Israeli blockade. We also dedicate the show to my Dad, David Truskoff, who has long been concerned about Palestinian rights. Seasons Greetings Dad!

Over more than five decades that I know of Dad has struggled to communicate with friends and in particular, fellow Jews, about the 60 year long Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Often his friends would agree with his anti Vietnam War or much later his anti Iraq War views, only to disagree bitterly about complaints about Israel’s militancy toward Palestinians. During the 1980s my father survived a bout with Hodgkin’s Disease, a form of cancer that is treatable with chemotherapy. Such care is not available in Gaza under conditions of the blockade.

We hear a portion of Clancy Chassay’s interview with a Palestinian woman named Karima who is suffering from Hodgkins Disease and is unable to receive lifesaving chemotherapy. (Who will Look After my Little ones When I’m Gone?) Karima explains to Clancy Chassay that she does not believe the people of Gaza deserve to suffer because of differences with Israel over Hamas. Doctors had given the woman six months to live.

Karima spoke with Chassay six months ago as she was surrounded by five small children, her mother looked on and told Chassay that treatment could have cured her daughter already but the check point into Israel for that care was closed. (See recent UN report here.

There has been little media attention in the US about what is happening to the people of Gaza. Granted, Americans are also suffering. In fact, Elizabeth Williamson writes in the Washington Post that the economic crisis in America has left many people out of work and struggling to make ends meet. (See ‘Ending Hunger’ By renaming it, that is. Friday, November 17, 2006; WP Page A24)

This Thanksgiving Holiday season finds twelve percent of Americans having trouble putting food on the table, she writes. That’s 35 million people, and another eleven million reported going hungry at times according to a US Department of Agriculture report on food security.

But there is general agreement in the US that something should be done to correct the problem. President Elect Barack Obama has initiated a downpayment plan for Americans that will provide jobs, however he has not yet announced a plan that will prevent further loss of life for Palestinians or Israelis, and promote a lasting peace in the region.

We hear from U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness speaking to Robert Berger of VOA news November 15th 2008:

“Of course Israel has legitimate security concerns and we respect that and we respect the right and indeed the obligation of Israel to take action,” said Gunness.

But Gunness said that is not a justification for cutting off food supplies, and he demanded that the borders reopen immediately.

“Let’s see this for what it is. Fifty-six percent of the Gaza Strip are children. Let us not cause suffering of innocent children,” said Gunness. (Robert Berger reported from
Jerusalem)

Talk Nation Radio for November 19, 2008

Mark Benjamin on an Obama plan for a torture commission

Listen to this week’s show here
Or download at Archive.org here and Radio4all.net here

TRT: 29:10

Produced by Dori Smith, WHUS, University of CT., Storrs, CT
Music fades

Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here
Or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

We speak with journalist Mark Benjamin of Salon.com about his November 13th story on President elect Barack Obama, and what Obama might or might not do to hold members of the Bush administration accountable for torture.

Sources tell Benjamin that the incoming Obama-Biden administration may launch a special commission on torture, and so there are plans for at least some type of an investigation. But will there be prosecutions? What if former Attorney General John Ascroft testifies? Will new information about the direct responsibility of George Bush and Dick Cheney for torture come to light and what about the CIA?

Also, we discuss a possible Bush plan to grant a blanket pardon for illegal interrogation practices. How many people can Bush and Cheney pardon and who will need one? What about US soldiers serving in Iraq? Or, possibly US Senator John McCain’s foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann who has been linked to the original sales campaign for the Iraq War and Iraq oil contracts.

Mark Benjamin’s 2004 investigative piece in UPI won the Fourth Estate Award and led to congressional hearings and improvements in the way US soldiers were cared for in military hospitals. ln 2005 he covered the redeployment of some 40 percent of US soldiers overall and almost 90 percent Marines, who were returned to war zones after completing their first tour. By the second year of the Iraq War, he reported, the Bush administration’s redeployment policy had overtaxed the US Military to the point of serious dysfunction.

see also: http://dir.salon.com/topics/mark_benjamin/

And http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/23/new_churchcomm/

As well as this on the Forgotten Casualties of War, by Amy Goodman and Mark Benjamin

Talk Nation Radio for November 13, 2008

Click here to listen to this week’s show or download in various formats at the links below.

Marjorie Cohn, Undoing the Damage Bush Wrought

TRT: 28:55
Produced by Dori Smith, WHUS, University of CT., Storrs, CT
Music fades end 19 seconds
Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here

Also available at radio4all.net and www.archive.org

Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law discusses her four part series on how the Obama administration can start undoing some of the damage Bush wrought. She outlines her case in the first article on human rights and also discusses her book, ‘Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law, which chronicled his war of aggression, policy of torture, illegal killings, unlawful Guantánamo detentions, and secret spying on Americans’.

Marjorie Cohn says Barack Obama can improve human rights by immediately rafifying three major human rights treaties: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (the ICC).

See President elect Barack Obama’s 11-15-08 weekly radio address on the economic crisis, the G-20 meeting, and Americans struggling to make ends meet here.

We also discuss the question of accountability for the Bush Administration:

There is palpable pressure on Obama to maintain the status quo, much of it coming via the corporate press. Network anchors have been featuring pundits that have issued repetitive calls for President Elect Barack Obama to be ‘pragmatic and ‘maintain continuity’. Also, George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush have book deals in the works.

Bush told CNN’s Heidi Collins he is proud of his efforts as President, mentioning Iraq specifically. But should the Bush team be allowed to simply pack their bags and leave Washington as if no crimes were committed during their time in office? Should it be business as usual in America? Or should Obama-Biden press for accountability despite their busy schedule of working to try to tackle catastrophic problems caused by George Bush and Vice President Cheney?

And discuss recent news:

We also look at recent news coverage and listen to clips of President elect Obama’s transition team co chair John Podesta at a press conference in Washington, D.C., November 11th where he announced a gift ban on federal lobbyists making financial contributions to the transition or engaging in lobbying. We hear Podesta respond to questions about rumors of a White House call for a quid pro quo where Barack Obama would reverse himself on a Columbia trade agreement in exchange for a structured bail out for the troubled auto industry. Obama has been opposed over Columbia’s repression of trade unionists. More than 2,500 trade unionists have been murdered in Columbia since 1986, 60 have been killed over the past two years.

Was this a leak and if so, which party leaked it? While Obama met with Bush, John Podesta said he was meeting with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton and the two discussed both Columbia free trade issues and the automotive industry, but not in a connected way. — Joshua Bolton was once general counsel to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. US retailers and importers support the Colombian free trade deal that would make Bush’s duty-free benefits for apparel imports to the U.S. permanent.

Barack Obama’s plan for the auto industry could force companies like GM to manufacture green cars, something he talked about before an audience in Michigan in August.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has just announced that he cares about the auto industry but would rule out a bail out for Detroit with TARP money, TARP stands for Troubled Asset Relief Program, Paulson also says the government has backed away from a plan to buy troubled mortgage related securities with the $700 billion in bail out funds.

During the press conference held by Barack Obama’s transition team co chair John Podesta, there was discussion on the research Obama is doing on George Bush’s executive orders.

Also, the Obama transition team announced that it would send former Republican congressman Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to meet with delegations at the G-20 summit on their behalf. Madeleine Albright is also former US Ambassador to the UN under Clinton. Congressman Leach of Iowa served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired the Banking and Financial Services Committee, the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Relevant URLs:
http://www.marjoriecohn.com/
Web page of Marjorie Cohn

Click here for books by Marjorie Cohn

Marjorie Cohn is also author of, ‘Rules Of Disengagement: The Politics And Honor Of Military Dissent,’ (PoliPoint Press, forthcoming winter 2009) (co-authored with Kathleen Gilberd)
and, ‘Cameras in The Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice,’ (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998) (co-authored with David Dow), reprinted (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield 2002) and in Chinese translation by Cite (2002).

http://www.whus.org
To listen live Wed. at 5 PM at FM 91.7 New England

Talk Nation Radio for November 5, 2008

Listen to this week’s show here or download below

David Lindorff on Obama Victory, Triage of Issues

Produced by Dori Smith at WHUS FM 91.7 a Pacifica Affiliate at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT
TRT: 29:42
Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here

Or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

David Lindorff is a two time Fulbright Scholar, investigative journalist, and author of three books: ‘This Can’t Be Happening: Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy’;
‘Killing Time: An Investigation Into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal’;
‘The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office’; (with Barbara Olshansky). –He writes for Counterpunch, The Nation, Salon, and other publications.

President Elect Barack Obama inspired a cheering crowd at Grant Park, in Chicago, celebrating his victory and making some references to foreign and domestic policy themes that helped him achieve a resounding victory over Republican John McCain. Americans are in distress over two wars, the economic crisis, and global warming, he says. Not a bad first list as a starting place for triage of issues. We’ll be listening to clips of the speech and raising some questions for the incoming administration of Barack Obama and Vice President elect Joe Biden.

Investigative reporter David Lindorff, author of several books critical of the Bush and Cheney
administration, offers his insights for the incoming administration. Physicians and emergency medical care providers engage in ‘triage’ sorting patients in the order in which they should be taken based on how severe their problems are. The newly elected Obama and Biden administration is beginning to do the same thing, but what about American voters? Millions of people helped win the White House for the Democrats, what next to help assure a more Democratic America?

1. Foreign Policy: Democratic President-elect Barack Obama and his Vice President-elect Joe Biden have said they would do step up the war in Afghanistan and add 92,000 more troops to the US military. If they do that where will they find the resources to deliver on other promises such as making health care available to all and improving the educational system? The Obama administration ought to pull back from some of the 800 or so military bases we operate overseas, end the Iraq and Afghan wars, and slash spending on the military down to levels that are comparable to what other nation’s spend.

2. US Intelligence: Bush reorganized America’s intelligence apparatus. David Lindorff goes over what he learned about a kind of ‘dual intelligence authority’ operating in the Bush White House and run by Vice President Dick Cheney. Obama can make America more secure, he says, by dismantling this organization thus preventing more ‘mistakes’ like the shipment of armed nuclear warheads by air by the US Air Force. This illegal operation discovered at Barksdale Air Base led to the firing of the security command for America’s nuclear weapons.

3. Can Obama and Biden be convinced to support a moratorium on the death penalty? There were 130 people in various states released from death row after establishing innocence, 223 cases were reversed after new evidence showed wrongful conviction, and rights groups are just getting started with their national study.

4. The US media has infuriated Americans who have begun to see through the bias. We discuss problems with TV networks raised on The Daily Show during an interview with CNN’s Campbell Brown.

5. How Obama and Biden can help restore health to America’s unions.

David Lindorff’s web site is thiscantbehappening.net

Find a previous interview with David Lindorff about the Barksdale Incident here
and about the ‘case for impeachment’ here