Monday, March 17, 2008

Big Dan's Big News Mar 17, 2008


Pope appeals for peace in Iraq after archbishop death: 'Enough with the slaughters!'; In other news, Catholics then do NOT picket the Iraq War, and await the next Mel Gibson movie or teletubbies to picket...

Millions of Iraqis lack water, healthcare: Red Cross

How to Destroy a Country in Five Years. War on Iraq: This the fifth of Iraq's blood-sodden anniversaries since Bush invaded, and the country is now utterly ruined.


Bush Diplomacy: Predator Planes Are Conducting Assassinations by Air. ForeignPolicy: Attacks all over the planet by U.S. Predator planes suggest Bush thinks he has the "right" to kill civilians.

Warren County, OH's, 2004 Election Night Lockdown Finally Investigated by Media. FBI: 'There was no information given to Warren County of an imminent terrorist threat to that county or to Southern Ohio'. Kerry Campaign Stands by Decision to Not Challenge Election...

Iraq Vets: 'Racism Endemic; Comes from the Top of Command Chain' (VIDEO). War on Iraq: Vets from Iraq and Afghanistan tell their stories. (With a guide to AlterNet's comprehensive Winter Soldier coverage.)

Republicans See Storm Clouds Gathering
Week of Bad News Highlights Difficult Challenges for GOP in Fall Elections


J.P. Morgan Buys Bear in Fire Sale,
As Fed Widens Credit to Avert Crisis


McCain makes "unannounced" trip to Iraq. Let me explain something to you, if it's "unannounced", then we're not doing well in Iraq! Every trip by any American politician is described as another "unannounced" trip! You never see, "Bush makes unannounced trip to Germany"!!!

One Year Later, Market Where McCain Strolled ‘Freely’ Is Controlled By Sadr, Too Unsafe For Americans To Visit

Schumer: ‘The President Is Indeed Behaving Like Herbert Hoover’

TIME: Pity America's poor civil libertarians. In recent weeks, the papers have been full of stories about the warehousing of information on Americans by the National Security Agency, the interception of financial information by the CIA, the stripping of authority from a civilian intelligence oversight board by the White House, and the compilation of suspicious activity reports from banks by the Treasury Department. On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report documenting continuing misuse of Patriot Act powers by the FBI. And to judge from the reaction in the country, nobody cares.

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Democracy NOW! DISH channels 9410 & 9415, DirecTV channel 275:

Winter Soldier: US Vets, Active-Duty Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan Testify About the Horrors of War

US veterans gathered in Maryland this past weekend to testify at Winter Soldier, an eyewitness indictment of atrocities committed by US troops during the ongoing occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers spoke of free-fire zones, the shootings and beatings of innocent civilians, racism at the highest levels of the military, sexual harassment and assault within the military, and the torturing of prisoners. While the corporate media ignored the story, we broadcast their voices.

DN! transcript or DN! video

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1968 Forty Years Later: My Lai Massacre Remembered By Survivors, Victims’ Families and U.S. War Vets

This weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre when US troops killed more than 500 men, women and children in Vietnam. We speak with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh who won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the killings and the coverup.

Today we begin our series: 1968, forty years later. This weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre. On March 16th, 1968 the members of Charlie Company arrived in the village of My Lai in the northerly province of South Vietnam. The soldiers opened fire even though they hadn’t come under attack. The violence quickly escalated into an orgy of killing. More than 500 villagers were murdered, most of them women, children and the elderly.

When the massacre was uncovered, it proved to be a turning point for American public opinion about the war. The only US solder convicted over the killings was Lieutenant William Calley.

On Sunday, more than a thousand people turned out in My Lai to remember the victims. The memorial drew Vietnamese survivors and family members, returning U.S. war veterans, peace activists and a delegation of atomic bombing survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Among those attending was Larry Colburn. He was a member of a three-man U.S. Army helicopter crew that landed in the midst of the massacre and intervened to stop the killing.

While the My Lai massacre took place on March 16th 1968, it wasn’t until November 12th 1969 that the world found out about it. That"s when investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story about the massacre and its coverup. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his expose. Forty years later Seymour Hersh is still breaking stories about war. In 2004, he exposed the Abu Ghraib scandal in the New Yorker magazine. Seymour Hersh joins us now from Washington DC.

DN! transcript or DN! video
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