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THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

• Despite Ashcroft's Recusal
  from CIA Leak Case,
  White House Still Refuses
  to Appoint Independent Counsel
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• 2003: A Year of Reversals
  for White House Neo-Conservatives
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Mexico's Zapatista Movement
  Strengthens Its Base of Support
  on 10th Anniversary of Chiapas Rebellion
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Underreported News Summary
  from Around the World
  For full summary and audio, Click here!

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As 2003 came to a close, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he would recuse himself from the Justice Department's investigation into an alleged White House leak that blew the cover of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson. Wilson believes that the leak was intended to punish his public refutation of President Bush's claim that Iraq was seeking uranium in the African nation of Niger for a nuclear weapons program. The White House had sent Wilson to Africa in 2002 to investigate the matter but ignored his findings. President Bush repeated the charge in his January State of the Union speech using it as a key justification for war.

Ashcroft has appointed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to lead the investigation and report to his deputy James Comey. But Ashcroft's recusal comes months after critics called for his departure from the case and falls short of demands that a truly independent special counsel take charge. The stakes are enormously high for President Bush who is running for re-election, given the damage which could result from any indictments charging White House aids with involvement in a serious political crime.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with retired 27-year veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who discusses Attorney General Ashcroft's decision to recuse himself from the case and suspicions that the Bush administration may be trying to run out the clock in an effort to suppress any "bad news" until after this November's presidential election.

McGovern, until his retirement in 1990, led one of two CIA teams conducting the most secret daily intelligence briefings at the White House. His recent article, "Don't Be Fooled: Still No Independent Investigation of Leak of CIA Identity," can be read online at www.truthout.org

Related links:

• "Why Did Attorney General Ashcroft Remove Himself From The Valerie Plame Wilson Leak Investigation?" Signs that a Key Witness May Have Come Forward, by John W. Dean, Findlaw's Writ, Jan. 6, 2004
• "President Wavers on Pledge to Find Leaker," The Daily Mislead, Moveon.org, Jan. 6, 2004
• "Senator Urges White House on Leak Probe," The Associated Press, Jan. 6, 2004
• "Ashcroft Recuses Self From CIA Leak Probe," Associated Press, Dec. 30, 2003
• "Leaks Probe Is Gaining Momentum," Washington Post, Dec. 26, 2003
• "Case Yields Chilling Signs of Domestic Terror Plot,"Arms cache in Texas leads to convictions but few answers. Critics fault focus on foreign threats, but where was Ashcroft? by Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 7, 2004
• "'Attorney General Nominee John Ashcroft Too Extreme for Missouri, Too Extreme for the Country,'" Between The Lines interview with John Hickey, the executive director of the Missouri Citizen Education Fund, conducted by Denise Manzari, week ending Feb. 2, 2002

2003: A Year of Reversals
for White House Neo-Conservatives

Interview with Tom Englehardt,
author and columnist,
conducted by Scott Harris

As the war in Iraq continues to grind on into the new year, the Bush administration does its best to paint a happy face on a conflict that daily claims the lives of Iraqi civilians, aid workers, U.S. soldiers and their allies. Iraqi insurgents shot down an American helicopter near the city of Falluja on Jan. 2, killing one soldier and wounding another.

Despite an agreement to hand over power to an Iraqi government by July 1, U.S. and British troops will likely remain in Iraq for years to come. According to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, troops from America and Britain may very well stay in Iraq through 2007. In another sign of rising discontent in the ranks of soldiers fighting the war in Iraq, the Pentagon announced several orders that will prevent thousands of enlisted men and women from leaving the military service even if they are eligible to do so. The Army, which constitutes most of the 130,000 soldiers serving in Iraq, is now offering a re-enlistment bonus of up to $10,000 in order to stem the flow of soldiers departing the service.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with author and columnist Tom Englehardt, whose recent article, "The Empire Strikes Out 2003: Imperial Gong Show Year," takes a hard look at events over the past year including the Bush Administration's war in Iraq and the fortunes of the White House "neo-con's" blueprint for world domination.

Read Tom Englehardt's article, "The Empire Strikes Out 2003: Imperial Gong Show Year" and other timely articles on his website at www.tomdispatch.org Englehardt is a consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley. Tom Englehardt's most recent novel is titled: "The Last Days of Publishing" published by University of Massachusetts Press.

Related links:

• "Army Trying to Keep Troops From Leaving," The Associated Press, Jan. 5, 2004

Mexico's Zapatista Movement
Strengthens Its Base of Support
on 10th Anniversary of Chiapas Rebellion

Interview with Tom Hansen,
Mexico Solidarity Network,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On Jan. 1, 1994 an indigenous group in Mexico's poorest state of Chiapas, calling itself the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, or EZLN, declared war on the Mexican government by demanding cultural and economic autonomy. The declaration was tied to generations of bigotry against the indigenous population and the implementation of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which the Zapatistas opposed, predicting its neoliberal policies would further impoverish Mexico's peasants.

Over the last decade, the Zapatista military's chief spokesperson, subcommandante Marcos, has captured the imagination and respect of many in Latin America for his thoughtful essays and poetry linking the struggle of the dispossessed in Mexico, with those of other indigenous and impoverished peoples across the world.

After years of military skirmishes, the EZLN and the Mexican government worked to resolve their differences through negotiations, resulting in a document known as the San Andres accords. This agreement signed by the Zapatistas and the government, would have conferred a degree of autonomy on indigenous communities in Chiapas. But the government of President Vicente Fox and the federal legislature refused to ratify the accord. Violence against indigenous campesinos and Zapatista activists, at the hands of paramilitary groups linked with the Mexican military has continued, including the 1997 massacre of 45 peasants in the town of Acteal, Chiapas.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Tom Hansen, coordinator of the Mexico Solidarity Network, who talks about the changes both NAFTA and the Zapatistas have wrought in Chiapas in the last ten years, and the struggles that lie ahead.

For more information, call the Mexico Solidarity Network at (773) 583-7728 or visit the group's website at www.mexicosolidarity.org

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

• Over 500 gun control groups launch a "Control Arms" campaign to pressure governments to end sales of small arms that are likely to be used in committing human rights abuses. ("Taking aim at the Global Gun Trade," Amnesty Now, Winter 2003)
• Attacks against transgendered individuals on the rise a decade after the Nebraska murder of Brandon Teena, a female transsexual. ("Victims of Prejudice," BBC News, Dec. 26, 2003, web version)
• Senate Republicans pushing to revive their stalled energy bill which protects the manufacturers of the toxic water pollutant MTBE. ("Restarting the Energy Bill," The Nation, Dec. 22, 2003)
  

DOWNLOAD this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. Needs Quicktime Player or your favorite MP3 player. Note: Make sure your browser is set for streaming or download depending on your connection speed. MP3 files available until Jan. 20, 2004

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Credits:
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Denise Manzari
News reader: Sasha Summer Cousineau
Segment producer: Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Web editors: Bill Cosentino and Hank Hoffman
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Theme music: Mikata

Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 1/9/04

Bush Re-Election Issues

"War-Gate," Antiwar.com, Jan. 12, 2004

"Bush Sought Iraq Invasion Pre-9/11," CBS News, Jan. 11, 2004

"Draft Creep," LewRockwell.com, Jan. 9, 2004

"Economic Recovery? No New Jobs In December," Knight Ridder, Jan. 9, 2004

"Climate Change 'More Serious' Threat Than Terrorism ; Bush Fiddles While World Burns," The Independent UK, Jan. 9, 2004

"Carnegie group says Bush made wrong claims on WMD," The Guardian/UK, Jan. 8, 2004

"No proof links Iraq, al-Qaida, Powell says," NBC, MSNBC and other sources, Jan. 8, 2004

"This Business Cycle Could Get Vicious," Boston Globe, Jan. 7, 2004

"Why Did Attorney General Ashcroft Remove Himself From The Valerie Plame Wilson Leak Investigation?" by John W. Dean, Findlaw's Writ, Jan. 6, 2004

"Bush Labor Department: How To Avoid Paying Overtime," Associated Press, Jan. 6, 2004

"RNC Plays The Hitler Card: MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize" Counterpunch, Jan. 6, 2004

"But George McGovern Was Right," The Boston Globe, Jan. 6, 2004

"Army Trying To Keep Troops From Leaving," Associated Press, Jan. 5, 2004

"Two Loud Words: Bush Knew," Truthout.org, Jan. 5, 2004

American Empire/War Profiteering

"Permanent Bases In Iraq," Counterpunch, Jan. 6, 2004

"Firm Tied To Officials Win Big Iraq Deals," Associated Press, Jan. 6, 2004

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq

"U.S. Mortuary Sees No Let-Up From Iraq War Dead," Reuters, Jan. 11, 2004

"35 G.I.s Wounded In Mortar Attack," Associated Press, Jan. 7, 2004

"Iraq's Arsenal Was Only On Paper," Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2004

"Military Split On How --Not Whether--To Use 'Hunter-Killer' Assassination Squads," Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2004

"Iraqis Revive Ancient Word 'Ulooj' To Insult, Greet U.S. Troops," Knight Ridder, Jan. 5, 2004

"An Annotated Saddam Chronology," ZNet, Dec. 15, 2003

"Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq"

"Juan Cole: Informed Comment"

Civil Liberties

"Supreme Court To Review 'Enemy Combatant' Cases," The New York Times, Jan. 9. 2004

"FTAA Repression Photos And First Hand Account," FTAAMiamiPhotos.com

"New U.S. Security Measures Target Minorities," Toronto Star, Jan. 7, 2004

"Bush Grabs New Power For FBI," Wired News, Jan, 6, 2004

"White House Seeks Secrecy on Detainee," The Associated Press, Jan. 5 2004

"Torture By Proxy," San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 4, 2003

"Las Vegas Casinos, Airlines Ordered To Give FBI Information," TalkLeft, Jan. 2, 2004

Media And Activism

"Clear Channel Gags An Antiwar Conservative" The American Conservative, Feb. 2, 2004

"The Domination Effect: Military And The Media" The Guardian UK, Jan. 8, 2004

"Media AWOL On WMD Lies" TomPaine.com, Jan. 8, 2004

"George Will's Ethics" ZNet, Jan. 2, 2004