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THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

• Haitian President Aristide Demands
  U.S. Investigate White House Complicity
  in Coup Against His Government
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Christian Peacemaker Team Criticizes
  Military Detention of Thousands of Men in Iraq
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Bush TV Ads and Noncooperation
  with 9/11 Commission
  Draws Fire from Sept. 11 Victims' Families
  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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Speaking from exile in the Central African Republic, deposed Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide charged that he was the victim of a political kidnapping carried out by members of the United States military in the early morning hours of Feb. 29. In a press conference held on March 8, Aristide urged his supporters to peacefully resist what he described as a coup d'etat driven by the Bush administration.

In Haiti's capital, Port-Au-Prince, both supporters and opponents of Aristide have held demonstrations. During a protest rally organized by opposition groups held on March 7, gunmen opened fire, killing six people and wounding 30. U.S. Marines who have been deployed throughout the country, along with French and Canadian troops, returned fire, killing one person. Amid the violence, an interim president, Boniface Alexandre was sworn into office, while a seven-member council is preparing to appoint a prime minister.

President Aristide, through his counsel, has invoked the international treaty against kidnapping and called upon U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate and prosecute government officials involved in the abduction of the Haitian president and his wife, a U.S. citizen. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Ira Kurzban, an attorney who has represented the government of Haiti and President Aristide since 1991. Kurzban discusses the circumstances under which Aristide was overthrown and his call for an international investigation and prosecution of those responsible.

For more information, contact the Center for Constitutional Rights at (212) 614-6464 or visit their website at www.ccr-ny.org

Related links

• Council on Hemispheric Affairs at (202) 216-9261 www.coha.org
• Haiti Progres, Haitian newspaper, in English, French and Creole www.haitiprogres.com
• "Letter from Ira J. Kurzban, Esq., to Ms. Lydia Polgreen of the New York Times," March 7, 2004
• "Haiti Coverage: Mainstream Media Fails Itself," by Peter Phillips, Common Dreams.org, March 4, 2004
• "Was Aristide Forced Out?" The Jamaica Gleaner/Kingston, Jamaica, March 4, 2004
• "Haitian President Charges U.S. Military Kidnapped Him in Support of White House-Backed Coup", Between The Lines interview with Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights, Week Ending 3/12/04

  Background on Haiti

• "Year 501: The Tragedy of Haiti, by Noam Chomsky, cyberspacei.com, 1993
• "Background on Haiti: Some Questions and Answers," by Mary Turck, by Americas.org, Feb. 24, 2004
• "Throttled by History," by Gary Younge, The Guardian/UK, Feb. 23, 2004
• "U.S. Fails to Act as Death Squads Vow to Overthrow Government of Haitian President Aristide," Between The Lines interview with Larry Birns, executive director of Council on Hemispheric Affairs, conducted by Scott Harris, week ending March 5, 2004
• "Armed Rebellion Attempts to Oust Haitian President," Between The Lines interview with Kim Ives, Haiti Progres editor, conducted by Scott Harris, week ending Feb. 20, 2004
• "U.S. Hostility Will Be Major Challenge to Returning Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide," Between The Lines interview with Kim Ives, Haiti Progres editor, conducted by Scott Harris, Jan. 5, 2001.

Christian Peacemaker Team Criticizes
Military Detention of Thousands of Men in Iraq

Interview with Kara Speltz,
member of
the Christian Peacemaker Team,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Since 1984, faith-based Christian Peacemaker Teams have borne non-violent witness in wartorn countries around the world. The slogan of the group is "committed to reducing violence by getting in the way." Peacemaker Teams have had a presence in Iraq since before the U.S. invasion one year ago. They observe and report especially on the impact of war on civilians.

Kara Speltz, who lives in Oakland, Calif., went to Iraq with a Christian Peacemaker Team last year, and she returned there for a 10-day visit in late February and early March this year. Among other things, her group visited the Shi'ite shrine in Karbala which a week later was the site of a deadly bombing. On Ash Wednesday they began a rotating 40-day lenten fast and vigil for peace in Freedom Square in downtown Baghdad.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Kara Speltz, who talks about what she observed while in Iraq and the stories her team heard in the embattled Sunni Triangle from family members whose men were taken prisoner by U.S. soldiers.

Contact the Christian Peacemaker Team at (773) 277-0253 or visit their website at www.cpt.org

Related links:

• "The Torture Files," by Ben Ehrenreich, LA Weekly, Feb. 6-12, 2004
• "As U.S. Detains Iraqis, Families Plead for News," by Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, March 7, 2004

Bush TV Ads and Noncooperation
with 9/11 Commission
Draws Fire from Sept. 11 Victims' Families

Interview with Andrew Rice,
steering committee member
of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,
conducted by Scott Harris

As the Democratic Party closed ranks behind their presumed presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, the Bush re-election campaign's newest television ads were greeted by widespread criticism for their use of images of fallen victims in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. A number of family members of those who lost their lives on September 11 called on the president to withdraw the ads, a request which the White House has defiantly refused. The Bush campaign, joined by other 9-11 families, maintains it has every right to focus on the president's performance during the attacks in the election campaign.

But more important to many of those who lost loved ones on September 11, is the Bush administration's non-cooperation with the independent Sept. 11 panel, investigating the failures in intelligence that led to the attacks on New York and Washington. The White House has been criticized for "stonewalling" the panel -- formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States -- by restricting access to key documents; limiting testimony by the president to a one-hour session before the commission's chairman and vice-chairman; and had initially resisted calls to extend the panel's investigation time period.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Andrew Rice, a member of the steering committee of the group September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Rice, who lost his older brother David in the south tower of the World Trade Center, discusses why he believes the use of images of 9/11 by any candidate amounts to offensive exploitation - and his concern about the many obstacles being thrown at the Independent Commission investigating September 11.

Get more information about September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows by visiting their website at www.peacefultomorrows.org

Related links:

• "White House vs. 9/11 Panel: Resistance, Resolution," by Dan Eggen, The Washington Post, March 9, 2004

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

• Environmentalist groups release a report criticizing the World Bank's lifting of a rainforest logging ban and a return to funding megaprojects such as large dams. The groups favor low-tech, "green" and people-centered alternatives. ("Gambling with People's Lives," Economic Justice News, January 2004 and www.foe.org)
• Spanish court convicts Imam Mohamad Kamal Mustafa for encouraging violence against women. Lawyers, on behalf of women's associations, have accused him of gender discrimination in his book, "Women in Islam" where the imam defended a husband's right to beat his wife. ("Debate Over Domestic Violence," World Press Review, March 2004)
• A federal Superfund toxic dump in Concord, Mass. reportedly has 20 times the depleted uranium on the site than the U.S. military used in the first Gulf War. ("Dumping on History," E: The Environmental Magazine, January/February 2004)
  

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

Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 3/12/04

Election 2004

"Support For War Diving In Texas," Star-Telegram, Mar. 14, 2004

"Monopolize The Microphone," TomPaine.com, Mar. 11, 2004

"U.S. Senate Panel Accord on Memo Probe Collapses," Reuters, March 11, 2004

"GOP Learns Bush, Gasp, Is the Problem," The Houston Chronicle, March 9, 2004

"The Risks Of Waging 'Culture War,'" Boston Globe, March 9, 2004

"Florida, Again," Salon, March 9, 2004

"Rove Admits Smear Campaign," American Prospect, March 8, 2004

American Empire/War Profiteering

"U.S. Revealed To Be Secretly Funding Opponents Of Chavez,"The Independent/UK, Mar. 13, 2004

"'Special Skills' Draft On Drawing Boards,"San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 13, 2004

"Pentagon Comptroller Critical of Halliburton,"CNN, March 11, 2004

"The New Pentagon Papers" Salon.com, March 10, 2004

"The Coup In Haiti" The Nation, March 22, 2004

"Human Rights Watch: U.S. Troops Killing And Abusing Afghans," The Guardian/UK, March 8, 2004

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq

"Relatives Of Soldiers Killed In Iraq Protest At U.S. Base," Agence France Presse, Mar. 15, 2004

"G.I. Toll Is Rising As Insurgents Try Wilier Bombs And Tactics," The New York Times, Mar. 15, 2004

"Rule Of The Death Squads," New Statesman/UK, Mar. 15, 2004

"New Spanish P.M. Promises Iraq Withdrawal," The Guardian/UK, Mar. 15, 2004

"U.S. Military Families Protest War," Toronto Star, Mar. 14, 2004

"U.S. Aims To Keep Iraq Military Control," Associated Press, Mar. 13, 2004

"'Unknown Soldier' Speaks Out To Bring Troops Home," Intervention Magazine, March 4, 2004

"Occupational Hazards?," By Karen Kwiatowski, Military Week, Feb. 10, 2004

Civil Liberties

"For Some Defendants, An American Gulag," St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 14, 2004

"My Hell in Camp X-Ray," The Mirror UK, March 12, 2004

"Board Game Explains, Protests PATRIOT Act," Associated Press, March 10, 2004

"Is The Military Creeping Into Domestic Law Enforcement?," Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2004

"The Pentagon's Secret Scream," The Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2004

"Innocent Trip Marred By A Name," Honolulu Advertiser, March 7, 2004

"Amish Man Stranded In Canada By National Security Rule" Washington Times-Herald, March 6, 2004

"Bush Administration Eroding 'Threshold Rights,'" Boston Phoenix, March 5, 2004

Media And Activism

"Chasing Judith Miller Off The Stage" Left Hook, Feb. 18, 2004