ANNOUNCEMENTS

• In case you missed the Media Reform Conference in Madison, Wis. in November, RealAudio and MP3 of speeches and workshops can be heard by clicking here!

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

• Human Rights Abuses
  in U.S.-Run Iraq and Afghan Prisons
  are Widespread and Systemic
  For story text, Click here!

• Former Counsel to President Richard Nixon
  Declares that Misconduct in Bush White House
  is 'Worse than Watergate'
  For story text, Click here!

• A Vote for Nader Can be
  a Vote for Kerry
  For story text, Click here!

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

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As combat between U.S. troops and insurgents continue throughout Iraq, world attention has been focused on photos of American prison guards abusing and sexually humiliating their Iraqi prisoners. The international scandal erupted after investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote a lengthy article about the torture allegationsin the New Yorker magazine, and a U.S. soldier's decision to hand over digital images capturing the mistreatment to Army investigators. These pictures were later broadcast on CBS TV's 60 Minutes II program on April 28. Since then, Congress has undertaken an investigation into who was responsible for the abuse and why information about the alleged torture was not investigated or acted upon sooner.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has issued a report which states that documentation on the abuse of prisoners was collected by inspectors who visited U.S.-run prisons in Iraq as early as May 2003. The Red Cross maintains that it had regularly informed American prison administrators of the conditions found during site visits, with complaints being directly reported to top Bush administration officials in mid-January of this year. The Red Cross report also quotes coalition intelligence officers as estimating that 70 to 90 percent of Iraqi detainees were arrested by mistake.

Thus far, the Pentagon has filed criminal charges against seven U.S. soldiers for their alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. While many Democrats have called for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush continues to publicly support the secretary. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Carroll Bogert, associate director with Human Rights Watch, who examines the charges against U.S. soldiers, accountability up the chain of command and American adherence to the Geneva Conventions.

Call Human Rights Watch at (212) 290-4700 or visit their website at www.hrw.org

Related links:

• "America's Military Coup,"by Sidney Blumenthal, The Guardian U.K, May 13, 2004
• "Former Iraq Minister: U.S. Forces Covered Up Abuses," by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, by Reuters, May 12, 2004
• "U.S. Military Confirms Existence Of Horrific Pictures and Video," Independent/UK, May 9, 2004
• "Chain Of Command: How the Defense Dept. Mishandled The Abu Ghraib Disaster," by Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, May 17, 2004
• "Was Army Torture Report Classified to Protect the Guilty?" Secrecy News, From the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, Volume 2004, Issue No. 42, May 5, 2004
• "Human Rights Group Charges U.S. is Abusing Prisoners in Afghanistan," Between The Lines Q&A, March 26, 2004
• More links ...

Former Counsel to President Richard Nixon
Declares that Misconduct in Bush White House
is 'Worse than Watergate'

Interview with John Dean,
former counsel to President Richard Nixon,
conducted by Scott Harris

Over the past year, the Bush administration has struggled to regain its credibility with the public over issues such as Saddam Hussein's missing weapons of mass destruction, the now-debunked justification for the Iraq war; White House stonewalling of the Sept. 11 commission inquiry; and misrepresentations of Bush's environmental and fiscal policies. But during this election year, the president has also been forced to confront a succession of administration insiders who have gone public with their accounts of secrecy and deceit that they say are standard practices within the Bush White House.

Among these officials are former counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke, former State Department Deputy Tom Maertens, resigned anti-terrorism advisor Rand Beers, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Greg Thielman, former aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell and former ambassador Joseph Wilson. Much like U.S. Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the now famous "Pentagon Papers" about the Vietnam War to the press during the Nixon era, these Washington insiders have blown the whistle on what they see as government misconduct.

John Dean, a former counsel to President Nixon, whose Congressional testimony revealed to the nation the abuse of power and secrecy employed by his boss -- has written a new book confronting the current occupant of the White House, titled, "Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush." Between the Lines' Scott Harris spoke with John Dean about why he believes the scandals and secrecy surrounding President Bush are more dangerous than those that brought down Richard Nixon in 1974.

John Dean's book, "Worse Than Watergate, The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush," is published by Little, Brown & Co. Related links:

• 30-minute interview in RealAudio with John Dean, by Scott Harris, Counterpoint, April 26, 2004. Half-hour interview includes details on Bush's attempts to keep his files (from his days as Texas governor) away from public archives; Cheney's political interference with the 9/11 commission; Bush's impeachable actions justifying the Iraq war, and more...
• "Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Is Lying About The Reason For War An Impeachable Offense?" by John Dean, FindLaw.com, Jun. 06, 2003

A Vote for Nader Can be
a Vote for Kerry

Law professor says
Nader could choose Kerry electors
to avoid 'spoiler effect'

Interview with Bruce Ackerman,
professor of law and political science,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

American school children learn in civics class that voters don't cast ballots for presidential candidates, but rather select a set of 538 electors from the 50 states, who then determine the winner of the presidency. This is why a candidate can win the popular vote but lose the election in the Electoral College, as happened in the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George Bush. But, by the time students are old enough to vote, most of them have forgotten about how this part of our democracy works.

With the presumed Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry taking ever more cautious and conservative positions, many progressive voters are wishing they could find a way to support Ralph Nader's independent presidential bid without increasing George W. Bush's chances for another four years in the White House. A Yale law school professor recently wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times that proposes a novel solution. Bruce Ackerman, an authority on constitutional law and the Electoral College, has proposed that Nader name the same set of electors as John Kerry's on each state ballot where he'll be running. He maintains this would allow votes cast for Nader to be counted toward the Democratic candidate's electoral slate.

A spokesperson for Nader's campaign said the candidate is considering Ackerman's proposal and investigating his legal options. Meanwhile, Oregon and Texas have recently rejected Ralph Nader's petition to get on the ballot in those states. The veteran consumer advocate says he will challenge the Texas ruling in court. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with professor Ackerman, who explains his Electoral College strategy proposal for Nader and the legal battles that might lie ahead.

Read Bruce Ackerman's op-ed piece titled, "2-for-1 Voting" online at www.commondreams.org

For more information, contact Bruce Ackerman at bruce.Ackerman@yale.edu

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

• At the end of 2003, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control had 21 agents working to enforce the economic blockade against Cuba, while only four agents searched for financial assets of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan has started a drive to cut the agency's funds if more effort is not made to track down the flow of money to bin Laden's network. ("More Agents Track Castro than Bin Laden," Associated Press, April 28, 2004)
• Brazil's Landless Workers Movement has once again started seizing vacant land to force the hand of President Luiz Inacio "Lula" de Silva to step up the pace of land reform. ("Land Grab," The Guardian, April 20, 2004)
• American female soldiers who served in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan are coming home in alarming numbers claiming to have been sexually attacked by U.S. military personnel. Many have complained that the Pentagon has failed to conduct criminal investigations into these assaults. ("Camouflaging Criminals," Amnesty Now, Spring 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 5/14/04

Bush Regime/Election 2004

"The Buck Stops... Where?," by Fred Kaplan, Slate, May 14, 2004

"Polls: Abuse Photos Spell Trouble For The War Party," by Jim Lobe, Antiwar.com, May 13, 2004

"Where Is Kerry?," by David Lindorff, Counterpunch, May 13, 2004

"Kerry's Foreign Policy Trap," by Bill Berkowitz, Working For Change, May 12, 2004

"A Kerry Landslide?," by Chuck Todd, Washington Monthly, May, 2004

More newswire ...

American Empire/War Profiteering

"U.S. Guards 'Filmed Beatings' At Guantanamo," Guardian/UK, May 16, 2004

"A New American Dream," by William Pfaff, Observer/UK, May 16, 2004

"Militarism Leads To Torture," by Scott Galindez, Truthout, May 15, 2004

"Torture Followed CIA Manual," by Alfred W. McCoy, Boston Globe, May 14, 2004

"Rise Of An 'Iraq Generation' In Europe?," Christian Science Monitor, May 14, 2004

"The Doctrine Of Atrocity," by Nicholas Turse, Village Voice, May 11, 2004

"Secret World Of U.S. Interrogation," Washington Post, May 11, 2004

More newswire ...

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq

"Rumsfeld's Secret Ops At Abu Ghraib," by Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, May 25, 2004

"U.S. Admits Shia Unrest Is 'Uprising,'" Independent/UK, May 17, 2004

"Head Of Governing Council Killed In Car Bomb Attack," Independent/UK, May 17, 2004

"A Failure Of Leadership At The Highest Levels" Army Times editorial, May 17, 2004

"Who Commands The Private Soldiers?," Guardian/UK, May 17, 2004

"Sunnis And Shi'ites Uniting Against U.S.," by Dahr Jamail, Antiwar.com, May 15, 2004

"Gen. William Odom (Ret.): War Weariness Growing," by Alan Bock, Antiwar.com, May 14, 2004

"U.S. Forces Were Taught Torture Techniques," Guardian/UK, May 14, 2004

"War Crimes," by Marjorie Cohn, Truthout, May 13, 2004

"America's Military Coup,"by Sidney Blumenthal, The Guardian U.K, May 13, 2004

"The Shia Rise Up," by Rami El-Amine, Left Turn, May 10, 2004

More newswire ...

Civil Liberties

"Where Are You Heading, America? Taking A Closer Look At The PATRIOT Act," by Brian Cloughley, Counterpunch, May 15, 2004

"Ashcroft Fishes Out 1872 Law In Bid To Scuttle Protest Rights," by Bill McKibben, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2004

"When King George Travels, Liberties Suffer," by John Nichols, Madison Capital Times, May 13, 2004

"U.S. Takes Greenpeace To Court In Unusual Trial," Reuters, May 13, 2004

"U.S. Human Rights Groups Demand Investigation Of Prison Abuses In Afghanistan," by Jim Lobe, OneWorld.net, May 13, 2004

"Presidential Push Fails To Quell GOP Fear Of PATRIOT Act," The Hill, May 12, 2004

"Army Training Memo Reveals Neglect For Human Rights Law," WorldNetDaily.com, May 12, 2004

More newswire ...

Media Issues

"Liberal Talk Radio: Let The Water Cooler Wars Begin," by Thom Hartmann, Common Dreams, May 17, 2004

"Fahrenheit 9/11 Could Light Fire Under Bush," Guardian/UK, May 17, 2004

More newswire ...

Activism

"Rainforest Action Network Campaign Spurs Bank Of America Lending Changes," Rainforest Action Network press release, May 17, 2004

"Activists Wear 'Clean Clothes or Nothing' In First-Ever National 'Sweatfree' Conference," SweatFree Communities press release, May 12, 2004

More newswire ...