Democracy Now!
Wed., Feb 26, 2003
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 02-26-03
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9:00-9:01 Billboard:
British Labour MPs set to deliver Prime Minister Tony Blair
his most serious challenge yet: an interview with Dilip Hiro
'Blood on their hands': acclaimed journalist John
Pilger explores the fate of Iraqi children, and the world
leaders who are responsible
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:26 BRITISH LABOUR MPS SET TO DELIVER PRIME MINISTER
TONY BLAIR HIS MOST SERIOUS CHALLENGE YET: AN INTERVIEW WITH
DILIP HIRO
British Prime Minister Tony Blair tonight faces what the
London Guardian calls the most dangerous challenge yet to
his six-year reign.
Parliament is set to vote on Blair's aggressive policy
against Iraq.
Members of Parliament from Blair's own Labour Party
are under orders to support the government, and the government
is expected to win.
But backbench organizers say over 150 MPs are prepared to
vote against Blair. That would be by far the largest revolt
of the Blair era.
Anti-war sentiment is very strong in Britain. On Feb. 15th,
over a million people marched in London a city of only
7 million people. And several major British newspapers and
tabloids are outspoken against the war.
Well today we're joined in our firehouse studios by
Dilip Hiro, a Middle East analyst based in London. Dilip Hiro
is the author of more than a dozen books on the Middle East
and writes regularly for the London 'Observer',
and'Guardian' and is a frequent commentator on the
BBC.
But Hiro's influence is extending to the other side
of the Atlantic: He regularly contributes to the 'Washington
Post', CNN and 'the Nation.'
This week in an opinion piece called 'Not so Fast,'
Washington Post columnist William Raspberry wrote:
"This is hard. So soon after very nearly swooning over
Colin Powell's report to the United Nations Security Council,
I find myself thinking the once unthinkable: I don't believe
him.
"It's not that I think the secretary of state -- the
one member of the president's inner circle I thought we could
count on to be straight with us on Iraq -- is lying. But I'm
starting to think that his interpretation of facts and circumstances
assumes so many things and ignores so many others that it
comes to the same thing.
"Whence my change of heart? For one thing, I've had
time to digest that tour de force performance of earlier this
month. For another, I've been listening and reading (particularly
Dilip Hiro's book 'Iraq: In the Eye of the Storm').
And finally, I've found it impossible to see how Powell's
allegations and speculation -- even if they are all true --
lead so ineluctably to war."
Guest: Dilip Hiro, author, "Iraq: In the Eye of the
Storm" and "War Without End: the Rise of Islamist
Terrorism and Global Response". (Three decades ago, he
also wrote the book 'Black British, White British: A
History of Race Relations in Britain')
9:26-9:27 One Minute Music Break
9:27 9:58 'BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS': ACCLAIMED
JOURNALIST JOHN PILGER EXPLORES THE FATE OF IRAQI CHILDREN,
AND THE WORLD LEADERS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE
A recent edition of the London 'Mirror' showed
a picture of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with blood
on his hands. The cover read:"Blood on his hands/John
Pilger: His Most Damning Verdict of Tony Blair."
Pilger is an acclaimed Australian journalist and filmmaker.
He begins the article in the 'Mirror':
"William Russell, the great correspondent who reported
the carnage of imperial wars, may have first used the expression
'on his hands' to describe impeccable politicians
who, at a safe distance, order the mass killing of ordinary
people.
"In my experience, 'on his hands' applies
especially to those modern political leaders who have had
no personal experience of war, like George W. Bush, who managed
not to serve in Vietnam, and the effete Tony Blair.
"There is about them the essential cowardice of the
man who causes death and suffering not by his own hand but
through a chain of command that affirms his "authority".
"In 1946, the judges at Nuremberg who tried the Nazi
leaders for war crimes left no doubt about what they regarded
as the gravest crimes against humanity.
"The most serious was unprovoked invasion of a sovereign
state that offered no threat to one's homeland. Then there
was the murder of civilians, for which responsibility rested
with the "highest authority".
"Blair is about to commit both these crimes'"
That, again from a recent column of John Pilger, in the
London 'Mirror'. Today we are going to hear an excerpt
from Pilger's documentary "Paying The Price: Killing
the Children of Iraq."
In this hard-hitting special report, Pilger investigates
the effects of sanctions on the people of Iraq and finds that
ten years of extraordinary isolation, imposed by the UN and
enforced by the US and Britain, have killed more people than
the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan. In the film, Pilger
travels with Denis Halliday, the former assistant secretary-general
of the United Nations who resigned over what he called the
"immoral policy" of economic sanctions.
Tape: "Paying The Price: Killing the Children of Iraq,"
produced, written and presented by John Pilger, distributed
by Bullfrog Films, 2000.
Contact: pilger.carlton.com
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today's program, call 1 (800) 881 2359. Our
website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogiera and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our
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