Flashpoints Aug 19: journalist Robert Fisk, and Dr. Eyad Al-Saraj from Gaza

Monday, August 19, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction: encore interviews with journalist Robert Fisk, and with Dr. Eyad Al-Saraj, a prominent Palestinian psychologist from Gaza.
-01:00 Dennis: now with Robert Knight and the Knight Report.. Robert: war crimes coming home to roost in Washinton DC and in Afghanistan.. several thousand Taliban who surrended, were taken away in containers and suffocated, and buried in mass graves.. had been guaranteed safe passage to a US allied prison.. from Kunduz ih the heat of summer.. truck drivers ordered to keep containers sealed and without water.. one survivor talked of prisoners biting off each others arms legs and fingertips for water, prisoners banging futilely against the walls.. "findings sufficient to justify further investigation".. Afghans accuse Red Cross of impeding human rights.. Robert: here on Flashpoints in early November we reported: "executed 100.. starved and massacred.. Robert Fisk reported.. others drowned in wells.. others lined up in front of holes and shot.. how Rumsfeld downplayed the charges".. Bush now denying.. but the CIA was all alone there.. virtually inconceivable that the US couldn't know.. why Bush fought so hard for immunity for war crimes for the US.. info: Physicians for Human Rights
-06:40 Yun Suh: now an interview with a prominent psychologist from occupied Gaza, Dr. Eyad Al-Saraj.. about the psychological impact on the children and families of Palestinians living under seige.. Dr. Eyad Al-Saraj: Gazans suffer from post traumatic stress and depression.. only 30 psychologists to serve all 1.2 million residents of the Gaza strip.. the Palestinian story started in 1948.. hundreds of Palestinians were uprooted from Palestine.. fear.. fear of second expulsion.. in total defiance.. has kept many Pals in the struggle.. now we live under Israeli occupation.. overcoming the occupation has taken precedence.. denial of basic human rights.. over 50% suffering from post traumatic stress.. we have no shelters in Gaza.. when the Israelis bomb, there is no place to hide.. "are they bombing tonight or not?".. people here feel ashamed of having to live in humilitation.. some say dying is better than living in humiliation.. about 'martyrdom'.. a nation stuggling for freedom.. they have no hope the Israelis will leave the Palestinian land.. Pals can not confront the Israeli tanks and planes with their own tanks and planes.. a humiliating environment.. the Palestinians soldiers who do not have jets to fight with or tanks.. they only have their bodies.. this culture glorifies self-sacrifice.. Islam encourages fighting against occupation.. about the Palestinian story.. the martyr is consided as the highest level of respect, almost like a prophet.. if he joins a militant group and.. dies in battle.. even people killed in the course of duty, considered martyr.. many children are preoccupied with martyrdom.. a life span of ten years.. some children unable to smile, smileless children.. these are two alarming signs.. children usually use games to express themselves.. play a game 'Arabs and Jews'.. martyrdom is the ultimate form of power.. the occupation producing more violence.. the first intifada, stone throwers.. this intifada, suicide bombers.. if the occupation, if the violence doesn't end, I worry what terrible thing will come in the third intifada.. I hope and pray that the leaders can do something.. EVERY SUICIDE BOMBER TODAY HAS WITNESSED SUCH AS THE BEATING OF HIS FATHER, OR HAVING SOMEONE CLOSE TO HIM KILLED.. THESE CHILDREN HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF ABJECT HUMILIATION.. life becoming a sin.. imagine the future generations.. mothers are the source of warmth and security in our culture.. children suffer if they lose the house or the mother.. I see mothers unable to buy food for the children.. but they grow on one square meter, vegetables to feed the children.. but with the helplessness of the fathers, the humiliation of the fathers, children want to.. liberate the land and take revenge for the victimization.. Yun Suh: the US sees Israel as the vicim.. Dr. Eyad Al-Saraj: the Jews have harbored feelings of being victims for generations.. strenghens Sharon's paranoia.. he's in a crusade.. suicide bombings play into his hand.. suicide bombings have hurt the Palestinian cause.. with the help of Israeli public relations machine.. the media hasn't put out the other side of the story.. Pals living under brutal occupation.. many Jews have not dealt with their victimology.. they should have stayed on the higher moral ground, should not have become victimizers of another.. [as abused children often grow up to be child abusers].. Dr. Eyad Al-Saraj: It is very sad for me to see that Jews have 'grown up' just to become victimizers of another.. THE ZIONIST PROJECT HAS FAILED.. INSTEAD OF CREATING A SAFE HAVEN, IT HAS TURNED ISRAEL INTO A GHETTO, AND A SLAUGHTERHOUSE FOR JEWS AND ARABS.. in Israel now, existential fear, "what am I doing here in other people's land.." many Israeli soldiers while they are killing and humiliating the Palestinians, when they go home they can not stop.. many more Jews will become aware.. ISRAEL NEEDS TO BE RESCUED FROM ITSELF.. more: www.gcmhp.net
-28:00 music break
-28:30 Dennis: officials in Washington characterize their war on terrorism as a grand success.. award wining UK Independent journalist, Robert Fisk says, though, it isn't pretty.. Robert: there aren't many Brits left.. we have pulled out.. no longer needed.. actually we realized that the US has no plan for peace.. if only the Afghans could run Afghanistan.. the US allying themselves with local warlords.. secret police torture center.. US not interested in law and order.. I went to a village.. 101 Airborne raided.. killed an 85 year old village leaders.. a 14 year old girl ran from stun grenades, fell in a well and drowned.. illiterate farmers taken away for *interrogation*.. they told me they received an apology and were freed.. all but ten families fled the village.. other villagers had pillaged their homes, they were the one who told the Americans that there were Al-Quada in the village.. They were set up.. over and over again, stories of this kind.. in Pakistan, FBI agents with members of ISI; raiding the homes of Arabs.. kidnapping them, and putting them on airplanes and taking them to Afghanistan for interrogation.. a Pakistani doctor traced to a US air base near Kanduhar.. seen by the Swiss Red Cross.. US trying to controll events in Pakistan.. Dennis: about the kid, Tamin, who was killed?.. Robert: a desperately poor neighborhood suburb of Kabul.. I met his mother.. she told me her son worked for the same trust as Princess Diana.. worked as a 'de-miner' to clear a safe zone for children, in a minefield where the US dropped cluster bombs.. 20% of cluster bomblettes bury themselves in the ground and become mines.. Tamin had been using his hands to find the bomblettes.. died.. later at the HQ I was shown one.. lot numbers show the place of manufacture.. made in Minnesota or California.. to make the land safe for the children of the future, the deminers are engaged in a jihad.. the cluster bombs the same color as the little food packets.. the most deaths are children playing with bomblettes.. it is not necessary for weapons to bury themselves in the ground.. the manufacturers know about the permanent threat.. they knew very well that the weapons would stay in the ground.. so do the airmen who drop them.. everyone says the don't like the Taliban, and welcome the Americans IF they are serious about helping Afghanistan.. IF NOT, then they say they will kick them out like the Russians.. uneducated illiterate farmers, clearly very angry.. American taken in by feuding tribes.. attacks on American patrols in 3 of 5 nights I was there.. about the murder of two Afghan ministers.. no law and order at night.. no one travels at night.. the Taliban were brutal, but you weren't killed on the road, you are now.. about a girl raped and killed.. no justice, no law and order.. Afghans ask: why don't the Amricans bring in international observers.. I was in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion.. you could safely take a bus.. there are advancements.. for girls, women teachers.. these are real successes, but the country as a whole is not being united, it is a place of great danger.. Afghanistan has not always been a lawless place.. US continuing a kind of anarchy.. working with the warlords.. Dennis: about the Civil Affairs Operations Taskforce?.. Robert: so locked into American military forces.. an aid official said to me, that they are not to carry weapons openly.. other NGO's are frightened that Afghans will see them as American military too.. in Kanduhar, in walked in 8 American special forces men.. one a fat man.. walked up to the.. wanted to know if ^^^^ was staying in the hotel.. walked out to their 4x4s and drove away.. that is not a return to normalacy.. Dennis: is Al-Quada more welcome than US troops.. Robert: I'm not sure.. but I went to a graveyard where 150 Al Quada are buried.. they fought to the death.. I was told not to go there, dangerous.. but I found friends of one of the dead to take me.. I found hundreds praying.. some had come to be cured, taken the mud off the grave and licking it.. one man told me his polio was cured.. a government security man told me he had seen people cured.. I took photographs.. among the poor, Al Quada seen as honorable people.. I don't believe it, but that is what they said.. not terrorists but heroes.. US special forces should wake up.. Dennis: when the backlash comes?.. Robert: is bin Laden alive? I don't know.. I think he probably is.. I wake up every morning thinking what horror will I hear about today.. Bush says America is at war.. I think not, but I fear we shall hear from again.. I fear we shall see something terrible in the months to come.. Dennis: US invading Pakistan?.. Robert: the ISI have people loyal to Al-Quada in the agency.. about Iran.. the Americans are considering the invasion of Iraq, Iran's nearest neighbor.. about the 'stans to the north of Iran.. Iran surrounded by American forces.. if Americans invade Iraq, they control oil prices around the world.. enormous geopolitical impact on Iran and all the countries of the region.. one country (US) can now control the politics of the whole world.. but who runs the American empire?.. the rest will be history..
-56:17 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart

Friday, Aug 16, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 KPFA News Summary
-03:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction: a growing call to provide reparations to blacks for slavery, and to compensate American Indians for the theft of their land and resources.
-03:40 Dennis: tomorrow a mass gathering and call for Reparations For Slavery.. and Native Americans victims of the first American Holocaust.. now w Professor Mary Hoover of Howard University and SF State.. Prof. Hoover: the struggle for reparations is a wonderful one.. the minimum estimate for our unpaid labor, 5.1 trillion dollars.. land stolen.. my family got their 30 acres and a mule.. but the land was taken in WWI under eminent domain.. now w Professor Joe Feagin, University of Florida.. Joe: the US government implicated.. the US Constitution had 15 provisions protecting slavery: 3/5 of a man, fugitive slave provision and 13 others.. 40% of the men who made the constitution were slave holders.. the US the only modern nation grounded in slavery.. if slaves had not made fat profits for George Washington and others, they could not afforded to fight the revolution.. Dennis: white Americans making sport of, intimidating, the African community into forgetting this movement.. Joe: We white people are in denial.. it's not just damages from slavery, but continuing discrimination.. in study after study, the rate of discrimination in housing rentals are in the 60-80% range.. we have to enforce the civil rights laws.. Prof. Hoover: as Malcomb stated.. the country was enriched.. my family wants no money for ourselves.. but we support a National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) request.. to start a Center For Literacy And Empowerment.. to give back energy to the community.. Dennis: a major protest in DC tomorrow for reparations.. the US very active in calling for reparations for Jews re the Holocaust.. Joe: the German government has paid 60 billion dollars because of the Holocaust.. paid to survivors and to Israel.. if the US can take that kind of principled stand.. US also demanded that the Japanese army pay reparations to victims, women enslaved in WWII.. Dennis: liability of corporations?.. Prof. Hoover: the Etna lawsuit, insurance companies benefitted greatly.. MLK said a threat to justice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.. Joe: many of the oldest American corporations.. started off making profits off the slave trade.. the Brown brothers built ships for the slave trade.. the first step is an apology, that is not forthcoming either.. Prof Hoover: Africans had no concept of slavery in this country.. slavery for them was not a caste system.. my uncle was a civil rights attorney.. a man who loved his country.. died in 1984.. his dying words: the government is a crook.. he had written every president.. a long struggle.. my family has a large bill.. Joe: reparations one part of new more for human rights.. two groups in American history.. blacks and native Americans.. need to be dealt with centrally.. human rights and compensation for both.. land stolen, genocide.. slavery and land stolen.. white America has been in denial.. if we are serious about the ideals we espouse.. this country built on stolen land and stolen labor.. Prof Hoover: the reparations movement could jump start a larger human rights movement.. SF State programs.. I see a huge summit of people coming together.. The New United Front.. also see: Randall Robinson.
-32:00 music break Redemption Song
-33:42 Dennis: now w Vernon Bellecourt.. of the American Indian Movement (AIM).. cofounder of the Denver AIM chapter.. at Wounded Knee in 1973.. Vernon: 1972, a takeover of the Indian Affairs office in DC.. the Trail Of Broken Treaties, on the eve of Watergate.. a 20 point Indian manifesto.. restoration and reparations.. in the AIM Archive.. at www.AImovement.org.. a historic document.. EVENT: many groups DC October 12, 2002 Columbus Day.. Dennis: what do you mean American Holocaust.. Vernon: the colonial pirate and butcher, Christopher Colombus.. genocide, forced removal, internment camps, concentration camps.. JFK said America will never be right until it rights itself with the native Americans.. Bob Dylan too.. the American Indian were the healthiest people in the world.. no cancer, no heart disease, no common cold even.. that history not taught in the schools today.. Indians still being victimized in Guatemala.. 150,000 Mayan Indians lie in graves.. time for the wishy-washy American journalists to ask: who is going to be held accountable for the genocide in Guatemala?.. Dennis: millions missing from US gov Indian trusts.. money from minerals, and leased land, money belonging to individual Indians, has disappeared.. going on for years.. like going to a bank to withdraw your money, bank says sorry we don't know where your money is.. major oil companies and other corporations stripping Indian lands.. if Americans understand, they will support us.. our demands October 12, 2002 Columbus Day.. Dennis: tomorrow a major protest in DC.. Vernon: the free enterprise system on which the wealth of America is founded, free land, free labor, and free resources.. we have offered to stand side by side with our black brothers and sisters.. we support their march tomorrow.. we would hope that our paths merge and we stand together.. America will never have a solid foundation until it gets right with us.. Clinton said, we slaughtered thousands of civilians, we were wrong, and must not repeat that mistake.. US corporations charged with prolonging the agony in Guatemala.. inside the US corporations still stealing from the Indians.. every major oil company.. sucked the life from the ground underneath our people in Texas and Oklahoma.. the timber companies.. some Indians might disagree.. AIM is the catalyst for Indian sovereignty.. drafted by the chiefs of many tribes.. a broad draft.. Dennis: many AIM members have been hurt by the government.. Vernon: The Trail Of Broken Treaties considered a revolutionary document by Nixon.. we have dozens of FoIA cointelpro documents on our website.. about the cases of Leonard Peltier.. Anna May Pictou Aquash.. Buddy Lamont, a Viet vet who stood at Wounded Knee.. Frank Clearwater.. Joe Stunt.. Ron Williams.. about Leonard Peltier framed, sent to prison.. the FBI said they had to serve as a paramilitary on.. hired 'Goons'.. caused many deaths.. we call for a commission to be established.. in 1976 rejected by Congress.. the corporations have become wealthy off stolen lands, labor, and resources.. the preamble: (reads)..
-58:00 Mary Bishop: wrapup
-58:39 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart