MARCH 2003
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Wednesday, 26th March,2003
US DEBATE
Thomas Donnelly is a senior strategist at the American Enterprise Institute, and has written some of its most influential papers defining the new role the American military should fill in pursuing the expansion of American interests throughout the world. Professor Stephen Zunes is the author of ’Tinderbox: US Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism’, and an editor of ’Foreign Policy in Focus’, one of America’s leading journals of international affairs. Mark Davis spoke with them earlier.
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Wednesday, 26th March,2003
US BACKGROUNDER
We’ll be debating the future directions of American foreign policy, post Iraq. So far the war has largely gone America’s way, but the upcoming diplomatic battles may not be so decisive.
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Wednesday, 26th March,2003
IRAQI EXILES IN HUNGARY
Another group of Iraqis is more than happy to be involved in the US war effort. Around 60 of them have just graduated from a secret training course at a US military base in Hungary. What they’re being trained for has created deep suspicion in the nearby town, and controversy across the country. Bronwyn Adcock found that the training going on there seems to involve far more than the civic administration lessons that the US is claiming.
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Wednesday, 26th March,2003
IRAQ - THE SHIITE FACTOR
Reports today of an uprising against Saddam Hussein in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, hold eerie echoes of the first Gulf War. In 1991, at the urging of the US, Saddam’s Shi’ite opponents tried to take Basra and were brutally crushed when allied forces failed to come to their aid. Many thousands of Shi’ites fled to Iran. The Iranians have since armed them well and trained them as an anti-Saddam Hussein force. They’re now ready to march back into their homeland, but aren’t prepared to be ruled by a US military administration. As Matthew Carney reports from Tehran, coalition soldiers may soon find themselves fighting an unanticipated force.
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Wednesday, 19th March,2003
BIG BROTHER IN BAGHDAD
When war starts, all reports suggest an unprecedented barrage of missiles will rain down on Baghdad. Sitting on potential targets, like power stations and water plants, are so-called ’human shields’ - Westerners who have volunteered to try and stop the war. The best-known shields are a group that left London a few weeks ago on three buses bound for Baghdad. Bentley Dean set out with the convoy - a peace train fraught with both internal battles and obstinate Iraqi officials.
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Wednesday, 19th March,2003
TOM SCHIEFFER INTERVIEW
Tonight, Australia stands poised to attack a country on the other side of the world that offers this nation no direct threat and many would argue, no perceivable threat in the future. John Howard says war against Iraq is "in the national interest" - but the country remains deeply divided on the question of who our participation really serves. Australia has emerged as America’s most willing ally and the nature of our alliance is in the spotlight. Tom Schieffer has been the US Ambassador for almost two years. He’s also a former business partner and friend of George Bush. Mark Davis spoke to him earlier about the US-Australia relationship and our joint path to war.
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Wednesday, 12th March,2003
TEHELKA - THE STING THAT STUNG
First they exposed match fixing in cricket, then it was corruption at the highest level of the Indian Government. Using hidden cameras, journalists from news website Tehelka.com snared army officials and political leaders pocketing hefty bribes. The resulting controversy rocked the government and, you might have expected, would have led to reforms. Instead the government launched a vicious counterattack, harassing the journalists and driving the company into the ground. Amos Cohen has more.
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Wednesday, 12th March,2003
GORE VIDAL INTERVIEW
Mark Davis spoke with Gore Vidal from his home in Los Angeles. (This segment is followed by a full transcript of the interview.)
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Wednesday, 12th March,2003
GORE VIDAL BACKGROUNDER
This week, a rare interview with one of America’s foremost intellectuals - author Gore Vidal, who speaks out not just against a war, but what he calls the erosion of the American dream.
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Wednesday, 12th March,2003
SHOOTING THE MESSENGER - A GOVERNMENT’S REVENGE
Dateline this week reports on an Indian internet news site which exposed cricket match-fixing and illegal arms deals… and how it has been destroyed by a vengeful government.
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Tehelka is the name of the once-thriving dot com which was responsible for some of the most remarkable scoops in Indian journalism. It first shot to prominence in May 2000 when secretly filmed conversations with prominent Indian cricketers, who had taken bribes, caused a worldwide sensation.
Next Tehelka turned its hidden cameras on the murky relationship between arms dealers and government defence contractors. Tehelka.com floated a fictitious arms manufacturing company, based in London, which was soon hawking hand-held cameras to the Indian army. Reporter Samuel Matthews eventually caught - on camera – army officers and presidents of two parties in ruling coalitions taking bribes for defence contracts.
This second exposé confirmed Tehelka as one of the most successful media brands in the world but it also created extremely powerful enemies. The defence minister, also involved in the scam, and party presidents were immediately forced to stand down. But the Indian government has struck back, with a savage propaganda campaign and ongoing harassment.
Today out of the 115 staff Tehelka used to employ, less than 10 – unpaid – now remain. Despite being the biggest media brand name in India it cannot attract investment. The defence minister resumed his portfolio and the displaced party presidents remain active and powerful. No judicial action has been taken against the senior political figures revealed to be corrupt.
Also on Dateline this week, an interview with American literary legend, Gore Vidal - whose latest books are Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta and Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace.
That’s Dateline, Wednesday March 12, 2003 at 8.30 pm. -
Wednesday, 5th March,2003
STREETS OF BAGHDAD
While the high level diplomatic tussle continues between Washington, Baghdad, Ankara and much of Europe, the people of Iraq are busy stockpiling food and worrying whether they will survive the coming months. It’s rare to get a street-level perspective from Iraqis, but Kylie Grey ran the gauntlet of Saddam’s thought police to seek their views.
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Wednesday, 5th March,2003
KURDISH SPOKESMAN INTERVIEW
So what will the Kurds do in the coming conflict? Earlier, Mark Davis spoke with senior Kurdistan representative Siamand Banaa, in London.
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Wednesday, 5th March,2003
KURDISTAN BACKGROUNDER
This week, the focus of the ongoing Iraq saga shifted to northern Iraq - a region dominated by an anti-Saddam Kurdish population. The area is a natural and easy entry point for American troops through Turkey. That was the plan at least, until the Turkish parliament met a few days ago and shut the door on the Americans. But that’s not the only headache this region is giving Washington - their preferred gateway is now in danger of being embroiled in a new war between old enemies - Turkey and the Kurds of northern Iraq. In a moment Mark Davis interviews a Kurdish representative about this new threat but first, Alan Hall backgrounds the issue.
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Wednesday, 5th March,2003
WARNING BELLS FOR MOROCCO
This week’s capture of Osama bin Laden’s key associate Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has broken another link in the al-Qa’ida network. Recently in Morocco, there was another less publicised strike against al-Qa’ida, when three operatives were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Morocco has been running its own version of a ’war on terror’ for decades - suppressing Islamic movements, terrorist or otherwise, with apparently little effect. Now it seems its latest efforts are drawing even more recruits to the hardliners. Nick Lazaredes has more.
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Wednesday, 5th March,2003
WARNING BELLS FOR MOROCCO
Dateline reports on the rise of militant Islamism in the moderate, westernised society of Morocco.
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With the invasion of Iraq imminent and the West’s war on terror in full swing, the response among the world’s one billion Muslims will be critical to whether the world becomes a safer place. If moderate Islamic populations such as Morocco see the West as conducting a war on Islam, then warning bells should start ringing in Western capitals.
Since September 11 the pressure for the government to crack down on fundamentalist groups has intensified but radical Islamists are still gaining ground in Morocco’s political debate. They are calling for an Islamic revolution in a country which has been ruled by a succession of kings for 300 years. The current monarch is King Mohammed VI who last year, wanting to shake off the autocratic image of his father, insisted on holding free and fair elections. Just how truly democratic they were is fiercely debated in Morocco. Islamic parties cornered nearly half of the vote but despite their massive electoral gains none of them were appointed to the cabinet.
The Justice and Spirituality organisation - the most popular social political group in the country - was not even allowed to participate in the election. The movement has its base in the city of Sale, where the large number of poor are virtually unaided by the government. As in other Muslim societies, it is fundamentalist groups and not the government which provide a security net. Unofficially the Justice and Spirituality group is known as the Justice and Charity group – a sign of the deep respect many Moroccans have for it.
The first investigations of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay brought evidence that terrorists were active in Morocco and ten people were arrested for plotting attacks throughout the country. Morocco’s king is keen to continue to be seen as an important ally of the West. The dilemma he faces is the more he cracks down on anti - Western values the greater the support for groups such as Justice and Spirituality will become.
That’s Dateline, this Wednesday March 5, 2003 at 8.30 pm. -
Wednesday, 5th March,2003
WARNING BELLS FOR MOROCCO
Dateline reports on the rise of militant Islamism in the moderate, westernised society of Morocco.
Read more...
With the invasion of Iraq imminent and the West’s war on terror in full swing, the response among the world’s one billion Muslims will be critical to whether the world becomes a safer place. If moderate Islamic populations such as Morocco see the West as conducting a war on Islam, then warning bells should start ringing in Western capitals.
Since September 11 the pressure for the government to crack down on fundamentalist groups has intensified but radical Islamists are still gaining ground in Morocco’s political debate. They are calling for an Islamic revolution in a country which has been ruled by a succession of kings for 300 years. The current monarch is King Mohammed VI who last year, wanting to shake off the autocratic image of his father, insisted on holding free and fair elections. Just how truly democratic they were is fiercely debated in Morocco. Islamic parties cornered nearly half of the vote but despite their massive electoral gains none of them were appointed to the cabinet.
The Justice and Spirituality organisation - the most popular social political group in the country - was not even allowed to participate in the election. The movement has its base in the city of Sale, where the large number of poor are virtually unaided by the government. As in other Muslim societies, it is fundamentalist groups and not the government which provide a security net. Unofficially the Justice and Spirituality group is known as the Justice and Charity group – a sign of the deep respect many Moroccans have for it.
The first investigations of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay brought evidence that terrorists were active in Morocco and ten people were arrested for plotting attacks throughout the country. Morocco’s king is keen to continue to be seen as an important ally of the West. The dilemma he faces is the more he cracks down on anti - Western values the greater the support for groups such as Justice and Spirituality will become.
That’s Dateline, this Wednesday March 5, 2003 at 8.30 pm.
