JULY 2004
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Wednesday, 28th July,2004
CONSERVATION COLONEL
After decades of war, Cambodia still has a large standing army. The military are poorly paid and have little to do, so they pursue business opportunities wherever they can. These days their main target is Cambodia’s wilderness and its rich natural resources. Illegal logging is rampant and those who get in the way are often killed. But a retired Australian Army colonel is tackling the military head-on, as Thom Cookes reports.
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Wednesday, 28th July,2004
ARNIE ARNESEN INTERVIEW
Mark Davis spoke with Arnie Arnesen, fresh from the floor of the convention at Boston’s Fleet Centre. She is a respected political commentator with radio, television and print columns throughout New England. She once stood as Democrat candidate for governor in New Hampshire.
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Wednesday, 28th July,2004
EXPATS FOR JOHN KERRY
Back in Boston at the Democrat Convention, the war in Iraq is part of the background hum. In a moment we’ll hear from a convention insider about the mood on the floor, but first a report on how the US election campaign is unfolding in Australia. There are millions of expat Americans worldwide and a group called Democrats Abroad are furiously campaigning to get their vote. Jason Om joined them in Sydney.
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Wednesday, 28th July,2004
IRAQI CANNON FODDER
Car bombs today have killed at least 55 people throughout the country including a number of policemen who are the focus of tonight’s report. Security is now so bad in Baghdad that most foreigners, including journalists, rarely leave the protected Green Zone, which is cordoned off by American troops. Beyond this barricade, the fledgling Iraqi security forces - the police and the National Guard - are struggling to contain the daily violence. And more often than not they are the principal target of that violence. Today’s most deadly attack occurred outside a police recruiting office. Journalist and author John Martinkus joins the Iraqis on patrol.
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Wednesday, 28th July,2004
CANNON FODDER - IRAQI SECURITY FORCES UNDER FIRE
On Wednesday, July 28 at 8.30pm, SBS DATELINE takes a close-up look at how Iraq’s security forces are unable to enforce the tough new security measures announced earlier this month by Iraq’s new Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. Reporter John Martinkus travels with the security forces into areas which are not usually accessed by the media.
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Martinkus, who has just returned from Iraq, reports on how attacks by insurgents are timed to prove the ineffectiveness of the new American appointed government troops and police.
There are still 138,000 American troops in Iraq but the Iraqi police (currently estimated at 70,000) and National Guard (37,000) are now being promoted as responsible for security and not just as auxiliaries to the American forces. This is despite the fact they are not even properly equipped. When the Iraqi forces are attacked with heavy weaponry they are completely overpowered. Yet the Americans continue to deploy the Iraqi troops to the positions most likely to be attacked
In some parts of Baghdad both the multinational forces and the Iraqi forces have had to completely relinquish control. Martinkus takes us to Sadr city, where the US troops will not go. In Adhamiya, Baghdad’s worst pro Saddam area, Martinkus goes to the most dangerous streets of the capital with the prime targets for the resistance, the Iraqi Police. This is the first time Australian viewers will see the parts of Baghdad off limits to other correspondents. -
Wednesday, 21st July,2004
RUSSIAN RACISTS
In the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian cities have experienced an influx of migrants from the poorer southern republics. Many of them are desperate for work but it’s not just poverty that is haunting them, they’re being targeted in a wave of increasingly ugly and violent racism. In recent months migrants have been beaten to death on the street by skinhead gangs. What’s worse, the gangs seem to be tolerated by the government and broader society as they openly spout their ideology of hate. And a warning there are some disturbing scenes in this report by Kim Traill.
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Wednesday, 21st July,2004
ORLANDO MERCADO INTERVIEW
When Filipino hostage Angelo de la Cruz was released yesterday in Iraq the mood was rather more joyous. Support for the withdrawal of Philippines troops from Iraq in exchange for his safety was overwhelming, causing a very dramatic swing in the nation’s foreign policy. It was a dangerous backflip according to Australia and America who have both openly criticised President Arroyo. Today Alexander Downer maintained that her decision could endanger the lives of Australians serving in Iraq. For an analysis of what impact this decision will have on relations between Australia, the US and the Philippines, Mark Davis spoke to former Philippines defence secretary, Orlando Mercado, from Manila.
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Wednesday, 21st July,2004
HOSTAGES AT HOME
Angelo de la Cruz, the Filipino hostage released in Iraq yesterday will return home shortly as a national hero. It’s a very different reception to the three Japanese hostages who were released in April. Their ordeal made headlines for weeks but it seems that their release brought more shame than joy to the Japanese. Since their return home, they’ve been hounded by the press, scorned by the government and condemned by the public. Jeung-eun Kim looks at why Japan has turned against its own.
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Wednesday, 14th July,2004
IMRON COTAN INTERVIEW
Earlier today Mark Davis spoke to Indonesia’s Ambassador to Australia, Imron Cotan, from Canberra.
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Wednesday, 14th July,2004
WEST PAPUA - BACKGROUNDER
And now to the Indonesian side of the island of New Guinea, West Papua. Both Australia and America have been courting the co-operation of Indonesia. Australia in particular has moved to renew training and intelligence links with some of the most notorious units of the Indonesian military. For its part, Indonesia has asked for more understanding in how it deals with its own security issues in rebellious provinces like West Papua. That understanding became a little more complicated this week with the release of some extraordinary documents from the US National Security Archive. Mark Davis will be speaking with the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, but first a look at the documents and the issues.
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Wednesday, 14th July,2004
PNG-MOVING HAUS
It’s the end of an era in Papua New Guinea’s East Sepik region as the modern world comes marching in. Under threat are ancestral belief systems, traditional ceremonies and art. An Australian art collector is so disturbed by what he’s seeing, he’s stepped in to save a piece of PNG’s cultural heritage. And a warning to viewers from Papua New Guinea this program may feature scenes which are not meant to be seen by east Sepik women or the uninitiated. David O’Shea reports.
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Wednesday, 14th July,2004
THE MOROCCAN CONNECTION
When the bombs in Madrid exploded earlier this year, it was the first large-scale al-Qa’ida terror hit on Europe. The tragedy set off a frenzy of investigations and soul-searching in Spain about who had done it and whether it could have been prevented. Those investigations by Spanish authorities have already thrown up some disturbing conclusions. Many of the suspects in the Madrid bombings were known to security services well before the attack, including the subject of tonight’s report Amer Azizi. Fanou Filali follows his deadly journey.
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Wednesday, 14th July,2004
PORTRAIT OF A TERRORIST - AMER AZIZI
On DATELINE on Wednesday, July 14 at 8.30pm reporter Fanou Filali profiles Moroccan terrorist Amer Azizi, outlining both his alleged role in Al Qaeda and his personal background. He has been tied to the Al Qaeda September 11 attacks, its attacks in Casablanca in May 2003 and the bombings in Madrid this year.
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DATELINE obtains a copy of Spain’s major anti-terrorism report written by Judge Baltazar Garzon. Azizi is frequently mentioned throughout its 600 pages. Scores of phone calls between Azizi and the leader of Spain’s Al Qaeda cell, Abu Dahdah are documented. From these records it is clear that Azizi was not a terrorist foot soldier but Abu Dahdah’s right hand man.
DATELINE details how documents show that Azizi attended an Islamic military training camp in Poso on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. A letter found in Azizi’s flat has also convinced Spanish police that he was involved in fundraising for the camp and went on to become a recruiter.
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Wednesday, 7th July,2004
PHILIP RUDDOCK INTERVIEW
What does the Australian Government know about Mamdouh Habib’s detention and his time in an Egyptian prison? Earlier today, Mark Davis spoke with Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
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Wednesday, 7th July,2004
THE TRIALS OF MAMDOUH HABIB
Of the two Australians held in Guantanamo Bay by the Americans, the case of Mamdouh Habib has been the least publicised but possibly the more disturbing. Habib was arrested in Pakistan in October 2001. Soon after he was handed over to American custody and then taken, for reasons unknown, to Egypt. For six months he was left at the hands of his Egyptian interrogators. According to him and other witnesses in tonight’s report, Mamdouh Habib was severely tortured there before being delivered to Guantanamo Bay where he remains to this day without charge. His case raises a series of questions for the Australian Government. Who sent him to Egypt and why? Did the Australian Government know and what steps were taken to ensure that his most basic rights were protected? Later, Mark Davis will be putting these questions and others to Attorney-General Philip Ruddock but first Bronwyn Adcock reports on how one Australian has fared under American justice.
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