FEBRUARY 2006
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Wednesday, 1st March,2006
MAHER ARAR: THE VERDICT
Regular viewers of Dateline will have heard, more than once, that curious euphemism ‘extraordinary rendition’, a controversial US policy which transports suspected terrorists to countries where the use of torture is common. Franchising out torture, some critics have called it.
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Previously Dateline has reported on a Canadian suspect of Middle Eastern origin, who was rendered to Syria, tortured and later released, but don’t think for a moment that means his story has a happy ending, as it were. Indeed his particular case is being seen as a decision with far-reaching negative consequences, for the rights of the individual in the so-called war on terror. Here’s Bronwyn Adcock with his story. -
Wednesday, 1st March,2006
MLADIC DISCUSSION WITH TANNER & GOLDSTONE
So what is this Mladic caper all about? A short while ago George Negus spoke, via satellite from Johannesburg, with Judge Richard Goldstone. Judge Goldstone was the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague and actually drew up the indictment against Mladic.
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And from London, Marcus Tanner is a correspondent with the 'Independent' newspaper, who has covered Balkan politics for years. -
Wednesday, 1st March,2006
THE HUNT FOR MLADIC
International authorities have bombed all attempts to hunt down the indicted Balkan war criminal Ratko Mladic.
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Last week the world's media reported that Mladic was about to be handed over to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. The deadline, in fact, was supposed to be yesterday but, as Dateline goes to air, Mladic is yet to be sighted with the press now reporting that the next deadline for his handover by Serbia is early April - yet another intriguing chapter in this long-running international saga that, if it wasn't so serious, would be laughable. -
Wednesday, 1st March,2006
HOW THE US LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOMB (AGAIN)
The slightly bizarre idea of 'user-friendly' nuclear weapons. On the whole score of proliferation we're always hearing plenty about the dangers posed by the Irans and North Koreas of this world but, as we're about to see, while all that has been going on the US itself has been quietly beavering away on a program aimed at completely upgrading its nuclear arsenal, including the development of tactical weapons - mini-nukes that could be used on the battlefield. Thom Cookes reports.
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Wednesday, 22nd February,2006
THE KAREN: DEATH OR DEMOCRACY
Earlier this year, the US Government offered what looked like a lifeline to the long-suffering ethnic Karen people who had been stuck in refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border now for decades. The Americans agreed to accept 10,000 refugees for resettlement in the US. But, as we'll see in this next report - from John Martinkus and David Brill - many Karen would rather stay and fight to regain their homeland than acknowledge defeat in more than half a century of conflict. As things stand right now, though, the Karen minority believe their longstanding enemy, the Burmese regime in Rangoon, wants to literally wipe them out. Here's John Martinkus.
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Wednesday, 22nd February,2006
ZAKI CHEHAB INTERVIEW
Almost by the hour the quagmire that is Iraq gets murkier and nastier, yesterday being a particularly bloody day. 22 people died in Baghdad when a car bomb exploded in an outdoor market, while separate insurgent attacks killed eight others. As the deep divisions between the Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites continue to thwart attempts to form a stable government in Iraq, the insurgent attacks are unabating.
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In short, the place is a hellhole and these days, foreign reporters enter Iraq at their peril. Zaki Chehab is a Palestinian journalist based in London. He was the first reporter to broadcast interviews with members of the insurgency - no mean feat. He's here in Australia right now promoting his book 'Iraq Ablaze' and George Negus spoke to him earlier this evening from Brisbane. -
Wednesday, 22nd February,2006
SAFE AND SOUND? THE ABORTION PILL IN NEW ZEALAND
Now that the dust has settled on the debate over the so-called abortion pill RU486, what did we actually learn about the drug and its impact on women who opt to use it? There was a heap of political and media huffing and puffing going on, but practical examples of the use of the drug and its effects were pretty thin on the ground. But, as it turns out, a useful perspective on all this was not hard to find or too far away. Over in New Zealand, the abortion drug has been available and used since 2001 so we sent Bronwyn Adcock across the ditch to investigate.
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Wednesday, 15th February,2006
THE OPEN MOSQUE
You will recall that for our first Dateline of the year came to you from the Middle East covering the lead-up to the Palestinian elections in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The shock victory of Hamas - the militant Islamists, with their declared goal to destroy the State of Israel - rocked not just the Israelis, but indeed, the world. And three weeks down the track, the debate is still raging.
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With Hamas democratically-elected, the question is whether they can go from terrorists and sponsors of suicide bombers to a responsible Palestinian government? Well yes or no, in recent days they have indicated that this is not entirely out of the question.
On our way back here to Australia, we stopped off in the Gulf city-state of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. On first hearing, our diversion may seem a trifle unrelated to the future of the Middle East but it's not. -
Wednesday, 15th February,2006
HOLLYWOOD SAVES THE PLANET
In so-called Tinseltown - Hollywood - the last 12 months have been the year of "the message movie", with quite a number of films tackling highly political issues turning out to be box office hits, eg 'Paradise Now', a film that follows two young Palestinians on their way to becoming suicide bombers, that's been nominated for an Oscar, and other Oscar nominations such as 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Munich' giving audiences a lot more to think about than the usual escapist pap. Hang on to your pop corn folks as Dateline's Thom Cookes takes us to the political flicks.
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Wednesday, 15th February,2006
ABU GHRAIB - THE SEQUEL
With the response to those Danish cartoons and the British Army beatings in Iraq, still running red-hot in the Islamic world, tonight, even uglier images from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
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Back in 2004 when the first shocking pictures were originally leaked, the world recoiled in horror, but since then the Bush Administration has fought tooth and nail to prevent the American public from seeing any new images of the treatment of Iraqi detainees, but tonight Dateline reporter Olivia Rousset reveals new photos and videos. Despite the currently overheated international climate, we are showing them because they show the extent of the horror that occurred at Abu Ghraib. A serious warning though - some of the images you're about to see are pretty confronting and may offend some of you. -
Wednesday, 8th February,2006
ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS
As the fury about those Danish cartoons spreads among those who've condemned their publication have been Christian groups. One group, the US-based CPT - the Christian Peacemaker Team - believes the cartoons are blatantly anti-Muslim and only exacerbate religious hatred and bigotry. These self-styled American 'peacemakers' have good reason to be concerned. It's now almost 10 weeks since four of their members, all committed pacifists, were taken hostage in Iraq. A recent video released to the media showed that the four Westerners are still alive. Nick Lazaredes recently attended a training session for would-be warriors for peace in Chicago.
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Wednesday, 8th February,2006
PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN INTERVIEW
The other story that's impossible to miss right now is - how do we describe it in a few words? - freedom of expression versus Muslim sensitivities? Or put another way, what's worse - cartoons of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban or threatening Europeans with violence and setting fire to Danish embassies around the world?
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In today's dodgy global climate, Professor Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar and thinker, is no stranger to controversy. He's an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq and the Middle East and he also rejects Muslim terrorism, condemning it as 'anti-Islam'. A Swiss citizen, he has been banned from the US under the Contentious Patriot Act but after the London bombings last year Tony Blair invited him to participate in a task force to counter terrorism. Earlier today George Negus talked with Professor Ramadan from Geneva. -
Wednesday, 8th February,2006
MONKEY BUSINESS
The debate raging across the United States about so-called intelligent design, its critics are adamant that it's actually the latest effort by Christian fundamentalists to challenge Darwin's theory of evolution. With the imprimatur of George Bush, 43 American states have already seen calls for intelligent design to be taught in the country's public schools. If that sounds a bit like one of those 'only-in-America' things, it's not.
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Here in Australia, when Brendan Nelson was Education Minister, he suggested it become part of the curriculum, and now more than 100 schools are teaching intelligent design in their science classes. Dateline’s Olivia Rousset recently went to Kansas, the epicentre of the debate, to see the extent to which religion was infiltrating school science labs. -
Wednesday, 8th February,2006
SENATOR BILL HEFFERNAN INTERVIEW
And who better to respond to that barely concealed spleen from American wheat growers than an Australian man of the land, a controversial Liberal Senator with more than a modicum of political clout? George Negus talks with Senator Bill Heffernan in Canberra.
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Wednesday, 8th February,2006
A GRAIN OF TRUTH
To the chagrin of the Howard Government, what's been called the "wheat for weapons" scandal, rattling along, causing them more and more political angst pretty much on a daily basis. Today's dramatic development saw our current Ambassador in Washington reassuring Senator Norm Coleman, Chairman of the US Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, that he had not been deliberately deceived by the Australian Government last year.
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Ambassador Dennis Richardson, the former head of ASIO, was forced to do some diplomatic damage control after Coleman complained that the former Ambassador, Michael Thawley had told him the AWB deals were all above board. After the meeting Richardson reassured the Australian media that the US was not about to take action against Australia or the AWB, well at least at this stage.
Well, Dateline former chief spy may have been able to hose down an angry US Senator but not angry American wheat growers. Here's Dateline's Sophie McNeill in, of all places, Texas. -
Wednesday, 1st February,2006
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
Well, it ran for 50 minutes, included 20 minutes of applause and was watched by more than 35 million Americans. In today's State of the Union address in Washington President George W. Bush, himself a former Texas oil executive, warned that his country was "addicted to oil" and that alternative fuels were needed to break the US's reliance on the Middle East. He vowed that, to secure peace, the US would continue to lead, bringing peace on Earth and goodwill to all men. Let us pray... But with an eye on mid-term Congressional elections later this year, the embattled US President set out an agenda, clearly aimed at reversing his slide in the polls and proving that he is not a lame duck leader. Here is an abridged run-down of the state of George W's union.
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Wednesday, 1st February,2006
PAKISTAN'S FLYING DOCTORS
When that huge earthquake struck high in the mountains last October, killing more than 80,000 people and leaving 2.5 million homeless, any relief operation was always going to be difficult. Now, almost four months later, it's reported that only about half the money appealed for has actually hit the ground in Kashmir. Happily, though, this country was not slow to help. An Australian Army medical team has been on the ground saving lives since early November. Over the years, Dateline's David Brill has filmed many natural disasters and recently gained exclusive access to the Army medicos on the job in Pakistan. As you'll see from David's report, it was a deeply moving experience for all concerned.
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Wednesday, 1st February,2006
KENYA - WHERE WOMEN RULE
An amazing story of feminism, African-style, a remote village where women rule and where men have been reduced to mere genetic necessities. And oddly enough, this is occurring in one of the most patriarchal parts of the world.
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To see this lifestyle for herself, and discover its raison d'etre, Liz Tadic travelled to the far north of Kenya.
For the Umoja Project website
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Wednesday, 1st February,2006
DR MAHMOUD AL ZAHAR INTERVIEW
Since their sweeping victory in last week's Palestinian elections the militant Islamists Hamas, have been under intense international pressure, including earlier today by George Bush in his State of the Union address, to drop their hardline stance against Israel and renounce violence in their quest to achieve an autonomous, unoccupied Palestinian state.
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In response, Hamas has brushed aside threats to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the Palestinian people as 'blackmail', promising to seek money, instead, from the Arab world if the US and EU taps are turned off.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Hamas's election has turned Middle East politics on its head. None of the players knows for sure how to deal with them or their impact on the stalled peace process. Early today George Negus spoke with Dr Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of Hamas's most senior figures, from his home in Gaza.
