Democracy Now! Daily Digest: A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González for Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Democracy Now! Daily Digest: A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González for Wednesday, March 26, 2014
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Obama to Visit Saudi Arabia, Key Source of Funding for Growing Jihadi Militarism in Middle East
Despite Saudi Arabia’s funding and arming of militants in Syria, Iraq and beyond, President Obama is set to visit the kingdom this week to meet with King Abdullah. It’s the only Middle Eastern or Gulf nation on Obama’s overseas itinerary. Many analysts say the conflict in Syria has grown into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia’s links to jihadist groups go back decades. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudi. The 9/11 Commission Report identified Saudi Arabia as the main source of al-Qaeda financing. And in 2010, WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic cables which identified Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups. Members of Congress and human rights organizations have also been calling on Obama to address the kingdom’s treatment of women, religious minorities and political activists. We are joined by Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent. Cockburn wrote The Independent’s recent five-part series examining the resurgence of jihadists across the Middle East, "Al-Qa’ida’s Second Act: Why the Global 'War on Terror' Went Wrong."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: "Al-Qaida, the Second Act. Why the Global 'War on Terror' Went Wrong." That’s the name of the new five-part series published in the U.K.'s Independent newspaper that examines the resurgence of jihadists across the Middle East. A key part of the series examines how Saudi Arabia has openly backed militant groups in Syria, Iraq and other countries. Many analysts say the conflict in Syria has grown into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia's history of backing jihadist groups goes back decades. Fifteen of the 19 September 11th hijackers were Saudi. The 9/11 Commission Report identified Saudi Arabia as the main source of al-Qaeda financing. And in 2010, WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic cables which identified Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups.
AMY GOODMAN: Despite this record, Saudi Arabia remains a close U.S. ally. President Obama is heading to Saudi Arabia this week to meet with King Abdullah. Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern or Gulf nation on Obama’s overseas itinerary. Members of Congress and human rights organizations have also been calling on Obama to address the kingdom’s treatment of women, religious minorities and political activists.
To talk more about Obama’s visit to the oil-rich kingdom, we go to London to speak with Patrick Cockburn, the Middle East correspondent for The Independent who wrote the five-part series on the resurgence of al-Qaeda. One of the pieces is called "Is Saudi Arabia Regretting Its Support for Terrorism?"
So, can you answer that question, Patrick Cockburn, and also talk about it in the context of President Obama meeting with King Abdullah?
PATRICK COCKBURN: The Saudis have got rather nervous at the moment that—having supported these jihadi groups, that are all either linked to al-Qaeda or have exactly the same ideology and method of action of al-Qaeda, so they’ve introduced some laws saying that—against Saudis fighting in Syria or elsewhere. But it’s probably too late for this to have any effect. The al-Qaeda-type organizations really control a massive area in northern and eastern Syria at the moment and northern and western Iraq. The largest number of volunteers fighting with these al-Qaeda-type groups are Saudi. Most of the money originally came from there. But these people now control their own oil wells. They probably are less reliant on Saudi money.
Will President Obama’s visit make much difference? It’s doubtful. I mean, it’s a rather extraordinary relationship, which doesn’t get much attention, between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Saudi Arabia is one of the few theocratic absolute monarchies on Earth, and therefore it was always absurd to be allied to Saudi Arabia in a bid to introduce secular democracy in Syria or Libya or anywhere else. So, probably, they will come out with comforting statements, and the Saudis will be saying to Obama, "Well, look, we’re taking measures against the jihadis now, so let’s step up our attempts to overthrow Assad in Syria." But in practice, the groups that they’re supporting are closely linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, the main al-Qaeda group. So I don’t think things are going to change very much.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: I want to turn to U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010. In a December 2009 memo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba. She writes, quote, "While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes seriously the threat of terrorism within Saudi Arabia, it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority. Due in part to intense focus by the [U.S. government] over the last several years, Saudi Arabia has begun to make important progress on this front and has responded to terrorist financing concerns raised by the United States through proactively investigating and detaining financial facilitators of concern. Still, donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide."
Patrick Cockburn, that was a U.S. diplomatic cable from 2009 released in 2010. Could you explain why you think the U.S. has been hesitant to act against Saudi Arabia in the way that it has against other countries in the Arab world following 9/11, and especially following these revelations?
PATRICK COCKBURN: It’s pretty extraordinary, given that so much of what happened on 9/11 can be traced back to Saudi Arabia. Why hasn’t there been a greater reaction in the U.S. and the rest of the world? Well, the Saudis have cultivated people in Washington, government in Washington. There are enormous arms sales by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia. The arms on orders—on order at the moment are worth a total of $86 billion—fighter aircraft, helicopters, everything else. And they’ve also spent money cultivating former diplomats, officials, academics and so forth. And therefore, there hasn’t been—though I find this rather amazing—more pressure on Saudi Arabia or on the U.S. government to stop Saudi Arabia supporting jihadi movements. It’s not just money. It’s, I mean, a lot of it, propaganda of a satellite television, which is anti-Shia, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, hate propaganda. So long as they have these methods of propaganda, they can probably raise men and money to send to Syria and Iraq and elsewhere.
AMY GOODMAN: Patrick, this trip that President Obama—accompanied by Secretary of State John Kerry, to show the significance of it—in the United States is being seen as a reconciliation trip, the U.S. wanting to improve its relationship with Saudi Arabia, especially frayed when Saudi Arabia wanted the U.S. to be tougher on Iran—interestingly, Saudi Arabia sharing the same view as Israel on this issue. Can you talk about that in the context of the role Saudi Arabia is playing in the world?
PATRICK COCKBURN: Yes, I mean, last year, there was difference between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over the support of al-Qaeda-type organizations in Syria, which in turn are destabilizing Iraq. Saudi Arabia was eager for Obama to launch a military assault on Syria last August after the use of poison gas in Damascus. They were vocally upset when the U.S. didn’t do this. They have pushed for a U.S. war with Iran, going back several years. King Abdullah is quoted by—on a diplomatic cable as saying, "Cut off the head of the snake." So they’ll try to ensure that they’re at one with the U.S. in trying to bring down Assad and opposing Iran.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Patrick Cockburn, you’ve also pointed out that these Islamist groups, violent Islamist groups, have proliferated since 9/11, and especially after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Could you explain what the distinction is, if any, between al-Qaeda and all of these offshoot groups, and if the hesitation on the part of the U.S. has to do with the fact that these new groups operate regionally rather than in the West?
PATRICK COCKBURN: Yes, I think that they draw too great a distinction—I mean, Washington draws too great a distinction between people who have a direct operational link to the remains of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda in Pakistan and other groups that have the same ideology, operate in the same way, have the same methods. And you could see that in Libya, when—where the U.S. ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was killed by jihadis, who were not, in fact, al-Qaeda, and he seems to have thought, and the people around him thought, were not as dangerous as al-Qaeda. And tragically, he and they were proved wrong. You can see that in Syria at the moment, that the largest group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is not in fact part of al-Qaeda—it used to be. There’s a new group, Jabhat al-Nusra, which is the official representative, but there isn’t much difference between these groups. They’re all pretty well the same. They are extraordinarily bigoted. They’re extraordinarily brutal. They kill Shia or any other nonfundamentalist Muslims who fall into their hands. So, pretending that one group, simply because it’s funded by Saudi Arabia, is not the equivalent of al-Qaeda, I think, is self-deception—and self-deception which may well have disastrous results, you know, as happened in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which eventually produced the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2011, Democracy Now! spoke to former Senator Bob Graham and asked him about how part of the 9/11 Commission Report remains redacted.
BOB GRAHAM: The suppressed pages were in the Congressional Joint Inquiry. We worked diligently throughout 2002 to gather as much of the information as we could and to make recommendations. We had an 800-plus-page report, one chapter of which, which related primarily to the role of the Saudis in 9/11, was totally censored. Every word of that chapter has been denied to the American people.
AMY GOODMAN: What about that, Patrick Cockburn? You know, Bandar Bush, of course, as he was called, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, sitting out on the Truman Balcony with President Bush the day after the 9/11 attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. And then Bandar Bush, the former U.S.—Saudi ambassador to the U.S., being one of the major forces behind the forces, the rebel forces in Syria?
PATRICK COCKBURN: Yes, it’s sort of—it’s amazing. And, I mean, it’s had a very unfortunate consequence by not going after the very obvious roots of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, in terms of money and political support and so forth. This has enabled al-Qaeda to grow again. I mean, al-Qaeda, I worked out on the map, now controls an area in northern Syria and northern Iraq which is about the size of Great Britain. Al-Qaeda was rather a small organization at the time of 9/11. Since then, we’ve had the war on terror. We’ve had vast resources poured into this, increase in intelligence and security services, rendition, torture, everything else. And at the end of it, al-Qaeda and its affiliates are far larger than they were in—at the time of 9/11. I mean, this is a pretty extraordinary situation.
AMY GOODMAN: Of course, I just want to clarify, Bandar Bush was the nickname for him. His name was Prince Bandar bin Sultan. He’s now Saudi Arabia’s intelligence minister. Nermeen?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Patrick Cockburn, that’s right, he’s the intelligence minister now, but as you point out in one of your articles, he’s no longer in charge of Saudi Arabia’s policy in Syria. Could you explain what you think the impact of that decision will be, and whether Saudi policy with respect to the rebels is actually changing?
PATRICK COCKBURN: I mean, it’s a very good question, and I think we’re going to maybe see the answer over the next week. Maybe one of the things it will be interesting to see, what comes out of Obama’s visit. Bandar bin Sultan’s policy in Syria failed somewhat disastrously. He wanted to get rid of Assad; they failed to do that. Instead, we’ve had these jihadi, al-Qaeda-type organizations grow enormously. And they now, sort of really the whole way from Baghdad to the Mediterranean, they control much of the territory. Now, the Saudis are—seem to be taking a slightly more diplomatic line, but what they’re saying is: "We shall support jihadis, who are different from al-Qaeda but will still be able to overthrow Assad. We’ll do this from Jordan." But will this really happen? And if they do fund a anti-Assad army there, would it just be a mercenary army that has no real support within Syria?
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to move onto a segment next on Iraq. And earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the Sunni Muslim insurgents in western Anbar province. He told France 24, quote, "I accuse them of inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements. I accuse them of supporting them politically and in the media, of supporting them with money and by buying weapons for them." If you could, finally, comment on that, as well as your final comment in your recent piece, saying, "All the ingredients for a repeat of 9/11 are slipping into place, the difference today being that al-Qa’ida-type organisations are now far more powerful."
PATRICK COCKBURN: Yeah, the Iraqis have felt for a long time, but didn’t say so openly, that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Gulf monarchies were an essential prop to al-Qaeda in Iraq through private donations, through hate preachers, anti-Shia preachers, and finally they’ve come out and said it. And they have a lot of evidence also from suicide bombers who were captured before they blew themselves up.
On the other question, yes, definitely. I mean, you know, these drone attacks in Yemen and Waziristan, these declarations of victory, I think, just divert attention from the fact that you look at the map, that al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-type groups, that are no different from those that followed Osama bin Laden, now control a large territory. They have large revenues from oil wells. They have lots of experienced people. At the moment, they’re fighting against Assad and the Iraqi government. But they don’t Ike the governments of the West anymore. They’re not ideologically committed to only one enemy in their home countries. So if they do want to start making attacks in the West again along the lines of 9/11, they’re far better equipped militarily and politically, financially and any other way than they were when the attacks of 9/11 were originally made.
AMY GOODMAN: Patrick Cockburn, we want to thank you for being with us, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, just concluded a five-part series on the resurgence of al-Qaeda, including that piece, "Is Saudi Arabia Regretting Its Support for Terrorism?" President Obama is visiting Saudi Arabia on Friday along with Secretary of State John Kerry.
When we come back, two women, a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi feminist, join together for the right to heal on this 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Stay with us.
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Egypt's Courts Further Repression with Journos on Trial & Mass Death Sentence for Morsi Supporters
Egypt is facing international criticism after the largest mass sentencing in its modern history. On Monday, 529 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi were ordered killed over the death of a single police officer in protests last summer. The trial lasted just over two days, with the majority tried in absentia. The exceptionally swift trial and harsh sentences mark a new escalation of the Egyptian military regime’s crackdown on Morsi supporters, which has led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests. In another closely watched trial, Al Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy have been denied bail after nearly three months in prison. They are accused of belonging to or aiding a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, two leading Egyptian activists have been freed after over 100 days behind bars. Alaa Abd El-Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman are among a group of activists charged with violating the military regime’s anti-protest law. They and 23 others have been released on bail but still face a trial that resumes next month. We go to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Widespread outrage continues to grow after the largest mass sentencing in modern Egyptian history. Human rights groups, the United States and the European Union have denounced an Egyptian court’s recent decision to sentence 529 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi to death. The convictions followed a trial that lasted just over two days, with the majority of the accused tried in absentia for their alleged role in killing a single police officer last summer. Now, a new mass trial has opened involving 683 people, including top Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie. On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf denounced the trials.
MARIE HARF: Implementation of yesterday’s verdict, imposing the death penalty on 529 defendants after a two-day trial, would be unconscionable. The verdicts handed down yesterday by the court and the commencement of another mass trial for 683 individuals today in the same court represent a flagrant disregard for basic standards of justice. The imposition of the death penalty for 529 defendants after a two-day summary proceeding cannot be reconciled with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law. And its implementation of these sentences, as I said, would be unconscionable.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: The exceptionally swift trial and harsh sentences mark a new escalation of the Egyptian military regime’s crackdown on Morsi supporters, which has led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests. Amnesty International said the recent mass convictions were, quote, "a grotesque example of the shortcomings and the selective nature of Egypt’s justice system." On Tuesday in Alexandria, students took to the streets in protest. This is Maha Abdel Aziz.
MAHA ABDEL AZIZ: [translated] This is the beginning of an escalation, and we will stop the police. We will not be quiet. We are here today against military rule, and we are all chanting together, whether Muslim Brotherhood, 6 of April Movement, Horeya movement or Ahrar movement. Anyone chanting anything other than "Down with military rule," we are obliged to deal with them. Today we are here united to bring down military rule.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, two leading Egyptian activists have been freed after over a hundred days behind bars. Alaa Abd El-Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman are among a group of activists charged with violating the military regime’s anti-protest law. They and 23 others have been released on bail but still face a trial that resumes next month.
For more, we go to Cairo, Egypt, where we’re joined by Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
Sharif, welcome back to Democracy Now! Start with the sentencing of—what is it—529 people to death.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right, Amy. I mean, by all accounts, this was a stunning verdict that was handed down the other day. As you mentioned, 529 people sentenced to death in one of the largest death sentence rulings in modern history across the world. The judge issued his verdict after just one day in court on Saturday, a session in which defense lawyers said they weren’t allowed to present their case at all before the judge. There was—the defendants were, hundreds of them, in a cage in the courtroom, were chanting. The judge ordered security forces to close in on the defense lawyers, and then quickly adjourned the session and said he would issue his verdict two days later. And the verdict came down and really sent shockwaves throughout the international community, has been condemned by the EU, the United States. The Obama administration condemned it, as did local and international human rights groups.
And as you mentioned, that same judge just adjourned another mass trial on many similar charges involving suspected Morsi supporters, including the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie. This trial involved over 680 people, and the judge again adjourned it. The defense boycotted the proceedings following the verdict in the other case. And he’ll issue a verdict in that case on April 28th.
So, this has already sparked protests in Egypt. A group called the Students Against the Coup have called for protests in at least six universities today. Pro-Morsi groups, including the Anti-Coup Alliance, have called for demonstrations, as well. So, this ruling really is only serving to stoke the flames of tension in Egypt further.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Sharif, could you explain specifically what this case was about? What are these 529 people convicted of?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: They’re charged with murder, attempted murder, joining an outlawed group with the intention of toppling the government, and stealing government weapons in connection with the attack on a police station in Minya, in southern Egypt. This took place in August following the raids on the pro-Morsi sit-ins, where at least 600 people were killed on August 14th. This set off violence in much of the country in retaliation. In this particular attack regarding this case, one police officer was killed. And in retaliation, these 545 people were put on trial, and as we know, 529 of which are now—have now been sentenced to death. Even judicial officials involved with this case are critical of the ruling. It’s widely expected to be overturned on appeal on proceeding—on procedure alone. So we’ll have to wait and see what happens with that.
But really, it really was a stunning verdict, and especially when you put it in the context of another recent court case in which a trial was brought against police officers who were charged in the killing of 37 prisoners who died of suffocation in a truck in August. One police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and three others sentenced to one-year suspended sentences, which means they don’t serve any prison time. So, when you compare those to the lack of justice in Egypt’s justice system, it’s very stark.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, defense attorneys in the Muslim Brotherhood case boycotted the proceedings, complaining of judicial irregularities and media censorship. This is defense lawyer Tarek Fouda.
TAREK FOUDA: [translated] Implemented today in the crime of Edwa, there is a boycott by all lawyers to the hearing, an historical stand. And everyone should know that the lawyers’ syndicate will not and would not turn its back on a state based upon the law and the solidification of the spearhead that is the law.
AMY GOODMAN: Hours after Tuesday’s trial began, protests broke out at Minya University. Police lobbed tear-gas canisters, fired in the air, in attempt to disperse hundreds of demonstrators. Sharif?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right. As I said, this is further stoking flames of tension in Egypt. We’ve seen ongoing protests since Morsi’s ouster back in July. But really, in 2014, a second wave of repression and crackdown has been significantly increasing. Many hundreds, thousands of people have been imprisoned by—at least 16,000 people are in jail, have been imprisoned since Morsi’s ouster in July. The higher count of that puts it at 24,000 in prison. Up to 2,500 people have been killed. And so, we’ve seen some of the worst violence, some of the worst repression in Egypt’s modern history take place. And rulings like this only serve to feed the flames of tension in Egypt.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Can you say a little about how the regime has responded, if at all, to the condemnation from the EU, the U.S., the international community and the human rights organizations in Egypt to this verdict?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, officials in Egypt typically cite the independence of the judiciary and do not comment on justice cases. We saw the head of the State Information Service speak with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, defend the ruling or say he couldn’t comment on it. So, typically, this has been the typical response of the Egyptian regime to these kinds of cases.
There’s other cases that are ongoing, as well, that have received international attention, particularly the case of the Al Jazeera journalists who are on trial. This is a landmark case. Three Al Jazeera journalists have been imprisoned for nearly three months now after being arrested on December 29th. They’re on trial on terrorism charges. Mohamed Fahmy is a Canadian-Egyptian citizen, who was the acting bureau chief of Al Jazeera English; Australian correspondent Peter Greste; and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian producer. The third court session of their trial adjourned on Sunday. The next session is being held on March 31st. They’re living in a notorious prison called Tora, sharing a cell, all three of them. They’re locked up 23 hours a day. They’re not allowed any books or writing materials and, up until recently, weren’t even allowed newspapers.
Mohamed Fahmy is suffering an injury in his arm. He had a fractured shoulder unrelated to his arrest, but it was worsened and broke during his detention. During the first weeks of his imprisonment, he was denied any proper medical attention. He was imprisoned in a worse section of the prison, a maximum-security wing known as the Scorpion, where he was held in solitary confinement without a bed, without sunlight, and his condition worsened and healed incorrectly. He can now only lift his right arm a few inches from his waist. He requires surgery and physical therapy to—in order to recover.
So this case has sparked solidarity protests around the world by journalists and by others calling for their release. At this session, they all, from the defendants’ cage, told reporters that the international pressure was very important to their case and that it helped with—alleviate some of their conditions. And so they’re calling on people to continue the pressure, and they’re demanding to be released on a fair trial.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, this is Mohamed Fahmy from the cage in the courtroom condemning the proceedings.
MOHAMED FAHMY: Today’s proceedings show that there is—it seems like all the witnesses have some amnesia or something, Alzheimer’s. There’s a lot of discrepancies in the documents and what they are saying themselves. The prosecutor has a lot to answer for, for allowing the four engineers in the Maspero state TV to have exactly the same copy/paste testimony, that we have seen in our video
AMY GOODMAN: That is Mohamed Fahmy. So, where does this case go, and why is the Egyptian government trying these three Al Jazeera journalists, Sharif?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, the case, as I said, they are charged with joining or aiding a terrorist organization, charged with creating false scenes that harm Egypt’s reputation abroad in the benefit of the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s a very significant escalation in the crackdown on the press in Egypt. It marks one of the rare times that journalists have been put on trial and the first time that journalists face these kinds of very serious terrorism charges, which carry sentences, potential sentences, of up to 15 years in prison.
The Al Jazeera English was broadcasting from Egypt, would cover a lot of opposition voices, a lot of the protests that were taking place on universities and so forth. And we can only imagine or surmise that this is a way to clamp down on any media that was really covering the other side of the Egyptian political sphere. We’ve seen a crackdown on all of the local press. The pro-Morsi channels have all been shut down. The private media and the state media act as a propaganda mouthpiece, for the most part, for the regime, and so it’s very hard to hear opposition voices. People also assume that this is a crackdown also because of Al Jazeera being a Qatari-owned station and the animosity between Qatar and the government in Egypt, and this being a manifestation of that. But by all accounts, press freedom groups across the world have condemned this case, and journalists around the world are calling for their release. And it marks a serious escalation in the repression on press freedom in Egypt.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sharif, could you speak briefly about the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman, along with 23 other activists released on bail, and the significance of their release?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right, well, I think, you know, the crackdown has focused largely on the Muslim Brotherhood and his supporters, but it has seriously widened much beyond that and has encompassed all kinds of opposition voices, including Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who’s one of the most prominent activists in Egypt. He was jailed under the Mubarak regime, was jailed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that replaced Mubarak, was issued an arrest warrant under Morsi, and was jailed this time for a hundred days without having a hearing. His case was transferred to a criminal court, and he was refused a hearing up until just a few days ago, in which the judge did grant bail. He is charged with organizing a protest and violating a very draconian protest law that was put in place by the unelected government here in November. And the case is very meaningful because it’s still ongoing. He still could get a verdict.
Alaa was held in a prison section along with other very prominent activists, like Ahmed Maher and Mohammed Adel of the April 6 Youth Movement, and Douma, as well. And there’s thousands of other protesters who have been rounded up on the streets. Over a thousand were rounded up just on one day alone, on January 25th of this year. They’ve been held in terrible conditions. There’s been widespread accounts of beating, of torture. And prosecutors have been complicit in this crackdown by renewing preventative detention orders, so where preventative detention is being used as a form of punishment. So, many people don’t even have—have not seen a judge and are just being held with 15-day detention orders that continually are renewed. When court cases do come, they’re typically handed something like two to three years in prison for charges like breaking the protest law or gathering or trying to harm national security.
Many of these protesters are poor. They don’t have proper legal representation. Many of them are the only breadwinners in their family. And many of them are young. And this is really seen as a targeting of an entire generation, that its first experience with Egyptian politics has been the revolution. And they have seen over the past three years friends and colleagues and loved ones be jailed or be killed or be wounded in this uprising and the struggle, and I doubt very much that this kind of repression will silence them. And in fact, it’s really stoking the flames of further unrest. So, in 2014, we still have a long way to go to achieve real change in Egypt.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, we want to thank you for being with us, Sharif Abdel Kouddous reporting from Cairo, Egypt. And we’re looking at images of Alaa Abd El-Fattah when he was released, holding his baby, who was born when he was in prison under Mubarak, just as he was born as his father was imprisoned years before. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, thanks so much. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’ll look at Saudi Arabia with Patrick Cockburn in London. Stay with us.
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The Right to Heal: 11 Years After Iraq Invasion, U.S. Urged on Reparations for War's Enduring Wounds
Eleven years ago this month, the U.S. invaded Iraq. Today, a group of Iraq civilians and U.S. veterans of the war are coming together in Washington to demand the U.S. government be held accountable for the lasting effects of war at home and abroad. We are joined by two members of the Right to Heal Initiative: Joyce Wagner, co-director of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who served two tours in Iraq, and Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. She recently gathered thousands of signatures in Baghdad to request a hearing before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights — a request that was denied.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "Yellow Ribbon" by Emily Yates, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. She says she wrote the song after speaking with fellow veterans about the yellow ribbon magnets people put on their cars. Yates was deployed twice to Iraq, where she served in the 3rd Infantry Division as an Army public affairs specialist from 2002 to 2008. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to Iraq, which faces mounting sectarian violence 11 years since the U.S. invasion in March 2003. More than 2,100 people have been killed this year alone. Meanwhile, the U.S. confirms it sent a new round of weapons shipments to the Iraqi government to help it combat militant groups.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by two guests who are part of the Right to Heal coalition of Iraqi civilians and U.S. military veterans: Joyce Wagner, co-director of Iraq Veterans Against the War, served as a marine from 2002 to 2008, deployed twice to Iraq in 2004 and '05, and Yanar Mohammed, the president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. She recently gathered thousands of signatures in Baghdad to request a hearing before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. The request was denied.
Yanar Mohammed, Joyce Wagner, welcome to Democracy Now! Yanar, describe Iraq 11 years later and what you feel needs to happen.
YANAR MOHAMMED: We now have a government, an Iraqi government, which is attacking the western side of Iraq under sectarian reasons. We have a political formula that has alienated people who are called Sunnis. There is a war and a siege on the western cities of the country. Hundreds of thousands are leaving their homes and trying to come back to them only to find them bombed. We have huge sectarian violence that is done by the government. We have legislation that has alienated all the women of Iraq. And it also establishes a sectarian divide by laws, something that we did not have in the previous times. And we also have a political system that has become so much of a dictatorship that it’s close to Saddam’s times. We have a beginning—or, we have a division in the country that has made a big part of the country vulnerable to the second generation of al-Qaeda organizations.
We have a situation that is not better than a war. The war in Iraq is not over yet. We are living it over and over again. And on top of that, there’s a generation of babies who are born with birth defects, whose parents are living the agonies of not knowing what to do with their children. And the story goes on. Big parts of Iraq are contaminated with depleted uranium, with white phosphorus. And the U.S. government, who started the war and eventually caused the contamination in many parts in the south, in the west and in the mid-north—the U.S. government is denying that they are the reason to this contamination and for the birth defects.
And they are absolutely quiet about a new legislation in Iraq that is putting women of Iraq—it’s taking us back in time 15 centuries. A new legislation that was drafted by the minister of justice, Hasan al-Shammari, is treating the women of Iraq in the mentality of 15 centuries back. It’s allowing the marriage—or, rather, the rape of children, female children of Iraq. And all the civil society is standing up against it, and we just—we are finding ourselves disempowered in the face of a government that has become terrorist. And it disempowered the Sunnis of Iraq. It disempowered and alienated the women of Iraq and also other ethnicities.
We are totally divided because of a political formula that was put 11 years ago. We are trying to work against it, but the job is becoming harder and harder. And when the Center for Constitutional Rights represented the Iraqis and their grievances and built the case jointly with the Iraq Veterans Against War and represented it and forwarded it to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, the hearing was denied for the second time. We are trying to hold those who had—the perpetrators, George Bush, who had started—
NERMEEN SHAIKH: I’d like to bring in—Yanar, I’d like to bring in Joyce Wagner into the conversation. Joyce, could you comment? You deployed twice to Iraq. How did your perception of the war change, and where do you feel that Iraq stands now?
JOYCE WAGNER: Well, there are a lot of reasons why the war in Iraq isn’t over. Obviously, there’s still a lot of violence as a result of the U.S. invasion. But there’s also a lot of toxic materials left over in Iraq, and those materials have impacted both Iraqis, who are living there still, who are challenged with things like a generation of children suffering from birth defects, and they’re also impacting U.S. servicemembers even years after the war is supposedly over. These servicemembers are living with the health consequences of those materials for the rest of their lives, if they’re lucky enough to continue to live. So I think—
AMY GOODMAN: And so, Joyce, explain the Right to Heal campaign.
JOYCE WAGNER: The Right to Heal Initiative is something that occurred when the Center for Constitutional Rights began representing Yanar’s organization, as well as another Iraqi organization and Iraq Veterans Against the War. And we’re trying to hold the U.S. government accountable for human rights violations in Iraq. So these health impacts, also for veterans, post-traumatic stress, going on repeated deployments with post-traumatic stress, military sexual assaults, and also things like using up soldiers and other servicemembers to their very maximum and then finding reasons to kick them out of the military so that they don’t have to take care of them later, they don’t have to deal with the health issues, they don’t have to provide them with educational benefits. And many people are actually left off worse than they were before the ever joined the military in the first place, in terms of economic opportunities. So, for veterans, those are some of the things that we’re trying to address. A lot of this is based on a research report that was done at Fort Hood in Texas in 2011 and 2012. Thirty-one servicemembers serving at Fort Hood were interviewed, and a number of patterns started to show up in these people’s testimonies. And the full report is going to be in released this year on Memorial Day.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Joyce Wagner and Yanar Mohammed, I want to thank you both for being with us. Joyce Wagner with Iraq Veterans Against the War. Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. Together, they’re working on the Right to Heal campaign. You can watch a live stream tonight of a "People’s Hearing on the Lasting Impact of the Iraq War" in D.C. that Yanar Mohammed will be part of. It will be moderated by Phil Donahue in Washington, D.C., starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. We’ll link to the details at democracynow.org.
And that does it for our show. On Saturday, I’ll be speaking in St. Louis, Missouri, at 6:00 p.m. at the Gateway Journalism Review’s First Amendment celebration.
And a very happy birthday to Nermeen Shaikh. Happy birthday, Nermeen!
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Thanks, Amy.
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Headlines:
Obama: Gov’t Needs to Win Back Public’s Trust with Surveillance Reforms
The White House and Congressional leaders have unveiled similar proposals to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records. Both measures would leave bulk data in the hands of phone companies. Under the White House version, the NSA would seek court permission to obtain specific records. Under the House version, the NSA would seek court approval after a search. While the NSA currently retains bulk data for five years, phone companies would not have to keep it beyond 18 months. Speaking in the Netherlands, President Obama said the reforms are part of a process to win back the public’s trust.
President Obama: "There is a process that is taking place where we have to win back the trust, not just of governments but more importantly of ordinary citizens and that’s not going to happen overnight because I think that there is a tendency to be skeptical of government and to be skeptical in particular of U.S. intelligence services."
Snowden: Curbs on Bulk Collection a "Turning Point" in Surveillance Debate
The bulk collection of phone records has been among the most controversial of Edward Snowden’s disclosures in the last nine months. In a statement, Snowden called Obama’s embrace of ending bulk surveillance "a turning point," adding: "it marks the beginning of a new effort to reclaim our rights from the NSA and restore the public’s seat at the table of government." Writing on his website The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who revealed the bulk surveillance based on Snowden’s leaks, said: "The fact that the President is now compelled to pose as an advocate for abolishing this program – the one he and his supporters have spent 10 months hailing – is a potent vindication of Edward Snowden’s acts and the reporting he enabled."
Mudslide Toll Hits 24; Report Warned of "Catastrophic" Land Instability
The death toll from a mudslide in Washington state has risen to 24. Local fire chief Travis Hots said no one was found alive in a challenging day of searching for survivors.
Travis Hots: "We had a very challenging day today with the rain, and that just further complicated things. We continued our search and recovery operation on the entire slide area. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any signs of life. We didn’t locate anybody alive. I consider it still a rescue operation, absolutely. It’s a rescue and a recovery operation. We haven’t lost hope that there’s a possibility that we could find somebody alive in some pocket area. As the days go on and we haven’t seen any loss of life, we are coming to the realization that that is — that may not be a possibility. But we are going full steam ahead."
Around 170 people are reported to be missing, but there are hopes that number will fall as more report their whereabouts. According to The Seattle Times, there have been concerns about the area’s geologic instability dating back to 1950. A 1999 report for the Army Corps of Engineers warned of "the potential for a large catastrophic failure." But county officials have greenlighted building projects, including one after a 2006 slide.
GM Hid Fatal Safety Defects from Victims’ Families
More revelations have emerged in the General Motors safety scandal linked to scores of deaths. The New York Times reports GM knew of a fatal safety defect in their cars but continued to mislead the families of accident victims. A 2009 GM meeting confirmed hundreds of thousands of cars had faulty ignition switches, shutting down engines and airbags. But GM kept those findings secret for the next five years, telling victims’ families there was insufficient evidence of any flaws. In one case, GM threatened to go after a victim’s family for legal fees unless their lawsuit was withdrawn. The denials ended earlier this year after GM admitted to the faulty ignition switches and recalled some 3.1 million cars. GM admits the defect has caused 12 deaths, but independent estimates say the toll could be in the hundreds.
BP Refinery Used for Tar Sands Oil Leaks into Lake Michigan
An Indiana refinery owned by the energy giant BP has leaked an undisclosed amount of oil into Lake Michigan. The Whiting facility is used to refine tar sands crude oil from Alberta, Canada. Lake Michigan serves as the water source for millions of people, but the Environmental Protection Agency says the spill has been sufficiently contained. The EPA also says it will investigate whether the spill violates the Clean Water Act. The spill comes less than two weeks after the U.S. government lifted a ban on BP’s ability to seek oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. It also follows Saturday’s spill of up to 170,000 gallons of oil in Texas. This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Corporate Challenge to Contraception Coverage Heard by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has heard arguments in two key cases about an employee’s right to birth control under the Affordable Care Act. The law exempts religious nonprofits from providing insurance that covers contraception. But two for-profit companies, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, say they should also be exempt due to religious beliefs. At stake is not only the issue of contraception, but the question of whether corporations can lay claim to religious rights. Both sides of the debate rallied outside Tuesday’s session. Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood praised the Supreme Court’s three women — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — for questioning the corporations’ claim to a religious exemption.
Cecile Richards: "What I think we saw today in the court was the importance of having women on the Supreme Court. And I was so proud to be there as a woman who cares about women’s health, to have the justices talk about the fact that what’s at stake in this case is whether millions of women and their right to preventive care, including birth control, is trumped by a handful of CEOs who have their own personal opinions about birth control."
A ruling on the case is expected at the end of the Supreme Court’s term in June.
Admin Extends Deadline for Healthcare Enrollment
The Obama administration meanwhile is extending the deadline for enrolling in the new healthcare program for those unable to sign up before Monday. People who apply but aren’t able to complete their sign-up by the Monday deadline will be granted an extension until mid-April.
80 Killed in Iraq Violence
At least 80 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a series of attacks across Iraq. The dead included at least 41 soldiers. Iraq continues to face its worst violence in six years. Last week marked the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.
U.N.: Death Sentences for Morsi Supporters Violate International Law
The United Nations’ top human rights official is calling Egypt’s sentencing of hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members to death an unprecedented violation of international law. On Monday, 529 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi were ordered killed over the death of a single police officer in protests last summer. The trial lasted just over two days, with the majority tried in absentia. A spokesperson for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said the sentencing was unprecedented in recent memory and outright illegal.
Rupert Colville: "We’re extremely alarmed by this extraordinary case in Egypt where 529 people were handed down a death sentence after a trial that just lasted two days and then breached a whole range of basic fair trial procedures. It’s clearly in violation of international law."
Obama: "Regional Power" Russia Acted "Out of Weakness"
President Obama wrapped up a nuclear summit in the Netherlands on Tuesday with a dig at Russia and a response to Republican critics of his stance on Ukraine. Obama called Russia a "regional power" that acted out of weakness in annexing Crimea. He also said Republicans have exaggerated the importance of the Ukraine crisis in relation to U.S. national security.
President Obama: "Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength, but out of weakness. … Russia’s actions are a problem. They don’t pose the number one national security threat to the United States. I continue to be much more concerned, when it comes to our security, with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan."
Obama’s comments come after the U.S. and its G7 allies kicked Russia out of the Group of 8.
European Protesters Urge Obama to Close Gitmo
President Obama’s overseas tour continues in Belgium today where he will deliver an address in the capital Brussels. Ahead of his visit, Obama faced a protest from demonstrators calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay.
Protester: "Well, we are very disappointed, of course, because, well, that was his promise, and we thought that the situation would change, of course. But the situation has not changed. There are still 154 people there, and their situation is really very, very bad, with the hunger strike, for instance, force-feeding, no hope of being freed, although a lot of them have been cleared for release. So, really, we ask him to do something."
7 Undocumented Immigrants Block Detention Center in Alabama
Seven people have been detained in Alabama after blocking the entrance to a detention center for undocumented immigrants. The protesters — each of them also undocumented — chained themselves in front of the Etowah County Detention Center. An activist with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice said the rally was called to oppose harsh conditions for detainees.
Yazmin Contreras: "We’re asking that the Etowah Detention Center treat their detainees better. A lot of them have been complaining that they’re not getting the appropriate food, that they’re not allowed to practice all of their religion, are being abused. And three, that they don’t have an area in which they can actually go outside and breathe fresh air."
Immigrant Detainees Resume Hunger Strike in Washington State
The Alabama protest comes as dozens of detainees at an immigration jail in Washington state have resumed a hunger strike. The hunger strikers began refusing meals earlier this month in a call for improved conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, owned by the GEO Group. An attorney for the detainees says around 70 have resumed fasting after the jail’s managers failed to implement pledged reforms.
CBO: Immigration Reform Would Trim Deficit by $900B over 20 Years
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office meanwhile has released figures estimating an immigration reform bill advanced by House Democrats would decrease the federal deficit by $900 billion over 20 years. The House measure is similar to the bill passed by the Senate. Immigration reform has stalled in the House, where Republicans have refused to allow a vote.
Wrongly Convicted Prisoner Released After 32 Years Behind Bars
And in California, a 74-year-old African-American woman has been released from prison after serving 32 years for a murder committed by her abusive boyfriend. Mary Virginia Jones was convicted of the 1981 murder. But defense attorneys say her boyfriend kidnapped two men, then forced Jones to drive at gunpoint to a Los Angeles alley, where he shot both men, one of whom died. Jones then ran away, reportedly expecting her boyfriend to kill her, too. But instead, she was arrested and convicted of his crime. Her boyfriend was also arrested and died while awaiting execution. On Tuesday, Denetra Jones-Goodie celebrated her mother’s release after more than three decades.

Denetra Jones-Goodie: "Nobody is bitter. Nobody is angry. I’m just grateful at the fact that she’s being released and that she’s given a chance to come home."
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