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Thousands gathered on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last night to remember the three Muslim students shot dead by a gunman who had posted anti-religious messages online. The victims were two sisters — 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha and 21-year-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha — and Yusor’s husband, 23-year-old Deah Barakat. Suspected gunman Craig Stephen Hicks has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Hicks had frequently posted anti-religious comments on his Facebook page and was a supporter of the group Atheists for Equality. On Wednesday, police said the killings resulted from a dispute over a parking space. But Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of Razan and Yusor, described the shootings as a hate crime. The killings in Chapel Hill have sparked an international outcry, with the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter spreading across social media. A community Facebook page was set up Wednesday in memory of the three victims, called "Our Three Winners." We are joined by two guests: Amira Ata, a longtime friend of Yusor, and Omid Safi, director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Thousands gathered on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill last night to remember the three Muslim students who were shot dead Tuesday by a gunman who had posted anti-religious messages on Facebook. The victims were two sisters—19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha and 21-year-old Yusor—and Yusor’s husband, 23-year-old Deah Barakat. Yusor and Deah were married in December. Photos from their wedding day were shared widely on social media yesterday.
The suspected gunman, Craig Stephen Hicks, turned himself in to the police and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Hicks had frequently posted anti-religious comments on his Facebook page and was a supporter of the group Atheists for Equality.
On Wednesday, police said the killings resulted from a dispute over a parking space. But Mohammad Abu-Salha, Razan and Yusor’s father, described the killings as a hate crime. He also accused the media of propagating anti-Muslim sentiment.
MOHAMMAD ABU-SALHA: They both, my daughters, wear the scarf. There is not a single week that our daughters don’t share with us their fear of walking down the street because of what the media is saying about us. Inflammatory media all the time. Inflammatory media all the time. They pick up the bad apples, and they magnify the picture, and they dwell on it day and night. ...
We’re sad. We’re distraught. We’re shocked. We’re angry. We’re—we feel we were treated unjustly. This is uncalled for. We heard from the media—not from the media, from the police folks that each one of these children had a bullet in the head. This was an execution style, this was a hate crime from a neighbor our children spoke about, they were uncomfortable with. He came to their apartment more than once, condescending, threatening and despising and talking down to them.
AMY GOODMAN: Deah Barakat’s sister, Suzanne, described the three students as "gems of their communities."
SUZANNE BARAKAT: Deah, at 23, a second-year dental student at UNC, was well known for his all-embracing kindness, lightheartedness, dedication to community service, love for basketball and anything Steph Curry. Yusor, 21, who was on track to join him at UNC Dental in the fall, matched his gentle demeanor, had a calming presence, and she and Deah found in one another a kindred spirit. Razan, at only 19, was tremendously gifted, studying architecture, incredibly creative, giving, generous and a loyal friend. They were gems of their communities and left a lasting impression on the people around them.
AMY GOODMAN: Craig Stephen Hicks had posted a picture of his gun on Facebook.
The killings in Chapel Hill sparked international outcry. The hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter spread across social media. A community Facebook page was set up Wednesday in memory of the three victims, called "Our Three Winners."
To talk more about the killings, we’re joined by two guests in North Carolina. In Raleigh, Amira Ata is with us, a childhood friend of Yusor Abu-Salha. Her piece for Fusion.net is headlined "My best friend was killed and I don’t know why." In Durham, Omid Safi is with us, director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center. He is former professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Our condolences to you, to the whole community. Amira, I want to begin with you, to describe your best friend, Yusor Abu-Salha, her sister, to talk about what has taken place and what we should know about them.
AMIRA ATA: OK, well, I’m going to start about what we should know about them. So, Yusor was—or is—my best friend. I hate to say "was," just because I—it’s hard to accept this. So I want to keep on living as if she’s still by my side. Yusor kept me strong through so many things. She was always helpful. She gave me and all of our friends a lot of advice and support. She encouraged us, and she was an inspiration. She was an inspiration to me. Her father was—is an inspiration to me. I actually want to follow his career path. Ever since I was little, I was determined to become like him. I loved his job. I loved what he does. And Yusor encouraged me to do that, as well. And we’ve been in school all—like, together all of our life, since third grade. I met her when she moved to Raleigh from Clinton, North Carolina, and we were just inseparable since. We went to the same elementary school, middle school, high school and university. So—
AMY GOODMAN: And Yusor’s sister, Razan, 19 years old, her little sister?
AMIRA ATA: Yes, Razan. So, Razan, since I was best friends with Yusor, of course, we were—Razan was always with us, growing up. She was always playing with us. She may not have had the best roles in all of our games, but she was included. She was lucky that she was included, because we were older. So we kind of, you know, tried to boss her around a little, as much as we could, or as much as she would let us. But then, when she grew up, she was smarter than us, so it didn’t work anymore. Razan is—she’s so kind and loving, and she’s just really cute, like there’s just something about her that’s just adorable, like she kind of makes your heart melt a little bit.
She loved Yusor so much. And yesterday, when we were at their parents’ home, I was thinking to myself. Like, you know, we’re standing in the kitchen, and we’ve been there so many times, and it brings back so many memories, like I can see Razan sitting at the end of the table. And she always used to sit kind of at the head of the table. And I can always just see her always studying. She was always reading. She has like this huge library in her room, like you wouldn’t believe how many books this girl reads. And she’s just a very smart young girl that had just an amazing mind. Her thought process was amazing. She loved her family so much. She loved Yusor a lot. And I just can’t imagine if Yusor was to leave this world and Razan didn’t. I don’t think Razan would have been able to survive without her sister, because they were so connected together. So, I’m kind of looking at it—last night I was thinking about it—it is kind of a blessing that they happened to pass all together, because they all needed each other so much. And I don’t think Razan would have been able to do it without her, and vice versa.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: I’d like to talk to Professor Omid Safi, as well, about what’s occurred. Professor Safi, could you explain to us what—your response to the way in which the media has been covering these tragic deaths?
OMID SAFI: Thank you, Nermeen. Thank you, Amy. It’s obviously a very heavy time for all of us here in North Carolina and in the country. I think the initial response of the community here has been to ask the media focus to be on the lives of these three beautiful, young, idealistic, passionate people, these three young Muslims who connected the suffering here in America to the suffering around the world, who work in inner cities of North Carolina, as well as working with Syrian refugees in Turkey, working with Palestinians and others, rather than simply keeping the focus on this vile murderer and the horrific act of an execution-style murder.
And then the other aspect that we have seen has been the request of the family, and indeed the Muslim community here, to fully consider this as a possible hate crime. When you see a man breaking in with a gun, having threatened three people repeatedly over a course of weeks, and then shoot them in the head, as I mentioned, in an execution style, we’ve simply found it unbelievable that the police force would have initially dismissed this as a possible hate crime, or at least removed that possibility, minimized that possibility. And so I think the other aspect that the community here is wholeheartedly asking for is for this to be investigated as a serious hate crime.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: I want to turn to Deah Barakat in his own words. Along with his friend Ali Heydary, Barakat had started a fundraising campaign to raise money for a trip they were planning to Turkey this summer to provide dental care to Syrian refugees. This is a clip.
DEAH BARAKAT: My name is Deah Barakat. I’m a dental student at UNC, and I need your help. Have you ever felt helpless about the situation in Syria and felt like you can’t do anything about it? Well, this is your opportunity to help. This summer I’m embarking on a trip to Turkey with 10 dentists to help Syrian refugee students in need of urgent dental care. These kids don’t have access to the same healthcare as us. And their prolonged pain can easily be taken care of with the work that we do. But we need the proper funding. So let’s relieve their pain. If you want to make a difference in the life of a child most in need, then I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Deah Barakat’s campaign had originally set a goal of raising $20,000. It’s now raised nearly $200,000, mostly raised since news of the killings broke. So, Professor Safi, could you talk about some of the work that Deah was involved in, both here in the United States, the social justice and humanitarian work here, and abroad, as well as Razan and Yusor?
OMID SAFI: Absolutely. So, the very last Facebook message that most of us saw from Deah—and these people are really the pillars of the community here. They’re the absolute role models for what it means to live an engaged, faithful life in the public space. And the last time that we all saw Deah in the social media context was he was talking about leading a campaign to provide free dental care for inner-city, primarily African-American, community in Durham, and to hand out free food. And this was just a short while after he had gotten married. And, you know, this is the kind of person that he was—
AMY GOODMAN: In fact, hadn’t he just been—hadn’t he just been—
OMID SAFI: —open-hearted, always with a smile, starting his action here at home, but then also with an eye toward suffering halfway around the world. And this is what we ask of the best of our young people, is to connect the suffering here at home to the suffering globally, because we want them to always be mindful of the fact that our humanity mingles together.
As far as the other ones, Yusor had also done very similar dental relief work in Turkey in the city of Kilis. And, in fact, she was about to start at the UNC dental school in August. And Razan, this extraordinary bundle of goodwill and brilliant young woman, was already recognized for her work in 3D design, so an Arab Muslim woman, a hijab-wearing woman, who’s breaking ground in a very male-dominated world of engineering. And the way that she had chosen to respond to the horrific Paris shootings and the pornographic cartoons mocking the prophet was not by simply engaging the cartoonists at their own level, but she was the artistic visionary and genius behind a project that’s called "Optimism is a Lost Sunnah," "Sunnah" meaning the pattern of the prophet, the example of the prophet. Optimism—I mean, this is what these folks stood for. This is how they had been raised to live their life. And one reason that a lot of us are mourning is that a few minutes of hateful violence, in a sense, have deprived all of us of decades of benefiting from the loving service of these beautiful young people.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Karen Hicks, the suspect’s wife, who held a news conference Wednesday in attempt to refute claims her husband was motivated by religious bigotry.
KAREN HICKS: I can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims’ faith, but in fact was related to the long-standing parking disputes that my husband had with the neighbors.
AMY GOODMAN: And I also want to turn to the lawyer for the suspect. [His] attorney, Rob Maitland, also addressed reporters and suggested the suspect had a history of mental health problems.
ROB MAITLAND: My personal opinion is that this highlights the importance of access to mental healthcare services and us removing in our society the stigma for people to ask for that clinical help when they need it.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Craig Stephen Hicks’ attorney, Rob Maitland. Professor Safi, your response?
OMID SAFI: I have a couple of responses. One of them is, I find it intriguing that whenever we have a white person engaging in horrific acts of violence, the immediate response is to say they’re a lone ranger, they’re disturbed, they’re marginalized, and possibly they suffer from mental illness. When we have people from a Muslim background who are coming, all of a sudden the conversation shifts to a culture of death and an ideology that somehow produces this, and then there’s an expectation of a communal apology on behalf of it.
Also on behalf of people who deeply care about issues of mental illness, I think it’s really important to say that while we do need extraordinary commitment to mental health here in North Carolina, where many of the institutions have in fact been shut down under Republican administration, the association between mental illness and violence is simply something that is not bore out by the facts on the ground.
And the second thing that I would say that came out of that really unacceptable presentation yesterday that you just alluded to is that the same lawyer also said that the three victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were in their own home. Since when is being in one’s own house being in the wrong place? Where are we supposed to be?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And before we conclude, I’d like to ask Amira Ata—you wrote in your piece, "My best friend was killed and I don’t know why," you spoke about an incident in the fall when you were at Yusor’s house, and the neighbor, who is now the suspect in this killing—in fact, who turned himself in—came and complained about the level of noise that there was in that apartment. Could you talk about that incident? What happened that night last fall?
AMIRA ATA: Yes. We were invited over to Yusor and Deah’s house for dinner. Deah had made us dinner. We went over there. And this was in the engagement period. We were still, you know, getting to know him and that type of stuff. And after dinner, we were playing a game; it’s called Risk. I’m not sure if everybody knows about it. But it’s a game that you basically, like, conquer the world. And so, we were getting a little competitive, but we weren’t that loud. And the house is—like, where we were sitting, we were sitting in the living room. Like, there’s still another bedroom on one side and another bedroom on the other side, so there’s plenty of walls that are surrounded around us.
Soon after we left, Yusor contacted us, and she told us, "Did my neighbor say anything to you guys when you guys left out?" And we were like, "No, we just left. We didn’t see anybody." And she said, "Oh, my neighbor came to my doorstep, and he was holding a gun and was telling me that we were too loud and we woke up his wife." We told her, all of us that were there—it was four of us—we told her, "Call the police. Tell them what happened." And she was debating whether she should or she shouldn’t, whether—because she was like, "He didn’t really do anything. I don’t know if I should make this a big deal. I’m not really sure what to do," that type of thing. And, you know, she was so nice to him. Like, she was just explaining to him, you know, "We weren’t that loud, but I’m sorry. You know, if we were loud, I apologize for that." And I don’t know, it was just a weird situation.
So, on Tuesday, as we were getting all of the phone calls and hearing all of the gossip and everybody is telling us, "Get to Chapel Hill," we had no idea what was going on. As I’m driving down there, I’m thinking if—I thought only Deah was dead, honestly; I didn’t think Yusor had died, and I didn’t know Razan was involved. Driving there, I was like, if Deah was shot, the neighbor had to do it. I knew, automatically, because I thought immediately, "Who would do something like this to them? It was their neighbor." She complains about him to her parents. I don’t know if he—how many times he’s threatened her. Her dad knows more. But she wasn’t comfortable staying there. And she used to always try to convince one of us, if we finished class at State, to come to Chapel Hill and spend time with her so she wouldn’t be alone all the time. So, I’m not really sure if that was just a fear she didn’t want to be alone, but, I mean, she knew that it wasn’t really safe there, with that neighbor that tends to come to her house holding a gun. Like, if I had a problem with my neighbor, I might write a letter, you know, put it on their doorstep or on their car, but I wouldn’t go to my neighbor holding a gun, at night.
AMY GOODMAN: Did she say he ever—did she feel that he felt anger or hatred towards them because they were Muslim?
AMIRA ATA: Yes, of course. She was saying, because they were different, she felt that she was hated. And she didn’t know why, because she’s such a sweet and calm person. She didn’t understand why anyone, you know, wouldn’t like her. So it didn’t make sense to her. And we told her, "It’s probably because you wear a scarf, you wear a hijab, and you are a Muslim." So, people—some people are, you know, ignorant, and they are going to not like you because of what you represent, because people think that Islam is a bad thing. But, I mean, not all Muslims are bad Muslims.
AMY GOODMAN: Amira Ata, we want to thank you for being with us. Again, our condolences. Best friend of Yusor Abu-Salha. We’re going to link to your piece at Fusion.net, "My best friend was killed and I don’t know why." And Professor Omid Safi, thank you for being with us, director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center. The three young people are being buried today in Raleigh. Again, 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, her 21-year-old sister Yusor, and her new husband, 23-year-old Deah Barakat, all killed on Tuesday.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, One Billion Rising. Stay with us.
President Obama has sent Congress a formal request to authorize military force against the Islamic State six months after the U.S. began bombing Iraq and Syria. The resolution imposes a three-year limit on U.S. operations, but does not put any geographic constraints. It also opens the door for ground combat operations in limited circumstances. The resolution’s broad language covers military action against the Islamic State as well as "individuals and organizations fighting for, on behalf of, or alongside [ISIS] or any closely-related successor entity in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners." The resolution also leaves in place the open-ended Authorization for Use of Military Force Congress enacted one week after the Sept. 11, 2001, which has been used to justify U.S. action in Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen and beyond, and which Obama had previously called for repealing. We speak with Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and author of many books, including "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: President Obama has sent Congress a formal request to authorize military force against the Islamic State six months after the U.S. began bombing Iraq and Syria. The resolution imposes a three-year limit on U.S. operations, but it does not put any geographic limits on the military campaign. It also opens the door for ground combat operations in some circumstances. Obama spoke at the White House Wednesday, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today my administration submitted a draft resolution to Congress to authorize the use of force against ISIL. I want to be very clear about what it does and what it does not do. This resolution reflects our core objective: to destroy ISIL. It supports the comprehensive strategy that we’ve been pursuing with our allies and our partners: a systemic and sustained campaign of airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria; support and training for local forces on the ground, including the moderate Syrian opposition; preventing ISIL attacks in the region and beyond, including by foreign terrorist fighters who try to threaten our countries; regional and international support for an inclusive Iraqi government that unites the Iraqi people and strengthens Iraqi forces against ISIL; humanitarian assistance for the innocent civilians of Iraq and Syria, who are suffering so terribly under ISIL’s reign of horror.
AMY GOODMAN: Questions over the language in the resolution have been raised by both hawkish Republicans and antiwar Democrats in Congress. The resolution’s broad language covers military action against the Islamic State as well as, quote, "individuals and organizations fighting for, on behalf of, or alongside [ISIS] or any closely-related successor entity in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners." The resolution also leaves in place the open-ended Authorization for Use of Military Force Congress enacted one week after the September 11th attacks, which has been used to justify U.S. action in Somalia, in Pakistan, in Yemen and beyond.
Joining us now from San Francisco is Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, co-founder of RootsAction.org, author of many books, including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Norman, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about this latest effort by President Obama to get war authorization?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, unfortunately, in political terms, it represents a sort of repetition compulsion disorder, back to the future from an administration that came in saying it was going to dispense with the concept—or at least the phraseology—of a war on terror, an administration that even today, through the president’s statement, is again asserting that it’s against endless war, and yet both the statement from the president yesterday and the resolution—and, for that matter, the White House policy—is explicitly endless, perpetual war. And that’s the kind of policy we’re getting.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Norm, can you explain why he placed a three-year limit then on U.S. operations?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Window dressing, just a scam, just a way to give a sort of a fig leaf to the people called antiwar Democrats or some libertarian Republicans. But it’s just a way of sort of rowing the boat with a little bit of a deference to the right and left in Congress, that what it boils down to is kicking the war can down the road—a very bloody one, to put it mildly—and absolutely running a manipulative public relations campaign.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re hearing numbers like there are 200,000 members of ISIS, or people fighting, identifying themselves as ISIS. This number has just gone up astronomically. Is there any way to verify the kind of information that comes out at a time like this, when war is being voted on in Congress?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, historically, and in the present day, there is no way to verify whatsoever. You could depend on some inflation, to put it mildly. We also heard from the president yesterday that there were 2,000 airstrikes by the United States in the region, in the Middle East, in the last six months, but we don’t know if that’s true at all. And in tandem with its war on whistleblowers and true investigative journalism, this administration is operating in overdrive as sort of a fog machine to try to keep from the American people realities of the war policy, because clearly this White House prefers the uninformed consent of the governed.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Norm, could you comment on the timing of Obama’s request? It came just a day after American aid worker Kayla Mueller’s death was confirmed. He also mentioned her in his remarks.
NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, these terrible atrocities by the so-called Islamic State really provide fuel for the machinery of propaganda from the executive branch of the United States, clearly chomping at the bit to drag this country further into war. And I think it’s very symbolic that—and literally significant, as well—that the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force is not being challenged or proposed for ending by this administration. So, that very open-ended authorization right after 9/11 is one that the administration is embracing and trying to ride for all it can, essentially, in search of enemies. And if there are no geographical or conceptual or state boundaries that will define this war coming out of the U.S. government, then the search for enemies is open-ended and infinite.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Kofi Annan—
NORMAN SOLOMON: And I should add, not only a search for enemies that’s infinite, but the creation of enemies, because this administration not only preaches against endless war while doing more than any other presidency to make endless war policy, but this administration is second to none in creating enemies of the United States around the world. And so the spin cycle, the war cycle, the destructive cycle continues.
AMY GOODMAN: Norman Solomon, I wanted to turn to the former U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan. Over the weekend, he spoke at the Munich Security Conference, suggesting the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq created the Islamic State.
KOFI ANNAN: The second and much more proximate cause of the instability we are witnessing today was the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I spoke against it at the time, and I’m afraid my concerns have been proved well-founded. The folly of that fateful decision was compounded by post-invasion decisions. The wholesale disbandment of security forces, among other measures, poured hundreds of thousands of trained and disgruntled soldiers and policemen onto the streets.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Norman Solomon, your response?
NORMAN SOLOMON: It’s a good point, but when you go back to that time—and I think, Amy, you and I spoke about the impending invasion of Iraq, you know, more than a decade ago—Kofi Annan could have been much stronger in his post at the United Nations in opposing it. And frankly, there are all too many people in Washington, as well, who in retrospect say what terrible tragedies are or have unfolded, but at the time, they don’t have a whole lot of backbone, they don’t challenge the administration. And years from now, we’re going to have people who were in Congress right now who will say what a terrible tragedy yesterday’s statement and offered resolution from the Obama White House was. But right now, we’re not hearing them speaking out very strongly. And it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out and stop this despicable push towards escalation of yet more war from the Obama White House.
AMY GOODMAN: Norman Solomon, we’re going to break and then come back to ask you about the suspension of Brian Williams for lying about Iraq, and we want to talk to you about the Sterling trial. Then we’re going to go on to talk about what happened in North Carolina near the University of North Carolina, the three young students, two sisters and one of their, well, new husband, who were just gunned down, the police say over a parking spot, their family says it’s hate crime. Stay with us.
NBC News has suspended anchor Brian Williams for six months without pay for making false statements about a 2003 incident in Iraq. Williams apologized last week after it emerged he had wrongly claimed he was on board a U.S. helicopter downed by rocket fire. American soldiers publicly challenged Williams’ account, saying he was nowhere near the aircraft that came under attack. Williams has blamed the "fog of memory" for his mistake. But in a statement, NBC said Williams’ claims were "wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position." We are joined by Norman Solomon, author of "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We’re speaking to media critic Norman Solomon. I want to ask you about NBC News’s suspension of anchor Brian Williams for making false statements after he wrongly claimed he was on board a U.S. helicopter downed by rocket fire in Iraq in 2003. Norman Solomon, you wrote the book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. Can you talk about Brian Williams and the other lies around the Iraq War?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, Brian Williams was, of course, one of the many mass media spinners, not only for the invasion of Iraq, but later catastrophic interventions in Libya and elsewhere. This suspension story, the falsehood told by Brian Williams, is the kind of story that the mass corporate media absolutely love, because it’s about an individual personality, it’s not about structural power; it’s about a personal flaw or a misstatement or deception or lie, if you will, but not about constant streams of lies coming from institutions such as NBC News and many others that have billions of dollars of capital behind them.
And I think it’s important for us to remember that Brian Williams has run afoul of his fabulations, his lie that was told repeatedly to puff himself up in the context of glorifying the very kind of militarism that he was part of promoting in the first place. And if you look at his career—as of, unfortunately, many of his colleagues—we have to understand, or I think it’s important for us to understand, that the real tragedies, the real transgressions against truth, are virtually never challenged, almost never challenged, by those folks’ colleagues. And I would just sum it up this way: The Wall Street Journal front page yesterday described what Williams had done as telling a false war story, but in fact Williams and his colleagues are in the business of telling false war stories every day to, in effect, justify U.S. military interventions.
AMY GOODMAN: Interestingly, Norm, on Tuesday, Williams’ former boss at NBCUniversal, Bob Wright, defended Williams by pointing to his favorable coverage of the military, saying, quote, "He has been the strongest supporter of the military of any of the news players. He never comes back with negative stories, he wouldn’t question if we’re spending too much." Your response to this?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Yeah, well, in the corridors of power, being a suck-up to the U.S. military is a high praise and qualification. And, in fact, those journalists who have challenged the escalation, the automatic support for whatever the president wants in terms of going to war, those folks hit a glass ceiling pretty quickly within the media establishment.
In January, a federal jury in Virginia convicted former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling on nine felony counts, including espionage. Prosecutors accused Sterling of leaking classified information about a secret operation to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program to journalist James Risen of The New York Times. Risen later revealed how the risky operation could have inadvertently aided the Iranian nuclear program. Supporters of Sterling described him as a whistleblower, but prosecutors claimed he leaked the information to settle a score with the agency. Sterling is scheduled to be sentenced in April. He faces a maximum possible sentence of decades in prison. We speak with Norman Solomon, who reported from the Sterling trial. "We’ve got to support investigative journalists and whistleblowers. We can’t allow the government to drive a wedge between the two," Solomon says, co-founder of RootsAction.org, which has launched public campaigns to support both Sterling and Risen.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Norman, I also want to ask you about the recent conviction of Jeffrey Sterling, the former CIA officer who leaked classified information about a secret operation to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program to journalist James Risen of The New York Times. You were in the courtroom for the trial. Can you talk about the significance of the case?
NORMAN SOLOMON: An extremely important case, very underreported by the news media, a tremendous selective prosecution against one of the only African-American case officers in the CIA, somebody who went through channels as a whistleblower to the Senate Intelligence Committee to report in 2003 about a dumb and dangerous CIA operation aimed at Iran with nuclear design component information back in 2000. So, Sterling went on trial last month in federal court for revealing to the Senate Intelligence Committee something that the Senate Intelligence Committee needed to know, but the actual charges were, as you mentioned, that he leaked the classified info to James Risen. Being in the courtroom day after day for the seven-day trial, very disturbing, not only the selective prosecution, but also the fact no African Americans on the jury, 23 CIA officials testifying, and a tremendous amount of innuendo against the defendant in that case.
So, I really urge people to look into it more closely, because Jeffrey Sterling deserves support. All of the evidence presented by the prosecution was circumstantial. It was metadata, email and phone call metadata, without content of any incriminating nature. So the bottom line is, Jeffrey Sterling is facing a nine-count sentencing of federal felonies, up to 80 years in prison, on the basis of circumstantial evidence that is metadata. And let me announce right now that RootsAction.org today is launching a support campaign for the Sterling family fund, and people who want to find out more about that fund can go to RootsAction.org.
AMY GOODMAN: Norman Solomon, of course, James Risen got a lot more attention, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist who was being prosecuted, persecuted by both—from the Bush administration right through the Obama administration, but he was saying, no matter what happened, whether he would go to jail or not, he would not reveal his source. So, the fact that he didn’t do this, but did ultimately—did agree to be questioned, what was the significance of this?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, ultimately, I think that James Risen was very honorable and principled. He never gave any information to the court or anyone else to help the government identify any of his sources. And the government was clearly trying to push Risen up against the wall. He refused to flinch, and he stuck with his principles.
Speaking of principles, at RootsAction.org and elsewhere, in organizing campaigns on behalf of James Risen and now on behalf of Jeffrey Sterling, we’re really resolute with the principle that we’ve got to support investigative journalists and whistleblowers. We can’t allow the government to drive a wedge between the two. You can’t have the informed consent of the governed unless you have whistleblowers who give us the unofficial stories and journalists who are willing and able to report them.
AMY GOODMAN: Norman Solomon, we want to thank you for being with us, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, co-founder of RootsAction.org, author of many books, including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
One Billion Rising is the name of a global movement in more than 200 countries to end rape and sexual violence against women. The campaign highlights the startling statistic that one in every three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime — over one billion women. This year’s theme is "revolution." We are joined by two guests: V-Day founder and award-winning playwright Eve Ensler, creator of "The Vagina Monologues"; and Kimberle Crenshaw, a law professor at UCLA and Columbia University, and founder of the African American Policy Forum, whose new report is "Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Climbing Poe Tree performing "Awaken" at the Artistic Uprising here in New York City last Saturday, part of One Billion Uprising. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: One Billion Rising is the name of a global movement in more than 200 countries to end rape and sexual violence against women. The campaign was launched by playwright Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, and it highlights the startling statistic that one in every three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.
AMY GOODMAN: Eve Ensler joins us here in New York. We are also joined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, law professor at UCLA and Columbia University, V-Day board member, founder of the African American Policy Forum. Their new report is "Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected." Before we go to Boston with Professor Crenshaw, Eve, talk about the organizing that has been going on, even leading up to Valentine’s Day, to V-Day.
EVE ENSLER: Well, this is the third year, and it’s gone from One Billion Rising to One Billion Rising for Justice to One Billion Rising Revolution. And I’m really thrilled to say that we’re definitely 200 countries. But I think what’s really exciting this year is how the theme of revolution has been adopted from place to place. Yesterday I was at a luncheon with Dr. Bernice King, who is part of One Billion Rising Atlanta.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Martin Luther King’s daughter.
EVE ENSLER: Dr. Martin—and she was quoting her father, and she said, "A social movement that changes people is a revolt. A social movement that changes people and institutions is a revolution." And this year we’re seeing the deepening of One Billion Rising. We’re seeing restaurant workers who are rising to raise the minimum wage and end sexual harassment. We’re seeing vets rising across America to end sexual violence in the military. We’re seeing people throughout the world rising against poverty and contractual labor, farm workers rising against sexual harassment.
And I think one of the great things that’s happening this year is the risings are vast, in 200 countries, but they’re also multiple within countries. I got an email this morning that there’s a hundred cities in Italy alone rising. Thirty-four provinces—all of Afghanistan is rising. And I think what we’re seeing is a real tipping point in our movement, where the diversity, children, older people, men—we’re seeing the coming together of issues, whether it’s rising against the desecration of the Earth. Native American women are rising in the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota, looking at the connection between extraction and sexual abuse. And I think we’re really beginning to unite and come out of our silos and bring these movements together.
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Crenshaw, usually you’re here in New York or you’re in Los Angeles, but you’re in Boston right now.
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the report that you just came out with and how this relates to One Billion Rising?
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW: Well, we’ve been interested, in some time, in trying to address some of the specific obstacles that face girls of color. We’ve known for a while that there’s something called the school-to-prison pipeline. But for the most part, when the pipeline is discussed, it’s discussed primarily as something that affects boys. Recently, some numbers were released by the Department of Education that showed that in fact black girls, 12 percent of black girls, were actually suspended from school, and that that’s a rate that is multiple times more than white girls. So we decided we wanted to find out what was happening in New York and in Boston with black girls and what they told us. And we found some startling information.
Black girls are 10 times more likely to be suspended than white girls in New York, 11 times more likely in Boston. But equally importantly, what the girls told us was that they are suspended for things that white girls would not be, and sometimes for things that black boys would not be. So, they’re seen as defiant. They’re seen as aggressive. They’re seen as loud, rowdy. They say teachers see them as ghetto. So they’re facing specific kinds of stereotypes in the school that causes them to be suspended. And they also have burdens that no one else has. They’re the ones that take care of elderly people. They’re the ones that take their parents to the immigration office to translate. They’re the ones that look after little kids. So there are a lot of issues facing girls of color, black girls in particular. And we want to rise with One Billion Rising to lift those issues up, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, Eve Ensler, in terms of how people can find out what’s happening in this country and around the world, where do you go on the website?
EVE ENSLER: You go to OneBillionRising.org. You can either create a rising or join a rising. There are thousands and thousands of risings around the world. And this year the theme is drumming, dancing, resisting. And I think, really, it’s important to think, in your community, what are the forms of violence that you are resisting, and to create your rising, because this is a locally owned, locally determined, globally connected movement that everybody is invited to join.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. Eve Ensler here in New York, the award-winning playwright and creator of The Vagina Monologues and V-Day, global movement to stop violence against women and girls, the campaign called One Billion Rising particularly poignant today, coming out of North Carolina and what has happened there. And Kimberlé Crenshaw, thanks so much for joining us. We will link to your report at democracynow.org, the report, "Black Girls Matter."
We’re going to Colorado. We’ll be broadcasting from Denver Open Media on Friday. I’ll be speaking at the Iliff School of Theology tonight, Thursday, in Denver; tomorrow at Carbondale Public Library near Aspen.
Headlines:
Ukraine, Russia Agree on Ceasefire as Fighting Rages; IMF Unveils Loan Package
Ukraine and Russia have agreed on the main points of a ceasefire following all-night talks in Belarus. The truce would take effect on Sunday and see the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines. The deal comes amidst some of the worst fighting between separatist and Ukrainian forces to date and a pending U.S. decision on arming the government in Kiev. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has offered a new $40 billion rescue package for Ukraine’s ailing economy, most of it in loans.
Obama Sends Sweeping ISIS War Authorization Measure to Congress
President Obama has sent Congress a formal request to authorize military force against the Islamic State six months after the United States began bombing Iraq and Syria. The resolution imposes a three-year limit on U.S. operations, but does not put any geographic constraints. It also opens the door for ground combat operations in limited circumstances. Unveiling the resolution on Wednesday, Obama said it does not herald another Middle East ground war.
President Obama: "The resolution we’ve submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war like Afghanistan or Iraq. The 2,600 American troops in Iraq today largely serve on bases. And yes, they face the risks that come with service in any dangerous environment, but they do not have a combat mission. They are focused on training Iraqi forces, including Kurdish forces. As I’ve said before, I’m convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East."
Thousands Remember NC Shooting Victims; Father Says Killings an Anti-Muslim "Hate Crime"
Thousands gathered on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last night to remember the three Muslim students shot dead by a gunman who had posted anti-religious messages online. The victims were two sisters — 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha and 21-year-old Yusor Abu-Salha — and Yusor’s husband, 23-year-old Deah Barakat. Suspected gunman Craig Stephen Hicks has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Hicks had frequently posted anti-religious comments on his Facebook page and was a supporter of the group Atheists for Equality. On Wednesday, police said the killings resulted from a dispute over a parking space. But Mohammad Abu-Salha, Razan and Yusor’s father, described the shootings as a hate crime.
Mohammad Abu-Salha: "We’re sad. We’re distraught. We’re shocked. We’re angry. We feel we were treated unjustly. This is uncalled for. We heard from the media — not from the media, from the police folks that each one of these children had a bullet in the head. This was an execution style, this was a hate crime from a neighbor our children spoke about, they were uncomfortable with. He came to their apartment more than once, condescending, threatening and despising and talking down to them."
Greece, Creditors Fail to Reach Deal in 1st Round of Bailout Talks
Greece has failed to reach an agreement with European creditors following an opening round of talks in Brussels. The Greek Syriza government wants to revise the terms of its international bailout following last month’s historic election victory on an anti-austerity platform. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he remains confident a deal can be reached when negotiations resume next week.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis: "We heard many different, interesting opinions. We had the opportunity to table our views, and now we are proceeding to the next meeting, which is in very few days, on Monday, hoping that by the end of that one there is going to be a conclusion to the deliberations in a manner that is optimal from both the perspective of Greece and our European partners."
Thousands Rally in Athens to Back Syriza Rejection of Austerity
In a show of support for the government’s position, thousands of people rallied in Athens on Wednesday to reject internationally imposed austerity.
Protester: "The crucial point now is solidarity. We need solidarity. That’s the whole point. And the elections sent a message, I believe, sent a crucial message to all European people that now we have to be united and we need solidarity."
2 Al Jazeera Journalists Freed on Bail in Egypt
Two Al Jazeera journalists have been freed on bail in Egypt after more than 400 days behind bars. Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were released today at the start of a new trial. The pair and a third colleague, Peter Greste, were arrested as part of a crackdown on Al Jazeera after the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Despite their release, the case has not been dismissed. A new hearing will be held later this month.
U.N.: Over 300 Migrants Die at Sea Fleeing Libya
The United Nations says more than 300 people died at sea this week after attempting to flee Africa by boat. The migrants left from Libya on Saturday in a bid to reach Italy. A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced their deaths.
Carlotta Sami: "This morning at 7:30, nine survivors arrived to Lampedusa. They confirmed what other survivors previously said, that there were 203 people with them that have disappeared. They have been swallowed by the sea. But in addition to that, they confirmed that there was a fourth, a fourth dinghy, so we do not know about the fate of another hundred of people."
U.N.: Libya in "Worst Political Crisis & Escalation of Violence" Since Gaddafi’s Ouster
The Libyan migrants’ deaths comes as the United Nations has issued a new warning over the crisis in Libya, saying the country is beset by widespread abuses. A report this week by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says "Libya is facing the worst political crisis and escalation of violence" since the U.S.-backed ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is run by two different governments, each with their own parliaments and armies.
GOP-Backed Congress Clears Keystone XL Measure; Obama to Veto
The Republican-controlled Congress has cleared a measure to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The House approved the bill on Wednesday following Senate passage last month. However, the bill does not have enough votes to override a veto from President Obama, who has vowed to reject it.
FBI Contacting Anti-Keystone XL Activists over Shipment Blockades
Activists opposed to the Keystone XL oil pipeline have been receiving phone calls and house visits from the FBI. An attorney told the Canadian Press news agency at least a dozen people in the northwestern United States have been contacted by FBI agents. The agency appears to be focusing on people involved with efforts to block the transport of "megaloads" — massive shipments of oil equipment bound for the Canadian tar sands.
Akai Gurley’s Family Demands Conviction as NYPD Officer Arraigned for Fatal Shooting
The New York City police officer accused in the killing of unarmed African American Akai Gurley has been indicted. Gurley was in the dimly lit stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project when Officer Peter Liang opened fire. On Wednesday, Liang was arraigned on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and official misconduct. Liang reportedly did not call for help or respond to police radio contact for several minutes after shooting Gurley dead. Defense attorneys say the shooting was accidental. After the hearing, Gurley’s partner, Kimberly Ballinger, said her family wants the indictment to lead to a conviction.
Kimberly Ballinger: "I want to thank the DA’s office for getting us an indictment. This is the first step in justice. Now all we need is a conviction, which I have faith that we will get. … It’s hard. There’s like no way to express it. It’s really hard when someone that used to be in a home isn’t there anymore. Not only is it hard for me and my kids. It’s hard for his mom and his aunt and his family, as well."
3 Sentenced to Prison for 2011 Mississippi Hate Crime Murder of Black Auto Worker
Three white men have been sentenced to prison for the 2011 murder of an African-American man in Jackson, Mississippi. The three and other friends beat James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old black auto plant worker, while yelling "white power!" and other racial epithets. Surveillance footage then shows one of the individuals’ truck driving over Anderson, killing him instantly. Anderson was also a gay man with a same-sex partner, but it is unclear if his sexual orientation factored into the deadly attack. On Wednesday, Deryl Paul Dedmon received 50 years in prison; John Aaron Rice, 18-and-a-half years; and Dylan Wade Butler, seven years. All were convicted of the commission of a hate crime.
Illinois Gov. Targets Public Sector Unions with Exec Order on Fees
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois has launched a new effort to undermine the state’s public sector unions. Rauner issued an executive order this week that bars unions from requiring all state workers to pay fees equivalent to union dues. The measure applies to around 6,500 Illinois public workers who pay fees to unions but are not members. Around 42,000 state employees are unionized. Union leaders have argued the "fair share" fees are justified because nonmembers still benefit from collective bargaining. Rauner, a former private equity manager, is the latest Midwestern Republican governor to challenge public sector employees following similar measures in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. In response, Illinois labor leader Roberta Lynch called the order a "blatantly illegal abuse of power … that can’t hide [Rauner’s] real agenda: silencing working people and their unions who stand up for the middle class."
Activists Protest Tenant Practices of Private Equity Giant Blackstone Group
In New York City, Spanish activists and local housing advocates gathered at the headquarters of the private equity firm Blackstone Group to protest its treatment of tenants around the world. Following the global financial crisis, Blackstone has been at the forefront of Wall Street’s takeover of the housing market. In the United States, the firm has become the largest owner of single-family rental homes in the country. In Spain, Blackstone has swept up nearly 42,000 rental and mortgaged units. Critics in both countries accuse the company of harassing tenants and driving up rents in an effort to force people out of their homes. Pablo La Parra of the group Marea Granate NYC, described the problem in Spain, where the unemployment rate is 25 percent.
Pablo La Parra: "The problem right now is that many banks that were rescued with public funds are selling their mortgages to private vulture funds as Blackstone. Many people is facing eviction because Blackstone’s strategy is to raise the prices for the tenants so people is no longer able to pay the rent. So they leave the apartment, and then Blackstone can renegotiate the prices. So they are earning money with people’s suffering."
Read the column by Juan González in the New York Daily News titled "U.S. firms buy housing in Spain, raise rent and evict tenants."
CBS News Correspondent Killed in New York City Car Crash
The veteran CBS News correspondent Bob Simon has died in a car crash in New York City. Simon was a longtime contributor to the news program 60 Minutes. He was 73.
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COLUMN
The Flame of Intolerance Still Flickers in Alabama by Amy Goodman
This week, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore released an order that no same-sex marriage licenses be granted in the state. He was responding to a decision by a federal district court that declared unconstitutional Alabama’s ban on gay marriage. When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal of the ruling, the ban was legally overturned, and Alabama became the 37th state to allow marriage equality. That is, until Chief Justice Moore got involved. Now, the legality of same-sex marriage is in question, with some counties issuing marriage licenses, and some refusing.
Chief Justice Moore is a radical conservative, a strident evangelical Christian. Back in 2003, he made national headlines when he placed a massive granite block, on which were carved the Ten Commandments, inside the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery. He defied a federal court order to remove the religious monument, and was removed from office. Despite being disgraced, he was re-elected in 2012. He recently suggested at an evangelical Christian event that the First Amendment only protects Christians, as, he claims, that was the religion of the nation’s founders. On the TV program “Good Morning America” earlier this month, he speculated what might follow were same-sex marriages allowed:
“Do they stop with one man and one man, or one woman and one woman, or do they go to multiple marriages? Or do they go with marriages between men and their daughters, or women and their sons?”
Defying Moore’s monumental intolerance, loving couples still wed in Alabama this week. The first couple to marry in Montgomery were Tori Sisson and Shante Wolfe, both of whom have adopted the surname Wolfe-Sisson. When I asked Tori how it felt to be the first couple married there after the Alabama ban was overturned, she said, “It feels like we need a nap.”
Shante explained their insistence on marrying in Alabama: “We said that we wouldn’t go anywhere else, because we work here, we pay our taxes here, and we’re not going to go to another state just to come back and our union not be recognized. We’ve had several people tell us, ‘Well, just go to New York, or just go somewhere else.’ But no, we had faith that Alabama would move in a positive direction. And it has.” Tori has been involved with organizing this historic victory, as the Alabama field organizer for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay and lesbian rights organization.
Inequality, racism, segregation. These injustices persist with remarkable tenacity. I asked Montgomery-based attorney Bryan Stevenson about these courageous women. He said: “We have got to learn to respect the rights of people who are minorities. ... There was never a time when you could get the majority of people in the state to vote to end racial segregation.” Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which has just released a report called, “Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror.” The report documents close to 4,000 murders by lynching, which is 700 more than the previously accepted best estimates. Stevenson said, “At the beginning of the end of Reconstruction we see violence and threats and intimidation beginning to assert itself to sustain racial hierarchy. White supremacy wouldn’t succeed if it wasn’t enforced with violence and threat and terror.”
The systematic, mass violence, perpetrated with what Stevenson called a “carnival-like” atmosphere, was designed and sustained to terrorize the African-American population in the South. He explained, “The whole North and West is populated with African-Americans who fled to Detroit and Chicago and Cleveland and Los Angeles, not as people looking for opportunities, but as refugees from terror.”
Amidst the terror, courageous people rose up, and, during the civil-rights era, shifted the course of history. March 7 will mark the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when 600 people, including a young John Lewis, who is now a distinguished member of Congress, began a march from Selma to Montgomery to challenge restrictive Jim Crow voting laws in Alabama. As the marchers approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were brutally attacked by the Alabama State Police. This was just two years after the racist governor of Alabama, George Wallace, promised to enforce “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
Intolerance persists, but people push back with a force more powerful, the force of movements, of grass-roots organizing. Rosa Parks and thousands with her did it in 1955 with the Montgomery bus boycott. As Stevenson told me: “This is a state where you sometimes have to stand when other people are sitting. It’s a place where you have to speak when other people are quiet ... this is a state that’s going to continually have to confront its resistance to complying with the Constitution and respecting the dignity and aspirations of all people.”
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.
© 2015 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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