Archive - Aug 31, 2010

• Civil rights groups challenge US plans to kill terrorist suspects abroad
• US combat operations end in Iraq as millions remain displaced
  (click here for web only version)
• IMF expands lending programs to prevent financial crisis
• Palestinian hunger striker challenges Israeli ‘Freeze Policy’

• New York first in nation to give domestic workers labor protection
• Crews cleaning up Michigan oil spill worked in unsafe and unsanitary conditions
• National Guard bolsters Border Patrol; drones take to border skies Wednesday
• Union Carbide execs may be re-charged over Bhopal in Indian courts
• Kashmir cycle of violence and protest continues – eleven year old boy killed

Two civil liberties groups are challenging the Obama Administration's assertion that it can carry out targeted killings of U.S. citizens who are terrorism suspects, but who are residing abroad outside of a conflict zone. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on Monday. Defenders of the program say if the lawsuit is successful, it would severely hamper the country’s ability to defend itself. But the ACLU argues killing U.S. citizens in foreign countries violates the constitution and international law. FSRN’s Jacob Fenston reports.

(extended version)

President Obama addresses the nation tonight from the Oval Office with a speech focusing on Iraq. Today marks the end of US combat operations in the country. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki said that the drawdown reinstates sovereignty for Iraq. But despite assurances by political leaders, the people of Iraq are still struggling. A political crisis has left many without basic services; a recent spate of bombings and attacks have left dozens dead and injured; and millions of refugees wait to return home.

For more we're joined by Hadani Ditmars. She was one of the first journalists to chronicle the effects of the US-imposed sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s. She's the author of the book Dancing in the No Fly Zone and co-editor of the New Internationalist.

More work by Hadani Ditmars: www.hidaniditmars.com

Post-Invasion Fact sheet from the New Internationalist: http://www.newint.org/features/2010/05/01/post-invasion-iraq-facts/

photo credit: www.hadaniditmars.com

Click here for the original broadcast version

President Obama addresses the nation tonight from the Oval Office with a speech focusing on Iraq. Today marks the end of US combat operations in the country. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki said that the drawdown reinstates sovereignty for Iraq. But despite assurances by political leaders, the people of Iraq are still struggling. A political crisis has left many without basic services; a recent spate of bombings and attacks have left dozens dead and injured; and millions of refugees wait to return home.

For more we're joined by Hadani Ditmars. She was one of the first journalists to chronicle the effects of the US-imposed sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s. She's the author of the book Dancing in the No Fly Zone and co-editor of the New Internationalist.

More work by Hadani Ditmars: www.hidaniditmars.com

Post-Invasion Fact sheet from the New Internationalist: http://www.newint.org/features/2010/05/01/post-invasion-iraq-facts/

Photo: www.hadaniditmars.com

Click here for web-only extended version

The International Monetary Fund is expanding its lending programs, especially to middle-income countries that have trouble accessing capital. The IMF is calling it part of its “crisis-prevention toolkit,” designed to prevent a future financial crisis. But critics say the only thing the IMF is saving is itself. They say the IMF was becoming irrelevant, and that its track record in financial crises is spotty: often adding to the damage, instead of providing rescue. Tanya Snyder has more.

A man from East Jerusalem has been on a hunger strike for four weeks outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin, Germany. Firas Maraghy is protesting because the Israeli authorities have refused to register his marriage to a German national, and they also refuse to allow his wife and nine-month old daughter the right to reside in East Jerusalem.

Maraghy is just one of thousands of Palestinians in similar predicaments due to Israeli policies put into place after the second intifada. Cinnamon Nippard has more from Berlin.