February 27, 2003
Bush’s Feb 26th Speech (4:02)
Last night, in a televised address to an Annual dinner of the American Enterprise Institute President Bush again warned that the UN Security Council needed to assert its authority over Saddam Hussein. He laid out his administration’s plans for nation building in what he claims will be a democratic post-Saddam Iraq, while in his first significant remarks in 8 months on the Israeli Palestinian conflict, Bush said that ousting the Iraqi president would bring peace to the region. Nadja Middleton reports.
British MP’s Revolt! (2:10)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair to day went to pain to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a key European ally of the UK and US in their plans for war on Iraq. This on the heels of yesterday’s revolt in the British Parliament against Blair with nearly 200 MP’s voting for a motion that called the case for war “unproven.” Anastasia Kershaw has more from London.
Turkish Parliament Still Holds Out (3:18)
While Labor Parliamentarians in Britain openly defy Tony Blair in his calls for war, members of Turkey’s ruling Islamic AK Party are holding out against a deal their leaders signed with the United States to allow 60,000 US troops to launch a Northern Front against Iraq. From the Turkish Capital Ankara, Aaron Glantz reports.
FBI Raids Around Country (4:00)
In coordinated raids, the FBI yesterday searched the offices of two Islamic charities making five arrests. Four men from the charity group Help the Needy were arrested in Syracuse, New York for violating the international emergency economic powers act by sending at least four million dollars to Iraq. The organization was charged with twelve counts of money laundering. At the same moment as the Syracuse raid, the FBI was raiding the Detroit-based Islamic Assembly of North America, and arresting a foreign student at the university of Idaho allegedly connected with the group. Leigh Robartes has more from Moscow, Idaho.
Taco Bell Protests (3:32)
On Monday the Coalition of Immokalee workers began a hunger strike outside the headquarters of Taco Bell in Irvine, California. A community based worker organization from Immokalee Florida, the coalition has been campaigning since January 2000 for tomato pickers first raise in 25 years, inclusion in grower/buyer discussions, and a corporate code of conduct to eliminate slavery from the tomato fields of the southeast where Taco Bell gets a third of its tomatoes. Mike Moon has covered the hunger strikers all week and files this report.
Mumia Abu Jamal: Black History Month (3:13)