March 27, 2003
Latest of War on Iraq
The U.S. today sent some 12,000 extra troops to the Persian Gulf, this as the war enters its second week and the numbers of civilian casualties is growing. Overnight around 1,000 US paratroopers landed in an airfield near the Kurdish city of Arbil as the invasion from the north has begun. And as President Bush and PM Blair today told the UN to resume the Oil for Food program, Nadja Middleton reports that the carnage and destruction from the war is mounting.
Turks Against War
Tens of thousands of Turkish workers walked off the job today in the first general strike to hit Turkey since the start of George Bush’s war on Iraq. Teachers, doctors, architects, engineers, and government workers all joined the strike — taking to the streets in anti-war demonstrations around the country where they were met by equal numbers of riot police equipped with automatic weapons and armed personnel carriers. As Aaron Glantz reports from Ankara, the battle lines in Turkey are clearly drawn — with big business supporting the American Army and organized labor siding with the more than 90 percent of Turks who oppose the war.
Activists Speak Out Against CNN
This week in San Francisco and Washington DC, protesters picketed the offices of CNN, calling on the network to start showing the damage wrought by the US war in Iraq. Protesters say the media are cheerleading for the pentagon, and keeping the images of civilian casualties from an ignorant US public. Josh Chaffin has this report on the media landscape at wartime.
Texas Executes a Schizophrenic
Last night Texas executed paranoid schizophrenic, James Blake Colburn, after his post-conviction remedies were finally exhausted. From KPFT in Houston, Texas Eric Thompson reports.
Small Pox Vaccine Kills
A second health care worker died after receiving a small pox vaccination. The unidentified healthcare worker, an employee of Peninsular Regional Medical Center in Maryland, collapsed from a heart attack. Some high profile officials have been vaccinated against smallpox in recent weeks, including CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding, Surgeon General Richard Carmona, and Outgoing Federal bio-terrorism adviser D.A. Henderson. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee and a surgeon, not only received the vaccine, he’s being trained to vaccinate others. But the program is still far below its goal of 450-500,000 vaccinated health care workers. Kellia Ramares has an update.
