As brazen acts of political murder go in this turbulent century, the death of Saudi-born journalist Jamal Khashoggi two years ago is one of the more chilling. Khashoggi, at the time a Washington Post columnist pushing for reforms in his homeland, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, to pick up documents he needed to marry Turkish PhD student Hatice Cengiz, who waited outside. When he never came back out, hours of worry turned into days of increasing press scrutiny, until it was revealed he had been tortured, killed and dismembered inside the building by men connected to Saudi Arabia’s security forces, with specific ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Dec 23, 2020
President Trump threatened to thwart the $900 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief package, which he called a “disgrace” in a video released on Twitter Tuesday night.
President Donald Trump: “I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple. I am also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill, or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package. And maybe that administration will be me.”
Trump did not say whether he would veto the bill, which passed with a veto-proof majority. Top Democrats seized on Trump’s remarks Tuesday night to repeat their own calls for higher direct payments. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reminded Trump that Republicans blocked the move. Pelosi tweeted, “Democrats are ready to bring this to the floor this week by unanimou
HeadlineDec 23, 2020
President Trump issued 15 pardons and five commutations Tuesday, including pardons for four former Blackwater contractors involved in a massacre in Iraq, three corrupt former Republican lawmakers, two people convicted in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an undocumented immigrant.
The Blackwater guards included Nicholas Slatten, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre, when he and other Blackwater mercenaries opened fire with machine guns and grenades on a crowded public space in Baghdad, killing 17 unarmed civilians, including women and children. The youngest victim was a 9-year-old named Ali Kinani. This is Ali’s father Mohammed speaking to Jeremy Scahill and Rick Rowley in a short documentary called “Blackwater’s Youngest Victim.”
Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill and Rick Rowley. Read Scahill’s article on the story at TheNation.com
Transcript
AMY GOODMAN: We bring you today an explosive
Democracy Now! exclusive. Last weekend, Vice President Joe Biden announced the U.S. Justice Department would appeal the dismissal of the criminal case against five Blackwater operatives accused of being behind the infamous Nisoor Square massacre in Baghdad in September of 2007.
Some 17 Iraqis were killed and more than 20 wounded in 15 minutes of sustained gunfire. On New Year’s Eve, Federal Judge Ricardo Urbina threw out the cases, but not for lack of evidence or because the men are not guilty. Urbina charged that prosecutors had committed gross misconduct in the case and violated the constitutional rights of the Blackwater men.
on democracy now! for two days. and then we will play an expert of his address right now. we also set with noam chomsky for a moderated conversation. you get all that in a double dvd. the author of the new york times bestseller and this book, debuted as a new york times bestseller, number five on the bestseller list, texas inside america s new covert wars. the foot soldiers in these battles operate globally and inside the united states with orders from the white house to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture, and kill and the jewels. it is a remarkable book the consequences of the declaration that the world is a battlefield. as jeremy scahill uncovers these most important foreign- policy story of all time, he reports from the front lines in this high-stakes investigation, explores the depth of america s global killing machine. he goes beneath the service of these covert wars, conducted in the shuttles shadows, based on unprecedented access. he tells a chilling stor