Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20130107 : comparemela.

This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Up to 18 people have been killed in the latest u. S. Drone attacks on pakistans tribal areas. The strikes hit what pakistani officials described as separate compounds belonging to the Pakistani Taliban in south missouri stan. The taliban commander was reportedly among the dead. The ongoing drone attacks come days after a federal judge ruled the Obama Administration is under no obligation to publicly disclose their legal justification. The American Civil Liberties union and the New York Times had filed a lawsuit under the freedom of information act demanding u. S. Government disclose the legal basis for launching drone strikes overseas. The suit was filed after the u. S. Kill the americanborn cleric Anwar Al Awlaki in yemen despite having never charged him with a crime. In upholding the obama at the ministrations right to secrecy, u. S. District judge Colleen Mcmahon expressed misgivings about the Drone Program itself writing the aliceinwonderland nature some of the first details have emerged on the white houses effort to tackle gun control in the aftermath of last months shooting massacre in newtown, connecticut. The washington buzz reports the task force overseen by Vice President joe biden is mulling proposals include some reinstatement of the expired ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, universal background checks for all gun buyers, a database to track the trajectory arms nationwide, more detailed Mental Health checks, and harsher penalties for carrying a gun near a school or giving one to minors. The administration is reportedly hoping to counter nra opposition by convincing gun retailers such as walmart that the new measures would help their profits. News of the proposals comes after yet another shooting in aurora, colorado, site of the nations second worse than rampage last year after newtown. A gunman killed three people in and our colorado home on saturday before being shot dead by police. Aurora is where suspect james holmes allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 others during a midnight movie screening in july. In Aurora Police spokesperson described the latest shooting. Kept persisting on him coming out and surrounding surrendering. He did not. Then he came to a second story window with a gun and fired upon as a second time, this time shots were returned. The suspect was hit. He has been pronounced dead. We have sent people in and have confirmed there were three other victims inside who have all been pronounced dead at this time. Colorado is set to open its largest shooting rage to date, the Cheyenne Mountain shooting complex, near Colorado Springs later this month. Three weeks after the it newtown, massacre, former democratic Congressmember Gabby Giffords of arizona has been among the latest visitors to the grieving connecticut town. She suffered major head injuries and nearly lost her life in the tucson shooting rampage that killed six people two years ago this month. On friday, she met with newtown officials before visiting with families of the newtown victims. President obama has signed into law a measure providing 9. 7 billion in initial federal aid for victims of superstorm sandy. The house approved a bill friday after House Speaker john boehner canceled a vote on a wider 60 billion package, a move that sparked harsh criticism. As the smaller bill against on the house floor, democratic Congressmember Steny Hoyer of maryland and the idea of velazquez of new york announced bronners decision. While it is never too late to do the right thing, it is late that were doing this thing. And we are doing only the bare minimum. It is indefensible that as americans continue to suffer from the impact of sandy, the House Majority could not get their act together to bring the entire package to a vote. House Speaker Boehner says he will being the remaining 51 billion in relief to vote on january 15. President obama is expected until the nomination today former republican senator chuck hagel of nebraska as a net secretary defense, replacing leon panetta. A vietnam war veteran and three term member of the senate, he has faced criticism from right wing foes over his positions on israel and dealing with iran, as well as from progressive critics for making denigrating comments about gays in government in 1998, for which only recently apologized. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell vowed a tough confirmation process for hagel. I think there will be a lot of tough questions of senator hagel, but he will be treated fairly by republicans in the senate. His views with regard to israel and iran and all the other positions he has taken over the years will be i think very much a matter of discussion during the confirmation process. During todays news conference, president obama is also expected to announce the nomination of counterterrorism adviser john brennan to head the cia. He was a rumored pick for the job when obama was first elected in 2008, but was forced to withdraw from consideration amidst protests over his role at the cia under the bush administration. Brennan has publicly supported this tsas policies of so called enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition. He was the first Obama Administration official to publicly confirm drone attacks overseas and to defend their legalities. War on expected nominations of chuck hagel and john brennan after the headlines. The Obama Administration reportedly is considering keeping a residual force between three and 9000 troops in afghanistan after the formal withdrawal date of 2014. The wall street journal cited the new figures after previous reports suggested the u. S. Is mulling a Troop Deployment of up to 20,000. Bahrain top court has upheld the convictions of 13 opposition leaders on allegations of plotting to overthrow the u. S. Backed regime. The activists were sentenced by military court in 2011, eight of them to live behind bars after leading massive protests against bahrains sunni monarchy. Todays ruling marks the end of their Legal Options after an Appeals Court upheld the convictions in september. Another seven activists were also convicted in the initial case, but did not file appeals because they were tried in absentia. Soon president Bashar Alassad is vowing to continue his governments fight against rebel groups while ruling out talks with the armed opposition. In his first public address in six months, alassad called Syrian Rebels a tool of foreign intervention. We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word. We are confronting a vicious, external war. This form of war is more fragmenting and more dangerous than conventional war because it does [indiscernible] it pulls us into carrying out this plan. This war targets syria using a handful of syrians and many foreigners. It is trying to use us to tear down our trees and destroy our foundation. It is with pity this is happening with the help from some our own. Alassad said he is open a dialogue but only with those opposition groups tolerated by his regime. His appearance came days after the u. N. Reported the death toll from nearly two years of fighting in syria has reached around 60,000. In the rebelheld town of aleppo, syria residents said his fellow citizens dont trust assad. Any normal citizen listening to his speech heard him say that he asks for the refugees to return to their homes. At the same time he says he will not be deterred in fighting terrorism. How can a citizen go back, when theyre being attacked with missiles and tanks . There is great contradiction in the speech. Were at a point or citizens do not believe a word he says. In indiana, five men accused in the gang rape and death of a 23yearold woman have appeared in court for the first time. The unidentified victim was raped on a moving bus in new delhi last month, dying from her injuries two weeks later. The case has sparked a nationwide call for reforms to increase punishment for rapists and prevent legal cases from languishing. At a candlelight vigil in india on sunday, hundreds of women pay tribute to the victim and demanded government action. I dont know how much security will increase. But i hope [indiscernible] later in our broadcast, we that took at a rape victi place in steubenville, ohio, a young student by Football Players. South africa has deployed up to 400 soldiers in the Central African republic in a bid to help the government of peter grubb led bands. The rebels have claimed a series of victories in recent weeks after accusing the government of violating a 2007 peace accord. It several other african countries including neighboring chad have sent troops to help fight the rebels. Speaking from the capital, a spokesperson of Doctors Without Borders with the Central African republics turmoil marks a silent crisis. So far we have labeled the crisis in the Central African republic as a silent one because of the very poor health indicated that already existed, while a the same time for a limited attention for this crisis. Even before the Current Crisis broke out, already very few developments, ngos or support or business. This country at the best of times, many people could have done with a lot of help. That situation is only one to become more complicated. The Central African republic is among the poorest countries in the world despite having deposits of gold, diamonds, and uranium which are mined by foreign interests. Canadas ill know more movement expanded to the u. S. Border on saturday with a series of blockades and actions. Police closed the international bridge connecting ontario with michigan after hundreds of protesters marched from the rest of the canadian side. Since the protests were also held a bridges, roads, rail lines, another border crossings across canada. The actions came one day after chief Theresa Spence announced she joined a meeting between canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders. Spence has been on Hunger Strike since december 11, demanding a meeting with harper, an action that has helped spur the idle more movements called into a broader call for political transformation, indigenous rights, and environmental justice. Idle more organizers have called for a global day of action on january 11, the same day that spence is slated to meet with harper in the one month anniversary of her Hunger Strike. Two Major Health Care unions have announced a merger after previously teaming up with the health giant Kaiser Permanente a. The 85,000 member California Nurses Association will join the 10,000member National Union of healthcare workers for a new union entirely of workers in the health sector. Both unions have waged strikes against kaiser in the last two years. The move is expected to stoke tensions with the two million Member Service employees interNational Union, with plans already in place to recruit the seius Kaiser Permanente workers in california. The seiu defeated the any h. W. In a bitterly contested vote among Kaiser Permanente California Workers in 2011, but the National Labor Relations Board called for an election after finding that the seiu had colluded with Kaiser Permanente to influence the outcome. Then the tories 10 Supermax Prison in illinois is officially closed its doors on the transfer of the last of its prisoners. Prisoner advocates and della members led a campaign for the shuttering of the prison citing harsh conditions that included the use of longterm solitary confinement for a decade or longer. Illinois governor announced its closure last year citing budgetary concerns. The American Civil Liberties Unions National prison project praised the closure saying those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President obama is expected today to nominate john brennan as the next director of the Central Intelligence agency and former republican senator chuck hagel as defense secretary. We begin by looking at john brennan. 25 year cia veteran who currently serves as obamas top counterterrorism adviser. He has played a key role in the expansion of obamas secret drone war and has been dubbed by some to be the assassination czar. He was a rumored pick when obama was first elected in 2008, but forced to withdraw from consideration amid protests over his role at the cia under george w. Bush. Brennan had publicly supported the cas policies of socalled enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition. Joining us by videostream is marcy wheeler, investigative blogger who is written extensively about john brennan. She writsh the website and joins us from michigan. Tell us to john brennan is. If barack obama had the equivalent of a dick cheney, someone who is involved in all of the National Security decisions, is the last person to speak to obama before he makes these decisions, if we trust him, if we believe he actually asks obama decisions, the one to a centralized almost all of these decisions in terms of, it would be john brennan. And obamas first term, brennan has been the one who has been at obamas side for all of these National Security decisions. I want to turn to his remarks last may when john brennan publicly confirmed the United States has used drones to conduct targeted killings overseas. President obama believes if done carefully, deliberately, and responsibly, we can be more transparent and still ensure our nations security. Let me say it as simply as i can. Yes, in full accordance with the law and order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save american lives, the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific al qaeda terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft often referred to publicly as drones. I am here today because president obama has instructed us to be more open with the American People about these efforts. That is john brennan who president obama has said will be nominating to be head of the ca. Marcy wheeler, your comments . What your leaders lister should know, john brennan has lied explicitly about drones in the past. He basically said there had been no casualties at all from drones. When he makes public statements, he had a famous press conference right after the killing of Osama Bin Laden or he made a lot of misleading statements as well. When john brennan says something, you should not necessarily believe him. We know from what he said in that speech there were specific details that were inaccurate. Obamas notion of being transparent with john brennan, a proven liar, does not fly. Moreover, given that we know now we did not know when he made this speech john brennan is the guy that basically, like a said, the last Decision Maker before obama signs off. He is a pretty big incentive to spend the process in such a way he is protected legally. If in fact theyre not using rolls that would abide by international law, he has quite a bit of exposure. Now he can claim to be transparent and make this speech about these great standards theyre using which theyre not. The speech he made does not account for signature strikes, which involves patterns rather than specific intelligence. And protect him, but it is not transparency. The administration has repeatedly refused to be transparent on most basic issues with regard to their program. Last may john brennan was the target of a protest by Medea Benjamin of codepink. She disrupted a speech as he defended u. S. Drone strikes. Over the years how many people are you willing to sacrifice . Wiry line to the American People and not say how many innocents have been killed . Thank you, maam, for expressing your views. Theyre all the time afterwards. In pakistan who is killed because he wanted to document the drone strikes. I speak out on behalf of al awlaki, 16yearold born in denver, killed in yemen just because his father was someone we dont mind. I speak out on behalf of the constitution, on behalf of the rule of law. I love my country. You are making us less safe by killing so many innoce