Tuesday, April 08, 2003

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US Warfare Kills Journalists in Iraq
The Guardian is reporting that US commanders claim that significant enemy fire was coming from both the Palestine Hotel and Al-Jazeera building in downtown Baghdad, attacked earlier today by US forces, killing three journalists and injuring several more. The US military claims its forces were using "inherent right of self-defense" and says it was unfortunate the buildings were being used by Journalists. One of the journalists killed, Tayab Ayoub was a colleague of FSRN correspondent Oula Farawati and a cameraman for Al Jazeera. Séverine Cazes, head of the Middle East Desk for Reporters Without Borders, spoke with KPFK saying the US is purposefully targeting the media outlets in Iraq. Also joining us from Baghdad where he too was inside the Hotel Palestine which the US bombed this morning is Swedish Independent Journalist Urban Hamid.

Bush in Northern Ireland
Meanwhile President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair just concluded their two day meeting in Belfast. Bush crossed the Atlantic, ostensibly, to pay Blair back for his unwavering political support and to talk about the Northern Ireland Peace process. The War on Iraq and the Middle East peace process figured high on their agenda. Nadja Middleton reports.

Congo Massacre
Late last week the United Nations began reporting that a massacre had taken place in the north eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they estimated some 1000 people had died. The UN characterized the massacre as the result of ethnic conflict, yet as Dena Montague, recently reporting from Congo capital Kinshasa tells us, the international community could be doing more to stop such massacres.

A Texas Conscientious Objector
Applying for conscientious objector status in order to avoid military combat can take a long time for enlisted men and women as a soldier stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas recently discovered. Monday morning, his division shipped into the Iraqi war zone before he could file the proper paperwork, leaving him in the precarious position of fighting on the front lines for a war he believes is unjust. From KPFT, in Houston, Texas Renee Feltz has more.

Haitian Refugee Freed
As the political crisis continues in Haiti and high level delegations from the Organization of American States scramble to find a resolution to the situation there, many from the last set of Haitians immigrants to come ashore in Florida, still suffer in detention at Krome. Recently Human rights groups secured one success by getting one of them free. Ian Forrest has the story