Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20150424 : vimarsana.co

LINKTV Democracy Now April 24, 2015

Obtained by the new yorker magazine shows a former teenage prisoner Kalief Browder, being , abused on two separate occasions. In one clip from 2012, the teenager is violently hurled to the ground while he is handcuffed. In another video, browder is attacked by almost a dozen other teenagers. Then, president obama has apologized after the white house revealed a u. S. Drone strike in pakistan killed an American Government contractor and an italian aid worker held by al qaeda in january. As president and commanderinchief, i take full responsibility for all our Counterterrorism Operations. Including the one that inadvertently took the lives of warren and giovanni. I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, i offer our deepest apologies to the families. Amy well get reaction from the aclu. Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The fate of the armenians is exemplary for the history of mass extermination, ethnic cleansing, expulsions, even genocide of which the 20th century stands for in such a gruesome manner. Amy on april 24, 1915, the government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic premeditated genocide of the armenian peoplean unarmed christian minority living under turkish rule. An estimated 1. 5 million armenians were exterminated through direct killing starvation, torture, and forced death marches. Another million fled into permanent exile. Well speak Peter Balakian, author of, the burning tigris the Armenian Genocide and americas response and with two armenian americans here in denver, colorado. Where an Armenian Genocide monument will be unveiled today at the state capital. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President obama has apologized after the white house revealed a u. S. Drone strike killed an American Government contractor and an italian aid worker held hostage by alqaeda in january. Despite hundreds of hours of surveillance and nearconstant visibility of the alqaeda site, officials said they did not know the hostages were there. Officials said the strike also killed an american linked to al qaeda, ahmed farouq, while another american, al qaeda member adam gadahn, was killed in a separate strike. Obama apologized to the families of hostages Warren Weinstein and giovanni lo porto. As president and as commanderinchief, i take full responsibility for all our Counterterrorism Operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of worn and giovanni. I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, i offer our deepest apologies to the families. Amy well have more on the drone strike later in the broadcast. European leaders have vowed to triple spending on Border Protection as part of a plan to address a migrant crisis, after up to 900 people died when their ship capsized in the mediterranean. Amnesty international blasted the plan as woefully inadequate and shameful, noting the Border Program patrol[s] within 30 miles of italian and maltese coasts, far from where most deaths occur. The u. S. Senate has confirmed Loretta Lynch as the first africanamerican woman attorney general. Democratic senator Patrick Leahy praised her confirmation but rued how long it took. She becomes the first out of 82 attorneys general in our nations history to face a filibuster, has had to wait longer than any other. She is an historic nominee. On one hand, for the right reasons, first africanamerican woman highly, highly qualified. Everybody agrees with that. But what a shame that we had the second part of history to have her be the first out of 82 filibustered, to be held to this very disturbing double standard. Amy Loretta Lynch presided over controversial terrorism cases as the top federal prosecutor in brooklyn. She supports bulk nsa surveillance and disagrees with president obamas stance marijuana may not be more dangerous than alcohol. Comcast has reportedly dropped its bid to acquire Time Warner Cable in a deal that would have merged the countrys two largest cable providers. The move follows reports of opposition from the Justice Department and federal Communications Commission over the merger, which would have left a Single Company in control of 57 of the Broadband Internet market. In maryland, governor larry hogan deployed state troopers to baltimore amid days of protests against the death of freddie gray. Gray died sunday of spinal injuries a week after an arrest during which a witness said he was bent like a pretzel. Police have now confirmed gray was not wearing a seatbelt in a police van, where he was handcuffed and in leg irons. Baltimore resident randy wellington attended thursdays protest. Im here to fight for the justice of freddie gray and all those that have been persecuted by the Baltimore City Police Department as well as the Police Department all around this world. Were getting sick and tired of being persecuted for no a pair of reason. And i think it should stop. Amy the family of Michael Brown has failed a civil lawsuit against the city of ferguson missouri, over the wrongful death of their eighteenyearold son by Police Officer darren wilson. While wilson avoided both criminal and federal civil rights charges over the shooting, brown family attorney anthony gray said the lawsuit could present new evidence. The evidence has not changed. At the presentation of that evidence will. We expect to put on evidence that you never heard about before, never seen. Amy former cia director and retired Us Army General David Petraeus has been sentenced to two years probation and a 100,000 fine after pleading guilty to leaking highly classified information to his biographer and lover paula broadwell. Petraeus will avoid jail time, unlike fellow leakers, like Chelsea Manning and john kiriakou. The fine is reportedly less than he gets for a single speaking appearance. Deutsche bank has become the latest Financial Firm to settle accusations it rigged a key global Interest Rate used to set the value of trillions of dollars in investments. The bank agreed to pay 2. 5 billion under the settlement with u. S. And british regulators, and accept a criminal guilty plea for a british subsidiary. No one at the bank has been charged with a crime. In india, a funeral has been held for a farmer who hanged himself from a tree at a rally in the capital new delhi. Gajendra singh left a note saying he had suffered crop losses as a result of heavy rains. His death came in the midst of a political rally opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modis bill to ease corporate land takeovers. More than 300,000 Indian Farmers have killed themselves amid debts and crop failures since in peru, a farmer has been shot 1995. Dead after police opened fire on protesters taking part in a monthlong campaign against a mexicanowned copper mine project supported by the peruvian government. Mass protests have been taking protesters say it would contaminate water and hurt farming. Thousands of police have been sent to quell the protests. In the United States, three more women have publicly accused Comedian Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them. In total, about 40 women have come forward with allegations against bo causey bill cosby dating back decades. Students at Columbia University in new york city are launching a sitin today to call for the university to divest its shares from private prisons. The students plan to sit in outside the office of president Lee Bollinger to call for divestment from the firms Corrections Corporation of america and g4s. And supporters of imprisoned journalist and black Panther Mumia Abu Jamal marked his 61st birthday thursday. They have continued to call for prison authorities in pennsylvania to let abujamal access outside medical care as he remains seriously ill from diabetes and eczema. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are on the road in denver colorado. President obama has apologized after the white house revealed a u. S. Drone strike kills an American Government contractor and an italian aid worker held hostage by al qaeda in january. Despite hundreds of hours of surveillance and near constant visibility of the al qaeda site, officials said they did not know the hostages were there. Officials said the strike also killed an american linked to al qaeda while another american al qaeda member was killed in a separate strike. Obama apologized to the families of hostages worn weinstein and giovanni lo porto. I want to express our grief and condolences to the families of two hostages. One american, dr. Worn weinstein , and an italian, giovanni lo porto, who were tragically killed in u. S. Counterterrorism operation. As president and as commander in chief, i take full responsibility for all our Counterterrorism Operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of warren and giovanni. I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, i offer our deepest apologies to the families. Amy the u. S. Counterterrorism operation has reportedly accidentally killed two hostages that were being held captive by al qaeda. Again, u. S. Government contractor worn weinstein and italian giovanni lo porto. Were joined now by Jameel Jaffer, the deputy legal director as the aclu. We welcome you to democracy now talk about this latest revelation. It provides us with more reasons to question the strength and reliability of the intelligence that the government is relying on to conduct these drone strikes. In neither of the strikes to the that the government disclosed yesterday, to the government actually know who it was killing. It was in after until after and in one case weeks after the strike, that the government figured out who had been in the sides of the Drone Operators. That, i think, is troubling. We have seen over the last few months or the last couple of years, repeated instances in which the government despite committing itself to applying the most stringent standards has ended up killing civilians in drone strikes. It happens over and over and over again. Yesterdays disclosures just provides more reasons to question what it is, what kinds of regulations the government has governing these strikes. Amy can you explain who these two men are, the American Government contractor worn weinstein and the italian aid worker giovanni lo porto . They were being held hostage. And apparently were held in this al qaeda compound. According to the government, the Drone Operators who were surveilling the compound didnt realize the hostages were held there, despite having conducted surveillance over a peri at least a weeko, i think. It was only after the strike was carried outd when the government saw the six bodies were being taken out of the compound rather than just the four they expected that they realized they had killed two people they had not known were even there. It was only later they determine those two people were the hostages. It is obviously a very sad thing. These were entirely innocent people. And nobody is suggesting the government had any idea they were there, but it does lead one to question the standards of the government is applying the standards the government is applying and leaves one to question how much the Drone Operators actually know before they political or. The Drone Operators actually know before they pull the trigger. It is not isolated in the sense there been many previous strikes in which the drones ended up killing civilians. And that is something that i think the country hasnt really confronted. Amy can you explain also who the american linked to al qaeda, ahmed farouq and another american adam gadahn were killed another strike . These are two americans that were said to have gone and joined forces with al qaeda. Adam gadahn is somebody who is a spokesperson for that organization. According to the government, neither of these americans was targeted. Again, it was only after the strikes of the government determined those americans were actually there. So once again, i think it provides reason to question how much information the Drone Operators have before they are carrying out these strikes. Amy Jameel Jaffer one other thing that is remarkable about yesterdays disclosures, the very fact of the disclosures. Normally, the government doesnt disclose information on individual drone strikes, at least, not on the record like this. This is a very unusual thing where the government is actually disclosing information about who was killed and a little bit of information about the operation. What the vast majority of drone strikes, we dont get that level of transparency. We still dont know. We dont have the governments information, the government statistics about civilian casualties, and the government is to withholding even basic information about the Legal Framework for the program. The Justice Department memos for example, are still being held with the exception of two memos related to the killing of u. S. Citizens. Despite three or four litigations by the aclu and the new york times. Amy has Warren Weinsteins family spoken out . I did see one statement by his family. It is a very, very sad thing. The family is devastated by the news. I think there were holding out hope that mr. Weinstein would be rescued. I think one can readily understand why the family is so devastated by the disclosures of yesterday. Amy i want to turn back to president obama with more of his apology when it was revealed that the u. S. Had killed these two hostages in the drone strike in pakistan back in january. As soon as we determine the cause of their deaths, i directed the existence of this operation be declassified and disclosed publicly. I did so because the weinstein and lo porto families deserve to know the truth. I did so because even as certain aspects of our National Security remain secret in order to succeed, the United States is a democracy, committed to openness in good times and bad. Amy Jameel Jaffer, can you respond to president obama talking about this democracy committed to openness . I guess i have mixed feelings about that particular statement. As i said, the president made that statement in the context of disclosing information about a drone strike or to drone strikes. I think the president was right to make those disclosures. On the other hand, it is hard to square that statement that were committed to openness with the governments record on the Drone Program more generally. The government doesnt release information about who it is targeting. It doesnt release information about civilian casualties. It doesnt even release those kinds of statistics long after the strikes. All of that information is kept secret, in case except in the cases intelligence officials make off the record disclosures to the press. As i mentioned, the legal memos, which are really the law of the targeted killing program, are still being withheld from the government. Until recently, the cias position in court was that the agency could not disclose even whether it was involved in the Drone Program at all. Which is an absurd position given how much is written about this program and the newspapers. The administration has been taking this very hardline position with respect to transparency around the Drone Program. Releasing almost no information. The memo released last year, the office of Legal Counsel memo that related to the killing of awlaki in 2007 that memo was released only after three years of litigation and two Appeals Court decisions, holding the government secrecy was unlawful. Even after the disclosure of that memo, the government continues to withhold the other memos that apply to strikes that dont involve u. S. Persons. Obviously, those strikes account for the vast majority of drone strikes in pakistan and yemen and somalia. So we really have a program that is cloaked in secrecy, even now. The public is heavily reliant on information released by the government itself and the government itself quite often cherry picks information releasing only the information that cast the program in the most favorable light. So while

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