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| The Truth Seekers Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | Headlines from Democracy Now 1/10 | Views: 414 | Jan 10, 2008 4:15 pm | | Headlines from Democracy Now 1/10 | # | Danielle (Dani) Cutler | |
Defying Predictions, Clinton Beats Obama in New Hampshire
In defiance of polls and the political pundits, Hillary Clinton narrowly beat Barack
Obama to win the New Hampshire primary last night. The former First Lady won 39 percent
of the vote. Obama placed second with 37 percent. In the Republican race, Senator
John McCain beat former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by a five percent margin.
Political analysts say that with 300 days until the November election, the 2008 race
is shaping up to be the most open presidential race in 80 years. For the past year,
Senator Clinton had been the clear frontrunner in New Hampshire, but after Senator
Obama’s surprise victory in Iowa, several opinion polls indicated the Illinois Senator
had jumped to a double digit lead. The polls were wrong and in the end Clinton pulled
off a victory.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “I felt like we all spoke from our hearts and
I am so gratified that you responded. Now together let’s give America the kind of
comeback that New Hampshire has just given me.”
The race between Clinton and Obama was so close that it took the networks until about
10:30 last night – two and a half hours after the polls closed – to call the race
for Clinton. Minutes later Senator Barack Obama addressed supporters.
Sen. Barack Obama: “We will remember that there is something happening
in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggests, that we are one people,
we are one nation and together we will begin the next great chapter in the American
story with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea–yes
we can.”
Former Senator John Edwards vowed to stay in the race after placing third with 17
percent of the vote.
John Edwards: “I want to be absolutely clear to all of you who have
been devoted to this cause and I want to be clear to the 99% of the Americans who
have not yet had the chance to have their voices heard that I am in this race
through the conviction that I intend to be the nominee of my party.”
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson placed fourth with 5 percent. Ohio Congressman
Dennis Kucinich, who was excluded from Saturday’s debate in New Hampshire, placed
fifth with one percent of the vote.
McCain Beats Romney in Upset Win
On the Republican front, John McCain took New Hampshire with 37 percent of the vote.
The victory came six months after McCain’s campaign appeared over when he nearly ran
out of money and was forced to lay off staff. McCain managed to beat Mitt Romney in
New Hampshire even though Romney had served as governor in neighboring Massachusetts
and had outspent McCain on television ads by a two to one margin.
John McCain: “I am grateful beyond expression at the prospect that
I might serve (America) a little while longer. That gratitude imposes on me the responsibility
to do nothing in this campaign that would make our country’s
problems harder to solve or that would cause Americans to despair that a candidate
for the highest office in the land would think so little of the honour that he would
put his own interest before theirs. I take that responsibility as my most solemn trust.”
Mitt Romney, who also placed second in Iowa, is now setting his eyes on Michigan –
the state where he was born and where his father once served as governor. Republicans
in Michigan holds their primary on Jan. 15.
Mitt Romney: “I will strengthen America as your President and when
I come back here next November I will fight across this nation onto Michigan and South
Carolina and Florida and Nevada and states after that.”
Rounding out the Republican race: Mike Huckabee placed third. Rudolph Giuliani narrowly
beat Ron Paul for fourth place. And Fred Thompson came in a distant sixth.
Bush Calls Iran Naval Incident a “Provocation”
U.S. tensions with Iran are on the rise over a naval incident Sunday in the Straits
of Hormuz off the Iranian coast. The U.S. claims Iranian speed boats came within 500
yards of the US warships and threatened to blow them up. The Iranian boats backed
away before the American warships opened fire. Speaking at the White House, President
Bush accused Iran of a “provocative act.”
President Bush: “Well, we viewed it as a provocative act. It is a
dangerous situation. And they should not have done it, pure and simple…. I don’t know
what-–, I think, what their thinking was. But I’m telling you what I think it was.
I think it was a provocative act.”
Bush Arrives in Israel to Begin Mideast Tour
Meanwhile President Bush arrived in Israel today where he begins his week-long Middle
East tour. It’s Bush’s first visit to Israel and the Occupied Territories during his
time in the White House. Bush says he’s come to the region to help revive peace talks
launched out of November’s U.S.-brokered summit in Annapolis. Bush is expected to
visit the West Bank tomorrow. His tour won’t include the Gaza Strip, now under control
of Hamas. On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza to protest Bush’s
visit. Israel has launched a series of attacks on Gaza over the past week. One man,
Hamdan Fayyad, lost his wife and two children to Israeli gunfire.
Hamdan Fayyad: “I tell Bush, the weapon factories in which you are
an artist in perfecting the weapons and then you send them to Israel, or what some
call Israel, you send it to them so that they can kill the Palestinian people, especially
the innocent, and as I heard and understood, this weapon is internationally banned.”
Peace Group: Israel Seeking to Bar Release of Settlement
Report
On the eve of Bush’s arrival, Israeli and Palestinian leaders announced they’ve authorized
a new round of talks on key final-status issues. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat
says the talks will include the status of Jerusalem and the Jewish-only settlements
in the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat: “It was agreed that Mr. Abu Ala, and Ms. Livni will
begin immediately the deliberations, and will use any experts of their choice, on
all the core issues, hoping to have the year 2008 as the year to reach the peace treaty
between the two sides.”
Bush’s trip comes amidst news the Israeli government is trying to block the publication
of a key report detailing its expanding settlement activity in the West Bank. According
to the Israeli group Peace Now, the confidential 2006 report provides the Israeli
government’s most comprehensive analysis to date of settlement activity beyond its
internationally-recognized borders. The report is said to detail widespread expansion
in dozens of settlements, which Israel vowed to stop under the U.S.-backed Road Map.
Kenyan Opposition Rejects New Cabinet
Kenya’s political crisis is deepening after opposition groups rejected a new cabinet
by President Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki’s new set of government ministers on excludes any
members of the opposition. His main rival, Raila Odinga, said he opposed the cabinet.
Raila Odinga: “We will not go to State House to meet Mr. Kibaki because
we say he is there illegally, the whole world knows that, so we will not go to meet
Kibaki in State House the same religious leaders he is calling are the ones
who called for a peaceful prayer at All Saints on Sunday, we did respond by going
there he did not go, if he wants them to offer prayer for him let them invite them
and they will pray for him.”
More than five-hundred people have been killed and two-hundred fifty-thousand displaced
in violence that followed Kibaki’s disputed election win over Odinga last month. The
shanty-town of Kibera has seen some of the most intense clashes.
Kibera Resident: “I wish someone would just come and see the people
from Kibera whose houses were burnt, people who were chased from their homes, we have
nothing to go back to. We need to know where will will go from here, or at least the
government should tell us their plan, so we can know our fate.”
A delegation of African Union officials including its chair, Ghana President John
Kufuor, have arrived in Kenya in efforts to resolve the crisis.
Marine Testifies in Afghan Mass-Shooting Inquiry
A former U.S. Marine has given the first testimony in an inquiry into the massacre
of at least nineteen Afghan civilians by U.S. forces last March. On Tuesday, former
intelligence sergeant Nathaniel Travers testified he saw fellow Marines gun down unarmed
Afghan civilians along an open road. The shooting rampage followed a suicide car bomb
attack on the Marine convoy. No Marines were wounded in the attack. No charges have
been filed against any Marines so far.
Morales, Governors Agree to Seek Unity Deal
In Bolivia, President Evo Morales and regional governors have agreed to work towards
a national unity deal. The pact comes weeks after four regional governors declared
autonomy in protest of a draft constitution that would increase the power of Bolivia’s
indigenous majority. The four lowland provinces contain much of Bolivia’s natural
resource wealth and most of its large natural gas deposits.
Pentagon Won’t Probe KBR Rape Charges
The Pentagon’s top watchdog has announced he won’t investigate rape allegations made
by a former employee of the war contractor Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR. The
alleged victim, Jamie Leigh Jones, says she was gang raped by co-workers in Iraq.
Jones has accused KBR and the U.S. government of covering up the crime. On Tuesday,
Pentagon Inspector General Claude Kicklighter said he won’t look into the charges
because the Justice Department still considers it an open case. Democratic lawmakers
and Jones’ defense team both criticized the decision. A criminal probe has already
lasted more than two and a half years with no charges filed.
U.S. Reconsidering Amnesty for Immigrants With Abusive
Spouses
In immigration news, the U.S. government is considering doing away with a longstanding
policy that allows immigrant wives to remain in the country when an abusive spouse
refuses to sponsor their stay. More than 30,000 immigrant women have been granted
visas under the Violence Against Women Act since 1994. Many of then have given birth
to children in the U.S. Attorneys for immigrant women say green-card applications
have been put on hold as immigration agencies await a decision on the policy review.
U.S. Last in Avoiding Deaths by Preventable Disease
In health news, a new medical study shows the U.S. ranks last among industrialized
nations in avoiding deaths by preventable disease. Researchers at the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found a preventable-disease death rate of 110 ten
100,000 Americans. These include deaths from infections, treatable cancers, diabetes,
and heart and vascular disease. The study’s authors say it is difficult to ignore
the likely connection to the rising number of medically uninsured Americans.
Peace Activists Win Challenge to New York Ban on Central
Park Gatherings
Here in New York, peace activists are claiming victory in a more than three-year dispute
with the city over an ordinance limiting the size of mass gatherings on the Great
Lawn in Central Park. The National Council of Arab Americans and the Answer Coalition
sued the city after they were blocked from holding an anti-war demonstration on the
Great Lawn during the Republican National Convention in August 2004. Under a new settlement,
the city says it will increase the cap on crowd size from fifty-thousand to seventy-thousand
people. The city will also conduct a study on whether the maximum size can be further
increased.
CIA Whistleblower Philip Agee Dies at 72
And the former CIA agent turned outspoken whistleblower Philip Agee has died. Agee
authored the 1975 book “Inside the Company: CIA Diary”, which detailed several clandestine
CIA operations around the world. Former President and CIA chief George H.W. Bush would
later call him a “traitor.” I spoke to Agee about his book in October 2003.
Democracy
Now!’s full interview
Philip Agee: “We were right to do it then, because the U.S. policy
at the time, executed by the C.I.A., was to support murderous dictatorships around
the world, as in Vietnam, as in Greece, as in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil. And
that’s only to name a few. We opposed that use of the U.S. intelligence service for
those dirty operations. And I’m talking about regimes now that tortured and disappeared
people by the thousands.”
Agee died last night in Cuba at the age of 72.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/9/headlines
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