Life Under Occupation

Democracy Now!. Posted March 7, 2006.

Editor's Note: This is an edited transcript from Amy Goodman's syndicated radio show "Democracy Now!"

Amy Goodman: In Washington, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, was asked by Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" how things are going in Iraq:

Tim Russert: If you were to be asked whether things in Iraq are going well or badly, what would you say? How would you answer?

Gen. Peter Pace: I'd certainly say they are going well. I wouldn't put a great big smiley face on it, but I would say they are going very, very well.

AG: Gen. Pace's comments come as Amnesty International releases a new report condemning what it calls the "arbitrary" detention of tens of thousands of people in Iraq. In this new report, the human rights group says the situation has become "a recipe for abuse."

Amnesty International's U.K. director, Kate Allen, said, "As long as U.S. and U.K. forces hold prisoners in secret detention conditions, torture is much more likely to occur, to go undetected and to go unpunished."

Today, we will talk about Iraq with Iraqis. This weekend, seven Iraqi women arrived in New York City, or at least were supposed to, to begin a speaking tour to educate Americans about the reality in Iraq and meet with U.N. and U.S. officials to call for a peace plan.

We will be joined by two of them, but before we go to them, I wanted to turn to Medea Benjamin, who is organizing this tour around the country, founder of Code Pink Women for Peace. Medea, I said seven women came into the country or were supposed to -- because, in fact, only five made it?

Medea Benjamin: Two of the women who we wanted to bring here were women whose entire families were killed by the U.S. military. As they were driving in their cars to get away from the violence, the tanks came and shot into their cars. One woman talks about her little boy on her lap and seeing the bullet go right through his forehead, her other two children killed, her husband killed, and her left in the car with the bloody bodies.

We thought it was important to bring these women to meet with Cindy Sheehan and other U.S. mothers who have lost their children. And yet when these women went to apply for their visas, they were denied. When I called the State Department to find out why, they said they had no compelling family ties left in Iraq that would ensure that they would return home, so they were at risk of staying in the United States.

AG: So, they were denied entry into the United States because the U.S. military had killed their families?

MB: They could not prove that they would want to go home. So, yes, we killed their families and then denied them the right to come to the United States to tell what the U.S. had done to their families.

AG: So, with the five women who are here, what are your plans? Where are you going to be starting today?

MB: This is part of Code Pink's campaign called "Women Say No to War." We have a rally in front of the United Nations. We are calling on the U.N. to stand up and do something, to call for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and send in U.N. peacekeepers …

Then on Wednesday, International Women's Day, we will be meeting with Congress, we'll be doing briefings at Congress, and we will be marching from the Iraqi embassy to the White House with our call for peace. Our call for peace has so far been signed by tens and tens of thousands of women and men around the world.

AG: About 70,000?

MB: About 70,000 to date, and if there's one thing I'd ask your listeners, Amy, to do is get online now, go to Women Say No to War, whether you're a woman or a man, and sign up so we can count you in with us when we march to the Iraqi embassy, to the White House, and go through the halls of Congress, turning in our urgent call for peace.

AG: Well, we are also joined by Faiza Al-Araji, who has just come into the United States as part of this tour. She did make it, and you came from Amman, is that right?

Faiza Al-Araji: Yes.

AG: You just heard the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, when asked how things are going, saying they were going very well, but he wouldn't put a smiley face on it … What is your response?

FAA: I'm watching the documentary on the TV now. I'm Iraqi. I left Iraq because of the kidnapping of my son last summer, and I stay in Jordan as refugee. You know, the story went out; living there is different. It's completely different from the story your media is sending you or the message the media is sending you. When somebody telling you that things is going on in Iraq well and everything is fine, please ask him, "What is your evidence? What is your proof? What is your clue? Give me. Give me something on the ground."

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