Lawrence O’Donnell Chokes Up on the Air While Reading Friend’s Powerful Email on Planned Parenthood
April 9, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media I’d just like to thank Lawrence O’Donnell for sharing his friend’s very powerful and moving email on the air tonight. After taking Jon Kyl to task for his lie about Planned Parenthood on the floor of the Senate today, O’Donnell read the friends email from his Blackberry and got choked up to the point where he barely managed to finish it. Think Progress has more on Jon Kyl’s nonsense — Kyl Walks Back Planned Parenthood Claim: It ‘Was Not Intended To Be A Factual Statement’ : As ThinkProgress reported earlier today, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) defended Republicans’ willingness to shut down the government over funding for Planned Parenthood by falsely claiming that abortion is “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.” In reality, just three percent of its work is related to abortion. This afternoon, CNN brought on Planned Parenthood’s Judy Tabar to discuss his comment. During the interview, CNN anchor Don Lemon relayed a statement from Kyl’s office walking back the comment, claiming the statement was not meant to be “factual”: LEMON: We did call his office trying to ask what he was talking about there. And I just want to give it you verbatim here. It says, ‘ his remark was not intended to be a factual statement , but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions.’ Lawrence O’Donnell also shared this chart which Ezra Klein featured in his article at The Washington Post — What Planned Parenthood actually does . enlarge Credit: Washington Post
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As the network TV barons peruse through a menu of pilots for new fall shows, some just jump out of the pile. Some Tinseltown pundits have already pegged it as “likely” that NBC will pick up a show for fall called “The Playboy Club.” Just like it sounds, the show is based in Hugh Hefner’s original Playboy Club in Chicago in swinging 1963. If that doesn’t sound porn-friendly enough, the pilot’s producers at 20th Century Fox TV required all actors on the show to sign a nudity clause – virtually unheard of in broadcast television. “Nudity” in this contract is defined as well, nudity. But that’s not what grabs attention. This is: “Nudity as defined above and/or simulated sex acts may be required in connection with player's services in the pilot and/or series,” the clause reads, according to Variety. Actors may now be required to be naked on NBC. Despite this new low, Variety was told there was no nudity in the pilot, and producers didn’t plan any such thing for NBC. But apparently, the broadcast version would provide temptation for the titillated to buy the DVD for the “extras.” (And if there will be no nudity, why a nudity clause?) Variety guessed that the “Playboy” show could travel in the opposite direction from edgy HBO fare like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.” A “clean” version would air on NBC, and then a sleazier version might appear in pay cable – or perhaps on an edgy basic-cable channel like FX. The Parents Television Council condemned NBC for its blatant attempt to obliterate broadcast decency standards with this show. When Comcast bought NBC Universal, the PTC asked the Federal Communications Commission to press Comcast to stipulate it would not use the public airwaves to “distribute pornographic material.” As PTC president Tim Winter now states, “The ink isn’t even dry yet on the company merger and we’re already saying ‘We told you so.’” Could the nudity clause be but a moralist-teasing ploy to use scandal to boost the program’s chances for a fall pickup? Sleaze doesn’t always sell. This pornographer-glamorizing show wouldn’t be a first for Fox Television. Nearly everyone’s already forgotten “Skin,” which Jerry Bruckheimer made for Fox in 2003. The premise was a teen Romeo-and-Juliet romance between the son of a District Attorney and the daughter of a porn magnate. Critics adored it. Frank Rich of The New York Times raved, “Bruckheimer didn't get where he is by being ahead of the curve. He is the curve. His gut tells him, accurately, that porn is not just well within the American mainstream but overdue to be stripped of its plain brown wrapper in prime time.” But does this sound familiar? Bruckheimer expressed his intention to have the DVD release contain more explicit edits of the episodes than what was broadcast on Fox. Sometimes, these business ploys don’t pay off. Unfortunately for Bruckheimer and his media boosters like Rich, Fox only aired six episodes before it all ended with a ratings-crashing yawn. So much for “Bruckheimer isn’t ahead of the curve. He is the curve.” Even if NBC picked up the show and steered clear of a nudity clause, the show could give a boost to Hugh Hefner’s flagging porn empire. Stock analysts have seen quarterly loss after quarterly loss for Playboy, and Hefner bought back his shares at an inflated price to avoid a takeover by other pornographers. One thing is making money for Playboy: licensing its brand. If NBC picks up this show, the resulting glamour could provide a real, well, “stimulus” for the Playboy brand. The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas opened a Playboy Club in 2006, and a new Playboy Club opened this month in the hot spot of Macao on China’s southern coast. How times have changed. In 2011, “The Playboy Club” defines what the “progressives” in Hollywood will glamorize. But back in 1985, ABC made a TV-movie called “A Bunny’s Tale” to dramatize uber-feminist Gloria Steinem’s 1963 expose of the Playboy clubs as a thankless job for the overworked, under-dressed help. Where are Steinem and her brigade of feminists to protest NBC and Fox for their Hefner-boosting plans in 2011? This is just another example marking how lame and discredited the feminist movement looks today.
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• Egypt tense after army stage pre-dawn raid on Tahrir Square • Beleaguered Yemeni president warns against ‘intervention’ • Red Cross ship docks in besieged Libyan city of Misrata • Syrian activists call for daily protests following bloodiest day in three-week-old uprisin g • Click here for full coverage of Friday’s developments 12.39pm: Rising tensions in Egypt between the military and protesters in Tahrir Square are reflected in this tweet from Mosa’ab Elshamy , an Egyptian student and photographer: The notorious “Army and people, hand in hand” chant has been replaced with “People and people, hand in hand”. Sad, to say the least. #Tahrir 12.25pm: Relatives of victims of the Lockerbie bombing have asked their lawyers to request a meeting with Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan foreign minister who has defected to Britain. Koussa is believed to have been an intelligence officer when PanAm flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie in 1988, leaving 270 people dead. The Press Association reports that Dr Jim Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the attack, confirmed that the legal team representing the victims’ families had been instructed to approach officials with a view to setting up a meeting with Koussa (left). He warned that anything Koussa said would have to be taken with “a huge pinch of salt”, however. Koussa was head of Muammar Gaddafi’s intelligence agency from 1994 and a senior intelligence agent when PanAm flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie. The Boeing 747 jumbo jet was en route from London to New York when it exploded over the Scottish town, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was jailed for mass murder in 2001 but the Libyan was returned to Tripoli in 2009 on compassionate grounds after doctors treating him for prostate cancer gave him an estimated three months to live. Dr Swire added: “The underlying problem is that many of us are not satisfied with the verdict that Megrahi was guilty as charged.” “Koussa was at the centre of the regime in 1988, so if anyone knows the role Libya had to play in it, he would. It’s important for us to get any information that we can. “But anything he would say would have to be taken with a huge pinch of salt because of his current predicament.” The request from the victims’ families comes after Scottish police and prosecutors met Koussa on Thursday as part of their investigation into the bombing. He arrived in the UK last week. 12.08pm: Syrian security forces used live ammunition overnight on Saturday to disperse a pro-democracy protest by hundreds of people in a Sunni district of Latakia, according to a report from Reuters. The shooting reportedly caused scores of injuries and possible deaths, said residents, including one who ess saw water trucks hosing down the scene in the Sleibeh district of the city of Latakia, Syria’s main port, 330 km (210 miles) northwest of the capital. Anti-government demonstrations spread across Syria yesterday with the highest turnout yet in a month of unrest, despite a heavy crackdown by security forces in the city of Deraa in which at least 22 people were reported killed. 12.02pm: It’s shaping up to be a busy day in terms of news across the middle east. Using an interactive map put together by the Guardian , you can follow the latest tweets around the Arab world and the region from our network of journalists, bloggers and experts. 11.51am: Tamer El Said, an Egyptian filmaker, was in Tahrir Square throughout Friday and during the late night attack. My colleague Peter Beaumont has just spoken to him: There was a huge demonstration that started at about 11 o’clock. There were some military officers who joined it who were dissatisfied with what the Supreme Military Council was doing. There were between 15-20 of them. Obviously it was really dangerous for them so the other protesters decided that it would protect them from being arrested by the military police. “At about 11 o’clock last night the security forces, who had surrounded the square, tried to enter it to try and catch these soldiers but the protesters would not allow them to come in. There was army and police and special forces. At 3 o’clock they attacked the square. They were firing bullets in the air at first then rubber bullets and then live rounds. They pushed all the demonstrators out of the square. Then they started to chase the protesters into the surrounding streets and into the down town area using tear gas and bullets. I have a friend who was there who said there was continuous shooting. 11.33am: Peter Beaumont, the Observer’s foreign affairs editor, has filed a news piece on the clashes in Cairo . They come amid increasing tensions between Egypt’s ruling military and protesters impatient at the pace of reform and moves towards prosecuting members of the old regime. 11.10am: As Egypt turns a new and dangerous corner, we’re going to be bringing you more coverage shortly of events in Cairo, where soldiers beat hundreds of protesters with clubs and fired into the air in a pre-dawn raid on protestors in Tahrir Square. In the meantime, here is some quite raw but startling footage capturing the moment when that raid took place. To watch the full video, turn off the auto-refresh button at the top of this page: _ 10.57am: As the fall-out from uprisings around the middle east continues, the most intense round of fighting since Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive is taking place between Israeli forces and militants in Gaza. Israel pounded Hamas targets in the strip with air strikes and tank shells today, killing four militants according to Palestinian officials contacted by the Associated Press news agency. As Palestinian missiles landed in Israel, AP reported: In all, 18 Gazans have been killed and more than 65 wounded since Israel unleashed the strikes following a Hamas attack on an Israeli school bus Thursday. An anti-tank rocket struck the bus, seriously wounding a 16-year-old boy and injuring the driver. After Israel’s devastating military offensive in the winter of 2008-2009, Gaza’s Hamas rulers had largely observed a cease-fire, and it was not immediately clear why the Islamic militants chose to end their relative restraint. Israel, in turn, has pledged to strike back hard for the bus attack, in an attempt to restore the deterrence created by the Gaza war. Early Saturday, an Israeli airstrike struck a car near Rafah in southern Gaza, killing three Hamas militants. Hamas said one of its top commanders, 29-year-old Tayser Abu Snima, and two of his assistants were killed. Later, Hamas said a tank shell killed another militant near the Jabalya neighborhood in Gaza. The Israeli military said it was not aware of a strike involving a tank shell. Overall, the Palestinian death toll since Thursday includes 11 militants, a Hamas policeman and six civilians. Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired more than 15 missiles into Israel Saturday. The rockets reached the vicinity of the Israeli cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba. The military confirmed that its newly deployed Iron Dome defense system knocked some of them down. No Israelis were wounded in the attacks. 10.39am: Good morning. Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of events in the Middle East. Here is a summary of major news events: • Soldiers beat hundreds of protesters with clubs and fired into the air in a pre-dawn raid that wounded 15 people on Saturday to disperse an overnight demonstration in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square. The troops eventually withdrew, enabling demonstrators to reoccupy the square and block the streets leading into it. Armed with sticks and other makeshift weapons, they vowed not to leave until the defense minister, the titular head of state, has resigned. A force of around 300 soldiers swept into the square around 3am. and waded into a tent camp in the center where protesters had formed a human cordon to protect several army officers who had joined their demonstration in defiance of their superiors. • Yemen has recalled its ambassador from Qatar for consultation after Qatar’s prime minister said Gulf states had a plan for embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Protests in Yemen descended into violence on Friday with at least five people killed and dozens wounded as Saleh rejected the Gulf Arab plan to secure an end to his 32 years in power. Saleh told tens of thousands of supporters in the capital: “We don’t get our legitimacy from Qatar or from anyone else … we reject this belligerent intervention.” • There has been a breakthrough in humanitarian efforts to relieve the besieged Libyan town of Misrata after a ship carrying medical supplies docked there, while the Red Cross also said it was sending aid workers to Zawiyah, west of Tripoli. The Red Cross began negotiations with Libyan government officials a week ago on access to western areas under its control. The organisation is already deployed in rebel-held eastern territory, mainly in the cities of Benghazi and Tobruk. Rebel fighters say they have meanwhile pushed deeper toward the oil port of Brega, a key prize in the back-and-forth battles with government forces. • Syrian anti-government activists have called for daily protests against the regime after at least 32 people were killed in the single bloodiest day of demonstrations in the country’s three-week uprising. Most of the dead were reported in the restive southern city of Daraa, where burials are planned for today Rights activists and witnesses said that security forces opened fire on Friday on tens of thousands of protesters in Daraa, killing 25 people and wounding hundreds. Arab and Middle East unrest Egypt Libya Syria Yemen Middle East Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
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At least two people killed in pre-dawn raid on protesters calling for Mubarak to face trial and removal of army chief Egyptian soldiers armed with clubs and rifles have stormed Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a pre-dawn raid that reportedly killed at least two people, re-igniting the simmering tensions in the country. Video footage showed hundreds of troops, firing weapons and charging in large numbers into the square to clear it. Tahrir Square – which for 18 days was the centre of Egypt’s revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak — was occupied again on Friday by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians calling for Mubarak to be put on trial, and for the head of the army, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who is the titular head of state, to be removed. Many demonstrators were demanding that the army council be replaced by a civilian one during a transitional period to democracy, accusing the military of protecting members of the former regime. The huge turnout followed growing fears that the revolution had been hijacked by the army. Witnesses in the square said the raid was led by a mixture of army, police and internal security forces. About 300 soldiers swept into the square at around 3am, backed by 20-30 military trucks. Witnesses said firing continued in the square until around 5.30am on Saturday. Although an army spokesman insisted that only “blanks”, not live bullets, had been fired to warn protesters, images on social media websites appeared to show spent casings of both blank and live shells. The soldiers honed in on a tent camp in the centre where protesters had formed a human cordon to protect several army officers who had joined their demonstration in defiance of their superiors. The troops dragged an unknown number of protesters away, throwing them into trucks, which video footage showed driving into the square amid the sound of gunfire. Among those arrested were understood to be soldiers who had joined the protest. “I saw women being slapped in the face, women being kicked,” said one female protester, who took refuge in a nearby mosque. Troops surrounded the mosque and heavy gunfire was heard for hours. The military issued a statement afterwards blaming “outlaws” for rioting and violating the country’s 2am to 5am curfew. It said no one was harmed or arrested. “The armed forces stress that they will not tolerate any acts of rioting or any act that harms the interest of the country and the people,” it said. As troops withdrew, protesters armed with makeshift weapons returned to the square and dragged debris and barbed wire to seal off the streets leading into it. “We are staging a sit-in until the field marshal is prosecuted,” said Anas Esmat, a 22-year-old university student. “The people want the fall of the field marshal,” chanted protesters, in a variation on the chant that has become famous across the Middle East in protests calling for regime change. “Tantawi is Mubarak and Mubarak is Tantawi,” went another chant. Egypt Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
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Foreign Office intervened to halt an investigation in the 1990s by Malaysian authorities into the deaths of 24 unarmed villagers The Foreign Office intervened to stop a criminal investigation into the alleged massacre of 24 unarmed villagers by British troops, in a cover-up that puts Britain’s colonial past under renewed scrutiny. Newly disclosed documents reveal that in the 1990s UK officials pressured Malaysian authorities into aborting a police inquiry into the alleged killings by Scots Guards in Malaya in 1948. They reveal that Malaysian police officers contacted Interpol and were due to visit the UK in 1993 to interview soldiers involved in the shootings, only for the Foreign Office to pressure the country’s high commissioner into halting the visit. One memorandum states that senior Foreign Office officials later met Malaysian police chiefs to discuss closing the inquiry shortly before it was
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Reports of mass murders and rapes in villages. Pro-government forces also accused of atrocities Mass killings have been carried out by both sides of the conflict in Ivory Coast, according to the campaign group Human Rights Watch. Their report documents a trail of death and destruction carried out by rebel forces who have swept through the country and are now fighting on the streets of Abidjan to secure the presidency for Alassane Ouattara. As Ouattara, backed by the UN and the international community, edges closer to victory, the Guardian has uncovered evidence of atrocities committed by the forces acting in his name. Refugees who scrambled through the rainforest to safety in neighbouring Liberia have described children being burned alive during rebel attacks and bodies littering the streets. HRW is calling for an investigation into massacres carried out by both the rebels and those loyal to the defiant president, Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to give up power after losing the presidential election in November. Hundreds have been killed by forces loyal to Ouattara, according to HRW’s report. It found that summary executions of perceived Gbagbo supporters had taken place, and reported accounts of mass rape. Matt Wells, HRW’s Ivory Coast researcher, said: “In village after village, Ouattara’s forces terrorised civilians perceived as supporting Gbagbo, killing hundreds and raping dozens more. In committing to move Ivory Coast out of its longstanding crisis, Ouattara must ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to justice.” Pro-Gbagbo forces are also accused of having carried out atrocities, killing more than 100 presumed Ouattara supporters as rebels advanced. The Guardian spent a week travelling in the border region between Ivory Coast and Liberia, hearing tales of savage attacks on civilians. It also encountered what is emerging as a recurrent aspect of the violence in Ivory Coast: the use of mercenaries from Liberia, believed to have been recruited by both sides in the conflict. Crouching in the bushes along the banks of the river that separates Liberia from Ivory Coast, two young Liberian men in filthy clothes and flip-flops agreed to a recorded interview after a small payment was made. They described how they had just returned home from a nine-day operation with pro-Ouattara rebels, where they said they were told to kill “anyone and everyone”. They described barbaric scenes in which they surrounded villages in the west of Ivory Coast and, armed with machetes, killed everyone they saw. “The town we entered first, most of the people were on the road. We killed them, just cutting them with our machetes,” they said. One of the towns they claim to have attacked was Blolequin. UN investigators said yesterday they had found more than 100 bodies in Blolequin and surrounding towns. Some appeared to have been burned alive and others had been thrown into a well. The UN believes Liberian mercenaries may have been responsible. Toulépleu is another town the two mercenaries say they attacked, and where HRW has uncovered evidence of mass killings. One mercenary said: “There are so many bodies in Toulépleu. A digger came from Danane to bury the bodies. There was no way for cars to go over there because of the bodies on the ground. It stank.” Now in the safety of a transit camp in Liberia, refugees fleeing from Toulépleu spoke of the horrors they witnessed there. They described how they grabbed family members and escaped from their homes in a hail of bullets. Whoever and whatever were left behind were burned. Cradling his five children in the red dust outside the UNHCR tent that is now all he has, Kuide Pehe Ferdinand described the chaos when the attack began. “I had too many children to save when the rebels hit. We tried to pick them all up, but one of my baby girls is disabled and we had to leave her. When I went back, they had burned the house with my baby inside.” The Audgines were also grieving for a loved one killed after the rebels set fire to their home. “I can’t even eat, I feel such sadness now,” said Rosaline, mother of nine, whose elderly father was burned alive. She said she could do nothing to help him, as he shouted to them from within the flames. She and her children are a few of the many people in the camp who have shaved their heads in a traditional gesture of mourning. The International Red Cross recently reached Toulépleu, and said it found a town almost completely razed to the ground. HRW has documented the executions of elderly people who were unable to escape rebel attacks. It says they were held captive in their villages by the pro-Ouattara rebels, and has evidence that more than 30 were executed. One 67-year-old woman from the village of Doké told HRW that pro-Ouattara fighters had taken several captives out each day – often men and women between 60 and 80 years old – and executed them at point-blank range. The pro-Ouattara forces have denied killing civilians in their advance upon Abidjan, blaming any deaths on Gbagbo’s soldiers. Those standing guard at the border crossing with Ivory Coast near Toe Town, eastern Liberia, were in victorious mood when interviewed by the Guardian. In their smart camouflage gear and with AK47s slung around their necks, they swaggered up to the barrier across the bridge between the two countries. “I pray for democracy in Ivory Coast and that the will of the people will be respected,” said “Angelou”, their commander, gripping his gun. As he talked, the sound of gunfire cracked from the forest behind him and his troops. “We don’t have problem with civilians. If you see someone’s died, it’s because he’s taken up a gun. If he’s taken up arms, he is not a civilian, he is my enemy.” The conflict threatens to cause a wider humanitarian crisis in the region. More than a million people have been internally displaced within Ivory Coast, while more than 125,000 have crossed the border into Liberia, a country that itself has been devastated by 14 years of civil war. Many Liberian communities are sheltering refugees, but barely have enough food for themselves, and there are fears the crisis will destabilise Liberia’s fragile peace. Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara Laurent Gbagbo Rachel Stevenson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Reports of mass murders and rapes in villages. Pro-government forces also accused of atrocities Mass killings have been carried out by both sides of the conflict in Ivory Coast, according to the campaign group Human Rights Watch. Their report documents a trail of death and destruction carried out by rebel forces who have swept through the country and are now fighting on the streets of Abidjan to secure the presidency for Alassane Ouattara. As Ouattara, backed by the UN and the international community, edges closer to victory, the Guardian has uncovered evidence of atrocities committed by the forces acting in his name. Refugees who scrambled through the rainforest to safety in neighbouring Liberia have described children being burned alive during rebel attacks and bodies littering the streets. HRW is calling for an investigation into massacres carried out by both the rebels and those loyal to the defiant president, Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to give up power after losing the presidential election in November. Hundreds have been killed by forces loyal to Ouattara, according to HRW’s report. It found that summary executions of perceived Gbagbo supporters had taken place, and reported accounts of mass rape. Matt Wells, HRW’s Ivory Coast researcher, said: “In village after village, Ouattara’s forces terrorised civilians perceived as supporting Gbagbo, killing hundreds and raping dozens more. In committing to move Ivory Coast out of its longstanding crisis, Ouattara must ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to justice.” Pro-Gbagbo forces are also accused of having carried out atrocities, killing more than 100 presumed Ouattara supporters as rebels advanced. The Guardian spent a week travelling in the border region between Ivory Coast and Liberia, hearing tales of savage attacks on civilians. It also encountered what is emerging as a recurrent aspect of the violence in Ivory Coast: the use of mercenaries from Liberia, believed to have been recruited by both sides in the conflict. Crouching in the bushes along the banks of the river that separates Liberia from Ivory Coast, two young Liberian men in filthy clothes and flip-flops agreed to a recorded interview after a small payment was made. They described how they had just returned home from a nine-day operation with pro-Ouattara rebels, where they said they were told to kill “anyone and everyone”. They described barbaric scenes in which they surrounded villages in the west of Ivory Coast and, armed with machetes, killed everyone they saw. “The town we entered first, most of the people were on the road. We killed them, just cutting them with our machetes,” they said. One of the towns they claim to have attacked was Blolequin. UN investigators said yesterday they had found more than 100 bodies in Blolequin and surrounding towns. Some appeared to have been burned alive and others had been thrown into a well. The UN believes Liberian mercenaries may have been responsible. Toulépleu is another town the two mercenaries say they attacked, and where HRW has uncovered evidence of mass killings. One mercenary said: “There are so many bodies in Toulépleu. A digger came from Danane to bury the bodies. There was no way for cars to go over there because of the bodies on the ground. It stank.” Now in the safety of a transit camp in Liberia, refugees fleeing from Toulépleu spoke of the horrors they witnessed there. They described how they grabbed family members and escaped from their homes in a hail of bullets. Whoever and whatever were left behind were burned. Cradling his five children in the red dust outside the UNHCR tent that is now all he has, Kuide Pehe Ferdinand described the chaos when the attack began. “I had too many children to save when the rebels hit. We tried to pick them all up, but one of my baby girls is disabled and we had to leave her. When I went back, they had burned the house with my baby inside.” The Audgines were also grieving for a loved one killed after the rebels set fire to their home. “I can’t even eat, I feel such sadness now,” said Rosaline, mother of nine, whose elderly father was burned alive. She said she could do nothing to help him, as he shouted to them from within the flames. She and her children are a few of the many people in the camp who have shaved their heads in a traditional gesture of mourning. The International Red Cross recently reached Toulépleu, and said it found a town almost completely razed to the ground. HRW has documented the executions of elderly people who were unable to escape rebel attacks. It says they were held captive in their villages by the pro-Ouattara rebels, and has evidence that more than 30 were executed. One 67-year-old woman from the village of Doké told HRW that pro-Ouattara fighters had taken several captives out each day – often men and women between 60 and 80 years old – and executed them at point-blank range. The pro-Ouattara forces have denied killing civilians in their advance upon Abidjan, blaming any deaths on Gbagbo’s soldiers. Those standing guard at the border crossing with Ivory Coast near Toe Town, eastern Liberia, were in victorious mood when interviewed by the Guardian. In their smart camouflage gear and with AK47s slung around their necks, they swaggered up to the barrier across the bridge between the two countries. “I pray for democracy in Ivory Coast and that the will of the people will be respected,” said “Angelou”, their commander, gripping his gun. As he talked, the sound of gunfire cracked from the forest behind him and his troops. “We don’t have problem with civilians. If you see someone’s died, it’s because he’s taken up a gun. If he’s taken up arms, he is not a civilian, he is my enemy.” The conflict threatens to cause a wider humanitarian crisis in the region. More than a million people have been internally displaced within Ivory Coast, while more than 125,000 have crossed the border into Liberia, a country that itself has been devastated by 14 years of civil war. Many Liberian communities are sheltering refugees, but barely have enough food for themselves, and there are fears the crisis will destabilise Liberia’s fragile peace. Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara Laurent Gbagbo Rachel Stevenson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Reports of mass murders and rapes in villages. Pro-government forces also accused of atrocities Mass killings have been carried out by both sides of the conflict in Ivory Coast, according to the campaign group Human Rights Watch. Their report documents a trail of death and destruction carried out by rebel forces who have swept through the country and are now fighting on the streets of Abidjan to secure the presidency for Alassane Ouattara. As Ouattara, backed by the UN and the international community, edges closer to victory, the Guardian has uncovered evidence of atrocities committed by the forces acting in his name. Refugees who scrambled through the rainforest to safety in neighbouring Liberia have described children being burned alive during rebel attacks and bodies littering the streets. HRW is calling for an investigation into massacres carried out by both the rebels and those loyal to the defiant president, Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to give up power after losing the presidential election in November. Hundreds have been killed by forces loyal to Ouattara, according to HRW’s report. It found that summary executions of perceived Gbagbo supporters had taken place, and reported accounts of mass rape. Matt Wells, HRW’s Ivory Coast researcher, said: “In village after village, Ouattara’s forces terrorised civilians perceived as supporting Gbagbo, killing hundreds and raping dozens more. In committing to move Ivory Coast out of its longstanding crisis, Ouattara must ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to justice.” Pro-Gbagbo forces are also accused of having carried out atrocities, killing more than 100 presumed Ouattara supporters as rebels advanced. The Guardian spent a week travelling in the border region between Ivory Coast and Liberia, hearing tales of savage attacks on civilians. It also encountered what is emerging as a recurrent aspect of the violence in Ivory Coast: the use of mercenaries from Liberia, believed to have been recruited by both sides in the conflict. Crouching in the bushes along the banks of the river that separates Liberia from Ivory Coast, two young Liberian men in filthy clothes and flip-flops agreed to a recorded interview after a small payment was made. They described how they had just returned home from a nine-day operation with pro-Ouattara rebels, where they said they were told to kill “anyone and everyone”. They described barbaric scenes in which they surrounded villages in the west of Ivory Coast and, armed with machetes, killed everyone they saw. “The town we entered first, most of the people were on the road. We killed them, just cutting them with our machetes,” they said. One of the towns they claim to have attacked was Blolequin. UN investigators said yesterday they had found more than 100 bodies in Blolequin and surrounding towns. Some appeared to have been burned alive and others had been thrown into a well. The UN believes Liberian mercenaries may have been responsible. Toulépleu is another town the two mercenaries say they attacked, and where HRW has uncovered evidence of mass killings. One mercenary said: “There are so many bodies in Toulépleu. A digger came from Danane to bury the bodies. There was no way for cars to go over there because of the bodies on the ground. It stank.” Now in the safety of a transit camp in Liberia, refugees fleeing from Toulépleu spoke of the horrors they witnessed there. They described how they grabbed family members and escaped from their homes in a hail of bullets. Whoever and whatever were left behind were burned. Cradling his five children in the red dust outside the UNHCR tent that is now all he has, Kuide Pehe Ferdinand described the chaos when the attack began. “I had too many children to save when the rebels hit. We tried to pick them all up, but one of my baby girls is disabled and we had to leave her. When I went back, they had burned the house with my baby inside.” The Audgines were also grieving for a loved one killed after the rebels set fire to their home. “I can’t even eat, I feel such sadness now,” said Rosaline, mother of nine, whose elderly father was burned alive. She said she could do nothing to help him, as he shouted to them from within the flames. She and her children are a few of the many people in the camp who have shaved their heads in a traditional gesture of mourning. The International Red Cross recently reached Toulépleu, and said it found a town almost completely razed to the ground. HRW has documented the executions of elderly people who were unable to escape rebel attacks. It says they were held captive in their villages by the pro-Ouattara rebels, and has evidence that more than 30 were executed. One 67-year-old woman from the village of Doké told HRW that pro-Ouattara fighters had taken several captives out each day – often men and women between 60 and 80 years old – and executed them at point-blank range. The pro-Ouattara forces have denied killing civilians in their advance upon Abidjan, blaming any deaths on Gbagbo’s soldiers. Those standing guard at the border crossing with Ivory Coast near Toe Town, eastern Liberia, were in victorious mood when interviewed by the Guardian. In their smart camouflage gear and with AK47s slung around their necks, they swaggered up to the barrier across the bridge between the two countries. “I pray for democracy in Ivory Coast and that the will of the people will be respected,” said “Angelou”, their commander, gripping his gun. As he talked, the sound of gunfire cracked from the forest behind him and his troops. “We don’t have problem with civilians. If you see someone’s died, it’s because he’s taken up a gun. If he’s taken up arms, he is not a civilian, he is my enemy.” The conflict threatens to cause a wider humanitarian crisis in the region. More than a million people have been internally displaced within Ivory Coast, while more than 125,000 have crossed the border into Liberia, a country that itself has been devastated by 14 years of civil war. Many Liberian communities are sheltering refugees, but barely have enough food for themselves, and there are fears the crisis will destabilise Liberia’s fragile peace. Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara Laurent Gbagbo Rachel Stevenson guardian.co.uk
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Obama and Democrats forced to accept $39bn package of cuts while Republicans gave way on health care for women A shutdown of the US federal government scheduled to begin on Saturday was averted after the Democrats and Republicans reached agreement only hours before midnight on budget spending cuts. The shutdown would have triggered major disruptions across the country and could have set back the country’s fragile economic recovery. Hundreds of federal agencies would have closed down and about 800,000 federal staff faced suspension. The deal came after days of negotiation between Obama and the Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, and the Democratic leader in the Senate Harry Reid. A deal had appeared to be tantalisingly close several times but was not finalised, until Friday night. Boehner, an hour before midnight, told journalists in Congress: “I am pleased that Senator Reid and the White House have come to an agreement that will cut spending and keep government open.” It would have been the first federal government shutdown since 1995-96 when there was a stand-off between the Republicans and the Clinton White House. Barack Obama tore up his schedule for Friday, including the start of a family weekend break in Virginia, to concentrate on negotiations with Republicans. He had hoped to reach a compromise Friday morning but discussions dragged out throughout the day. Obama portrayed the compromise as a tribute to US democracy as he said: “Tomorrow … the entire federal government will be open for business.” Reid, like Obama, paid tribute to the Republicans in spite of the repeated clashes over the last week. “This has been a long process,” Reid said. “It has not been an easy process. Both sides have had to make tough choices.” The Republicans forced the Democrats to agree to $39bn (£23bn) in spending cuts in this year’s budget to September, $6bn more than the Democrats were prepared to accept earlier this week. In return, the Republicans dropped a demand to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, an organisation providing health care for women. Republicans objected to the organisation’s links to abortion. Boehner had as many problems in negotiations with his own Republican party as he did with the White House and Democratic members of the House. Many Republicans were elected in November with the support of the Tea Party movement who have demanded huge reductions in the federal deficit. After reaching a deal with the White House and the Congressional Democrats, Boehner had to take the proposal to Congressional Republicans for final approval. Boehner said Congress would pass a temporary spending measure to keep the government open until mid-way through next week. This would allow time for passage of the budget bill covering spending up until the end of the fiscal year in September. The deal came after Obama spoke twice by phone Friday with Boehner. The Republicans faced being blamed for the disruption if they had not reached a deal. But Obama could have suffered too, accused of weak leadership, unable to prevent a government shutdown. About 800,000 federal employees would have been suspended without pay from Monday, more than a million troops at home and abroad would not have received pay, tax offices would have been disrupted and, in Washington DC, rubbish collection, parking control and other services would have ceased. Pollution checks by the Environmental Protection Agency would have stopped across the US, as would monitoring of Wall Street transactions. The White House, Congress, the Pentagon and hundreds of other bodies would have had to reduce staff. The immediate impact of a shutdown would have been felt by tourists hoping to visit some of America’s most popular attractions, the 400 national parks, monuments and historic sites. Queues grew at passport offices on Friday as tourists and people traveling for business or other reasons put in their applications afraid of a closedown. The dispute offers a glimpse of bigger battles to come over the 2012 budget, in which Republicans are likely to seek much bigger cuts. A Gallup poll published on Friday showed 58% of those surveyed favoured a compromise in this week’s row, with 33% backing the Republicans to hold out. US politics Barack Obama John Boehner Republicans US Congress Democrats Obama administration United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media It tells you a lot that in announcing the compromise averting a government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner spoke for like ten seconds and ran home to go to his fundraiser and catch The Masters. They didn’t want to do this, but they really didn’t want to go down this road either. I don’t know who got hurt by the additional cuts that were agreed upon until we get more information. The number I’m hearing is $38.5 billion. I get that the President is going to put a smiley face on this to the public, but in a bad economy this just looks weird. The only people celebrating this deal are the Villagers. Gloria Borger gives us the inside-Village rundown on why we are where we are: I’m getting that everbody understands, at least the leaders, understand that they need to get a deal. That the American people want a deal. What’s interesting though, Wolf, is that when you talk to people, the Republican base, as we were just talking about, is ok with no compromise. It’s the Democrats who who really want to compromise. What we are seeing is two parties who can’t even agree on what they disagree on. And that’s because the politics are kind of interesting. Republicans agree that it’s all about spending, that’s what it is all about in the Republican Party. The Democrats are saying, “we’re ok on the spending” but it’s about the social issues. I was talking to a Democratic pollster who said to me, “look, these social issues work for us.” They were just out in the field with a poll and he said to me, “on these social issues like Planned Parenthood, for example, we win with young voters, we win with suburban women and by a 2-1 margin independent voters do not want to defund Planned Parenthood. That is why you are hearing so much about the social issues, because that’s their political sweet spot. Looks like we’ve got us another one of those great bipartisan win-wins the Village loves so much. Well, win-win for the governing elites who get exactly what they want. The country, not so much. Expect the Sunday Talk Shows to say things like “I’m glad they came to their senses and got a deal done.” I’m seeing twitter action that says Rand Paul doesn’t like the deal. Now that’s something we both can believe in, but for different reasons. HuffPo: Boehner may need Dem votes: Rep. Jim Jordan, who leads the conservative Republican Study Committee, told The Huffington Post that he does not think Boehner, a fellow Ohioan, will be able to pass the funding deal through the House without votes from Democrats.
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