Democracy Now! Thursday, December 13, 2007

Today's Headlines

• Climate Talks in Doubt Over U.S. Stance on Emission Cuts
• Bush Issues 2nd Veto of Child Health Insurance Expansion
• Gitmo Chief Judge Criticized Military Tribunals
• Palestinians Protest Raids, Settlement Expansion as Talks Begin
• Docs: Israel Demanded 80% of Settlements in 2000-01 Peace Talks
• Poll: 67% of Pakistanis Want Musharraf to Resign
• Kucinich Barred from Democratic Debate in Iowa
• California Town Votes Out Pro-Blackwater Board Members
• Army Suicides in 2007 Reach All-Time High
• Auditors: White House Forced EPA to Weaken Toxic Oversight
• Gay Historian Allan Berube Dies at 61

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  Chicago Deal to Pay $20 Million in Police Torture Case Hits Roadblock

  The City of Chicago’s landmark decision to pay nearly $20 million dollars to four former death row prisoners tortured by Chicago police has hit a roadblock. The four men—all African American—sued former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and more than twenty officers who worked with him, alleging that they were coerced into falsely confessing to murder in the 1980s. We speak with John Conroy, the investigative reporter who brought the story to the fore eighteen years ago. He was recently laid off from the Chicago Reader. [includes rush transcript]

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  US Intelligence Tapping Phones of Indonesian Civilians

  Investigative journalist Allan Nairn reveals that U.S. intelligence officers in Jakarta are secretly tapping the cell phones and reading the SMS text messages of Indonesian civilians. Some of the Americans involved in the spy operation work out of the Jakarta headquarters of Detachment 88, a US-trained and–funded paramilitary unit which is part of Kopassus, the Indonesian army’s special forces famed for abduction, torture and assassination. The news comes as Congress weighs whether to send more military aid to Indonesia. [includes rush transcript]

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  Anthropologists Up in Arms Over Pentagon's "Human Terrain System" to Recruit Graduate Students to Serve in Iraq, Afghanistan

  A new $40 million Pentagon program called the Human Terrain System has begun enlisting recruits with graduate degrees in anthropology to serve in the military. The move has anthropologists up in arms. They point to the ethical implications of renewing a program like CORDS during the Vietnam War, that assassinated over 26,000 suspected Viet Cong. We speak with David Price, a founding member of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists. [includes rush transcript]