Democracy Now! Friday, February 22, 2008

Today's Headlines

• 10,000 Turkish Troops Invade Northern Iraq
• Clinton & Obama Debate in Austin, Texas
• Change to Win Union Coalition Endorses Obama
• McCain Denies NYT Report on D.C. Lobbyist
• Report: McCain’s Top Advisors Are D.C.Lobbyists
• CIA Admits Used UK Territory For Rendition Flights
• Serbian Protesters Set U.S. Embassy on Fire
• Al-Sadr Announces New Ceasefire
• U.S. Jails Journalist from Canadian Television in Afghanistan
• Larry Davis Stabbed to Death in NY Prison
• Fmr. MLK Aide, Rev. James Orange, 65, Dies

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  Behind the John McCain Lobbying Scandal: A Look at How McCain Urged the Federal Communications Commission to Act on Behalf of Paxson Communications

  On Thursday, the New York Times revealed McCain repeatedly wrote letters to government regulators on behalf of Paxson Communications and other clients of the telecommunications lobbyist, Vicki Iseman. We speak to Angela Campbell, the attorney for the Alliance for Progressive Action and QED Accountability Project, the community groups that sought to block Paxson’s takeover of a Pittsburgh public television license. [includes rush transcript]

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  Report From Belgrade: Serbian Protesters Set U.S. Embassy On Fire to Protest Independence of Kosovo

  In Serbia, some two hundred thousand demonstrators gathered in Belgrade Thursday to rally against Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia and its support from the West. During the demonstration around one thousand protesters attacked the US embassy, smashing their way inside, throwing flares through the window and setting parts of the building on fire.

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  Samantha Power v. Jeremy Scahill: A Debate on U.S. Actions in the Balkans, the Independence of Kosovo, the Iraq Sanctions and Humanitarian Intervention

  As Kosovo declares its independence, we speak to two people who have closely followed the situation in the Balkans. Samantha Power wrote extensively about Bosnia and Kosovo in her book “A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide”, which won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize. Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist and Democracy Now correspondent. He covered the NATO bombings of Kosovo and Yuglosavia for Democracy Now in 1999.

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  Samantha Power on “Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World"

  Sergio Vieira de Mello was the top UN official in Iraq when he died in a truck bombing of the UN’s Baghdad headquarters in August 2003. Twenty-one others were killed and dozens wounded in one of the deadliest attacks on the UN in its 58-year history. De Mello had served in the United Nations since 1969 in some of the world’s most sensitive areas including East Timor, Yugoslavia, Cambodia and Bangladesh.