Democracy Now! Thursday, August 6, 2009

Today's Headlines

• Immigration Overhaul Includes End to Jailing Families at Hutto
• Admin Assures Drug Companies on Opposing Price Negotiations
• US Backs Off Zelaya Support as Anti-Coup Protests Rise
• Chavez: US Bases in Colombia Could Spark “War”
• Troop Request Could Still Follow Afghan Strategy Review
• Afghan War Resister Sentenced to One-Month Term
• Freed Journalists Return to US from North Korea
• 64th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing

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  Somali-Canadian Rapper K'naan on Journey from Civil War Refugee to Global Hip-Hop Artist, and the Devastating Effects of US Policy in Somalia

  As Secretary Hillary Clinton meets with Somali President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif today, we turn to a different voice from the war-ravaged country of Somalia. K’naan is a Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist who moved away at a young age to escape the civil war that had engulfed his country. We speak to K’naan about on his life, his music, and the impact of US policy in Somalia. [includes rush transcript]

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  British Anthropologist Jeremy Keenan on "The Dark Sahara: America's War on Terror in Africa"

  As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues her seven-nation tour of Africa, we hear from British anthropologist Jeremy Keenan. He traces AFRICOM, the US military command in Africa, to a 2003 kidnapping of European tourists. The hostage taking was widely blamed on Islamic militants thought to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, but Keenan argues that the Bush administration and the Algerian government were the ones responsible. [includes rush transcript]