There are encouraging signs that the criminal enterprise, known also as the Bush administration is, after fully five years of free reign being called to account for its myriad transgressions. The Grand Jury investigation into the Valerie Plame affair has, many believe, all the elements necessary to bring down George W. Bush, but is there the political will in America to carry it through?
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Russ Baker is an award-winning, unabashed muckraking investigative journalist whose work has appeared across the media spectrum. He is a co-founder of MediaBistro, a website serving as a bridge between journalists and “new media” professionals. His latest endeavour is The Real News Project, which he describes as a “media production shop for groundbreaking, transformative, independent investigative journalism. Russ Baker in the first half.
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And; far-reaching laws enacted in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in the U.S. have allowed for all manner of state excess. None have felt the sting of these laws more acutely than America’s Muslim community: imprisonment without due process, so-called “extraordinary rendition,” and broadened powers of search and seizure have combined to create a climate of fear for many Americans. But none of these is more disturbing than the “case” against Dr. Rafil A. Dhafir. Last month, after serving nearly three years in federal custody, Dr. Dhafir was sentenced to 22 years in prison: his crime; sending humanitarian aid to Iraq.
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Katherine Hughes is a Syracuse, New York potter and student who followed the prosecution of the local doctor, Rafil Dhafir, and says she became so concerned with the ramifications of it held for civil liberties she took a hiatus from her studies to look more deeply into the case than the local media was willing to. Katherine Hughes and the United States v. Rafil A. Dhafir in the second half.
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And; Janine Bandcroft will be here to bring us up to speed on all that’s good to do in and around Victoria this week. But first, Russ Baker and testing the media’s mettle.