Fw: [ANSWER]: Media Coverage of ANSWER Washington Press Conference on January 18 Demonstration

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg@tin.it>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer.general@action-mail.org>
To: <answer.general@action-mail.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 5:03 AM
Subject: [ANSWER]: Media Coverage of ANSWER Washington Press Conference on
January 18 Demonstration


> ARTICLES & EXCERPTS FROM A.N.S.W.E.R.'s 01/08/03 PRESS
> CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING JANUARY 18 ANTI-WAR STRATEGY AND
> SCENARIOS
>
> Speakers at the Press Conference:
>
> - Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
> - Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Partnership for Civil
> Justice-LDEF
> - Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American
> Society Freedom Foundation
> - Damu Smith, Black Voices for Peace
> - Chuck Kaufman, Nicaragua Network
> - Ihab Darwish, Free Palestine Alliance
> - Brian Becker, International Action Center
> - Ismail Kamal, Muslim Students Alliance
> - Peta Lindsay, A.N.S.W.E.R. Youth and Student
> Coordinator, Howard University student
>
> Some of the news outlets that attended included:
>
> CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press,
> Pacifica, D.C.'s Newschannel 8, Reuters, Reuters & AP
> Television, NPR, WAMU Radio (NPR Affiliate), BBC, ARD
> German TV, La Jornada, Scripps Howard, Gannett News
> Service, Akahata (Japanese newspaper), Der Spiegel
>
> The following is an excerpt from an Associated Press
> article
>
> Sponsors Outline Anti-War Protest Plan
> By HEATHER GREENFIELD
> Associated Press Writer
>
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-anti-war-protest0108jan08,0
,2283668.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
>
>
> January 8, 2003, 4:33 PM EST
>
> WASHINGTON -- The weekend of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
> birthday is a perfect time for a big anti-war protest in
> Washington, sponsors said Wednesday.
>
> "The American people have very little time left to tell
> President Bush that they don't want the U.S. to be an
> aggressor nation and attack Iraq," said former Attorney
> General Ramsey Clark, whose group International
> A.N.S.W.E.R (Act Now to Stop War and Racism) is organizing
> the Jan. 18 event.
>
> "Martin Luther King weekend is a perfect time to say, 'No
> War, Mr. President,'" Clark said. King's birthday is Jan.
> 15, celebrated as a federal holiday this year on Monday,
> Jan. 20.
>
> Calling King a "drum major for peace and justice," Mahdi
> Bray, the executive director of the Muslim American
> Society, noted that King spoke out against the Vietnam
> War.
>
> Actors Jessica Lange and Mike Farrell and demonstrators
> from religious groups, labor organizations and schools are
> among those planning to attend the event.
>
> Demonstrators plan a rally on the west side of the
> Capitol. They will then march to the Washington Navy Yard
> where they will ask to inspect weapons of mass destruction
> they say the government might have.
>
> The march will travel through a relatively poor section of
> Washington. Protesters say those residents will be hurt if
> the United States diverts money from social programs to
> pay for a war.
>
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
>
>
> The following is an excerpt from Reuters News Agency
> http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08208855?view=PrinterFriendly
>
> The International Answer coalition, represented by former
> U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, said it expects
> several tens of thousands of people to join its Jan. 18
> protest in the U.S. capital.
>
> "The American people have very little time left to tell
> President Bush in their own voice ... they don't want our
> United States of America to become an aggressor nation and
> attack Iraq," Clark said at a news conference.
>
> ...
>
> Organizers said they expected the United States to use a
> Jan. 27 presentation by U.N. weapons inspectors to the
> Security Council as a trigger for war. The inspectors
> returned to Iraq in November after a new U.N. resolution
> demanded arms inspections and threatened "serious
> consequences" for violations.
>
> Dozens of busloads of people are expected to gather
> outside the U.S. Capitol for the Jan. 18 march, including
> students from more than 400 colleges and high schools.
>
> ...
>
> Although Americans' opposition to a possible war has made
> few headlines, Clark said Americans were increasingly
> apprehensive about the consequences of conflict in Iraq.
>
> "The American people are almost anesthetized on this
> subject, and they have to break through. But there is a
> growing (peace) movement," he said.
>
> "It's measured by going out into the churches and into the
> schools, and where the people are, and seeing what they
> are doing and saying. It has arisen overwhelmingly,
> spontaneously from people as they realize how far we've
> gone (toward war)."
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
______________
>
>
> The following is an excerpt from the Scripps-Howard News
> Service
> http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=IRAQ-PROTESTS-01-08-03&cat=AN
>
> Activists will rally at the Capitol and march to the
> Washington Naval Yard to stage a mock weapons inspection.
> Brian Becker, spokesman for the coalition, joked that he
> "expects unconditional and unfettered access" to U.S.
> weapons of mass destruction.
>
> The protest will mark the third in a series of anti-war
> protests in Washington. Tens of thousands gathered in
> April and more than 100,000 swarmed the city in October -
> the largest peace rally in the capital since the Vietnam
> War protests.
>
> Activists note the turnout is evidence the Bush
> administration does not have public support needed for a
> prolonged war. "The Bush administration, we think, is
> nervous," said Becker. They want a quick war, before
> domestic opposition mushrooms, he said.
>
> Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, actress Jessica Lange and
> Ron Kovic, Vietnam veteran and author of Born on the
> Fourth of July, plan to speak in opposition to Bush's
> preemptive policy at the rally.
>
> Despite congressional approval for use of force and
> renewed U.N. support for weapons inspections, peace
> activists claim the political green light does not
> "reflect the will of the people." They point to hundreds
> of underreported protests across the nation as proof and
> see the upcoming event as a last chance to stop a
> potential war against Iraq.
>
> Recent military build-up in the Persian Gulf region has
> led many to believe the Bush administration is preparing
> for war. Media reports say as many as 250,000 troops could
> be deployed and about 50,000 troops are already there.
> Officials won't confirm the number of troops in the
> region, but families across the nation are waving goodbye
> to their loved ones in the military.
>
> Organizers say the increased number of troops in the
> region show the Bush administration is preparing for war
> regardless of the inspectors' findings. They also believe
> the United Nations' Jan. 27 deadline for weapons
> inspectors to report findings is more likely to create a
> war than prevent one.
>
> The inspections were "established as a diplomatic fig leaf
> and a trigger for war," said Becker. If the report doesn't
> uncover weapons of mass destruction, Becker said, the Bush
> administration could claim Iraq is hiding them. But if the
> report reveals Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, it
> would be in violation of the resolution, he said. "It is a
> classic Catch-22."
>
>
> http://internationalanswer.org
>
> ------------------
> Send replies to answer@action-mail.org
>
> This is the ANSWER activist announcement
> list. Anyone can subscribe by sending
> any message to <answer.general-subscribe@action-mail.org>
> To unsubscribe <answer.general-off@action-mail.org>