The new leaders of Honduras are under intense pressure from the United States and other nations a day after a military coup. But the country’s new president says the move was legal. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Frances Robles of the Miami Herald who is in the capital Tegucigalpa.Listen

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is the World. There’s a nationwide curfew in Honduras today, but it couldn’t stop hundreds of demonstrators from taunting Honduran soldiers outside the Presidential palace. The demonstrators denounced the man who    is now the acting President of Honduras. He replaced President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted yesterday. Zelaya had insisted on going ahead with a referendum that might have allowed him to stay in power beyond the one-term limit. But the Honduran military kicked him out of the country. One protester today said Hondurans want United Nations peacekeepers to intervene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH] We want the blue helmets. We want an army to liberate us. We don’t want this man who usurped power. We want our President.

LISA MULLINS: Frances Robles of the Miami Herald is there in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. She spoke with us earlier this afternoon.

FRANCES ROBLES: What’s really interesting, I’m standing outside the Presidential palace, and what I can see, I would say about two blocks, as far as I can see are young men. Some of them with handkerchiefs around their faces, other ones carrying clubs. And a number of just families and older people demanding the return of the President. But what’s more interesting is that there’s quite a contradiction in reaction here. If you watch the television news media, they’re carrying on as if nothing has happened, frankly. They’re playing soap operas and cartoons.

LISA MULLINS: When you say that some of the protestors have handkerchiefs around their faces, what’s the purpose of that? Are they feeling they’re at risk by being out?

FRANCES ROBLES: I think they’re trying to look menacing [INDISTINCTIVE] [LAUGHS], because I don’t see any authorities here making any effort to stop them from protesting. So I don’t know if they’re trying to hide their identity. I think some people are just trying to cover their mouths from smoke. You see a lot of people wearing the medicine masks that you see for the people protecting themselves from swine flu, because there are burning piles of trash and tires and things of that nature.

LISA MULLINS: And those things that are burning are part of the protest?

FRANCES ROBLES: Part of the protest, yes, absolutely.

LISA MULLINS: [TALKS OVER] What do we hear in the background there right now, Frances?

FRANCES ROBLES: What you’re hearing is a number of people on loud speakers demanding the return of the President, and saying that they will not recognize Roberto Micheletti as the President of Honduras. They say that they’re not leaving here until Manuel Zelaya comes back.

LISA MULLINS: Until he comes back. And is there any indication that the former President will indeed be back?

FRANCES ROBLES: I don’t have that sense because they have an uphill battle. Because what I’m sensing here is a vast majority of the population [INDISTINCTIVE] establishment. You have the Attorney General’s office, you have the military, you have the supreme court, and you have congress decidedly on the side of this new President saying, you know, “Zelaya had to go, and this is the way we had to do it, and we did it [INDISTINCTIVE]. And then you have a small percentage of the population that I’m watching now in front of the Presidential palace saying, “No, no, no. That’s not the way things should be done.”

LISA MULLINS: And meanwhile, there is pressure coming in from the United States, maybe you can tell us how significant that may or may not be with Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, saying that they support the President who was ousted yesterday. That they believe that democracy should reign in Honduras. Here is what the acting President though has to say. This is Roberto Micheletti, who is speaking to Spanish TV.

ROBERTO MICHELETTI: [SPEAKS IN SPANISH]

LISA MULLINS:  Frances, I don’t know if you caught enough of that for me to ask you to translate for us. Did you hear that?

FRANCES ROBLES: I did heard. And actually, what he says is, nobody has the right, not Barack Obama or Hugo Chavez, has the right to come and threaten Honduras. Because there had been some comments from Hugo Chavez, sort of suggesting that this warrant of military action.

LISA MULLINS: To what extent does he fear what either Hugo Chavez, or certainly Barack Obama has to say about the coo that happened that brought him to power yesterday. I mean, the United States has been close to the Honduran military, but then we have the military, the supreme court of Honduras, the congress of Honduras, the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, all coming out in favor of this coo. I mean, what does that say in terms of how the US and its influence is viewed there.

FRANCES ROBLES: The US is in a bit of a tight spot because what you have here is enough institution that we’re in fear of the President, what looked like the President was about to conduct some kind of power grasp, where he was going to conduct this referendum despite the fact the Supreme Court has a little bit of ego, that the Attorney General has a little bit of ego, and that the Armed Forces refuse to participate in it. And then you have people who, “Oh okay. If that’s the case, then we’re gonna get this guy out of the country, we’re gonna [INDISTINCTIVE] him away. So what’s the United States supposed to do? On the one hand, I think they recognize that perhaps President Zelaya was perhaps up to no good. On the other hand, there’s ways to get rid of a President, than perhaps breaking into his bedroom in the middle of the night, is not the way you’re supposed to do it.

LISA MULLINS: Alright. Thank you very much. Speaking to us from the Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Frances Robels from of the Miami Herald. Thank you.

FRANCES ROBLES: Thank you.

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LISA MULLINS: President Obama said today that it would set a terrible president if the coo in Honduras is not reversed. Mister Obama spoke after a meeting this afternoon, with a leader of another troubled Latin American Nation, Columbia. President Alvaro Uribe wants to reinforce his country’s close ties with the US. George W. Bush considered Colombia to be America’s strongest ally in South America. Barack Obama has been less enthusiastic. He’s cited concerns about Colombia’s human rights record. That record, especially the murders of trade unionists is holding up ratification of a free trade agreement. John Otis prepared this report in the Colombian city of Cucuta.

JOHN OTIS: Aristides Hernandez is reading his own death sentence, for his work as President of the local health workers union here. Hernandez received a leaflet from a paramilitary group called Aguilas Negras, or the Black Eagles. It states that Hernandez has been declared a military objective and gives him three options: leave the union, leave town, or face death.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: “It’s very intimidating” Hernandez says.  He adds that although he hasn’t been physically attacked, he’s received multiple death threats. 10 members of Hernandez’s health workers union have been killed in the past decade, including a pharmacist who was gunned down two weeks ago. Rafael Sepulveda was sitting on his front porch with his wife when an assassin pumped six bullets into him. He became the 21st Colombian union activist to die this year. Often, the suspected culprits are right wing death squads who view labor leaders as allies of the country’s Marxist guerrillas.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: In outback towns like Cucuta, located along the lawless border with Venezuela, labor leaders feel especially exposed. Hernandez drives to meetings in a 25-year-old Jeep. The locks on the doors don’t work, and the engine lacks the power to speed away from would-be attackers.  Hernandez travels with a bodyguard.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: The “The best thing is to stay alert and be ready to react”, says the bodyguard, who carries only a pistol. Even if there’s no physical violence, threats are often enough to force labor negotiators to lower contract demands, or to prevent unions from forming in the first place. And because paramilitaries sometimes work in tandem with government officials, it’s hard for unions to know, who’s friend or foe. Another union official, German Gonzalez, recalls getting into an argument with the mayor of Cucuta in 2005.  He says the mayor threatened to have him killed by paramilitaries.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: Nothing happened to Gonzalez, but two weeks later gunmen murdered his brother. In pushing for the US/Colombia Free Trade Agreement, President Uribe claims that he’s addressing the problem. The annual death toll of union members has often topped 200, but last year, the number dropped to 49. The Uribe government has also made a greater effort to prosecute the killers, and it argues that the trade agreement would create new opportunities in a country where many of the jobless end up joining drug gangs, guerrillas or paramilitaries. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama came out against the trade pact, but President Obama has said he’ll reconsider if Colombia continues to  pursue the killers of labor leaders.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: But in Cucuta, activists like Miriam Tamara of the teachers union, say they’ve seen no improvements here. She also travels with a bodyguard but since her car broke down, she walks to meetings, making her an easy target.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: “All you can do,” she says, “is to stay calm and put yourself in the hands of God, because that’s the only protection we’ve got.”  For The World, I’m John Otis, Cucuta, Colombia.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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LISA MULLINS: Defeat is never easy, but for followers of US national soccer team, yesterday was an especially tough day. That’s when teams from the United States and Brazil played each other in the final of a big tournament in South Africa. It was the Confederations Cup. The Confederations Cup is a sort of dry run for the soccer World Cup, which is gonna be played in South Africa next year. Now, a few are surprised that Brazil won. Nevertheless, it’s a result that The World’s William Troop is taking personally.

WILLIAM TROOP: Lisa, I know you’re not a soccer fan, but I need you to know how I feel today. It’s a funny combination of dejected and proud, excited and hung over. Here’s why. In yesterdays final, the US team started off like a fireworks display on the 4th of July, scoring two quick goals, against Brazil.

[SOUND CLIP OF THE GAME]

WILLIAM TROOP: This was huge. The US team was not supposed to be there at all. They dropped their first two games in this competition, including a loss to Brazil by three goals to zero. Then they turned it around, with some skill and lots of luck. And now they were in the final, against Brazil and winning. Then came the second half and everything changed as the Brazilians rolled on, scoring one.

[SOUND CLIP OF THE GAME]

WILLIAM TROOP: Two,…

[SOUND CLIP OF THE GAME]

WILLIAM TROOP…and finally, just six minutes from the end, three goals.

[SOUND CLIP OF THE GAME]

WILLIAM TROOP: Yeah, they won it alright, it was gut wrenching. US captain Carlos Bocanegra described his feelings this way.

CARLOS BOCANEGRA: It’s a little bit of an emotional roller coaster, you know?

WILLIAM TROOP: I felt like I fell off the roller coaster, and I was just watching at home. I can’t imagine what it was like for the players. Still, I feel like something’s changed, though I’m still trying to figure out exactly what. US player Landon Donovan thinks it’s the team’s attitude.

LANDON DONOVAN: It’s not good enough just to show up and get beat the way we did last week against Brazil. And so, from that standpoint we did an incredible job getting the first two goals.

WILLIAM TROOP: Yeah, though everyone agrees holding on to the lead would have been better. Of course, the US women’s team has been to the finals of major international tournaments before, but the men, uh-uh. So, you might say, they lost, get over it.

Well, I normally would, I’ve been known to be a fair weather fan of the men’s national soccer team. Pleased when they do well, but otherwise not really expecting too much from them. So it goes in the one country on earth where soccer is not king, where nobody seems to expect much of their national team if they even know about it. But this time it was different. This time I actually believed they could win. That may mean I’m now more than just a fair weather fan, and that’s probably what US soccer needs, fans who believe, despite the odds.

LISA MULLINS: Ever hopeful, the world’s William Troop.

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. Bernard Madoff has lost everything, his lavish lifestyle, the fabulous wealth, and now, his freedom. Today the disgraced financier was sentenced to 150 years in prison. That means the 71-year-old Madoff will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars. You’ll pardon Londoner Willard Foxton for showing little sympathy for Bernard Madoff. His father, a former British army officer, lost his life savings because of Madoff. Foxton says his dad was the perfect example of an innocent victim.

WILLARD FOXTON: My father actually had no idea he was a Madoff investor. He invested with a bank in Austria that reported to be a normal bank, and he invested into funds that they had, which were, he was told were diversified funds of funds. So, what he was told that they were invested across a wide variety of different hedge funds, and they were completely safe, and thought the returns were very, very modest. So, I think nobody expects a fraud in what is described to you as a financial product with modest return. So that’s how my father became involved with Bernie Madoff.

LISA MULLINS: We were, and you are Willard, talking about your dad in the past tense. Maybe you can tell us what happened to your dad.

WILLARD FOXTON: He shot himself on a park bench with his service pistol. Just before my father killed himself, about a week before, he sent me an email, and this was the first I knew about this, saying that he lost all of his money in these hedge funds that turned out to be Madoff hedge funds. And he was feeling very low and very depressed, and he might have to declare himself bankrupt. And my father lost his hand in combat, and had been to some of the most dangerous war zones in the world. So I must be honest, I wasn’t, I didn’t, I certainly didn’t think he was gonna kill himself. I knew he was upset, but obviously anyone who lost their life savings would be upset. So, it was a huge shock when he actually killed himself.

LISA MULLINS: For those who don’t know, what did your father do?

WILLARD FOXTON: My father was a highly decorated British soldier, and he’d served in almost, most of the combats any of the British army saw in between the 60′s and the 80′s, which is when he left the army. And, after leaving the British army, he was a humanitarian aid worker, and he worked for some of the most notable aid charities in the world. And he headed the European community monetary mission in the Vulcans, and testified against a number of war criminals. Was involved in investigating war crimes and mass graves, and that sort of thing. And also subsequent to that, was involved in reconstruct benefits in not only in the form of Yugoslavia, but also in Afghanistan as well.

LISA MULLINS: Well, the story has been made into a documentary film. This is the story of your own journey, here to the United States, and what you discovered. It’s a documentary made by the BBC called “The Madoff Hustle.” So Willard, when did you make, I mean, obviously the entire family is affected by this, but I wonder when you made it your mission to find out more about Bernard Madoff, and about other victims, including here in the United States?

WILLARD FOXTON: I’d been a journalist for a long time, but I’d never been a, what you call a serious journalist. I’d been a music and fashion journalist. But ultimately, I always felt if my father had been murdered, what he would have asked me to do was avenge him. And the only way I could do that is by publicizing his story, and letting people know that Bernie Madoff didn’t just steal money. He stole people’s lives, he stole people’s marriages, people’s businesses, people’s security.

LISA MULLINS: You’re equating what Bernard Madoff did with murder?

WILLARD FOXTON: I’m not saying he murdered my father, but what I am saying is that a crime on the scale of Bernie Madoff’s where you are stealing literally billions of dollars from ordinary, hard working people, inevitably has much greater repercussions than almost any other kind of crime.

LISA MULLINS: And the repercussions for you, I’m not sure if you have any siblings, if your mom is alive, but the repercussions have been what?

WILLARD FOXTON: Ultimately it has been absolutely devastating for family. We’ve obviously been hugely upset. I mean, my parents divorced when, in the early 80′s, and I didn’t really know my father growing up. So, I was really only just getting to know him. And as I got older, he’d been, we’d been in contact much more often, and I was really looking forward to him having a happier time and getting to know me much better. And also, he was very keen on spending time with his grandchildren, ’cause my sister has two children. And, yeah, he was looking for to a long and happy retirement. So I think that I’ve lost a father, my siblings have lost a father, and my niece and nephew have lost their grandfather.

LISA MULLINS: So tell us what you found here, especially starting in New York?

WILLARD FOXTON: Well, we came to New York and obviously it was quite difficult as a music and fashion journalist, to suddenly be walking and then talking to these huge players on Wall Street. But the common thread I found was that a lot of very, very intelligent people on Wall Street, when they had been younger, had questioned Bernie Madoff’s legitimacy. And, essentially they had sent the detail to the SCC, they had told other investors not to invest. They had done everything, they’d gone to journalists. They’d done everything they could to expose him, but so many people respected Bernie Madoff. He was so, such a well known philanthropist, he was such a pillar of the Jewish community, that people who spoke out against him were almost ostracized and vilified for attacking such a prominent and important person.

LISA MULLINS: Outside of New York you hit some other American cities, what was the purpose and what did you find?

WILLARD FOXTON: Well, we traveled all over America, really, to speak to other Madoff victims, and find out their stories. I think most particularly we spoke to a chap called Ian Thiermann who was in Ben Lomond, California. It’s hardly a city by anyone’s description. But he’s a 90-year-old man who’d invested his life savings in Madoff on a recommendation of a friend. And he’d already lost everything once, he’s lost everything in the great depression and he’d worked himself up into a millionaire by running a pest control business in LA. But he’d lost everything to Madoff. And unlike many of the Madoff victims I spoke to, who were just devastated and felt that their lives were over, Mr. Thiermann was hugely inspiring. Because rather than sitting around and being very upset about what happened, he had taken a job at the local supermarket, and he was working for $10 an hour. But he told me that working for $10 an hour was, made a huge difference at the end of the week. And also, the other thing that he said that was hugely inspiring was, I said to him, “Oh, so do you think you’re gonna end your days working at the supermarket?” And he said, “Oh no, no, no. I’m gonna save up $10,000 and then I’m gonna start my own business again, which I thought was much more encapsulating of this sort of America that I think is out there, than anything else.

LISA MULLINS: When you heard about the sentence today of Bernard Madoff, 150 years in prison, what was your own reaction?

WILLARD FOXTON: Well, I was very, very pleased, obviously. I suspected actually what would happen would be the sentence would be more in the realm of what the [INDISTINCTIVE], a functional life sentence for an old man of say, 20 years. But I think it was a very good thing that the New York court decided to send a symbolic message by giving Madoff the absolute maximum penalty. And I think it’s probably quite rare to hear a victim saying, no, I think ultimately, perhaps a sentence over 20 years is only of a symbolic value. I mean, I am pleased that he’s got that symbolic value. But I think as long as it was a functional life sentence where he isn’t gonna leave prison, I think that is what most victims will be very, very happy with that.

LISA MULLINS: You told us a little bit earlier in our discussion that if you’re father say, have been murdered, you know you would want to, and he would want you to avenge the murder. Do you feel with Madoff’s sentance today that his death, his suicide has now been avenged?

WILLARD FOXTON: I think regardless of whatever the sentence was, my vengeance on Bernie Madoff was really getting everyone to know my father’s name, because I think there had been far too much tarring of the Madoff victims, with the brush of being greedy or stupid. And I think putting my father’s name out there, is a man who’s perhaps a little naive, but basically an honorable and very decent man. Who represents, I think, the vast bulk of Madoff victims, was my revenge on Bernie Madoff, because it robbed the public of any sort of sympathy that they had, may have had for Madoff, in terms of the fact that, I think, when you have this idea that it’s only rich people stealing from other rich people, and oh no, I can’t buy a private jet this year, or I have to give up my yacht. And I think it doesn’t seem as serious a crime as a highly decorated soldier losing his life savings and killing himself. So I think ultimately my revenge on Bernie Madoff was making people realize that he was a little better than a petty criminal.

LISA MULLINS: Willard Foxton, thank you.

WILLARD FOXTON: Thank you very much.

LISA MULLINS: Willard Foxton’s father, William Foxton took his life after losing his savings to Bernard Madoff’s pawnsey scheme. Earlier today in New York, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for investment fraud.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. President Barack Obama has called on Israel to freeze all building activity in the West Bank settlements, but Israel said today it has approved the construction of 50 new homes in one Jewish settlement, and it’s planning on building nearly 15-hundred additional housing units. This is just another sign of how far apart the US and Israeli governments remain on the issue of settlement issue. The World’s Matthew Bell has the story.

MATTHEW BELL: Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barack plans to meet President Obama’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in Washington tomorrow to talk about settlements. According to today’s New York Times, the two sides might be getting closer to a compromise. The paper cited anonymous Israeli sources saying Israel is willing to halt settlement building for 3 to 6 months, as part of an effort to re-start peace talks. The paper said the moratorium on settlement construction would not affect projects already under way, nor would it apply to Jewish areas in East Jerusalem. This plan, however, would require the Obama administration to back down from its call for a complete halt to settlement construction. And it also sounds unacceptable to Yuli Edelstein. He’s an Israeli cabinet minister for public diplomacy and Diaspora affairs. Using the Biblical terms for the West Bank, Judea and Samaria, Edelstein said natural growth in the settlements should continue.

YULI EDELSTEIN: The issue of population control doesn’t behoove any democratic country. And we have to understand that the legal or not legal settlements of communities, whatever terms we may use, still to basically say to Jewish women in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, you can’t give birth, and if you god forbid do give birth, there will be no kindergarten, is something unheard of in any democratic country.

MATTHEW BELL: Israeli officials say the Bush administration had quietly agreed to allow some continued growth in West Bank settlements, and Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor today alluded to that understanding.

DAN MERIDOR: The problem that needs to be resolved is not about settlements, it’s about keeping agreements.

MATTHEW BELL: But Obama administration officials don’t see things that way. Secretary of Sate Hillary Clinton has dismissed the importance of any agreements made between Israel and the previous administration. Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has said Israel must freeze all settlement growth before he agrees to restart negotiations. And today, Palestinian development minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said Israel’s decision to approve new settlement housing is a challenge to peace.

MAHAMMAD SHTAYYEH: This is a challenge to the international will that has been calling upon Israel to totally freeze all the Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories. This is actually a blow, a total blow to the whole international effort to resume the biz talks, to resume the negotiations. This is an expression of a aggressive will on behalf of the Israeli government.

MATTHEW BELL: But neither the Palestinians, nor Arab governments in the region have been very forthcoming about they would do if Israel does halt settlement growth. That’s according to David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He’s co-author with White House special advisor on the Middle East, Dennis Ross, of the new book called Myths, Illusions and Peace. Makovsky says Mr. Obama went to Riyadh last month to ask the Saudis for so-called deliverables, but he didn’t come back with much.

DAVID MAKOVSKY: What will they? Will they open up a trade section in Tel Aviv? Will they agree that Allah may be can have landing rights in Saudi Arabia? Will they agree that professors from both countries can be exchanged? It doesn’t seem that, for whatever reason that that visit was a success, and it seemed that the Saudis gave the President the back of their hand.

MATTHEW BELL: Makovsky says he doesn’t doubt that president Obama believes that halting settlement growth in the West Bank would help win concessions for Israel from its Arab neighbors and the Palestinians. But Makovsky says, it’s just not yet clear what those concessions would be. For The World, I’m Matthew Bell.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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LISA MULLINS: President Obama has made a point of reaching out to friends and even foes across the globe. He has reached out rhetorically, and linguistically. In Spanish:

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LISA MULLINS: A little bit of Persian:

[SOUND CLIP IN PERSIAN]

LISA MULLINS: And Arabic:

[SOUND CLIP IN ARABIC]

LISA MULLINS: Now, the President may be doing more than offering respect to other nations, he may be setting an example for his own country. Since Mister Obama’s inauguration, the State Department, the CIA, and other federal agencies have tried to increase the number of foreign language speakers on staff. But the PENTAGON’S efforts to become multi-lingual are running up against an obstacle. It’s the policy known as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” The World’s Katy Clark explains.

KATY CLARK: Pashtu is the main language spoken in the mountainous region spanning the Afghan/Pakistan border. That’s where Osama Bin Laden may be hiding out, it’s also where many Taliban attacks are launched against US forces in Afghanistan. But both the State Department and CIA have struggled to find more Pashtu language specialists. Last month, CIA Director Leon

Panetta vowed to double the number of Pashtu speaking agents in the next five years. He also wants to boost the number of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Urdu speakers. Language skills have certainly been useful in winning hearts and minds in Iraq. Just ask Dan Choi. Choi majored in Arabic at West Point. He spent 15 months in Iraq as an Infantry Officer.

DAN CHOI: I went into a city council meeting where I would talk to very influential sheiks in a tribal area and I would start off with a poem. I would say, [SPEAKS IN ARABIC].

KATY CLARK: Those words are written by the Iraqi poet, Al Mutanabbi, who lived more than a thousand years ago. Choi says everyone in Iraq knows this poem.

DAN CHOI: It talks about identity, and people knowing who you are. It’s a beautiful poem, and it goes a long way, because it’s the most famous Iraqi poem. And you have to show, number one that you are there to partner with the people, and that you’re not there just to change their culture.

KATY CLARK: Choi says he realized how useful his Arabic was in making friends and showing respect for the Iraqi people. He also speaks fluent Korean, and after leaving active duty last year, he took up Persian. Choi is now at the New York Army National Guard. Considering the two-thirds of the New York Guard Force has deployed abroad since nine eleven, chances were pretty good Choi would have served overseas again. But that’s unlikely now. About the same time, the CIA and State Department were reporting shortages of linguists, Choi declared he was gay. That’s not a problem in other government agencies, but it is in the military. Choi now faces discharge under “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” That policy prohibits openly gay men and women from serving in the armed forces. Choi’s case goes before a review board tomorrow. If his discharge goes through, Choi will join the ranks of more than 13,000 military personnel who’ve been released under “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” That, since the policy went into effect during the Clinton Administration. More than 300 of those discharged have been linguists, 60 of them speakers of Arabic. Daniel Byman teaches security studies at Georgetown University.

DANIEL BYMAN: We desperately need more of these people, and idea we would be dismissing some because of a lifestyle is absurd in my view, and quite dangerous to us national security.

KATY CLARK: But a spokesman for Dan Choi’s own National Guard Force says there are other ways for soldiers to overcome the language barrier. What’s more, says Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fanning of the New York National Guard, knowing a foreign language is only a small part of achieving security objectives.

PAUL FANNING: There are many skills that National Guard citizen soldiers bring to bare. Language skills are among them, but not the only ones. It crosses the field. And I saw it worked for us on the ground in Afghanistan in so many different. We used an awful lot of local nationals, as in Afghans, as our interpreters. And in one case, we actually had a naturalized immigrant from Afghanistan who was serving in the New York National Guard, who was also on the ground with us over there.

KATY CLARK: But there’s no question that the military values foreign language learning among its own. Since 2001, the Pentagon has increased spending for its Primary Language Institute by more than three fold. Even if someone like Dan Choi, who speaks three critical foreign languages was viewed indispensable, it probably wouldn’t matter. The military goes by the book. The board reviewing his case tomorrow will quote “consider whether or not Lieutenant Choi should have his Federal recognition for his officer’s commission withdrawn for moral, professional dereliction, as a violation of the personal code in effect by Federal Law.” In other words, by saying he was gay, did Choi break the rules? Choi thinks the board’s decision is a foregone conclusion.

DAN CHOI: On June 30th, I’ll find out if the board of officers says that because you were honest about who you are, we are finding that’s grounds enough to fire you. So I’ll be completely unemployed at that point.

KATY CLARK: At least in the civilian world, he’ll have his language skills to fall back on. For The World, this Kate Clark.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

More of Lorne Matalon’s Mexico coverage on The World

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LISA MULLINS: Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon is not up for re-election on Sunday, but he’s gonna be watching the mid term vote closely. Calderon’s conservative pan party is trying to win congressional seats, and the polls have not been favorable. The key issue in Mexico is ramping drug related violence. Calderon has launched a war on drug gangs, and he’s put some traffickers behind bars, but cartel turf wars still kill hundreds of people each month. The world’s Lorne Matalon has been following the campaign in Metepec, he prepared this report.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: She’s 30, well spoken, a graduate of the London School of Economics and media-savvy. Rookie political candidate, Brenda Estefan, a Congressional candidate with Felipe Calderon’s PAN Party, campaigns in Metepec, 2 hours northwest of Mexico City, in the State of Mexico.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: Estefan tells citizens Calderon is a good president. Her outings mirror American-style campaigning. One difference, running for the US Congress can cost up to two million dollars.  Mexican candidates are limited to 60-thousand dollars. Another difference; media time here is bought by the party, not the candidate, which means candidates are constantly pleading with their party bosses in Mexico City to buy airtime in their districts. Estefan was selected by the PAN to run for Congress after four years at the Interior Ministry, which plans Calderon’s assault on the drug cartels. It’s one of several problems Estefan says Mexico inherited from seven decades of PRI rule.

BRENDA ESTEFAN: One of those is the drug dealing and organized crime, which for many governments, for many years was not attended. It was just left behind.

LORNE MATALON: By many governments, Estefan means the PRI, which did not tackle drug dealing in its decades long hold on power.  In his first three years as President, Calderon has had mixed success dealing with the PRI, which acts as a legislative kingmaker, holding the second largest block of seats in Congress after the PAN.  PAN wants to turn its plurality into a majority. And that’s why the party’s chosen candidates, such as Estefan, meant to symbolize a new generation, in such an important race.

BRENDA ESTEFAN: In this drug war, all the initiatives against the drug dealers have to pass through the Congress. And if he doesn’t have a majority, then it would be hard for the people and for the country itself to continue with this drug war.

LORNE MATALON: That’s the PAN’s mantra. Ask voters to support PAN candidates, to help Calderon fight the drug war, and push police and judicial reforms through Congress.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: The radio spot says “to help the President, I’m going to vote for PAN.” The help is a specific reference to the support for the narco-war that Calderon is asking for. The PRI says Calderon is stumbling in that war, but it hasn’t presented its own plan to deal with the cartels.  Latest opinion polling shows the PAN catching up to the PRI. It’s now just four-percentage points behind. The PAN is riding on Calderon’s coat tails. His personal approval rate stands at 65% for his handling of the Swine Flu epidemic, and the roundup of allegedly corrupt politicians. A wildcard in this election is a growing “Annul Your Vote” campaign. That is, destroy or otherwise make your ballot uncountable. Denise Maerker, a columnist at the newspaper El Universal, kick-started the movement by writing, “Why Should We Vote?” a scathing condemnation of Mexican politicians.

DENISE MAERKER: We have been betrayed by the political class, and it’s because they have common interests much more bigger than the interest they have in representing us.

LORNE MATALON: An Ipsos Mexico poll suggests 11% of Mexicans support the ‘Annul Your Vote’ movement. And with the PRI and PAN so close, that could influence the outcome. For The World, I’m Lorne Matalon in Metepec, Mexico.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.