PRI's The World » 06/30/2009

Entire program – June 30, 2009

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:05:59 +0000

Today on The World: American forces withdraw from Baghdad as Iraqi forces officially take control, a conversation about prospects for peace between Syria and Israel — one expert says the issues that divide them are not insurmountable, and why life as a musician is a little less of a struggle in France.
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Baghdad handover

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:02:12 +0000

There were celebrations throughout Baghdad and other Iraqi cities today as American forces officially handed over control to Iraqi security forces — six years after the U-S led invasion. Anchor Lisa Mullins finds out what’s happening from Sahar Issa, the Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy newspapers.
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[SOUND CLIP OF MUSIC]

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World.

[SOUND CLIP IN ARABIC]

LISA MULLINS: Today has been a day of celebration in Iraq. Street parties marked the handover of Baghdad and other cities from American to Iraqi forces. President Obama said the festivities make a powerful statement.

BARACK OBAMA: The very fact that Iraqis are celebrating this day is a testament to the courage, the capability, and commitment of every single American who has served in Iraq.

LISA MULLINS: But there was more violence in Iraq today. A car bomb exploded in the northern city of Kirkuk, at least 25 people were killed. Sahar Issa is an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy newspapers; she’s in Baghdad where she saw some Iraqis in celebration.

SAHAR ISSA: It is State prompted celebrations. And when we went out today, myself, my colleagues, we went to every neighborhood in Baghdad. We did not see with our own eyes, or hear with our own ears people celebrating. We saw that the security forces, some of them, had decorated their cars. The Police Force had decorated their cars. There were ribbons, and in some neighborhoods the cars of the military were also decorated. They were greeting people, they were giving candy. We heard and we saw on State TV that some young ladies were carrying baskets with flowers and candy to give, but we, with our own eyes, and with our own ears, witnessed no such thing.

LISA MULLINS: What are the images of hope that you’re seeing? What is around you that feels optimistic

SAHAR ISSA: The people we have spoken to and the people we have seen in the streets, they hope, and they put hope upon hope that perhaps after all the US forces will one day leave. They must understand that everyone has been very skeptical about it actually taking place. This is the hope. They were very skeptical, and now they see that this first step has actually taken place. They never thought it possible that one day American forces, American military convoys, hooting down the streets, will be gone. And today, they look around, and they feel that this is taking place. They are still skeptical, they will see what will happen in a month. But there is hope at the bottom of it all.

LISA MULLINS: At the same time, I know people there are very much aware of what’s happening to the north of Baghdad. In places like Kirkuk, the oil rich city where today, as we said there was a car bomb. A massive and quite lethal car bomb. This is not unexpected, but how do Iraqis understand incidents like that, and how are Americans listening to understand them?

SAHAR ISSA: Iraqis have been through quite a lot, Lisa. They understand that there is a price to be paid for everything. If we are to have independence, someday the American forces of course must leave. And if it means that the contenders will have to fight it out, and then reach stability, then we’ll just have to fight it out and we will in time reach stability. The thing is, the confidence in the establishment itself. Whether their intentions are real, whether their credibility is high. Why in six years the questions asked over and over again, why in six the Iraqi government is pushing for it, and the American military forces have been, have undertaken to do it. In terms of preparing Iraqi security forces, it has no trading went forward very far, why?

LISA MULLINS: [TALKS OVER] Does that mean that people don’t have confidence in the ability of the Iraqi security to take over where the Americans are leaving off? I mean, the Americans will be on the sidelines at this point, so their not that far away. But do Iraqis generally have confidence in their government and in the security there?

SAHAR ISSA: Generally, they are skeptical, and they are still skeptical for two reasons. One, as I told you previously, that they believe that the Iraqi security forces are infiltrated. This establishment, the Iraqi government has been upon sectarian quota. This happened when Paul Bremer declared that it should be. That means everything that is taking place is according to sectarian quota. The Iraqi security forces, generally speaking are Shiite-led That is why the certain neighborhoods were left to fester, thus the creation of the [Fower?] or the Awakening Movement. What is happening now? Now, of course, the Awakening Movement has been crippled one way or the other. It was supposed to be that 20 percent of them were to be incorporated into the security forces, but basically almost two percent, maybe a little bit more, have been incorporated. What does that mean? That means that the security forces will remain in the eyes of the people almost a sectarian tool.

LISA MULLINS: Are you, as a journalist and as an Iraqi, going to be looking for a sign that Iraq has emerged from this crisis? Is there some tell tale sign that you will be watching for?

SAHAR ISSA: I believe, if I can see that Sunni neighborhoods will be safely patrolled by the Iraqi security forces, and if there will cooperation between the Sunnis in those neighborhoods, and the Iraqi security forces, I think that will be a mile stone.

LISA MULLINS: Sahar Issa, thank you very much.

SAHAR ISSA: Thank you very much for having me.

LISA MULLINS: Sahar Issa reports from Baghdad for the McClatchy newspapers.

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A new day for Baghdad

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:57:30 +0000

Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with journalist and author Tom Ricks about the handover of Baghdad from the Americans to the Iraqi security forces. Ricks covered the Iraq war for the Washington Post and is author of The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008.
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LISA MULLINS: Tom Ricks is the author of The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006 to 2008. He is now in Washington, DC. Tom, Sahar Issa believes that if the mainly Shiite security forces, working for a mainly Shiite government in Iraq can protect the safety of the average Sunni, than that’s gonna show that Iraq is indeed able to successfully govern after an American withdrawal. For you, what is the sign of Iraq’s stability as of today? What are you looking for?

TOM RICKS: I think that indeed would be a major sign. A second sign related would be the overall behavior of Iraqi security forces, how well they treat the population when there aren’t American soldiers around watching them. And finally, and most broadly, it would be the level of violence against Iraqi civilians, no matter what direction it’s coming from, whether it’s from Belize’s Al Qaeda insurgents, or Iraqi security forces.

LISA MULLINS: And is that going to tell you how able the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is to govern? Or is that telling you something else about the preparedness of the security forces?

TOM RICKS: Preparedness has never been the problem for the security forces, they’ve always been well equipped, they’ve had gradually better training. The problem has always been motivation. What is gonna be motivating these guys? And I worry sometimes when I see all of these Iraqis celebrating. It looks to us like, oh, they’re celebrating in Iraq that is now beyond occupation. I worry that in fact what they’re doing is celebrating, hey, we won, my team won, and my part of Iraq now dominates the rest of the country. If that’s so, then what you may be seeing is simply prelude to another round of Civil War.

LISA MULLINS: How bad, though, do things have to get? I mean, if you’re worried about things devolving into Civil War, how bad do things have to get before American troops are brought back on the scene, since they’re waiting on the sidelines now?

TOM RICKS: I’m not sure they really will be brought back on the scene. I think Americans are really sick of Iraq, they wanna get out. They feel like they’ve given Iraq a chance to move forward, and it’s up to them to take it.

LISA MULLINS: But isn’t that why they’re still there?

TOM RICKS: Yes, right now Americans are still there to try to keep the lid on the violence, and also to try to protect the Iraqi government as it grows. The question though is, if things do fall apart slowly, which is to say over the rest of this year and into next year. By the end of next year it’ll be too late to really have American forces intervene, they’ll be gone.

LISA MULLINS: I don’t know if you would have a different answer for this next year, we’ll try you out and see. But as of now, how would you say the United States has transformed Iraq? And how has Iraq, and the US involvement in it transformed the US?

TOM RICKS: Iraq has changed the US. And actually, you took me back when you asked that question. I remember somebody saying to me years ago, you think the Americans are gonna change Iraq, what the Americans are gonna find out is how much the Iraq war changes them. We have been changed as a country. We are now involved fighting on the ground in the Middle East, and I think we’re stuck on the ground in the Middle East for many, many years to come. This is by no means the end of the American War in Iraq. It is by no means the end of Americans fighting in Iraq. We’re gonna see, I expect a pretty long hot and bloody summer there. And it worries me because I think Afghanistan also is gonna have a long hot summer. That’s why I think Americans are gonna be surprised by how much war news they have to consume over the next three months.

LISA MULLINS: Tom Ricks’ books include Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq 2003 to 2006. Thank you very much Tom.

TOM RICKS: You’re welcome.

Thoughts on Baghdad from a US Army medic

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:54:24 +0000

US Army medic Benjamin Corbett recorded this thoughts on one of his final patrols of Baghdad this week.
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LISA MULLINS: Today has been a day of reflection for those American troops in Iraq. One of them recorded his thoughts while he was on patrol in Baghdad this week.

BENJAMIN CORBETT: My name is Benjamin Corbett. I am the medic for Red Platoon Charlie Company. What I do on a daily basis is make sure the soldiers stay healthy, hand out Tylenols, Aspirins, anything like that. But then if someone does get hurt out here, it’s my primary duty to make sure they stay fixed, and get them stable enough to transport ‘em. This is my second tour and I’ve been here four months. This tour, it seems to be more secure. Yesterday, a bad guy set off a TFP, the Target Coalition Forces. The guy who detonated it was a little too close to his work, and wound up blowing himself about 20 feet back into a nice pond. Derek Young got out and pulled him to safety, I started working on him. He was pretty much too far-gone with the amount of blood he lost, not much I could’ve done to save him. I tried. I bandaged up his holes, tried to get some fluids back into him. He didn’t have enough, really, that just collapsed on me.

[SOUND CLIP OF BENJAMIN CORBETT TALKING TO IRAQIS]

BENJAMIN CORBETT: Most people are kind, very friendly. They say hello, they like to show off their English, even though at night they’ll say good-morning.

[SOUND CLIP OF BENJAMIN CORBETT TALKING TO IRAQIS]

BENJAMIN CORBETT: The people who just wanna spend their daily lives doing what they do, making their money and having a family. I think that will miss us because I don’t think it’ll be as secure, but who knows. If they don’t want us here, they don’t want us here.

[SOUND CLIP OF BENJAMIN CORBETT TALKING TO IRAQIS]

BENJAMIN CORBETT: It’d be very great if Iraq could become a democracy, and democracy could force in the Middle East. It would make my time over here feel worthwhile, it’d make it feel like it was not all for not, you know? I’m missing my family, I miss my parents, my wife, my baby. So I really hope it succeeds, ’cause if it doesn’t, then it’s wasteful. Millions of dollars, American lives, Iraqi lives, civilians. It needs to succeed, it just has to.

LISA MULLINS: That’s US army medic Benjamin Corbett on patrol this week in Baghdad.

Iraq auctions its oil reserves

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:50:08 +0000

Iraq’s oil ministry held a televised auction today for rights to develop some of the country’s most valuable energy reserves. It’s the first time such contracts have been up for bid in Iraq since the 1970′s. But as The World’s Katy Clark tells us, some oil companies weren’t willing to accept Iraq’s terms.
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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. Iraqis saw one group of outsiders step back today and invited others to step up. We reported earlier on the WITHDRAWAL of American and other foreign military forces from Iraqi cities and towns, well at the same time, Iraq asked Americans and other foreigners to enter the country’s economy. The World’s Katy Clark explains.

KATY CLARK: For the first time in more than 30 years, international companies were allowed to bid today for the right to develop some of Iraq’s most valuable energy reserves. Dozens of oil companies participated in the auction, which was broadcast on Iraqi TV. The Chairman of the bidding committee announced the most appealing offers.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BIDDING COMMITTEE: The bid offered by the consortium led by Eni scored 42.0, and the consortium led by CNPC scored 40.4.

KATY CLARK: Iraq had hailed today’s auction as a milestone in post-war reconstruction, and the government is counting on the help of foreign companies to develop its vast reserves. But the bidding quickly faltered with many companies rejecting the terms being offered by the Iraqi Government. Mark Gregory is the BBC’s business reporter.

MARK GREGORY: These are mostly fields that were already in production, but producing way below their level. And the companies are being offered what a good service contracts. Essentially they get paid a fee for boosting production at these fields. They don’t get to control the oil.

KATY CLARK: Oil companies wanted four dollars a barrel to bring these fields back to optimum production; the Iraqi government wasn’t willing to pay that. By the end of the day, only one deal had been struck. A consortium involving BP and China National Petroleum Corporation agreed to run the Ruamila Field, with an estimated 17.8 billion barrels in crude reserves. In general, bit oil companies continue to have reservations about doing business in Iraq. For one thing, the country’s still at war, and for another, says Mark Gregory, Iraqis haven’t figure out how much foreign involvement they want in their one and only money making industry.

MARK GREGORY: Even one of the country’s vice-presidents has said that these deals will be illegal. That’s partly because there is no oil law in Iraq. Attempts to get a new oil law have failed; it’s still stuck in Iraqi parliament. These been deals are being done under old laws dating back to Sadaam Hussein’s time. Essentially people think that if they bring the oil companies back in, Iraq will get ripped off and the oil companies will get the lion’s share of the wealth.

KATY CLARK: But most Iraqis realize that the government run oil companies can’t do much without foreign assistance. Iraq has the world’s third largest proven oil reserves, but its oil industry has suffered under decades of conflict and international sanctions. Manouchehr Takin of The Center for Global Energy Studies says Iraq is a deal for oil developers willing to take the risk.

MANOUCHEHR TAKIN: These Iraq oil fields could be developed at a few dollars a barrel. Whereas in other parts of the world, you’re talking about 20, 30 or so dollars a barrel.

KATY CLARK: That’s because Iraq’s reserves are large and easy to get at. It wouldn’t take a lot of effort to extract the crude. Perhaps surprised by today’s meager auction results, Iraq’s oil minister has asked bidders to re-submit their proposals for the remaining seven contracts, chances are good they will. For The World, this is Katy Clark.

Ode to Baghdad

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:46:06 +0000

Two Iraqi poets reflect on a time when Baghdad wasn’t the center of an American war, but a center of learning and culture.
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LISA MULLINS: Iraq’s capital Baghdad wasn’t always identified with an American war. For more than a thousand years, it was a metropolis at the heart of an empire that captured the imagination of the West and the Arab world alike. It was a place of learning and culture, and it attracted countless poets. Nabeel Yasin and Fawzi Karim are two contemporary Iraqi poets, they’re now living in exile. Here they reflect on the city that they left behind. First, Fawzi Karim remembers growing up along the banks of the Tigris River.

FAWZI KARIM: We live in there, in the river, swimming all the time, when we was children and boys, you know? And this is the best time you can understand life. To cross the river, something really not belong to this reality, something, you know, you feel you are, a tigress. That time, and even now really, it’s huge, it’s so wide, it’s not small things. So, when you cross, you can’t see the other side. Everything became covered with a dream, and that’s beautiful.

NABEEL YASIN: I still searching for Baghdad, but I didn’t find it as I left it 28 years ago, but I still have my Baghdad and my city, and my relation with it. This relation, which tied Al Karh and [SOUNDS LIKE] Arasaffe, not just to through the bridges, but through the river, which is still continued to the south. And in my poem the [INDISTINCTIVE] [SPEAKS IN ARABIC] That’s mean Baghdad will be the last town, and the bridges of Baghdad were times tried to cross the river, and froze it.

[SOUND CLIP OF MUSIC]

FAWZI KARIM: We have gone from old one, you know? Usually do it by hand, but I think the old brother, he brought at end, he brought some records of Abdul (Habinsan?), another singers. But I remember listening to one of these song, [SINGS], the melodies like that. And unfortunately the record itself is damaged in a point, when he repeat again, [SINGS].

[SOUND CLIP OF MUSIC]

FAWZI KARIM: And this le-le continued for a long time until I move it. But it sticks in my mind, thinking that this is part of the song. Even now when I see it in my mind, you know, I repeat this a lot of time. [LAUGHS]

NABEEL YASIN: There was one dream, or one nightmare chasing me everywhere. Always the dream, or the nightmare was like this, I’m going back to Baghdad, they arrest me, and they start to shoot me. And now I stop dreaming to return, but I continue my dream to see Baghdad as a town which deserve the life, and deserve to be beautiful like before.

LISA MULLINS: Evocations of a lost Baghdad from Iraqi poets Nabeel Yasin and Fawzi Karim, both men now live in London.

Is Peace possible for Israel and Syria?

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:43:37 +0000

A peace deal between Israel and Syria has been elusive for decades. But some experts think it’s possible. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Middle East expert Aaron David Miller.
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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. The seeds of conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors were planted hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago. But to understand much of the current impost, you needn’t go back further than 1967. That was the year that Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. Well the Sinai has since been returned to Egypt, as for the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, well Israel and the Palestinians have been arguing over their fate for decades now. And then there is the Golan Heights, Israel captures the land from Syria. In a moment, Golan residents are gonna tell us what’s at stake for them in the continuing efforts to resolve the territory’s future. It’s complicated. Even so, Middle East expert Aaron David Miller says the Golan Heights might be the most promising of the disputes to resolve.

AARON DAVID MILLER: You have two States, Israel and Syria, which have abided by their agreements. You have a disengagement agreement that was signed on June 1st, 1974, which Henry Kissinger negotiated, which has made the Golan Heights in the Israeli/Syrian border the probably the quietest space in the entire Middle East.

LISA MULLINS: There are reasons for hope on the Golan issue, indeed, this month President Obama moved to return a US ambassador to Syria after an absence of more than four years. “More importantly,” says Aaron David Miller, “the issues that divide Israel and Syria are not insurmountable.”

AARON DAVID MILLER: They do not involve religious or emotional or ideological issues. So, on paper at least, the prospects of an Israeli/Syrian agreement between two States who can enforce the agreement and respect it, seems to be compelling. If you add to that the fact that you’ve got between 12 to 15 thousand settlers on the Golan Heights, and 290 thousand on the West Bank, not counting the quarter of a million Israelis who live in East Jerusalem, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem. Dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian issue, and the prospects of greater flexibility when it comes to Israel and Syria, that’s the basic case.

LISA MULLINS: Can you remind us of the importance of the Golan Heights? What they are, and why at this point there’s still a major point to contention?

AARON DAVID MILLER: Well there are three issues that drive this, one is Syrian honor. The Golan was occupied by the Israelis, in the wake of the 1967 war when the Egyptians and the Syrians, and the Jordanians, and the Israelis ended up in a major, major confrontation. So Syrian honor and dignity is involved in getting the Golan Heights back, as Syrian territory, Syrian land. Number two, there is security. And from the Israeli point of view, this escarpment, which overlooks the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements, has been a point of vulnerability in Israel’s security outlook for the last 40 or 50 years. At least since the Israelis occupied the Golan Heights in 1967. [TALKS OVER] So you’ve got to consider–

LISA MULLINS: [TALKS OVER] What, the point of vulnerability for what reason?

AARON DAVID MILLER: Syrian governors would sit up with artillery on top of the Heights in shell, and it would, it would provide a huge advantage to any State who occupied the Heights, which is one of the reasons the Israelis in 1967 consolidated their control over it, and have now extended, even though they haven’t annexed it, they’ve extended administrative control over the Golan Heights. And finally there is water. That is to say, Israel’s national water carrier is the Sea of Galilee, the Kinneret, from which the Israelis get most, if not all of their water needs. There are three or four sources that feed into that lake. The Banias, which the Syrians controlled before the Israelis took the Heights, are now under the control of the Israelis. The Hasbani is in Lebanon, [INDISTINCTIVE] Israelis control. So if this area were returned to Syria, the Israelis would insist, as would the Syrians, that there would be regulation and control of water. So you have honor, you have security, and you have water. The stakes here are very consequential for both Israel and Syria.

LISA MULLINS: Alright, well thank you very much. Aaron David Miller, former Foreign Policy Advisor to both republican and democratic Presidents. He’s now a scholar with a Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. Thank you.

AARON DAVID MILLER: Thank you Lisa.

People of the Golan Heights

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:40:11 +0000

At the center of any peace deal between Israel and Syria would be the Golan Heights. The World’s Matthew Bell visited the region to speak with people there about what’s at stake.
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Picture gallery from the Golan Heights

LISA MULLINS: The stakes are high in the Golan Heights for Israel and Syria, but what are the stakes for the residents of the Golan? We sent The World’s Matthew Bell to the territory to find out.

MATTHEW BELL: Most Israelis live in places that are very hot, very dry, or both, for much of the year, and that makes the Golan Heights such an attractive get-away destination. It’s got beautiful hills, cool breezes and sandy beaches along the sea of Galilee. For wintertime trips, the one and only Israeli-run ski area is here. The Golan’s natural beauty is one reason many Israelis are not wild about giving this land back to Syria. It’s also what attracted people like David Alin to come and live here 35 years ago. He’s a beekeeper who lives on a moshav, or agricultural settlement, in the southern Golan.

DAVID ALIN: When I came here there was a friend of mine who was with me in the army, and he had some beehives, and he said, “Come and look at this.” It was love at first sight, you know? It really got me and I started, a sort of, you know, small-time thing, and now it’s a full-time job.

MATTHEW BELL: Alin’s two-man operation keeps 500 beehives. It produces and sells about 15 tons of honey a year. Alin pulls back the lid on one of the hives to show me some bees at work. This doesn’t bother them, you opening the lid?

DAVID ALIN: You have to be very careful, you know, slow movements. And if they’ve got something to do, they’re okay, they don’t bother you, [LAUGHS] but if they haven’t got anything to do, they go mad.

MATTHEW BELL: When I ask Alin what happens if Israel and Syria eventually sign a peace agreement, he says that’s a question he’s been dealing with for a long time.

DAVID ALIN: I mean, look, since we came here in 1974, people say, “What are you going to do when the Golan is given to Syria?” We say, ok, well, lets manage, [LAUGHS] we’ll manage. And in the meantime, 30 something years have gone past and nothing has happened. So I say, it reminds me of San Francisco, that they say, there may be an earthquake, okay. So you can’t go around worrying, what’s going to happen if.

MATTHEW BELL: It’s been reported at various times over the years, that the Israeli government has been willing to give up the Golan Heights. Alin chuckles at that thought.

DAVID ALIN: The Israeli politicians may have been ready to give us back to Syria, but the [LAUGHS] Syrians didn’t want it. They want it on their terms. Perhaps our luck is that we have the Assad family who are always looking after us, [LAUGHS] and saying, no, no, we want everything.

MATTHEW BELL: The Assads are Syria’s ruling political family. Hafez Assad was president for 30 years until 2000. That’s when he died and his son Bashar Assad took over the presidency. Most experts believe that the 18-thousand or so Jewish settlers in the Golan would be forced to leave if the territory is returned to Syria, and that would not be a tragedy, says Abu-ad Ali.

ABU-AD ALI: I don’t think that they are belong to these places.

MATTHEW BELL: Ali is a physician who lives in one of the Druse villages of the Golan, about 20 thousand Druze live here. They are the Arabs of the region who used to be Syrian citizens, now, most of them have undefined legal status. Ali would like that cleared up. He wants the Golan returned to Syria.

[SOUND CLIP OF ABU-AD ALI SPEAKING IN ARABIC]

MATTHEW BELL: Sitting beneath a Syrian flag, hanging on his living room wall, Ali says the one thing he believes from Israeli leaders, is that their country is being built for the Jews, not for Arabs, or Muslims, or the Druze of the Golan. Ali says the real tragedy is the story of the tens of thousands of Golani Druze who were driven from their homes by the Israelis in the 1967 war. There are visible remnants of that time of conflict here. Uncleared minefields and dilapidated trenches. There are also Israeli military bases in the Golan, but the area doesn’t have nearly the same feel of a militarized zone like in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. People are pretty much free to move around here, and the economy isn’t bad. That’s probably why Syrian nationalism doesn’t run strong among many of the younger generation. What’s your name?

RAMI: Rami.

MATTHEW BELL: Rami, and what is the name of your business?

RAMI: Pimp My Ride.

MATTHEW BELL: Pimp My Ride?

RAMI: Yeah.

MATTHEW BELL: Rami sells auto accessories and details cars in a Druze village right on the border with Syria. Israeli tourists are a big part of his business, and that’s his number one priority.

RAMI: All the time, I like money, ’cause money is honey.

MATTHEW BELL: Money is honey?

RAMI: [LAUGHS] Money is honey.

MATTHEW BELL: Do you have a dream to go back to be part of Syria again?

RAMI: No. No.

MATTHEW BELL: Why not?

RAMI: I don’t like it.

MATTHEW BELL: Why not?

RAMI: [SPEAKS IN ARABIC]

MATTHEW BELL: Rami says he was born here, long after the Israelis took control. He doesn’t know much about Syria and doesn’t think about politics anyway. A lot of younger Golani Druze are the same way. And when they do think about politics, they’re uneasy about the possibility of some day living under Syria’s politically repressive system. But again, that’s a worry for the future. And after so many years of stalemate, a few people here, among the Druze or Jewish settlers, are betting that a peace deal between Israel and Syria is right around the corner. For The World, I’m Matthew Bell, Majdel Shams, in the Golan Heights.

Geo Quiz

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:34:59 +0000

Anchor Lisa Mullins introduces a Geo Quiz with a literary, and sandy flavor.
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Mexico’s mix of politics and drugs

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:32:26 +0000

A mayoral candidate in Mexico has said publicly what just about every Mexican knows to be true — the drug cartels have thoroughly contaminated Mexican politics. But this candidate is caught on tape. The World’s Lorne Matalon reports.
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More of Lorne Matalon’s Mexico coverage on The World

LISA MULLINS: First, to Mexico. The country’s efforts to crush its drug gangs have been hindered, in part, by Mexican politicians. There has been a crackdown, hundreds of officials have been arrested in the past month. They’re accused of protecting the cartels. But Mexicans still believe that drug gangs have contaminated politics in Mexico, that the cartels decide who runs for office and, often, who is murdered for resisting those decisions. One mayoral candidate in this Sunday’s mid-term elections made the charge outright. And, as The World’s Lorne Matalon reports, he was caught on tape.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: The candidate, Mauricio Fernandez said, “Look I’ve got something appalling to tell you.” He then went on to say that two major drug cartels control the police and politics in and around the city of Monterrey, Mexico’s industrial powerhouse. Fernandez’ words were surreptitiously recorded and made public by a member of the audience.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: On the tape, Fernandez says, “These guys don’t negotiate. Drug trafficking is really endemic and the cartels come in contact with all candidates, at least those who have a chance of winning,” he says.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: Fernandez went on to say, “Any politician who denies being pressured, extorted or threatened by the cartels is a ‘pure liar.” Fernandez then tells why his wealthy suburb, San Pedro Garza Garcia, is peaceful, while killings have been much more frequent elsewhere around Monterrey. Fernandez states the Beltran Leyva cartel controls San Pedro. Fernandez says the cartel’s leaders have lived and sold their drugs openly here for seven years. If elected mayor, Fernandez admits he won’t challenge Beltran Leyva, saying he’d be killed if he did. After the tape became public, Fernandez stood by his comments. “I am stating the reality that my city is living,” he said “I have no reason to hide it.” Monica Goddard is a young voter.

MONICA GODDARD: Well, at least this candidate is not afraid to show the real connection between the narcos and politics. And me, as a potential voter prefer a candidate like him that shows what’s really happening.

LORNE MATALON: A senior aide to Mexico’s Attorney General says the recording highlights the connection between the cartels and politics that the Calderon administration has pledged to sever. And the connections stretch all over the country.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: That’s Reginaldo Sandoval, president of the Labor Party in the State of Michoacan. He says, “It’s difficult for us to work without fear, especially those candidates with a chance to win. We’re at the mercy of the drug lords.”
Sandoval cites examples where candidates who refuse to follow cartel instructions are murdered. He himself was kidnapped and beaten after criticizing drug traffickers. He says fear is so widespread, he wouldn’t dare expose a candidate in his own party, even if that candidate was protecting the cartels.

[SOUND CLIP IN SPANISH]

LORNE MATALON: “I would not denounce the candidate,” says Sandoval. “That would put both the candidate and me in danger, and both of us would end up dead.” Four top Beltran Leyva members are on Mexico’s most-wanted list, with two million dollar bounties on each man. The four are on the run. Yet the Beltran Leyva gang can still intimidate politicians like Mauricio Fernandez, and still move tons of cocaine into the US. For The World, I’m Lorne Matalon in Mexico City.

Geo Quiz Answer

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:23:00 +0000

In the Geo Quiz, we were looking for the name and author of a book set ‘in the naked desert, under the indifferent heavens.’ The book is The Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, and the author is T.E. Lawrence, The answers come by way of bookseller David Delvecchio.
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Monty Python ban ends

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:15:44 +0000

The Scottish city of Glasgow will finally be able to see Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” on the screen now that a 30-year ban has been lifted. Anchor Lisa Mullins finds out what took so long from Glasgow Councelor Liz Cameron, one of the city officials who overturned the ban.
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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World.

[SOUND CLIP FROM THE LIFE OF BRIAN MOVIE]

LISA MULLINS: Nope, this is a story about that movie. Monty Python’s Life of Brian was released 30 years ago, but not in some cities, among them, Glasgow. The wise men in the Scottish city considered the film blasphemous, what with its story about a Jewish man who was mistaken for the Messiah. But the prayers of Monty Python fans have now been answered. Councilors in Glasgow have ended the ban. Liz Cameron sits on the council, and on the board of the local independent movie house. She’s been wanting to show the film since the movie came out back in 1979.

LIZ CAMERON: I was a young woman in the city at the time, and I remember being pretty well upset, not simply because I wanted to see the Life of Brian, as I’m a big fan of Monty Python, but also because our city’s a great city and it’s a very cultured city. And it’s actually made its way in postindustrial times as being a culture to the center, and I couldn’t understand why we would damage our reputation in this way. However, that was the case. And in fact, no one has asked for that ban to be lifted, until this year.

LISA MULLINS: Liz, what does it matter if the Life of Brian has been banned or not, or the ban is lifted? Especially since it’s shown on TV and DVD?

LIZ CAMERON: I think there’s a lot to be gained from sitting in a cinema and watching a fabulous movie. I think particularly a fabulously funny movie. It’s the ambience in the atmosphere that’s created by that. It’s actually different from, yes, the great buzz you get when you put on your DVD, and when you put on your tele. That’s great, and I’m a great movie watcher on tele as well, but there’s nothing like watching a movie in the cinema. And that’s why we in the city, both on the council, and myself as Chief of the film feature, are so weighted to the idea of cinema being important. Sitting with everybody being matey, and everybody loving the movie is just quite spectacular. It’s like listening to an orchestral concert in an audience, rather than just at home.

LISA MULLINS: Excellent. Liz, what’s your favorite line from the film?

LIZ CAMERON: [LAUGHS] Well, I think it’s got to be, “He’s not the messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy.” But I do love, “Always look on the bright side of life.” Because, when you’re in public life here, and every town, I think in every country in the world these days, in the middle of organization, it’s sometimes difficult to think of something that makes you laugh, and makes you sing. Well, “Always look on the bright side of life.” It’s fantastic, and I’ll stick with that one.

LISA MULLINS: Okay. Liz Cameron, councilor in Glasgow, and also chair of the Glasgow Film Theater talking about the ban that has been lifted in Glasgow on the 1979 film, Life of Brian, which is gonna be showing at your theater in September. Thank you very much.

LIZ CAMERON: Thank you Lisa.

[SOUND CLIP FROM THE LIFE OF BRIAN MOVIE]

Global Hit: French music

The World — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:39:06 +0000

The World’s Gerry Hadden tells us how the French government helps take some of the struggle out of the life of its struggling musicians.

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More Global Hits

Jean-Baptiste (Jib) Cardon plays as part of a duo with Alex Toucourt. Find more information here.

And more information on musician Lawrence Collins can be found here.