July 10 – Was Arafat Poisoined?; Cracks in Assad’s Inner Circle?; A Report From An Amnesty International Researcher Who Risked Her Life To Document Crimes Against Humanity In Syria

Written by

Full Program	LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM
Part 1	We begin with a bizarre story that emerged after a nine month investigation by Al Jazeera indicating Yasser Arafat might have been poisoned with Polonium. This has led to today’s filing in a French court by Arafat’s widow Suha, asking for an investigation into her husband’s death eight years ago in a French military hospital. A long-time CIA operative who worked in Lebanon and the West Bank, Robert Baer, joins us to discuss why the Palestinian authorities have approved the exhumation of Yasser Arafat’s body and what a new autopsy might find.
Part 2	Then we look into Syria’s killing machine, its armed forces, whose officer corps dominated by the minority Alewites, is showing signs of fissures with the recent defection of an Assad family friend, the son of a former defense minister, General Manaf Tlass. Dr David Lesch, the author of “The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar Al-Assad and Modern Syria” joins us. He knows the Assads and General Tlass and we get some insight into the inner working of a ruthless family dynasty holding onto power by killing any and all Syrians who might oppose them.
Part 3	Then finally we are joined in the studio by Amnesty International’s lead crisis researcher, Donatella Rovera, who risked her life by crossing the border into Syria where she recently spent weeks inside 23 villages following the path of the Syrian army, documenting a trail of atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity inflicted on innocent men, women and children. We discuss why the world is doing nothing to stop this on-going slaughter of innocents.
	MUSIC: Leonard Cohen – The Future; The Plasticines – Human Rights; Richie Havens – License to Kill (Bob Dylan)