Democracy now! The war and peace report

On Wednesday, the Kennedy family celebrated the renaming of the Triborough Bridge for Robert F. Kennedy. Attendees included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, New York Governor David Paterson and former President Bill Clinton. [includes rush transcript]

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is one of the leading voices for peace, justice and human rights around the world. He was a central figure in the South African struggle against apartheid and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Today he will receive the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding for his work for peace in South Africa and elsewhere. [includes rush transcript]

Israel’s tightened blockade of a million and a half Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is now entering its third week. On Monday, the Israeli navy seized fifteen Palestinian fishermen and three international activists off the coast of Gaza. The fishermen were released, but the activists remain in an Israeli jail. We speak to Darlene Wallach from inside the Masiyahu Prison near Tel Aviv.

• S&P 500 Index Falls to Lowest Level in 11 Years
• Report: Citigroup Board Considers Selling Off Company
• Jobless Claims Jump to 16-Year High
• Congress Holds Off on $25 Billion Automakers Bailout
• Report: Obama to Nominate Clinton for Secretary of State
• Pritzker Withdraws from Consideration for Commerce Secretary
• Waxman Elected to Chair Energy and Commerce Committee
• Coleman's Lead Over Franken Down to 126 Votes
• Mukasey Hospitalized After Collapsing During Speech
• Judge Orders Release of Five Guantanamo Prisoners
• Bush Administration Attempts to Weaken Endangered Species Act
• Six Long Island Teenagers Arraigned in Immigrant Stabbing Case
• LA Considers $13M Settlement Stemming from Immigration Protest Crackdown
• CIA Accused of Lying over Agency's Role in Downing of Plane in Peru in 2001
• Report: 90 Trade Unionists Murdered in 2007; 39 in Colombia
• Ex-Marine Reveals Gov't Created Dossiers on Muslims and Arab
• Dershowitz Says He Pressured Obama Not to Let Carter Speak at DNC
• War Resister Sentenced to 14 Months

A Texas judge has set an arraignment date for Friday for Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. They were indicted this week by a Texas grand jury on state charges accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a privately run federal jail. We speak with Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra. [includes rush transcript]

As speculations abound over who President-elect Barack Obama will name to key cabinet positions, we look at some of the central figures advising Obama, many of whom are leading candidates for posts in the next administration. We speak with Jeremy Scahill, author of the new piece “This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House,” and David Corn, author of “The Agents of Change on Obama’s Transition Team.” [includes rush transcript]

We speak with Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest. He took part in a ceremony this summer to ordain a member of the group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests. For the past two decades, he has organized the annual protest against the US Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. [includes rush transcript]

• California Court to Review Legality of Prop 8
• Dow Jones Falls Below 8,000, First Time Since 2003
• White House: “Celebrate the Victory” in Iraq
• UK Judge: Attack on Iraq Violated International Law
• Daschle Picked for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
• Napolitano Considered for Homeland Security Chief
• Billionaire Pritzker Expected to Become Commerce Secretary
• Coleman-Franken Recount Begins; Race Tightens
• Taxpayers to Pay for Gonzales Defense
• Rep. Barbara Lee to Head Congressional Black Caucus
• Somali Pirates Demand $25 Million from Saudis
• News Execs Criticize Israeli Ban on Journalists in Gaza
• PETA Video Exposes Brutality at Turkey Farm
• PC Magazine to Stop Printing Magazine
• Gordon-Reed and Matthiessen Win National Book Award

Top Justice Department prosecutors are reportedly reviewing a draft indictment against six Blackwater security guards who opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square more than a year ago killing seventeen Iraqi civilians. The indictments would mark the first time armed private contractors from the United States face justice. We speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post correspondent Steve Fainaru about his new book Big Boy Rules: America’s Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq. [includes rush transcript]

Princeton University professor of religion and African American studies, Cornel West, speaks about the election of Barack Obama, his selection of Eric Holder to be Attorney General, the possible selection of Lawrence Summers to be Treasury Secretary and the role of the progressive left to push Obama. West is the author of the new book Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom. [includes rush transcript]

• Reports: Obama Asks Eric Holder to be Attorney General
• Alaskan Republican Ted Stevens Loses Senate Seat
• Recount Begins for Coleman-Franken Race in Minnesota
• Democrats Let Lieberman Keep Senate Chairmanship
• Auto Execs Lobby for $25 Billion Bailout
• US Kills 6 in Strike Deep Inside Pakistan
• EPA Moves to Ease Air Rules for National Parks
• UN: Half of World Could Face Clean Water Shortage by 2080
• Obama Pledges “New Chapter” on Climate Change
• ACLU: US Is Asking Other Nations to Detain US Citizens
• Texas Grand Jury Indicts Cheney and Gonzales on State Charges

Bolivian President Evo Morales joins us in the firehouse studio to discuss the election of Barack Obama, US-Bolivian relations, the global economic crisis and more. Morales is visiting the United States at a time when relations between the two countries are deteriorating. Last month, the Bush administration suspended long-term trade benefits with Bolivia over its alleged failure to cooperate in the “war on drugs.” Meanwhile, Morales has given the Drug Enforcement Administration three months to leave Bolivia. He accused DEA agents of violating Bolivian sovereignty and encouraging the drug trade. [includes rush transcript]

• Iraqi Sunnis Push for Referendum on Security Pact
• US Officials: 2011 Withdrawal Date from Iraq Not Firm
• Taliban Rejects Afghan Peace Talks Offer
• Gov't Study Concludes “Gulf War Syndrome” is Legitimate Condition
• Report: US Has Spent Over $4 Trillion to Combat Economic Crisis
• Citigroup to Lay Off 52,000 Workers
• Six Top Obama Fundraisers Now Leading Transition Teams
• Report: Obama Unlikely to Bring Charges Against Bush Officials for Torture
• Black Church in Mass. Burned to Ground on Election Night
• Hundreds of Race-Based Incidents Reported Since Election of Obama
• Gov't Set to Lease 50,000 Acres in Utah for Gas and Oil Drilling
• UN Climate Agency: Emissions from Wealthy Nations Increasing
• Schwarzenegger Links Wildfires to Global Warming
• Dutch Police Arrest 80 at Anti-Coal Protest
• Saudi Oil Supertanker Hijacked Off Coast of Kenya
• Pentagon Admits 12 Juveniles Held at Guantanamo
• Vatican Threatens to Excommunicate Priest Who Supports Ordination of Women
• Miriam Makeba Memorial Held in South Africa

During an interview on 60 Minutes last night President-elect Barack Obama said he plans to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay and rebuild the nation’s moral stature. Last week, the Associated Press reported Obama advisers are crafting a plan that would put some Guantanamo Bay prisoners in front of a new court system designed to handle so-called “national security” cases. [includes rush transcript]

John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [includes rush transcript]

“The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington’s handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal,” says Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine. [includes rush transcript]

• Iraqi Cabinet Approves US Security Pact
• Report: Draft Indictment Drawn Up Against Blackwater Guards
• World Leaders Gather in Washington for Economic Summit
• Bankruptcy Filings Increase by 34 Percent
• Obama Vows to Close Guantanamo
• Obama Confirms Meeting with Sen. Clinton
• Obama Taps More Ex-Clinton Officials to Fill Top Posts
• Israel Briefly Opens Gaza Border Crossing
• Karzai Offers Protection for Taliban Leader in Exchange for Peace Talks
• Nationwide Rallies for Same-Sex Marriage Attract Over 100,000
• 500 Mourn Ecuadorean Immigrant Stabbed to Death in NY
• California Wildfires Burns Over 35,000 Acres
• Civil Rights Leader Abraham Woods, 80, Dies

In the late stages of the presidential race, no other name was used more by the McCain-Palin campaign against Barack Obama than Bill Ayers. Ayers is a respected Chicago professor who was a member of the 1960s militant antiwar group the Weather Underground. In their first joint television interview, Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn discuss the McCain campaign attacks, President-elect Obama, the Weather Underground, the legacy of 1960s social justice movements, and more. [includes rush transcript]

• UN Forced to Stop Gaza Food Aid
• US Attack Kills 8 in Pakistan
• Bush: Don’t Blame Market for Financial Collapse
• US to Host Global Financial Summit
• FDIC to Propose New Foreclosure Assistance
• Jobless Claims Hit 16-Year High
• Obama to Give Up Senate Seat
• Emanuel Apologizes for Father’s Israel Comments
• Clinton Said to Be in Running for Sec. of State
• US Rejects Russian Missile Proposal

Since the start of the presidential campaign, Michelle Obama has been more scrutinized than the spouse of any other presidential candidate. Scant attention has been paid to her personal history as the descendant of slaves, an upbringing in the South Side of Chicago, and work in community organizing. We speak to Washington Post writer Liza Mundy, author of the new unauthorized biography Michelle. [includes rush transcript]