Democracy Now!

It’s been ten days since the whistleblower website WikiLeaks published the massive archive of classified military records about the war in Afghanistan, but the fallout in Washington and beyond is far from over. Justice Department lawyers are reportedly exploring whether WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange could be charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 for publishing the classified Afghan war documents. Meanwhile, investigators in the Army’s criminal division have reportedly questioned two students in Boston about their ties to WikiLeaks and Private First Class Bradley Manning, a leading suspect in the leak. We speak with WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. [includes rush transcript]

President Obama said Monday in a speech before the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Atlanta that the US military is on target to withdraw all its combat troops from Iraq by the end of August. We speak with independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, who says this instead marks the beginning of a downsized and rebranded occupation that will rely heavily on private military forces. [includes rush transcript]

• 1,400 Killed, 3 Million People Affected by Floods in Pakistan
• Scientists: Nearly 5 Million Barrels of Oil Spilled in Gulf
• BP Faces Insider Trading Probe
• Israeli Shelling Kills Three Lebanese Soldiers, One Journalist
• Six Afghan Children Die in Suicide Bombing
• Obama: US on Target to Withdraw Combat Troops from Iraq
• UN Panel to Probe Israeli Attack on Flotilla
• Republicans Call for Repealing 14th Amendment
• Virginia AG OKs Immigration Checks on Anyone Stopped by Police
• Countrywide to Pay $600 Million Settlement
• IPCC Chief Pachauri: Climate Talks in Cancún Are Very Important
• 22 Die in Kashmir as Protests Intensify
• Ahmadinejad Calls for Debate with Obama
• Jury Convicts Two in JFK Airport Plot
• Husband of Rep. Jane Harman Buys Newsweek

A new documentary by the Oscar-nominated directors of Jesus Camp offers a rare inside look at the pitched battle over abortion rights that’s being waged not just in Congress and the courts, but on the street corners of small-town America—in particular, one street corner where an abortion clinic and an anti-abortion pregnancy care center sit across the street from each other. [includes rush transcript]

Retired US Army colonel and historian Andrew Bacevich joins us for his first interview about his new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. "The question demands to be asked: Who is more deserving of contempt?" Bacevich asks. "The commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause, however misguided, in which he sincerely believes? Or the commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause in which he manifestly does not believe and yet refuses to forsake?" [includes rush transcript]

• Massive Flooding Kills Over 1,200 in Pakistan
• Mullen: US Military Has Plans to Attack Iran If Needed
• Report: July Was Deadliest Month in Iraq Since May 2008
• WikiLeaks Volunteer Detained, Questioned over Afghan War Logs
• Global Treaty Banning Cluster Bombs Goes into Force
• Hamas Commander Killed in Israeli Air Strike
• Greenspan Opposes Keeping Bush’s Tax Cuts on Wealthy
• UAE to Ban Blackberry Services Due to Encryption System
• Life Insurance Firms Probed for Defrauding Families of Dead Soldiers
• Rep. Maxine Waters to Face Ethics Trial
• First Gay Marriages Celebrated in Argentina
• Journalist Killed in West Papua
• ADL Opposes Plan for Mosque Near Ground Zero
• Mothers of Imprisoned Hikers Protest Outside Iranian Mission in NYC
• FBI File on Howard Zinn Dates to 1949
• Puerto Rican Nationalist Lolita Lebron, 90, Dies

Investors at the CIA and Google are backing a company called "Recorded Future" that monitors tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts in real time in order to find patterns, events and relationships that may predict the future. The news comes amidst Google’s so-called "Wi-Spy" scandal, that refers to revelations that Google’s Street View cars operating in some thirty countries snooped on private Wi-Fi networks over the last three years. [includes rush transcript]

The world of professional sports is certainly not immune to the heated debates over Arizona’s anti-immigration legislation and the growing calls for a nationwide boycott of Arizona. In New York, a rally is planned tonight outside Citi Field in Queens, where baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks will play the New York Mets. We speak with sportswriter Dave Zirin about his new book, Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love. [includes rush transcript]

At least fifty people were arrested in Arizona yesterday in protests against the state’s new anti-immigrant law. The law went into effect on Thursday, but not before a federal judge blocked four key parts of the legislation. One of the biggest protests occurred in Phoenix outside of the Fourth Avenue Jail run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. We speak with Carlos Garcia, lead organizer for the Puente Movement. [includes rush transcript]

President Obama took on critics of his administration’s sweeping education reform plan on Thursday in a nearly hour-long speech at the National Urban League’s 100th anniversary convention. His address came on the heels of news that New York public school students are not performing nearly as well as prior state tests had revealed. We speak with Diane Ravitch, the former Assistant Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, and Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. [includes rush transcript]

• Dozens of Immigrant Rights Activists Arrested in Arizona Protests
• July Becomes Deadliest Month for US in Afghanistan
• Obama Signs War Funding Bill
• US Moves to Increase Arms Exports
• Bradley Manning Moved to Marine Brig in Virginia
• Justice Dept Explores Espionage Charges Against WikiLeaks
• Army Issues Report on Soldier Suicides
• Rep. Rangel Charged with 13 Ethics Violations
• GOP Blocks Small Business Loan Fund
• House Rejects Bill to Help Sick Ground Zero Workers
• Citigroup to Pay $75M to Settle Subprime Mortgage Claims
• Wyclef Jean Considers Presidential Run in Haiti
• Two NOLA Police Officers Charged over 2005 Beating
• Cluster Bomb Treaty to Go into Effect; US Refuses to Sign
• US Hikers Held for a Year in Iranian Prison

The United Nations General Assembly has declared for the first time that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. In a historic vote Wednesday, 122 countries supported the resolution, and over forty countries abstained from voting, including the United States, Canada and several European and other industrialized countries. There were no votes against the resolution. We speak with longtime water justice activist, Maude Barlow. [includes rush transcript]

In Iraq, an official audit by the US Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction found that the Pentagon cannot account for almost $9 billion taken from Iraqi oil revenues between 2004 and 2007 for use in reconstruction. Meanwhile, a new medical study has found dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004. We speak with Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent. [includes rush transcript]

A federal judge in Phoenix blocked key provisions of Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant law on Wednesday, hours before it was scheduled to take effect. US District Judge Susan Bolton ruled a partial injunction would apply to the portion of the law that requires police officers to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant. The law sparked mass protests across the country and a boycott of Arizona. We speak with Isabel Garcia, co-chair of the Tucson-based Coalition for Human Rights. [includes rush transcript]

• Federal Judge Blocks Part of Arizona Immigration Law
• US Seeks Access to More Internet Data Without Court Order
• House Reduction of Drug Sentencing Disparity
• EPA Blasted over Handling of Michigan Oil Spill
• Coast Guard's Role in Fighting BP Oil Rig Fire Scrutinized
• Texas Launches Probe of Toxic Release of BP Refinery in Texas City
• Local Afghan Media Outlets Paid to Run US Propaganda
• Pakistan Declares Day of Mourning After Plane Crash
• 2000-2009 Marked Warmest Decade on Record
• Israel Refuses to Pay Medical Bills for Emily Henochowicz
• Peace Activist Art Gish, 70, Dies
• Israel Demolishes Bedouin Village in Negev Desert

We spend the hour with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, talking about the biggest leak in US history: the release of more than 91,000 classified military records on the war in Afghanistan. As the Pentagon announces it is launching a criminal probe into who leaked the documents, Assange asks what about investigating the "war crimes" revealed in the leaked military records? He also talks about the media, why he isn’t coming to the US anytime soon, and what gives him hope. "What keeps us going is our sources. These are the people, presumably, who are inside these organizations, who want change," Assange says. "They are both heroic figures taking much greater risks than I ever do, and they are pushing and showing that they want change in, in fact, an extremely effective way." [includes rush transcript]

• House Votes to Fund Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
• Audit: Pentagon Can't Account for 95% of $9B of Iraq Reconstruction Funds
• BP Seeks $10 Billion Tax Break to Cover Spill Expenses
• 800,000 Gallons of Oil Spill in Michigan
• Major Protests Planned in Arizona over Anti-Immigrant Bill
• Nebraska City Suspends Anti-Immigrant Housing Bill
• NYC to Pay $7M Settlement in Sean Bell Shooting Case
• British PM: Gaza Is a "Prison Camp"
• US Backs More AU Troops in Somalia
• Hans Blix: US Refused to Accept Findings of UN Inspectors in Iraq
• Colombia Journalist to Be Allowed Entry into US
• Four Mexican Journalists Kidnapped
• Republicans Block Campaign Finance Law
• Massachusetts Legislature OKs Plan to Bypass Electoral College
• Groups: FBI Surveillance Program Invites Racial Profiling

We speak to Emmanuel Goldstein, a well-known figure in the hacker community and the editor of the magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. He is also the organizer of the HOPE conference. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been slated to be the keynote speaker at the most recent conference. Federal agents were there waiting for him, but Assange didn’t show. [includes rush transcript]

We speak with David Leigh, the investigations editor at The Guardian, one of the three newspapers, along with the New York Times and Der Spiegel, WikiLeaks gave the Afghanistan war documents to. "Broadly, we see a similar picture in the three media. What we do see is quite a different political perspective. From the New York Times’s point of view...it was interesting to see that the relationship with Pakistan was a political priority," Leigh says. "With us, we’re more concerned about the casualties, I think. We’re troubled more, a European audience, by the toll this war is taking on innocent people." [includes rush transcript]

The disclosure of a massive trove of classified military records documenting the Afghanistan war has ignited a firestorm and increased pressure on the White House to defend its military strategy. We play highlights of the White House press conference in Washington and Julian Assange’s press conference in London. [includes rush transcript]