Coming
in September
From AK Press
Featuring Essays by:
Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Michael Neumann, Shahid Alam, Alexander
Cockburn, Uri Avnery, Bill and Kathy Christison and More
Today's
Stories
August 13, 2003
Gary Leupp
Condi's Speech: From Birgmingham
to Baghdad, Imperialism's Freedom Ride
Recent
Stories
August 13, 2003
Joanne Mariner
A Wall of Separation Through the
Heart
Donald Worster
The Heavy Cost of Empire
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Elaine Cassel
Murderous Errors: Executing the Innocent
Ralph Nader
Make the Recall Count
Alexander Cockburn
Ted Honderich Hit with "Anti-Semitism" Slur
Website of the Day
Defending Yourself Against DirectTV Lawsuits: 9000 and Counting
August 12, 2003
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Ron Jacobs
Revisionist History: the Bush Administration, Civil Rights and
Iraq
Josh Frank
Dean's Constitutional Hang-Up
Wayne Madsen
What's a Fifth Columnist? Well, Someone Like Hitchens
Ray McGovern
Relax,
It Was All a Pack of Lies
Wendy Brinker
Hubris in the White House
Website of the Day
Black
Mustache
August
11, 2003
Douglas
Valentine
Homeland Security for Whom?
Mickey
Z.
Bush's Progress
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Meet the New Bitch, Same
as the Old
Elaine
Cassel
Indicting DNA
Dr. Mohammad
Omar Farooq
Civil Liberties and Uncivil Super-Patriotism
Uri
Avnery
Who Will Save Abu Mazen?
Website
of the Day
RIAA Subpoena Clearinghouse
August
9 / 10, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
August
8, 2003
John
Chuckman
What the US Says Goes
Roberto
Barreto
Defend the Vieques 12!
Bruce Gagnon
Iraq War Emboldens Bush Space Plans
Elaine
Cassel
The Reign of John Ashcroft
Dave
Lindorff
Snoops Night Out
Website
of the Day
Zero Boy
August
7, 2003
M.
Shahid Alam
It the US a "Terrorist Magnet?"
Toni
Solo
Neo-liberal Nicaragua: a New Banana
Republic
Adam Lebowitz
Hiroshima Commemorated: the View from Japan
Hanan
Ashrawi
When the Bully Whines
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Conscience Takes a Holiday
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Lets Slip: Iraq Not Behind 9/11; No Ties to Al-Qaeda
Mike Kimaid
What's the Score?
Elaine
Cassel
The Smell of VICTORY: Ashcroft's Latest Stinkbomb
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
August 6, 2003
Steve
Higgs
Going to Jail for the Cause: It's Not
Easy Confronting King Coal
David
Krieger
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Robert
Fisk
The Ghosts of Uday and Qusay
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's War on the National Forests
Elaine
Cassel
No Fly Lists
Stan
Goff
Military Equipment and Pneumonia
Hugh Sansom
An Open Letter to Nicholas Kristof on the Nuking of Japan
August
5, 2003
Uri
Avnery
The Prisoner of Ramallah: Arafat at
74
Forrest
Hylton
Terrorism and Political Trials: the
View from Bolivia
Ray
McGovern
"We Cook Estimates to Go"
David
Morse
Poindexter's Gambit
Edward
Said
Orientallism: 25 Years Later
George
W. Bush
My Darn Good Resumé
Hammond
Guthrie
It's Incremental, Watson!
Website
of the Day
National Prayer Day
August 4, 2003
Bruce
K. Gagnon
Another Peace Activist Detained by
Airport Cops: My Story
David
Lindorff
Fear-Mongering About Social Security
Mark
Zepezauer
George F. Will: Descent into Self-Parody
James
Plummer
Tracking You Through the Mail
Mickey
Z.
Marriage Insecurity from Sharon to Bush
Bruce
Jackson
News that Isn't News: How the NYT's
Pimps for the White House
August
2 / 3, 2003
Tamara
R. Piety
Nike's Full Court Press Breaks Down
Francis
Boyle
My Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, is a Moral Cesspool
David
Vest
Sons of Paleface: Pictures from Death's Other Side
Neve Gordon
Nightlife in Jerusalem
Uri
Avnery
Their Master's Voice:
Bush, Blair and Intelligence Snafus
Robert
Fisk
Paternalistic Democracy for Iraq
Jerry
Kroth
Israel, Yellowcake and the Media
Noah Leavitt
What's Driving the Liberian Bloodbath: Is the US Obligated to
Intervene?
Saul
Landau
The Film Industry: Business and Ideology
Ron Jacobs
One Big Prison Yard: the Meaning of George Jackson
Thomas
Croft
In the Deep, Deep Rough: Reflections on Augusta
Amadi Ajamu
Def Sham: Russell Simmons New Black Leader?
Poets'
Basement
Vega, Witherup, Albert and Fleming
August
1, 2003
Joanne
Mariner
Stopping Prison Rape
Alex Coolman
Who Moved My Soap: Trivializing
Prison Rape
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Stan Goff
Injury and Decorum: The Missing Wounded in Iraq
Wayne
Madsen
Europe Unplugs from the Matrix
Robert
Fisk
Wolfowitz the Censor
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses Big in Puerto Rico
Website
of the Day
Stop Prisoner Rape
July
31, 2003
Ray
McGovern
The Prostitution of Intelligence
Brian
Cloughley
Wolfowitz's Operative Statement
Sheldon
Hull
The RIAA's Jihad:
The Devil's Music (Industry)
Elaine
Cassel
The Next Time You Crack a Lawyer Joke, Think of These Attorneys
Sheldon
Rampton
and John Stauber
True Lies: Propaganda and Bush's
Wars
Hammond
Guthrie
Speculation Blues
Website
of the Day
Army of One?
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
July
30, 2003
David
Lindorff
Poindexter the Terror Bookie
Marjorie
Cohn
Why Iraq and Afghanistan? It's About
the Oil
Elaine
Cassel
How Ashcroft Coerces Guilty Pleas
in Terror Cases
Zvi
Bar'el
The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War
Lisa Walsh
Thomas
Killing Mustafa Hussein: Death of a Child, Birth of a Legend?
Sean
Carter
Pat Robertson's Prayer Jihad: God, Sodomy and the Supremes
ND Jayaprakash
India and Ariel Sharon
Steve
Perry
Bush's Top 40 Lies
Standard
Schaefer
Correction about Bloomberg and Outscourcing
Website
of the Day
Bring Them Home Now!
Hot Stories
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
August
14, 2003
Condi's Speech:
From Birmingham to Baghdad, Imperialism's
Freedom Ride
By GARY LEUPP
"But we should not," insisted
the World's Most Powerful Woman, as though she were dealing with
an actual problem, in a speech to the National Association of
Black Journalists in Dallas August 7, "let our voice waver
in speaking out on the side of people who are seeking freedom.
And we must never, ever indulge in the condescending voices who
allege that some people in Africa or in the Middle East are just
not interested in freedom, they're culturally just not ready
for freedom or they just aren't ready for freedom's responsibilities.
We've heard that argument before, and
we, more than any, as a people, should be ready to reject it.
The view was wrong in 1963 in Birmingham, and it is wrong in
2003 in Baghdad and in the rest of the Middle East."
But National Security Adviser and former
Chevron Oil board member Condoleeza Rice did not identify those
who disparage Third World "freedom" and alleged U.S.
efforts to impose it. She's obviously not targeting L. Paul Bremer
III, civil administrator in Iraq, who told the Washington
Post June 28, "Elections held too early can be destructive,"
adding that while there's "no blanket rule" against
democracy in Iraq, and he's "not personally opposed to it,"
it must take place "in a way that takes care of our concerns"
and "done very carefully." (Is it just me, or is he
saying the Iraqis "are culturally just not ready for freedom,
and just aren't ready for freedom's responsibilities"---at
least until they learn how to say "Yes, Boss!" with
genuine feeling?)
Rice is not targeting Henry Kissinger,
who as U.S. Secretary of State, following the (democratic) election
of Salvador Allende in 1970, declared, "Chile shouldn't
be allowed to go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible,"
and proceeded to help organize a bloody fascist coup, producing
a regime more suitable to those Latinos down there.
She's not trying to chasten Vice President
Dick Cheney, who as a Wyoming representative in Congress in 1986
voted against a resolution urging the apartheid government of
South Africa (which then-President Reagan pronounced America's
"closest friend" in Africa) to release Nelson Mandela---freedom
fighter, democrat---from prison.
No, no, no. Condi's saying: Those
criticizing the U.S. occupation of Iraq are the moral equivalents
of the KKK. The implicit allegation is bizarre. It is also
both wise and stupid. Politically wise, because the American
people, due to many decades of struggle, have come to see the
Civil Rights Movement, the moral authority of which she seeks
to appropriate in pursuit of Bushite global ambitions, as a good
thing. So she can, maybe, for awhile, exploit the widespread,
decent sentiment in support of racial equality to generate sympathy
for what is in fact an inherently racist crusade.
The administration tries to draw on that
moral authority in other connections, too. A senior lawyer in
the administration of (well-known former big-time substance abuser)
George Bush claimed recently that California's flouting of federal
drug laws (by allowing sick and dying patients to use marijuana)
is equivalent to the southern states' past defiance of civil
rights laws. Those drug laws have resulted in the selective incarceration
of more college-age Black males than go to college in this country.
Does the analogy make sense?
No, it's stupid. And so is Condi's tortured
analogy, because freedom is something grasped from oppressors,
not conferred by them. If we really want to make apt comparisons,
we should link the occupation regime with the segregationists,
and the Iraqi resistance with the civil rights activists (who
ironically made the careers of Rice and other African-Americans
in the administration possible).
Condi's also saying, unmistakably: The
U.S. will actively promote political change ("freedom")
in Africa and the Middle East. That has to mean strong-arming,
if not overthrowing, long-standing allied governments in Cairo
and Riyadh, as well as non-compliant governments in Damascus
and Tehran. She wants the American people to see an unending
series of U.S.-sponsored regime-changes as somehow a continuation
of Project C in Birmingham in 1963.
Very stupid. But (especially if prominent
Blacks leave the "diverse" rogues' gallery that is
the Bush Administration), we might find it more and more cynically
deploying the righteous anti-racist struggles in our own past
(to which its key figures contributed nothing), and donning the
mantle of Martin Luther King, to prettify its struggle for geopolitical
mastery. It's that administration, rather than unnamed "condescending
voices" that, lacking justifications for imperial expansion
acceptable to the American masses, must make use of racism,
religious intolerance, and the fear such feelings can generate.
The premise for the invasion of Iraq was: "The Arabs (Muslims,
ragheads, those people, bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, whatever)
attacked us. We must counter-attack them."
Condi and her neocon and oil-baron colleagues are deliberately,
shamelessly using racism and ignorance to foment even more.
Contrast Dr. King, once viewed by the
power structure as a dangerous pariah. New York City, April 4,
1967: "[The Vietnamese] must see Americans as strange liberators.
The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945
after a combined French and Japanese occupation, and before the
Communist revolution in China. They were led by Ho Chi Minh.
Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence
in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them.
Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her
former colony. Our government felt then that the Vietnamese
people were not "ready" for independence, and we again
fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned
the international atmosphere for so long [emphasis added].
"
That's the general historical pattern,
seen from Vietnam to Iran to Nicaragua: denial of freedom
and independence (unless some skewed interpretation of such concepts
corresponds with U.S. corporate and geopolitical interests).
Condi, who isn't stupid, surely knows it. That makes her
Dallas talk, and exploitation of the African-American liberation
struggle to seek support for American imperialism, especially
shameful.
Gary Leupp
is an an associate professor in the Department of History at
Tufts University and coordinator of the Asian Studies Program.
He can be reached at: gleupp@tufts.edu
Weekend
Edition Features for August 9 / 10, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
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