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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 14, 2003
Peter Phillips
Inside
Bohemian Grove: Where US Power Elites Party
Brian Cloughley
Charlie Wilson and Pakistan: the Strange Congressman Behind the
CIA's Most Expensive War
Linville and Ruder
Tyson
Strike Draws the Line
Jim Lobe
Bush Administration Divided Over Iran
Ramzy Baroud
Sharon Freezes the Road Map
Tom Turnipseed
Blowback in Iraq
Gary Leupp
Condi's
Speech: From Birgmingham to Baghdad, Imperialism's Freedom Ride
Website of the Day
Tony Benn's Greatest Hits
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
16, 2003
Rolling
Blackout Revue
Bringing Democracy
to Iraq
By DAVID VEST
In the middle of the Great Northeastern Blackout
I received a call from my old friend and nemesis, Leon Despair.
Leon has long had a knack for calling at the worst possible times.
For once his annoying gift for bad timing had failed him, thank
goodness.
This time he had called when I was out
eating smothered pork chops and collard greens, so I was spared
having to endure his usual harangue in real time. This was a
major relief, because I usually get suckered into arguing with
his insanity, even though I know better.
Is there anything that makes you feel
stupider than to find yourself arguing vehemently with a fool,
or a drunk or somebody you didn't even want to talk to in the
first place?
Alas, I have voice mail, and Leon took
full advantage. He was, as usual, full of big ideas.
Here's the transcript of his message.
* *
*
Hi, this is General Despair (he has taken
to calling himself that, like some kind of Kentucky Colonel,
but weirder). Pick up if you're there. This is important.
Listen, Vest, as soon as we Americans
are able to restore electricity to places like Baghdad, New York,
Ohio, Basra, Tikrit and Detroit, we need to get on with the business
of bringing Democracy to Iraq. Why wait until all twenty Saddams
have been killed or captured? If Iraq is ever going to have the
kind of government Louisiana and New Jersey enjoy, we're all
going to have to pitch in and help, the sooner the better.
Here's my plan: let's have the Iraqi
people take a crash course in civics. Believe me, they'll thank
us for it.
Up close and personal, that's the best
approach. How are these people going to practice Democracy if
they haven't seen it in action? And where better to learn than
by following our American example?
To teach them how Democracy works, we
could start with a brief presentation on the presidential election
of 2000, with special emphasis on Florida. This would drive home
the point that "every vote counts" -- at least until
the Supreme Court orders people to stop counting them.
Then we could swing through Texas, where
Democratic legislators have twice run off to hide in other states
to keep Republicans from redistricting them out of existence.
This way minority parties in Iraq could learn to go hide in Iran
or Kuwait when the majority tries to strong-arm them. Is there
a better illustration of the glories of a two-party system than
Texas?
When people see that they could be governed
by roach exterminators instead of dictators, it will expand their
horizons. Ain't that right? Hello? Pick up if you're there!
Lone Star politicians could also give
them a few pointers on how to turn out the dead vote in close
elections.
In New York they could observe public
officials gunned down in government buildings, an important component
of modern Democracy. Alabama's Judge Roy Moore could teach their
judges the vital art of defying higher court orders. Alaska could
help out the women of Iraq by showing officials how to appoint
their daughters to empty senate seats. In Montana the virtues
of describing one's elected self as "proud to be a lapdog
of industry" could be inculcated.
Then, lest our Iraqi friends become confused
or discouraged, we could show them our piece de resistance: California.
Where else could the Austrian son of a Nazi party member and
the Greek ex-wife of a gay Republican duke it out for the celebrity
vote?
Ah, California, where the future repeats
itself, where Dylan's new movie "Masked and Anonymous"
is the only voter's guide anyone really needs.
Yes, California, where Ralph Nader (who
has probably done more positive good things for more Americans
than any other living figure) has to get hit with a pie to get
on the nightly news. (No need to tell us what he said, just show
him cleaning pie off his suit.)
Finally they could take a look at the
national scene. Washington could show them how democracies arrest
people without warrants and hold them incommunicado, indefinitely.
From a national perspective, they could learn what happens to
nuns who protest against the reign of official terror. (It's
vital for people in a Democracy to know that the government can
put them in prison for years for spilling their own blood trying
to stop nuclear war.) They can study how to come down hard on
people who offer themselves as human shields to save the lives
of innocent civilians. (It's important for people in a Democracy
to know that you can be fined $10,000 for trying to keep a little
boy's arms from being blown off.)
Hide-bound Iraqi traditionalists could
watch our presidential nominating process and learn how to pass
themselves off as "progressives." They could learn
valuable lessons by simply watching our run-of-the-mill domestic
conservatives with one or two mildly progressive ideas maneuver
to get themselves accused of dragging the whole process "leftward."
If our Iraqi friends are unable to absorb
all these lessons because seeing the mutilated bodies of Saddam's
sons left them in a state of shock, we could emphasize how important
such images are to establishing and maintaining Democracy.
Instead of looking at the ghastly fates
of Uday and Husay, we could invite them to meditate upon the
cracked, severed head of Ted Williams. Then they would surely
understand the glories of our way of life and appreciate what
we're trying to do for them.
Hey, have a nice day -- unless you've
made other plans.
* *
*
Click -- and he was gone. Good thing
I saved his message, because hearing it caused me to forget whatever
I was going to write about today.
David Vest
writes the Rebel Angel column for CounterPunch. He and his band,
The Willing Victims, just released a scorching new CD, Way
Down Here.
He can be reached at: davidvest@springmail.com
Visit his website at http://www.rebelangel.com
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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