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Coming Soon! From Common Courage Press Recent Stories June 2, 2003 Arundhati Roy Day of the Jackals Norman Madarasz Behind the Neo-Con Curtain: Plato, Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom Alain Frachon and Daniel Vernet The Strategist and the Philosopher: Strauss and Wohlstetter Anthony Gancarski Anti-Imperialism, Then & Now Standard Schaefer Wasted at the Pentagon Jason Leopold Rocky's Advice to the Dems Guthrie & Albert HUAC 58 Years Letter Steve Perry The Politics of Terror Alerts   May 31, 2003 Alexander Cockburn A Whiner Called Horowitz Gary Leupp The Frauds of War Dave Lindorff Clinton, Bush, Lies and Impeachment Tom Stephens Does It Matter that the Bush Administration Lied? Sasan Fayazmanesh Who Is Next? Joanne Mariner Trivializing Terrorism Wayne Madsen Ayatollah Ashcroft's Busy Week Larry Magnuson Is a Television a Radio or a Billboard? Elaine Cassel Wake Up, America! Gila Svirsky Waiting for the Lament to End Susan Davis Kitchen Dreams Chris Clarke Barbra Streisand: Environmental Hypocrite Chris Floyd Bush Locates Source of World Evil: God Adam Engel Gravity's End Zone Poets' Basement Reiss, Guthrie, Orloski, Albert   May 30, 2003 Ben Tripp Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda Neve Gordon The Bad Fence Todd Steiner Endangered Ocean Robert Freeman Bush's Tax Cuts: a Form of National Insanity Sean Carter Utah Gets Fired Up for Executions Daniel Bacher How Bush's War Violated International Laws Tariq Ali Re-Colonizing Iraq Steve Perry Bush Wars Web Log   May 29, 2003 CounterPunch Wire WMD: Who Said What When Jason Leopold Despite Thin Intelligence Reports, US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime Ron Jacobs Popular Uprising, Inc. Michelle Ciaccorra Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do Yves Engler The Economics of Health Care in America: Pay More to Die Sooner Kimberly Blaker Vouchers for Jesus Harry Browne Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at the Top of the IRA Stew Albert Cops of the World Steve Perry Greens 04: In or Out?   May 28, 2003 David Vest DubyaCo.: It's Not So Funny Any More Dave Lindorff My Grandfather's Medal John Stanton America's Dying: Arts and Philosophy Hold the Key Bernard Weiner A PNAC Primer Robert Jensen Texas Dems Set a Standard for the Rest of the Party Ahmad Faruqui The Oil Business of Regime Change: the CIA and Iran Hammond Guthrie Disarming Conundrums Steve Perry What If There's No Such Thing as Al-Qaeda?   May 27, 2003 Kurt Nimmo Condoleezza Rice: Huckstress for Israeli Myths Anthony Gancarski Hillary: a Dem the NeoCons Could Love? Patrick Cockburn Terror, Bush and Joseph Conrad John Chuckman an Interpretation of Bush's Character Kathleen Christison What Sharon Wants, Sharon Gets Jeffrey Blankfort AIPAC Hijacks the Roadmap Steve Perry Trouble in the Hinterlands   May 26, 2003 Franklin C. Spinney Test Anxiety: Star Wars, Punctuated Epistimology and the Triumph of Medievalism Elaine Cassel Supreme Sacrifice Sam Hamod When Trained Killers Return Home Stew Albert The Final Conflict   May 24 / 25, 2003 Gary Leupp The Philosopher Kings: Leo Strauss and the Neo-Cons Uri Avnery The Hannibal Procedure Diane Christian Who's the Real Enemy? "Just Cause" or "Kill the Bastards" Alexander Cockburn Derrida's Double Life William S. Lind Is Saddam Really Out of the Game? William Cook Road to Nowhere David Krieger Bush's War on the Poor: Economic Justice Ilan Pappe Academic Freedom Under Assault in Israel Wayne Madsen American Idle Noah Leavitt Slowing Sowing Justice in the Killing Fields Walt Brasch Americans are Liars Lenni Brenner John Brown and Dutch Bill Mickey Z. Hope, Crosby & Al Qaeda Michael Ortiz Hill Grievous Harm Here and Abroad Adam Engel Towers of Babel Poets' Basement Albert, Guthrie, Alam, Orloski   May 23, 2003 Standard Schaefer Lifting the Sanctions: Who Benefits? Ron Jacobs Long Live People's Park! Michael Greger, MD Return of Mad Cow: US Beef Supply at Risk Elaine Cassel Tigar to Ashcroft: "Secrecy is the Enemy of Democratic Govt." Sam Hamod The Shi'a of Iraq Christopher Greeder After the Layoffs (poem) Steve Perry Bush's Wars Weblog 5/23         Hot Stories 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.   Subscribe Online Search CounterPunch

June 3, 2003 Copycat Killers Jakarta Does the Bush Walk in Aceh By CHRIS FLOYD "This is a blessing of September 11!" exclaimed the president's top adviser, as tanks rolled across the border and paratroopers blackened the sky above the enemy's land--an outlaw state seething with "terrorists" and run by "international criminals." With embedded media breathlessly narrating the action, the president launched the greatest display of military might the nation had seen in more than a generation, an earth-shaking blitzkrieg that the generals like to call "Shock and Awe." That was the scene in Indonesia last week, as the military force responsible for two of the most horrendous campaigns of genocide in the last 50 years stormed into the rebel province of Aceh, vowing to crush a 27-year-old independence movement in just six months. The Indonesian militarists--who killed more than 500,000 people (a conservative estimate) in a CIA-assisted coup in 1965, then slaughtered more than 250,000 East Timorese in an American-backed invasion in 1975 (not to mention the mere thousands they and their paramilitary fronts killed in East Timor in the 1990s)--were back in the saddle and loaded for bear. They were ordered in by President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a rather feckless leader who was elevated to power on the strength of her famous father's name but struggled in office--until she failed to prevent a bloody attack by al Qaeda on her homeland and was paradoxically rewarded with new powers and popularity. But as her close ally George W. Bush could tell her, a terrorist hit--like any illicit high--doesn't last long. You always need another fix. Especially when your economy is sinking beneath the weight of rampant cronyism, corruption, poverty and inequality. So with the boost from last year's Bali attack failing, Megawati--or rather, the clique of aggressive hardliners who have come to dominate her inner circle--opted for the patented Bush method of conflict resolution: bomb the bloody bejesus out of 'em! In conscious emulation of the Anglo-American aggression in Iraq--indeed, citing that shining example at every turn--the old Jakarta genocidists unleashed disproportionate firepower (50,000 troops, heavy armor, heavy guns, undisputed air cover) against an economically ravaged civilian population and a lightly-armed force of some 5,000 rebels. In keeping with the Iraqi motif, they also gussied up their campaign with glitzy visuals, "on-message" media massaging--and constant praise of Bush's "global war on terrorism." It was the latter theme that led senior Megawati advisor Rizal Mallarangeng to echo Bush's American sycophants in declaring the mass murder of September 11 "a blessing," the New York Times reports. We're blessed, it seems, because the honorable Mr. Bush has now shown us how to deal with anyone we care to label a "terrorist"--with blood and thunder, collateral damage be damned. So Megawati broke a tenuous ceasefire by heaping purposely unacceptable demands on the rebels, by demanding, as a precondition for further negotiations, that the rebels renounce any hope of eventual independence, even through peaceful means--a sure-fire guarantee of failure when dealing with an, er, independence movement. When the rebels balked, Jakarta--now swollen with self-righteous indignation at the recalcitrant "evil ones"--brought down the Bush-style iron fist. For despite the Karl Rovian media makeover, the assault on Aceh is very much in keeping with Indonesia's proud military traditions. The army has already begun summary executions, including boys as young as 12, The Independent reports. Dozens of civilians--including students and Red Cross personnel--have been massacred in indiscriminate "sweeps" for rebels and "rebel sympathizers," The Guardian reports. Most ominously, Jakarta announced last week that it will herd up to 200,000 Acehnese civilians into concentration camps, The Times reports. Presumably this is "merely" to deny local support for the rebels, and hold their families hostage--although given the Indonesian military's recent history, the sky's the limit. Or perhaps we should say, the grave? The blitzkrieg is being carried out with hardware and expertise supplied by the Christian Coalition of Bush and Blair. Bush renewed military ties with the genocidist army last year, as a reward for help in, yes, the "war on terrorism." It was the sainted Colin Powell himself who flew to Jakarta to do the honors. Meanwhile, Indonesia's British-made warplanes--supplied under Tony Blair's self-declared "ethical foreign policy"--keep minatory watch in God's blue heaven. It's not all bad news, of course. You'll be very happy to know that the biggest corporation operating in Aceh is still doing boffo box office despite the carnage, Reuters reports. That would be the Bush Regime's favorite sucker-outer of unrenewable resources, ExxonMobil. For like Iraq, Aceh possesses an abundance of energy resources; yet also like Iraq--and most other similarly blessed lands as well--Aceh's energy-exploiters are rich but the people themselves are unaccountably poor. It's not all bad news, of course. You'll be happy to know that Aceh's biggest corporation is still raking in big bucks despite the carnage, Reuters reports. That would be the Bush Regime's favorite oil and gas giant, ExxonMobil. For like Iraq, Aceh possesses an abundance of energy resources; yet also like Iraq--and most other similarly blessed lands as well--Aceh's energy-exploiters are rich but the people themselves are unaccountably poor. In fact, there has been an interesting confluence between the Bushists, ExxonMobil and war-ravaged Aceh. Last year, Bush intervened in the U.S. courts to quash a lawsuit filed by Aceh natives against the American oil company, which uses Indonesian troops as hired muscle to protect its operations against the local riff-raff. In this, of course, they are not so unique: the Indonesian army rents itself out to all sorts of big corporate cats prowling in the Indonesian jungles, including well-connected Bushist enterprises such as Bechtel, Halliburton, and Freeport Mining. The Acehnese accused ExxonMobil of colluding with their hired military hands in the murder, rape and torture of civilians. But Bush stepped in, declaring that their lawsuit would "harm American foreign policy interests." This certainly seems a bit of a stretch--unless, of course, "American foreign policy interests" involves murder, rape and torture by corporate mercenaries. Surely Mr. Bush is not saying that--is he? By mid-week, the rape of Aceh--massacres, executions, concentration camps and all--had virtually disappeared from the media screen, much like that other recipient of the "blessing of September 11," the ruined and abandoned land of Afghanistan. The restless addict Bush, craving a fresh hit, patently ignored his Indonesian imitators and instead turned his fevered eyes to Iran, where he hopes to bestow a fresh "blessing" soon. Aceh is irrelevant. The dogs bark, the caravan moves on. Only the corpses remain behind. Chris Floyd is a columnist for the Moscow Times and a regular contributor to CounterPunch. He can be reached at: cfloyd72@hotmail.com Today's Features Arundhati Roy Day of the Jackals Norman Madarasz Behind the Neo-Con Curtain: Plato, Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom Alain Frachon and Daniel Vernet The Strategist and the Philosopher: Strauss and Wohlstetter Anthony Gancarski Anti-Imperialism, Then & Now Standard Schaefer Wasted at the Pentagon Jason Leopold Rocky's Advice to the Dems Guthrie & Albert HUAC 58 Years Letter Steve Perry The Politics of Terror Alerts   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /