Coming
in October
From AK Press
Today's
Stories
September 11, 2003
Robert Fisk
A Grandiose
Folly
September 10, 2003
John Ross
Cancun
Reality Show: Will It Turn Into a Tropical Seattle?
Zoltan Grossman
The General Who Would be President: Was Wesley Clark Also Unprepared
for the Postwar Bloodbath?
Tim Llewellyn
At the Gates of Hell
Christopher Brauchli
Turn the Paige: the Bush Education Deception
Lee Sustar
Bring the Troops Home, Now!
Elaine Cassel
McCain-Feingold in Trouble: Scalia Hogs the Debate
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Hammond Guthrie
When All Was Said and Done
Website of the Day
Fact Checking Colin Powell
The Great Alejandro Escavedo Needs Your Help!
Recent
Stories
September 9, 2003
William A. Cook
Eating
Humble Pie
Robert Jensen / Rahul
Mahajan
Bush
Speech: a Shell Game on the American Electorate
Bill Glahn
A Kinder, Gentler RIAA?
Janet Kauffman
A Dirty River Runs Beneath It
Chris Floyd
Strange Attractors: White House Bawds Breed New Terror
Bridget Gibson
A Helping of Crow with Those Fries?
Robert Fisk
Thugs
in Business Suit: Meet the New Iraqi Strongman
Website of the Day
Pot TV International
September 8, 2003
David Lindorff
The
Bush Speech: Spinning a Fiasco
Robert Jensen
Through the Eyes of Foreigners: the US Political Crisis
Gila Svirsky
Of
Dialogue and Assassination: Off Their Heads
Bob Fitrakis
Demostration Democracy
Kurt Nimmo
Bush and the Echo Chamber: Globalizing the Whirlwind
Sean Carter
Thou Shalt Not Campaign from the Bench
Uri Avnery
Betrayal
at Camp David
Website of the Day
Rabbis v. the Patriot Act
September 6 / 7, 2003
Neve Gordon
Strategic
Abuse: Outsourcing Human Rights Violations
Gary Leupp
Shiites
Humiliate Bush
Saul Landau
Fidel
and The Prince
Denis Halliday
Of Sanctions and Bombings: the UN Failed the People of Iraq
John Feffer
Hexangonal Headache: N. Korea Talks Were a Disaster
Ron Jacobs
The Stage of History
M. Shahid Alam
Pakistan "Recognizes" Israel
Laura Carlson
The Militarization of the Americas
Elaine Cassel
The Forgotten Prisoners of Guantanamo
James T. Phillips
The Mumbo-Jumbo War
Bill Glahn
RIAA Watch: Slumlords of the Internet
Walter A. Davis
Living in Death's Dream Kingdom
Adam Engel
Midnight's Inner Children
Poets' Basement
Stein, Guthrie and Albert
Book of the Weekend
It Became Necessary to Destroy the Planet in Order to Save It
by Khalil Bendib
September 5, 2003
Brian Cloughley
Bush's
Stacked Deck: Why Doesn't the Commander-in-Chief Visit the Wounded?
Col. Dan Smith
Iraq
as Black Hole
Phyllis Bennis
A Return
to the UN?
Dr. Susan Block
Exxxtreme Ashcroft
Dave Lindorff
Courage and the Democrats
Abe Bonowitz
Reflections on the "Matyrdom" of Paul Hill
Robert Fisk
We Were
Warned About This Chaos
Website of the Day
New York Comic Book Museum
September 4, 2003
Stan Goff
The Bush
Folly: Between Iraq and a Hard Place
John Ross
Mexico's
Hopes for Democracy Hit Dead-End
Harvey Wasserman
Bush to New Yorkers: Drop Dead
Adam Federman
McCain's
Grim Vision: Waging a War That's Already Been Lost
Aluf Benn
Sharon Saved from Threat of Peace
W. John Green
Colombia's Dirty War
Joanne Mariner
Truth,
Justice and Reconciliation in Latin America
Website of the Day
Califoracle
September 3, 2003
Virginia Tilley
Hyperpower
in a Sinkhole
Davey D
A Hip
Hop Perspective on the Cali Recall
Emrah Göker
Conscripting Turkey: Imperial Mercenaries Wanted
John Stanton
The US is a Power, But Not Super
Brian Cloughley
The
Pentagon's Bungled PsyOps Plan
Dan Bacher
Another Big Salmon Kill
Elaine Cassel
Prosecutors Weep' Ninth Circuit Overturns 127 Death Sentences
Uri Avnery
First
of All This Wall Must Fall
Website of the Day
Art Attack!
September 2, 2003
Robert Fisk
Bush's
Occupational Fantasies Lead Iraq Toward Civil War
Kurt Nimmo
Rouind Up the Usual Suspects: the Iman Ali Mosque Bombing
Robert Jensen / Rahul Mahajan
Iraqi Liberation, Bush Style
Elaine Cassel
Innocent But Guilty: When Prosecutors are Dead Wrong
Jason Leopold
Ghosts
in the Machines: the Business of Counting Votes
Dave Lindorff
Dems in 2004: Perfect Storm or Same Old Doldrums?
Paul de Rooij
Predictable
Propaganda: Four Monts of US Occupation
Website of the Day
Laughing Squid
August 30 / Sept. 1,
2003
Alexander Cockburn
Handmaiden
in Babylon: Annan, Vieiera de Mello and the Decline and Fall
of the UN
Saul Landau
Schwarzenegger
and Cuban Migration
Standard Schaefer
Who
Benefited from the Tech Bubble: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Gary Leupp
Mel Gibson's Christ on Trial
William S. Lind
Send the Neocons to Baghdad
Augustin Velloso
Aznar: Spain's Super Lackey
Jorge Mariscal
The Smearing of Cruz Bustamante
John Ross
A NAFTA for Energy? The US Looks to Suck Up Mexico's Power
Mickey Z.
War is a Racket: The Wisdom of Gen. Smedley Butler
Elaine Cassel
Ashcroft's Traveling Patriot Show Isn't Winning Many Converts
Stan Cox
Pirates of the Caribbean: the WTO Comes to Cancun
Tom and Judy Turnipseed
Take Back Your Time Day
Adam Engel
The Red Badge of Knowledge: a Review of TDY
Adam Engel
An Eye on Intelligence: an Interview with Douglas Valentine
Susan Davis
Northfork,
an Accidental Review
Nicholas Rowe
Dance
and the Occupation
Mark Zepezauer
Operation
Candor
Poets' Basement
Albert, Guthrie and Hamod
Website of the Weekend
Downhill
Battle
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
August 29, 2003
Lenni Brenner
God
and the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party
Brian Cloughley
When in Doubt, Lie Your Head Off
Alice Slater
Bush Nuclear Policy is a Recipe for National Insecurity
David Krieger
What Victory?
Marjorie Cohn
The Thin Blue Line: How the US Occupation of Iraq Imperils International
Law
Richard Glen Boire
Saying Yes to Drugs!
Bister, Estrin and Jacobs
Howard Dean, the Progressive Anti-War Candidate? Some Vermonters
Give Their Views
Website of the Day
DirtyBush
Hot Stories
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
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
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
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.
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Chilean
Coup Memorial Edition
September 11, 2003
Postcards
to the President
A
Selection of Imaginary Letters to President Bush in the Wake
of the September 11 Tragedy
By NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN
[ Author's Note: This article was written
around September 14, 2001.
Since then, many hopes have crumbled,
not least the hope that the giant tragedy would spark some introspection
and evoke a new level of statesmanship. Unfortunately our leaders
would not appeal either to our patriotism or to our idealism
--all they could call upon was our consumerism. They asked us
not to stop shopping! Could it have been otherwise? I have tried
to visualize a different course in another article, Little Minds
and Large Empires.
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that
problems cannot be solved by a resort to the same level of thinking
which produced them. As we complete two years of doing exactly
that (the results of which we saw in the White House address
a couple of days ago), maybe a good way to commemorate the 9-11
anniversary would be to ponder the wisdom of Einstein's statement,
which somehow strikes me a shade more profound than "Bring
'em on!".
--NR 9/9/03. ]
Dear President Bush,
I turned on the TV this morning, and
couldn't believe what was happening. Was this America? Dan Rather
said it was not a movie, that terrorists had really struck. What
horrible people would do this?
I was glued to the news the rest of the
day. Despite our sadness, it was magnificent to see how ordinary
people rallied and helped each other. We are truly a nation of
heroes. We shall not bow to the terrorists. God Bless America!
Joanna McPherson
Minneapolis, MN
Dear Mr. President,
Perhaps now you will be able to appreciate
the reality we Israelis have to face every day. Maybe your government
will now stop treating us and the terrorists as two morally equivalent
parties to a conflict, and cease its interminable lectures to
us on human rights. Terrorism does not value human life, let
alone human rights.
Yehuda Nir
Haifa, Israel
Dear President Bush,
I feel sorry for those Americans in New
York and Washington who have died.
But your country dropped bombs daily
on our innocent civilians --napalm bombs even --for 10 years.
You defoliated our forests, poisoned our air, and tried every
inhuman way short of the atom bomb to defeat our small country
8000 miles away, a country which had never even threatened a
single American. Our nations are friends now, and we grieve at
your loss of a few thousand lives and a few buildings. But we
cannot ever forget that because of Americans, we lost several
million people, and entire cities.
Nguyen Van Trinh
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Dear Mr. Bush,
Two wrongs do not make a right. I condemn
the cowardly attack on one of the most beautiful cities in the
world, and the destruction of two of its landmarks. But your
country destroyed two entire cities of ours, and blighted generations
of people to radiation diseases --I am talking about Nagasaki
and Hiroshima. I hope you and other American leaders realize
that military force is not the answer to any of mankind's problems.
I feel this is an empty hope, however, because the only talk
on American TV is about revenge and retaliation.
Yasuhiro Odi
Osaka, Japan
Dear Mr. President,
I visited New York last month for the
first time in my life. What a thrill it was to see the twin towers
of the WTC --in fact we even went to the top floor for a cup
of coffee. What a horrid feeling to know that they are no more!
My country too is plagued by IRA terrorism.
I am saddened that the US, which had hitherto escaped it, has
now been hit. It was heartening to see the great American spirit
at work --pulling together in times of adversity. We in England
are with America in the hour of its need. We are strengthened
by your resolve to eradicate terrorism.
John Blackwell
Surrey, England
Dear Mr. President,
I am shocked that my country, in a misguided
effort at diversity, would let known Islamic fundamentalists
into the US. We spend some obscene number of billions on an alphabet
soup of intelligence agencies, and we can't stop four groups
of people from getting into four different planes, at three different
airports, within the space of an hour? And now these same agencies
want more money? Talk of giving Captain Bligh his own fleet!
And where were you during all this, Mr.
President? At least the terrorists had the courage to die for
their convictions. Our entire national leadership, on the other
hand, seemed to have gone into hiding --as an American veteran,
I felt more sad about this single fact than all the other tragedies
of the day.
Al Belgozi
Detroit, MI
Dear President Bush,
Please understand this --Islam and democracy
don't mix. Do you know there are more than 20 Arab states, and
not one is --or has ever been --a democracy? There are scores
of Islamic countries in the world --in every one of them, non-muslims
are treated as second class citizens. As a Christian from Egypt,
I should know. The amount of hatred coming out each Friday from
the mosques in the Middle East is something you cannot even imagine.
Young people are brainwashed, and their minds filled with hate
--towards the USA, towards Israel, towards Christians and Jews.
No wonder so many of them are so full of misguided fury and blind
hate that they are willing to kill --and die.
I shudder whenever I read that Islam
is the fastest growing religion in the USA. Having lived in the
US during my studies in the late 80's, I know that most US citizens
are blissfully unaware of ground realities of the world. But
this cannot keep reality away from them, as the attacks have
shown. Wake up, America, and smell the coffee!
Joseph M.
Cairo, Egypt.
Dear President,
This event should teach America a lesson
in humility. Religion tells us that God alone is Great, and Man
should be Humble. America is arrogant because it thinks it is
so strong it can do anything to any country, and not face the
consequences. But, Providence exempts no one.
United States should think twice before
striking other countries with impunity. It is hypocrisy that
the United States, with the largest military and nuclear arsenal,
should impose sanctions on Pakistan for developing a nuclear
bomb.
I don't know who were the culprits of
the World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings. Whoever they may
be, whatever their nationality, they are not Muslims. Islam teaches
peace and respect for life.
Mohammad Ashraf
Lahore, Pakistan
Dear George,
Time to fish out that old globe and see
where the Middle East is, huh? But first, you'll want to find
Louisiana, Nebraska, and all those places where you hid before
you slunk into the capital and showed your face to the country.
I fought in Vietnam, and my friends died
there. You were a dodger then and are a dodger now.
But fear not, our country has other brave
men and women, thank God. Our Marines will take out Bin Laden
for you.
Burkett "Bud" Hampton
San Francisco, CA.
Dear President Bush,
There is a saying that 'He who sows the
Wind shall reap the Whirlwind'. My country, Afghanistan, was
a beautiful place in the 60's and 70's. We were trying to modernize,
educate our children, including girls, and provide opportunities
to all. Then came the Russians, whom we hated. But looking back,
at least the Russians were supporting the government, which wanted
to bring Afghanistan into the 20th century. Your CIA bolstered
the worst religious fanatics, giving them ultra-modern weaponry
and a great deal of money. The weaponry and money bled the Russians
and won you your war. But you and the Russians together reduced
my country to the Stone Age, and you handed it to the care of
stone-age zealots. As in Vietnam, you got out, leaving the locals
to deal with the mess.
I have visited the USA many times, and
deeply love your country, and the friendly and open American
people. But their government has often done bad things in their
name. Unfortunately, they are now being punished for their government's
follies.
Malik Yusufzai
Frankfurt, Germany
Dear Mr. President,
Devastating as the carnage is, I hope
that the US now understands that it cannot hope to feed the sharks
and expect them to stay away from its own waters.
India has been living with the results
of your country's lavish aid to Pakistan throughout the Afghan
war. Armed mujahideen, fresh from training camps in Afghanistan
and Pakistan, have been causing daily mayhem in our northern
state of Kashmir. Over 70000 people have been killed (India has
suffered the greatest number of deaths due to terrorism in the
entire world, if you count the Punjab and Kashmir insurgencies,
both fueled and fed by Pakistan), and tens of thousands of hindus
have had to leave their homes and become refugees. Our cries
of protest have gone unheeded by successive US governments.
We in India empathise with the United
States, and stand by you in this dark hour.
Rajesh Dhar
Mumbai, India
Dear Presidente Bush,
How does it feel to have innocent people
killed? Your government, your CIA, did exactly this to our children
in Chile. You talk about people who will have no tomorrow. My
son was picked up from his University and disappeared, never
again to be seen. His tomorrows ended that day, and my long night
began. Your government, Senor Presidente, was watching and helping
approvingly while your terrorist, Augusto Pinochet, killed, tortured
and eliminated thousands of our children.
Part of me prays and weeps for the people
who died in New York and Washington. But, I am ashamed to admit,
part of me sees this as divine justice.
Maria Nunez
Valparaiso, Chile
Dear Mr. President,
When I watched the cloud of dust and
smoke bounce through the canyons of New York, I was reminded
of my hometown of Bhopal that night. The New York tragedy was
caused by cynical planning. The Bhopal tragedy was a result of
cynical indifference. You have expressed great determination
to catch the perpetrators of September 11. Please help us also
bring to book one more 'terrorist', Warren Anderson, Chairman
of Union Carbide in 1984, who is hiding in the US, and evading
an Interpol warrant.
Altaf Zaheer
Bhopal, India
Dear Mr. President,
I am a 26-year old Palestinian from the
West Bank. All my friends say that America is an enemy of Palestine,
because it has helped Israel occupy and build settlements on
Palestinian land. They danced and celebrated when the World Center
was destroyed. I didn't, because I felt it was not good to enjoy
when people have died. But Israelis kill innocent people here
every day. It is only because of America's help that Israel is
able to shoot and kill children and women, without anyone questioning
them.
Just like you say Osama Bin Laden could
not do what he is doing without the support of the Taliban, we
say the Israelis could not carry out their terrorism against
Palestine without support from the United States. When you support
Israel in its occupation, you sponsor injustice and terrorism.
Please accept my sympathies and sorrow
that we are not able to live in a world of peace and justice.
Sharif al-Abbas
Jerusalem
Dear Mr. President,
I am an Indian American. Although I got
my citizenship four years ago, I will count September 11, 2001
as the day when I truly realized I was an American. When I saw
the World Trade Center collapse, I felt as though someone had
personally attacked me. I went the same afternoon and donated
blood. Fear not, Mr. President. We Americans don't flinch from
adversity. We are behind you 200%, whatever decisions you take
to fight this monster of terrorism.
Jagannath Prasad
Columbus, OH
Dear Mr. President,
With what voice can the US condemn terrorism,
when it has itself been the promoter of terrorism in so many
places in the world? In Nicaragua, where my wife and I lived
for many years, CIA-sponsored death squads were on a rampage,
terrorizing the local population because they supported the Sandinistas.
Our intelligence agencies illegally mined the Nicaraguan harbors.
How can you now condemn terrorists, when we have ourselves paid
and maintained them? I weep for my countrymen who died in New
York and Washington, but I weep too for my country's immoral
indulgence in sabotage, murder and drug dealing when it suited
its purpose.
Dick McHenry,
Hudson, NY
Dear Mr. President,
I've read through all the letters in
this collection. I've also worked in the Foreign Service area
(I won't say which exact branch) for 23 years, retiring a couple
of years back. It is certainly true that the US has dealt with
unsavory characters in other countries. But then, this is the
reality of foreign policy, whether someone likes it or not. The
world is not a garden party. It is full of countries and characters
which may best be called 'tough customers'. But I can say that
our people work under a great many more constraints and with
far more scruples than most other countries.
Reading all these letters from all over
the world, I'm struck that they seem to miss one basic point
--American actions are meant to benefit America. It is not for
Chileans, Indians, Armenians, or anyone else. It is all --and
only --for America. We do plenty for all those losers everywhere
--the Marshall Plan, the food aid, the IMF and the World Bank
--wouldn't you say that was generous enough?
Now I have a message for the Americans
who cry foul --fortunately I didn't see too many in this collection
--Love it or Leave it. You're willing to enjoy the fruits of
all the dirty work that people like me do. We go in the field,
risk our lives and marriages, so that whiners like you can have
the freedom to whine. Go right ahead, it don't change a thing.
Mr. President, a word from the trenches
--our people are itching to go. All we ask for is a free hand,
Sir, and we'll make sure that terrorism as we have seen it is
a thing of the past.
Semper Fi.
Charles F. Broughton, Jr. (Not my real
name)
Fairfax, VA.
Dear Mr. President,
The previous writer is correct. When
people knowingly share in the fruits of someone's action, they
are indeed participants in those actions.
This is why in today's connected world
--few are innocent civilians. Certainly not in the US, or any
other democracy, where people have a voice in government. Paradoxically,
the only 'innocent' people in this sense are in China, Afghanistan,
Iraq, Syria, and places like that, where the people have no say
in what their leader does. But our governments have had no problem
punishing the Iraqis on the street for something Saddam Hussein
did. We've had no trouble seeing their children starve and go
without medicines, or bombing and hitting civilians, even though
we well know that they have no control over what their dictator
does.
Another question, Mr. President. You
are a Bible-quoting Christian, as is your Attorney General. I
didn't see either one of you make a reference to the Sermon on
the Mount. How can one reconcile professions of Christianity
with such stirring calls to revenge? Mr. President, where does
it end? Is our strength our only justification? Where are the
references to our commitment to our freedoms?
And so, Mr. President, if you want to
narrow your administration's goals to fighting terrorism, that
is your privilege, but it is not, in my humble opinion, a goal
worthy of this great nation. Terrorism is only a symptom. Fight
it we must and by every means, but please let us view it in a
larger and deeper sense. What the world needs is zero terrorism,
but that would be best achieved by democracy. Sponsor that, Mr.
President. Insist on it. Hold firm on freedom of speech and of
worship. I saw the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia, our ally, sitting
at the National Cathedral this morning. Speak to him sometime.
His country will not even allow Bibles into its borders! You
are relying on Pakistan, where people are on death row for blasphemy.
If instead of confining your administration's
goals to terrorism, you resolved to take the Bill of Rights to
the ends of the earth, you would secure eager and enthusiastic
participation from every corner of the globe, and deprive terrorism
of its prime nourishment --the loss of hope. As a first-generation
immigrant, I can tell you that people all over the world look
up to the United States, not so much for its riches as for the
idealism of its founders --its unwavering commitment to Liberty.
Your choice, Mr. President. Will you
inspire us, as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt did, or
will you merely take us to war?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Portland, Oregon
Niranjan Ramakrishnan is a an author living on the West Coast. You
can view his writings on Indogram.
He can be reached at njn_2003@yahoo.com
Weekend
Edition Features for Sept. 1 / 7, 2003
Neve Gordon
Strategic
Abuse: Outsourcing Human Rights Violations
Gary Leupp
Shiites
Humiliate Bush
Saul Landau
Fidel
and The Prince
Denis Halliday
Of Sanctions and Bombings: the UN Failed the People of Iraq
John Feffer
Hexangonal Headache: N. Korea Talks Were a Disaster
Ron Jacobs
The Stage of History
M. Shahid Alam
Pakistan "Recognizes" Israel
Laura Carlson
The Militarization of the Americas
Elaine Cassel
The Forgotten Prisoners of Guantanamo
James T. Phillips
The Mumbo-Jumbo War
Bill Glahn
RIAA Watch: Slumlords of the Internet
Walter A. Davis
Living in Death's Dream Kingdom
Adam Engel
Midnight's Inner Children
Poets' Basement
Stein, Guthrie and Albert
Book of the Weekend
It Became Necessary to Destroy the Planet in Order to Save It
by Khalil Bendib
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