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A Journey to Rafah: "We Will Destroy You, If Not In Death, Then in Life" by Jennifer Loewenstein; Senator Facing-Both-Ways: the Double Political Life of John Kerry by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair; General Tommy Franks in Kansas City: "50,000 Dead Americans in Iraq is OK" by Stan Cox. Last month, CounterPunch Online was read by 11 million viewers--by far our biggest month ever. But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a (tax deductible) donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now!

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Today's Stories

February 28 / 29, 2004

Stephen Green
Serving Two Flags: Neo-Cons, Israel and the Bush Team


Mike Whitney
Dismantle the Military Goliath

 

February 27, 2004

Thomas C. Mountain
A White Jesus During Black History Month?

Laura Carlsen
Americans Abroad: Bush is Persona Non Grata

John B. Anderson
Nader's Campaign Brings Back Memories: Creating an Open Electoral Process

Jason Leopold
Spying on Kofi Annan

John Chuckman
Nader, Risk and Hope

Standard Schaefer
An Interview with Michael Hudson on Putin's Russia

Ray McGovern
Punished for Honest Intelligence

Saul Landau
The Haiti Redux

Website of the Day
Bush: Why I'm Running for Re-election

 

February 26, 2004

Brandy Baker
Is Nader on to Something?

Jacques Kinau
AEI to Colombia: "Can't Give You Anything But Guns, Baby"

Norman Solomon
Bugging Kofi Annan: UN Spying and the Evasions of US Journalism

Greg Weiher
A Purloined Letter: the Zarqawi Gambit

Walt Brasch
Janet Jackson, Bush & No. 542: There are No Halftime Shows in War

Shadi Hamid
The Music World Explodes in Anger

Norman Madarasz
As Canadian as Corruption

Chris Floyd
Bullets and Ballots

Virginia Tilly
The Deeper Meaning of the Wall

Amy Goodman / Jeremy Scahill
Haiti's Lawyer Says US is Arming Haiti's Anti-Aristide Paramilitaries

Website of the Day
Clear Channel Sucks


February 25, 2004

Dr. Susan Block
Saddam's Sex Therapist and the Rape of Free Speech

Bruce Anderson
Treacherous Bastards: The Greens and the Dems and Nader

Ron Jacobs
Our Power is on the Streets and in Our Hearts

Mike Whitney
Bush and Gay America: the Politics of Duplicity

Sam Husseini
Jesus in 100 Words

John L. Hess
Kick Off or Flub?

Sam Hamod
Bush's Newest Red Herring

Cockburn / St. Clair
Winning with Nader

Website of the Day
VotePact

February 24, 2004

Ralph Nader
Why I'm Running for President

Greg Moses
Rally the Mob! Bush, Gay Marriage and the Constitution

Douglas O'Hara
The Merchants of Fear: Smearing Nader

Phillip Cryan
Frozen in Time: The WSJ's Paranoid Lens on Latin America

David Lindorff
John Kerry's China Connection

Jason Leopold
Cheney's Shame: Halliburton Faces New Charges

Gary Younge
Haiti: Throttled by History

Kromm, Masri & Purohit
Why No Democracy in Iraq?

Steve Perry
Tangled Up in Red and Blue: Beware the Electoral College


February 23, 2004

Neve Gordon
Israel's Apartheid Wall on Trial at The Hague

Kurt Nimmo
Richard Perle, Executioner: "Heads Should Roll"

Jonathan Franklin
US Soldier Seeks Refugee Status in Canada

Al Krebs
The Liberal "Intelligentsia" v. Nader

Josh Frank
Nader's Nadir? Not a Chance

Bruce Jackson
Nader, Another View: "He's as Evil as Bush"

Gary Leupp
A Misguided Attack, The Passion, Rabbi Lerner and the Gospels


February 20 / 22, 2004

Cockburn / St. Clair
Kerry: He's Peaking Already!

Derek Seidman
Chasing Judith Miller from the Stage: Watch Her Run!

Ghada Karmi
Sharon is not the Problem

Vanessa Jones
This Week in Redfern, a Boy Dies, Chased by Cops

Ben Granby
Anatomy of a Night Raid on Balad, Iraq

John Holt
An Air That Kills: Greed, Apathy, Dead People

Saul Landau
Entry from a White House Diary

Tom Jackson
Why They Couldn't Wait to Invade Iraq

Frederick B. Hudson
Slave Power and the Constitution: Jefferson, Slaves, Haiti and Hypocrisy

Roger Burbach
Argentina Fights Back

Kate Doyle
Lessons on Justice from Guatemala

Mike Whitney
Operation Enduring Misery: the Afghanistan Debacle

Greg Moses
What Gives Texas A&M the Right to Trample the Civil Rights Act?

David Krieger
US Elections: an Opportunity to Debate Nuclear Weapons

Sam Bahour
Palestinian Issue Riddles Bush's Budget

David Grenier
You Could Get 10 Years in Prison Just for Reading This

Charles Sullivan
Corporatism vs. Single Party Politics

Poet's Basement
Hilda White, Larry Kearney & Stew Albert

Website of the Weekend
The Rumsfeld Fighting Technique

 

February 19, 2004

Cecilie Surasky
Anti-Semitism at the World Social Forum? That's Not What I Saw

Ray McGovern
Iraq Hawks and Deceptive Intelligence: Did They Really Think They'd Get Away With It?

Tariq Ali
How Far Will Bush Go in Iraq?

Ralph Nader
Whither the Nation?

Wayne Madsen
Would Kerry Purge the Neo-Cons?

Norman Solomon
The Collapse of Dean's Cyber-Bubble

Christopher Brauchli
Cheney, Halliburton and the NYT

Mike Whitney
Bush's Iraq Strategy: "I Hope They Kill Each Other"

Lewis Carroll
Bush the Mighty Helmsman from Yale

Website of the Day
Sex Toy Horoscope

 

February 18, 2004

William Wilgus
Bush: AWOL and Dereliction of Duty

William Blum
Mush-Minded Liberals

Dave Lindorff
Bush's China Syndrome

Greg Weiher
Why is Kerry Getting a Pass?

Mike Griffin
Killing the Messenger: the AFL-CIO's Attack on Harry Kelber

Mark Hand
Kerry Tells Peace Movement to "Move On"

 

 

February 17, 2004

Mike Ferner
The Countryside Murders in Iraq

Mokhiber / Weissman
Corporation as Psychopath

Marjorie Cohn
DrakeGate: a Victory for Free Speech

Kurt Nimmo
Bush's Endgame: a Review of Chalmers Johnson's "Sorrows of Empire"

Greg Bates
Nader Ambush: a New Low for The Nation

Ximena Ortiz
A Bush Doctrine, of Sorts

Gary Leupp
Whatever Happened to Gen. Khazraji?

Sen. John Kerry
"The Cause of Israel is the Cause of America"

Steve Perry
Kerry 1, Drudge 0

 


February 16, 2004

James Johnston
Huddling with the Cheeseheads in a NASCAR World

Sara Eltantawi
To Wear the Hijab or Not

Bruce Anderson
Kevin Cooper and the Midnight Needle

Elaine Cassel
Feds on Campus: the Drake Subpoenas

Rahul Mahajan
Bush, Is the Tide Finally Turning?

Kevin Cooper
The Ritual of Death

Stan Cox
Goodbye, Howard Dean

Larry David
My War

Steve Perry
Bush and the Guard: the Cover-Up's the Thing

Website of the Day
Prison Patriots: Help This Vital Film Get Made

Hot Stories

Alexander Cockburn
Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con!

Subcomandante Marcos
The Death Train of the WTO

Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens as Model Apostate

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

Gore Vidal
The Erosion of the American Dream

Francis Boyle
Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution

Click Here for More Stories.

 

 

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Weekend Edition
February 28 / 29, 2004

So Nader's Running?

Get Over It

By DOUG GIEBEL

Tottering from past defeats, liberals and progressives are wasting breath and time whining over Ralph Nader's return to the presidential campaign. Apparently these grumblers were hoping this time around for a free ride, banking on some Messiah to appear and topple the Bushvolk without distraction, much as George W. Bush has been elevated throughout his own political career. Well, Nader is running. Get over it and move on. "Life," as somebody said, "is not fair." Grandma told us, "When you're given lemons, make lemonade."

Damage was done when the over-the-hill Democratic "establishment" piled on Howard Dean to take him down. Fortunately, Dean is still willing to work for the common goal: defeating Bush in 2004. Instead of bashing Nader for his chutzpah or his "ego," Kerry, Edwards, Kucinich and Sharpton should bring both Dean and Nader into a strategy aimed not at bashing one another, but at campaigning in unison for that goal. Only one person can hold the title President of the United States, but that person won't get there on his own. What these guys need is a Vince Lombardi to knock their inflated heads together and shout, "It's the TEAMWORK, stupid!"

If, after the garbage pile of lies, evasions and idiotic programs perpetrated by Bush Administration arrogance, the Democrats can't get their act together and defeat Republicans, they don't deserve to win. After all, it's not only about regaining the White House, it's about electing a people-friendly Congress, too. Given a bit more time, the Bushvolk should defeat themselves, but it won't happen if the Democrats (and the Greens and in Nader's case the Independents) don't find seeking the common good more important than self-righteous vanity.

Recently, thanks to Democracy, Now, I listened again to the passionate speech John Kerry gave before that Senate committee in 1971. It is still impressively moving. Now, after having served in the Senate for many years, Kerry has become "senatized," his speeches are stilted, the sincerity, daring and passion bleached out. American ears are not made of tin. Given the ongoing abuses of Republican zealots, even many Republicans will accept a Democrat who speaks sincerely from the heart and not with an eye to contributors and lobbyists. Big money may be pouring into the Bush campaign's coffers, but money can't buy The People's House if the people say, "No sale."

Ralph Nader has much to contribute in the dialog of Bush v. America. So does Howard Dean. So do all the candidates, including those now out of the race: Dick Gephardt, Carol Moseley Braun, even Joe Lieberman, who often seems more like a Republican than anything else. Let them stow their egos until after the election while they work together, stumping the nation to restore common sense to politics and Washington.

A word or two about Al Gore. One reason Gore didn't attract even more support during his run for the presidency was his inner conflict over how to present himself to voters. Recently, freed from campaigning and the fear of losing, Al Gore has given a series of speeches that are frank, amusing, spirited and "real." His recent "lecture" on the subject of Global Warming sponsored by <MoveOn.org> was a brilliant tour-de-force that deserves to be seen by all Americans. Democrats must make good use of the New Al Gore, just as they must take advantage of the talents of Nader, Dean and the others. Even Bill Clinton has a future, if he can dampen his enthusiasm for behind-the-scenes manipulation and realize New Democrats have had their season in the sun.

In earlier Counterpunch articles, I outlined the Bush "plan" to end "America as we know it" (September 12, 2003) and the neo-conservative desire to appropriate Iraq and build permanent bases there at an unknown cost in dollars and lives. (January 6, 2004). Both subjects must be brought to the attention of voters, and so must the documentation of Bushvolk lies, manipulations, the devaluation of civil and human rights. Who better to inform the nation about corporate abuses than Ralph Nader? Who better to challenge the neo-conning of America over war in Iraq than Howard Dean?

Even as they weep crocodile tears about 9/11, Republican fanatics are planning to use their New York convention to capitalize on the tragedy. President Bush is stonewalling the commission he reluctantly created to investigate what happened on that fateful day. If President Bush tries to halt the commission's work before it has finished, commission members should press forward regardless, independently. "Truth" is becoming the central issue in the upcoming election: truth about Iraq, truth about jobs, truth about the economy, truth about George W. Bush and his supporters.

It matters little if George W. Bush served in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. What matters is whether the administration is covering up the truth about why a young man trained as a fighter pilot suddenly stopped flying and refused to take the requisite physical.

It doesn't matter as much that the newly-elected Bush Administration turned a blind-eye to an impending terrorist attack as it does to know whether administration insiders expected and possibly welcomed a "small" attack so it could be used as an excuse to go after Saddam Hussein, the better to establish a permanent U.S. military presence in the heart of the roiling Middle East. Was "the unexpected" in this scenario the size of the attack, rather than that it happened? Richard Perle, neo-conservative insider and advisor, recently interviewed on KGO Radio in San Francisco, said he thought about and discussed a possible new attack on the World Trade Center back in 1998.

Hubris may finally bring down the House of Bush. By welcoming Ralph Nader and the other campaigners on board, by freeing themselves from the bonds of fear and the shackles imposed when trying to please everyone at the expense of honesty, Democrats can avoid having their own hubristic impulses take them down.

If Nader is the lemon, make some lemonade.

Doug Giebel is a writer who lives in Big Sandy, Montana. He may be reached at: dougcatz@ttc-cmc.net

Weekend Edition Features for February 20 / 22, 2004

Cockburn / St. Clair
Kerry: He's Peaking Already!

Derek Seidman
Chasing Judith Miller from the Stage: Watch Her Run!

Ghada Karmi
Sharon is not the Problem

Vanessa Jones
This Week in Redfern, a Boy Dies, Chased by Cops

Ben Granby
Anatomy of a Night Raid on Balad, Iraq

John Holt
An Air That Kills: Greed, Apathy, Dead People

Saul Landau
Entry from a White House Diary

Tom Jackson
Why They Couldn't Wait to Invade Iraq

Frederick B. Hudson
Slave Power and the Constitution: Jefferson, Slaves, Haiti and Hypocrisy

Roger Burbach
Argentina Fights Back

Kate Doyle
Lessons on Justice from Guatemala

Mike Whitney
Operation Enduring Misery: the Afghanistan Debacle

Greg Moses
What Gives Texas A&M the Right to Trample the Civil Rights Act?

David Krieger
US Elections: an Opportunity to Debate Nuclear Weapons

Sam Bahour
Palestinian Issue Riddles Bush's Budget

David Grenier
You Could Get 10 Years in Prison Just for Reading This

Charles Sullivan
Corporatism vs. Single Party Politics

Poet's Basement
Hilda White, Larry Kearney & Stew Albert

Website of the Weekend
The Rumsfeld Fighting Technique

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