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 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
The Credibility Crisis
Time
For Straight Talk from the White House
By Col. DANIEL SMITH
Retired, US Army
"What are you going to believe,
what we tell you or what you see with your own two eyes?"
Groucho Marx
In the foreign policy arena, the administration
of U.S. President George W. Bush is having about as much trouble
making it to first base as Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in their
old-time comedy skit "Who's on First."
In the skit, a baseball manager introduces
a new player to the other team members by telling him, "Who's
on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third." This
prompts the answer, "That's what I wanna find out."
The dialogue goes downhill from there until the new player ends
up having a conniption fit.
While this example of communication paralysis
has been cause for hilarity on the vaudeville circuit, the kind
of comedic plain talk it exaggerates is cause for concern when
it comes from the White House.
Not to be confused with straight talk,
which Bush's fellow Texans full well understand as telling the
honest truth, comedic plain talk seduces listeners into falling
for tall tales. Chief among them in this case are the rationales
the administration puts forth for its handling of relations with
Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Israel, Palestine, Liberia, and
Syria.
Some analysts suspect the reason for
this is that the administration may have too many hot items on
the plate. Others see an administration that simply reacts to
events without having a coherent game plan. Still others suggest
that the president's sense of personal destiny and divine assistance
unduly slant policy. Consider the following:
Washington insists that its dedication
to intervention in Afghanistan is helping advance the democratic
process there. However, the central government's control remains
confined to the capitol and its environs. Motivated by what Bush
says is a "hatred of our [U.S.] freedoms," Taliban
and Al Qaeda remnants continue a low-intensity campaign against
an estimated 11,000 foreign troops, including 9,600 from the
United States.
In mid-July, Afghan Foreign Minister
Abdullah Abdullah warned that his country quickly needed more
long-term development aid for infrastructure and institution
building. Without such aid, he worried, Afghanistan could slip
back into anarchy. "The Afghan people ... are giving us
time. How long? This is my point. The international community
should build the capacity in the central government in order
to deal with the core issues of security and reconstruction."
In a recent report, the World Bank said
Afghanistan will require $15 to $20 billion over the next five
years in reconstruction assistance. This year, the U.S. contribution
has been $1 billion, with another billion pledged for 2004. Despite
occasional significant casualties, the Pentagon's direct costs
for continued military operations have dropped to $700 million
per month.
An Occupation Under
Siege
In post-invasion Iraq, the Bush administration,
the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Pentagon all
insist that the situation is under control and progress is being
made in neutralizing opponents. However, some 148,000 U.S. and
12,000 U.K. troops occupy a defeated, chaotic country that still
lacks basic security and dependable supplies of electricity and
other utilities. As in Afghanistan, low-intensity war continues,
causing on average more than one U.S. fatality per day. Despite
quiet pleas from Washington for assistance, most countries have
refused to send peacekeeping troops without a UN mandate. As
a result, the CPA has had to conduct a month-long crash course
to train and arm 7,000 Iraqi militia to work alongside U.S. forces
and reduce their physical exposure to attack. Meanwhile, protests
against occupation forces by Shi'ites in Najaf, Basra, and Baghdad
continue.
Just how much reconstructing Iraq will
cost has yet to be estimated; the continuing military operation
runs $3.9 billion per month. While deposed President Saddam Hussein's
two sons were killed July 22, he remains unaccounted for, and
the Bush administration says that with "more time,"
it will find his missing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The real question, however, may be not
how much time it will take to find the weapons, but how long
Iraqis will tolerate the presence of: 1) foreigners, 2) infidels,
3) occupiers, and 4) exploiters. Choose one or more to justify
attacks on coalition forces, aid workers, and others.
Contradictions in
Policy Toward North Korea
The administration's professed strategies
for North Korea are nothing if not contradictory. With questions
remaining about the status of nuclear fuel rod reprocessing as
well as the extent and location of Pyongyang's nuclear facilities,
July 18 reports that sensors had detected a possible second reprocessing
plant were contradicted three days later. In talks with Chinese
officials at about the same time, the U.S. government reportedly
repeated its April offer of a trilateral formula for consultations
involving the United States, North Korea, and China, if a multilateral
meeting with these three plus South Korea, Japan, and possibly
Russia followed. Although no formal non-aggression treaty was
suggested, hints were dropped of renewed U.S. food and fuel shipments
and an oral promise not to attack North Korea. This, along with
pressure from Beijing, seems to have tipped the balance, for
a six-party meeting is now scheduled for August 27th.
The agreement to meet will probably delay
any use of so-called "soft" steps to coerce North Korea,
such as denial of trade, cutting financial flows, and halting
humanitarian aid. North Korea, of course, would not see these
as soft, but as attempts at economic strangulation. Still, the
Bush administration can be expected to quietly pursue these measures
in case the negotiations fail--or are never held.
At the same time, the United States has
organized a group of 11 countries in a new coalition of the willing
to enforce what it terms a "proliferation security initiative."
Under this plan, North Korean ships entering the territorial
waters of any of the 11 can be stopped, boarded, and inspected
for illegal goods--such as drugs or coalition-banned cargo related
to missiles or nuclear programs. But even before the initiative,
ships had been stopped and inspected. And now, some in the administration
want to interdict any North Korean vessel anywhere on the high
seas, an act that would be tantamount to a war declaration.
Pyongyang, with its guard heightened
by Bush's 2002 "Axis of Evil" speech and the Afghan
and Iraqi precedents of forced regime change, remains as defiant
as it is unpredictable. Kim Yong-Chun, chief of the General Staff
of North Korea's army, told Pyongyang's official Central Broadcasting
Station, "If the United States goes ahead with sanctions
against us, we will consider the move as a declaration of war."
A similar response might be triggered by stepped-up, overt military
provocations such as intrusive intelligence collection and unannounced
exercises, both of which reportedly are possibilities on the
table. Even Pentagon plans to send $11 billion in sophisticated
equipment to modernize forces stationed in South Korea could
be interpreted by the North as war preparations.
The president illustrated his administration's
great ambivalence in remarks on May 23: "We will not tolerate
nuclear weapons in North Korea. We will not give in to blackmail.
We will not settle for anything less than the complete, verifiable,
and irreversible elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons
program ... . I believe that we can solve this peacefully. I
believe that diplomacy can work."
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William
Perry, who was a key player in resolving the 1994 U.S.-North
Korean confrontation, believes that the interdiction stratagem
"would be provocative but ... not effective." And in
considering the current stand-off, Perry voiced the view that
"it was manageable six months ago if we did the right things.
But we haven't done the right things." His conclusion: War
is closer than at anytime since 1994.
Road Map or No Map?
In the Middle East, the administration
says that with Bush's road map for peace between Palestine and
Israel, the goal is closer than it has been since September 2000
when the latest intifada began. But the president's ambivalent
stance here again was revealed in talks about Israel's ongoing
construction of a barrier fence on Palestinian land--when Palestine's
Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas visited the White House July 25
for the first time and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited
July 29 for the eighth time. If completed as recommended by the
Israeli Defense Forces, the barrier will completely enclose the
West Bank and Gaza as well as key Israeli settlements that will
not be dismantled.
Standing in the Rose Garden with Abbas,
Bush said: "I think the wall is a problem and I've discussed
this with Ariel Sharon. It is very difficult to develop confidence
between the Palestinians and the Israelis--Israel with a wall
snaking through the West Bank--and I will continue to discuss
this issue very clearly with the prime minister. As I said in
my statement today, he [Sharon] has issued a statement saying
he is willing to come and discuss that with us and I appreciate
the willingness to discuss it."
Then, standing in the Rose Garden with
Sharon four days later, Bush turned around and said: "I
fully understand that the most effective campaign to enhance
the security of Israel, as well as the security of peace-loving
people in the Palestinian territories, is to get after organizations
such as Hamas, the terrorist organizations that create the conditions
where peace won't exist. And therefore, I would hope in the long-term
a fence would be irrelevant.
"But, look, the fence is a sensitive
issue, I understand. And the [Israeli] prime minister made it
very clear to me that it was a sensitive issue. And my promise
to him is we'll continue to discuss and to dialogue how best
to make sure that the fence sends the right signal that not only
is security important, but the ability for the Palestinians to
live a normal life is important, as well."
What is clear is that Sharon came not
to discuss but to tell Bush, "The security fence will continue
to be built," adding almost as an afterthought, "with
every effort to minimize the infringement on the daily life of
the Palestinian population."
The Liberian Emergency
In Liberia, the United States is in real
danger also, to paraphrase Perry, of "not doing the right
things." The people of Liberia's capital, which is home
to at least one quarter of the country's population, have been
pleading for a U.S. military peacekeeping intervention similar
to the British one in Sierra Leone and the French one in Cote
d'Ivoire. The administration chose to equivocate, promising help
on the condition that Liberia's dictator Charles Taylor would
leave the country first. Taylor said he would leave but laid
down his own precondition: He would not go until a peacekeeping
force was in place to preclude a power vacuum.
The Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) said it would send 3,000 to 5,000 troops to complement
expected U.S. forces (probably 2,200 Marines of an Amphibious
Ready Group). Washington sent a so-called "assessment team,"
which was greeted joyously by Liberians. Apparently unimpressed
by the warm welcome, the White House hedged further by adding
another precondition for U.S. involvement: The ECOWAS force has
to set a date for moving into Liberia, at which time the United
States will support the deployment.
On July 20, an additional 41 Marines
flew to Monrovia to strengthen embassy security. At the same
time, government opponents renewed their military offensive,
killing at least 90 civilians and wounding 300 with small arms
and mortar fire. In what can only be interpreted as a reproach
to the United States for not intervening, Monrovians piled 18
of the dead in front of the embassy. As casualties continued
to grow, U.S. State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher seemed
to modify the U.S. stance, saying that Taylor "should go
coincident with a deployment of peacekeepers." But in the
same July 22 media briefing, Boucher also reinforced the ambiguity
about just what support the United States will provide ECOWAS,
and when. He clearly left the ball in the West Africans' court,
but in so doing, the White House may be hoping the situation
will resolve itself. As July ended, one insurgent group captured
Liberia's second port city, the main anti-government group penetrated
further into Monrovia, and civilian casualties continued to mount.
Like Perry on North Korea, Susan Rice,
another official of the Clinton administration, believes that
in Liberia the Bush White House "squandered the month-long
opportunity it had" while a shaky ceasefire was in place.
Specifically, Rice points to this administration's failure to
lay out a plan to preclude further institutional breakdown in
Liberia: "Neither the rebels nor the government could be
expected to pause indefinitely," she notes.
Syria in John Bolton's
Crosshairs
With Syria, the administration's inconsistencies
and manipulations are quite blatant. On June 4, Under Secretary
of State John Bolton told the House International Relations Committee
that: 1) the United States was concerned about Syria's nuclear
ambitions and was looking for "signs of nuclear weapons
intent," 2) "Syria has maintained a chemical weapons
program for many years," and 3) the United States "know[s]
that Syria is pursuing ... biological weapons."
On July 15, Bolton was scheduled to testify
again, but his appearance was scrapped when intelligence agencies
strongly objected to his overall conclusion that Syria now posed
a threat to the Middle East because of progress made on its WMD
programs. According to Knight-Ridder reporters, the objections
and comments from the CIA alone ran to 40 pages. Bolton's conclusions
go beyond even the CIA's latest, publicly released semi-annual
evaluation of threats to the United States. That report, covering
the first half of 2002, said that Russian-Syrian nuclear energy
cooperation offered "opportunities" should Syria "decide
to pursue nuclear weapons." The agency also concluded that
it was "highly probable" that Syria is still trying
to develop biological weapons.
What is most puzzling may not be the
disagreements within the U.S. government about Syria as a regional
threat, but how quickly certain agencies cast Syria out into
the cold after the war with Iraq started. In the July 28 issue
of The New Yorker, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh details
the extensive Syrian cooperation with the CIA throughout 2002
and early 2003 in going after Al Qaeda, including allowing U.S.
operations within Syria. But Syria received nothing in return.
It remains on the State Department's list of state sponsors of
terrorism, largely because it supports Hezbollah and allows Islamic
Jihad and Hamas to maintain offices in Damascus.
The breaking point seems to have been
Syria's refusal to support the March 2003 U.S.-U.K. draft second
UN resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. Shortly
thereafter, the Pentagon accused Syria of supplying equipment,
including night vision goggles, to Iraq and accepting for "safekeeping"
Iraq's WMD. Forced regime change in Damascus was publicly discussed,
justified on Bush's premise that those who support terrorists
are equally subject to destruction.
Then on June 18, 2003, acting on fragmentary
and ambiguous intelligence, U.S. military forces from Iraq entered
Syria to interdict two ground convoys speeding toward the border.
In the confrontation, the reported toll was 80 dead gasoline
smugglers and innocent civilians and five wounded Syrian border
guards. Nonetheless, U.S. officials and many analysts credit
Syria with helping to subdue Hezbollah's activities during the
Iraq war. As one person told Hersh, Syria sent "a signal
to us, and we're throwing it away. The Syrians are trying to
communicate, and we're not listening."
When all is said and done, the high-profile,
continuing controversy over the mishandling or political manipulation
of intelligence may have induced greater caution in claims about
what is known, as opposed to what is possible or probable. If
so, it's a lesson well learned.
Straight talk doesn't overreach in its
conclusions. Those who make policy need to remember that and
keep in mind that their credibility rests on leveling with the
U.S. public, allies, and even adversaries.
Col. Daniel Smith is a military affairs analyst for Foreign
Policy in Focus and a retired U.S. army colonel and senior
fellow on Military Affairs at the Friends Committee on National
Legislation. He can be reached at: dan@fcnl.org
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
Keep CounterPunch
Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home / subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|