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New Edition of CounterPunch The Return of Robert Rubin: Kerry, Jobs and the Economy by Alexander Cockburn; Party Favors: the Political Business of Terry McAuliffe by Jeffrey St. Clair; The Kill Zone: Caring for the Wounded in Fallujah by David Martinez. In April, CounterPunch Online was read by 16.1 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! Now Available: Hot New CounterPunch T-Shirts! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Cockburn / St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War Now Available! Today's Stories May 8 / 9, 2004 Cockburn / St. Clair Torture: as American as Apple Pie Kurt Nimmo Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib Brian Cloughley Humpty Dumpty is Falling Lucia Dailey Forbidden Games Joanne Mariner * * * *: Redacting Moussaoui John Chuckman The Thing with No Brain Susan Davis Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art Laura Flanders Life with Dick and Lynne Carolyn Baker Why I Will Not Vote in 2004 Prince Screw Electoral Politics   May 7, 2004 Human Rights Watch 10 Prisons; 9,000 Prisoners: US Detention Facilities in Iraq Ron Jacobs UnAmerican? I Wish It Were So Robert Fisk An Illegal and Immoral War Ahmad Faruqui The 50th Anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Alexander Zaitchik From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib: Doesn't It Ring a (Prison) Bell? Mike Whitney The Price of Victory Norman Solomon This War, Racism and Media Denial M. Shahid Alam A Comic Apology May 6, 2004 Jeffrey St. Clair They Did It for Jessica: Smeared with Shit; Kicked to Death Kathy Kelly May Day in Pekin Prison: Prison Labor for the War Machine Werther The Sunk Cost Fallacy: War as Vegas Casino Game Lawrence Ferlinghetti Totalitarian Democracy Robert Fisk "Smoke Him": Video Shows Wounded Men Being Shot by US Helicopter John Janney Torturing the Way to Freedom? Christopher Ketcham Outlaw Heterosexual Marriage Now! Alan Farago Dead Oceans: So Long, Thanks for the Fish Sam Hamod Bush on Arab TV: Worthless and Demeaning James Brooks Sullen Spring William S. Lind On the Brink of Defeat in Iraq   May 5, 2004 Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba Complete US Army Report on Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners Kathleen and Bill Christison Kerry: a Lost Cause for Progressives? Will Youmans Deal with the Devil: a Palestinian Zionist and the End of the World Patrick B. Barr Terrorists R Us: the Powerful are Exempt from the Label Lawrence Magnuson Nightline's All-American Morgue Greg Moses Pocketbook of Denuded Ideals Niranjan Ramakrishnan Tormenting Prisoners, Torturing Truth Lee Ballinger Cinco de Mayo and Unity Gilbert Achcar Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quaqmire Website of the Day Operation Phoenix & Iraq   May 4, 2004 Human Rights Watch A Timeline of Torture and Abuse Allegations and Responses Kurt Nimmo The CIA Privatized Torture David Peterson CBS, Self-Censorship & Iraq Barry Lando CACI's Private Torture Chambers Patrick Cockburn Torture: Iraqis Disgusted, But Not Surprised Dr. Susan Block Indecent Insurgents: Watch What You Say Fidel Castro A Mindless, Unnecessary War Mike Whitney Empire of Torture Sonali Kolhatkar How to Stop the War: Demonstrate Against John Kerry Josh Frank The Lost Sierra Club Stan Goff The Role: Another Open Letter to US Troops in Iraq Agustin Velloso Spare Us Your Disgusting Ethics Stew Albert American Know-How Website of the Day Scenes from a Cover-Up   May 3, 2004 Virginia Tilley Let the Wall of Silence Fall May 1 / 2, 2004 Patrick Cockburn An Army in Disgrace, a Policy in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat Robert Fisk "Good Guys" Who Can Do No Wrong Alexander Cockburn Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders, Useless Spies, Angry World Heather Williams Gringo, We're Going Home: Latin American Troops Flee Iraq Diane Rejman An Army Vet on Torture in Iraq: Abu Ghraib as My Lai? Diane Christian Blood Spilling: Osama, Bush and Sharon Speak the Same Language Patrick Cockburn Seems Like Old Times in Fallujah Dave Lindorff Bush's Torturous Logic: Shocked, Shocked, Shocked Chris Floyd Suicide Bomber: Neocons, Nihilists and Annihilation April 29 / 30, 2004 Dave Zirin A Pawn in Their Game: the Unlonesome Death of Pat Tillman Kathy Kelly The Warden's Tour Greg Weiher Fallujah and the Warsaw Ghetto: the Banality of Evil Michael S. Ladah Terrorism and Assassination: the Ultimate Depception Patrick Cockburn The Fallujah Mutinies     April 28, 2004 Christopher Brauchli Meet Congressman Know-Nothing: Tom Tancredo Wendy Brinker The Politics of the Numb Faisal Kutty The Dirty Work of Canadian Intelligence John Chuckman Seeking the Evil One Mike Whitney Flag-Draped Coffins and the Seattle Times Tom Mountain Rwanda and the F***** Word Graeme Greenback The Iraqi Alamo: a CNN/CIA Production Tracy McLellan The War Comes Home M. Junaid Alam We are the Barbarians William Loren Katz Iraq, the US and an Old Lesson   April 27, 2004 James Davis The Colombia 3 Acquitted Dave Lindorff Chalabi as Prosecutor Bruce Schneier Terrorist Threats and Political Gain Cockburn / Sengupta British Generals Resist Calls for More Troops to Aid Americans in Iraq Walt Brasch Presidential Letters: The Day I Was Asked to Feed an Elephant Saul Landau The Empire in Denial and the Denial of Empire April 26, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Crossing the Shia Line: US Troops Prepare to Enter Najaf Wayne Madsen Trading Places: Will the US Go the Way of the USSR? Grover Furr Protest, Rebellion, Commitment Elaine Cassel Lies About the Patriot Act Mickey Z. Inspired by Pat Tillman? Greg Moses Bremer's De-De-Ba'athjfication Gambit Gila Svirsky Anarchy in Our Souls Uri Avnery Vanunu and the Terrible Secret April 24 / 25, 2004 William A. Cook Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry and Bush Melt into One Jeffrey St. Clair Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank Brandy Baker A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So Robert Fisk A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free Speech Ben Tripp October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios Nelson Valdés "Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg Lucson Pierre-Charles Haiti's Return to the Future Kurt Nimmo The CIA Killed Pat Tillman Mark Scaramella Does Anybody Know Anything? Patrick Cockburn The Return of Saddam's Generals Gary Engler Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas Col. Dan Smith Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush Greg Weiher Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam... Elaine Cassel Life on the Outside: a Review Vanessa Jones Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney Jim French Agriculture's Bullied Market Hammond Guthrie Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles Poets' Basement Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella April 23, 2004 Ron Jacobs The Only Solution is Immediate Withdrawal Dave Lindorff Imagination Deficit Disorder Mokhiber / Weissman Contractors and Mercenaries: the Rising Corporate Military Monster Norman Solomon Country Joe Band, 2004: "What Are We Fighting For?" Cynthia McKinney All Things Are Not Equal: the Perils of Globalization CounterPunch Wire A Bitch Called Wanda Karyn Strickler Sierra Club, Inc. Hammond Guthrie Yellow Caked in the Face Paul de Rooij Graveyard of Justifications: Glossary of the Iraqi Occupation   April 22, 2004 Patrick Cockburn When Terror Came to Basra: "I Saw a Minibus of Children on Fire" Tanya Reinhart The Wall Behind Disengagement Lance Selfa Why is Kucinich Still in the Race? Josh Frank Street Fighting Man? Kucinich's Pulled Punches Sen. Robert Byrd Bush Owes America Answers on Iraq William S. Lind Why We Get It Wrong Mickey Z. Undoing the Latches Robert Jensen Why They Fast: Remembering the Victims of the World Bank John L. Hess The New York Times from 30,000 Feet   April 21, 2004 Gary Leupp Yeats on Iraq Alfredo Castro Colombia's Forgotten Prisoners Dr. Susan Block Bush's Taliban Drug Deal William A. Cook George 1 to George 2 Jack Random Iraq and Vietnam Jean-Guy Allard Alarcon Meets the Editors Mike Whitney Charade in the Desert Bill Christison Only Major Policies Changes Can Help Washington Now     April 20, 2004 Dave Lindorff Bush and Kerry Share a Problem Stan Cox Wal-Mart's Magic Numbers Bruce Anderson On Listening to Air America Joseph Kalvoda Czech Mate for Condi Greg Moses Yesterday's Intelligence Stan Goff The Democrats and Iraq Website of the Day Santorum Happens     April 19, 2004 Kurt Nimmo The "Central Hand" of the Resistance Mike Whitney Bob Woodward's Imperial Trifles Douglas Valentine 52 Pick-Up and the 100-to-1 Rule John Chuckman The Sharon Annex: Evil Does Often Triumph Doug Giebel Welcome to the Club Rahul Mahajan Hospital Closings and War Crimes     April 16 / 18, 2004 Robert Fisk Bush Legitimizes Terror Saul Landau Subverting Brazil and Cuba Dave Lindorff Paying for War: $2,150 per Family and Counting Brandy Baker Fallujah's Collateral Damage Mickey Z. The Left Attacks from the Right Bruce Jackson The Bush Press Conference: Gott Mit Uns Norman Solomon How the "NewsHour" Changed History Alexander Cockburn Bush, Kerry and Empire   April 15, 2004 Greg Moses Follow the Families, Not the Script Virginia Tilley The Carnage According to Gen. Kimmitt: Just Change the Channel Ron Jacobs They Coulda Been Champions of the World: Hurricane Carter and Ron Kovic Michael Neumann A Happy Compromise: Hate Crimes Reporting in the Toronto Globe and Mail   April 14, 2004 Tom Reeves Return to Haiti: an American Learning Zone Reza Fiyouzat Japan and Iraq Ron Jacobs What Bush Really Said Diane Christian The Real Passion   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.     Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition May 8 / 9, 2004 Someone Knew There Were No Weapons of Mass Destruction By DOUG GIEBEL Ever since the Bush Administration began publicly spinning out its catalog of reasons for invading Iraq, this writer has questioned and written about the alleged existence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. More important, however, is my growing conviction that members of the administration knew the WMD did not exist in Iraq before the invasion went forward. The following account of what one might consider "circumstantial evidence" has been described by others as an "unique" or "unusual" point of view, perhaps because the perspective was hidden in plain sight and was therefore missed by investigative journalists and others hoping to find some signed or tape recorded "smoking gun." In discussing his book "Plan of Attack" with a television interviewer, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward emphatically stated that before the invasion of Iraq Woodward was firmly convinced the still-missing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) really existed. Woodward is equally convinced the president and members of his administration also believed Saddam Hussein had WMD and moreover was prepared to use them. During his most recent press conference, President Bush referred almost wishfully to WMD, suggesting they might still be found somewhere in Iraq. As Woodward describes in detail, George W. Bush is a man of conviction, and his strong belief in the existence of WMD may never be shaken. Of course, one way or another, WMD may still be found. Belief and conviction, however, are not always based on evidence. Before coalition troops invaded Iraq, many experts both inside and outside of government repeatedly stated the supposed weapons no longer existed. Since no WMD have turned up, David Kay and others have said "all" of us were fooled, and the Bush Administration claims it relied on "the best information available" in deciding WMD posed a growing or an imminent threat. These positions are misleading, since not "all" experts were taken in, and the "best" intelligence information was the information ignored or rejected by those who sought to wage war against Saddam. Instead, Bush, Blair and their colleagues apparently relied on the worst intelligence. To some observers, this reliance deliberately dismissed those who were not singing the proper hymn. Woodward may be correct to assume President Bush and some of his closest advisors sincerely trusted in the presence of Saddam's WMD, but someone close to the invasion plans most assuredly believed something else. There is sufficient evidence to suggest insiders knew well before the coalition entered Iraq that no WMD would be encountered. If so, it also suggests these individuals knew the case for the existence of WMD was bogus from the beginning. In early February 2003 as the U.S. and its "coalition" rushed to build up the invasion force, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei obtained concessions from Saddam Hussein permitting U-2 overflights and interviews with four top Iraqi scientists. At this point, however, further diplomacy was not an option for the Bush Administration. A month later, as war drums beat louder and faster, the U.N. pulled its personnel, including weapons inspectors, from Iraq. The British Foreign Office and Israel both warned of a very high risk of attack, including the possible use of chemical and biological weapons. The hysterical tone was heightened with advice to British subjects: exit Kuwait and Israel immediately. Did the Bush and Blair warmakers suspect or know that if U.N. inspectors remained much longer in Iraq they'd return a verdict of "No WMD"? Were they concerned Saddam might further comply with U.N. resolutions, thus undercutting a supposed reason for the invasion: Iraq's non-compliance with those resolutions? As Blix and ElBaradei were succeeding, the Bush Administration declared diplomacy had nearly run its course. Was that because some in Washington feared Saddam might capitulate sufficiently to U.S. demands and thus remove the urgency, the necessity, of an invasion? Diplomacy, threats and inspections were working too well. Bush and Blair had to pull the plug or their grandiose design would be deflated. Once the undeclared "war" began: 1. Coalition troops did not encounter WMD on the swift march to Baghdad and beyond. 2. WMD have not been employed by the "insurgents" against the "occupiers." 3. Although Woodward describes President Bush as a "risk taker," the president and his closest advisors are not so daring they would foolishly risk losing the cherished next election by sending troops into a cauldron where WMD would be unleashed with calamitous consequences. 4. Saddam's arsenal was promoted to include massive but unverified amounts of chemical, biological and possibly even nuclear weapons. The exact composition of these spectacular weapons was never clearly identified. Coalition troops encountering weapons capable of killing "thousands" and "millions" of human beings (as hammered home in administration statements) would surely have suffered untold losses. Although protective gear was issued to coalition personnel, there could be no guarantee this gear would work. What gear would protect against nuclear attack? Advance "special forces," coalition sources inside the country and the unprotected citizens of Iraq would surely not survive if WMD were to be unleashed on a massive scale. 5. Most significantly, the Pentagon actively encouraged hundreds of reporters to be "embedded" with coalition troops. The few reporters who survived vicious WMD attacks would have sent out real-time pictures and descriptions of the carnage, horrifying the viewing and reading public around the globe. Does this seem to be the sort of risk Bush, Blair and their ambitious colleagues would willingly take? Could Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Powell and other big-wigs pose for photo-ops in a "Portable Phonograph" landscape polluted beyond imagining? According to reports, some American military personnel were astonished when no WMD materialized. Recently Australia's newspaper "The Age" reported, "Australian troops fighting in Iraq were told in an official briefing days before entering the country that Saddam Hussein did not have the capability to launch weapons of mass destruction against its neighbours." The news must have relieved anxiety for Aussie troops. Surely if Australia knew, it seems reasonable to assume some in the U.S. command structure also knew. Why didn't U.S. military leaders clue in their troops, too? On the battlefield, few in the military or in the press wore their protective gear with any regularity. Writer Paul de Rooij questioned whether the WMD scare was "propaganda" as early as April, 2003. Even the notorious "red zone" where the greatest danger from WMD was supposed to have existed appears to have been a propaganda hoax. Further, it seems wildly improbable Saddam's military would wait until invading troops were within this fantasy "red zone," because the zone encompassed the area surrounding Baghdad. It is more reasonable to assume WMD would be utilized in the Shia south, where the population was hostile to Hussein and his government. Decimating both his Shia enemies and the coalition invaders (killing two birds with one WMD stone) makes more sense than waiting until the population of Baghdad (and Saddam) would be subjected to the much-touted poisons. Would Iraq's military explode nuclear weapons within Baghdad's perimeter? Before the war, Pentagon planners assumed only 60,000 troops might be necessary to oust Saddam Hussein. General Tommy Franks originally asked for a mere five divisions, approximately 75,000 troops -- small compared to the eventual 250,000 personnel who were deployed for the invasion. At about the time Franks was making his modest troop request, Vice President Cheney falsely rang the WMD alarm in his Nashville speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, proclaiming, "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. And there is no doubt that his aggressive regional ambitions will lead him into future confrontations with his neighbors -- confrontations that will involve both the weapons he has today, and the ones he will continue to develop with his oil wealth." Cheney's "no doubt" speech occurred before the CIA submitted its October 2002 WMD report. Would war strategists, convinced of Cheney's frightening claim, plan to send in a 60,000 or 75,000 or even a 250,000 member military if they believed Saddam's "aggressive," amassed and awesome arsenal truly existed? Would hundreds of media representatives replete with cameras, satellite phones and television connections be invited along for the ride into Cheney's particularized Hell? Near the conclusion of his now-infamous State of the Union address (January 2003), President Bush proclaimed Iraq had "25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people . . . materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure . . . the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands . . . upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents . . . an advanced nuclear weapons development program . . . a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb . . . gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack." And yet against such a staggering defense system, the U.S. and its coalition blithely amassed men and women on Iraq's border, unconcealed from Saddam, and marched toward the Land of WMD with remarkably little concern Saddam had capability to kill "several million . . . millions . . . untold thousands" including "nuclear weapons." By March 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing Iraq's "record of lying and deceit," claimed, "Iraq had and still has the capability to manufacture these kinds of weapons, that Iraq had and still has the capability to manufacture not only chemical but biological weapons, and that Iraq had and still has literally tens of thousands of delivery systems, including increasingly capable and dangerous unmanned aerial vehicles." It now seems clear Iraq was not the only nation with a "record of lying and deceit." Then in April 2003, Prime Minister Tony Blair wryly advised, "Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a bit." We're still waiting. We must not forget: as President Bush and his "coalition of the willing" geared up for war with Iraq, some in his administration predicted the event would be a "cakewalk." Compared to what would have likely occurred had Saddam fought to the death with WMD, the march to appropriate Iraq was indeed a cakewalk. It seems strange such sophisticated and politically astute leaders could be totally convinced of the existence of weapons of mass destruction and at the same time tell the world the war would be an easy go; that is, unless they were secretly convinced no WMD existed in the first place. Bob Woodward and others in the gullible press and public failed to consider obvious signals regarding what increasingly appears to have been an elaborate hoax perpetrated on coalition troops, the press and the world's citizens. With convincingly-deadpan expressions, those responsible for the invasion of Iraq still face cameras and say "we were misled." What they really mean is, "You were misled." Those who stage-managed the majestic design of Operation Iraqi Freedom knew there were no WMD long before the armies crossed into Iraq. Although unspoken, this fact remains one of the most egregious lies of our young new century. Doug Giebel is a writer and analyst who lives in Big Sandy, Montana. He welcomes e-mail responses: dougcatz@ttc-cmc.net. Weekend Edition Features for April 24 / 25, 2004 William A. Cook Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry and Bush Melt into One Jeffrey St. Clair Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank Brandy Baker A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So Robert Fisk A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free Speech Ben Tripp October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios Nelson Valdés "Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg Lucson Pierre-Charles Haiti's Return to the Future Kurt Nimmo The CIA Killed Pat Tillman Mark Scaramella Does Anybody Know Anything? Patrick Cockburn The Return of Saddam's Generals Gary Engler Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas Col. Dan Smith Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush Greg Weiher Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam... Elaine Cassel Life on the Outside: a Review Vanessa Jones Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney Jim French Agriculture's Bullied Market Hammond Guthrie Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles Poets' Basement Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella WWW http://www.counterpunch.org   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /