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November 11, 2005 Alexander Cockburn November 10, 2005 Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik Pat Williams Steve Higgs Jimmy Massey Lucson Pierre-Charles Anthony Newkirk Lawrence R.
Velvel Website of the Day November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp Tariq Ali Chris Floyd Elaine Cassel Joshua Frank Alison Weir Diana Johnstone
Paul Craig
Roberts Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Jim McGrath David Bloom Stan Goff
November 7, 2005 Dick Reavis Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff Eli Stephens David Swanson M. Junaid Alam Matt Reichel Naima Bouteldja Jeff Halper Website of the Day
November 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Lawrence R.
Velvel Diana Johnstone Roosa / Nevins Niranjan Ramakrishnan John Ross Mike Whitney Mark Engler Juliano Mer-Khamis Ron Jacobs Jill S. Farrell Missy Comley
Beattie Mitchel Cohen Evelyn J. Pringle Reza Fiyouzat Charles Sullivan Zachary Richard Ben Tripp St. Clair / Vest
November 4, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Dave Lindorff Phillip Cryan Christopher Brauchli William S.
Lind Daryl G. Kimball George Beres Peter Montague
November 3, 2005 James Petras Saul Landau Rep. Cynthia McKinney Michael Dickinson Joshua Frank Remi Kanazi Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
November 2, 2005 Cockburn /
St. Clair Robert Oscar Lopez John Walsh Brian J. Foley Ramzy Baroud M. Junaid Alam Todd Chretien Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
November 1, 2005 Ron Jacobs Gary Leupp John Ross Bill Quigley Joseph Nevins Dave Lindorff Linda S. Heard Heather Gray Michael Dickinson Jeffrey St. Clair
October 31, 2005 Elaine Cassel Mark Weisbrot Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Farooq Sulehria Nicole Colson Madis Senner Paul Craig
Roberts
Cockburn /
St. Clair Peter Linebaugh Tim Wise John Chuckman Steven Higgs Brian Cloughley M. Shahid Alam Nikki Robinson Ralph Nader Joe DeRaymond Joshua Frank Laura Santina Fred Gardner Michael Dickinson Ron Jacobs Dr. Susan Block Vanessa S. Jones Jeffrey St.
Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 28, 2005 Jared Bernstein Virginia Tilley Phil Gasper Jennifer Matsui Manual Garcia,
Jr. Monica Benderman Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff
Saul Landau Stuart Hodkinson Ingmar Lee Lila Rajiva Ilan Pappe Niranjan Ramakrishnan Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Cockburn / St. Clair
October 26, 2005 Kathy Kelly Gary Leupp Mike Marqusee Eric Ruder Patrick Cockburn Joshua Frank J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Website of
the Day
October 25, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn Conn Hallinan Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Jackie Corr Robert Day John Sugg
October 24, 2005 Dave Lindorff Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Bill and Kathleen
Christison
October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Billy Sothern Saul Landau Ralph Nader Behrooz Ghamari Brian Cloughley Diana Barahona Fred Gardner Lee Sustar Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen James Petras Joshua Frank Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Michelle Bollinger Missy Comley
Beattie Kona Lowell Ben Tripp Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff Winslow T. Wheeler Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Madis Senner Michael Donnelly
Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Jeremy Brecher
/ Patrick Cockburn Kevin Zeese Ross Eisenbrey Randy Shields Justine Davidson After Lucas
Cranach Joe Allen
October 19, 2005 Christopher Reed Stephen Soldz Chet Richards Patrick Cockburn Scott Richard
Lyons Ralph Nader Website of
the Day
October 18, 2005 Chet Flippo Ron Jacobs Keeanga-Yamahtta
Taylor Dave Lindorff Virginia Rodino Thomas Healy Ralph Nader Stephen Lendman Patrick Cockburn
October 17, 2005 Peter Linebaugh Norman Solomon Cockburn /
Sengupta Mike Whitney Uri Avnery Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
October 15 / 16, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Neve Gordon Moshe Adler Christopher Brauchli Diane Farsetta Sam Husseini Monica Benderman Mickey Z. Douglas C.
Smyth Lee Sustar Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Joshua Frank David Vest Ben Tripp Poets Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 14, 2005 Farrah Hassen Ron Jacobs Sasha Kramer Katrina Yeaw Nicole Colson Raúl Zibechi Nikolas Kozloff Website of the Day
Jeremy Scahill Jeff Birkenstein Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher Stan Cox Anis Memon Gary Leupp Dave Zirin Matthew Koehler Werther Website of
the Day
Omar Waraich William Cook Phil Gasper Dave Lindorff Matt Vidal John Gautreaux Diana Johnstone Mark Weisbrot Brian J. Foley Website of
the Day
October 11, 2005 Roger Morris
/ Steve Schmidt Lila Rajiva Bill Quigley Paul Craig Roberts Dave Lindorff Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Mitchel Cohen Tariq Ali Website of
the Day
October 10, 2005 Cindy and Craig
Corrie Joshua Frank Gideon Levy Alan Wallis Mickey Z. CounterPunch News Service Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
October 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ralph Nader Jennifer Van Bergen Saul Landau Jeff Halper Lenni Brenner Nikolas Kozloff Brian Cloughley Alice Slater John Gautreaux Fred Gardner Niranjan Ramakrishnan M.G. Piety Tom Gorman Mike Whitney Aseem Shrivastava Ben Tripp Poets' Basement
October 7, 2005 Larry Johnson Will Youmans Dave Lindorff Judith Scherr Russell D. Hoffman Jared Bernstein Jennifer Van
Bergen Website of
the Day
P. Sainath Scott Parkin Paul Craig
Roberts Andréa Schmidt Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank M. Junaid Alam Matthew Koehler Robert Pollin
October 5, 2005 Heather Gray Robert Jensen Ramzy Baroud Col. Dan Smith Dave Zirin Paul Craig Roberts Alan Maass
October 4, 2005 Nikolas Kozloff Mike Roselle Joshua Frank John Chuckman Alan Farago Mickey Z. Christine & Ethan Rose Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 3, 2005 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig
Roberts Joshua Frank Seth Sandronsky Jeffrey St. Clair
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November 11, 2005 A Step in the Right Direction?Rep. McGovern's Withdrawal ResolutionBy RON JACOBS On November 4, 2005, Democratic Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts introduced a bill whose purpose is to "prohibit the use of funds to deploy United States Armed Forces to Iraq." This bill, numbered HR 4232, is co-sponsored by twelve other representatives, including Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Barbara Lee (D-CA). The bill was immediately referred to the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on International Relations, where it will remain until the Speaker decides to bring it to the floor. This in itself makes the likelihood that any full House discussion of this bill will not occur in the near future, if ever. For the sake of argument, however, let's assume that it will make it to the House floor as it is written and it will make it there during this session of Congress. Making these assumptions, let's take an honest look at what this bill demands.
This portion seems straightforward enough. Plain and simple, it states that no more funds be appropriated or used to send any more US military forces to Iraq. If one opposes the war in Iraq, they certainly can't argue with this provision.
This subsection is also hard to argue with. After all, it will cost some money to bring all of the troops home from their bases in Iraq.
This is where the bill begins to become meaningless in terms of an immediate and complete withdrawal of all occupation forces from Iraq. If we read on, we discover that Mr. McGovern's bill as introduced is not really a demand for an end to the foreign occupation of Iraq. Instead, it is just a call to replace US forces with forces from other nations' militaries--nations that would coordinate everything with the US and its intelligence agencies.
Which nations might Mr. McGovern have in mind? Why, first and foremost of course, other nations with colonialist histories and potential economic interests in Iraq. By this, I mean the NATO countries, who, despite their differences prior to the US/UK invasion of Iraq in 2003, would all like to have a piece of the oil pie that is part and parcel of what Iraq is to the major capitalist alliance (or NATO). As for the UN, its recent history regarding Iraq does not place it in the Iraqi peoples' circle of friends. After all, it was the UN Security Council that enforced the murderous sanctions against that country's people for over ten years and has looked the other way whenever Washington and London violated their part of any agreement made after the first Gulf War. Then, of course, there is the so-called government of Iraq. In other words, the government composed of men and women handpicked by the current regime in Washington, completely funded by this same regime, and as recent statements by the Iraqi president regarding US plans to attack Syria from Iraq made clear, unable to act in any meaningful manner without the approval of the men and women in power in DC. In short, this is where Mr. McGovern's (and his co-sponsors) good intentions fall apart. To repaet, this bill, if enacted, would only replace US troops with other occupying forces. Iraq would continue to be occupied and the bloodshed would continue. The intentions of the invasion and occupation would not change, just the nationalities of the occupying troops. Washington would still be pulling the strings, although the spoils would have to be shared among those who participated in this charade. Given the nature of the battleground in Iraq, any nation willing to send its troops to replace those the US would withdraw would want an awful big piece of the pie. So, on a very practical level, it is quite unlikely that any government would even volunteer its military for such a role.
More of the same. This provision would continue the funding of the Iraqi military and police forces, including the various death squads and other covert ops groups now in place. This means that the mission of the Iraqi forces would change very little, if at all. They would continue to attempt to impose Washington's designs (as expressed through its Iraqi clients) and would be under orders from whatever troops ended up replacing uniformed US forces under provision (A) above.
This sounds like a caveat to continue any and all covert operations currently going on in Iraq. Throughout its history, the CIA has operated under the auspices of providing various types of aid to whatever countries it is operating in. Indeed, one of the the agency's primary vehicles operates under the acronym of USAID (US Agency for International Development). What this provision does is enable most of the US government in all its disguises to continue business as usual in Iraq. The only agency that would be forbidden to do so is the Department of Defense (DOD). So, any operations deemed necessary to US designs for Iraq and currently operating under the aegis of the DOD would have to be moved to some other agency. This includes the huge numbers of so-called security contractors in that country, many of whom are actually in the employ of US intelligence agencies. Like I've said before, it's a shell game. Is this bill the real thing? Should the antiwar movement support it? Let me put it this way. It's a beginning--albeit a small one. The members of Congress who have attached their names to the bill include some of Congress' most outspoken opponents of the Iraqi invasion and occupation, which means their intentions are genuine. But we all know about roads and pavement made of good intentions. Still, the very fact that there is a bill in Congress that even considers the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq is a step in the right direction. Yet, as I briefly point out here, this bill is not enough. It does not fundamentally change the situation for the people of Iraq. The proposed legislation continues the scenario whereby the US-created government in Baghdad is answerable to Washington and not to the Iraqi people. It replaces one set of foreign troops with another. It enhances the power of the Iraqi military and it allows the continued presence of US covert operators (and private companies in their employ) inside Iraq. Indeed, it makes the likelihood of enhanced use of covert ops more likely in the absence of traditional military assaults. Most important of all, this bill continues to deny the Iraqi people their sovereignty. The resolution is not about guaranteeing Iraqi self-determination; it's about the continued determination of Iraq's future by Washington and its co-conspirators. To put it bluntly, this bill's only provision should be that the US get out lock, stock and barrel and leave no other occupying military force to replace it. As long as the client government in Iraq depends on outside forces for its support (and not the Iraqi people), not only will it continue to ignore those Iraqis opposed to it, it will never be independent, since the occupier can overrule any of its decisions. As I've noted before, if the government had to depend on the Iraqi people for its support, it would be more likely to compromise with its opposition, armed and otherwise. Then the beginnings of a just and representative democracy would have a chance in Iraq. Don't put away your protest placards yet. Indeed, the antiwar movement has momentum on its side, but it risks being maneuvered into a scenario that either replaces one occupying force with another (without any genuine input from the Iraqi people) or, as a Nation editorial called for on November 9, 2005, a nebulous demand for a withdrawal as quickly as possible-whatever that means. We need to repeat until we are heard, the only demand should be immediate and unconditional withdrawal.. (Bill text from http://thomas.loc.gov/) Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground, which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's new collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. He can be reached at: rjacobs3625@charter.net
The War So Far: a Failure Worse Than Vietnam by Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad "The need for the White House to produce a fantasy picture of Iraq is because it dare not admit that it has engineered one of the greatest disasters in American history. It is worse than Vietnam because the enemy is punier and the original ambitions greater." Get the answers you're looking for in the subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! 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 donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair                       |
