|
Today's
Stories
October 15,
2005
Alexander Cockburn
Ayatollahs
of the Apocalypse
October 14,
2005
Farrah Hassen
A
Somber Ramadan in Syria
Ron Jacobs
The
Black Panthers: They Haven't Forgotten; Neither Should We
Sasha Kramer
USAID
and Haiti: the Friendly Face of Imperialism?
Katrina Yeaw
The Student Struggle in Italy
Nicole Colson
Bird Flu: Militarizing Health Care
Raúl Zibechi
Survival and Existence in El Alto
Nikolas Kozloff
Hugo
Chávez and the Politics of Race
Website of the Day
LA Filmmakers Collective
October 13, 2005
Jeremy Scahill
Mr.
Bush Goes to Tikrit (Sort Of)
Jeff Birkenstein
A
Thoreau for Our Time: Why Cindy Sheehan Matters
Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher
Harriet Miers: Bush or the Constitution?
Stan Cox
Did You Know This About Iraq?
Anis Memon
The Curious Case of Russ Feingold
Gary Leupp
Miller, Libby and the June Notes
Dave Zirin
A Tribute to August Wilson
Matthew Koehler
America's Endangered Forests
Werther
The
Two-Headed Monster
Website of
the Day
Hurricane Song
October 12, 2005
Omar Waraich
Britain
and the Quake: Mean and Stingy
William Cook
Voices
Behind the Entombment Wall
Phil Gasper
Countdown
to a Legal Lynching
Dave Lindorff
Impeachment Now and Then: Clinton, Bush and the Polls
Matt Vidal
Capital, Power and Class
John Gautreaux
New Orleans will Never be the Same
Diana Johnstone
Srebrenica
Revisited: Using War as an Excuse for War
Mark Weisbrot
The IMF Has Lost Its Influence
Brian J. Foley
Gitmo Tribunals Endanger Public Safety
Website of
the Day
Columbus Day Lies
October 11,
2005
Roger Morris
/ Steve Schmidt
Strategic
Demands of the 21st Century
Lila Rajiva
Live from New Orleans: Abu Ghraib
Bill Quigley
New
Orleans: Leaving the Poor Behind Again
Paul Craig Roberts
Natural Born Liars
Dave Lindorff
Recruiters in Schools: No Lie Left Untried
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Suspect Thy Neighbor
Mitchel Cohen
Showdown at Chuck E. Cheese
Tariq Ali
Pakistan will Never Forget This Horror
Website of
the Day
L'Heure Americaine
October 10,
2005
Cindy and Craig
Corrie
Rachel's
Words Live
Joshua Frank
Washington's War Dems
Gideon Levy
The Beautiful Life Without Arafat
Alan Wallis
The Fight for Free Speech at Union Square
Mickey Z.
In Defense of Liars
CounterPunch News Service
Vermont Independence Convention
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Police State is Closer Than You Think
Website of the Day
Dylan's Chronicles
October 8 /
9, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Rhetoric
and Reality in the Business of Getting Rid of Black People
Ralph Nader
Katrina
and the Growls of Greed
Jennifer Van Bergen
New American Law: Legal Strategies in the Dharfir Case
Saul Landau
An Oily Religious Dream
Jeff Halper
Setting Up Abbas
Lenni Brenner
The Millions More Movement and Zionism
Nikolas Kozloff
Bird Flu and Bush
Brian Cloughley
Training Soldiers in Iraq
Alice Slater
A Nobel Prize for Chernobyl?
John Gautreaux
A View from Cajun Country
Fred Gardner
Does the Controlled Substances Act Mean What It Says?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Leveethan Approach
M.G. Piety
Rot in the Ivory Tower: Collusion, Cover-Up and Kierkegaard
Tom Gorman
The Hitchens Doctrine
Mike Whitney
Bunker Days with George
Aseem Shrivastava
Beyond the Wasteland: Lessons from Afghanistan
Ben Tripp
Religion, an Epistle
Poets' Basement
Albert, Engel and Ford
October 7,
2005
Larry Johnson
The
Plame Case: the Real Issues
Will Youmans
Why
Do We Hate Our Freedom? Recruiters and Thugs on Campus
Dave Lindorff
Bird Flu: Evolution or Intelligent Design?
Judith Scherr
Haiti's Children's Prison
Russell D. Hoffman
Nukes for Peace, Revisited?: Nobel Prize Debacle
Jared Bernstein
Katrina and Jobs
Jennifer Van
Bergen
New
American Law: the Case of Dr. Dhafir
Website of
the Day
FBI Witchhunt
October 6, 2005
P. Sainath
"Take
That, Tom Friedman": Indian Masses Reject NYT's Neoliberal
Idol Again
Scott Parkin
When Antiwar Activists Get Mugged
Paul Craig
Roberts
Blundering
into Syria
Andréa Schmidt
Haiti's Biometric Elections: a High-Tech Experiment in Exclusion
Dave Lindorff
Easy
Money in the Big Easy
Joshua Frank
In Defense of Lew Rockwell
M. Junaid Alam
Jackboots at George Mason
Matthew Koehler
Cock and Bull on the Bitterroot
Robert Pollin
Is
the Dollar Still Falling?
October 5,
2005
Heather Gray
Militarization is Not an Answer for
Reconstruction: the Case of the Philippines
Robert Jensen
Is
Bush a Racist?
Ramzy Baroud
Bush's Final Choice: America or
the Empire
Col. Dan Smith
Keeping Promises to Iraq: "Everything
is Bad"
Dave Zirin
Barry
Bonds Laughs Last
Paul Craig Roberts
Liberal Guilt? How the Neocons
Took Over
Alan Maass
Doing
the Right Wing's Dirty Work
October 4, 2005
Nikolas Kozloff
Shocking the Two Party System:
a Political Opportunity for Sheehan and the Antiwar Mvt.
Mike Roselle
Houston,
You've Got a Problem
Joshua Frank
The Scoop on Harriet Miers
John Chuckman
War
Porn: What the Gruesome Images Say
Alan Farago
Storm Warning for Jeb: Developers,
Hurricanes and the Keys
Mickey Z.
An
Interview with Thaddeus Rutkowski
Christine & Ethan Rose
Home Depot Exploits Hurricane Victims
Gary Leupp
An
Earlier Empire's War on Iraq: a Lesson from Roman History
Website of the Day
Rodney
Crowell on Bob Dylan
October 3,
2005
Vijay Prashad
Desperation at Holyoke
Paul Craig
Roberts
Condi
Rice: Gunslinger
Joshua Frank
An Interview with Cindy Sheehan
Seth Sandronsky
The
Hiring Crisis for Black Teens
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Great Green Scare
October
1 / 2, 2005
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Democrats Sink Deeper into the Ooze
Dave
Marsh
A Direction Home: a Message from Bob Dylan
Ralph
Nader
Gutless, Spineless and Clueless
Flavia
Alaya
Showdown at Sheriff's Plaza
Uri
Avnery
The Gladiators: Sharon's Victory
Chris
Kutalik
The Battle at Northwest Airlines
Greg
Moses
Bill Bennett's Book of Cracker Virtues
Brian
J. Foley
I Gave My Copy of the Constitution to a Pro-War Vet
Nicole
Colson
Hunger Strike at Gitmo
Ray
McGovern
Abu Ghraib is a Command Responsibility
Fred
Gardner
Ricky Williams Takes a Late Hit
Justin
Felux
Save America from Crime: Abort Every White Baby!
Will
Youmans
"Free the P": Hip-Hop for Palestine
Mike
Ferner
What Else Shall We Do?
David
Krieger
The War in Iraq: a Broken Covenant
Agustin
Velloso
Samson Returns to Gaza
Saul
Landau
The Constant Gardener: Serious Cinema
Ben
Tripp
Right Down the Middle
Poets
Basement
Peddibone, Crowell, Engel and Albert
Website
of the Weekend
Holler If Ya Hear Me
September
30, 2005
Mary
Geddry
Why I Marched: They Made My Son Kill
Paul
Craig Roberts
Bush is Cooking Up Two New Wars
Dave
Lindorff
Judith Miller's Strange Voluntary
Jail Time
Gregory
Wilpert
"The Osama Bin Laden of Latin America"
Benjamin
Dangl
"Gringo, Go Home:" an Interview with Orlando Castillo
James
McMurtry
We Can't Make It Here Anymore
T.R.
Johnson
Return to the Ninth Ward
September
29, 2005
Sen.
Russ Feingold
Bush's Iraq War is Weakening America
Carl
G. Estabrook
Obama the Enabler
Ramzy
Baroud
Rhetoric and Reality of War
Dave
Lindorff
What Opposition Party?
Mike
Whitney
Brownie's Comic Opera
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
What Noble Cause?
Gary
Handschumacher
Getting Arrested with Cindy Sheehan
Winslow
T. Wheeler
No Leaders in Congress Against This
War: Lame Democrat and Tame Republicans
September
28, 2005
Dr.
Eyad Serraj
Letter from Gaza: What Disengagement
Sounds Like
William
A. Cook
Bush's Security Barrier
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Invention of Porno Torture
Mike
Whitney
Apartheid Justice in America
Joshua
Frank
Sheehan and the Democrats: Anybody Home?
CounterPunch
Wire
New Orleans Prisoners Abandoned to Floodwaters
Chris
Genovali
Cutting the Bears Out of the Great Bear Rainforest
Linn
Washington, Jr.
White Affirmative Action: How
John Roberts Got to the Top
September
27, 2005
Forrest
Hylton
Political Murder in Puerto Rico: a
Matter for Our Movement
Jason
Leopold
The Decline and Fall of Bill Frist
Jennifer
K. Harbury
Torture is US Policy, Not an Aberration
Ray
McGovern
Torture and Cowardice: Why are American Religious Leaders Silent?
Mike
Ferner
Bringing the War Home: Arrested at the Pentagon
Antony
Loewenstein
When the Truth Comes to Town: What You Can't Say About Israel
in Australia
Harry
Browne
Live from Hollywood: the IRA Disarms
September
26, 2005
Rafael
Rodriguez Cruz
Assassination in Puerto Rico: the FBI
Murders a Legend
Joshua
Frank
Democrats Flee Peace Protests
Lamis
Andoni
The Railroading of Taysir Alony
Mike
Marqusee
Those Pesky "Urban Intellectuals":
Blair, Spiro Agnew and the Antiwar Movement
Rep.
Cynthia McKinney
They Can't Fool Us Anymore
Ron
Jacobs
A Small March for Me, a Giant March
for the Antiwar Movement
Norman
Solomon
The Media and the Antiwar Movement
John
Chuckman
Bush in a Bottle
Paul
Craig Roberts
America is Running Out of Time
September
24 / 25, 2005
Kathy
and Bill Christison
Polluting Palestine: Settlements
& Sewage
Ralph
Nader
Stealing the Moment: How Corporations Cashed in on Katrina
Saul
Landau
The Terrorist Resumé of Luis Posada
Greg
Moses
A Movement Gathers Power on the Sorrow Plateau
Roger
Burbach
Hugo Chávez's Mission
Vijay
Prashad
America's Shame
Laura
Carlsen
After NAFTA
Robert
Fisk
When Man and Nature Conspire to Expose the Lies of the Powerful
Dave
Lindorff
A Gusher Called Katrina: They Fix Oil Prices, Don't They?
Kirkpatrick
Sale / Thomas Naylor
Secession from the Empire: the Middlebury Declaration
Maj.
Anthony Milavic
The US Military and Torture: the View of a Former Interrogator
Brian
Concannon, Jr.
Haiti: the Time for Action is Now
September
23, 2005
CounterPunch
News Service
In Which, Phil Donahue Demolishes
Bill O'Reilly
Diane
Farsetta
Katrina and Right-Wing Think Tanks
Robert
Sandels
Militarizing the Market
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush: the Good Samaritan for Corporations
Alan
Farago
Bird Flu Takes Flight
Dave
Zirin
When Sports & Politics Collided: Redeeming the Olympic Martyrs
of 1968
Maxine
Conant
A Simple Test for Bush
David
Price
Workers Get Hit Twice: Katrina and
Davis-Bacon Profiteering
September
22, 2005
Smith,
Wood, Leas, and Greenfield
Which Way Forward for the Green Party?
a Report from Tulsa
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraqis: This Government has No Authority
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Thinking is Religious Freedom
Lucia
Dailey
Trial of the St. Patrick's Four: Day One
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Are You a Speed Freak?
Russell
D. Hoffman
The Nukes in Rita's Path
Kona
Lowell
God's Hurricane?
Jason
Leopold
GOP Fiscal Policy and Katrina
Website
of the Day
Robert Pollin on the Global Economy
September
21, 2005
Jorge
Mariscal
Military Recruiters: Counselers
or Salesmen?
Linda
S. Heard
Double Standards in Iraq: Basra Brit Jailbreak
Joshua
Frank
NYPD Unplugs Cindy Sheehan
Eric
Ruder
"The Problem in Iraq is the US": an Interview with
Camilo Mejia
Pierre
Tristam
The Struts and Bull Presidency
Dave
Lindorff
The Real Story of the German Elections
Mike
Ferner
Sit Down in DC
Missy
Comley Beattie
Bush's Katrina Bling Bling
Jeffrey
St. Clair
W Marks the Spot
Website
of the Day
New Orleans: Survivor Stories
September
20, 2005
Steve
Breyman
Toxic Gumbo: Katrina and Environmental
Justice
George
Galloway
Et Tu, Greg Palast?
Patrick
Cockburn
What Happened to Iraq's Missing $1 Billion?
M.
Shahid Alam
Gen. Musharraf and Israel: Is Pakistan Selling Out?
Mike
Whitney
The Gitmo Hunger Strikers
Winslow
T. Wheeler
It's Not Rocket Science
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Back to the Future: North Korea's Gambit
Paul
Craig Roberts
Will Neocon Fanaticism Destroy America?
|
Weekend Edition
October 15 / 16, 2005
Two
Terrorists and a Lush
Luis Posada and Bush's
Drinking
By SAUL LANDAU
How did a judge's decision not to deport
the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela connect to the
report that George W. Bush has again hit the bottle?
The answer begins in the fact the Bush never entered a recovery
program for his alcohol and drug addiction, which he supposedly
gave up at age 40 while jogging. God talked to him, or Jesus
or some envoy. This born again phenomenon apparently substituted
for AA along with exercise and praying.
W had ongoing problems, of course, in Iraq and Afghanistan. At
home, his poll ratings fell to 40% or less by September. Yet,
Bush continued on Karl Rove's path, derived from Napoleon, Frederick
the Great and the Nazi Party model of politics: forget about
facts, truth, integrity, ethics; rely on audacity and aggression.
This formula won him two elections, placed the gutless Democrats
on the defense and secured the "stupid male vote,"
the dumbos who adore Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh and vote against
their own interests.
The impregnable success model, however, eroded quickly and, according
to the The National Enquire ("Bush's Booze Crisis,"
Sept. 21), Laura Bush caught George throwing down a drink at
his Crawford ranch. Drinking began after aides informed him of
the Hurricane Katrina disaster and FEMA's failure to deal with
the aftermath.
Laughing about the source? Before the "respectable"
press got wind of it, The Enquirer revealed Rush Limbaugh's oxycontin
habit ("Limbaugh Caught in Drug Ring," Oct. 2, 2003).
Now, Jennifer Luce and Don Gentile report that "Family sources
have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady
Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford,
Texas
"When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made
him reach for a shot," said one 'insider.' "He poured
himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it
back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: 'Stop, George!'"
After listening to a September 12 exchange with a journalist,
Laura may have already suspected he had started nipping.
"Did they misinform you when you said that no one anticipated
the breach of the levees?"
"No," Bush responded. "When that storm came by,
a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came
through at first, people said, whew. There was a sense of relaxation,
and that's what I was referring to. And I, myself, thought we
had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to
people, probably over the airways, say the bullet has been dodgedOf
course, there were plans in case the levee had been breached.
There was a sense of relaxation in the moment, a critical moment.
And thank you for giving me a chance to clarify that" (White
House Web Site Sept. 12).
This mangled attempt at oral clarity hardly compensated for his
non-handling of Katrina's aftermath. And bloodshed in Iraq dominated
daily headlines. Popularity ratings went south. Gas prices went
north. W went boozing.
"The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks
now. Laura may have only just caught him - but the word is his
drinking has been going on for a while in the capital,"
said an Enquirer source. "The war in Iraq, the loss of American
lives, has deeply affected him The result is he's taking drinks
here and there, likely in private, to cope."
The nation has endured drunken Presidents, like Ulysses Grant
and Warren Harding. But a "dry drunk?" Dr. Katherine
Van Wormer, co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective,
applied this term to Bush, meaning he stopped drinking but still
thinks constantly about relieving his anxiety with alcohol (Counterpunch
Jan. 22, 2003).
On September 20, he returned to "N'Oleans" which he
remembered fondly from his drinking days. Bush promised to "get
the debris removed, get the water up and running and get the
bridges rebuilt. But what you need to do is develop a blueprint
for your own future. We look forward to hearing your vision so
we can more better do our job."
"More better?" More disturbed, thought Laura. The following
day, W unleashed another missile. "If you want to grow something,
you shouldn't tax it. If you want to encourage small business
growth, we ought to incent it to grow in that part of the world.
Somebody said the other day, well, that's a tax break. That region
is going to have zero income anyway."
"That region" conjured up images of poor people suffering.
If he stayed for photo op-s, he would have to shake dirty hands
and hug smelly bodies. So, he remained "on vacation,"
watching TV golf, not images of floating bodies and desperate
people.
The dry drunk got wetter. Van Wormer listed other traits: "A
rigid, judgmental outlook, impatience, childish behavior, irresponsible
behavior, irrational rationalization, projection and overreaction."
Dr. Van Wormer thinks Bush exhibits these traits and "some
indications of paranoia."
She selected as an example Bush's declaration: "We must
be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients
before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction
against the United States and our allies and friends." Such
a statement indicated "projection is evidenced here as well,
projection of the fact that we are ready to attack onto another
nation which may not be so inclined."
He also displays his "judgmental outlook" in a statement
on Israel. To fight evil, Bush turns Biblical. "Look my
job isn't to try to nuance. I think moral clarity is important...
this is evil versus good" (Counterpunch, Oct. 11, 2002).
Such pronouncements of an uncompromising terrorism fighter evaporated
on September 27 and provided W more reason to drink. On that
day, a U.S. immigration judge denied Venezuela's request to extradite
Luis Posada Carriles. The U.S. government lawyer offered no opposition
to the judge's ruling, although it carried heavy implications.
Posada, who Hugo Chavez's government labeled "the Osama
bin Laden of Latin America," grinned. So did Osama bin Laden
when he heard Bush's October 6 remarks.
"The United States makes no distinction between those who
commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them,
because they're equally as guilty of murder. Any government that
chooses to be an ally of terror has also chosen to be an enemy
of civilization. And the civilized world must hold those regimes
to account" (Speech to the National Endowment for Democracy,
Oct 6, 2005).
How to coincide these remarks with not deporting a terrorist?
"God should have known that those anti-Castro Cubans, whom
I owe for two elections, would not let me deport Posada. They
call him a `zealous patriot'."
Since Posada escaped trial for his lead role in the October 1976
bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner over Barbados in which
all 73 people aboard died, Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's Ambassador
to Washington, accused Bush's administration of using a "double
standard" on terrorism.
At his Texas trial, the White House and Homeland Security collaborated
with Posada by failing to counter his lawyer's virtually unsupported
claim that Venezuela would torture him. Indeed, the State department's
most recent report exempted Venezuela from the list of states
that practice torture.
Ironically, U.S. officials have routinely torture prisoners at
Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. One State Department official spoke
anonymously, "Here we have someone who we know is a terrorist,
and it's clear that we're actively protecting him from facing
justice. We have zero credibility" (Jim Lobe, Inter Press
Service, Sept. 29, 2005).
Posada weakened W's terrorist reputation. Then a Texas prosecutor
weakened his power in the House by charging Tom DeLay with multiple
felony charges. "The Hammer," as frightened legislators
called DeLay, had rammed through Bush's tax cuts for the richest
people in the country.
In addition, the SEC began to probe Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist's sale of stock in Hospital Corporation of America from
his blind trust, just days before poor earnings sent HCA shares
sharply down.
"Billy" claimed he sold the shares to avoid "conflict
of interest" should he decide to run for president. But
his kin also sold their HCA shares on that day. None of them
aspired to public office. Frist denied that he saw clearly into
his blind trust. Few believed him.
Then, the press chastised W for naming Julie Myers to head Immigration
and Customs Enforcement. She was General Richard Myers' niece,
who married Homeland Security head Mike Chertoff's chief of staff.
So what that the agency was part of Homeland Security!
With his approval dropping, Social Security reform entombed and
facing increasing voter dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq,
Bush also took heat for rising gas prices.
So, Posada weakened Bush's last claim to strength, fighting terrorism.
Dr. Justin Frank (Bush On The Couch: Inside The Mind Of The President)
thought "that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are
not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when
stress gets to be great" (Enquirer Sept. 21).
Posada grinned. Bin Laden guffawed. Bush drank. The drama of
our time: two terrorists and a lush?
Saul Landau is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
His new book is The
Business of America.
CLARIFICATION
ALEXANDER COCKBURN, JEFFREY
ST CLAIR, BECKY GRANT AND THE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
JOURNALISTIC CLARITY, COUNTERPUNCH
We published an article entitled
"A Saudiless Arabia" by Wayne Madsen dated October
22, 2002 (the "Article"), on the website of the Institute
for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity, CounterPunch, www.counterpunch.org
(the "Website").
Although it was not our intention,
counsel for Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi has advised us the Article
suggests, or could be read as suggesting, that Mr Al Amoudi has
funded, supported, or is in some way associated with, the terrorist
activities of Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
We do not have any evidence
connecting Mr Al Amoudi with terrorism.
As a result of an exchange
of communications with Mr Al Amoudi's lawyers, we have removed
the Article from the Website.
We are pleased to clarify the
position.
August 17, 2005
|
Coming in the Fall
from CounterPunch Books!
The Case
Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
Click Here to Advance Order Philosopher
Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz
WHAT'S
INSIDE
Grand
Theft Pentagon:
Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror
by Jeffrey St. Clair
|
