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Today's
Stories
October 16
/ 17, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Free Speech Movement and Howard Stern
October 15,
2004
Paul Craig
Roberts
Where
Did These "Conservatives" Come From?: The Brownshirting
of America
Laura Carlsen
Wal-Mart
vs. the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon
Greg Bates
Empire of Insanity: Kerry's Iraq Troop Numbers
Michael Donnelly
News from a Swing State: Does Anyone Here Have a Spine?
Katherine Lahey
The Venezuelan "Threat": Why Do Kerry and Bush Fear
Hugo Chavez?
Robert Jensen
/ Pat Youngblood
Election Day Fears
Leah Caldwell
From
Supermax to Abu Ghraib: the Masterminds of Torture and Abuse
Website of
the Day
An Anti-Billionaire Policy? Why That Would Be Economic Racism
October 14,
2004
Darcy Richardson
The
Other Progressive Candidate: the Lonely Crusade of Walt Brown
Willliam A.
Cook
Turning
Myths into Truth
Laura Santina
Water, Women and War
Evelyn Pringle
Free Speech Banned by Big Pharma: What You Can't Say About Drug
Importation
Alan Farago
Lessons
from Nature
Rep. Maxine Waters
A Letter to Colin Powell on Haiti
Nicole Colson
Maimed
for Oil and Empire
October 13,
2004
Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton and Bill Quigley
Aftermath
of a Coup: The Other Disaster in Haiti
Sharon Smith
Barak
O-Bomb-a?: Democrats Target Iran
Christopher Brauchli
God and the Bush Administration
Mike Whitney
The Real Meaning of the Hamdi Case
Paul de Rooij
Amnesty
International: a False Beacon?
Website of
the Day
Operation
Truth
October 12,
2004
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"Indian
Country"
Greg Bates
The Year of Voting Dangerously: a Survey Request of Nader Voters
in Swing States
Steven Conn
Progressives as Pawns: Kerry's War on Nader
Jason Leopold
Under Cheney, Halliburton Helped Saddam Siphon Billions from
UN Oil-for-Food Program
Security Scholars
for a Sensible Foreign Policy
Time for a Change of Course
Timothy J. Freeman
Dying for a Mistake
Pierre Tristam
Deconstructing Bush
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The 2nd Debate: the Blurring of Act and Audience
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Israel as Sideshow
Website of the Day
John Kerry's Personal Off-Shore Tax Shelters
October 11,
2004
Robert Fisk
Iraq:
Unforgivable Betrayals and Broken Promises
Kevin Pina
The
Untold Story of Aristide's Departure from Haiti
Patrick Gavin
Rethinking
Columbus Day
Chris Floyd
Tribes with Flags in the New Afghanistan
Daniel Wolff
Radioactive Money: Entergy, Political Cash and America's Most
Dangerous Nuclear Plant
Walter Brasch
The Only Ones Who Believe Saddam Had WMDs are Bush, Cheney...and
40% of All Americans
Mike Whitney
The Phony Afghan Elections: Ballot of the Disappearing Ink
Ari Shavit
"He Talks to Condi Rice Every Day": an Interview with
Sharon's Lawyer
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Debates and the Big Lie
Website of the Day
Dylan's Greatest Recording?
October 9 /
10, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
"There
Are No Innocents"
Paul de Rooij
Northern Ireland is Still the Issue: a Conversation with Gerry
Adams
M. Shahid Alam
Making Sense of Our Times
Laura Carlsen
Protest and Populism in Latin America
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: ASA Goes to Court
Col. Dan Smith
Bush's Credibility Gap
Paul Craig
Roberts
Faith-Based Economics
Greg Bates
What If Nader Critics Get What They Demand?
Joshua Frank
Cobb, the Greens and the Collapse of the Left
Felice Pace
Wilderness, Politics and the Oligarchy: How the Pew Charitable
Trust is Smothering the Grassroots Environmental Movement
Walter A. Davis
Of Pynchon, Thanatos and Depleted Uranium
William A.
Cook
The Agony of Colin Powell
Phyllis Pollack
Twas No Crank Call Love Affair: London Calling, 25 Years Later
Poets' Basement
Klipschutz, Albert, Ford
Website of the Weekend
Abu Ghraib: the Taguba Annexes
October 8,
2004
Jennifer Loewenstein
The
Israeli Invasion of Gaza
Moshe Adler
Edwards' Gambit: He Hoped No One Would Notice the Similarities
David Swanson
Media Blackout: Press Continues to Ignore Labor's Opposition
to Iraq War
Dave Zirin
CounterPunch Contest: Let's Name the New DC Baseball Team!
Rep. Ron Paul
The Draft is a Form of Slavery
William S. Lind
Keeping Our SA Up
Samar Assad
Kerry v. Bush: No Difference When It Comes to Israel / Palestine
Jim Ingalls
and Sonali Kolhatkar
The Elections in Afghanistan
October 7,
2004
Dave Lindorff
All
Out of Volunteers: A Draft is in the Air
Masha Hamilton
Fear in Kandahar
Christopher
Brauchli
Master of Corruption: the Ripening Scandals of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Is There Still Time to Impeach Bush?
Bruce K. Gagnon
Bombing the Panhandle: Fighting the Pentagon in Rural Florida
Meredith Kolodner
Where
is the Urgency?: The Anti-War Movement's Election Year Challenge
October 6,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
"Please,
Dude, Can I Take Them Out?": Targeting Civilians in Fallujah
Ron Jacobs
Going
Nuclear: the Ghost of Edward Teller Lives
Michael Colby
The National Flip-Flop: Suddenly Bush is Unfit to Lead?
Tarif Abboushi
More of the Same: Israel Wins the Debates
Matthew Behrens
Canadian Firms Profit from Iraqi Blood
Mike Whitney
Rethinking WMDs
John Pilger
Stealing Diego Garcia
Ben Tripp
Kerry's "Triumph"
Kevin McKiernan
Cheney's Poison Lab: Wrong Time, Wrong Target
Patrick Cockburn
Elections
Will Not End the Fighting in Iraq
Website of the Day
Is There an Islamic Problem?
October 5,
2004
Anthony Loewenstein
Rupert
Murdoch and the Marginals: "Personally Creating Outcomes"
Mark Clinton
and Tony Udell
The
Suicide of an Iraq War Veteran
Greg Bates
Trading
Idiots: an Open Letter to Eric Alterman
Dave Lindorff
What's
the Frequency, Karl?
Norm Dixon
Why Washington Won't Save Darfur Villagers
Larry Kearney
God Talk and Burning Children
Bill Linville
Dirty Politics in the Land of "Clean" Government
Gary Leupp
What
Edwards Should Ask Cheney
Website of
the Day
A Guide to Halliburton for Tonight's Debate
October 4,
2004
Diane Christian
The
Gates of Hell
Joshua Frank
An Interview with David Cobb
Doug Giebel
Incurious George: What If Bush Didn't Lie?
John Chuckman
Strange Victory: Sen. Obvious and the Pathetic Lump
Ramzy Baroud
Reverse the Picture: Anatomy of a Palestinian Outrage
Julia Stein
Remembering Mario Savio and the FSM
Sean Donahue
Outsourcing
Terror: Kerry and Special Forces
Website of
the Day
Mapping
Mt. St. Helens as She Rocks
October 2 /
3. 2004
Paul Wright
John
Kerry on Criminal Justice
Kathleen and Bill Christison
An Exchange with Israeli Historian Bennie Morris
Kathie Helmkamp
My Son Trent: a Marine Who Doesn't Want to Kill
Phillip Cryan
Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Lenni Brenner
The First Ex-Catholic Saint: Memories of Mario Savio
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: In Case You Missed "Montel"
Ron Jacobs
It Did Happen Here: When Neo-Nazis Terrorized Olympia
Ben Tripp
Sticker Shock
William S.
Lind
The Grand Illusion: Iraqi Security Forces
Dave Zirin
The Swindle of the Century: Baseball Comes to DC
Dave Lindorff
Lies from the Great Debate
Luscon Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Elections: a High-Tech Sham is Underway
Zoe Moskovitz
& Sasha Kramer
Separating Lies from Truth About Haiti
Nelson P. Valdes
Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas: 61 Banned
Cuban Academics
Alan Farago
The "Ownership Society" and the End of the Everglades
Nancy Haley
What is the Historical Jesus Trying to Tell Us?
Alex Billet
Long Live The Clash: London Still Calling After 25 Years
Steve Fesenmaier
Save and Burn: The War on Libraries
Poets' Basement
Smith, Holt, Albert
October 1,
2004
Steve Breyman
Kerry's
Missed Opportunities
Rose Gentle
My
Son Died for a Lie
Lee Sustar
Iran
in the Crosshairs
Ralph Nader
What
We Didn't Hear at the Debate: Where's the Exit Strategy?
Walter Andrews
We Are Less Secure Now Than Ever
Mike Whitney
Pandora's
Government
Mickey Z.
Debate
This
Saul Landau
The
Iraq Invasion: Lessons from the Pinochet Cases
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
October 16 / 17, 2004
Would You Dream
of Returning to Your Country, Your Homes?
America,
Imagine This!
By
M. SHAHID ALAM
Over the past three years, I have followed
the mainstream public discourse on the abhorrent attacks of 9-11
with the eerie feeling that I was watching a new version of Hamlet
where the King of Denmark--the father of Prince Hamlet--dies
a natural death. The Prince's enigmatic, even murderous, behavior
stems from some strange sickness of his mind. He just hates his
noble uncle, Claudius, who succeeds to the throne of Denmark
upon his father's death.
Once the perpetrator of a crime
has been identified, it is natural for the family of the victim
to ask: why? After 9-11, Americans too were asking similar questions.
'Why did the 19 Arabs attack us?' 'What was their motive?' 'Why
did they take their own lives to inflict death upon us?' 'What
did they want from us?' 'What had we done to make them so angry,
so suicidal?' The questions could easily take a dangerous turn.
They had to be preempted.
Losing no time, on the evening
of September 11, President Bush sought to restrict the questioning.
"Today," he opened his speech, "our fellow citizens,
our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series
of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts." But that was not
enough. A few days later, in his speech to the joint session
of the Congress, the President fixed the question for Americans.
Americans are asking, he asserts,
'Why do they hate us?'
This canonical question became
the steel frame which has bounded the official, establishment
discourse on the etiology of September 11. In this clever formulation,
'they' came to include all Arabs, indeed all Muslims, and  'us'
indicated not the US administrations, or their policies towards
the Middle East, but Americans, white, Christian and Jewish.
The answer to this question--now
narrowed--also had to be fixed, determined for ever. President
Bush's speech-writers provided the answer. It was categorical.
"They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom
of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with
each other." One word, one concept, one condition, one indictment
summarized, captured and explained the temperament, the values,
the nature and the perverse proclivities of nearly a billion
and a half Muslims, with more than fourteen hundred years of
history behind them.
On the lofty banner of American
hubris, unfurled after the attacks of 9-11, are inscribed in
black letters the words, 'The Muslims hate our freedoms.' This
is now the accepted, formulaic substitute for all discourse,
all questioning and probing into the history of America's relations
with the peoples of the Islamicate world over the past 57 years.
Three words now have the power to terminate all discourse on
9-11 in mainstream America. 'They hate us.'
The 9-11 Commission website
informs us that it was "chartered to prepare a full and
complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the
immediate response to the attacks. (emphases added)." Yet,
the 500 page report of the Commission contains not a single mention
of any possible connection between 9-11 and US policies towards
the Middle East. Presumably, American policies, even when they
wreak havoc, are like acts of God. There can be no blowback.
There is a deep irony in all
this too. The US administration, led by its neoconservative ideologues,
has convinced a majority of Americans that the Muslims attacked
their country because they hate freedoms. What then is the remedy
the US proposes to combat the 'terrorism' that emanates from
the Islamicate world? It proposes to invade and occupy their
countries so that US marines can inject the serum of freedom
into their moribund bodies. It appears that the Muslims do not
hate freedoms per se; they only hate our freedoms because
they don't have it. We must conquer them in order to bring
this gift to them.
The speed and ease with which
President Bush's lies sink into the psyche of so many Americans
is truly astounding. To his flock, he is like a Moses bringing
divinely inscribed tablets from Mount Sinai. His words, however
inarticulate, however disjointed in their logic, however divergent
from facts, are the word of God. It appears that 9-11 has turned
President Bush into the leader of an American cult.
Is there a cure for this delusion?
I will propose a therapy that involves a modest exercise of the
imagination. Modest, I emphasize. Not the layered imagination
of mystics, not a poet's flight of fancy, or the hallucination
of madmen. Just a little pedantic imagination, well within the
reach of most ordinary humans willing to exit momentarily from
the present into an imagined and imaginary world.
Let America now imagine this.
Imagine waking up tomorrow in an upside-down world, one in which
the history of America's relations with the Arabs is inverted.
Iraq is now the global hegemon, the world's richest democracy,
a beacon of freedom; Iraq and the Arab democracies dominate the
world and what was once the USA. Imagine that the Arabs have
used their power to replace a United States of America
with forty-four nominally independent states--with states for
native Americans, African-Americans, Asians, Latinos, Italian
Americans, German Americans, Anglo-Americans, Jews, Mormons,
Sikhs, the Amish, etc--with most of these states run by despotic
Iraqi surrogates.
Iraq, after colonizing New
England and ethnically cleansing its native inhabitants, has
converted it into an exclusive, racist, colonial-settler state
for Arabs brought in from Sudan who were dying from a severe
drought, the worst in a thousand years. This state, Arabistan,
is by far the most powerful of the states on the American continent.
It is Iraq's strategic asset in the Americas, periodically mounting
incursions against the neighboring states from where the New
Englander refugees wage occasional guerilla attacks on Arabistan.
Starting in March 2003, the
Iraqi marines, supported by two divisions from Palestine, had
invaded and occupied Texas. The Iraqi administration argued that
this was a preemptive invasion to prevent the fanatical
Texans from developing biological weapons. However, some Arab
publications on the Left have argued that the Texan oilfields
were Iraq's real target. It is well known that production from
the Arab oil fields has been declining since 1997.
What would the Americans, now
split, divided, corralled into forty-six racial, ethnic and sectarian
states do if they found themselves in such a world? Would they
resent the surrogate despotisms that ruled over them with Iraqi
arms and money? Would some of their young men, faced with overwhelming
Iraqi power, resort to suicidal attacks within Iraq itself? Would
they too hate the Iraqis and Arabs and attack them because they
are free, prosperous and democratic?
What would the New Englanders
do, now scattered in refugee encampments in New York, Michigan,
Pennsylvania and Ohio? Would they dream of returning to their
country? Would they demand the right to return to their homes
in New England? Would they demand compensation for the homes
they had lost? Would they hate the Sudanese settlers who now
lived in their homes, their towns and cities?
What would all the other Americans
do if the New Englanders began to wage a campaign of terror against
Iraqi interests in the former USA? What would they do if Arabistan--the
Iraqi surrogate--then retaliated by bombing New York,
Detroit, Washington and Albany? What would they do if the Iraqi
media accused them ad nauseum of hating Iraq's free, open,
democratic society?
If only Americans could imagine
all this--imagine all this for even a few seconds--how would
this change the way they think about what their country,
the United States, together with its democratic ally, Israel,
have been doing to the Arabs? Can Americans imagine this? What
would it do if they could imagine this--even for a few seconds?
Would they recognize in their imagined pain, in their imagined
humiliation, in the imagined wars and destruction imposed upon
them, the real wars, occupations, massacres, ethnic cleansings,
tortures, bombings, sanctions and assassinations endured by Palestinians
and Iraqis for more than eight decades?
Would they?
M. Shahid Alam, professor of economics at Northeastern
University, is a regular contributor to CounterPunch.Org. Some
of his CounterPunch essays are now available in a book, Is There An Islamic Problem
(Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2004). He may be reached at m.alam@neu.edu.
Weekend
Edition Features for September 18 / 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Forgeries,
Fingerprints and Forensic Fakery
Jeffrey St. Clair
High Plains Grifter: Bush's Mask of Anarchy
Patrick Cockburn
Into the Abyss: the Week Iraq's Dream of Peace Fell Apart
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Financial Torture (Asset Forfeiture)
Joe Allen
The Comrades Kerry Abandoned: the Real Story of Vietnam Vets
Against the War
George Corsetti
Poletown Revisited: Finally, Some Vindication
Scott Handleman
The Knock-Knock of a Sledgehammer: Sequestered in Nablus
Richard Ward
Two Weeks in Beit Arabiya
Conn Hallinan
Ashcroft and Indonesia
Lori Smith
Health Care in America: And Then I Got Sick...
Dave Zirin
Hold the Booyah!: SportsCenter Out of the Middle East
John L. Hess
Rather Will Take the Heat, As Bush's War Deteriorates
Brian J. Foley
W is for Wimp: So Why do Manly Men Love Him?
Mickey Z.
Pat Tillman and Osama bin Laden: Odd Juxtapositions
Poets' Basement
Vest, Landau & Albert
Website of the Weekend
Eye on the NYTs
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