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New Print Edition of CounterPunch Before Kill and Run, Was There Rape and Run? Documents Show the FBI Gave Janklow a Pass by Stephen Hendricks; The Faces of Janus: Why the New York Times Has Always Been a Rotten Paper by Alexander Cockburn; Steal a Tree, Go To Jail; Steal a Forest, Stay in the Lincoln Bedroom: the Politics of Timber Theft by Jeffrey St. Clair; A Southern Africa Sojourn by Lawrence Reichard; The Kiev Con: Exposing David Duke's Illusory Doctorate; CounterPunch Online is read by 70,000 visitors each day, but 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! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Now Available from CounterPunch for Only $11.50 (S/H Included) Today's Stories January 27, 2004 Mike Ferner "We're All Lied To": an Interview with Bruce Cockburn in Baghdad January 26, 2004 Sean Donahue The Toxic Career of Rand Beers: Kerry's Drug War Zealot Gary Leupp David Kay's Admission January 24/5, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Iraq's Shia: "Our Day Has Come" Laura Flanders State of the Conservative Union Simon Helweg-Larsen Enter Berger: Signs of Hope in Guatemala Dave Lindorff Ground Control to Maj. George Susan Davis The Birdwatcher Menace Alexander Cockburn The Fog of Cop Out: McNamara 10, Morris 0   January 23, 2004 Yonathan Shapira An Israeli Pilot Speaks Out Standard Schaefer Italian Philosopher Giorgio Agamben Protests US Travel Policy Josh Frank In Defense of Polluters: Howard Dean's Vermont William A. Cook Rule by the Corrupt and the Capricious   January 22, 2004 Sam Smith Howards End? Patricia Koyce Wanniski Lost in Space Alexander Lukin Putin and the Clans Katherine van Wormer Dry Drunk Confirmed: O'Neill's Revelations and Bush's Mind Forrest Hylton The Prisoner, the President and the Mafia   January 19, 2004 Justin E. H. Smith Inside America's Prisons: From Corrections to Retribution Richard W. Behan The GOP, Inc. Ray McGovern Bush's State of the Union: Humility or More Hyperbole? Werther SOTUS: the Stalin Moment of America's Nomenklatura Phillip Cryan Media Collusion in Colombia's War Lee Sustar A New Strategy to Reverse Labor's Decline? Arthur Versluis Great Lakes as Commodity: Privatizing Water Uri Avnery Anti-Semitism: a Practical Manual Steve Perry Fresh Crack from Hawkeye State   January 17 / 18, 2004 Fadi Kiblawi and Will Youmans The Use and Abuse of MLK Jr by Israel's Apologists Joshua Muldavin and Joseph Nevins Blaming the Symptoms Jeffrey St. Clair Bad Days at Indian Point: Inside America's Most Dangerous Nuclear Plant Brian Cloughley Iron Hammers in Iraq Saul Landau Fog of War: Vietnam and Iraq M. Shahid Alam Lerner, Said and the Palestinians Richard Manning Food Poisoning as Background Noise Marjorie Cohn The Guantanamo Concentration Camp Mike Whitney Scalia and Opus Dei: Radicals on the Court Sadik Kassim Meet Our New Saddam: Islam Karimov Carol Norris Arnold and Bush's Numbers Don't Add Up Joe Quandt Suicide Bombers: The Clash of Absurdities David Krieger Imagining MLK Jr at 75 Bruce Jackson Making War, Making Movies Ron Jacobs Revolution in the Air: a review Richard Edmondson Rupert Murdoch and My Sister Richard Forno Apologizing for Preemption: Evil, Perle and Frum Poets' Basement Holt, Mickey Z, Albert & Guthrie   January 16, 2004 Kathy Kelly A Visit to Umm Qasr Prison William S. Lind More Thoughts on 4th Generation Warfare Gillian Russom So. Cal Grocery Strikers Speak Out: "We Need Action!" Ari Shavit Survival of the Fittest? An Interview with Benny Morris Adi Ophir Genocide Hides Behind Expulsion: a Response to Benny Morris Dave Lindorff The General's Henchman: Michael Moore Smears Kucinich Steve Perry Iowa Death Trip 2   January 15, 2004 Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Memo to the President: Your State of the Union Address John Chuckman Dry Hole in the Oval Office: President from Podunk Drilling, Inc Chris Floyd Mind Over Matter Gil-Scott Heron Whitey on the Moon Gary Leupp The Silk Road: Random Thoughts on the Bam Earthquake and Satan   January 14, 2004 Greg Moses Happy Birthday, Dr. King: To Write Off the South is to Surrender to Bigots Kurt Nimmo Bush and the Supremes: Amputating the Bill of Rights Dave Lindorff Preview of Iowa? Pennsylvania Straw Poll Spells Trouble for Traditional Dems (and Dean) Jason Leopold O'Neill Claims Backed by Rumsfeld / Wolfowitz War Letters to Clinton Alexander Cockburn Bush, Oil and Iraq: Some Truth at Last   January 13, 2004 William S. Lind How 2004 Looks from Potsdam M. Junaid Alam Do Iraqis Have a Right to Resist? Mickey Z Snipers: No Nuts in Iraq Adolfo Gilly Chonchocoro: The Prisoner and the Presidents Steve Perry You Love God, Right?   January 12, 2004 Ben Tripp No Stan for the Kurds Norman Solomon The Dixie Trap: Democrats and the South Mike Whitney O'Neill's Revenge Jason Leopold From the Very First Instant It Was About Iraq Uri Avnery Syria's Peace Proposal   January 10 / 11, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Bush as Hitler? Let's Be Fair Susan Davis Dangerous Books Diane Christian On Lying and Colin Powell Lisa Viscidi Exhumations: Unearthing Guatemala's Macabre Past Daniel Estulin Destroying History in Iraq Saul Landau Homeland Anxiety Elaine Cassel Who's Winning the War on Civil Liberties? Bruce Jackson Making the Shit List Christopher Brauchli Baptizing Hitler's Ghost Francis A. Boyle The Deep Scars of War Lee Ballinger Cold Sweat: Sweatshops and the Music Industry Patrick W. Gavin Hillary's Slur: Mrs. Lott? Ramzy Baroud What Invaders Have in Common Michael Schwartz Inside the California Grocery Strike Gary Johnson An Interview with Former Heavyweight Champ Greg Page Dave Zirin An Interview with Marvin Miller on Unions and Baseball Mark Hand A Review of Resistance: My Life for Lebanon Poets' Basement Thomas, Daley, Curtis, Guthrie and Albert   January 9, 2004 David Lindorff The Misers of War: Troop Strength and Chintzy Bonuses Kurt Nimmo Saddam's Defense: Summon Bush Sr. to the Stand Mike Whitney Orange Jumpsuits for the Bush Clan?: The Carnegie Report on Iraq's Non-existent WMDs Deb Reich Palestinians and Israelis: This War is Unwinnable David Vest Disabled Vets Fire Back at Rumsfeld   January 8, 2004 Neve Gordon Israeli Refuseniks Sentenced to Jail Lenni Brenner Dr. Dean and the Godhead Ray McGovern Bush: Driving Without Breaks Mark Scaramella Inside the DA's Office: Lies, Errors and Tedium Yves Engler Bush's Mexican Gambit James Hollander Journalists Under Fire: the Death of José Couso in Baghdad   January 7, 2004 Democracy Now! Uncharitable Care: How Hospitals are Gouging and Even Arresting the Uninsured Greg Weiher The Bush Administration's Ongoing Intelligence Problem Ben Tripp The Word of the Year, 2003 Dave Lindorff Dean and His Democratic Detractors Michael Leon The NYT Does Chomsky Bob Boldt God Talk Ramon Ryan Small Victories and Long Struggles: the 10th Anniversary of the Zapatista Uprising     January 6, 2004 Dave Lindorff RNC Plays the Hitler Card: MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize for Those Ads Ron Jacobs Drugs in Uniform: Hashish and the War on Terrorism Josh Frank Coffee and State Authority in Colombia Doug Giebel Permanent Bases: Leave Iraq? Hell No, We Won't Go John Chuckman Sick Puppies: David Frum's New Neo-Con Manifesto Rannie Amiri The Politics of the Iranian Earthquake John L. Hess A Record to Dissent From Thacher Schmid A Cheesehead's Musings on the Sunday NYT David Price "Like Slaves": Anthropological Thoughts on Occupation   January 5, 2004 Al Krebs How Now Mad Cow! Kathy Kelly Squatting in Baghdad's Bomb Craters Jordy Cummings The Dialectic of the Kristol Family: Putting the Neo in the Cons Fran Shor Mad Human Disease: Chewing the Fat Down on the Farm Fidel Castro "We Shall Overcome": On the 45th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution Gary Leupp North Korea for Dummies     January 3 / 4, 2004 Brian Cloughley Never Mind the WMDs, Just Look at History Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan The Wrong War at the Wrong Time William Cook Failing to Respond to 9/11 Glen Martin Jesus vs. the Beast of the Apocalypse Robert Fisk Iraqi Humor Amid the Carnage Ilan Pappe The Geneva Bubble Walter Davis Robert Jay Lifton, or Nostalgia Kurt Nimmo Ashcroft vs. the Left Mike Whitney The Padilla Case Steven Sherman On Wallerstein's The Decline of American Power Dave Lindorff Bush's Taiwan Hypocrisy William Blum Codework Orange! Mitchel Cohen Learning from Che Guevara Seth Sandronsky Mad Cow and Main Street USA Bruce Jackson Conversations with Leslie Fiedler Standard Schaefer Poet Carl Rakosi Turns 100 Ron Jacobs Sir Mick Adam Engel Hall of Hoaxes Poets' Basement Jones, Albert & Curtis       January 2, 2004 Stan Cox Red Alert 2016 Dave Lindorff Beef, the Meat of Republicans Jackie Corr Rule and Ruin: Wall Street and Montana Norman Solomon George Will's Ethics: None of Our Business? David Vest As the Top Wobbleth January 1, 2004 Randall Robinson Honor Haiti, Honor Ourselves David Krieger Looking Back on 2003 Robert Fisk War Takes an Inhuman Twist: Roadkill Bombs Stan Goff War, Race and Elections Hammond Guthrie 2003 Almaniac Website of the Day Embody Bags December 31, 2003 Ray McGovern Don't Be Fooled Again: This Isn't an Independent Investigation Kurt Nimmo Manufacturing Hysteria Robert Fisk The Occupation is Damned Mike Whitney Mad Cows and Downer George Alexander Cockburn A Great Year Ebbed, Another Ahead       December 30, 2003 Michael Neumann Criticism of Israel is Not Anti-Semitism Annie Higgins When They Bombed the Hometown of the Virgin Mary Alan Farago Bush Bros. Wrecking Co.: Time Runs Out for the Everglades Dan Bacher Creatures from the Blacklight Lagoon: From Glofish to Frankenfish Jeffrey St. Clair Hard Time on the Killing Floor: Inside Big Meat Willie Nelson Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?     December 29, 2003 Mark Hand The Washington Post in the Dock? David Lindorff The Bush Election Strategy Phillip Cryan Interested Blindness: Media Omissions in Colombia's War Richard Trainor Catellus Development: the Next Octopus? Uri Avnery Israel's Conscientious Objectors   December 27 / 28, 2003 Alexander Cockburn A Journey Into Rupert Murdoch's Soul Kathy Kelly Christmas Day in Baghdad: A Better World Saul Landau Iraq at the End of the Year Dave Zirin A Linebacker for Peace & Justice: an Interview with David Meggysey Robert Fisk Iraq Through the American Looking Glass Scott Burchill The Bad Guys We Once Thought Good: Where Are They Now? Chris Floyd Bush's Iraq Plan is Right on Course: Saddam 2.0 Brian J. Foley Don't Tread on Me: Act Now to Save the Constitution Seth Sandronsky Feedlot Sweatshops: Mad Cows and the Market Susan Davis Lord of the (Cash Register) Rings Ron Jacobs Cratched Does California Adam Engel Crumblecake and Fish Norman Solomon The Unpardonable Lenny Bruce Poets' Basement Cullen and Albert Website of the Weekend Activism Through Music     December 26, 2003 Gary Leupp Bush Doings: Doing the Language   December 25, 2003 Diane Christian The Christmas Story Elaine Cassel This Christmas, the World is Too Much With Us Susan Davis Jinglebells, Hold the Schlock Kristen Ess Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas, While Rafah Counts the Dead Francis Boyle Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Alexander Cockburn The Magnificient 9 Guthrie / Albert Another Colorful Season       December 24, 2003 M. Shahid Alam The Semantics of Empire William S. Lind Marley's List for Santa in Wartime Josh Frank Iraqi Oil: First Come, First Serve Cpt. Paul Watson The Mad Cowboy Was Right Robert Lopez Nuance and Innuendo in the War on Iraq     December 23, 2003 Brian J. Foley Duck and Cover-up Will Youmans Sharon's Ultimatum Michael Donnelly Here They Come Again: Another Big Green Fiasco Uri Avnery Sharon's Speech: the Decoded Version December 22, 2003 Jeffrey St. Clair Pray to Play: Bush's Faith-Based National Parks Patrick Gavin What Would Lincoln Do? Marjorie Cohn How to Try Saddam: Searching for a Just Venue Kathy Kelly The Two Troublemakers: "Guilty of Being Palestinians in Iraq"   December 20 / 21, 2003 Alexander Cockburn How to Kill Saddam Saul Landau Bush Tries Farce as Cuba Policy Rafael Hernandez Empire and Resistance: an Interview with Tariq Ali David Vest Our Ass and Saddam's Hole Kurt Nimmo Bush Gets Serious About Killing Iraqis Greg Weiher Lessons from the Israeli School on How to Win Friends in the Islamic World Christopher Brauchli Arrest, Smear, Slink Away: Dr. Lee and Cpt. Yee Carol Norris Cheers of a Clown: Saddam and the Gloating Bush Bruce Jackson The Nameless and the Detained: Bush's Disappeared Juliana Fredman A Sealed Laboratory of Repression Mickey Z. Holiday Spirit at the UN Ron Jacobs In the Wake of Rebellion: The Prisoner's Rights Movement and Latino Prisoners Josh Frank Sen. Max Baucus: the Slick Swindler John L. Hess Slow Train to the Plane Adam Engel Black is Indeed Beautiful Ben Tripp The Relevance of Art in Times of Crisis Michael Neumann Rhythm and Race Poets' Basement Cullen, Engel, Albert & Guthrie   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. 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January 27, 2004 Mazel's Rampage Blood, Soil and Art By GILAD ATZMON As an artist I would like to declare that I was delighted with the Israeli ambassador's reaction last week in Sweden. I was thrilled with Sharon's response and the Jewish outrage. Art is there to provoke. It isn't there to please; nor is it there to support the common perception of what is right and what is wrong. Art is the most effective means of generating confrontation between different perspectives. In fact, if ever there was any doubt regarding the artistic value of the Feilers' installation, Ambassador Mazel's emotional reaction should have dispelled it: this is a piece of art of immense importance. It is a piece of art about the art of peace--terms that are lacking from Zionist discourse. The installation 'Snow White and Madness of Truth' consists of a pool of blood-coloured water on which a boat carrying the photograph of the suicide bomber Hahadi Jaradat floats. As far as I know, there is no indication that the red pool refers in particular to either Palestinian or Jewish blood. Presumably a person with poetic and artistic tendencies might even go as far as to suggest that the work has something to tell us about the situation in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other conflict. Mazel, however, interpreted the installation as anti-Semitic propaganda. For Zionists, blood is always their own blood, the blood of 'innocent Jewish victims'. Given the fact that in the second intifada Palestinian casualties have far outnumbered Israeli ones, we should ask ourselves why the ambassador concluded that the red pool symbolises some sort of mockery of Jewish blood. How did an official representative of an oppressive state come to adopt the bizarre self-image of an innocent victim? It appears as if we confront here a form of severe blindness which reached a new peak with Mazel's act of vandalism. To start with, a pool of blood is not an image that would flatter the Palestinians. Palestinian people are not proud of the suicidal doctrine. It isn't a question of pride. At war against a super power, this is their only way to resist the never ending occupation. It is hard to believe that the Feilers, who openly support the Palestinian people, would use a symbolic pool of 'Jewish blood' to glorify the Palestinian resistance. Moreover, it is unlikely that Stockholm's Historical Museum would exhibit a work of art which praised killing and bloodthirstiness. Hence, we must assume that Mazel's reaction resulted from a serious misunderstanding. When it comes to modern art, misunderstanding is not uncommon. But this misunderstanding was more revealing than people have been ready to admit. If we make the assumption that Mazel understood the pool to glorify 'Palestinian terrorism' we must then ask how can one regard a gruesome image as a glorifying symbol? We must remember that Mazel wasn't alone: both his barbarian act and bizarre interpretation were supported by Sharon and the entire Israeli media. An examination of the role of blood in Hebraic culture of recent times may throw some light on the ambassador's actions. May I start with Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880-1940), the right-wing Zionist leader and the ideological mentor of the Likud party. According to Jabotinsky the Jewish nation would be rebuilt with 'blood and sweat' ('With Blood and Sweat we shall Erect our Race, Genius, Kind and Vicious', Beitar Anthem--Ze'ev Jabotinsky). 'In blood and fire Judah fell,' wrote Jabotinsky, 'in blood and fire Judah will rise.' Notions about blood have been essential to the right-wing Zionist school from the very beginning. In Hebrew the words 'blood' (dam), 'soil' (adama) and 'red' (adom) all share the same lingual root. At least etymologically, soil and blood are intrinsically related. It isn't surprising therefore that Zionism has sought to redeem the land with blood. Since its early days, Israeli politics has been dominated by ex-military men. Apparently, the Israeli people want to be governed by their generals. Becoming a murderous soldier is a good political investment in Israel, endowing any potential political candidate with extra credentials. It isn't surprising therefore that the current Israeli PM, General Ariel Sharon, is the most famous Israeli war criminal. His lethal curriculum vitae is pretty astonishing. In 1953, Sharon, the founder and the then commander of the elite Israeli 'Unit 101', was ordered to penetrate the Jordanian village of Quibya and to destroy as many houses and inhabitants as possible. Sharon was pretty efficient. Quibya was reduced to pile of rubble, more than fifty houses were demolished and sixty-one civilians died. In 1982, a short time after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, massacres of Palestinian refugees took place in Sabra and Shatila. The massacres were carried out by Christian militias who entered the camps with the approval of the Israeli high command. At the time Sharon was the Israeli minister of defence. While Israeli forces were not directly involved in the massacres, Israel was clearly responsible for any atrocities taking place within its invaded territory. An official inquiry into the events found Sharon to be unqualified for a ministerial post--a detail which, as we know, never prevented Sharon from being a minister, let alone prime minister. It would appear that the man was also fairly successful in killing his own soldiers. Sharon's contribution to the 1973 war raised many questions among military experts in Israel. Most famous is the battle in the 'Chinese Farm' in which full IDF battalions where annihilated under his direct command. His part in the Suez Operation (1956) raises similar questions. Meanwhile, Sharon's personal life story reveals another spectrum of mystery not many people in the west know about. Sharon's family has been blighted by accidental tragedies with no connection to the region's endless wars. The Prime Minister's first wife, Margalit, was killed in a car accident in 1962, and his eleven-year-old son, Gur, died in a shooting accident in 1967. These are the dry facts. Few people know that Sharon's second wife, Lily, was actually Margalit's younger sister. At the time there were some vicious rumours that it was Sharon's affair with his wife's sister which led Margalit to suicide. Gur found his death while playing with his father's loaded gun. I myself have neither the means nor the intention to search for the true story of Sharon's family affairs. On the contrary, I would argue that the element of bloody gossip entangled with some libidinal rumours helped to glorify the image of the promising young officer. In Zionist terms Sharon is an angel if not the Messiah himself. For many years it has been possible to hear the mob welcoming Sharon with shouts of 'Arik [Ariel] the King of Israel' (equating him with King David). No doubt Sharon is the right man for the Israeli people who democratically elected him to rule their kingdom. They know his history. They are familiar with his war crimes. They know that his hands are soaking with blood and they love him just the way he is. They love him for being a criminal. They elected him because they admire his bloodthirstiness. And because they glorify blood they have managed to misinterpret the Feilers' installation in Stockholm. They have attributed glory to Feilers' blood simply because they are used to associating blood with glory. We must be thankful to Ambassador Mazel for providing us with another fascinating gaze into the reality of radical identities which endanger world peace. Gilad Atzmon was born in Israel and served in the Israeli military. He is the author of the new novel A Guide to the Perplexed . Atzmon is also one of the most accomplished jazz saxophonists in Europe. His new CD, Exile, was just named the year's best jazz CD by the BBC. He now lives in London and can be reached at: atz@onetel.net.uk Weekend Edition Features for January 10 / 11, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Bush as Hitler? Let's Be Fair Susan Davis Dangerous Books Diane Christian On Lying and Colin Powell Lisa Viscidi Exhumations: Unearthing Guatemala's Macabre Past Daniel Estulin Destroying History in Iraq Saul Landau Homeland Anxiety Elaine Cassel Who's Winning the War on Civil Liberties? Bruce Jackson Making the Shit List Christopher Brauchli Baptizing Hitler's Ghost Francis A. Boyle The Deep Scars of War Lee Ballinger Cold Sweat: Sweatshops and the Music Industry Patrick W. Gavin Hillary's Slur: Mrs. Lott? Ramzy Baroud What Invaders Have in Common Michael Schwartz Inside the California Grocery Strike Gary Johnson An Interview with Former Heavyweight Champ Greg Page Dave Zirin An Interview with Marvin Miller on Unions and Baseball Mark Hand A Review of Resistance: My Life for Lebanon Poets' Basement Thomas, Daley, Curtis, Guthrie and Albert Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /