Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
Now Available!
Today's
Stories
May
15 / 16, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Green Lights for Torture
May
14, 2004
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's POW Porn
Ron
Jacobs
Secret History of the War on Drugs
William
Blum
God, Country and Torture
Michael
Donnelly
The People v. Corporate Greed: A Victory on the North Coast
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
India Shines
Stephen
Gowans
Building Democracy in Iraq and Other
Absurdities
May
13, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Where is Kerry?
Colm
O'Laithian
Torture and Degradation: Revenge American Style?
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassan
Wal-Mart: Scrooge with Hi-Tech Accounting
Practices
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush on the Inhumane Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners
Willliam
James Martin
Deir Yassin Massacre Recalled
Marc
Salomon
Reality TV Bites
Forrest
Hylton
Law 'n Order in La Paz: All Quiet
on the Southern Front?
May
12, 2004
Blanton
/ Kornbluh
Prisoner Abuse: Cheney Warned in
1992
Virginia
Tilley
So, Who's to Blame?
Bruce
Jackson
James Inhofe, the Dumbest Senator
of Them All
Thomas
P. Healy
No Enemies: Making Peace with Bert Sacks
Linda
S. Heard
Racism and Ignorance: a Lethal Cocktail in Iraq
Norman
Solomon
Spinning Torturegate
Lisa
Viscidi
The People's Voice: Community Radio in Guatemala
Jack
Heyman
View from the Bay Bridge: Longshoremen Plan Mass Workers March
on DC
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Rummy's Reprieve
CounterPunch
Wire
Teamsters Corruption Scandal: Hoffa Exec. Assistant Alleged to
Have Quashed Investigation into Mob Influence
Christopher
Brauchli
Detention Camp, USA
William
S. Lind
Bush's Waterloo?
May 11, 2004
Mark
Engler
On the "Necessity" of Torture
Ray
McGovern
More Troops? A March of Folly
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Nukes and Jefferson's Grand Experiment
Mickey
Z.
Less Than Hero
Christopher
Reed
Torture on the Homefront: America's Long History of Prison Abuse
Dennis
Hans
When John Negroponte was Mullah Omar
Bruce
Jackson
Pete Seeger at 85
Mike
Whitney
Killing al Sadr
Simon
Helweg-Larsen
Shrinking the Guatemalan Military
William
A. Cook
The Unconscious Country: Righteous Indignation,
Nakedly Displayed
May
10, 2004
Robert
Fisk
From Hollywood to Abu Ghraib: Racism
and Torture as Entertainment
Wayne
Madsen
The Israeli Torture Template: Rape,
Feces and Urine-Soaked Cloth Sacks
Col.
Dan Smith
The Shame of Abu Ghraib
Joe
Bageant
John Ashcroft, Keep Your Mouth Off My Wife!
Ron
Jacobs
Rummy's Prisongate Blues: Don't Leave Mad; Just Leave
Ben
Tripp
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Savage
Ray
Hanania
Why They Hate Us: Racism, Bigotry and Abuse
Reza
Fiyouzat
"Mishandled" Invasions
Diane
Christian
Images & Abstractions &
Genitals
Website
of the Day
Crushing Iraqi Skulls with Tanks for Sport?
May
8 / 9, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Torture: as American as Apple Pie
Adam
Jones
America's Srebrenica: What About the Hundreds of POWs Suffocated
and Shot at Kunduz?
Douglas
Valentine
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Torture, the CIA and the Press
Kurt
Nimmo
Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib
Brian
Cloughley
Humpty Dumpty is Falling
Lucia
Dailey
Forbidden Games
Joanne
Mariner
* * * *: Redacting Moussaoui
Mickey
Z.
Please Forgive U.S.? (There Are No Innocent Bystanders)
John
Chuckman
The Thing with No Brain
Doug
Giebel
Someone Knew: There Were No WMDs
Norm
Dixon
How the Bush Gang Exploited 9/11
Sam
Bahour
A Guiding Light Falls on Ramallah
Susan
Davis
Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art
Dave
Marsh
In a Pig's Eye: Alan Lomax, Dead But Still Stealing
Laura
Flanders
Life with Dick and Lynne
Dave
Zirin
Fans Push Spiderman Off Base
Carolyn
Baker
Why I Won't Vote in 2004
Prince
"Ain't No Sense in Voting"
Dr.
Susan Block
Onan for Two: Liberating Masturbation
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Sleeth, Ford, Albert and Saska
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
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
May 15/16, 2004
Lyndie England,
the Right and Feminism
Equal Opportunity
Torture
By BRANDY BAKER
Right wing pundits have been seeking
to draw special notice to Private Lynndie England. Though only
one of many sadistic individuals involved in the horrific acts
at the prison who were photographed, England has been on the
receiving end of the most invective. Though her fellow sadists
were just as cruel, England is getting all of this extra attention
because she is an easier target. England is an easier target
because she is a woman.
Columnist Linda Chavez: "But
one factor that may have contributed [to the abuse at Abu Gharib]
-- but which I doubt investigators will want to even consider
-- is whether the presence of women in the unit actually encouraged
more misbehavior, especially of the sexual nature that the pictures
reveal." Chavez claims that, "Putting young men and
women at their sexual prime in close proximity to each other
24 hours a day increases sexual tension." This is the reason
why, she declares, that allegations of sexual harassment and
rape have increased as well.
Only a self-hating crackpot
like Chavez would come to the conclusion that the natural outcomes
of some healthy sexual tension would be the sick sexual abuse
and humiliation of inmates at Abu Gharaib prison, and the sexual
harassment and rape by American soldiers.
The counter arguments put forth
have been inadequate to say the least. The O'Reilly Factor had
Martha Burk from the National Council of Womens' Organizations
on to debate Linda Chavez last week. While Burk did make a few
valid points to oppose Chavez's inane thesis, Burk fell short:
by only blaming the "the leadership", she failed to
take on the US military itself. She evaded the reality that these
horrific abuses are an inevitable part of this or any other US
occupation and will happen whether or not the military is integrated
because the culture of the American Armed Services is built on
the foundations of intense homophobia, misogyny, and White supremacy.
But hey, but unlike the Augusta National Golf Club, the military
admits women and nurtures their barbaric tendencies, so it is
a feminist organization. (?)
Why would one's sensibilities
be more offended by the torture being doled out by a female soldier
(as if it better to be tortured by a male soldier)? Women GIs
can be just as inhuman as the male troops just as it is common
knowledge that Black cops can be just as vicious as their White
counterparts, or that Latino INS agents as brutal as White ones.
Women joining the ranks of the military have not, nor will ever
change the culture of this institution, but the institution has
and will continue to install in many of its male and female soldiers
a hatred of those who perceived to be weaker: a hatred of those
who are not white, not American, not male and not heterosexual.
But Chavez is not the only
right-winger weighing in. George Neumayer of the American Spectator:
"The image of that female guard, smoking away as she joins
gleefully in the disgraceful melee like one of the guys, is a
cultural outgrowth of a feminist culture which encourages female
barbariansa*|[t]his is Eleanor Smeal's vision come to life."
While I do not want to even
appear to condone his chauvinism or give credence to his blaming
the feminist movement specifically for the behavior of female
soldiers at Abu Gharaib, Neumayer does have a point about Smeal.
In October of 2001, Smeal heartily supported the War in Afghanistan,
buying into and assisting in Bush's selling of the idea that
the women of Afghanistan could be liberated by bombing. In an
interview with the Village Voice, Smeal claimed, "It's a
different kind of war." In conversation with three generals
in an NBC green room, Smeal was reportedly "cheered by the
idea of women flying F-16s." Smeal, rightfully opposed to
the Taliban, wrongfully sought to end the misogyny in Afghanistan
with the invasion by the misogynist US military.
The queen bees want their spots
in the shows of war and big business. They are good, self-censoring,
troop supporting patriots: you will hear no critique of the hyper
masculinity, bigotry, or sadly, no critique of the sexism that
permeates the American military. They are inadvertently working
to grant women soldiers the equal opportunity to force naked
Iraqi POWs to pile on top of one another, to put leather cords
around prisoners' necks and drag them, and to force prisoners
to stand blindfolded while the women can mockingly point at the
detainees' genitals.
While Chavez seeks to promote
sexism by discrediting women in the military, a quick search
of her column from the past four years show that there is not
a word, sound, or syllable from her about the many American female
soldiers who have been raped by their male counterparts, nothing
about the women overseas who have been raped by American GIs.
And I will not hold my breath to see whether or not Chavez addresses
the recent reports of Iraqi women being sexually assaulted by
American male soldiers, the twelve year old girl who was stripped
and beaten, or the nothing about the American soldier who pointed
a gun to Iraqi professor Huda Shaker with one hand, pointed to
his penis with his other hand, and said: "Come here bitch,
I'm going to fuck you." I doubt that Linda Chavez will comment
about any of this and satisfy my inquring mind: I really want
to know if she thinks that the abuses listed above are the by
product of sexual tensions that exist in integrated military
units.
Bush will continue this "War
on Terrorism" if elected, and Kerry has made it clear that
he will do the same: they have both made clear that they are
man enough to continue what Dr. Block correctly called this Theatre
of Cruelty. Corporate media will continue to give voice to those
like Chavez, but sadly, liberal feminists will continue to fail
in providing a valid analysis of the situation to counter the
Right, and yet again, enable the Right in its mission of championing
the Bush Administration and the occupation.
Brandy Baker can be reached at: bbaker@ubalt.edu
Weekend
Edition Features for May 8 / 9, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Torture: as American as Apple Pie
Adam
Jones
America's Srebrenica: What About the Hundreds of POWs Suffocated
and Shot at Kunduz?
Douglas
Valentine
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Torture, the CIA and the Press
Kurt
Nimmo
Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib
Brian
Cloughley
Humpty Dumpty is Falling
Lucia
Dailey
Forbidden Games
Joanne
Mariner
* * * *: Redacting Moussaoui
Mickey
Z.
Please Forgive U.S.? (There Are No Innocent Bystanders)
John
Chuckman
The Thing with No Brain
Doug
Giebel
Someone Knew: There Were No WMDs
Norm
Dixon
How the Bush Gang Exploited 9/11
Sam
Bahour
A Guiding Light Falls on Ramallah
Susan
Davis
Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art
Dave
Marsh
In a Pig's Eye: Alan Lomax, Dead But Still Stealing
Laura
Flanders
Life with Dick and Lynne
Dave
Zirin
Fans Push Spiderman Off Base
Carolyn
Baker
Why I Won't Vote in 2004
Prince
"Ain't No Sense in Voting"
Dr.
Susan Block
Onan for Two: Liberating Masturbation
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Sleeth, Ford, Albert and Saska
|