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March
14, 2002
H.P. Albarelli
Anthrax
Cover-up?
March
13, 2002
Amira
Hass
Are
the Occupied Protecting the Occupier?
CounterPunch
Wire
National
Review Editors Suggest Nuking Mecca
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Personal
Responsibility
for Corporate Elites?
Robert
Fisk
Arabs
Don't Want US
to Strike Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
When
Billy Graham Wanted
to Kill One Million People
March
12, 2002
Kay Lee
Dangerous
Changes in
California's Prisons
John Patrick
Leary
The
Return of Otto Reich
Wole Akande
US
is Being Discredited
in the Eyes of Africa
March
11, 2002
Hani Shukrallah
This
is the Way the World Ends
Tommy
Ates
Bush's
New Nuke Policy:
Target Allies and Enemies
Lidia Andrusenko
The Great
Chicken War:
Bush v. Putin
Dave Marsh
10
CDs Playing On My Desk
John Chuckman
Footprints
in the Dust
Norman
Madarasz
Max
Steel in a Time of Chaos
March
10, 2002
Thomas
Croft
Year
of Living Dangerously
March
9, 2002
Bill Cook
Sharon's
Bulldozer
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Nightmare in Israel
March
8, 2002
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
When
Business Men
Make Boo-Boos
CounterPunch
Exclusive
Enron's
Spooky
Image Consultant
Rep. Ron
Paul
Stop
the War on Colombia
Andre
Achong
The
Failed War on Drugs
John B.
Kelly
Michael
Moore and Me:
Disability Rights and
a Big Stupid White Guy
March
7, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
Congressman
McInnis Equates Enviros to al-Qaeda
Mike Rogers
Will
the Battle of Shah-i-Kot Become the Taliban's Alamo
Walt Brasch
Patriot
Act and Free Speech
John Jonik
Insurance
Scams:
Who Are the Scofflaws?
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Bumper
Crop: The Politics
of Afghan Opium
March
6, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
A
Beautiful Mind:
Another Dangerous Lie?
Tom Turnipseed
War
Is Wrong
David
Vest
Billy
Graham and Nixon:
Tangled Up in Tape
Patrick
Cockburn
The
Bombings That
Made Putin a Hero
CounterPunch
Wire
Berezovsky
Fingers Putin
in Bombings
Edward
Said
Thoughts
About America
March
5, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
Ann
Coulter At It Again:
Race-Baiting Norm Mineta
Bill Christison
A
Former CIA Officer
Explains Why the War
on Terror Won't Work
Delkhasteh and Wright
What
Should We be Fighting For? An Open Letter
to Pro-War Academics
Mariya
Tsvekova
Putin's
Georgian Gambit
March
4, 2002
Ralph
Nader
Dick
Cheney: A Dinosaur
in the Age of Mammals
Uri Avnery
How
Israel Will Torpedo
the Saudi Peace Plan
Southern
/ Kubrick
Stangelove
Scenario
for Shadow Govt. Bunker
David
Vest
Grammy's
of Constant Sorrow
March
3, 2002
Bernard
Weiner
War
on Terrorism for Dummies
Paul Cox
Boycott
Mel Gibson's
"We Were Soldiers"
Frederick
Hudson
Toward
a Nonviolent Africa:
Bill Sutherland's Quest
Eric Schaeffer
Dear
Christie Whitman:
Take This Job and Shove It
John Chuckman
Why
the Rest of Planet is Unnerved by America
March
2, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
Sweat,
Sex, Feet and
the Working Class
March
1, 2002
Brendan
Sexton III
What's
Wrong With Black Hawk Down: an Actor Speaks Out
David
Krieger
Nuclear
Terrorism
and US Nuclear Policy
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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8-Page Special Issue
War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
Search
CounterPunch
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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Reviews of Gore:
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March 14, 2002
Blowback
and the Death of a Reporter
R.I.P.: Daniel Pearl
By Dr. Susan Block
It's been over a month since I wrote about the
kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter and father-to-be Daniel
Pearl in Pakistan. As it happens, it's been a month of considerable
personal trauma for me and for the Institute, but far, far less
than what has befallen Daniel Pearl, may he rest in peace.
As the world now knows, Daniel Pearl
was murdered by his kidnappers, brutally decapitated in what
has become one of the most talked-about snuff films in the current
War on Terror.
Of course, his execution was always a
possibility once he was captured by men whose aim seems to have
been to "guard" certain parts of Pakistan from investigative
reporters (my personal correspondence with esteemed Pakistani
journalist Saqlain Imam demonstrates just how dangerous it is
to be a journalist in Pakistan right now). They also seem to
have wanted to make the point that whatever America could do
to our prisoners at Guantànamo Bay, they could do the
same and worse.
Ah yes, the Orange Men. I was appalled
at our well-publicized treatment of these prisoners-of-war whom
we, at first, refused to even recognize as prisoners-of-war.
My dismay was not so much because I felt sorry for the prisoners
themselves (even their own PR portrays them as violent, authoritarian,
mysogynistic cretins); as because I was revolted by our behavior,
as well as by our pornographic portrayal of our treatment of
these Osama Stand-Ins. And given this S&M spectacle, I was
terribly afraid of what the experts call "blowback"
in terms of how American citizens abroad might be treated if
they were kidnapped, as they so often are, by enemy sympathizers.
Then, just a couple of days later, Daniel
Pearl was kidnapped by enemy sympathizers. It was too, too freaky.
The photos of him looked frightening. Realizing that they were
actually no worse than the photos of our prisoners in Guantànamo
Bay made them even more frightening.
Of course, Daniel Pearl was not a fighter;
he was a reporter. And in the end, he wasn't simply tortured,
he was killed. Such are the ways of the New World Disorder.
"Daniel Pearl was a highly cultured
man and a talented journalist," recalls colleague David
North of the World Socialist Website. "His writings exemplified
the schizophrenic character of the Wall Street Journal, where
the reactionary frothings of the editorial board are regularly
contradicted by the conscientious dispatches of the newspaper's
best reporters."
We don't know whether his captors killed
him because of his feisty reporting, his religion (Jewish) or
his nationality (American). We are not even certain as to just
who his killers are, and how closely related they are to al-Qaeda,
the Taliban or to Pakistani Intelligence and the CIA. The actual
identity of his murderers is turning out to be another great
mystery of the Terror Wars, though Islamist militants Ahmed Omar
Saeed Sheikh and Sheikh Mohammed Adeel are prime suspects.
Ironically enough, now the prisoners
at Guantànamo Bay have Geneva prisoner-of-war rights;
at least some of them do. I wasn't the only one questioning the
sadistic treatment of those Orange Men. "The Photo"
and the PR disaster that accompanied it, were just too, too terrible
for President Pretzel-Swallower, Rummy and Ayatollah Asscraft
to hold firm. Now the international uproar over American torture
has died down a bit.
But it all happened a little too late
for poor, brave, handsome Daniel Pearl. He was a tragic casualty
of the War on Terror. I never met the man, but I admire his work,
I melt under the gaze of his warm, dark eyes, and I mourn him
with all my heart. I know that I am one of many around the world
who feel the same way. Daniel Pearl was a freedom fighter who
fought with a pen not a sword. His murder reminds me of the importance
of fighting violence--as well as religious, national and ethnic
stereotypes-- everywhere.
Please send comments, questions and contributions
to liberties@blockbooks.com
Dr. Susan Block
is a sex educator, host of the Dr. Susan Block radio show, and
author of The 10 Commandments of Pleasure. Visit her website
at: http://www.drsusanblock.com/
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