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Special Report on the Global Trade in Body Parts in the New Print Edition of CounterPunch! Peter Linebaugh on the Resurrectionists: Organs of Chinese Prisoners Harvested While Still Alive; Group Executions for Mass Body "Harvesting"; Israel's Global Network for Body Parts; Kidney Belts Flourish from Romania to Iraq to the Philippines; Brave New World of "Organ Suppliers" and Organ Receivers Monitored by Berkeley Prof Nancy Scheper-Hughes; Origins of Body Part Market in 19th Century England; Body Snatching Gangs; Plus Bruce Anderson on How the Hippies and New Settlers of California's North Coast Became the Democratic Party Machine: Scratching Their Own Backs, Crushing Dissent. CounterPunch Online is read by over 20 million viewers each month! But remember, 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! Introducing CounterPunch Books! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Now Available! Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils Order Here! Today's Stories September 25, 2004 Alexander Cockburn C'mon Ralph, You've Got Nothing to Lose   September 24, 2004 Dr. Teresa Whitehurst The Value of One Life: Keeping Up Appearances and Leaving Hostages to the Wolves William S. Lind Destroying the National Guard Mike Whitney The Bush Tent Show Nancy Welch What's at Stake for Women in 2004? Niranjan Ramakrishnan Logical Limbo Joshua Frank Fear Mongering 101 Victor Kattan An Interview with Afif Safieh Ben Terrall Kerry and Haiti: Will He Stand Up? Kathleen and Bill Christison "Finally It Broke My Heart": Random Impressions from Palestine   September 23, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Why Are They Still Holding "Mrs. Anthrax?" Christopher Brauchli Ashcroft's "Distressing Lack of Care": Hamdi and the Phony War on Terrorism Derek Seidman Fighting for a Union at Starbucks: an Interview with Daniel Gross Michael Neumann Three Years and Counting? How Time Flies   September 22, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Zarqawi's War: the Mysterious Sadist from Jordan Neve Gordon The Wall, the Court and Sharon Joshua Frank History Repeating: New York, 1832 and Now Ron Jacobs Stormy Seas on the Citizen Ship Jack Random Defending Dan? Rather Not Tarif Abboushi Kerry's Final Straw: Confessions of a Despairing Voter Mickey Z Stupid White Guy Quiz John L. Hess Faking the Difference: a Serious Debate? Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: The House Rules September 21, 2004 Gary Leupp "We Are Not Secure": Kerry's "Unwavering Commitment" to Securing a Middle East Realm Robert Jensen Large Dams in India: Temples or Burial Grounds? Elaine Cassel Fourth Circuit to Moussouai: Ask Your Questions; Prepare to Die Stanley Heller Reagan and the Killing Fields of Lebanon Adam Federman America Will Disappoint the World, Again David Whitehouse What's Behind the Horror in Darfur? M. Junaid Alam How to Avoid Becoming an Anti-American Paul Craig Roberts Attention Deficit America Website of the Day True American War Heroes: the Iraq Refuseniks Sex, Drugs & the Blues! Serpents in the Garden CounterPunch's Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available Click here to purchase   September 20, 2004 Cockburn / Buncombe Get Fallujah David Price Relying on Phonies: What If The Problem with Phone Polls is That They Are Phone Polls Dave Lindorff How Dems Fight: Tigers Against Nader, Pussycats Against Bush Harry Browne Pre-Nup at Leeds: Talked Out, But Does IRA Give Up? Mark Wesibrot Bush's Ownership Society: No Taxes for Owners, Only Workers Karyn Strickler The Keys to the White House v. the Shrum Curse? Uri Avnery The Temple Mount Bombers       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     Septemeber 17, 2004 Ray McGovern Gossing Over the Record Patrick Cockburn The New Iraqi Economy: Baghdad's Thriving Kidnapping Industry Lee Sustar The State of Working America: an Autopsy of the American Dream Mike Whitney John Kerry: 195 Lbs. of Political Helium, Not an Ounce of Sincerity Victor Kattan Black September Ray Hanania Israel's Demographics Greg Bates Nader's Victories: a Mid-Campaign Assessment Website of the Day The Road to Hell     September 16, 2004 Landau / Hassen Meet the New Villain: Syria Joanne Mariner Inside Darfur: a Photo Essay Patrick Cockburn US Offers Conflicting Accounts of Baghdad Bloodbath Greg Moses Four Million Children Might Be News Joshua Frank Nader in the Battleground States Christopher Brauchli The Bush Drug Lottery Flops David Himmelstein Folke Bernadotte: a Rosh Hashonah Remembrance Website of the Day The Abu Ghraib Index     September 15, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Hell on Haifa Street Ron Jacobs Oppose War, Not Just Bush David Lindorff Blanking Out Dissent Joanne Mariner Talking About Darfur: Is Genocide Just a Word? Angela Godfrey-Goldstein An Open Letter to Madonna: Please Don't Support Israeli Apartheid Dave Zirin Is the NFL Ready for Us? Yigal Bronner "They Are Building Walls Around Us"     September 14, 2004 Gary Leupp The Problem of Chechnya Jennifer van Bergen What's Wrong with Torture? Stan Goff Wake Up and Smell the Jungle Rot Patrick Cockburn The Punishment of Fallujah: US Precision Strickes...on Ambulances Anis Memon Nader in Michigan Michael Donnelly The Nuance Comes Off: Former Naderites Beg for Kerry Votes Werther Zell Miller: the Peckerwood Pericles Website of the Day Osama Bin Forgotten?       September 13, 2004 Gabriel Kolko Elections, Alliances and the American Empire Phillip Cryan How Do You Say "Death Squad?": Language in Colombia's War Patrick Cockburn One of Baghdad's Bloodiest Days: "I'm a Journalist! I'm Dying! I'm Dying" Noah Leavitt The War on Civil Liberties Robert Jensen Highjacking Catastrophe: Bush, the Neo-Cons and 9/11 Mike Whitney Alan Greenspan: Fed-Master to the Wealthy John Chuckman Stop Talking About the "Election" Mike Burke Kerry/Edwards Website Censors Discussion of Israel/Palestine Issues CounterPunch Wire The Quotations of David Cobb: "I Don't Care How Many Votes I Get" Website of the Day Keep It In Your Pants: the Bush Plan to Combat Teen Promiscuity   September 11 / 12, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Swatting at Flies Fred Gardner Yet Another Prozac Scandal Saul Landau When Our Assassins Go Free Jennifer Van Bergen How to Beat Bush: a Simple Strategy for the Average American Roger Burbach / Jim Tarbell The Real Dead Enders: Iraq and the Crisis of Empire Christopher Reed 9/11 in an Historical Context: a Minor Event When Compared to Worldwide War Casualties Francisc Catalin An ABC of American Interventions Carl Estabrook Big Science and Government Terror Bernard Chazelle Anti-Americanism: a Clinical Study Sharon Smith Third Party Blues Dave Lindorff Perhaps This Time We're the Silent Majority Mike Whitney Fallujah: an Iraqi Beslan? Frederick B. Hudson Their Sons Perished in the Flames, But Not Their Faith Mickey Z. Round Up the Usual Suspects: a Look Back at 9/11 Ron Jacobs Redneck Music for the New Century Greg Moses Soap Opera Moments in Texas School Funding Trial Benjamin Dangl / Andrew Kennis An Interview with Leslie Cagan Poets Basement Del Papa, Albert, Gelman     September 10, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Disappointment at Samarrah? Michael Donnelly Democrats v. Democracy Alan Farago Mosquitoes in a Hurricane Doug Giebel Karl Rove's Terror Playbook Mike Whitney Bob Graham's Political Tsunami David Domke God's Will, According to the Bush Administration     September 9, 2004 Joe Bageant Karaoke Night in Bush's America Ed Kinane Abducted in Baghdad Peter Bohmer The Cuban Revolution: Present and Future Todd May The Emerging Case for a Single-State Solution Jeremy Scahill The New York Model: Indymedia and the Text Message Jihad Joshua Frank Green House Party Gasses Fran Shor The Crisis in Public Dissent: When Protest is Considered a Terrorist Act Patrick Cockburn Welcome to the Dirtiest City in the World: Despair in Baghdad Website of the Day Liberty Street Protest: No to War at Ground Zero   September 8, 2004 Patrick Cockburn This Doesn't Smell Like Victory: A War on Two Fronts in Iraq Dave Lindorff Bush Confuses; Kerry Mute: Spinning 1000 Dead Bulent Gokay Russian and Chechnia After Beslan Lisa Viscidi Land Reform and Conflict in Guatemala Niranjan Ramakrishnan Byrd's Eye View Mike Whitney Afghanistan: American's Drug Colony Stan Goff Body Count: 1001 Website of the Day Bush and the Love Doctors     September 7, 2004 Diane Christian Hostage Tactics: a Game of Mortal Poker Joshua Frank Greens Unravel from Within Patrick Cockburn Fallujah Erupts Again: US Death Toll in Iraq Nears 1000 Ron Jacobs Bush and Putin: "We're Not Girlie Men" Chris Floyd Cry Havoc: Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed Dr. Carol Wolman No Blood for Oil at Paul Bunyan Day Parade John Ross The Politics of Darkness North / South     September 6, 2004 Alexander Cockburn An Anti-Labor Day That Lives in Infamy: How Many Democrats Voted For Taft-Hartley? Ralph Nader The Cruel Legacy of Taft-Hartley: a Labor Day Call for Rights for Working People Lee Sustar What's Driving the Attack on Pensions? Kathleen and Bill Christison Dual Loyalties: the Bush Necons and Israel     September 4-5, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Elephants and Gramsci Ted Honderich The Way Things Are Sasan Fayazmanesh The Holy Empire: Who We Are and What We Do Douglas Valentine What the World Should Know About Guantanamo Patrick Cockburn New Iraqi Police State Flexes Its Muscles Gary Leupp Neo Cons Under Fire Fred Gardner Pot Shots: the Hempstead T-Shirt William A. Cook The Day of the Lemming Dave Zirin Kobe Bryant and the Price of Freedom John Chuckman The Day the World Ended Karyn Strickler God Save the Endangered Species Act Vanessa Jones Bad Day with an Ikea Cup Mike Whitney Kerry: the "Better" War Candidate Mark Donham Dear John (Kerry): Start Explaining and Fast Mickey Z. McBypass Nation: Feeling Clinton's Pain Alan Farago Can the Everglades be Fixed? Poets' Basement Landau and Albert     September 3, 2004 Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Jesus Told Him Where to Bomb Rahul Mahajan Bush's RNC Speech: an Annotated Response Carl Estabrook The Book of Slaughter and Forgetting Joshua Frank The Florida of the Northwest: Oregon Dems Sabotage Nader Again Gary Leupp Music to My Ears: Sunday's March James Hollander Deja Vu in Manhattan: Assisted Political Suicide? Mark Engler Republicans Among Us: a Week at the RNC, Inside and Out Jesse Sharkey Making Students and Teachers Pay for the Crisis in Education Jane Stillwater Calling the Cops on Your Own Kid Stephen Green Serving Two Flags: the Bush Neo-Cons and Israel     September 2, 2004 Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Part 3: More Pricks Than Kicks Max Gimble Et Tu, Menchu? Extrajudicial Killings and Clandestine Graves in Guatemala James Petras President Chavez and the Referendum: Myths and Realities Christopher Brauchli Bush and the Afghan Electoral Model: "If They Want to Vote Twice, Let Them" Todd Chretien & Jessie Muldoon Will the Democrats Expel Zell Miller? Jack Random Spite and Venom Day: the Turncoat and the Profiteer Alan Maass The Real Vietnam Christa Allen Contre Bush Website of the Day [Redacted]     September 1, 2004 Alexander Cockburn The Stench of Doom Kathleen and Bill Christison Poor Larry Franklin Dave Lindorff Kerry's Litmus Test Josh Frank Protest in White: Not All of New York Rises Up John L. Hess Moles, Scoops and Flip Flops Mike Whitney Deconstructing Arnold Jack Random Kindergarten Night at the RNC Andrew Wilson War on the Pachyderms: Why Do Elephants Hate Us? Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words     August 31, 2004 Joseph Nevins Escapism and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs Matt Vidal Beyond Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy Neve Gordon Kerry and the Middle East Dave Lindorff Bush the Peace Candidate? Mike Whitney NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran Jack Random Opening Night: Playing the War Card Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One) CounterPunch Photo of the Day Pete Seeger in NYC     August 30, 2004 Justin Podhur The Disappeared Mayor Shaun Joseph The Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com Mike Whitney Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly Want? Ron Jacobs Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate David Lindorff Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy Dave Zirin USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate Sam Husseini Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History     August 28 / 29, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Zombies for Kerry Patrick Cockburn Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US Ray McGovern Blowing Smoke on Intelligence Dr. Juan Romagoza From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor Ray Hanania An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous! Fred Gardner Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot Diane Christian Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live William S. Lind The Desert Fox Paul D'Amato The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry Joshua Frank Greens at the Crossroads Mickey Z. Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests Winslow T. Wheeler Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange Justin E.H. Smith The New Age Racket and the Left Thomas St. John Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Ali Tonak Help the NYPD? Mark Engler New York Says "No" Justin Felux Haiti: the Attica of the Americas Poets' Basement Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod     August 27, 2004 Gary Leupp Neocon Musings Robin Cook The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Diane Christian Disarming Michael Donnelly Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party? Jack Random 4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters Mike Ferner "To the Swift Boats!" Mazin Qumsiyeh 7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners Veronza Bowers, Jr. "You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"   August 26, 2004 M. Shahid Alam The Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology? Diane Christian War Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu Derek Seidman "They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get Organized David Lindorff Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally Christopher Brauchli Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble Stew Albert Reporting Suspicious Activity Mark Donham Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court Saul Landau Pinochet: the Al Capone of the Southern Cone Website of the Day The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See     August 25, 2004 Amelia Peltz Can I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time? Noah Leavitt Defining and Redefining Torture Ron Jacobs Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About Democracy James Brooks Coronado Crosses the Jordan Akiva Eldar How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan" Gemma Araneta Chavez's New Brand of Populism Philip Cryan Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia CounterPunch Wire Cheney Opens the Closet Door     August 24, 2004 Jeremy Scahill John Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate Gary Leupp "We Want Them to Go Away" David Domke God Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism William Loren Katz The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in Venezuela Jonah Gindin With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media Fran Schor Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah Joe Bageant Driving on the Bones of God Website of the Day The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC   August 23, 2004 Winslow Wheeler Don't Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror John Pilger Bush May Be the Lesser Evil Stan Goff Swift Boat Dogfight Bill and Kathleen Christison Notes from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild Mike Whitney The Unraveling of Afghanistan William Blum Brave New World of Iraqi Sovereignty Ralph Nader A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial     August 21 / 22, 2004 Cockburn / St. Clair "They Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on Drugs Landau / Hassen Failing the Mission? Form a Commission Brian Cloughley The Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts Josh Frank Nader as David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So Mike Whitney Reincarnating Mengele: the Torture Doctors of Abu Ghraib Ron Jacobs Day Labor Blues Mickey Z. Shooting at Whales: 40 Years After Tonkin Fred Gardner Dr. Wolman Comes Out: The Cannabis Consultants Dave Zirin Uprising in Athens: Iraqi Soccer Team Gives Bush the Boot Josh Saxe Witnessing Police Brutality in LA Yanar Mohammed Letter from Baghdad: a Democracy of Killings and Bombings Helen Williams Ali's Story: a Taste of Reality from Baghdad Michael Donnelly Elemental and NaturalForests, Fire and Recovery Elizabeth Schulte The Crisis in Affordable Housing Poets' Basement Adler, Albert, Virgil, Ford and Krieger                                   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.     Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition September 25 / 6, 2004 The Anti-Empire Report Progressives and the Election By WILLIAM BLUM Is it not peculiar to circulate a statement calling upon people to vote for a particular candidate without giving a single reason why that candidate is worthy of support? Indeed, the statement is critical of the candidate's position on the most important current issue. Such is what has been sent out by a group of prominent progressives, who were members of Ralph Nader's 2000 Citizens Committee, urging a vote for John Kerry in swing states, even while they "strongly disagree with Kerry's policies on Iraq and other issues." That is the entirety of what the statement has to say about Kerry's political positions. What is the principle here? Defeating George Bush is not a principle unless he's replaced by someone significantly more progressive. Is there any reason to believe that Kerry is such a person? Of course not. If there were such a reason the signers would have expressed it. What's that? You think that "significantly more progressive" is asking too much? How about moderately more? A bit more? Anything-at-all more? Does your own vote mean anything to you? Are you willing to give it up for next to nothing? Your vote may not mean as much to you as a young woman's virginity which she is not willing to surrender except to someone she loves, but it does hold some value for you, does it not? [for the statement and list of signers, see http://vote2stopbush.com/] If Kerry wins, and a few months (weeks?) into his administration these progressives start to turn the radio or TV off when he comes on, as many now do with Bush ... then what? There's no future at all in electoral politics for progressives as long as they fail to cut their ties to the hopeless and treacherous Democrats and concentrate on building a third party. (Violent revolution, if successful, would be a more efficient manner of effecting progressive social change, but it can be awfully messy.) Of course there are policy differences between Bush and Kerry, but if I tried to explain what they are I'd put myself to sleep. So this November, who will get your vote? Coke or Pepsi? I believe that George W. Bush's being held in such low esteem and producing visceral disgust in countless people owes as much to his intellectual and character shortcomings as to his policies. Bill Clinton could much easier get away with his abominable policies than Bush can because Clinton was often able to impart a sufficiently literate and charming manner. Democrats, case in point, I In the last report I raised the question: Why did Dennis Kucinich doggedly remain an official Democratic candidate for the presidency for months if not to remain principled on progressive issues? But when he failed to win support in the platform committee on those issues, he didn't raise them on the floor of the convention and then announced his support for Kerry. One of my readers, Rich Piedmonte, has suggested an answer. Rich writes that Kucinich "probably WAS an 'official candidate' in a different sense. He was the official safety valve candidate. Knowing that they weren't going to offer up anything but a 'me, too -- only smarter!' candidate this year," and frightened by the creativity and Internet technical expertise of the anti-war protestors, the Dems slipped Kucinich enough money to keep going so as to keep progressive party members busy and not agitating Kerry to move to the left. I never cease to be surprised by such ideas. No matter how cynical I or others may think I am, I find at times that I'm not cynical enough. Democrats, case in point, II Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., being interviewed by Diane Rehm (September 3) about his new book on saving the environment, recited a litany of corporate misbehavior that directly or indirectly harms the environment; again and again he sounded unforgiving of corporate greed; then, seemingly out of nowhere, he interjected that "there's no greater supporter of a free-market economy than myself". Why did he feel it necessary to put that on the record? So he won't be seen as some kind of leftwing radical kook? Not the proper image for a "Kennedy", is it? But the proper and standard cop-out for a liberal Democrat. Or a liberal Republican. They're both paid by the same lobbyists. Venezuela Picture the Bushies sitting around discussing Venezuela and their bête noire, Hugo Chávez ... Well, we tried the coup and that lasted only two days. Then we tried the recall and that failed, badly. So what do we do now? Hey, how about sanctions? Thus it was that on September 10 the White House announced that the United States will not support $250 million in Venezuelan loan requests expected to come before internationallending institutions during the next fiscal year. Bush took the action under Congressional legislation that called for sanctions against countries that -- you ready? -- fail to crack down on international trafficking in persons. In June, the State Department had issued a report that said that "Venezuela is a source, transit and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation"{1}, something which of course could be said about virtually every country on earth, including the country which houses the State Department. How long before the Bushies turn to the good old standbys -- bombing and invasion? A tale of two cities Two articles in the Washington Post, same day (September 1), same page (16): Srinagar, India -- "Militants threw a grenade near a crowded bus stop in Indian Kashmir on Tuesday, killing a schoolteacher and wounding 22 people ... Police said that the guerrillas aimed the grenade at a police patrol in Pulwama, in southern Kashmir, but that it exploded on the street instead, wounding people waiting for buses." Kabul, Afghanistan -- "The U.S. military said its forces killed more than 20 Islamic fighters on Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan but denied reports it had killed up to eight villagers in the same operation. Local police and aid workers said that between six and eight villagers were killed and nine wounded by U.S. bombing ... They said several houses were also destroyed. But Maj. Scott Nelson, a U.S. military spokesman in the capital, Kabul, said: 'We didn't fire on these people'." Today's question: Which of these two groups -- the militants or the U.S. military -- are commonly referred to as terrorists? Sign-in of the times We're all accustomed to signing in when we visit certain office buildings. The sign-in book usually calls for date, your name, time arrived, who you're visiting, time left. At 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, just off Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, the sign-in book now asks: "Are you a citizen of the USA?" What's next, signing a loyalty oath or undergoing a strip search before you can enter a public civilian building? Treason: None dare call it nothing Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has asked the CIA why the agency did not launch an investigation into the disclosure of classified information appearing in the best-selling book "Bush at War," by Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward. Rockefeller cited 20 passages that he said contained highly classified information. Woodward has responded that although some of the information in the book was classified, "no one has seriously suggested to me that there is information in the book that has harmed U.S. national security. That's the real test."{2} If only this were the way it worked. Instead, there are numerous individuals sitting in American prisons at this very moment, facing unconscionably long sentences, for passing information laughably inconsequential to foreign governments. In some cases the information was not even passed because the horrible "traitor" was caught before that could take place. But none of these poor souls had the foresight to first become Bob Woodward. I've written a study of two of these cases, a husband and wife from Washington, DC. (http://members.aol.com/bblum6/dc3.htm) Notes {1} Associated Press, September 10, 2004 {2} Washington Post, September 11, 2004 William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Rogue State: a guide to the World's Only Super Power. and West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir. He can be reached at: BBlum6@aol.com Weekend Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004 James Petras The Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of Abu Ghraib Fred Gardner Run Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain Justin Delacour Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela Brian Cloughley Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd? Joshua Frank The Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader Iain A. Boal On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection Chris Floyd All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome Andrew Fenton Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti Aseem Shrivastava Saga of an Anguished Afghan Neil Corbett See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush Carol Miller / Forrest Hill Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only 12% of the Vote Tarek Milleron Breaking the Principled Voter Donald Macintyre The Battle of Najaf Ron Jacobs Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies Mickey Z. Kid Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO Poets' Basement Adler, Ford and Albert WWW http://www.counterpunch.org   /