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New Edition CounterPunch: a Special Investigation in the Rise and Fall of Ahmed Chalabi

The Truth About Chalabi: the Looting of Jordan; His Ties to Iran; Conduit to the NYTs and the Neocons; His Stake in the Privatization of Iraq; Why the US Raided His Baghdad Compound by Andrew Cockburn; Kerry Administers CPR to Stricken President: "Give Bush Slack on Iraq; Bush Deserves Credit for Job Growth; I'll Appoint an Anti-Abortion Judge" by Alexander Cockburn. In May, CounterPunch Online was read by over 20 million viewers! 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!

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Today's Stories

June 3, 2004

Paul de Rooij
Palestinian Misery in Perspective

June 2, 2004

Brian Cloughley
The Liars are Winning

Ray McGovern
How Far Would They Go? Beware "Credible Intelligence"

Josh Frank
The Anybody But Bush Offensive

Mike Whitney
The Afghanistan Failure: Bush's Warlord Patriots

Jackie Corr
Iraq and Ireland: Three Tales from Butte, Montana

Robert Jensen
The US Lost the Iraq War...and It's a Good Thing, Too

Alexander Cockburn
"Bye, Bye Boonville!"

June 1, 2004

Gary Leupp
Instant Karma: Bush's Sins Catch Up with Him

William A. Cook
Manufacturers of Fear and Loathing in Rafah

Dave Lindorff
Will the Times Clean House?

Kevin Zeese
Inside the Kerry / Nader Meeting: Did the Kerry Campaign Lie About What Was Discussed?

Jacob Levich
Coming Soon: Return of the Draft, a Bipartisan Production

Kathy Kelly
Voices in the Wilderness v. the US Government

Website of the Day
Remind Us

May 29 / 31, 2004

Lee Ballinger / Dave Marsh
The Origins of Memorial Day

Janine Pommy Vega
Memo for Memorial Day

Mike Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib

Alfred W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research

Douglas Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions

Chris White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto

Bruce Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu

David Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire

Saul Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?

Kurt Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA

Elaine Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders

Will Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps; Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"

Ben Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches

Dr. Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!

Kia Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh

Mickey Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!

Jon Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times

Patrick B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance

Stephen Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel

Tom Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly New

Dave Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

Gregory Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"

Erik Cummings
Jung Meets Bush

Poets' Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert

 

May 28, 2004

Rafael Rodriguez Cruz
Curtain of Silence on the Cuban 5

Greg Moses
Bush's Misleading Speech on Abu Ghraib

Dave Lindorff
Dissing Independent Contractors: Those Who Do the Dirty Work

Norman Solomon
Leaping for Lies at the Times

Rep. Bill Delahunt
Bush's Cruel New Rules on Cuba

Paul McGeough
Chalabi Baba and the 40 Thieves

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
India and Nehru: 40 Years After

Alexander Cockburn
NYTs: "Maybe We Did Screw Up...a Little"

 

May 27, 2004

Amy Goodman / David Goodman
Fatal Errors: the Lies of Our Times

Douglas Valentine
Ragging the Dogs of War at the NYTs

John L. Hess
The Times Confesses...Kind Of

Stew Albert
Dellinger, the Wrestling Pacifist

Dave Dellinger
a 1993 Interview

Christopher Brauchli
Tax Breaks for Scions...to Hell with Poor Kids

Rampton / Stauber
Banana Republicans: Pumping Irony

 

May 26, 2004

Ron Jacobs
Goodbye, David Dellinger: He Was a Friend of Ours

Robert Fisk
The Things Bush Didn't Say in His Speech

Zeynep Toufe
New Draft UN Resolution Permits Perpetual Occupation

Conn Hallinan
Bush and Sharon: the Oil Connection

Tom Stephens
2 + 2 is On My Mind: More Morons and War Crimes

Derek Medley
Protesting Gov. Bigot

CounterPunch Wire
FBI Abducts Artist; Seizes Art

Andrew Cockburn
The Trail to Tehran

 

May 25, 2004

Joe Bageant
The Covert Kingdom: On Earth as It is in Texas

Col. Dan Smith
A Question of Human Dignity

Gary Handschumacher
Visiting Lori Berenson: Time to Bring Her Home

Toni Solo
A Developing War in the Andes

Marc Estrin
September Song: Disturbing Questions About 9/11

Stephen Banko, III
A Vietnam Vet on "Supporting the Troops"

Website of the Day
The Wizard of Whimsy

 

May 24, 2004

Ron Jacobs
Dan Senor is Safe!

Kurt Nimmo
Dirty Tricks & TortureGate: the Missing Taguba Pages

Sam Hamod
Gen. Zinni: "Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time"

Mike Whitney
The Wedding was a Bomb

Stan Goff
Open Season on MAMs

Image of the Day
A Photo from Abu Ghraib We Didn't See on the Front Page of the NYTs

 

 

May 22 / 23, 2004

Paul de Rooij
Colin Powell, a Political Obituary

Jeffrey St. Clair
When War is Swell: Bush and the Carlyle Group

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Her Son Was Told He Wouldn't See Combat; Now He's Dead: an Interview with Sue Niederer

Brian Cloughley
America is Committing War Crimes in Iraq

Saul Landau
Democracy in Latin America: Great for Investors; Not So Good for People

Brandy Baker
Feminists Stand By Their Man: Abortion, Judges and Kerry

Randall Robinson
Bushwhacked in the Caribbean

Uri Avnery
The Rape of Rafah

Ben Tripp
Assume the Worst

Bruce Anderson
News from Ecotopia: the Truth About the Wine Business

Josh Ruebner
Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers

Peter Wolson, Ph. D.
Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib

Chloe Cockburn
In Defense of "Troy": What Hector Could Teach Rummy

Linda Burnham
Sexual Domination in Uniform: an American Value

Adrien Rain Burke
War of the Necrophiliacs: Spc. Sabrina Harman and Her Corpse

David Krieger
Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy

Ron Jacobs
Turnaround

Poets' Basement
Ford, Albert & LaMorticella

 


May 21, 2004

Ray Close
The Canards of the Apologists

Christopher Brauchli
"The Object of Torture is Torture"

Amira Hass
Darkness at Noon

Jack McCarthy
Camilo Mejia: Can the Son of a Sandinista Get a Fair Trial from the US Army?

Bill Kauffman
Nader v. Bush

Omar Barghouti
No More Tears for America

Ghali Hassan
Moral Failure of the "Free World" in Gaza

Christopher Reed
How the CIA Taught the Portuguese to Torture

Website of the Day
Eric Idle on the Bush Administration: Fuck You, So Very Much

 

May 20, 2004

Andrew Cockburn
The Truth About Chalabi

Kathy Kelly
A Visit from the FBI

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Brown and Bored of Education in India

Tom Stephens & John Philo
The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney & Co.

Sam Bahour / Michael Dahan
Genocide by Public Policy

Robert Ovetz
Ending the Race for the Last Turtle

Billy Wilson
The Most Important Thing I Learned at School This Year

Website of the Day
Rafah Today

 

 

 

 

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Alexander Cockburn
Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con!

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Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
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Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
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June 3, 2004

Rome on $12,000 a Month

The Return of Cardinal Bernard Law

By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI

What does the Lord require of thee but . . . to walk humbly with thy God.

The Holy Bible, Micah

In an era where tolerance of sexual assaults by those whom one supervises is the norm rather than the exception, it is still possible to entertain surprise. And the biggest surprise of all came on May 27, 2004. On that date it was announced that one supervisor was being richly rewarded notwithstanding outrageous tolerance of sexual transgression by subordinates. On May 27 it was announced that Cardinal Bernard F. Law, formerly of Boston, had been given a wonderful new job by none other than the Lord's representative on earth, Pope John Paul II.

During Cardinal Law's tenure, lots of priests under his supervision engaged in inappropriate conduct with young children. Cardinal Law was not present when the offenses took place and the Lord did not see fit to let him know what was going on. Other people did but he didn't take them seriously. By 2002, things had gotten fairly unpleasant for him in Boston and in December of that year he tendered his resignation as Cardinal and moved out of the $20 million three story church-owned house built in the 1920s in which he'd been living humbly as befits a man of the cloth.

Following his resignation he went on a retreat from which he could contemplate the injustice of being blamed for others' sexual misconduct. He had plenty to contemplate having been named in more than 500 lawsuits filed by people claiming they were abuse victims of priestly abuse. He contemplated on a full stomach since, according to Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, a spokesman for the Boston archdiocese: "He receives the same salary and benefits from the archdiocese as every other priest and bishop."

At the conclusion of the retreat Cardinal Law went to serve as chaplain to the Sisters of Mercy of Alma in Clinton, Md. That chaplaincy is coming to an end. The Pope has now decided to reward him for his faithful service by elevating him once again.

On May 27 it was announced that Cardinal Law was being given the post of archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica. The basilica is one of the four most important basilicas in Rome. According to a Vatican spokesman Cardinal Law "will be in charge of the administration of the priests and anything related to the basilica." The official went on to explain, enigmatically, that the post "is not a position of power." That may be meant to insulate the Cardinal from any future lawsuits if it turns out that the priests he administers engage in the kind of conduct he failed to notice that got him in so much trouble in Boston.

Cardinal Law succeeds Cardinal Carlo Furno, a cleric with extravagant tastes. The apartment occupied by Cardinal Furno and soon to be occupied by Cardinal Law is described as palatial. A former Vatican official said: "It's the classical Roman apartment with frescoes on the wall." He said that Cardinal Furno had paid for costly renovations which presumably remain with the new resident. Cardinal Law's old home in Boston is being sold by the church in order to help pay the victims of Cardinal Law's inadequate supervision. Cardinal Law will live in opulent surroundings in Rome far from unpleasant reminders of his past transgressions. His successor in Boston will live in more modest quarters.

Cardinal Furno had a monthly stipend of $12,000 a month. Cardinal Law will probably get a similar amount thus enabling him to live humbly yet well. While serving as the Sisters' chaplain he reported to the local bishop. In his new position his only supervisor, other than the Lord, (who has not done a particularly good job up to now) will be the Pope (who has not done a much better job).

Those representing the victims of the abuse tolerated by the Cardinal are not enthusiastic about his new appointment. Amitchell Garabedian represents more than 130 victims of sexual abuse by priests. Commenting on the Cardinal's new job and home he said: "He apparently is being transferred to a position that is comfortable and appears to be some sort of reward. The Vatican either doesn't understand the problem of clergy sex abuse, or it doesn't care." David Gibson, author of "The coming Catholic Church" said: "They're just cleaning up the mess in Boston and closing parishes, and he's getting the ultimate golden parachute. He's getting a beautiful apartment in Rome in one of the four major basilicas in Christendom." Messrs. Garabedian and Gibson don't understand that in this society that's how we deal with folks who can't supervise the improper sexual conduct of those beneath them. They're not alone.

Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder, Colorado lawyer. His column appears weekly in the Daily Camera. He can be reached at: brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu


Weekend Edition Features for May 29 / 31, 2004

Mike Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib

Alfred W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research

Douglas Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions

Chris White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto

Bruce Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu

David Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire

Saul Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?

Kurt Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA

Elaine Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders

Will Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps; Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"

Ben Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches

Dr. Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!

Kia Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh

Mickey Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!

Jon Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times

Patrick B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance

Stephen Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel

Tom Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly New

Dave Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

Gregory Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"

Erik Cummings
Jung Meets Bush

Poets' Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert

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