Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
Now Available!
Today's
Stories
May
7, 2004
Robert
Fisk
An Illegal and Immoral War
Ron
Jacobs
UnAmerican? I Wish It Were So
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
April
28, 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
Meet Congressman Know-Nothing:
Tom Tancredo
Wendy
Brinker
The Politics of the Numb
Faisal
Kutty
The Dirty Work of Canadian Intelligence
John
Chuckman
Seeking the Evil One
Mike
Whitney
Flag-Draped Coffins and the Seattle Times
Tom
Mountain
Rwanda and the F***** Word
Graeme
Greenback
The Iraqi Alamo: a CNN/CIA Production
Tracy
McLellan
The War Comes Home
M.
Junaid Alam
We are the Barbarians
William
Loren Katz
Iraq, the US and an Old Lesson
April 27, 2004
James
Davis
The Colombia 3 Acquitted
Dave
Lindorff
Chalabi as Prosecutor
Bruce
Schneier
Terrorist Threats and Political
Gain
Cockburn
/ Sengupta
British Generals Resist Calls for
More Troops to Aid Americans in Iraq
Walt
Brasch
Presidential Letters: The Day I
Was Asked to Feed an Elephant
Saul
Landau
The Empire in Denial and the Denial
of Empire
April 26, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Crossing the Shia Line: US Troops
Prepare to Enter Najaf
Wayne
Madsen
Trading Places: Will the US Go the Way of the USSR?
Grover
Furr
Protest, Rebellion, Commitment
Elaine
Cassel
Lies About the Patriot Act
Mickey
Z.
Inspired by Pat Tillman?
Greg
Moses
Bremer's De-De-Ba'athjfication Gambit
Gila
Svirsky
Anarchy in Our Souls
Uri
Avnery
Vanunu and the Terrible Secret
April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
April 23, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
The Only Solution is Immediate Withdrawal
Dave
Lindorff
Imagination Deficit Disorder
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Contractors and Mercenaries: the Rising Corporate Military Monster
Norman
Solomon
Country Joe Band, 2004: "What Are We Fighting For?"
Cynthia
McKinney
All Things Are Not Equal: the Perils of Globalization
CounterPunch
Wire
A Bitch Called Wanda
Karyn
Strickler
Sierra Club, Inc.
Hammond
Guthrie
Yellow Caked in the Face
Paul
de Rooij
Graveyard of Justifications: Glossary
of the Iraqi Occupation
April 22, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
When Terror Came to Basra: "I
Saw a Minibus of Children on Fire"
Tanya
Reinhart
The Wall Behind Disengagement
Lance
Selfa
Why is Kucinich Still in the Race?
Josh
Frank
Street Fighting Man? Kucinich's Pulled Punches
Sen.
Robert Byrd
Bush Owes America Answers on Iraq
William
S. Lind
Why We Get It Wrong
Mickey
Z.
Undoing the Latches
Robert
Jensen
Why They Fast: Remembering the Victims of the World Bank
John
L. Hess
The New York Times from 30,000 Feet
April
21, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Yeats on Iraq
Alfredo
Castro
Colombia's Forgotten Prisoners
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's Taliban Drug Deal
William
A. Cook
George 1 to George 2
Jack
Random
Iraq and Vietnam
Jean-Guy
Allard
Alarcon Meets the Editors
Mike
Whitney
Charade in the Desert
Bill
Christison
Only Major Policies Changes Can
Help Washington Now
April 20, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Bush and Kerry Share a Problem
Stan
Cox
Wal-Mart's Magic Numbers
Bruce
Anderson
On Listening to Air America
Joseph
Kalvoda
Czech Mate for Condi
Greg
Moses
Yesterday's Intelligence
Stan
Goff
The Democrats and Iraq
Website
of the Day
Santorum Happens
April 19, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The "Central Hand" of the
Resistance
Mike
Whitney
Bob Woodward's Imperial Trifles
Douglas
Valentine
52 Pick-Up and the 100-to-1
Rule
John
Chuckman
The Sharon Annex: Evil Does Often
Triumph
Doug
Giebel
Welcome to the Club
Rahul
Mahajan
Hospital Closings and War Crimes
April
16 / 18, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Bush Legitimizes Terror
Saul
Landau
Subverting Brazil and Cuba
Dave
Lindorff
Paying for War: $2,150 per Family
and Counting
Brandy
Baker
Fallujah's Collateral Damage
Mickey
Z.
The Left Attacks from the Right
Bruce
Jackson
The Bush Press Conference: Gott Mit
Uns
Norman
Solomon
How the "NewsHour" Changed
History
Alexander
Cockburn
Bush, Kerry and Empire
April
15, 2004
Greg
Moses
Follow the Families, Not the Script
Virginia
Tilley
The Carnage According to Gen. Kimmitt:
Just Change the Channel
Ron
Jacobs
They Coulda Been Champions of the
World: Hurricane Carter and Ron Kovic
Michael
Neumann
A Happy Compromise: Hate Crimes
Reporting in the Toronto Globe and Mail
April
14, 2004
Tom
Reeves
Return to Haiti: an American Learning
Zone
Reza
Fiyouzat
Japan and Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
What Bush Really Said
Diane
Christian
The Real Passion
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.
|
May
7, 2004
Where Are the
Images of Mangled Children?
The Thing with
No Brain
By JOHN CHUCKMAN
I had an unpleasant moment on the day
Bush decided to address "the Arab world." He is a man
I cannot stand hearing, so when his voice comes on the radio,
I always switch it off. Well, this time I was too far away and
necessarily heard a couple of sentences, the ones starting with
"People in Iraq must understand...And they must understand."
Must? The dumb arrogance of
his words was stunning. On top of his poorly-chosen vocabulary,
the man never apologized as I later learned from the Internet.
Here was a commander talking about inexcusable brutality against
helpless prisoners telling millions of angry people that they
must understand. Here was a pathetically-inadequate man so overtaken
by events that he felt the need to address "the Arab world,"
and he was telling them what they must understand.
Of course, his immense, brainless
arrogance was transmitted in other ways. He addressed the "Arab
world" without using the networks that many listen to. He
wanted a safe outlet - safe, that is, for him and his known inability
to handle any question more complex than "How's Mom?"
He deliberately avoided al Jazeerah, a network that asks tough
questions and whose employees his soldiers have deliberately
targeted and killed.
I wonder how many new terrorists
Bush has created throughout the Middle East? Imagine the rage
of young Arab men seeing pictures of other young Arab men with
their heads in bags being used like the cast of a vile underground
pornographic film? Some of the most terrible scenes undoubtedly
have no photographs because the actors were almost certainly
murdered. Even the smiling cretins from the bayous and backwoods
of America seen in the published pictures know better than to
be photographed committing murder.
For the most part, the armed
forces of the United States do not hire the kind of clean-cut,
Sir-spouting faces invariably used as their public-relations
spokesmen. They need people who will be trained to kill and obey
orders, and most of the killing is to be done in poor, distant
places where the victims' voices are never heard in America.
Military recruiters fill a
good part of their quotas from the many dismal backwaters and
slums of the Republic. They fill them with the kind of people
who otherwise might not be employed at all. They undoubtedly
get a disproportionate share of the people who enjoy killing
and inflicting pain, the kind of people found in every society
on earth.
It doesn't take a great effort
of the imagination to anticipate what will happen when you give
such people a few weeks training in killing and shining shoes
and send them off to a remote land like Iraq, a place whose people
they cannot understand, and about whom they know only the uninformed,
provoking slogans of their President.
When a contemptible moral weakling
like Bush sits comfortably in his leather chair and signs an
order to invade a distant land, it is precisely the horrors of
Abu Ghraib prison he necessarily releases.
Remember Lieutenant Calley
and his boys murdering an entire village in Vietnam? That good
old boy never experienced a moment's meaningful justice. There
was actually a brisk business for a while in Lieutenant Calley
souvenirs, especially in the South.
There were several such massacres
discovered in Vietnam, and one cannot doubt others went undiscovered.
More disgusting still was the slitting of about twenty-thousand
throats, mostly village officials, by the brave men of the Special
Forces. But even their Nazi-like slaughter couldn't compare to
the work of the men flying jets, men still called war heroes
in America, men who systematically bombed and napalmed countless
towns, villages, and farms, producing enough victims to bury
the city of Washington under a mountain of burnt flesh and gore,
almost all of them civilians.
During that war, I once talked
to an American veteran of World War II about the horror of what
was going on. He told me a story. He was on a train with two
other Americans and a German prisoner of war. One of the Americans
suddenly put his automatic pistol to the head of the German and
blew his brains out. He had no reason and just laughed after
doing it.
As I've written before, I can
never forget someone I knew in high school telling me about how
he and his friends would pile into a car and drive down to the
ghetto some nights, trying to "run down niggers" for
the hilarious entertainment of seeing them run for their lives.
I've always associated that painful memory with the men who later
raped and murdered their way across Vietnam.
It is not that Americans are
worse than other people, it is that they are the same. Yet they
are encouraged constantly to think they are better - more advanced,
more educated, more dedicated to democratic and human values.
In the President's words, "The America I know cares about
every individual." Well, apart from the fact that those
descriptions fit at best a minority of Americans, thinking that
you are better than less fortunate people is a guaranteed method
for producing injustice and horror.
I note that to this day even
more hideous pictures of Iraqi children mangled and killed by
American bombing are not published by the county's main press.
Many Americans are sentimental, and pictures of smashed and mangled
children might produce results not desired by those running the
country, but the prison pictures can be characterized as an exception,
as the fault of a few bad people breaking the rules.
Well, what society doesn't
have such rules? There's nothing special about America in officially
opposing torture, humiliation, and murder. Even dictatorships
publicly set such rules, but what society doesn't violate the
rules as soon as it sinks to the putrid business of war?
A French television station
has obtained a three-and-a-half minute videotape from an American
helicopter taken last December. There is a pilot and a military
gunman on board, and their commanding officer talks to them on
a radio. The American soldier shoots three unarmed Iraqis, one
by one, as the commanding officer barks his directions to him.
The third man attempts to hide, and then tries to crawl away,
clearly wounded. The officer orders him killed, and he quickly
is.
Remember the broadcast conversations
of American pilots during the first Gulf conflict as they strafed
and bombed miles of Iraqi soldiers caught in a traffic jam while
retreating from Kuwait City? We heard the words, clearly spoken
with the same sense of amusement I heard as a young man in Chicago,
"It's like shootin' fish in a barrel!" broadcast on
television without any comment or criticism from broadcasters
or politicians.
To this day, there is no examination
into the disappearance of about three thousand prisoners in Afghanistan.
A European documentary film strongly suggests American complicity
in their mass murder out on the dessert by some of the more grotesque
warlords with which the U.S. allied itself. The prisoners reportedly
were driven, batch after batch, stuffed into vans, through a
sun-baked wilderness, suffocating in the heat while American
troops idly watched.
Don't forget the words of Donald
Rumsfeld concerning prisoners in Afghanistan. He said publicly
that all foreign fighters captured should be killed or permanently
walled away. Do you think that kind of leadership might influence
the attitudes of creeps in the unwatched corridors of military
prisons with people at their mercy?
Wars are an utterly filthy
business, and, unless you are depraved, you don't start them.
Bush is responsible for what has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan
as surely as German leaders were responsible for the acts of
their soldiers during World War II.
Weekend
Edition Features for April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
|