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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! Now Available: Hot New CounterPunch T-Shirts! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Cockburn / St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War Now Available! Today's Stories June 2, 2004 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 May 19, 2004 Elizabeth W. Corrie Caterpillar Should Do the Right Thing, Now Bill and Kathleen Christison The US Can't Win Vijay Prashad For Whom the Polls Toll: the Indian Elections of 2004 Ray Hanania Israeli War Crimes: Who to Believe, AIPAC or Amnesty Intl.? Greg Moses Man President Kisses Up at AIPAC Michael Gillespie Who is Kenneth deGraffenried? Josh Frank Homes Destroyed; Death Toll Mounts: But Where's John Kerry? Gary Corseri Out of Iraq and Plato's Cave Kevin Alexander Gray If Malcolm Were Alive   May 18, 2004 Neve Gordon The Gaza Debacle Doug Stokes Imperial Policing: Why Abu Ghraib Shouldn't Surprise Us Bob Wing The Color of Abu Ghraib Vanessa Jones Man on a Leash Thomas P. Healy Chemical Trespass: the Body Burden Zeynep Toufe Torture and Moral Agency: the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations Kenneth Roth Mistreatment of Detainees in US Custody: a Letter to Bush Elaine Cassel Pre-empting the Bill of Rights: The Other War, One Year Later Website of the Day Truth Against Truth   May 17, 2004 Kurt Nimmo The John-John Ticket: Kerry Woos McCain Laura Santina Military Conditioning and Abu Ghraib Mickey Z. With Friends Like These: More Election 2004 Madness Frederick B. Hudson Police Terror: Three Mothers Search for Justice Shakirah Esmail-Hudani Inside Abu Ghraib: the Violence of the Camera Boris Leonardo Caro The Revelations of Mr. W. Alex Dawoody Iraq: From Saddam to Occupation Victor Kattan On Watching the Execution of Nick Berg Ron Jacobs Rumsfeld's Sovereignty Shell Game     May 15 / 16, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Green Lights for Torture Douglas Valentine ABCs of American Interrogation: Phoenix Program, Revisited John Stanton Kings of Pain: UK, US and Israel Ben Tripp Torture: a Fond Reminiscence Brian Cloughley Where are You Heading, America? Taking a Closer Look at the Patriot Act Justin E. H. Smith Islam and Democracy: the Lesson from Turkey Brandy Baker Equal Opportunity Torture: Lynddie England, the Right and Feminism John Chuckman Peep Show on Capitol Hill: Sex, Lies and Videotape Bill Glahn RIAA Watch: Goon Squad John Holt Fencing the Sky Ron Jacobs The Power of Patti Smith Brian J. Foley Why the Outrage Over Abu Ghraib? Robin Philpot Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide Eric Leser The Carlyle Empire Ray Hanania From Abu Ghraib to Nick Berg: There's No Such Thing as a Good War Crime Jeff Halper Dozers of Mass Destruction Joe Surkiewicz Inside the Baltimore Detention Center John Whitlow Iraq Goddamn Michael Leon Invitation to a Beheading: Why Bush Should Watch the Berg Video Poets' Basement Krieger, Ford, LaMorticella, Smith and Albert       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             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

June 2, 2004 "Bad Things Happen. I Don't Have to Apologize." The Liars are Winning By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY ". . . . A time like this demands . . . . Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor ; Men who will not lie." Josiah Gilbert Holland, American journalist [1819-91]. Forget it Josh, baby, because in 2004 they are all liars and none of them has a sense of honor. Begin with those who approved the actions of US military torturers and then denied that they did. Descend further to those who slaughter sleeping children and declare they were terrorists. Then look at the creeps who give briefings about Iraq, knowing they are purveying trumped-up absurdities ; and eventually get to the bottom of the sleazy heap by gazing with abhorrence at the hideously self-satisfied, conniving trash of the Pentagon and their malevolent colleagues in the White House. From them all, the falsehoods flow like stinking sewage in a never-ending cascade of calculated foulness. The mouthpiece in Iraq, Brigadier-General Kimmitt, whose flair for invention and glib misrepresentation never flags, distinguished himself even further last week when denying that US forces massacred people in the western desert of Iraq. During a hideous onslaught that will be forever a blot on the history of the US military, the troops of Bush destroyed an Iraqi hamlet and two score harmless citizens who had been attending a wedding. Kimmitt stated flatly that there were "no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration." But he lied. (Has he ever been to a Bedouin wedding in the desert? I have. And there are no leftovers, believe me.) Anyway, his first instinct was to deny there could be evidence that a wedding had been held. Unfortunately for Kimmitt, and for the last vestiges of belief around the world that the Bush machine might sometimes be trusted to tell the truth, there were two videos taken in the period of the wedding. Associated Press obtained one showing hours of ceremonies and innocent enjoyment on the wedding night ; then an AP camera team shot post-attack scenes showing fragments of musical instruments and decorations. "An AP reporter and photographer, who interviewed more than a dozen survivors a day after the bombing, were able to identify many of them on the wedding party video. Survivors say dozens of missiles were launched late at night after the festivities had ended and that women and children were among those killed, as were the bride and groom." But was that enough to convince Kimmitt? Of course not. In fact "Brigadier General Kimmitt denied finding evidence that any children died in the raid although he admitted that a "handful of women"--perhaps four to six--were "caught up in the engagement." "They may have died from some of the fire that came from the aircraft", he said." And that was when I finally lost confidence in the US military. A sad day, indeed, for a former soldier who served alongside many American colleagues. How can a human being, a citizen and soldier of a supposedly civilized nation, have the crassness, the sheer insensitivity, the moral blankness and lack of compassion to casually shrug off the death of "a handful of women" in such a fashion? Is there a Mrs Kimmitt, one wonders? What does she think of her husband's dismissive comments about the violent deaths of innocents? A senior officer speaking for the entire United States military in Iraq has told the world that it's too bad, but "a handful" of wives, mothers, sisters, guilty of no crime whatever, were killed by US forces because they "were caught up in the engagement". Caught up? Kimmitt, you suppurating cur : they were in bed. The "handful" of lives you so casually dismiss--and there were more than six--were not "caught up". They were slaughtered without pity by US forces. And you and everyone else has lied about the circumstances of their murder ever since. Poor Josiah Holland. He revered all that is best in American life. And, as have so many generations of Americans, he imagined that passage of years could only improve the moral outlook and practices of his countryfolk. He was wrong. He admired : "Men who have honor ; Men who will not lie" ; but this war on Iraq has spawned men and women who are dishonorable and who lie. There is lying and lying, of course. Recently the chief executive and the top financial whizkid of Shell Oil were forced to resign because they told lies about the company's circumstances, thereby (just as Enron's crooks did), pushing up the share price. Once the Securities and Exchange Commission has got enough evidence (and there are several incriminating emails), it is likely prosecutions will follow. Very right and proper, you say. Quite so. But when some other people tell majestic lies, they are not sacked or prosecuted. Take, for example, the Pentagon's lying twerp, Wolfowitz, one of the most evil figures in the Bush administration. An exchange between Wolfowitz and the Senate Committee on May 14 shows us what this man is made of. The transcript can be found in the New York Times and on the Australian Broadcasting Company site (www.abc.net.au/am/). It is most revealing: Senator Reed: Mr Secretary, do you think crouching naked for 45 minutes is humane? Wolfowitz : Naked, absolutely not. Senator Reed : So if he's dressed up, that's fine? Let me put it this way : 72 hours without regular sleep, sensory deprivation which would be a bag over your head for 72 hours. Do you think that's humane? And that's what this says, a bag over your head for 72 hours. Is that humane? Wolfowitz: Let me come back to what you said the work--Senator Reed: No, no. Answer the question, Secretary. Is that humane? Wolfowitz: I don't know whether it means a bag over your head for 72 hours, Senator I don't know. Senator Reed: Mr Secretary, you're dissembling, non-responsive. Anybody would say putting a bag over someone's head for 72 hours, which is sensory deprivation--Wolfowitz : I believe it's not humane. It strikes me as not humane, Senator. It took a US Senator a long time to wring a grudging admission from Wolfowitz that torture is not humane. But Wolfowitz's dissembling (to use the word of Senator Reed) goes further than his reluctance to concede the importance or even the relevance of human dignity. Wolfowitz "made numerous predictions, time and time again, that have turned out to be untrue . . . " said Senator Hilary Clinton. Quite so : just like the predictions, time and time again, of the chief executives of Shell and Enron and so many other companies who lied consistently to the world in order to boost share prices and, of course, their own private hoards of cash, while beggaring their unfortunate shareholders. Wolfowitz did not lie to improve his financial situation. He lied in order to justify his rabid desire for power and for war. He publicly sneered at General Shinseki when the then Army Chief of Staff gave as his opinion that "several hundred thousand troops" would be needed to control post-invasion Iraq. (A campaign of vilification and denigration was then mounted against the honorable General Shinseki by Wolfowitz and his followers, some of whom, alas, were and still are wearing uniform.) But Wolfowitz was wrong. Totally wrong. And General Shinseki was right. Now, if Wolfowitz had been a company senior executive who had made a completely incorrect forecast, costing shareholders squillions, do you think for a moment he would still be in a position of responsibility in that company? Of course not. If Wolfowitz had been comparably inaccurate in corporate life he would have been out on his ear in no time flat. Exposure of his predictions as lies would have reduced the share price, and investors would not have accepted that state of affairs for longer than a New York Heartbeat. Money, after all, is vitally important. But Wolfowitz's arrogant and erratic predictions affected only lives. Thousands of lives have been shattered because Wolfowitz's predictions were lies. They were deliberate lies, because he refused to take into account the assessments and advice of those who knew better than he how to engage in war and cope with its aftermath. He did not only ignore the people whose careers have been devoted to the study of war : he held them openly in contempt, and continues to do so. It is terrible that the dismal, back-stabbing, Byzantine climate of the Pentagon and, indeed, the culture of intrigue among senior echelons of the armed forces (but not all individuals, I hear, thank heaven), has crippled defense decision-making. The stage has been reached when nothing can be done unless it is thought to have the approval of those considered powerful enough to speak with the Cheney-Rumsfeld voice. This is passed down the line and amplified by Wolfowitz and other creatures of darkness whose influence is macabre and obscene. It is deeply troubling that these civilians are heavily involved in promoting and sidelining military officers on grounds of political and personal loyalty. The word is out in the military : if you want to survive, Do Not Contradict or Question any pronouncement coming from the top. But who could not contradict or question the pronouncements--the sworn testimony--of Wolfowitz to the US Congress on February 27, 2003, just before the US began to wage war on Iraq? Wolfowitz announced that "These are Arabs [in Iraq], 23 million of the most educated people in the Arab world, who are going to welcome us as liberators. And when that message gets out to the whole Arab world it is going to be [a] powerful counter to Osama bin Laden. The notion that we're going to earn more enemies by going in and getting rid of what every Arab knows is one of the worst tyrants, and they have many governing them, is just nonsense . . . We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." Wolfowitz lied. And he was wrong ; wrong ; and wrong again. He has appallingly poor judgment and is manifestly incompetent. He is unfit to hold a position of trust and responsibility. But he remains in the Pentagon. Why? Probably because his boss is a liar, too. For example, on February 20, 2003, a month before his invasion, Rumsfeld was asked on PBS "The News Hour' "Do you expect the invasion, if it comes, to be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?" He replied : "There is no question but that they [US forces] would be welcomed." On September 25, when it was obvious that chaos was developing in Iraq, Rumsfeld appeared on Sinclair Broadcasting. Anchor Morris Jones led into a question by saying "Before the war in Iraq, you stated the case very eloquently and you said . . . they would welcome us with open arms." This was an accurate and embarrassing observation, so Rumsfeld's automatic response was to lie. He said "Never said that, never did. You may remember it well, but you're thinking of somebody else. You can't find, anywhere, me saying anything like either of those two things you just said I said." And, to the eternal shame of the US media, nobody has pressed him about his outrageous mendacity. He is a proven liar, so there is little wonder he won't sack his lying deputy for lying. And it goes on up the chain, because the man at the top tells lies, too. In the Bush speech to the Army War College on May 24 he described US torture of prisoners as being committed "by a few American troops who disregarded our country and disregarded our values." He lied. It wasn't "a few" ; far from it. The New York Times reported on May 25 that "An Army summary of deaths and mistreatment involving prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan shows a widespread pattern of abuse . . . The cases from Iraq date back to April 15, 2003 . . . The Army summary is consistent with recent public statements by senior military officials, who have said the Army is actively investigating nine suspected homicides of prisoners held by Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan in late 2002. But the details paint a broad picture of misconduct, and show that in many cases among the 37 prisoners who have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army did not conduct autopsies and says it cannot determine the causes of the deaths . . . ." This is an official military report, and the military commander-in-chief is a man who stated flatly that only "a few troops" were guilty of torture. (Let's forget the word "abuse': it is yet another attempt to disguise the unpleasantness of truth.) Bush is a disgrace. As disgraceful, indeed, as those who relished torturing helpless captives, at least 70 percent of whom, as the Red Cross recorded formally in its report to the Pentagon months ago, were not guilty of any crime atall. (Which is borne out by the hasty release of hundreds of prisoners from the hell of Abu Ghraib without any explanation of why they had been kept there.) And as disgraceful as the Marines who treated prisoners barbarically in June 2003 at Camp Whitehorse where, as reported by the Los Angeles Times on May 22, "one of the detainees died after he was left disabled and naked under a scorching sun". He was "disabled' by torture inflicted by Marines, but even after a whitewash report of the Whitehorse atrocities there had to be charges of misconduct against eight marines, which shows that the affair must have been REALLY bad. The treatment of prisoners by this unit was criminal. But not as wicked as the attack on the wedding party by Marines on May 19. The Marines' song goes: "From the Halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli We fight our country's battles In the air, on land and sea . . ." And now they can include the wedding party massacre of May 2004 in their battle honors. "Soon American soldiers came [after the aerial rocketing and bombing that killed most people]. One of them kicked her to see if she was alive, she said. "I pretended I was dead so he wouldn't kill me,' said Shihab. She said the soldier was laughing." (This was carried by Fox News, of all outlets, on May 24. OK; so we despise Fox News, which is usually a sick joke, but at least they had the decency to put the report on their website.) There is no intention on the part of US occupation forces to permit a proper investigation of the circumstances in which over forty people were killed in their attack. The senior Marine commander involved, Major General Mattis, has already pronounced the verdict : "I have not seen the pictures but bad things happen in wars. I don't have to apologize for the conduct of my men." Not even if they kick women. Not even if they kill kids. There will be no apology or punishment for atrocities, even when proved. The Marines have come a long way from the shores of Tripoli. The Pentagon will continue to deny that this savage attack on civilians was other than justified. There is a precedent for attacks on wedding parties (there was a particularly horrible one in Afghanistan, which is a well-documented war-crime), and for lying, too. In fact just as I wrote these words a news alert came up about a comparable incident 35 years ago, in the time of the evil Nixon. In a hellish echo of what is being attempted by the current administration concerning covering up war crimes, the New York Times of May 27 reported Nixon-era telephone transcripts that reveal the extent of deceit within his Cabinet. "In their conversation on Nov 21, 1969, about the My Lai massacre, Mr [Defense Secretary] Laird told Mr Kissinger that while he would like "to sweep it under the rug," the photographs [of the My Lai atrocities] prevented it. "There are so many kids just laying there; these pictures are authentic," Mr. Laird said." If it had not been for the photographs, there would have been energetic action to deny the whole thing. It's all horribly familiar. When found out in illegal barbarity : lie. If that doesn't work, then try to cover up. Meanwhile, in a wholly cynical attempt to deny responsibility for war crimes, just declare "I don't have to apologize for the conduct of my men", at which loyal statement most of the American public will instantly place their hands on their hearts and with tears in their eyes shriek : "We've got to support Our Boys!". Then, if there is just no alternative to holding a court martial, keep the whole charade focused on as low a rank as can be contrived and punish the guilty barbarian with a bag of cookies and two weeks' leave. Who cares, anyway?--It will all blow over. After all, who is concerned about the deaths of a bunch of forty desert ragheads, be they male or female, young or old? Torture and killing of Iraqis are considered by brainwashed troops and millions of other Americans to be justifiable payback for 9-11. To them, these people don't matter. "A handful of women", in Kimmitt's contemptuous phrase, can be killed without mercy, qualm or retribution, and there is not one US figure in or out of uniform who is ever going to be punished for this war crime. Nobody will be held accountable. Such are the depths to which the Bush administration has sunk. The lies of Kimmitt will become truth. The crazed fascist Limbaugh (and remember his talk show is the only one that is given so much time on US armed forces' radio) and many other zealots will attempt to portray the massacre as a vital action in the "war on terror' instead of admitting it to be a vile atrocity that stinks in the nostrils of the civilized world. In the words of Josiah Holland, a true American patriot, the country needs "Men who have honor; Men who will not lie". But it does not have them in the right places. There are none to be seen or heard in this administration because they have been sacked or silenced. The way to success in the Bush machine is to lie. And the liars are winning. They always do. Brian Cloughley writes on military and political affairs. He can be reached through his website www.briancloughley.com 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 WWW http://www.counterpunch.org   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /