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Exclusive to CounterPunch Newsletter Subscribers! PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ON HOW THE 'FREE TRADE' CASE FOR OFFSHORING AMERICA'S JOBS HAS COME UNGLUED Roberts on the sensational exposure of the faked "gains" and phantom stats of the free traders. Who was America's most anti-imperialist president? Try Grover Cleveland! JoAnn Wypijewski on the unlikely hero of Hawai'i's restoration movement. Alexander Cockburn reports on evangelical Christians in crisis amid fresh onslaughts by forces of darkness. The Warbler's Parable: Rosa Miriam Elizalde on the black-masked visitors to Cuba defying the US economic blockade. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Remember contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now Order CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year and Receive a Free Copy of "Imperial Crusades: a Diary of Three Wars" by Cockburn and St. Clair CounterPunch Jazz and Blues: Danny Cassidy in the Bay Area; David Vest in Portland

Today's Stories June 29, 2007 St. Clair / Frank Toward a New Environmental Movement   June 28, 2007 Bill Quigley How to Destroy an African American City in 33 Steps Vijay Prashad Once More on the New York Times Margaret Kimberley The Whitening of Marianne Pearl: When White Actors Play Black Characters Winslow T. Wheeler House of Pork: Changing Lightbulbs in the Democrats' Bordello Philip Rizk The Failing of Gaza D. K. Wilson The Black Villains Club Bill Williams Strange Calculus at DePaul Mahmoud El-Yousseph The Deportation of Yardlin Jimenez Richard Rhames The Liberation of Paris Paul Krassner Bong Hits for Repression: the Giant Sucking Sound of the Supreme Court Website of the Day Free Lightnin' Hopkins   June 27, 2007 Marjorie Cohn Targeting Dissent: FBI Spying on the National Lawyers Guild Dr. Susan Rosenthal, MD Sick and Sicker: Two Models of Health Care Rationing Alan Farago Bush and the Everglades: Rebranding Failure as Success Carla Blank "America, the Beautiful": the Queen, Jamestown and the Eye of the Beholder Matthew Abraham The Smearing of Robert Trivers, Dershowitz-Style Sunsara Taylor The Deadly Consequences of Compromise: Abortion Rights Under Assault, Where's the Women's Movement? Russell D. Hoffman 16 Dirty Secrets About Nuclear Power Robert Weissman Blackstone and Capital's Grand Scam Sen. Russ Feingold Secrecy and the Federal Death Penalty Paul Buchheit The Footprints of Democracies Website of the Day Anarchy for the USA: an Interview with Josh Wolf   June 26, 2007 Jonathan Cook Divide and Rule, Israeli-Style Ralph Nader Sicko and the Politics of Health Care Corporate Crime Reporter Which Side Are You On, Michael Moore? Ron Jacobs Are the Neocons Really Going? Martha Rosenberg Mad Cow in God's Country John Chuckman China's New Weapons Denny Haldeman Ethanolics Anonymous Anthony DiMaggio Free Speech Hypocrisy at the Supreme Court Stephen Fleischman The Tightrope Economy William S. Lind Legitimacy, Toujours Legitimacy Website of the Day The CIA's Family Jewels   June 25, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Goodbye to the City on the Hill Jennifer Loewenstein The Triumph of US / Israeli Policy in Palestine Bob Anderson The Grooming of Bill Richardson: New Mexico's Nuclear Governor Robert Pollin The Realities of Microlending Patrick Cockburn Chemical Ali Faces the Hangman: the Life and Crimes of al-Majid Eva Liddell Why They Want to Fire Ward Churchill Dan Bacher Democrats and the School of the Americas: 42 House Democrats Back Torture Academy Larry Atkins The Case of the Judge and the $54 Million Pair of Pants: an Embarrassment, Not an Argument for Tort Reform Mark Brenner SEIU Ends Nursing Home Partnership James Rothenberg Hillary Does Iraq Website of the Day "A Long Train of Abuses" June 23 / 24, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Zyklon B on the US Border Jeff Taylor The Foreign Policy of Barack Obama Oren Ben-Dor Israeli Apartheid is the Core of the Crisis in Gaza Gary Leupp In Defense of Academic Freedom: the Ward Churchill Case Robert Fisk The Bumbling Envoy David Rosen The Hidden Cost of War: Genital Injuries, Prosthetic Devices and the War on Terror Russell Mokhiber Ins and Outs for 2008: Up with Spoilers! Alison Weir USA Today and the USS Liberty Robert Fantina The Floundering Congress D. K. Wilson Of Gangstas and Spearchuckers, Sex and Zulus Nicole Colson Litigating Gitmo Stephen Soldz, Steven Reisner and Brad Olson Torture, Psychologists and Colonel James Dave Lindorff Exodus of the Puppets: Bush's Incredible Shrinking Coalition Benjamin Dangl Cerámica de Cuyo: a Profile of Worker Control in Argentina Michael Dickinson The Catholicization of Tony Poets' Basement Davies, Engel, Gerard and Orloski Website of the Weekend Incarcerex: a Drug War Video   June 22, 2007 Andy Worthington A Tunisian in Gitmo: the Story of Prisoner 660 Sherwood Ross Corporate America's Deadliest Secret: the Big Profits in Biowarfare Research Eliana Monteforte The Torture Academy Robert Weissman Things Can Be Different Richard Rhames Farmer Preservation Christopher Brauchli Bush and the Uighurs: an Encounter in Albania Ramzy Baroud Chronicle of a Chaos Foretold Ehud Krinis, David Shulman and Neve Gordon Facing an Imminent Threat of Expulsion: Palestinians in S. Hebron Hills Need Your Help! David Michael Green If Reid Were Rove Kathryn Webber Boycotting DePaul Website of the Day Stop Me Before I Vote Again!   June 21, 2007 Peter Linebaugh The Day of the Rope Natsu Saito The Regents and Ward Churchill: Now is the Time to Speak Out Ron Jacobs The Intimidation of a Vet Saree Makdisi The West Chooses Fatah, But Palestinians Don't John Stauber Blessed Unrest: an Interview with Paul Hawken Scott Liebertz Fox News and Venezuela: an Analysis of How the Network Deliberately Misinforms Its Viewers Tom Clifford The Ghost Prisoners Robert Jensen The Last Sunday? Michael J. Smith Who Among Us Will Step Up to Destroy the Democratic Party? Jeb Sprague Pain at the Pump in Haiti Website of the Day Dion: Hey Paris June 20, 2007 Omar Barghouti A Secular-Democratic State Solution Andy Worthington Repatriated to Torture Margaret Kimberley Supreme Injustices: the Bush Court Robert Weissman Sicko, Part One: the Human Tragedy Russell D. Hoffman Time to Choose: Meltdowns or Solar Power? Rannie Amiri Mideast Alight Stephen Lendman The New York Times vs. Hugo Chavez Dave Lindorff Democratic Disconnect David Swanson Booing Hillary: Platitudes from the Drone Machine Anne Dachel Autism & Vaccines: Why are They Afraid to Look? Website of the Day Revolution By the Book   June 19, 2007 Ralph Nader Hillary's Stock and Trade: the NAFTA Two-Step Dr. Shepherd Bliss Torture's Long Reach Bill and Kathleen Christison Demostrating Against the Catholic Church in Santa Fe Jeff Leys Swarming Congress: Building a Resistance to the 2008 Iraq War Supplemental Funding Bill Dave Zirin The Unforgiven: Barry Bonds and Jack Johnson Chris Floyd Hitchens Takes a Roll in the Hay Ben Terrall Iraq Union Leaders Speak Out Against the Occupation Anthony Papa Veronica's Story: a Dying Wish to Governor Spitzer VIPS Countering Terrorism: How Not to Do It Linda Flores Criminalizing the Classroom Website of the Day Sign On to the Iraq Moratorium June 18, 2007 John Ross The Annexation of Mexico Paul Craig Roberts The Reign of the Tyrants is at Hand Martha Rosenberg Let Cheney at Him: Richardson the Oryx Hunter Norman Solomon War at the Remote Don Santina Memo to the Queen: Bobby Sands Died for Your Sins Isabella Kenfield Landless Rural Workers Confront Lula James Brooks America's Guilty Silence Eva Liddell Planning to Lose: Democratic Stratagems Sam Husseini Clinton Health Care Scam Revisited Akiva Eldar Ariel Sharon's Dream Website of the Day Frank Zappa: the Cop Interview   June 16 / 17, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Psychopathology of Shrinks John Halle Finkelstein and "The Progressive" Robert Fisk Welcome to "Palestine" Andy Worthington Return to Torture? Uri Avnery The Gaza Cage Fred Gardner Paris Hilton's Punishment: a False Parable Saul Landau Our Gang of Thugs: The 1970s as a Context for Terrorist Violence P. Sainath Heaven Can Wait: Creditors and the Widows of Vidharbha Missy Comley Beattie Calling Evil Its Name Alan Gregory When ADM Comes to Town: Killer Tax Breaks for Wildlife Destruction Walter Brasch Bush and the Philosophy of Swiss Cheese Website of the Weekend Obama Girl   June 15, 2007 Alan Farago View from the Construction Crane: Sex, Taxes and Real Estate Scams in Miami Andy Worthington The Ordeal of Ali al--Marri Michael Simmons Terrorizing Artists in the USA Franklin Lamb Blowback Across Lebanon: The Failed Sunni Army Solution Gary Leupp The Day After We Attack Iran John Ross Ballot Burning Time in Ol' Mexico Website of the Day The American Rationalist   June 14, 2007 Michael Donnelly Charred SUVs and the End of Citizen Eco--Activism Faisal Kutty Scare Canada: The No--Fly List's False Sense of Security Harry Browne Ireland's Green Party Sells Out Charles Jonkel From the Arctic to Yellowstone: Bears in a World of Indifference Steven Higgs Murder in a Small Town: "Gay Panic" in Indiana? Bruce Dixon Black Power Through Low Power Radio Bruce K. Gagnon What Do We Do Now? A 10--Step Plan for Antiwar Activists Website of the Day Finkelgate June 13, 2007 Glen Ford Obama's Siren Song Marjorie Cohn Repression in Oaxaca Bill Christison A Grave Injustice at DePaul University Charles Jonkel Bears in a World of Indifference Silvia Cattori "I Was Not Prepared for the Horrors I Saw": an Interview with Hedy Epstein Richard Gott Racism and TV in Venezuela Firmin DeBrabander How the Neocons Misread Machiavelli William S. Lind The Perfect (Sine) Wave: Bombing Railroad Stations in Iraq Keith Rosenthal Workers Score a Victory at Harvard Website of the Day GOP and Monty Python Explain: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" June 12, 2007 Jeffrey St. Clair How to Sell a War Paul Craig Roberts The Neocon Threat to American Freedom P. Sainath India's Plutocrats and the Press Ralph Nader The Biggest Scam in the World Omar Waraich A Black Day for Pakistan's Press Dave Lindorff Things Your Media Momma Didn't Tell You Harvey Wasserman Confessions of an Anti-Nuke Jerk Malini Johar Schueller It Takes a Bomb Ramzy Baroud War Foretold: Mark Twain and the Sins of Empire Website of the Day Palestinian Chronicle Needs Our Help!   June 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The War on Journalists Paul Craig Roberts Losing the Economy to Mythology Uri Avnery 40 Bad Years: the Rot of Occupation Norman Solomon The Silence of the Bombs Eva Liddell Paris Hilton Doesn't Do Dishes: How Barbie Stood Up to Allen Ginsberg Rannie Amiri Groundhog Day in Pakistan Rachel Voss Poetry and Politics in Nassau County Christopher Brauchli A Wild West Tale, Starring Rev. Dobson and Bill O'Reilly D. K. Wilson Untangling Michael Vick from the Dogs Website of the Day Paris, Mixed Up June 9 / 10, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Dissidents Against Dogma George Ciccariello-Maher Behind Venezuela's "Student Rebellion": Who's Pulling the Strings? Saul Landau An Interview with Ricardo Alarcon, Vice President of Cuba Robert Fisk Believe It or Not in the Middle East Brian Cloughley Troop Support: Deceptions and Insipid Sentiments Ron Jacobs Condoleezza Rice Names the System Ward Boston Searching for the Truth About the USS Liberty Conn Hallinan Dark Plots in Byzantine Beirut Leonard Peltier The Ongoing War on Native American Religious Practices Lawrence Davidson Israel's New Anti-Boycott Task Force John Ross Mass Nude-In Complicates Church-State Scuffling in Mexico Kate Allan Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing Fred Gardner Ignorance Marches On Stephen Fleischman Little Boy, Fat Man and Iran Monica Benderman Reading Tom Paine in a Time of Crisis Geoff Bailey A Real Oil Conspiracy: Gouged at the Pump Missy Beattie Faith and War Patrick Dyer A Democrat Revs Up Ohio's Death Machine Tim Lengerich Dispelling the Cowboy Myth: an Interview with George Wuerthner James Irani and David Rahni Perspectives on the Arrests of Iran-Americans in Tehran Gary Leupp The Unfair Treatment of Paris Hilton Michael Tillery The Heart of a Sportswriter: an Interview with David Aldridge Michael Simmons Beating Off the Squares: the Hipness of Anton Rosenberg Poets' Basement Laymon, Davies and Ford Website of the Weekend This is Sea Shepherd!   June 8, 2007 Serge Halimi What Sarkozy Learned About Politics from the US Patrick Cockburn The Turkish Incursion Jeffrey St. Clair Israel's Attack on the USS Liberty, Revisited   Paul Craig Roberts The Secret War William Blum What If NBC Cheered on a Military Coup Against Bush? Joshua Frank Swing-State Strategy: Looking for a Spoiler Lance Selfa How the Six Day War Changed the Middle East Dave Lindorff A "Criminal Conspiracy" in the White House Lawrence Ferlinghetti The Summer of Love: Flashbacks of a Human Be-In Website of the Day Robert Pollin: "Making the Federal Minimum Wage a Living Wage" June 7, 2007 Marjorie Cohn The Prison is the War Crime Soldz, Reisner and Olson: A Q & A on Psychologists and Torture Soldz, Reisner and Olson, et al: An Open Letter to Sharon Brehm, President of the American Psychological Association Paul Craig Roberts Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran Bill Quigley "How Long Must We Support a Mistake?" Silvia Cattori Sailing to Gaza Carl G. Estabrook What the June Bug Is: Politics in the Dismal Season Ellen Taylor Free the Tweakers!: The Good News About Meth Corporate Crime Reporter BAE Systems, Prince Bandar and the $2 Billion Account at the Riggs Bank Brenda Norrell Torture Training at Ft. Huachuca: Two Priests Face Prison for Exposing Torture in Arizona D. K. Wilson What Gary Sheffield Really Said Kevin Zeese Iraq Occupation Coming to a Head Over Oil Website of the Day How the Press Expired June 6, 2007 Alain Gresh Countdown to War on Iran Gary Leupp Poddy's Crazy Prayer: Bomb Iran, For Israel and America! Steven Sherman The Perils of Humanitarian Intervention Bruce Dixon Is Bill Gates Trying to Hijack Africa's Food Supply? Corporate Crime Reporter The Professor and the Nukes Brian M. Downing The Iraq War and Presidential Politics Ron Jacobs Luv n' Hate: a Different Take on the Summer of Love George Bisharat The Mirage of the Two State Solution Nicole Colson Over to You, Dante: Falwell's Ministry of Hate Bruce K. Gagnon From Italy to Guam: A Global Peace Movement is Taking Shape Website of the Day How the Democrats Should Treat Bush   June 5, 2007 Michael Neumann Canada in Afghanistan Jonathan Cook The Shin Bet and the Persecution of Azmi Bishara David Vest The Democrats' War Robert Fantina America's Cuba Policy Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury CounterTerrorism as International Healthcare John V. Walsh Shaming the Official Antiwar Movement Richard Cretan Yellow Dog: The Strange Love of Martin Amis and Tony Blair Adam Engel Days of Dread: an American Tale William S. Lind The News from Anbar: Has Al Qaeda Over-Reached? Myles Hoenig Free the Oaks! Cut Down Those Yellow Ribbons! Jim Minick Lead-Foot Nation Website of the Day Punk Rock Soap Opera June 4, 2007 Nizar Latif An Interview with Moqtada al-Sadr Diana Johnstone Sarko and the Ghosts of May, 1968 Gregory Wilpert RCTV and Freedom of Speech in Venezuela Paul Watson The Anchorage Whale Killing Bureaucrats Summit Susan Rosenthal, MD How Cindy Sheehan Unmasked the Democrats Richard Ward The Right of Return to New Orleans Eva Liddell Don't Support the Troops Zahi Khouri Four Decades of Occupation Evelyn Pringle The FDA, GlaxoSmithKline and the Avandia Disaster China Hand About Those North Korean Benjamin Franklins ... Karyn Strickler George W. Bush: a "Ficeist" Leader Website of the Day The Guantanamo Files   June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Last of the Texas Outsiders Marc Levy Iraq Dead Ahead: a Brief Military History and Civilian Guide to Arlington National Cemetery Martin Smith Camilo Mejía's War: From Foot Soldier for Empire to Rebel for Peace Diana Johnstone Great Power Meddling in Kosovo John Ross The Oaxaca Volcano Stews Uri Avnery On Generals and Admirals Sunsara Taylor This is Not a Story About Cindy Sheehan Richard Neville Were the Hippies Right? P. Sainath The Farm Crisis and 100,000 Indian Widows Missy Comley Beattie Let's Roar Nisrine Abiad and Victor Kattan The Hariri Tribunal: a Fait Accompli? Rannie Amiri Lebanon, Bush and the Three Stooges Margot Pepper Deconstructing "Return to Sender" Eric Stewart Censorship and Cop Brutality in the New Bison Wars Ralph Nader The Halberstam Camp Dan Bacher A Victory for the Fish Shaun Harkin and Sandy Boyer Irish War Protesters on Trial Richard Rhames Selling Five Acres in Crawford Frederick Hudson The Rediscovery of Ella Fitzgerald Poets' Basement Lindorff, Landau and Buknatski Website of the Weekend Gimme Shelter June 1, 2007 Dave Marsh The FBI and the Godfather (of Soul): James Brown's FBI Files Saul Landau Return to Cuba: 47 Years Later in Havana David Phinney How the Baghdad Embassy Was Built: Forced Labor and Worker Abuse Robert Jensen The Bigot and the Boycott Stanley Heller Arrest Robert McNamara Yifat Susskind Indigenous Women Fight Back Robert Weissman Corporate Power Since 1980 Paul Buchheit Africa and Its Discontents William S. Lind The Folly of Maximalist Objectives Sherwood Ross 78,000 Iraqis Have Been Killed by Coalition Airstrikes Stephen Lendman Terrorism Defined Website of the Day Desert Autonomous Zone May 31, 2007 Robert Bryce The Language Barrier Patrick Cockburn Killing with Impunity: Iraq's Militias Under the Surge Gary Leupp Appropriate Disillusionment: the Despair of Cindy Sheehan and Andrew Bacevich Kathy Kelly Being Hope Marjorie Cohn The Unitary King George Chris Kutalik and Tiffany Ten Eyck Fallout from the Sale of Chrysler: Jobs, Health Care, Pensions, All in Jeopardy Corporate Crime Reporter Zheng Xiaoyu Meet Lester Crawford Dave Lindorff Our Monica: a Hero of the Constitution Website of the Day Know Your Rights!   May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway The Bi-Partisan Con on Synthetic Fuels Franklin Lamb Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kaleiaat Terrence E. Paupp Withdrawal Symptoms Uri Avnery To the Shores of Tripoli Alan Maass and Jeffrey St. Clair The Green Masquerade: Corporate America's Latest Counter-Attack Rock and Rap Confidential Watching the Detectives: the Political Censorship of Hip Hop Ralph Nader Taming the Giant Corporation Nirmal Ghosh China, CITES and the Fate of the Tiger Jean Daniels Dealing Democrats: Folding to Mr. 28% Tom Barry Meet Robert Zoellick: Bush's Pick to Head World Bank Website of the Day Petuuche Gilbert on the Rights of Indigenous People May 29, 2007 Stephen Soldz Shrinks and the SERE Technique at Guantanamo Eliza Ernshire Refugees Forever: Inside Bedawi Camp Ron Jacobs The Exit of Cindy Sheehan Dave Lindorff Whatever Happened to Signing Statements? Evelyn Pringle What Qualifies Bush to Lead Iraq War Mike Whitney Bush's New Middle East David Swanson How We Got Here: The Democrats and the Antiwar Movement John Holt Gating Montana, Part Two: the Feedback Loop Cynthia McKinney Dreaming of a True Memorial Day Martha Rosenberg Mad Cows, Mad Pigs and the Horse Slaughter Lobby Website of the Day The Ruminant May 28, 2007 Bill Quigley Katrina Activists: "Less Meeting, More Fighting" Col. Dan Smith The Paranoid and the Dead Cindy Sheehan Why I Am Leaving the Democratic Party Dr. Susan Block Dr. Laura's Little Monster Jeeni Criscenzo What I Learned About Being a Dickhead Douglas Valentine Memorial Day: a Poem Website of the Day Peace TV     Subscribe Online

June 29, 2007 One Civilian Massacre at a Time Losing the War in Afghanistan By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY "One of the problems is sometimes determining who exactly caused the casualties. It's not always clear if a civilian casualty is caused by an extremist or coalition forces." Major Chris Belcher, US spokesman, Afghanistan, June 23 2007 So it isn't easy to tell whether civilians are killed by insurgents or foreign forces in Afghanistan? When they are slaughtered by "precision" bombing by B52s or rockets from attack helicopters or shells from artillery or missiles from drones, it is presumably because the Afghan insurgents also operate all these means of dealing death. Six kids killed by air attacks? ­ It must have been these hi-tech Afghans who fly B52s at 30,000 feet. Or maybe some other Afghans who zoom down from the sky and mercilessly rocket villages. They don't? Well that's hardly surprising. Because according to Associated Press, "US-led coalition and NATO forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan have killed at least 203 civilians so far this year, surpassing the 178 civilians killed in militant attacks." NATO forces (commanded by a US general) and US forces operating outside the NATO structure in Afghanistan say they do not keep count of the number of civilians they kill, and admit to their slaughter only when it is absolutely impossible to deny that it has taken place. (The number wiped out by special forces cannot be assessed as these people are accountable to nobody and obey no laws. They assassinate at will and with impunity.) Here is a typical absurdity. It concerns the killing of 25 civilians including nine women and three children on June 22 : "ISAF said the target of the strike was a compound "assessed to have been occupied by up to 30 insurgent fighters, most of whom were killed in the engagement. ISAF troops are now investigating reports that a small number of civilians may also have been in the compound," it said in a statement." (AFP) Right. Now tell us, you geniuses, exactly how you know that "most" of the "up to 30" alleged insurgents were killed? If you didn't know that civilians were in the compound, and if you don't know that civilians were killed, how do you know that the people you killed were insurgents? Were they wearing uniforms? Did you send anyone into the compound to identify the bodies? The usual approach, once it has proved impossible to deny any longer that civilians have been killed, is for the military to blame the insurgents : "In choosing to conduct such attacks in this location at this time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate," said another spokesman, Colonel Smith, who then announced that "It is this irresponsible action that may have led to casualties." What proof is there for his statement? The man says the risk to civilians was "probably" deliberate. What is the basis for that claim, other than wishful thinking? And he declares that this "may have led to casualties", when it is obvious from the evidence of local people that there is no "may" about it. The air strikes butchered civilians. End of message. On the basis of the way that US/NATO propaganda is presented, the argument could be made by insurgents that they are fighting in their own country against foreign invaders and their killing of civilians takes place because foreigners occupy civilian areas and therefore place civilians at risk. We all realize that suicide bombings by bloodthirsty lunatics have been deliberate and merciless and have killed dozens of innocent people ­ but it is morally corrupt to claim that US air strikes are one bit less evil when they kill women and children. And it is ludicrous that their deaths are laid at the door of "irresponsible action" by militants. Then there is the downright lie: "KABUL (AFP) - Sat Jun 16 : A shot fired by US soldiers at the scene of a deadly suicide blast in Kabul Saturday was not deliberate but an "accidental discharge," the US military said. Kabul police said the shooting killed one Afghan and wounded three others, though US military spokesman Colonel David Accetta said he was aware of only two [being] wounded. "It appears to have been an accidental discharge. The US soldiers did not intend to fire on anyone," he told AFP. "There might have been a weapons malfunction or some other cause. We don't know, we are investigating," he said." OK, so the shambles was investigated. Where is the investigation report? Can we believe for one instant that the killing and wounding were caused by an accidental discharge? In a pig's valise. A minor sort of victory for decency followed the murder on March 4 of eight Afghan civilians by a Marine unit that went berserk in Nangarhar province after being hit by a suicide car-bomber. "Injured Afghans said the Americans fired on civilian cars and pedestrians as they sped away. US military officials said militant gunmen shot at Marines and may have caused some of the [thirty] civilian casualties." (ABC News) And the usual knee-jerk explanation was given by the ever-ready Lt-Colonel Accetta who announced that "Once again, the terrorists demonstrated their blatant disregard for human life by attacking coalition forces in a populated area, knowing full well that innocent Afghans would be killed and wounded in the attack." He went on to say that the Marine convoy was attacked by "small-arms fire from several directions. The coalition forces returned fire in self-defense. It's unclear whether the casualties were from the car bomb blast or from the small-arms fire." There are other views on this, such as those from many witnesses like the one who said "They were firing everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicles passing on the highway," said Tur Gul, 38, who was standing on the roadside by a gas station and was shot twice in his right hand. "They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot." (Washington Post, March 5) And afterwards, once the 'elite' marine unit had run away, there were attempts to cover up the circumstances in which the massacre took place: "When I went near the four-wheel drive, I saw the Americans taking pictures of the same car, so I started taking pictures," [the photographer] said. "Two soldiers with a translator came and said, 'Why are you taking pictures? You don't have permission." "The same soldier who took my camera came again and deleted my photos . . The soldier was very angry ... I told him, 'They gave us permission,' but he didn't listen." Lt. Col. David Accetta, a US military spokesman, said he did not have any confirmed reports that coalition forces "have been involved in confiscating cameras or deleting images." (AP, March 5) But neither the lies nor the cover-up worked. Even the US commander had to admit that the whole thing stank and ordered the unit out of Afghanistan. The reason given, mind you, was not because they had opened fire indiscriminately, thereby demonstrating gross professional incompetence. Nor because they murdered a lot of civilians. No : they were moved because they were giving a bad impression: "[Lt-Colonel] Leto, the spokesman at Special Operations Command Central headquarters, said the Marines, after being ambushed, responded in a way that created "perceptions (that) have really damaged the relationship between the local population and this unit." Therefore, he said, "the general felt it was best to move them out of that area." (Washington Post, March 23) There has been the usual investigation, although nobody without a salute stapled to his forehead will ever be allowed to read it. But in a way, and unwittingly, the general got something right. It is this sort of mindless bullet-spraying that has helped destroy efforts to encourage Afghans to think that foreign forces are on their side. Removal of one bunch of knuckle-dragging buffoons will not reduce the loathing felt by millions of Afghans for foreign troops but it does indicate that deep down in the military mind there might be a stirring of realization that mowing down civilians doesn't win wars. Five days after the Nangarhar massacre, seemingly without irony, subprime George Bush pronounced that "I don't think America gets enough credit for trying to help improve people's lives". Tell that to the relatives of the 203 Afghan civilians killed so far this year. Ferocious attacks on civilians, be these by ill-trained troops or brave warriors of the skies who bomb and rocket houses occupied by women and children, are serving to hasten the spread of distrust and loathing. The opposition, whether 'Taliban', double-dealing warlords, drug thugs, or ordinary tribesmen who hate all foreigners, is by its nature disorganized and incapable of mounting major attacks. But it doesn't need to. The war in Afghanistan is being lost because the foreign occupiers are killing Afghan civilians. Brian Cloughley is a former army officer who writes on political and military affairs. His website is www.briancloughley.com

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