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CounterPunch
August
29, 2002
American Journal
Kissinger, Hitchens,
Springsteen, Haggard and Presley
by Alexander Cockburn
Clearly irked by the thought that he and Henry
Kissinger may be on the same wave length when it comes to attacking
Saddam Hussein, Christopher Hitchens is now declaring in the
London Observer that H.K. is against any such war: "A week
or so ago I wondered when he was going to pronounce on the impending
confrontation with Iraq. And I bet right. He is against it."
Oh no he's not. As a Kissinger-hater
Hitchens isn't doing his homework. The veteran war criminal set
forth his views on war against Iraq in the Chicago Tribune on
August 11. The entire purpose of the piece is to offer the appropriate
justification for attacking Iraq. The only bit Hitchens bothered
to read is Kissinger's initial critique of Bush's simple ratiojaleforwar
is that a "regime-change" in Iraq is desirable. Kissinger
dismisses this as an appropriate pretext
for a US attack.
 "Regime change as a goal for military intervention
challenges the international system established by the 1648 Treaty
of Westphalia, which, after the carnage of the religious wars,
established the principle of non-intervention in the domestic
affairs of other states. And the notion of justified pre-emption
runs counter to international law, which sanctions the use of
force in self-defense only against actual, not potential, threats."
But Kissinger then makes the case for
an attack, based on the rationale that Saddam possesses and intends
to use weapons of mass destruction:
"The objective of regime change
should be subordinated in
American declaratory policy to the need to eliminate weapons
of mass destruction from Iraq as required by the UN resolutions.
The restoration of the inspection system existing before its
expulsion by Saddam is clearly inadequate. It is necessary to
propose a stringent inspection system that achieves substantial
transparency of Iraqi institutions. Since the consequences of
simply letting the diplomacy run into the ground are so serious,
a time limit should be set. The case for military intervention
will then have been made in the context of seeking a common approach."
It's clear that Kissinger has no time
for the argument that, if we are to believe former weapons inspector
Scott Ritter, all weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have been
destroyed. He knows well enough that all it would take is for
the CIA suddenly to "discover" a new launch pad on
its satellite photos, and the pretext would be there.
Hail to the
Chief
Bush faced around a thousand protesters
in Portland, Oregon, when he arrived to make a speech on behalf
of the timber industry.. The riot police came and the protesters
gassed and sprayed and shot with plastic bullets. These days
any public public demonstration against the commander in chief
is taken as lese majeste, to be. Look at those kids in Ohio a
couple of months ago when Bush came to speak at a commencement.
They were told that if they shouted anything obstreperous or
otherwise displayed themselves in a critical posture, they would
not be allowed to graduate.
I heard Bruce Springsteen Tuesday night
in San Jose and liked the show better than a performance on his
last tour, maybe two or three years ago, I heard in Portland,
Oregon. His voice sounded great through pretty much three straight
hours of solid singing. If anything the show was too long by
half an hour or so. Patti Scialfa's keening reminded me of Ireland
(remember, we're supposed on one theory to be descended from
Berbers) as did some of the warm violin playing by Soozie Tyrell.
In Ireland The Rising means primarily the rebellion of Easter
1916 whereas Springsteen's references here address the conjuring
of the dead into Redemption.
The crowd was wildly with Bruce through
the older standards but also through the quieter songs which
in San Jose included 41 Shots. This last got a particularly warm
welcome in our section of the crowd, which contained folk from
the Public Defenders Office of Contra Costa county, plus the
entire defense team for Lamont Johnson, currently looking at
the gallows on trumped up charges, amid prosecutorial misconduct
well beyond the norm.
Right at the end Springsteen put in a
plug for the Santa Clara food bank, and then in a couple of sentences
which hung too meekly in the air like afterthoughts reminded
the crowd that "We must be vigilant against erosions to
our civil liberties which come with the territory of being Born
in the USA," which he then sang.
Far more forthright and rambunctious
is Merle Haggard, according to Cheryl Burns who reports this
from Kansas City: "I saw Merle Haggard tonight in KC--great
show. He said something about 'so now we're in another war' and
went on to say he was still proud to be an American and all that,
so I was wondering just where he was headed. But then he said
there was nothing good about any war except the soldiers, sailors,
etc.
"Then he says, 'I think we should
give John Ashcroft a big hand ...(pause)... right in the mouth!'
Went on to say, 'the way things are going I'll probably be thrown
in jail tomorrow for saying that, so I hope ya'll will bail me
out.'
Cheryl concludes, "Proud to be an
Okie from...um...Oklahoma City."
Right on, Merle. At another concert,
June a year ago, he was quoted by John Derbyshire in National
Review online as saying, "Look at the past 25 years we went
downhill, and if people don't realize it, they don't have their
fucking eyes on ... In 1960, when I came out of prison as an
ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than
there's available to an average citizen in America right now...
God almighty, what have we done to each other?"
Was Presley
A Racist?
On the occasion of the recent 25th anniversary
of Elvis Presley's death I read a truly stupid piece in the London
Guardian, "He Wasn't My King" by Helen Kolawole, to
the effect that Elvis stole songs like Hound Dog from black folks,
that Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton wrote Hound Dog and sang
it better and that anyway Elvis was a racist, noted for having
said, The only thing Negro people can do for me is to buy my
records and shine my shoes.
Wrong on every count. Jerry Lieber and
Mike Stoller, white men, wrote Hound Dog and Big Mama Thornton's
version is markedly inferior to Presley's, made three years after
her's. Peter Guralnick, in his Last Train to Memphis, The Rise
of Elvis Presley (1994), cites a good story that appeared in
Jet magazine on August 1, 1957.
"Tracing that rumored racial slur
to its source was like running a gopher to earth", Jet wrote.
Some said Presley had said it in in Boston, which Elvis had never
visited. Some said it was on Edward Murrow's on which Elvis had
never appeared. Jet sent Louie Robinson to the set of Jailhouse
Rock "When asked if he ever made the remark, Missisissippi-born
Elvis declared: 'I never said anything like that, and people
who know me know I wouldn't have said it ."
Robinson then spoke to people "who
were (itals) in a position to know" and heard from Dr W.
A Zuber, "a Negro physician in Tupelo" that Elvis Presley
used to "go round to Negro 'sanctified meetings'; from pianist
Dudley Brooks that he "faces everybody as a man" and
from Presley himself that he had gone to colored churches as
a kid, like Reverend Brewster's and that "he could honestly
never hope to equal the musical achievemets of Fats Domino or
the Inkspot's Bill Kenny." "To Elvis," Jet concluded
in its Aug 1 1957 issue, "people are people regardless of
race, color or creed."
Visiting Memphis, Ivory Joe Hunter was
invited by Presley to visitiwithhim in Graceland and Ivory Joe
was worried about the stories of prejudice that had been circulating
about Elvis through the spring of 12957. Presley received him
with warmth and admiration, sang his composition "I almost
lost my mind" with him, and they hung out for the day singing.
Hunter said later, "He showed me every courtesy and I think
he's one of the greatest." (Jimmy T-99 Nelson told Jeffrey
St Clair the other day that Ivory Joe had the biggest feet he'd
ever seen. Bigger than Howlin' Wolf's, Jeffrey asked. Bigger
by far, said Nelson. When Ivory Joe stamped, the whole stage
shook.)
If you want to look at some great photographs
of Elvis in black locales and with black musicians in Memphis
in the 1950s, get Daniel Wolff's wonderful edition of Ernest
Withers' photos, TThe
Memphis Blues Again.
When my daughter Daisy was around 12,
in the course of a couple of chance encounters, I was able to
get Lieber to play her Hound Dog and Yip Harburg to sing her
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow", all in one summer. Oh,
just something any Dad would do.
Today's Features
Chris Floyd
The Secret
Sharers:
The CIA and the Murder of Frank Olson
New Print
Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- War Talk As White Noise:
Anything to Get Harken and Halliburton
Out of the Headlines;
- First Hilliard, Then
McKinney: Jewish
Groups Target Blacks Brave Enough to Talk About Justice in the
Middle East; Intimidation
is the Name of the Game; Smearing
"Insane" McKinney As Muslims' Pawn;
- The Missing Terrorist?
Calling Scotland
Yard: "Where's Atif?"
- They Never Booed Dylan!:
Tape Transcript Shows
Famed Newport Folkfest Dissing of Electric Dylan Not True. The Catcalls were for Peter
Yarrow!
- New Shame from the Liffey
Shrike
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August 29,
2002
Chris Floyd
The Secret
Sharers:
The CIA and the Murder of Frank Olson
August 28,
2002
William Ring
War on Iraq:
The Brightest Scenario
August 27,
2002
Sam Bahour
The Violence
of Curfew
Wenonah Hauter
From Johannesburg:
Pacts with the Devil: Public-Private Partnerships and the Global
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Jerre Skog
Wanted:
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Uri Avnery
Letter
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August 26,
2002
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Ruebner /
Turaani
What
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Norman Madarasz
Brazil
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Robert Fisk
War Crimes:
Reporters Aren't Prosecutors
Douglas Valentine
Phoenix,
CIA and Maj. Gen. Bruce Lawlor: From Vietnam
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Proverbial
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Falk / Krieger
No War
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Ceylon Mooney
Fasting
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Jonathon
Wright
Police
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Ralph Nader
Congress's
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Jeffrey St.
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Chainsaw
George
Alexander
Cockburn
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Hardline
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Crushing
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Gilad Atzmon
The Zionist
Lobby and
American Foreign Policy
Robert Johnson
Right
Wing Doves?
Alexander
Cockburn
Taking
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2002
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Romi Mahajan
Bhopal
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Jerre Skog
Bush and
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Tom Crumpacker
The
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August 20,
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Christison
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Tilt: the NYT
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Played
Out: a Journey to Central City, Colorado
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