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Recent
Stories
April
21, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
An Administration in Contempt
Edward
Said
Give Us Back Our Democracy
Gary
Leupp
Easter Thoughts on Liberation, Jesus
and Kanaka WaiWai
Roger
Witherspoon
Why Michigan Needs Affirmative Action
Uri Avnery
At Midnight, a Knock on the Door
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/19
April
19, 2003
Gary
Leupp
The Rape of History
Saul
Landau
Shop, Go to Church, Support Bush's
War, Wait for Armageddon
Michael
J. Fellows
Off With Their Heads: the Constitution According to Scalia
Pablo
Mukherjee
Roadmap to Resistance
Omar
Barghouti
Sharon's Bloody Beat
Anthony
Gancarski
Tony Blair: the Most Powerful Man in the World
Mickey
Z.
Animals: the Other Collateral Damage
Will
Potter
When Police Attack Journalists
William
MacDougall
America's In-Bedded Journalism
Neve
Gordon
Haunted by History
Adam
Engel
Wal-Mart and Peace
Dr.
Susan Block
Art Bombs: American Libertines for Peace
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Buono, Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/19
Song of
the Weekend
Baghdad to Basra
April
18, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Operation "Syrian Freedom":
This One's Not About Oil
Jorge
Mariscal
"They Died Trying to Become
Students": the Future of Latinos in an Era of War and Occupation
Mickey
Z:
Coalition of the Unindicted: Only Losers Get Tried for War Crimes
Hussein
Ibish
Syria and the Road to World War IV
Reza Ladjevardian
Tarqeting Iran? Do It With TV, Not Cruise Missiles
Matania
Ben-Artzi
You Are Not Protecting My Son's Rights: a Letter to the President
of Israel's Supreme Court
Bruce Jackson
Jews Like Us
Joe
Allen
My Lai Revisited
Carl Estabrook
Support Our Euphemism
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/18
Website
of the Day
Meet the Victims of War
April
17, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Patriot Gore: the Fatal Flaws in
the Patriot Missile System
Joanne
Mariner
Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications
for the Pentagon
Issam
Nashashibi
Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman
to Baghdad
Wayne Madsen
Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism
Robert
Fisk
The Army of Occupation
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Virtual Saddam Takes Aim
Biljana
Vankovska
A Personal View of Iraq: Where
is the Truth?
Dan Brook
Oil War: Fueling the Empire
Stanley
Heller
Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like
Tim Robbins
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation
Harold
A. Gould
Iraq After the War
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/17
April
16, 2003
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Jason
Leopold
Halliburton's Bloody History: They'll
Work for Anyone
Kurt
Nimmo
The Destruction of Iraq: Hey, It's
Good for Business
Stephen
Green
Dancing to Sharon's Beat: the Road
to Unilateral Pre-emption
Diane
Christian
The Devil in Bush's Details
Carol
Norris
Mourning Iraq
Anthony
Gancarski
They Call Themselves Economists?
Michael
Sells
Nero in Baghdad
Alexander
Cockburn
Contract with Iraq
Ninan Koshy
India's Devious Middle Path Through the Iraq War
Brenda
Norrell
Lakota Leader: World Must Resist
American Empire
Wallace
Gagne
End of History; More in a Moment
Stew
Albert
On the Road Again
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/16
April
15, 2003
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
April
14, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush's War Without End
Uri Avnery
Gunboat Democracy: This is Only the Beginning
Wayne
Madsen
Americans: The New Mongols of the Mideast?
Shahid
Alam
Iqra: Iraq is Free
Hani
Shukrallah
Day of the Chicken Hawks
Terry
Jones
The Iraq Gravy Train
John
Chuckman
The Iraq War's Trashiest Piece of Propaganda
Patrick
Cockburn
US has a Lot to Answer For: Violence,
Misery and Poverty in Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/14
April
12 / 13, 2003
Carol
Lipton
Wag the Kennel: the Kenneth Joseph
Story
Wayne
Madsen
Meet the New Butcher of Baghdad: Maj.
Gen. Buford Blount III
John
Brown
"They Got It Down": the Toppling
of the Saddam Statue
Kathy and
Bill Christison
Final Thoughts from Palestine
William
Blum
Our Vulnerable Warmongers' Rush to Justify Devastation
Wallace
Gagne
Let the Stealing Begin
Ann
Harrison
Rosenthal Update: Judge Delays Ruling in Medical Pot Mistrial
Case
Henry Miller
What is the Greatest Treason?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Render Unto Cesar
Zeljko
Cipris
Mocking Militarism: On Ishikawa Jun's Song of Mars
Ishikawa
Jun
The Song of Mars
Jamey Hecht
Chairman of the Sandwich Board
Adam
Engel
Hell of a Town: Mayor Bloomberg and
the News
Poets'
Basement
Chang Yang-Hao, Adam Engel and Hammond Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/12
April
11, 2003
Omar
Barghouti
From Saddam to Uncle Sam
Ron
Jacobs
Greed is Rewarded
David
Vest
The Corporate War on Iraq
Paul
de Rooij
Propaganda Stinkers: Fresh Samples from the Field
Anthony
Gancarski
Foreign Aid: Embezzlement as Public Policy
Mas'ood
Cajee
Franklin Graham: Spiritual Carpetbagger
Michael
Neumann
Now What?
Michael
Berry
The Neo-Cons Have a Dream
Stew Albert
Oh Freedom
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/11
Website
of the Day
About Those Dancing Crowds
April
10, 2003
Zoltan
Grossman
The Perils of Occupation: the Easier
the Victory, the Harder the Peace
Uri
Avnery
The Night After
Wayne Madsen
The Telltale Signs of Empire
David Krieger
Before You Become Too Flushed with Victory, Think of Ali Ismaeel
Abbas
Jeremy
Brecher
What Can the World Do Now That Tanks Prowl Baghdad?
Robert
Jensen
The Unseen War
Geoffrey
Neale
Ashcroft's War on the Constitution:
A Patriot Attack on America
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Last Tango in Baghdad
Hammond
Guthrie
Rumors of War
Joseph
Heller
Nately's Old Man
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/10
Website
of the Day
The
Third Page
April
9, 2003
David
Lindorff
Secret Bechtel Docs Reveal: Yes,
the War Is About Oil
Doug
Lummis
Saving Private Lynch: Hollywood and
War
Susan
Davis
The New York Times and the Peace Movement
David Vest
Smoking Gun? You're Watching It
John
Chuckman
America's Sovereign Right to Do
as It Damn Well Pleases
Akiva
Eldar
Gary Bauer and AIPAC: an Unholy Alliance
with the Christian Right
Ray
Hanania
Suicide Bombers without the Suicide:
Racism, Hypocrisy and the War on Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/9
April
8, 2003
David
Lindorff
Killing the Messengers: It Doesn't
Matter If It's Deliberate or Accidental
Richard
Lichtman
Dr. Phil in the Trenches
John
Brown
Why Uncle Ben Hasn't Sold Uncle Sam:
a Former Foreign Service Staffer on Bush's Policy Failures
Ben
Terrall
Report from the Oakland Docks: "The
Cops Had No Reason to Open Up on Them"
Jason Leopold
FERC and Wall Street: Conversations
May Have Violated Federal Law
Anthony
Gancarski
Conyers Heeds the Call on Perle
Linda Heard
Journalists Die, the Networks Lie, Iraqis Ask "Why?"
Ahmad
Faruqui
Wallowing in Hypocrisy
Wallace
Gagne
Baghdad Babble
Harry
Browne
Report from the Protests at the Bush/Blair
Summit
Larry Kearney
I Understand There's a Boy in
a Baghdad Hospital
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/8
M. Shahid
Alam
The Israelization of America
April
7, 2003
Todd
Chretien
Wooden Bullets & Grenades: Oakland
Cops Attack Peace Protesters and Dock Workers
David
N. Gibbs
Spying, Secrecy and the University:
The CIA is Back on Campus
Harry Browne
War and Peace Summit a Royal Farce
Gideon
Levy
America is Not a Role Model
Diane
Christian
A Scene from an Obscene War
Jules
Rabin
Remembering Deir Yassin
James Davis
Oddsmaking in Dublin: Will Bush
Shake Gerry's Hand?
Robert
Fisk
The Twisted Language of War
Patrick
Cockburn
Slaughter on the Road to Dibagah
John
Mackay
War and Art
Seth Sandronsky
Wars and the Color Line
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/7
April
5, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
The Iraqi Humanitarian Relief is
in Shambles
Anne
Gwynne
A Drowning in Salem
Uri
Avnery
Roadmap to Nowhere
Chris
Floyd
Hell for Leather: Bombs, Bullets, Bibles and Bush
William
Cook
Would You Have Sent Your Son (or Daughter) Off to War If...
Gila
Svirsky
A Busy Day for Bulldozers
Mike Ferner
Back from Baghdad: What Next for the Peace Movement?
Joanne
Mariner
Civilian Deaths and Official Apologies
John Stanton
Bush Takes His Killing Orders
from the Lord
Romi
Mahajan
Learning to Count the Dead
Aluf Benn
After Iraq, US Vows to Deal with
Other Mideast Regimes
Mary
Ellen Peterson
Gay Marine Refuses to Fight
William
MacDougall
Country Music and the Crimes of Patriotism
Ron
Jacobs
War and Occupation
Bernie
Pattison
Aborigines and the Different God
Mark
Engler
Iraq War as Arms Expo
Adam Engel
Li'l Box of Love: a Novelini
Poets'
Basement
Tripp, Albert, Katz
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Flesh and Its Discontents: the Paintings of Lucian Freud
Norman
Madarasz
Canada and the War
April
4, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell's Shame
John
Chuckman
Was Einstein Right About Israel?
David
Krieger
The Meaning of Victory
Tom
Gorman
The Mantra of the Troops: Support
or Treason?
Adam
Federman
The Absence of War
Vijay
Prashad
There Are No More Arguments
Tom
Stephens
The End of the Innocence
Mickey
Z.
Makes Me Sic (Sic): Copy Editing
Bush Speak
Pierre
Tristam
War Coverage: a Dishonest Reality
Show
Hammond
Guthrie
The Deadly Mihrab
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/04
April
3, 2003
Uri
Avnery
A Crooked Mirror: Presstitution and
the Theater of Operations
David
Vest
Can You Hear the Silence?
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell Telemarketer
David
Lindorff
Takoma: the Dolphin Who Refused
to Fight
Michael
Roberts
War, Debts and Deficits
Ramzy
Baroud
Now That Iraqis Are Being Killed Is Israel Any More Secure?
Jo Wilding
From Baghdad with Tears
Anton
Antonowicz
Cluster Bombs on Babylon
Alison
Weir
Israel, We Won't Forget Rachel Corrie
Bruce
Jackson
Hating Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Eliot Katz
War's First Week
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/03
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April 23,
2003
The War Profiteers
Tax
Corporations on Excess War Profits
By
MARJORIE COHN
Basking in his high ratings from the Iraq war,
George W. Bush turned his attention on April 15 to selling his
tax-cut plan. Bush's proposal to cut taxes by $550 billion over
the next decade has been roundly criticized as corporate welfare
at its best.
Bush's timing could scarcely be labeled
serendipitous. His tax-cut campaign coincides with USAID and
Army Corps of Engineers awards of massive reconstruction contracts
to corporations that have filled Republican Party coffers with
hefty campaign donations. The most egregious aspect of these
contracts is that they will result in windfall profits for the
corporations that have landed them.
The list of companies that will profit
handsomely from the contracts reads like a Who's Who of Republican
loyalists. Topping the list is Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary
of Halliburton Co., headed by Dick Cheney before he was tapped
for vice president, which was initially awarded the most lucrative
Iraq reconstruction contract. The pact for emergency oil-field
services may be worth $7 billion over the next two years. It
could earn as much as 7 percent profit, or $490 million.
Strikingly, this contract was bestowed
upon Kellogg Brown & Root without sending it out for bids,
to the consternation of many in Congress. After the General Accounting
Office, Congress's investigative arm, launched a wide-ranging
inquiry into the award, the Army Corps of Engineers announced
it would send the Halliburton contract out for competitive bids.
It remains to be seen whether the Corps' about-face is simply
a perfunctory move to forestall criticism, in which Halliburton
will walk away with the contract in the end. Months before the
Iraq war, Kellogg Brown & Root had been granted a separate
Army logistics contract, which has the unprecedented distinction
of carrying no price tag.
Another fat Iraq reconstruction contract
for $680 million was awarded to Bechtel Group, which donated
most of its $1.3 million worth of political campaign contributions
since 1999 to the Republican Party. Bechtel has close ties to
the Bush administration.
Donald Rumsfeld once served as a liaison
between Bechtel and the Iraqi government to finesse the building
of an oil pipeline. And former Secretary of State George Shultz,
a member of the board of directors of Bechtel, is also chairman
of the advisory board of the Committee for the Liberation of
Iraq, a strongly pro-war organization with influence in the White
House.
An accused human rights violator, DynCorp,
a firm which provides security services and which has donated
nearly $70,000 to the Republican Party, won a multi-million dollar
contract to police post-war Iraq. DynCorp has been accused of
engaging in the prostitution business in Bosnia, and it is being
sued in a class action by a group of Ecuadorean peasants for
spraying herbicides in Colombia that drifted across the border,
killing children and crops.
Many in Congress are miffed because the
bidding process for these reconstruction contracts has taken
place in secret. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Hillary Rodham
Clinton (<D-N.Y>.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have cosponsored
the Sunshine in the Iraq Reconstruction Contracting Act of 2003,
to bring transparency to the awarding of these contracts.
Tony Blair must also be seething. Notwithstanding
Blair's unwavering loyalty to Bush, Iraq reconstruction contracts
will go exclusively to U.S. firms. Foreign corporations can only
subcontract for these lucrative jobs.
Moreover, after the Bush administration
succeeds in privatizing Iraq's oil, U.S. corporations will likely
be first in line to do business. The hundreds of protestors chanting
"No blood for oil" at ChevronTexaco's world headquarters
in San Ramon the day before Bush launched his tax-cut campaign
understood this well.
Defense contractors are also profiting
handily from the war. SY Coleman, a key company connected to
the U.S. Patriot missile system, is headed by Lt. Gen. Jay Garner,
the new "sheriff of Baghdad." And Northrop Grumman,
which won $8.5 billion in contracts last year, has ties with
the neoconservatives who provided the blueprint for Bush's doctrine
of preemptive war, beginning with Iraq.
It is wrong for huge corporations to
profit from war. During the Civil War, there was a public outcry
in Georgia against profiteering from that national tragedy. Georgia's
General Assembly responded by enacting a special profits tax.
Congress itself enacted "excess-profits
taxes" during World Wars I and II and the Korean War, to
prevent firms from making windfall profits from these conflicts.
Democratic Rep. Clement C. Dickinson of Missouri eloquently stated
the rationale for an excess-profits tax on the floor of Congress
in 1917. He said that "those who reap large war profits
in times of distress should help to bear the burdens of government,
increased by reason of the very conditions that add to the wealth
of those who flourish and fatten on the misfortunes of the country."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his
first radio address following the outbreak of World War II, declared
that "no American has the moral right to profiteer at the
expense either of his fellow-citizens or of the men, women and
children who are living and dying in the midst of war in Europe."
The U.S. had not yet entered the war at that point.
In a message to Congress in 1940, Roosevelt
sought "a steeply graduated excess-profits tax" to
ensure "that a few do not gain from the sacrifices of the
many." The members of the U.S. armed forces who have served
in the war on Iraq are not making excess wages for their sacrifices.
Many will suffer for the rest of their lives with injuries and,
likely, with Gulf War II Syndrome.
On Feb. 13, 2003, former Sen. George
McGovern suggested on MSNBC's "Buchanan & Press"
that Congress impose an excess-profits tax. "I don't think
people ought to be making money out of young American blood in
Iraq," McGovern said.
Excess-profits taxes are generally calculated
in one of two ways. Any return on capital over a fixed percent
may be considered excess profits. Or they might be defined as
net income in excess of prewar levels.
In his farewell speech to America in
1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned: "In the councils
of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted
influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial
complex."
George W. Bush has cited the lofty ideal
of bringing freedom to the Iraqi people as justification for
this war. He should not then oppose the imposition of an excess-profits
tax on corporations that have secured contracts to rebuild Iraq.
Marjorie Cohn,
a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego,
is executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild. She
can be reached at: cohn@counterpunch.org
Yesterday's
Features
Uri
Avnery
Operation "Syrian Freedom":
This One's Not About Oil
Jorge
Mariscal
"They Died Trying to Become
Students": the Future of Latinos in an Era of War and Occupation
Mickey
Z:
Coalition of the Unindicted: Only Losers Get Tried for War Crimes
Hussein
Ibish
Syria and the Road to World War IV
Reza Ladjevardian
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Ben-Artzi
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of Israel's Supreme Court
Bruce Jackson
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Joe
Allen
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Carl Estabrook
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Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/18
Website
of the Day
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