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Inside the New Print Edition of CounterPunch: Labor's Crisis Questions Labor's Leaders Daren't Ask: Where and Why Did We Go Wrong? by JoAnn Wypijewski; Oil on Ice: How Bush Won ANWR, with an Assist from the Dems by Jeffrey St. Clair; The Self-Rehab of George Kennan by Alexander Cockburn; The State and Terri Schiavo: a Conversation with Ralph Nader; Lisa Frittko: She Escorted Walter Benjamin Across the Pyrennes by Lawrence Reichard. Remember these stories are available exclusively in the print edition of CounterPunch. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! 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 donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Coming Soon from CounterPunch Books Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY Click Here to Order! Today's Stories April 9 / 10, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Torture Air, Incorporated April 8, 2005 Rob Eshelman Made in Palestine: the First Exhibition of Palestinian Art in the US Hom Raj Acharya / Sally Acharya The Elephant in Nepal's Parlor Felice Pace A Golden Opportunity for Justice on the Klamath Neve Gordon Israel is the Key to Iraq Mike Whitney The Economic Tsunami: Coming Sooner Than You Think Don Monkerud God's Shock Troops: the Religious Right and US Foreign Policy Adam Engel The Code of Frank Conroy Vicente Navarro Opus Dei and John Paul II: a Profoundly Rightwing Pope Website of the Day Mountain Justice Summer   April 7, 2005 Joshua Frank The DeLay Scandal Isn't a Partisan Issue Yitzhak Laor Racism by Any Other Name Alan Maass Tug of War with Terri Schiavo Steven Sherman An Open Letter to Daniel Okrent: Why the Times is Not "Assertively Left" Dave Lindorff Bush's Potemkin Town Meetings Gerry Adams The IRA Should Change from "Volunteers" to "Activists" John Chuckman Hanoi Jane and the City of God Michael Dickinson Two Weddings and a Funeral John Ross Lost and Found in the Arizona Desert Website of the Day Genetically-Engineered Small Pox?   April 6, 2005 Peter Camejo The Crisis in the Green Party Kevin Wehr The Eco-Terror Hoax: Domestic Security and the Culture of Fear Matt Vidal Bush's Legacy: Dead Bodies, Dead Wrong, Dead Logic Robert Creeley / Bruce Jackson On the Subject of Company Nikolas Kozloff Chavez's Oil Gambit Sea Shepherd Crew Attack of the Hak-a-Piks Brenda Child Ojibwe Have Dealt With Grief Before: From Boarding School Abuse to School Shootings Terry Eagleton The Pope with Blood on His Hands David Swanson Why the Media Can't Read the Banktuptcy Bill Cindy Ellen Hill On the Lists: What's the Patriot Act in Belfast Website of the Day The New Nike?     April 5, 2005 Jim Connolly The Pope Who Revived the Office of the Inquisition: an American Catholic on the Papacy of John Paul II Paul Craig Roberts "Partnering" the Destruction of the American Economy Gary Leupp Bombing the Malwiya Minaret Dave Lindorff The Grassroots Resistance to the Patriot Act Ron Jacobs The Terrorism of War Dan Smith Riding the Dragon, Soaring on the Eagle: US Economic Decline and the Rise of China Mark Engler John Paul II's Economic Ethics: Moral Values and Global Capitalism Richard Oxman Bono for Pope Greg Moses Narcowars vs. Civil Rights Website of the Day Impeach Cheney and Bush     April 4, 2005 Kevin Zeese Liberals and Neocons for a Draft Paul Craig Roberts American Rot: When Opposing Voices Do Not Oppose Larry Birns / Sarah Schaffer Bush's Arms Sales Hypocrisy Karyn Strickler Blood on Ice: Seal Pup Slaughter on the St. Lawrence Joshua Frank The Minuteman Project: Paramilitaries on the Border Michael Dickinson It's Too Late Now for John Paul II to Repent Surendra R. Devkota Ending the Deadlock in Nepal Derrick O'Keefe Haiti, Yesterday and Today: an Interview with Laura Flynn Uri Avnery Djinn in the Box Website of the Day Libby, Montana: America's Most Toxic Town?   April 2 / 3, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Death, Depression and Prozac Jeffrey St. Clair Trippwired Stan Goff A Trojan Jackass for the Anti-War Movement John Ross How to Change the World Without Taking Power Saul Landau Guns, Vitamins and God Robert Creeley Goodbye Mike Roselle Riding Shotgun with Woody Harrelson Joshua Frank Dead Wrong Intelligence Fred Gardner The Obvious Green Issue Greg Moses Photo ID Movement as White Privilege Fran Quigley The Economics of Global Poverty: an Interview with Jeffrey Sachs Kurt Nimmo The Strange Allure of Paul Wolfowitz Nicole Colson Pentagon Greenlights Murder in Iraq Chris Genovali Killing Grizzlies for Fun Alan Farago Dirty Water and Land Speculators in the Florida Keys Lawrence Reichard The M-19 and the Siege of Bogota Ben Tripp Civilization and War Avantika Regmi Chaos in Nepal Lee Sustar Off the Script in Kyrgyzstan Ron Jacobs Death of a Revolutionary: Vermont Loses an Honest Man Dave Lindorff The Black Arrow: a Review Poets' Basement Smith-Ferri, Curtis, Louise, Engel and Albert Website of the Day O2 Collective: No Breathing Tube Required       April 1, 2005 Tom Barry Michael Chertoff: Legal Storm Trooper Rahul Mahajan WMD Commission: Yet Another Intelligence Failure Charlie Cray / Jim Vallette Dancing with Wolfowitz Dave Lindorff News Media Anguish Over Schiavo's Death Zeynep Toufe The Terri Schiavo Success Story Suzan Mazur Pension Funds and the Price of Oil Michael Dickinson Shut Your Mouth or Go to Prison! Stan Cox Iraq Reconstruction Funds Invested on Wall Street Ra Ravishankar Et Tu, George? Daniel Wolff Patti Scialfa's Conversation with America     March 31, 2005 Sharon Smith Leftwing Apologists for the Occupation Ron Jacobs Rounding Out Iraq's History Tariq Ali British Elections: Punish the Warmongers Michael Dickinson Cartoon Capers: Turkey's War on Political Cartoonists Kanak Mani Dixit The Struggle for Nepal's Future Mitchell Zimmerman The Bizarre Legal Philosophy of Justice Janice Rogers Brown Xuan-Trang Ho Guatemala and CAFTA: Return to the Bad Old Days? Dave Zirin Pay the Damn Players! Joe Bageant In Praise of Holy Madness Jeff Halper The End of a Viable Palestinian State Website of the Day Free Nepal     March 30, 2005 Gary Leupp Curing Those People of Their Hatred: Condi's Pitch for a "Different Kind" of Middle East Ralph Nader / Kevin Zeese Report on Iraq Intelligence Failure: No One to Blame Chase Madar Wolfowitz's Career Move: From Failed Warrior to Humanitarian Banker Toni Solo Bush in Latin America Jackie Corr Blessed are the Rich: George Bush's Montana Visit Ahmad Faruqui Much Ado About F-16s Mike Roselle Refuting Dave Foreman: Days of Whine and Posers Jude Wanniski America's Gunboat Diplomacy Francis A. Boyle Why You Should Boo Illinois Jeffrey St. Clair Downwinders be Damned Website of the Day Help! Nicaraguan Workers Are Being Poisoned   March 29, 2005 Ralph Nader Is the End of the Iraq War / Occupation Near? Gary Leupp Terri Schiavo's Death and the Birth of an "Elected" Iraqi Government Sonia Cardenas A Pandora's Box of Abuses: the Geneva Trap Stew Albert Take Back the Life Force! Mark Weisbrot Owning Up to the "Ownership Society" Dave Lindorff China's Report on Human Rights in US is No Cariacture Carl G. Estabrook The Subversive Commandments     March 28, 2005 Jeremy Scahill Sgrena Sets the Record Straight: "There was No Checkpoint; No Self-Defense" Sonali Kolhatkar Forgetting Afghanistan...Again Sasha Kramer The UN's Betrayal of Haiti Kevin Zeese Don't Just Blame the Democrats Tom Stephens Sacred Law; Traditional Wisdom: Environmental Justice and Indigenous Peoples Dr. Teresa Whitehurst We're Walking Into a Trap Newton Garver Reflections on Bolivia Paul Craig Roberts A Bail Out Draft for a Cakewalk War? Website of the Day Stumped? Ask a Librarian, 24/7     March 26 / 27, 2005 Gary Leupp God's Imperialists Peter Linebaugh To Render, to Impeach, to Habeas Corpus Marc Robert A European Student's Experience at Columbia University Laura Carlsen The Threesome in Crawford: Summit as Traveling Stage Show Saul Landau / Puja Patel The Price of Privatized "Development" Dave Foreman Nature's Crisis Fred Gardner Will San Francisco Pander to the Prohibitionists? Jennifer Matsui Terri Schiavo: America's Most Desperate Housewife? Dave Lindorff Provoking Iran Dharma Adhikari The Reversal of Democracy in Nepal Joshua Frank The Howard Dean Doctrine Patrick Barr Have Box Cutter, Will Travel: a True Story Christopher Brauchli F-16s to Pakistan Ramzy Baroud Israel's Record is "Not Reassuring" Jackie Corr When the Gov. of Montana Declared Martial Law in Butte Ben Tripp Off with Your Appurtenances! Dr. Susan Block Break a Taboo for Easter: Springtime for Sex and God Mickey Z. How Three Unrelated Books Relate Justin Taylor Beware of "Beware of God" Richard Joseph Cochabamba!: the Water War in Bolivia Poets' Basement Martin, Smith, Ford, Bortz and Albert     March 25, 2005 Scott Richard Lyons Horror and Hope at Red Lake Nation Yoshie Furuhashi No Troops; No Wars Pat Williams How a Town Got Poisoned: Libby, MT and the Labor Movement Mark Engler Remembering Archbishop Romero: 25 Years After His Assassination Rahul Mahajan Culture of Life or Culture of Living Death? Lance Selfa Can the Democrats be Moved to the Left? Ralph Nader Corporate Cyborg: Cal Nurses Take on Schwarzenegger John R. Llewellyn Why Utah's Prosecutors are Soft on Polygamy: a Former Sheriff Speaks Out Jo Guldi Beyond Belief: Holy Week in France   March 24, 2005 Joshua Frank The Selling (Out) of the Antiwar Movement Talli Nauman Vicente and George: Security by Any Other Name Would Smell Sweeter Martin Espada Why I Refused Coke's Money: a Poet Speaks Out About Colombia Dave Lindorff Another Social Security Snow Job Elaine Cassel When Fools Rush In: the Legal Implications of the Schiavo Case Jack McCarthy Jeb Bush's Mob: Snatch, Grab, Insert Tube Jack Random Juxtaposition: Terri Schiavo and the Red Lake Massacre Barbara Ferguson Wolfowitz Dating Muslim Woman and World Bank Employee Suzan Mazur Peak Oil: Debate or Vendetta? Dorreen Yellow Bird Suffering Red Lake Nation Endures the Worst of Days Andrew Wimmer and Mark Chmiel Torture: Old Hat or Open Wound?   March 23, 2005 Patrick Bond A New War? On Wolfowitz's World Bank Mike Whitney Railroading Moussaoui Becky White Why I Hung from a Bridge to Defend the Wild Forests of the Siskiyou Mountains Michael Donnelly Dissecting the Changeling: How the AuCoin Express Was Really Derailed Niranjan Ramakrishnan Remembering Ram Manohar Lohia: the Che of Non-Violence Ashley Smith Bush is What Hypocrisy Looks Like David Swanson The More Bush Talks, the Less Popular Privatization Becomes Derrick O'Keefe Enter Bono, Stage Right Paul A. Moore The Fire This Time: the Bush Bros. Racist Crackdown in Florida Dalton Walker My Reservation Will Never Be the Same Patrick Cockburn The US Frees Iraqi Kidnappers to Become Spies     March 22, 2005 William Blum Anti-Empire Report: Democracy--or is it the US Military--on the March Jim Vallette Cheney's Oil Change at the World Bank Greg Moses A Palm Sunday Chat with Sis Levin John Farley Bush's Culture of Life: Let the Insurance Companies Pull the Plug When the Sick Cost Too Much Ron Jacobs Halt the Anniversary Rallies and Stop the Damn War M. Junaid Alam How the Democratic Party Fosters Conservatism Rep. Cynthia McKinney An Immoral and Illegal War: Destroying Iraq Isn't Enough for Them Dave Lindorff "Saving" Schiavo; Killing the News James Petras Fateful Quadrangle: Cuba and Venezuela Face Off Against the US and Colombia     March 21, 2005 John Walsh In the Bars on the Road to Fayettevile: War Support Paper Thin Werther The Legacy of George Kennan, Chief Architect of the Cold War Mike Stark Where is the "Culture of Life" in Maryland? Time is Running Out for Vernon Evans David Swanson Feeding Tubes for the Third World: Put the Hungry into Comas, Then Feed Them! James T. Phillips Happy Meals: Behind the Grill at a Baltimore Diner Mike Ferner Serving, Refusing, Impeaching Robert Jensen The World Waits for an Answer Paul Craig Roberts A Threat Greater Than Terrorism Stew Albert Vegetable Nation Website of the Day American Press Blotter: Jacko, Terry and Steroids vs. the World     March 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Three-Card Monte and the One-Party State Tom Reeves Exposing the Coming Draft: a Draft by Any Other Name is Still Wrong Saul Landau The Grandchildren of Roy Cohn: the Politics of the Repressed Alan Maass Making Bankruptcy a Life Sentence Ron Jacobs Submit or Else: the Nuclear Demon that Won't Go Awayy David Green The Holocaust Industry Comes to the University of Illinois John Blair Hey, Dick! I'm Still Free: a Blow for Freedom of Speech in Indiana Steve Greenfield The Decline of the Green Party: the Numbers are In Ben Tripp Nature isn't Real Mike Roselle A History of White People in the Conservation Movement Joshua Frank Hope in Red State America: Lessons from the Big Sky Country Mark Weisbrot The World Bank: a Bigger Problem Than Wolfowitz Dave Lindorff Congress on Steroids Sarah Schaffer Lula's Nukes: Bush Bullies Iran, Ignores Brazil's Nuclear Ambitions Warren Hastings Why the Queen Should Chop Off Tony Blair's Head for Treason Poets' Basement Lodge, Albert. Landau, Engel, Davies, Capaccio   March 18, 2005 Dave Zirin The Congressional Urine Testers: Baseball's Theater of the Absurd Richard Thieme The Church Committee Candidate: I was a Victim of the KGB John Walsh Misdirecting the Anti-War Movement David Swanson Hunger Striking for a Living Wage at Georgetown Ben Terrall In the Spirit of Rachel Corrie: Confronting Caterpillar in San Leandro David Boyle Just Say "No" to Harvard Dorreen Yellow Bird Coping with Teen Suicide on the Standing Rock Reservation Mokhiber / Weissman Global Bully Goes to Guatemala Greg Moses They Don't Shoot Donkeys...Do They? Website of the Day 800 Protests: Find One Near You   March 17, 2005 Christopher Brauchli Rendered Unto Caesar: the Etymology of Torture Bill Quigley The St. Patrick's Four and the Resistance to the War in Iraq Brian Cloughley Bush's Herds: Willing to Kick Anyone in the Face Gary Bass / Adam Hughes Inside the Bush Budget: Rhetoric vs. Reality Dave Lindorff The Incredible Shrinking Coalition Jude Wanniski Wolfowitz at the World Bank: a Perfect Fit Alexander Billet Irish Republicanism at the Crossroads John Ross Wal-Mart Invades Mexico Website of the Day Campus Resistance   March 16, 2005 Ralph Nader Filling the Congressional Cop-Out Gap: an Idea for Local Peace Activists William Cook Resurrecting the Neo-Con Failures Kevin Zeese Two Years of Occupation: Both US and Iraq are Worse Off Jackie Corr Why is Dick Cheney Laughing? The New Tax Cut Patriotism Alan Maass Bush's Class War Budget David R. Kolker Jailed Without Charges in Haiti Cindy Ellen Hill Speculative Policing in Northern Ireland Paul Craig Roberts America's Has-Been Economy     March 15, 2005 Gary Leupp The Plan is Still on Track Dave Lindorff Free John Walker Lindh! Greg Moses The Fix-It Guys and Their Electoral Filters Hadas Their / Katrina Yeaw Military Recruiters Target Campus Activists Alison Weir Uprising on the Anniversary of Rachel Corrie's Death Matt Koehler A Line in the Ancient Forest: 50 Arrested in Blockade to Save the Siskiyous Evelyn Pringle Labeling Kids Mentally Ill for Profit Harry Browne War and Peace in Ireland     March 14, 2005 Ralph Nader Restarting the Anti-War Movement David Miller Ministry of Defence in the Control Booth: Did the BBC Broadcast Fake News Reports? Stan Cox Look Deeper, Mr. Moyers Mike Roselle Why Women Should Take Over the Environmental Movement David Swanson Nursing Against the Odds: the Workers' View Simona Sharoni To End the War, Listen to Soldiers Dave Lindorff Corporate Surveillance Dorreen Yellow Bird Incidents at Standing Rock: Suicide on the Reservation Tom Barry John Bolton's Baggage Website of the Day Spinwatch     March 12 / 13, 2005 David H. Price The CIA's Campus Spies Noam Chomsky The Toothpaste Election Laura Carlsen Women's Rights Eroding in Latin America Stan Goff On Revolutionary Optimism: the View from Cumberland Co, NC Valentina Nicoli The Game of Role-Playing and the Ambush of Giuliana Sgrena Michael Leonardi Head Shot: Lifting the Veil on the Sgrena / Calipari Incident Saul Landau / Sarah Anderson Blood Money and the Riggs Bank: Pinochet's Bank Finally Pays Up Joe Bageant It Ain't Easy Being White Manuel García, Jr. The Question of American Guilt Greg Moses Electoral Lessons from Cuyahoga and Harris Counties James J. Brittain Run, Fight or Die in Colombia Ben Tripp Communist Watch Joshua Frank A Red State Paradox: Montana on the Cusp Fred Gardner Pesticides Made Her Sick; Pot Got Her Well Walter Brasch Bush's Horse Killers Ramzy Baroud Reining in Syria on Behalf of Israel Christopher Brauchli Going All the Way for Usurers Michael Donnelly The Humiliation of Les "Timber Toad" AuCoin Ron Jacobs ZAP Comics: Still Kicking US Culture in the Ass Richard Oxman The Eternal Reciprocity of Tears Poets' Basement Smith-Ferri, Davies, Ford, Louise and Albert   March 11, 2005 Jerry Fresia Targeting Giuliana Ron Jacobs Making Lebensraum in the Middle East for Tel Aviv's Fears & Washington's Dollars Dave Lindorff America's Magical Kingdom William James Martin Ben Gurion and the Origin of the "Pushing into the Sea" Myth Muqtedar Khan Modi's Operandi: American Business and Genocide Linked Again Kathryn Ledebur Bolivia on the Brink Mike Whitney Saddam's Capture: Just Another Bush Lie? Dave Zirin Neo-McCarthyism Slugs Baseball Website of the Day William Rivers Pitt, Another Hack for the Occupation     March 10, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts So Much for the New Bush Economy John Marc Leas, Colleen McLaughlin and Ashley Smith Vermont Vs. the War Larry Birns The Pathological John Bolton Michael Donnelly The Re-Reinvention of an Oregon Timber Beast Luis Gomez In Bolivia, Reality Changes Once Again Jackie Corr Whatever Happened to the Social Security Trust Fund? Uri Avnery Bush's Guru: Natan Sharansky Website of the Day Red Alert in the Siskiyous!     March 9, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Dirty Harry's Fear of Flying: Making Love, War and Profits at Boeing Ward Churchill Who's the Terrorist? Robert Fisk Another Species of Cedar: a Half Million Lebanese March for Syria Bernice Powell Jackson No Justice for America's Nuclear Guinea Pigs in the Marshall Islands Mickey Z. The Revolutionary of Potential Art Dave Zirin NHL Says: "Bring On the Scabs!" Michael Donnelly Standing Up to Ecocide in Oregon James Reiss Stopping by Words in Favor of Privatizing Social Security Vijay Prashad Get Modi: a State Terrorist Visits Florida   March 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Syrian Delusion Robert Fisk Lebanon's Nightmare Kurt Nimmo War is Peace: John Bolton to the UN Suzan Mazur Time for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Polygamy? Evelyn Pringle Neil Bush and Crest: Another Profiteering Scheme Giuliana Sgrena My Truth: "The Americans Don't Want You to Return" Elaine Cassel The Appalling Case of Abu Ali     March 7, 2005 Dave Zirin Bloodlust in Annapolis: Gov. Ehrlich Wants to Kill Vernon Lee Evans Brian Cloughley More War Crimes John Chuckman The Creature Walks Among Us Mike Whitney Jose Padilla and the 10 Commandments Mark Weisbrot Haiti's Torment: Why Are US Human Rights Groups Silent? Fred Gardner The Cannabinoid Messenger Richard Neville The Italian Job Uri Avnery The Next Crusades     March 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Arnold vs. the Nurses Gary Leupp What's Happening in Lebanon: an Interview with Fadi Agha, Advisor to President Lahoud Ron Jacobs Lies Military Recruiters Tell Tom Reeves Haiti: One Year After the Coup Jenna Orkin Memories of Kawaggi, Saudi Arabia Tom Barry Negroponte: Intel Czar or Policy Hack? Joshua Frank The Trials of Max Baucus Moshe Adler When Pfizer Came to New London: Corporate Giveways vs. Eminent Domain Jane Stillwater My Jury Questionnaire: "Do You Agree that a Corporation is a Person?" Omar Barghouti / Jacqueline Sfeir Double Standards on S. Africa and Israel: an Open Letter to UNESCO Christopher Brauchli Target: Al Jazeera John Pilger The Fall of Saigon: 30 Years Later Raúl Zibechi Colombia: Militarism and Social Movements David Krieger Saving the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement Three Takes on Nepal Surendra R. Devkota Another Blow to the King of Nepal Bhishma Karki Nepal in Twilight Joseph Pietri Murder at the Palace Ben Tripp The Good Old Days Poets' Basement Hassen, Chief Running Late, Wuest, Albert and Collins Website of the Weekend O'Shaughnessy's: All About Medical Pot     March 4, 2005 Frederick Hudson Caught in a Cage   March 3, 2005 Pat Williams "Social Security Protects the Young as Much as the Old" Brian Cloughley Headlines, Beliefs and Deceptions Dave Lindorff Why Do the Democrats Pamper Greenspan? Amira Hass Oslo All Over Again Greg Moses In Oscar Texas: One Down, One to Go? Lynne Landes Exit Poll Madness Nelson P. Valdés Rapture Takes Leftists John Ross Mexico's Fox Schemes to Jail Front-Running Leftist   March 2, 2005 Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen The "Noble Liars" Attack Syria Mike Roselle The State of Oregon vs. Mike Roselle: Criminalizing Environmental Dissent M. Junaid Alam Columbia University and the New Anti-Semitism Suzan Mazur Inside the Polygamy Cults of Southern Utah Jackson Thoreau Texas Congressman Calls for "Nuking Syria" Michael Donnelly No Love for Teresa Heinz; John Edwards Gets a Pass Jeffrey St. Clair Uncle Bucky Makes a Killing Website of the Day The Ghosts of Karl Marx & Ed Abbey     March 1, 2005 Scott Richard Lyons Million Dollar Bigotry David Lindorff Stealing Workers' Pensions Patrick Cockburn / David Enders Bloodbath in Iraq Ron Jacobs The Last Poets Recalled Tanya Garcia USA Next: the Industry Front Group to Privatize Social Security Joseph Pietri The Drug Trail Ends in Kathmandu: Golden Tar Heroin and the Black Prince Kona Lowell Woody: Broken in Vietnam Paul Craig Roberts The Coming End of the American Superpower Website of the Day Petition: No US Intervention in Iran                                                     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

Weekend Edition April 9 / 10, 2005 Massacre in San José de Apartadó Death and Displacement Foretold in Colombia By JOE DeRAYMOND Freemansburg, PA Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in his novel, "Chronicle of a Death Foretold", relates the details of a murder in a town in which everyone is aware that a murder will occur, and no one is able to stop it. This novel is reality for many in Colombia, as waves of targeted political violence have eliminated thousands of labor organizers, members of the Union Patriotic Party, human rights activists, and business owners. Many of the victims are aware they are under threat of death, and continue with their work. As Chris Dudley has named them in his book of the same name about the Patriotic Union Party, they are "Walking Ghosts". On January 15 of this year, Luis Eduardo Guerra, a founder of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, stated in an interview, "Today we are talking, tomorrow we can be dead. Today we are in San Jose, tomorrow the community can be displaced by a massacre of 20 0r 30 people. In this region anything is possible." We know now that Luis was a walking ghost, and that his statement foretold his own death, for on February 20 or 21, in a rural settlement of the Peace Community, he died in a massacre. He was beaten and tortured along with his eleven-year-old son Deiner, and his partner Deyaneira Areiza. Their dismembered bodies were left lying in the forest for days, while the local Prosecutor delayed in their recovery and in investigating the crime scene. The family of Alfonso Bolivar was also massacred in their home -- Alfonso, his wife Sandra Milena Muñoz, and their children Natalia Andrea Tuberquia, 4 years old, and Santiago Tuberquia Muñoz, 18 months. Another person was caught up in the murders by chance, Alejandro Pérez. Luis Eduardo Guerra was well known in Colombia, and in the United States and Europe, where he had done speaking tours. He met several times with the Vice-President of Colombia, and was an important negotiator between the Peace Community and the government of Colombia. His presence will be missed, but his memory will live on in the resistance of the community. Unfortunately, Luis Eduardo also foretold the fate of the Peace Community itself, which has now displaced from the town of San José de Apartadó. On March 30, the police and the military entered the town center, and took over a house where they will establish a police station. They filmed the residents of the town, and passed out flyers. Police and a priest came to the town center, beating drums and passing out candy and encouraging the people to cooperate. When children refused the advances, the priest snapped "You will pay dearly for this." The Community knows that they cannot be protected by those responsible for so many deaths of their members, by forces which have never brought justice to them. Further, if the community accepts this police/military presence, they will soon be embroiled in the conflict in which they have pledged not to participate. On April 2, they began their displacement to a nearby farm, where they will continue their project. I was living in San Jose at the time of the massacre, as a volunteer with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). The crime occurred while the Colombian Army, with the various units of the 17th Brigade and the 11th Brigade, exercised significant control over the entire region. There was combat from February 20 through the 22nd. I saw an attack helicopter firing rockets and shooting machine guns at this time. There were numerous over flights of other helicopters. Residents in outlying areas fled their houses and lived for over a week in the jungle under threat from military/paramilitary patrols. The response by the Prosecutor to the crime was sluggish at best. Members of the community, accompanied by FOR and Peace Brigades International volunteers, as well as a volunteer from the local Pastoral Social of the Catholic Church waited at the crime scene for 2 nights for the Prosecutor to take control of the bodies of Luis Eduardo, Deiner, and Deyaneira. The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó was created in 1997, by Catholic Church and community leaders desperate for a strategy to save a civilian population in the midst of the decades long civil war that has created 3 million internal refugees. Peace Community members declare themselves neutral in the conflict, and pledge to not carry arms, to not participate in any way in the war, to not aid any of the armed actors. The community has been attacked over the years by all parties to the conflict. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled on several occasions that the Colombian Government shall protect its existence. The Peace Community has the support of the international accompaniment of FOR and Peace Brigades International. It is part of an autonomous and peace community movement in Colombia that is seeking non-violent means both to survive and to advocate for peace in the midst of the Colombian conflict. Despite this national and international support, the community remains on the edge of existence, and the Colombian government will not protect it. The massacre has horrified Colombia. The major daily newspaper of Colombia, El Tiempo, ran a lead editorial calling for a complete investigation of the crime. Unfortunately, the chances for justice are slim. The Peace Community has lost over 140 members in the last 8 years to assassination and "disappearance", and none have been investigated and brought to trial. This is the state of human rights in Colombia -- impunity reigns. The military blames the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), without an investigation. The FARC has denied the allegations. Local people on the scene are convinced the military committed the crime, probably in conjunction with the paramilitary group AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia). The letters A U C were painted on the walls of one of the houses in the area. Furthermore, the recent attempts by the community to establish "humanitarian zones", one of which is located where the massacre took place, provided another motive for the paramilitary to attack. This crime against humanity epitomizes the dirty war in Colombia. It occurs at a time when the government is attempting to legitimize the paramilitary forces with a demobilization process that would provide impunity for many such crimes. Currently, the United States is considering a new phase of "Plan Colombia", with a projected $579 million in military and police aid to be sent in fiscal year 2006. A $35 million dollar military appropriation is being held up by the State Department pending a review of the human rights record of the Colombian military. I believe the United States State Department and Congress should demand a complete and transparent investigation of this crime before any more funds are released in support of this war without end. As well, the international community, especially Europe, needs to re-examine its support for the Uribe project in Colombia, and use this case as a lens to view the reality of Colombia in this age of the Paramilitary Government. The Community will continue its struggle to survive and resist. As Luis Eduardo stated in his January 15 interview, "We want to defend our Constitution and tell the State: it is you who are violating it. We are legitimizing the State, not attacking it. Economically it is difficult for these communities to resist, but we continue making an effort to develop projects that will provide us with an existence and a minimum dignity as persons, there is a very clear saying, while the stomach is full, we are able to accomplish much, when the stomach is empty, it is all over.," To keep track of events in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, check out their website, cdpsanjose.org. Joe DeRaymond can be reached at: jderaymond@enter.net