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The War So Far: a Failure Worse Than Vietnam by Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad "The need for the White House to produce a fantasy picture of Iraq is because it dare not admit that it has engineered one of the greatest disasters in American history. It is worse than Vietnam because the enemy is punier and the original ambitions greater." Get the answers you're looking for in the subscriber-only 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! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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October 24, 2005 Bill and Kathleen
Christison October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Billy Sothern Saul Landau Ralph Nader Behrooz Ghamari Brian Cloughley Diana Barahona Fred Gardner Lee Sustar Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen James Petras Joshua Frank Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Michelle Bollinger Missy Comley
Beattie Kona Lowell Ben Tripp Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff Winslow T. Wheeler Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Madis Senner Michael Donnelly
Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Jeremy Brecher
/ Patrick Cockburn Kevin Zeese Ross Eisenbrey Randy Shields Justine Davidson After Lucas
Cranach Joe Allen
October 19, 2005 Christopher Reed Stephen Soldz Chet Richards Patrick Cockburn Scott Richard
Lyons Ralph Nader Website of
the Day
October 18, 2005 Chet Flippo Ron Jacobs Keeanga-Yamahtta
Taylor Dave Lindorff Virginia Rodino Thomas Healy Ralph Nader Stephen Lendman Patrick Cockburn
October 17, 2005 Peter Linebaugh Norman Solomon Cockburn /
Sengupta Mike Whitney Uri Avnery Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
October 15 / 16, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Neve Gordon Moshe Adler Christopher Brauchli Diane Farsetta Sam Husseini Monica Benderman Mickey Z. Douglas C.
Smyth Lee Sustar Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Joshua Frank David Vest Ben Tripp Poets Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 14, 2005 Farrah Hassen Ron Jacobs Sasha Kramer Katrina Yeaw Nicole Colson Raúl Zibechi Nikolas Kozloff Website of the Day
Jeremy Scahill Jeff Birkenstein Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher Stan Cox Anis Memon Gary Leupp Dave Zirin Matthew Koehler Werther Website of
the Day
Omar Waraich William Cook Phil Gasper Dave Lindorff Matt Vidal John Gautreaux Diana Johnstone Mark Weisbrot Brian J. Foley Website of
the Day
October 11, 2005 Roger Morris
/ Steve Schmidt Lila Rajiva Bill Quigley Paul Craig Roberts Dave Lindorff Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Mitchel Cohen Tariq Ali Website of
the Day
October 10, 2005 Cindy and Craig
Corrie Joshua Frank Gideon Levy Alan Wallis Mickey Z. CounterPunch News Service Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
October 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ralph Nader Jennifer Van Bergen Saul Landau Jeff Halper Lenni Brenner Nikolas Kozloff Brian Cloughley Alice Slater John Gautreaux Fred Gardner Niranjan Ramakrishnan M.G. Piety Tom Gorman Mike Whitney Aseem Shrivastava Ben Tripp Poets' Basement
October 7, 2005 Larry Johnson Will Youmans Dave Lindorff Judith Scherr Russell D. Hoffman Jared Bernstein Jennifer Van
Bergen Website of
the Day
P. Sainath Scott Parkin Paul Craig
Roberts Andréa Schmidt Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank M. Junaid Alam Matthew Koehler Robert Pollin
October 5, 2005 Heather Gray Robert Jensen Ramzy Baroud Col. Dan Smith Dave Zirin Paul Craig Roberts Alan Maass
October 4, 2005 Nikolas Kozloff Mike Roselle Joshua Frank John Chuckman Alan Farago Mickey Z. Christine & Ethan Rose Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 3, 2005 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig
Roberts Joshua Frank Seth Sandronsky Jeffrey St. Clair
October 1 / 2, 2005 Cockburn
/ St. Clair Dave
Marsh Ralph
Nader Flavia
Alaya Uri
Avnery Chris
Kutalik Greg
Moses Brian
J. Foley Nicole
Colson Ray
McGovern Fred
Gardner Justin
Felux Will
Youmans Mike
Ferner David
Krieger Agustin
Velloso Saul
Landau Ben
Tripp Poets
Basement Website
of the Weekend
September 30, 2005 Mary
Geddry Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Gregory
Wilpert Benjamin
Dangl James
McMurtry T.R.
Johnson
September 29, 2005 Sen.
Russ Feingold Carl
G. Estabrook Ramzy
Baroud Dave
Lindorff Mike
Whitney Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski Gary
Handschumacher Winslow
T. Wheeler
September 28, 2005 Dr.
Eyad Serraj William
A. Cook Liaquat
Ali Khan Mike
Whitney Joshua
Frank CounterPunch
Wire Chris
Genovali Linn
Washington, Jr.
September 27, 2005 Forrest
Hylton Jason
Leopold Jennifer
K. Harbury Ray
McGovern Mike
Ferner Antony
Loewenstein Harry
Browne
September 26, 2005 Rafael
Rodriguez Cruz Joshua
Frank Lamis
Andoni Mike
Marqusee Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Ron
Jacobs Norman
Solomon John
Chuckman Paul
Craig Roberts
September 24 / 25, 2005 Kathy
and Bill Christison Ralph
Nader Saul
Landau Greg
Moses Roger
Burbach Vijay
Prashad Laura
Carlsen Robert
Fisk Dave
Lindorff Kirkpatrick
Sale / Thomas Naylor Maj.
Anthony Milavic Brian
Concannon, Jr.
September 23, 2005 CounterPunch
News Service Diane
Farsetta Robert
Sandels Christopher
Brauchli Alan
Farago Dave
Zirin Maxine
Conant David
Price
September 22, 2005 Smith,
Wood, Leas, and Greenfield Patrick
Cockburn Manuel
Garcia, Jr. Lucia
Dailey Mokhiber
/ Weissman Russell
D. Hoffman Kona
Lowell Jason
Leopold Website
of the Day
September 21, 2005 Jorge
Mariscal Linda
S. Heard Joshua
Frank Eric
Ruder Pierre
Tristam Dave
Lindorff Mike
Ferner Missy
Comley Beattie Jeffrey
St. Clair Website
of the Day
September 20, 2005 Steve
Breyman George
Galloway Patrick
Cockburn M.
Shahid Alam Mike
Whitney Winslow
T. Wheeler Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Paul
Craig Roberts
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October 24, 2005 The Plame GameShades of Iran/ContraBy MICHAEL DONNELLY It's down to the finish line this week for special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's probe into just who in the Bush regime outed CIA agent Valerie Plame in a lame attempt to counteract her husband Ambassador Joe Wilson's refutation of Bush's famed "sixteen words" which led us into war. The words, which Wilson rightly called a "lie" were uttered at the January 28, 2003 State of the Union Address and were a major part of the justification for the invasion of Iraq. They are: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." The other major lie that got us in the war was the conflation of Saddam and Osama bin Laden. Time and again, Vice-president Dick Cheney and others touted this supposed connection and the presence of the Niger uranium as proof of the danger posed by Saddam's Iraq. The "embedded" media, led by the New York Times, bought it all. Anyone who disputed the false rationales was smeared and the "opposition" Democrats rolled over. We all know this by now, though polls show that some 40% of dumbed-down Americans still think that Saddam and Osama are the same guy! Such is the power of the Big Lie. Patrick Fitzgerald has the opportunity to counteract the lies. But the question is: will he go for the heart of it or will he simply indict the underlings who merely leaked Plame's name? History augers the latter.
Back in the Reagan administration, a scheme was hatched to illegally sell weapons to Iran, which was in a long bloody war with none other than Iraq. Proceeds from the sales of weapons were then diverted to the Contras, the US-backed gang of thugs who were fighting to topple the democratically-elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Independent Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh indicted several administration officials. Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Elliott Abrams pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress. He was pardoned by President George H. W. Bush in 1992 and has now been appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Security Council. CIA Central American Task Force chief Alan D. Fiers, Jr. pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress, and was pardoned by former boss Bush I. CIA Covert Operations head Clair E. George was convicted of perjury before Congress, but pardoned by Bush I before sentencing. National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress, and was also among those pardoned by Bush I in 1992. The National Security Council's Oliver North was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry and destruction of documents. He escaped when the conviction was overturned on a technicality. Major General Richard V. Secord of the National Security Council pleaded guilty to perjury. But the whole ball game rested on the conviction of National Security Advisor John M. Poindexter, which also was overturned on a serious breach of rights whereby his own sworn testimony was used against him. Poindexter was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of Congress and two counts of making false statements. Poindexter later surfaced under Bush II as the official in charge of the Defense Department's fascist Total Information Awareness scheme. Though Walsh found that it was likely that President Ronald Reagan, Vice-President George H.W. Bush and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger knew entirely what was going on. Bush I's lame-duck, pre-emptive pardon of Weinberger's perjury charge before he ever was tried, prevented the entire story from coming out. The story of the overthrow of an elected government and any attempt to mete out justice for the Nicaraguans was shunted aside. And, the probe never got higher than the operatives convicted and pardoned.
Similarly, in the Plame case, the real story is not who revealed a covert CIA operative's name (indeed, an heroic act in some circles), but who provided the fake Niger documents that Bush II cited to justify those famous "sixteen words." Tellingly, Poindexter's Iran/Contra conspiracy conviction was based on his efforts to falsify documents. In December 2001, Cheney and Bush II senior advisor Karl Rove-connected neocons Michael Ledeen and Harold Rhodes, accompanied by now-in-custody Israeli spy Larry Franklin, met in Rome with Italy's intelligence agency SISMI chief Niccolo Pollari and Italian defense minister Antonio Martino. Shortly thereafter, a break-in occurred at the Niger Embassy in Rome. The sole things taken were letterhead paper and official seals. Then, forged papers bearing the letterhead and seal of Niger were leaked to a magazine owned by Italy's rightist Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The journal promptly turned the papers over to the CIA, not the "British Government" as Bush lied when he used the forgeries as the basis for his State of the Union Address. Even before Joe Wilson called out this fraud, Rove et al. panicked. Embedded reporter Judith Miller's New York Times notes show that the disclosure of Plame's CIA employment status started weeks before Wilson's famous expose was published . Stupidly, Rove thought that threatening Plame would get Wilson to back off; as such heavy and under-handed tactics had worked so well at cowing the Democrats and the press. Just eight days after Wilson's NYT's op-ed was published, administration mouthpiece Robert Novak wrote the piece that first publicly revealed Plame's name and occupation. How worried are the Bushites? Already, the administration's echo chamber at Fox News howls repeatedly of "prosecutorial overzealousness." With talk of some 22 indictments about to be handed down, this telling, takes-one-to-know-one quote appeared in the Oct. 24th NY Daily New : "He's a vile, detestable, moralistic person with no heart and no conscience who believes he's been tapped by God to do very important things," one White House ally said, referring to special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Still, the real question remains; will Fitzgerald get to the heart of it and charge all of those, even up to Bush II himself, who engaged in the entire series of lies and forgeries that led us into war? Or, like during Iran/Contra, will we see some underlings such as Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby indicted for his leaks to Miller and other reporters? And, will we see hush pardons all around? The Truth is out here. The path to finding it begins in Rome. MICHAEL DONNELLY writes from Salem, OR. He rarely roots for a prosecutor, but in this case, he makes an exception. He can be reached at pahtoo@aol.com
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair                      |
