|
|
|
The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! General Petraeus' Fake War
|
home / subscribe / donate / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events / faq
The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
General Petraeus' Fake War
How the Press and Congress Eagerly Swallowed It
EXCLUSIVE to subscribers in our latest newsletter, Gareth Porter dissects two years’ worth of successful lying by Gen Petraeus and his propaganda team. Guess what? The FBI AND DOJ didn’t specially target Muhammad Ali. Those G-men were just following normal procedures! Alexander Cockburn reviews the latest effort to “revise” the Sixties. Dick Cheney “didn’t understand the legalities.” James Abourezk describes his efforts to close down the lethal liquor operators that prey on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Whatever happened to the class war? Read Serge Halimi and find out. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
|
Today's Stories June 28 / 29, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jason Hribal Mike Whitney Justin E. H. Smith June 27, 2008 Franklin C. Spinney Jonathan Cook Brian Cloughley Saree Makdisi Liliana Segura Paul Krassner William S. Lind Candace Cohn Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day June 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff William P. O'Connor Saul Landau Ashley Smith Dave Lindorff David Macaray Binoy Kampmark Matt Reichel Remi Kenazi Website of the Day
June 25, 2008 David H. Price Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Marjorie Cohn Joanne Mariner Ralph Nader Robert Weissman Christopher Brauchli Suren Pillay Seth Sandronsky Website of the Day June 24, 2008 Ishmael Reed P. Sainath Nikolas Kozloff Gregory Kafoury Betty Shamieh Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Bill Christison Philippe Marlière Website of the Day June 23, 2008 Michael Hudson John Ross Peter Montague Ramzy Baroud Robert Fantina Robert Weitzel David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Richard Rhames Gail Dines Tim Matson June 21 / 22, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Mike Whitney Chris Floyd Tim Wise Paul Craig Roberts Michael Winship Ron Jacobs Ramzy Baroud Alan Farago Michael Yates Dave Lindorff Bernard Chazelle Linda Mamoun Jo-Shing Yang Robert Jensen Website of the Weekend
June 20, 2008 Robert Oscar Lopez Paul Craig Roberts Bouthaina Shaaban Bill Quigley Moshe Adler Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Norman Solomon Martha Rosenberg June 19, 2008 Ralph Nader Chellis Glendinning Neve Gordon Dave Lindorff Sheldon Richman George Bisharat Jackie Corr Farzana Versey Website of the Day June 18, 2008 Nicole Colson Rev. William E. Alberts Vijay Prashad Parvez Ahmed Bob Moss Dave Lindorff David Wilson June 17, 2008 Conn Hallinan Wajahat Ali Marjorie Cohn Uri Avnery David Macaray Rannie Amiri Website of the Day June 16, 2008 Uri Avnery Corey D. B. Walker Howard Lisnoff Dennis Loo Paul Craig Roberts June 13 / 15, 2008 Douglas Valentine Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Peter Linebaugh Ishmael Reed Joe Bageant Harry Browne Andy Worthington Jeff Sharlet Binoy Kampmark Alan Farago Brian Cloughley Manuel Garcia, Jr. Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Bond / David Yearsley Niranjan Ramakrishnan Ronnie Cummins Dan Bacher Michael Dickinson Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 12, 2008 Judith Levine Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Christopher Brauchli Norman Solomon Helen Redmond Laura Carlsen Jeremy R. Hammond Anne Landman Website of the Day June 11, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Joshua Frank Clifton Ross Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Stephen Lendman Diane Farsetta Ron Jacobs Deborah Rich Hop Wechsler Website of the Day June 10, 2008 Alan Farago James G. Abourezk Saree Makdisi Malini Johar Schueller John Ross Wajahat Ali Peter Morici Jordan Flaherty Gary Macfarlane Joanne Mariner Website of the Day June 9, 2008 Uri Avnery Nikolas Kozloff Allan Nairn Dennis Loo Harry Browne C. Hand Peter Morici Kenneth Couesbouc Martha Rosenberg James L. Secor Website of the Day June 7 / 8, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Dave Lindorff Robert Fantina Conn Hallinan Neve Gordon Tom Barry Patrick Irelan Tim Wise David Ker Thomson Joshua Frank David Yearsley James T. Phillips Joe Allen P. Sainath David Macaray B.R. Gowani Fred Gardner Peter Harley Michael Dickinson Jen Roesch Poets' Basement Website of the Day
June 6, 2008 Frank Barat Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp James Abourezk Peter Morici Faheem Hussain Andy Worthington Ayesha Ijaz Khan Dave Lindorff Website of the Day June 5, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Sharon Smith Nikolas Kozloff Linn Washington, Jr. Omar Barghouti Scott Pellegrino John Walsh Dan Bacher DC Larson Robert Jensen Website of the Day June 4, 2008 Eric Walberg Gary Leupp Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff George Wuerthner Victor M. Rodriguez Remi Kanazi Stephane Luçon Farzana Versey Laray Polk Website of the Day June 3, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts / Mike Whitney Steve Early Manuel Otero George Bisharat Nikolas Kozloff Dan Bacher Website of the Day June 2, 2008 Uri Avnery Nikolas Kozloff Allan J. Lichtman Malini Johar Schueller Robert Weissman Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. John Ross Ahmad Al-Akhras Website of the Day May 31 / June 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Gary Leupp Stan Cox Rannie Amiri P. Sainath Binoy Kampmark Robert Fantina Seth Sandronsky Corporate Crime Reporter Anthony DiMaggio Karl Grossman Matt Reichel Paul Myron Hillier Andy Worthington David Yearsley Daniel Cassidy Charles Thomson Gary Corseri Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Poets' Basement Website of the Day
May 30, 2008 Bassam Aramin Andrew Cockburn Saul Landau Nikolas Kozloff Robert Sandels Dave Lindorff Martha Rosenberg Harvey Wasserman Doug Giebel Shaun Harkin Website of the Day May 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Col. Dan Smith Karl Grossman William S. Lind Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff David Macaray Chris Genovali Laura Carlsen Website of the Day May 28, 2008 Wajahat Ali Ralph Nader Brian McKenna Corporate Crime Reporter Brian Cloughley Eric Walberg Michael Dickinson Ijaz Khan Website of the Day May 27, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Greg Kafoury Jean Bricmont Tim Wise Ricardo Alarcón Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Alan Singer Richard Neville Susie Day May 26, 2008 Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Marjorie Cohn Fred Gardner Raymond J. Lawrence Harvey Wasserman Moncia Benderman David Rovics Website of the Day May 24 / 25, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Barbara Rose Johnston Nikolas Kozloff Adriana Kojeve Robert Fantina Dave Lindorff David Yearsley Nelson P. Valdés Kathleen M. Barry John Ross Allison Kilkenny Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Daniel Gross Christopher Brauchli Richard Rhames Daniel Cassidy Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
May 23, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Alan Farago Conn Hallinan Mark Engler George Wuerthner Kamran Matin Sandy Boyer / Robert Weitzel Cindy Sheehan Liaquat Ali Khan Website of the Day
May 22, 2008 Vijay Prashad Joanne Mariner Sharon Smith Jeff Birkenstein Brendan McQuade Peter Morici Niranjan Ramakrishnan Dave Zirin Ron Jacobs Stephen Lendman Website of the Day May 21, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Alan Farago Dave Lindorff David Model Eric Walberg Franklin Lamb Kenneth Couesbouc Website of the Day
May 20, 2008 Ralph Nader Uri Avnery Patrick Irelan Ray McGovern David Macaray Chris Genovali Ibrahim Fawal Christopher Ketcham Andy Worthington Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day May 19, 2008 Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Brian McKenna Patrick Cockburn B. R. Gowani Dr. Trudy Bond Cindy Sheehan John Mohawk Remi Kanazi Robert Day Website of the Day |
Weekend Edition
June 28 / 29, 2008 The Current Fairy Tale Iraq and the New York TimesBy ROBERT FANTINA In his most recent editorial, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times discusses the great progress he sees in Iraq, and attributes it to President George Bush’s troop ‘surge’ of eighteen months ago. A look at just a few of Mr. Friedman’s bizarre comments causes one to wonder why he is writing for the Times and not for Mr. Bush himself.
So Mr. Friedman apparently buys into Mr. Bush’s definition of liberation. Let’s see now: following the invasion of a sovereign nation, one sets about to kill approximately 1,000,000 of its men, women and children, and drives an estimated 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 from their homes, many of them from the country. These ‘liberators’ deprive the remaining citizens of basic services such as electricity and potable water, and storm into their homes in the middle of the night. They then ransack those homes looking for who knows what, and drag any male over the age of twelve out into the darkness and take them to who knows where, as their anguished mothers, sisters and wives scream in despair. As families are driving to perfectly legitimate destinations they encounter ‘checkpoints,’ where foreign soldiers gesture to them,
Well now; is this not most interesting? The Iraqis never ‘took ownership’ of their own government, not because it was forced upon them by an invading and occupying army that had, and continues to have, little knowledge of their culture and even less interest in learning anything about it. They did not ‘take ownership’ of a government run by a foreign nation that bombed their hospitals but protected their oil fields during the initial invasion. No, a people must liberate themselves, says Mr. Friedman, in order for their government to have legitimacy in the eyes of the common citizen. But now, he says, circumstances in Iraq are different; the U.S. troop surge has enabled the Sunnis to ‘liberate’ themselves from Al-Qaeda, and the Shiite ‘mainstream,’ represented by the U.S. puppet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to ‘liberate’ certain areas from pro-Iranian death squads. So it appears, at least to Mr. Friedman, that things are going well in Iraq. Does it not occur to Mr. Friedman that by his own logic, the Iraqi people must continue to oppose U.S. oppression? This is what they must now do, and have needed to do for over five years. If “people have to fight and win their own freedom” in order to gain governmental legitimacy, obviously U.S.-style democracy (capitalism plus elections financed by the corporations that thrive on that capitalism and which will do whatever is necessary to preserve it) must be opposed; the Iraqi people must fight for their liberation from the U.S. Mr. Friedman’s symbolic ideas of liberation won’t work. And the Iraqi people have chosen to continue to fight. One week before Mr. Friedman published his Pollyannaish view of Iraq, fifty-one people died in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad when explosives hidden in a mini-bus were detonated, sending tensions between the Shiites and Sunnis spiraling once again. Since this happened in a neighborhood supposedly protected by pro-American forces it is not sitting well with many of the grieving and angry citizens there. This will surely cause many to demand a return of the Mahdi Army to recommence its protection of Shiite neighborhoods. This militia is led by Moktada al-Sadr, no friend or fan of the U.S. occupation. Three days before Mr. Friedman’s article, a suicide bomber killed fifteen people outside a government complex. Perhaps the woman who strapped the bombs to her body and hid them beneath her clothing was unaware of the new ‘liberation’ that seems to please Mr. Friedman so much. But, cautions Mr. Friedman, all is not yet well; we must not too soon anticipate those flowers finally flying through the air to be trod on by the boots of ‘liberating’ soldiers. No, says he, ‘civil war could still be in Iraq’s future.’ In Iraq’s future? When the citizens of that nation have been united in nothing for five years except their hatred for the U.S.; when millions die and are maimed because of age old tensions between the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis that were held in check before being released by the U.S. invasion; when a trip to the marketplace is fraught with mortal danger; when once-integrated neighborhoods have became so dangerous for one group that that population’s members have had to flee for their lives; when the Prime Minister is unable to pass any meaningful legislation, much less do anything to stop the violence that wracks the nation he supposedly governs, it must be recognized that Iraq in its current state fits the definition of civil war. Perhaps Mr. Friedman simply wants to justify his support for the invasion and, like Arizona Senator and GOP presidential candidate John McCain, will attempt to skew reality to fit his particular point of view. But the fact remains that the Iraqi people are far worse off today under U.S. oppression than they ever were under their previous murderous dictator, Saddam Hussein, and things were no picnic for them during his reign. Despite Mr. Friedman’s interpretation of a new liberation (he concedes that the U.S. invasion for ‘liberation’ five years ago “didn’t count”), the Iraqi people will not be truly liberated until such time as there are no more foreign soldiers terrorizing them, directed by a greedy, money-lustful government that covets their oil. Only when they are allowed to find their own system of government, or possibly multiple governments, will they be truly liberated. This cannot and will not happen while U.S. soldiers remain in Iraq. Robert Fantina is author of 'Desertion and the American Soldier: 1776--2006.
|
Now Available from CounterPunch Books!
Born Under a Bad Sky: Coming Soon! RED STATE REBELS:
Edited by  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy AMERICAN BOOK AWARD!  Click Here to Buy! Click Here for Dates & Venues Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz  Click Here to Buy! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order! How They Made a Killing on the War on Terrorism     
    
 
 Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont               CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed                   |
