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Coming in the Fall from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Click Here to Advance Order Philosopher Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Today's Stories August 27 / 28, 2005 Diane Christian The Politics of Death: Assassination   August 26, 2005 Lee Sustar Showdown at Northwest Ramzy Baroud Cindy Sheehan and the Power of the Ordinary Christopher Brauchli The Return of Edwin Meese Peter Harley The Wall as a Good Thing? John Snider Not One of the Gang Kathleen Christison Can Palestine be Put Back in the Equation? August 25, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Hegemony Lost: the American Economy is Destroying Itself Cockburn / St. Clair Loewenstein's Big Mail Bag: Gaza and "the Shame of It All" J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Racial Politics in California They May Vote for You, But They Won't Have Lunch with You Chhandasi Pandya Libeling Venezuela Richard Ward Impressions from Camp Casey Norman Solomon Exploiting the 9/11 Anniversary: Will the Media Help Bush, Again? Joshua Frank Will the Real Leaders Please Stand Up? Seth Sandronsky GM, the UAW and US Health Care Lucinda Marshall The Democratic Unraveling: How Not to Mention the War VIPS Memo to Bush: Try a Circle of Wise Women Ralph Nader It's Time to Make the Iraq War Personal   August 24, 2005 Stan Goff Containing the Anti-War Movement: the Hayden Plan Rachard Itani Papal Double Standards Elisa Salasin The Militarization of Our Children Ron Jacobs Who Would Jesus Assassinate? John Chuckman Robertson and Posada: Bush's Kind of Terrorists Leibowitz / Heller Gaza: Disengagement or Military Redeployment? Douglas Valentine Suicide as Sacrament Thomas Nagy Congress Should Go to Crawford: an Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan Alexander Cockburn Hitchens Backs Down, Says Sheehan "Not a La Rouchie" Website of the Day Stations of the Cross     August 23, 2005 Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler Pat Robertson is Not a Christian Karen Kilroy Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City Protests: Violent Echoes of Kent State Stew Albert Fascism in America: Are We There Yet? Joshua Frank The Democrats and Cindy Sheehan Dave Zirin Pedaling Away from Principle: Lance Armstrong Cozies Up to Bush Julia Olmstead Our Reckless Chemical Dependence: A Little Round-Up With Your Precautionary Principle? CounterPunch Wire Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture: a Legal Update Jason Leopold Bush's Lips Move, But He Says Nothing Diane Christian The Politics of Death     August 22, 2005 Sonia Nettnin Gaza Stripped, the Occupation Remains Mike Whitney "Shoot to Kill": Tony Blair's First Trophy Kevin Zeese The Latest Falsehood: the US is in Iraq to "Stablize It" Norman Solomon Bush's Bloody Option: Escalate the War in Iraq Christopher Brauchli Secret Talkers Jeff Bale The Left's Challenge in Germany Greg Moses Raw Talk Revival at Camp Casey Two   August 20 / 21, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Can Cindy Sheehan End the War? Saul Landau Terrorism Then and Now: Townley Talks Kevin Zeese an Interview with Tom Hayden Greg Moses A Daytrip without Cindy Ray McGovern Cindy Sheehan and Creative Protest Fred Gardner Merck Gets Whacked Martin Smith Rebellion in the Ranks: the Soldiers' Revolt in Vietnam Benjamin Granby Gaza's Economy: the Key to Sharon's Strategy? Frankie Lake Dirty Tricksters: How the Federalist Society Operates Joshua Frank Failing Nature: the Democrats and the Environment Ron Jacobs When Sympathy is Not Enough Tom Crumpacker Moral Values and the CIA Mike Ferner "All of Our Stories are Sad" James Petras Suicide Bombers: the Sacred and the Profane Col. Dan Smith The President's Dilemma Dr. Teresa Whitehurst What de Menezes Didn't Know Ben Tripp Moses on Top of Old Smokey Poets' Basement Landau, Albert, Engel and Louise   August 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat, Part 4: Cutting Up Mochie Neve Gordon After the Withdrawal Gary Leupp The Pandora's Box of Iraq's Constitution William S. Lind Getting Swept Vijay Prashad The Rosa Parks of the Anti-War Movement Dave Lindorff Something Has Happened Pat Williams Social Security and the American West John Pilger Free Speech and the War on Terror Elaine Cassel Judge Roberts and the Death Penalty     August 18, 2005 Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat, Part 3: Vegetarians, Nazis for Animal Rights, Blitzkrieg of the Ungulates Greg Moses Cindy, the Peace Train and the Little Ditch that Could Ramzy Baroud Theatrics in Gaza: the Disengagement That Isn't Joshua Frank Bush's Emotional Incapacities Monica Benderman For Cindy: There's No Glory in Dying Paul Craig Roberts Courthouse Jackboots: Corrupted Justice   August 17, 2005 Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat: Part Two, the March to Porkopolis Robert Jensen America's Good Germans? Carl G. Estabrook News Notes from the Global War on Terrorism Mike Whitney Greenspan and the Housing Bubble Niranjan Ramakrishnan Shaming the Shameless Norman Solomon Slurs, Lies and Innuendos: Blaming the Antiwar Messengers Dave Zirin In Defense of Felipe Alou Jennifer Loewenstein The Shame of It All: Watching the Gazan Fiasco CounterPunch Clarification     August 16, 2005 Greg Moses Mona in a Field of Crosses at Camp Casey, Texas Thomas Larson The Unmitigated Gall of Dinesh D'Souza Diana Barahona Uneasy Standoff in Venezuela's Media Wars Dave Lindorff The Inquirer's Minds Don't Want to Know Rep. Cynthia McKinney A Letter to President Bush: Meet with Cindy Sheehan Elisa Salasin Hitchens Slimes Cindy Sheehan David Krieger Amazing Grace and Cindy Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat: Part One, Peter's Dream Website of the Day Reclaiming Appalachia: a Mountain Takeover     August 15, 2005 Greg Moses Pilgrims of Protest in Crawford Paul Craig Roberts Slouching Toward Armageddon? Mike Whitney Failing in Iraq Robert Jensen The Challenges We Face CounterPunch Wire Judge Fines Voices in the Wilderness $20,000 for Taking Medicine to Iraq; Voices Refuses to Pay Norman Solomon Someone Tell Frank Rich the War Isn't Over Kathleen Christison Camp David Redux: Anatomy of a Frame-Up   August 13 / 14, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair When Down is Up: the "Stricken" President William Blum The al-Dubya Training Manual Gary Leupp High Tide for the Neocons? Jack Z. Bratich Secreting the News: Anonymous vs. Confidential Sources Brian Cloughley The Ridiculous Rice Ron Jacobs Klan Justice: Mississippi is Still Burning John Farley "Beyond Chutzpah" Too Hot for Harvard Bookstore? Dave Lindorff Making the World Safer...for Nukes Tim Wise Animal Whites: PETA and the Politics of Putting Things in Perspective J.L. Chestnut, Jr. There's Not One Real Liberal or Conservative in the Senate John Gershman The Bolton Opportunity Felice Pace Saving Northwest Forests: Time for a Fresh Look Fred Gardner Feds Takeover Prosecution of Dustin Costa David Krieger The Fable of the Emperor and the Grieving Mother Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Being a Protestant Fundamentalist Ben Tripp GWAT: a Tone Poem Poets' Basement Reiss, Nettnin, Engel and Louise     August 12, 2005 Christopher Brauchli Courting God: Justice Sunday II Greg Moses A Crawford Peace House Morning with Cindy Sheehan Ramzy Baroud Israel's Nuclear Puzzle Norman Solomon Cindy Sheehan's Message: Repudiating Bush and Dean Chris Genovali Why is a Canadian Politician Trying to End Protections for US Grizzly Bears? Chris Floyd Cheney and Halliburton, the Stench Gets Worse Tariq Ali Blair's New Authoritarianism     August 11, 2005 Saul Landau Globalization and Its Discontents Dave Lindorff Privatization will Harm Same Sex Couples Ralph Nader Dear Cindy Sheehan: May You Prevail Where Others Have Failed Talli Nauman Radioactive Border: the Hot Mounds of Samalayuca Gary Leupp Politics of an Outing: Plame, Ledeen and Iran Sharon Smith The New Anti-War Majority Paul Craig Roberts Why is Cheney Lobbying for a Boost in China's Nuclear Capability?   August 10, 2005 Tim Wise Indian Mascots and White Rage Ron Jacobs Rumsfeld's Delusions Joshua Frank Dean and the PDA: Don't Believe the Hype Cynthia McKinney The 9/11 Op-Ed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Refuses to Run Rick Wilhelm Peter Jennings, Excuse Maker for War and Empire Stan Goff Homegrown Resistance   August 9, 2005 Mike Ferner What One Mom has to Say to Bush: Cindy Sheehan in Dallas Monica Benderman Is Being a Conscientious Objector Now Criminal? Mike Marqusee Making Excuses for Killing De Menezes Rep. Cynthia McKinney Strange Fruit and Tree-Shakers Paul Craig Roberts Watching the US Economy Crumble     August 6-8, 2005 Alexander Cockburn How the British Destroyed India Jason Leopold Halliburton and Iran: Still Doing Business After All These Years? Ray McGovern Iran, Truth-Tellers and the Devotees of Preemption David Krieger From Hiroshima to Humanity Sharon K. Weiner / Robert Jensen From Hiroshima to Iraq and Back Fred Gardner The Budtender's View of a Rip-Off     August 5, 2005 Bill Christison New NIE Report on Iran's Nukes will Not Deter US's Posture of Extreme Aggressiveness Paul Craig Roberts Kelo: a Supreme Assault on Personal Liberty Alexander Cockburn The Taj Mahal as Kitsch; the Editor and the Water-Walking Guru     August 4, 2005 Tom Barry Inside Bush's "World Democracy Movement" Lila Rajiva John Bolton's New Internationalism Greg Moses Bush Teaches Intelligent Design in Prison Alexander Cockburn Indian Journal: Why Indian Farmers Kill Themselves August 3, 2005     August 3, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Broken Arrows and Iran: a B-52 Pilot Remembers Paul Craig Roberts The Kelo Calamity: Money, Power and Eminent Domaine William A. Cook Innocent Victims: From Hiroshima to Lower Manhattan Dave Zirin Bush's Texas Rangers: a Crackhouse for Juiced Players? Dave Lindorff Court Packing and Worker Rights José Pertierra Why Hamdi Isaac Yes and Posada Carriles No?   August 2, 2005 Ramzi Kysia Disengagement and Diaspora: High Walls and Razor Wire in the Hebron William A. Cook Words Without Meaning: Torturing Bodies and Language Paul Craig Roberts When Armageddon Gets No Press Mike Whitney Chertoff's Preemptive Crackdown: 600 Arrests, Only 76 Charged Ron Jacobs Be a Hero: Demand That Johnny Come Home Norman Madarsz Before the Stun Gun: Jean Charles de Menezes, RIP Tim Wise The Faulty Logic of "Terrorist" Profiling     August 1, 2005 Virginia Rodino Why Bono and Geldof Got It Wrong: War and Global Poverty are Linked Diana Barahona Return to Venezuela: Land Reform and Neighborhood Doctors Joshua Frank Gitmo's Kangaroo Courts: First Torture Them, Then Rig Their Trials Mike Whitney The Consolidation of Powers: Rubber Stamp Roberts Norm Dixon The Worst Terror Attacks in History Norman Solomon Operation Withdrawal Scam James Petras The Corruption of Lula's Regime     July 30 / 31, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Lost Nuclear Warheads Now in Iran? JoAnn Wypijewski Scenes and Silver Linings from Labor's Crack-Up: a Special Report from Chicago Sheldon Rampton War is Fun as Hell: the Video Games Recruiters Play Jack Z. Bratich Fingerprints of Power: a Summer of Double Super Secrecy Greg Moses How to Cool Your Heels in Texas When It's Late July Across the World Jordan Green From Woolworth to Wal-Mart: Economics and the Race Divide in a Southern City Patrick Cockburn Getting Out of Iraq: 5,000 US Troops Have Gone AWOL Brian Cloughley The Bush-Cheney Fixation on Iran Justin Taylor Harry Potter and the War on Terror Saul Landau Enhancements for the Imperial Life: Fashionism Takes Command! John Walsh Dems Field Another Pro-War Candidate: Meet Hack the Hawk Joshua Frank Color-Coded Justice: John Roberts's Racial Hang Up Ron Jacobs Who Needs Feminism? We Have Condi Rice! Fred Gardner The Ethan and Gavin Show John Chuckman Friedman on Terrorism: the Dumbest Story Ever Written Liaquat Ali Khan Lessons City Bombers Need to Learn from Newton and Donne Remi Kanazi Annexing Justice in Palestine Naveen Jaganathan The Gurgaon Riots Rock India Richard Heinberg Where is the Hirsch Peak Oil Report? Max Watts Francis Ona, the Napoleon of Mekamui Ben Tripp Write Your Own Editorial! Poets' Basement Whalen & Engel, Landau, Albert and Krieger       July 29, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Who's the Real Martyr? Judy Miller or Jim DeFede? P. Sainath The Class War in Gurgaon Niranjan Ramakrishnan How the West Was Lost: CAFTA and the Disassembling of America Dave Lindorff Marvelous Marvin Bush J.L. Chestnut, Jr. America's Racist Inventory: Oppression Breeds Violence Pat Williams Giving Away the Last Best Place Norman Solomon In Praise of Kevin Benderman: a Moral Leader of the Nation Goes to Prison Sen. Russ Feingold The Bad News About the Energy Bill     July 28, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Departing Iraq William S. Lind The Duke of Alba and George W. Bush Gilad Atzmon Blair the Camera Man Joshua Frank Passing CAFTA: Blame the Democrats Lila Rajiva Vision Mumbai Submerged Amina Mire Pigmentation and Empire: the Emerging Skin-Whitening Industry Website of the Day Gateway to Underground News     July 27, 2005 Roger Morris The Source Beyond Rove: Condoleezza Rice at the Center of the Plame Scandal Gary Leupp Is Iran Being Set Up? Paul Craig Roberts US Falling Behind Across the Board Jackie Corr Class War on the Ruby River: the Billionaire with His Foot in His Mouth Mike Whitney The Coming End of the Housing Bubble Dave Zirin Why Lance Armstrong Must Break with Bush Christopher Bradley Why I Have Trouble Reading the News Norman Solomon Thomas Friedman, Liberal Sadist? Website of the Day Stormin' Norman     July 26, 2005 Suren Pillay The Enemy Within: When the "Other" is One of "Us" JoAnn Wypijewski Fission and Fizzle in Chicago: SEIU and Teamsters Quit the AFL Patrick Cockburn Iraq: the Unwinnable War David Anderson When the Greatest Outrage is the Lack of Outrage: NYC's Subway Searches Joshua Frank Hillary Clinton: Outflanking Bush from the Right Lenni Brenner Biography as Wish-Fulfillment: Jefferson, Hitchens and Atheism David Swanson Nuking Native Land     July 25, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts China-Mart Takes Over M. Shahid Alam Terrorism: America Defines Its Targets Uri Avnery March of the Orange Shirts Stan Cox Kreationism in Kansas Norman Solomon "Wagging the Puppy" Ramzy Baroud London Bombings: Barbaric, But Not Unexpected Mickey Z. No Gun Ri: 55 Years Later Website of the Day The Birth of a Hummingbird in 15 Images     July 23 / 24, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Islamo-Anarchs or Islamo-Fascists? Tariq Ali The War Comes Home Robert Fisk Something Happened Dave Lindorff Return of the Academic Witch Hunts Ricardo Alarcón Kidnapping in Miami: the UN, the US and the Cuban 5 Col. Dan Smith Living in a Twilight Zone: Troop Strength, Recruitment and the Draft Brian Cloughley The Pentagon's China Hypocrisy Kevin Zeese Growing Republican Opposition to Iraq War Bill Quigley Harrowing Hours in Haiti Fred Gardner The Reverberations of Raich Rep. Ron Paul The Patriot Act is a Threat to Liberty Joshua Frank Framing Abortion: Gonadal Politics and the Democrats Shivali Tukdeo Project Mumbai Makeover: Casualties of Development Gilad Atzmon Blair's "Evil Ideology" James Petras Baghdad: Barbarism and Civilization (a Fiction) Ben Tripp When Being American Was Fun Poets' Basement Krieger, Louise, Buknatski, Albert and Engel Website of the Weekend Remember the West Memphis 3   July 22, 2005 Heather Gray Home Grown Axis of Evil: Corp. Agribusiness, the Occupation of Iraq and the Dred Scott Decision David Domke The American Press and Credibility Lance Selfa Battle of the Insiders: No Heroes in the Plame Leak Scandal JoAnn Wypijewski Is This Really an "Insurgency" to Shake Up the Labor Movement?   July 21, 2005 Rose Ann DeMoro The Top 10 Problems with the "Crisis" in the Labor Movement William Blum London: Another Casualty in the War on Terror J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Whites Need to Learn Something: Dixie is Everywhere Christopher Brauchli Strange Affairs: Liberals and Alberto Gonzales Joshua Frank Plame Blame Game: the 5 Ws Brian Concannon, Jr. Haiti's Elections: Time for a Reality Check Patrick Cockburn The True, Terrible State of Iraq and the Link to London Website of the Day Who Blew Up the Murrah Building?     July 20, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Judge Roberts: Business as Usual Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Red Christmas Ray McGovern Did Dick Finger Valerie?: the Hand of Cheney Chris Floyd Judge Dread: John Roberts and the "Enemy Combatants" Uri Avnery "Silence is Filth" Dave Lindorff Westmoreland's Body Count Goes Up by One Norman Solomon Gen. Westmoreland's Death Wish Bill Quigley Travels in Haiti with a Wanted Priest       July 19, 2005 Tariq Ali An Isolated Regime John Ross Jihad Meets G-8 Davey D. More Clear Channel Censorship: "Don't F--K Around with Tha Police" Greg Weiher Muzzling Saddam: the Old Bait-and-Switch in Iraqi Jurisprudence Brian McKinlay An "Arse Licker" Goes to Washington: John Howard's Grand Tour Norman Solomon Nukes for India; Threats for Iran Dave Lindorff Get Back to Where We Once Belonged Bill Christison Bush's Itinerary: First Stop Syria, Next Stop Iran Joshua Frank Laura's Justice?: Meet Edith Brown Clement   July 18, 2005 Joshua Frank An Interview with Ward Churchill M. Shahid Alam A Muslim Problem: Did Thomas Friedman Flunk History? Jude Wanniski Memo to Patrick Fitzgerald Ron Jacobs A Weekend to Stop the War Mike Whitney The Straight Line Between Falluja and King's Cross Station William MacDougall From "Bring It On" to "London Can Take It" Seth Sandronsky Temporary Recovery: New Frontiers in Labor Flexibility Richard Lichtman The Consolations of George Lakoff Paul Craig Roberts Can Congressional Republicans End Bush's Wars? Website of the Weekend Novels of the Neo-Cons   July 15 / 17, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Don't You Dare Call It Treason Jeffrey St. Clair Sticky Fingers: the Making of Halliburton Paul Craig Roberts Economic Treason Harry Browne "What They Do to Us, They Will Do to You": Shell Oil in Mayo, Ireland Uri Davis, Ilan Pappe and Tamar Yaron A Warning from Israel Andrew Rubin End of the Enlightenment: an Open Letter to Stephen Plaut Patrick Cockburn Iraq's Ghost Battalions J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Changes in Selma: Standing Up to Racism in the South Fred Gardner A Professional Bust Christopher Brauchli An Olympic Feat: How to "Double" Aid with No New Money Chris Floyd The Great Iraq Oil Giveaway Ben Tripp The Dark Incontinent Col. Dan Smith General Abizaid, I'm Glad You Asked Jason Leopold What Did Rove Say and When Did He Say It? Jack Random Miller Time Norman Solomon War and Venture Capitalism George Ochenski Liberate Montana's Rivers: Come One, Come All! Website of the Weekend Vote for CounterPuncher David Vest     July 14, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Sticky Fingers: the Making of Halliburton Subcomandante Marcos This is What Will Do and How We Shall Do It: the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona Dave Lindorff No More Moral Relativism: the US is a Terrorist State Joshua Frank Rove Agency: Liberals and the CIA Jude Wanniski Those 8 Black Pages: What's the Real Story on Karl Rove? Dave Zirin Storming the Castle Kevin Zeese Exit Strategy: Within Reach? Robert Jensen War Myths and the Press Reza Fiyouzat A Worldwide Call to Free Akbar Ganji Carol Norris Governor Paranoid: Schwarzenegger Comes Unhinged Website of the Day Nate Osborn: Heroic Human Rights Activist and CounterPuncher   July 13, 2005 Brian Cloughley Cold Blooded Murders in Iraq George Galloway We Can't Separate the London Bombings from the Political Backdrop Carlos Fierro A Supreme Waste of Time Sarah Knopp Hate on the Border Norman Solomon "Isolated Pockets of Problems": the Fake Optimism of Washington's Warriors Mickey Z. Water on the Brain Jim Minick The Right Tree in the Right Place Pat Williams American Indian Education for All Andrew N. Rubin Life Behind the Wall: "We are No Longer Able to See the Sun Set" Website of the Day "London's Burning": the Mikey Mix     July 12, 2005 Laith al-Saud Voices of Resistance: an Interview with Dr. Mohammed al-Obaidi of Iraq's Peoples' Struggle Movement Kara N. Tina "This is How We Do It": Report from the Gleneagles Battlefield William A. Cook The London Bombings: Why Has It Come to This? Jack Bratich 2 Live Cruise: Tom Cruise v. Big Pharma Amina Mire The Problem with Speaking in the Name of Others Dick J. Reavis Lessons from the Christian Jihadists: the Virtues of Burning Crosses and Colored Smoke Kevin Zeese Depleted Uranium: States Take Action to Protect Their Vets Paul Craig Roberts No-Think Nation Website of the Day Coke Gags Indian Artist     July 9 / 11, 2005 Alexander Cockburn After the Bombings Uri Avnery War of the Colors in Israel Sheldon Rampton Blaming Galloway: Rhetoric vs. Reality in London Bill Christison Hiroshima's 60th Anniversary and Nukes in Iran: an Opportunity or Just More Hand-wringing from the Peace Movement? Robert Fisk Blair's Alliance with Bush Bombed Stephen Winspear Collateral Damage in London? Saul Landau Mission Accomplished: Iraq is Broken Behrooz Ghamari Thomas Friedman's Muslim Problem Karl Beitel False Promises and Real Debt Relief Brian Concannon, Jr. Throwing Gasoline on Haiti's Fires Fred Gardner Sentencing Season John Whitlow And What Does the Market Say? Niranjan Ramakrishnan The London Blasts: Who's Being Transformed, Them or Us? Lila Rajiva Witches and Bastards Laura Carlsen CAFTA: Deepening the Inequities Jackie Corr Ted Turner and Jiminy Cricket Dave Lindorff "My Brother Went Over There Gung Ho; Now He's Just Bitter" N. D. Jayaprakash Why the CIA Tried to Kill Chou En Lai at the Bandung Conference Seth Sandronsky Meet the "Truth Tour": Rightwing Radio Hosts Go to Iraq Norman Madarasz The Choking of Brazil's Worker Party Ben Tripp The Inevitability of George W. Bush Poets' Basement Louise, Albert, Landau, Davies and Engel Website of the Weekend The Mother of All Enemies Lists     July 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Blowback Hits Britain: Londoners Pay Heavy Price for Blair's Deception Tariq Ali The London Bombings: Why They Happened Monica Benderman One Soldier's Fight to Legalize Morality Rick Jahnkow Beyond Opt-Out: the Counter-Recruitment Movement Christopher Brauchli Dear Vet: If You Want to Eat While You Recuperate, You Gotta Pay Extra Kim Peterson Bombs in the Underground: Terror Begats Terror Joshua Frank Leakers and Liars: Inching Toward Indictments? Norman Solomon Messages from the Carnage Website of the Day An Interview with Ray McGovern   July 7, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Judy Miller: the Luckiest Martyr John Walsh More Hawkish Than Bush: Dems in Full Battle Cry Mike Marqusee Message from London Gilad Atzmon London's Burning Nicole Colson Showdown at the Supreme Court Jack Random Judith Miller, Anti-Hero Norman Solomon Judith Miller, Drum Majorette for War Len Colodny Is Bob Woodward Still Protecting Al Haig? Cockburn / St. Clair Judy Miller: the Luckiest Martyr                                                               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

August 27 / 28, 2005 PR Plan for Pentagon's "Demonstration Village" School of the Americas Fights Back By DIANE FARSETTA Sometimes even the slickest public relations effort doesn't improve a person's or an institution's image. Think of the U.S. State Department's $15 million "Shared Values" ad campaign, which tried to assuage anti-American sentiment in Muslim countries. More commonly, PR campaigns enjoy partial successes. That appears to be the case with the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC, formerly called the School of the Americas or SOA), a Defense Department facility at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia. While media coverage and Congressional attitudes haven't improved appreciably since WHINSEC launched a major PR effort three years ago, the Institute has achieved a partial détente with some academic figures and human rights organizations. According to its mission, WHINSEC provides "professional education and training to military, law enforcement, and civilians to support the democratic principles of the Western Hemisphere." Unlike the dozens of other U.S.-based military training facilities, though, the Institute receives a significant amount of public scrutiny. This mostly negative attention is due in large part to protests, outreach and lobbying activities organized by the School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch). Since 1990, SOA Watch has worked "to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents." The organization points to hundreds of cases where WHINSEC graduates have been found guilty of or implicated in human rights abuses, including the November 1989 killing of six Jesuit priests and two associates in El Salvador and the February 2005 murder of eight members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community in Colombia. WHINSEC public affairs officer Lee Rials rejected any culpability in these cases, telling PR Watch, "No one's been able to show even one person that took a course here and committed a crime that was related to the course." Yet there are ongoing contacts with trainees, according to WHINSEC's website: "When students return to their own countries, the U.S. military groups there maintain ties with them as part of the U.S. military-to-military engagement plan." Eventually, the fallout from alumni crimes -- along with revelations that the Institute had used training manuals describing "'coercive techniques' such as those used to mistreat the detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq," as described by the National Security Archive, which made the manuals public last year -- became too much to ignore. In 2000, the then-School of the Americas became WHINSEC, ostensibly because the SOA "had fulfilled its Cold War era mission." Critics dismissed the change as a PR ploy. In mid-2002, "to counter negative political rhetoric that detracts from the mission of both WHINSEC and the Army," the Defense Department approved a $246,000 "consistent, programmed, proactive public affairs effort in direct support of the Institute." Dubbed WHINSEC's "Strategic Communications Campaign Plan," it was also ridiculed as "putting a new label on a bottle of poison" by SOA Watch communications coordinator Christy Pardew. (SOA Watch obtained a copy of the PR plan from California-based journalist and activist Aaron Shuman, who was given it by WHINSEC's Rials. SOA Watch shared the plan with PR Watch; it can be downloaded from our SourceWatch article on the Institute.) Three years later, have its PR efforts improved WHINSEC's public image? Based on media coverage and Congressional attitudes, the answer is no. One major goal of the WHINSEC plan is that "media coverage of the WHINSEC is characterized as neutral to positive." An annex to the plan provides a baseline measurement, by evaluating opinion/editorial pieces on WHINSEC published from April 1999 to April 2000. Of these, 77 percent were judged "negative," 9 percent "balanced" and 14 percent "positive." A similar analysis by PR Watch of pieces published from January to mid-July 2005 that mention WHINSEC found a similar trend; 68 percent were negative, 23 percent neutral and 9 percent positive. Another PR goal -- listed as the first of four "desired 'end states' of WHINSEC communications" -- is that the "Congressional audience will not support legislation to close the WHINSEC." However, a bill in the House of Representatives that would do just that, HR 1217, had 115 cosponsors by the 2005 summer recess. Although the PR plan calls Congress "a crucial audience," Rials downplayed the importance of HR 1217, saying that WHINSEC was established by Congress through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001. However, WHINSEC has been successful in obtaining "third-party (non-Army) public support" -- though the Institute may wish it were more public. Its PR plan includes outreach to academic, religious and political leaders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as "key influencers" and targeting human rights NGOs, educational institutions and think tanks as "key audiences." These groups might seem unlikely to respond to overtures from WHINSEC, but they have -- after sustained, persistent courting via various channels. WHINSEC's early attempts at securing third-party backing were abysmal failures, according to the Board of Visitors, a Congressionally mandated WHINSEC oversight and advisory body. The Board's December 2002 meeting minutes note that "the Institute had sent over 35 invitations to NGOs" for WHINSEC's second annual Hemispheric Security Conference, "but none had been accepted." WHINSEC's Simon Bolivar Award for Democracy and Human Rights Award and Lecture Series, a recently-launched annual event, also enjoyed little support. The Board of Visitors "recommended continuing to invite NGOs to submit nominations, even though solicitation of some 50 NGOs this year yielded no response," read the minutes. Adam Isacson, a senior associate at the Center for International Policy in Washington DC, said it's no surprise that WHINSEC's initial outreach fell flat. "They faxed out invites for several years," he told PR Watch, "but they weren't to anyone's attention," just addressed to whichever organization. Isacson said several Washington-based groups with Latin America programs, including his own, received but ignored these WHINSEC contacts. WHINSEC's outreach to the academic community saw more rapid gains. One of the many talking points in its PR plan stresses "the academic environment of the WHINSEC." This environment "encourages relationships between military and civilian students and faculty dedicated to building stronger societies through constructive interaction and peaceful change," the plan states. In keeping with that theme, WHINSEC announced in May 2003 that "the first Canadian academic to serve as a Fellow" there, Dr. Dennis Rempe, received a prestigious award for his doctoral dissertation. Another WHINSEC press release noted that Professor Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon from Washington College of Law and Padre Alvarez, a dean of the Jesuit University in Bogota, Colombia, participated in WHINSEC's "Human Rights Week" in July 2003. An April 2004 release titled "WHINSEC Hemispheric Security Conference Draws Eminent Educators" named Norwich University's Russell Ramsey and Hal Kearsley, the University of Georgia's Thomas Whigham, the University of California at Irvine's Cesar Sereseres, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Robert Buckman as U.S. academic presenters. During this time, human rights NGOs remained aloof. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has given lectures and taught courses at WHINSEC on the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law since at least 1997, seems to be the exception. However, as predicted in the Board of Visitors' 2002 meeting minutes, "relatively soon the NGO community will begin to respond." According to WHINSEC's website, the Georgia-based Carter Center nominated Peru's Dr. Jorge Santistevan de Noreiga for the Institute's Simon Bolivar award. He became the award's first recipient, prior to September 2002 (exactly when is unclear). Participants in WHINSEC's Command and General Staff Course visited the Carter Center in the summer of 2003. The next sign of thaw came in late 2004, when WHINSEC Commandant Colonel Gilberto Perez accompanied the head of U.S. Southern Command, General Bantz Craddock, to Washington DC. They held a joint meeting with NGOs working on Latin America, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Center for International Policy. The conversation focused on Colombia and the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with "not much talk about WHINSEC," Adam Isacson told PR Watch. The turning point in WHINSEC's relations with NGOs appears to have been a January 2005 workshop at Fort Benning itself, titled "Democracy and Human Rights at WHINSEC." The event was organized by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, part of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The Carr Center's website says that it "uses its convening power to create a safe space for human rights organizations and other policy actors to engage in constructive self-criticism and to forge new partnerships" (emphasis in original). Unlike most previous attempts to involve NGOs, this one was successful. Human Rights Watch, the Carter Center and the Center for International Policy participated in the WHINSEC workshop, according to Isacson. He said that the invitation came from the Carr Center, though the event was "probably" a WHINSEC initiative. In a blog entry written directly afterwards, Isacson said he attended the workshop "to learn more about the part of the Institute's mission that sounds most like something [the Center for International Policy] would support: training in human rights, civil-military relations and the military's role in a democracy." His assessment was that WHINSEC did have "a genuine interest in making human rights more than just window-dressing to improve the school's image." However, Isacson also had serious concerns. Foremost was that WHINSEC "training doesn't explore the importance of tolerating -- not to mention protecting -- those who relentlessly criticize and seek deep reforms, but do not violate the law: human rights defenders, labor organizers, investigative journalists, whistleblowers and denouncers of abuse and corruption, among others." Another concern was that "collaboration with or toleration of other groups that do the dirty work," such as Colombia's pro-government paramilitaries, "do not appear to be a prominent training topic." That's an especially glaring deficiency, since Colombia sends more students to WHINSEC than any other country. Four months later, WHINSEC moved to institutionalize its interactions with NGOs. In May 2005, about 20 students in WHINSEC's cadets school traveled to Washington DC for a joint meeting with several organizations, including the Center for International Policy and SOA Watch. SOA Watch's Christy Pardew told PR Watch that her organization had "a pretty big conversation" about whether to participate, but finally decided that "it was important for us to go and act as observers." The meeting, about two hours long, featured "lots of debate" and was "pretty fun," said Isacson. Pardew recounted that one Colombian student "raised his voice, asking, 'Why are we here to discuss that human rights is good? We all know that our career is over if we commit a human rights abuse.'" She found the student's comment rather ironic, given how infrequently Colombia has prosecuted its military for abuses. Similar meetings with NGOs are planned as a routine part of future WHINSEC cadets courses. Perhaps the feather in WHINSEC's cap, though, is Human Rights Watch's decision to give a lecture during the Institute's "Human Rights Week" in August 2005 -- the organization's first-ever involvement in a WHINSEC course. Bonnie Docherty, a researcher in Human Rights Watch's Arms Division and the person who gave the lecture, told PR Watch that her presentation was based on "our battle damage assessment to Iraq that we have given in many forums. In Iraq, we found that the United States killed or injured hundreds of civilians with their use of cluster munitions in populated areas." Docherty said her goal was "to explain that militaries can and should abide by international human law," which historically "Latin American militaries have abused." Human Rights Watch saw the WHINSEC course as "a good opportunity for us to train officers on [international humanitarian law] standards and to show the impact of their actions on civilians," she explained. Human Rights Watch has not made an ongoing commitment to WHINSEC, seeing the lecture as a "one-time event," according to Docherty. She stressed, "Our participation is not an endorsement of the group we are training." SOA Watch's Pardew commented on Human Rights Watch's involvement in the WHINSEC course by saying, "There are a lot of NGOs working to ensure that there is more human rights training. They're in a position of being able to encourage that, while still realizing that it's nowhere where it needs to be." Isacson responded similarly when asked how the Center for International Policy decided whether and how to engage with WHINSEC. "You don't want to give a tacit seal of approval," he told PR Watch. "So, you make clear that we still don't think that this institution is necessary and we don't want our pictures in your promotional materials. And they agree to that." Such systematic and sustained outreach to human rights NGOs directly contradicts what WHINSEC's public affairs officer, Lee Rials, told PR Watch. "I don't want to sound lazy," he said, "but I'm not doing too much work now, in terms of having to go out and seek people" to support WHINSEC. In fact, Rials called soliciting support from outside organizations an inappropriate activity for WHINSEC staff: "We'd almost consider that lobbying." The larger question is whether WHINSEC's partial PR success might help deflect attention away from where the United States carries out the vast majority of its foreign military training. While the Center for International Policy's Adam Isacson credits the "laser-like pressure from SOA Watch" with forcing Fort Benning to become more transparent, he admitted, "I wish we could find out more about other training, other programs." Isacson estimates that there are around 100 other U.S.-based facilities training foreign military personnel. WHINSEC trains just 700 to 800 of the 14,000 Latin American military members trained annually in the United States. Even the Institute's PR plan lists the five other Defense Department training facilities "that concentrate on Latin America": the Center for Hemispheric Studies at Fort McNair in Washington DC, the Inter-American Air Force Academy at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the Navy Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School at Stennis Island in Mississippi, the U.S. Army Helicopter School Battalion at Fort Rucker in Alabama, and the U.S. Army Helicopter Maintenance Company at Fort Eustis in Virginia. Moreover, both Isacson and SOA Watch's Christy Pardew warned that more and more U.S. military training is being done overseas. "Why keep on doing those courses in Georgia," Isacson asked rhetorically, "when you can just send the Special Forces down there, where no one's watching?" Is WHINSEC being promoted as "Democracy in action" (as one of its PR plan's talking points claims) while more questionable practices are outsourced elsewhere? Perhaps that's what the Institute's Strategic Communications Campaign Plan means when it lists "counter[ing] negative perceptions of the Army" as one of its two overarching objectives. Diane Farsetta is a Senior Researcher, Center for Media & Democracy, publisher of PR Watch, where this article originally appeared. She can be reached at: diane@prwatch.org CLARIFICATION ALEXANDER COCKBURN, JEFFREY ST CLAIR, BECKY GRANT AND THE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF JOURNALISTIC CLARITY, COUNTERPUNCH We published an article entitled "A Saudiless Arabia" by Wayne Madsen dated October 22, 2002 (the "Article"), on the website of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity, CounterPunch, www.counterpunch.org (the "Website"). Although it was not our intention, counsel for Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi has advised us the Article suggests, or could be read as suggesting, that Mr Al Amoudi has funded, supported, or is in some way associated with, the terrorist activities of Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist network. We do not have any evidence connecting Mr Al Amoudi with terrorism. As a result of an exchange of communications with Mr Al Amoudi's lawyers, we have removed the Article from the Website. We are pleased to clarify the position. August 17, 2005