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America's First Terror War
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Today's Stories May 19 / 20, 2007 Andrew Cockburn May 18, 2007 Adam Jones Sharon Smith Christopher Brauchli Peter Rost,
MD Denise Maloney Pictou David Swanson Ali Khan Susan Rosenthal,
M.D. Samer Assad CP News Service Website of the Day
May 17, 2007 Tariq Ali Yifat Susskind Dave Zirin Brian J. Foley W. John Green Eric Johnson-DeBaufre Badruddin Khan Martha Rosenberg China Hand Dan Vojir Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Ashley Dawson Joshua Frank Corporate Crime
Reporter Ray McGovern Glen Ford Joe Bageant Sonja Karkar Mickey S. Huff John Chuckman Kaz Dziamka Website of
the Day
May 15, 2007 Michael Neumann Patrick Cockburn Ashley Smith Marc Gardner Dave Lindorff Ben Terrall Ron Jacobs Harvey Wasserman Marcus Mabry Dr. Susan Block Website of the Day
May 14, 2007 Jennifer Roesch Jeffrey St.
Clair George Bisharat Diane Wachtell Ramzy Baroud Rosemary and
Walter Brasch Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Roberto Rodriguez Jonathan Culp Website of
the Day
May 12 / 13, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Diane Farsetta Ralph Nader Jean Bricmont Marcus Breen Joe Bageant Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Juan Santos
Eve Bachrach Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Niranjan Ramakrishnan Susie Day Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Kathleen Christison Mike Ferner John Holt Laurie Hasbrook Christopher
Brauchli Margaret Kimberley Dave Lindorff Nicole Colson John V. Walsh Website of the Day
May 10, 2007 Tariq Ali Patrick Cockburn Neve Gordon Marjorie Cohn David Rosen Alan Farago John Hellman Kathy Rentenbach BANCO Richard Rhames Website of the Day
Jeff Leys Patrick Cockburn Glen Ford Paula Rothenberg Kathryn Weber John Chuckman Jordan Flaherty Dave Lindorff Stephen Lendman Website of
the Day
May 8, 2007 Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Corporate Crime Reporter Ralph Nader Malini Johar Schueller Juan Santos Dave Zirin Joshua Frank Evelyn Pringle Eamonn McCann Website of the Day
May 7, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Greg Moses Rannie Amiri Fitrakis / Wasserman Fred Wilhelms Ramzy Baroud Bruce K. Gagnon T. W. Croft Sonja Karkar Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn William Blum Uri Avnery Franklin Lamb Fred Gardner Lawrence R.
Velvel Missy Beattie Robert Fantina Carla Blank Linn Washington,
Jr. Stephen F. Jackson P. Sainath Anthony Papa James T. Phillips John Ross Stephen Lendman Ben Terrall CounterPunch
Newswire Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Azmi Bishara Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Bob Fitrakis Janet Kauffman Website of
the Day
May 3, 2007 Jeff Halper Christopher
Brauchli Dave Zirin Corporate Crime
Reporter Robert Fisk Mike Ferner Mike Whitney Pham Binh Dave Lindorff Michael A.
Johnson Website of the Day
May 2, 2007 Saul Landau Dr. Susan Block Carla Blank Margaret Kimberly Kevin Zeese Carlos Villareal Michael Dickinson Tim Shorrock Alevtina Rea William S.
Lind Website of the Day
Andrew Cockburn Fred Gardner Chase Madar Ralph Nader John V. Walsh Joshua Frank Leslie Radford Shaun Harkin Dave Lindorff Peter Rost,
MD Peter Linebaugh Website of
the Day
April 30, 2007 Frank Menetrez Paul Craig
Roberts Ray McGovern Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Diana Johnstone Sherwood Ross Peter Rost, MD Robert Jensen Kevin Zeese Jane Stillwater Website of
the Day
April 28 / 29, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St.
Clair Fred Gardner David Orchard
Alan Maass Joe Bageant Robert Fantina Hanan Ashrawi Ron Jacobs Nicole Colson Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Harvey Wasserman Cindy Beringer Mike Roselle RAWA James McEnteer Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Eva Liddell Phyllis Bennis Mike Whitney Michael F.
Brown Jordan Flaherty Margaret Kimberly Christopher Brauchli Jacob Mundy Website of the Day
Andrew Cockburn Franklin Lamb Patrick Cockburn Roger Morris Henry Siegman Alevtina Rea Paris Nikolas Kozloff Alan Farago Matthew S. Miller Website of
the Day
Sharon Smith David Price Diana Johnstone Brendan Cooney Sonja Karkar Brian Concannon Lee Gaillard Leah Fishbein Dave Lindorff Neal Galloway Website of the Day
April 24, 2007 Ishmael Reed Lila Rajiva Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Mike Whitney Website of the Day
April 23, 2007 Saul Landau Patrick Cockburn Robert Fantina Sam Husseini Corporate Crime Reporter Elizabeth Lalasz Harvey Wasserman Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Fred Gardner Kristoffer Larsson Barbara Rose
Johnston Manuel Garcia, Jr. John Scagliotti Marjorie Cohn Patrick Cockburn Diana Johnstone Ron Jacobs Evelyn Pringle BANCO Paul Richards Dan Bacher Ben Terrall Sherwood Ross Remi Kanazi Aseem Shrivastava Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
April 20, 2007 Doug Peacock Diane Farsetta Tom Clifford Amira Hass Nicole Colson Sonja Karkar Heather Gray Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban Agustin Velloso Matthew Koehler Website of
the Day
April 19, 2007 Emad Mekay
/ Patrick Cockburn Larry C. Johnson Norman Solomon Saul Williams Sunsara Taylor Harvey Wasserman Christopher
Brauchli Anthony Papa Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
April 18, 2007 Lila Rajiva Landau / Hassen Charles Fisher
/ Diane Christian Kevin Prosen China Hand Peter Rost,
MD Justin Akers Chacón Jerry Kroth Sherwood Ross Niranjan Ramakrishnan Alice Cherbonnier Website of
the Year?
April 17, 2007 Jean Bricmont
/ Paul Craig
Roberts Frida Berrigan Alison Weir John Walsh Jason Hribal Evelyn Pringle Ben Terrall Stan Cox Soren Ambrose Website of the Day
April 16, 2007 John F. Sugg Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Carl G. Estabrook Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Ralph Nader Eamon McCann Lee Sustar Mike Whitney Don Fitz Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
April 14 / 15, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jorge Mariscal Jeffrey St. Clair Dave Marsh Dr. Trudy Bond Joe Bageant Fidel Castro Alfredo Molano Alan Farago Michael Neumann Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Gail Dines Linda Ford Missy Beattie Dan La Botz Giuliana Sgrena Laura Carlsen Abu Spinoza Elizabeth Schulte Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
April 13, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Stephen Soldz George Ciccarriello-Maher Laith al-Saud Dave Zirin John Ross Ramzy Baroud Harvey Wasserman Lopez, Olivo and Garcia Dols, Fukumori,
Judd and Tillett-Saks Website of the Day
April 12, 2007 JoAnn Wypijewski Paul Craig
Roberts Marjorie Cohn Evelyn Pringle Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Joe DeRaymond Nicola Nasser Nikolas Kozloff William S.
Lind Siegfried L. Sassoon Website of
the Day
R. T. Naylor Vijay Prashad Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler Jack Balkwill Alan Farago Russell D.
Hoffman Peter Rost, MD Mike Whitney Dave Lindorff Susie Day Website of the Day
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Weekend
Edition Dead or Alive?Vietnam SyndromeBy REZA FIYOUZAT Ho Chi Minh City. While traveling around Vietnam, you come across different kinds of western tourists. One staple of such a species is the American ex-military person. They usually display a proprietary disposition toward Vietnam which is inexplicable and shows itself in what they say and how they say it. In cultural studies, one would probably say the attitude is indicative of a not-so-subtle Orientalism mixed with a disturbing cocktail of ignorance-innocence plus a patronizing tone painfully visible to a lesser person, such as myself, from the Third World. One such ex-military person was encountered in a café in Sapa, a northern Vietnamese small town, with beautiful mountainous surroundings and lots of great trekking opportunities, going through spectacular scenes of terrace farming of rice and other farmed goods. The gentleman did look the military type, and engaged us in small talk. He mentioned that he planned to go to Dien Bien Phu by motorbike. I interjected, "That's where the French got their ass-whooping!" He didn't bat an eye, explaining the topography of the place and going on to say that at the time of the French military campaigns in 1953-1954, the military personnel on the ground had repeatedly told their military leaders that their positions there were untenable, yet the political leaders back home had insisted on holding their positions at Dien Bien Phu. He went on to conclude: "That's a great example of what micromanaging a war gets you!" He gave a knowing smile and a nod, and sipped on his espresso. Yes, some military types, especially those up above, believe that 'micromanaging' wars is not good business. The word, as I understand its usage, has specific connotations, usually implying that whatever the political goals of the military mission, and no matter in what unrealistic fashion those goals were conjured up, the military mission should be provided for; no questions asked. Once military invasions get going, 'meddlesome politicians' -- but more to the point, and by extension, the people whose taxes pay for those invasions -- should just shut up and stay out of the war business. The word 'micromanaging' usually
comes within a package with a larger framework, which is: indefinitely-running
military campaigns eventually and at some point, as inevitably
as sunrise, will succeed in achieving the political objectives
sought. But, what did all the bombings
(more than six million tons of bombs), all the atrocities (more
than three million Vietnamese deaths; millions of acres of farmlands
razed, bulldozed and salted; millions of tons of agent orange
sprayed); in short, what did all the rape and all the destruction
of the Vietnamese society get the Americans? The Vietnamese thoroughly defeated first the French colonial and then the American neo-colonial killing machines. And now they are where they intended to be before all that barbarity was unleashed upon them. They are being one nation among others with their sovereignty recognized and respected, and left in peace to pursue a somewhat happy life as best and as competently as they can. Of course, in so far as incompetence and lack of imagination in administering societal affairs is a species-wide problem of an endemic nature, the Vietnamese too have their share of it. But no more and no less, and their share is not even a hundredth as bad as the Americans'. The spirit exhibited while getting on with one's daily life can tell a great deal about a society. In the way the people act towards each other on the streets, in the markets, at places of business and as they carry out their daily routines, the Vietnamese are one of the most cooperative people I have ever met. Despite the poor infrastructure, people's cooperation with each other makes for a life that is far more hassle-free and relaxed than a lot of societies I have seen. Here is one simple example I experienced as a traveler. On a tour taking us through two days of visiting different aspects of life on the Mekong Delta, we had to be transferred from one very primitive small boat to another at different points in the journey. At one point, on our way to a coconut candy 'factory' (a small thatch-shaded work area on the banks of the Mekong, with maybe twenty workers), the motorboat broke down right in the middle of the waterway. In less than ten minutes, another boat from a competing company, doing the same route, was there to help out, taking us all onboard and delivering us to our intended destination. Had this breakdown occurred in the U.S., most likely we would have been stranded for at least a few hours while another boat (or a tugboat) was dispatched to help us; definitely, no competing company would pick us up. In China, we would have probably had to wait while the captain himself fixed the boat, which could have taken well, a very long time. Though it has changed a lot
and has gone some way down the road of capitalist restoration
(currently a member of the World Trade Organization), Vietnam
seems to have healed its wounds mostly and is modestly and warmly
proud of being a friendly country to the people who come to visit
it, including former colonialists and invaders; maybe especially
friendly to them. This, in stark contrast to the eye-scans and
finger-printing and an array of technologies of paranoia greeting
foreign visitors to the U.S., as if they were entering a gigantic
prison colony. In the US, meanwhile, life has changed mostly for the worse. There used to be a time when imperialism could at least bring a few goodies back home for some of 'its own' proles. However, thirty-some years after the defeat of the American forces in Vietnam, more than 45 million U.S. citizens have no access to healthcare; more than 12 million families go hungry; and almost18 percent of children under 18 live in poverty. Adjusted against the real buying power of the dollar in 2006, the minimum wages for workers back in 1968 were $9.27 an hour, the highest level of minimum wage ever since. The minimum wages stand at $5.85 an hour now, and, by legislative action taken in January of 2007, will be 'raised' to $7.25 by 2009. So, the real wages in the U.S. have been dropping since 1968. With the transfer of an increasing amount of the U.S. manufacturing base to production sites in countries with far lower wage standards, the latest economic 'recoveries' are merely recoveries for the profit margins of the most powerful corporations, with no employment gains for the workers during such 'recovery' phases. Some sixty percent of the U.S. corporations that use up most of the infrastructure to make their profits pay no taxes as often as they can, which means that most of the infrastructure is in dire need of rebuilding. And to keep the class divide as a permanent (and increasingly larger) fixture of the American way of life, the public education in the U.S. is in such a situation of inequality that Jonathan Kozol describes it as an apartheid educational system. Further, the civil rights of the U.S. citizens is no longer a guarantee; in fact, they are guaranteed not to exist, since such was codified into law with the Military Commissions Act of 2006, signed by President George W. Bush back in October 2006. Under the new legal structures, citizens may be (and are) held in captivity with no recourse to legal means to dispute their captivity. US and other citizens may also legally be tortured by the agents of the US government. And the U.S. imperialist wars of aggression-by-choice continue unabated. So, in terms of real-life conditions, the American people have gained nothing and have actually lost a lot of material ground. In terms of their relationship with the rest of the humanity, the American leaders are far from getting over the mentality that led them to invade Vietnam, and subsequently to the dreaded 'Vietnam Syndrome'. Quite the contrary, the upper echelons of the imperialist planners still believe and act as if God gave them a special license to invade any country and subject millions upon millions of people to extreme 're-education' campaigns backed by 1000-pound bunker busters; they still talk of shoving democracy down people's throats 'for their own good'; still talk of, and act on, destroying entire villages, towns and nations 'to save them'; still talk of the harm of 'micromanaging' a war, and are still stuck in the delusion that military might will bring all and sundry under their total and unconditional control. The only things that the rulers in the U.S. have learned deal with military tactics, weapons systems, increasingly sadistic degrees of punishment to be brought upon any who refuse to surrender. As well they have learned about more nuances of political manipulations for the sake of the 'domestic considerations' and 'world opinion'; i.e., the media management of their rape-and-pillage campaigns. They have not, however, learned the most crucial, humanizing and humbling truths about invading other people's societies to loot their goods. [In the case of Vietnam, of course, there were no physical or natural goods to loot, but there was that far more important spirit of the resistance that had to be broken; which was not.] Imperialism is manifestly and thoroughly a sick creature. Much like a mad murderer who cannot help craving the mental exhilaration of the first kill, the U.S. imperialist planners cannot help repeating their attacks on other nations under the pretence of protecting the 'American way of life'. Vietnamese society has many challenges and many problems partly as a result of the history of French colonialism and the fight against it, as well as the resistance to the invasion of the U.S. armed forces. Which means that a lot of the economic problems facing Vietnam arise from imposed poverty-by-bombing. Yet, the Vietnamese society goes about its daily business peacefully, and one frequently sees joyous life in the streets. The American ruling class, however, is perpetually stuck in a murderous gear. A crucial question therefore faces the American people: What will it take for the U.S. public to bring their leaders under some real and institutionalized form of control? A people's spiritual well being does not automatically survive intact. Especially not while people's representatives ceaselessly kill others by the millions and plunder others nations routinely just so that more gluttony can spread among an increasingly miniscule and incestuous ruling class in the belly of the beast. Reza Fiyouzat can be contacted at: rfiyouzat@yahoo.com
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The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn            CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
