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Inside Iraq's Resistance HOT HOT HOT New CounterPunch Print Edition! Meet actual Iraqis and not just Western caricatures. Laith al-Saud interviews top man in Iraq's national resistance. It's not just Abu Ghraib and bids to kill Fidel Castro. Torture and assassination are integral parts of America's imperial machine. Don't miss Andrew Wimmer's searing journey into the soul of a nation that tortures as a way of life. Plus Alexander Cockburn on the killing of General Kassem. PLUS Sam Sillen's rollicking exhumation of Edmund Wilson as Malthusian Trostskyite. Get the answers you're looking for in the latest 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! CounterPunch Writer Daniel Wolff in Portland on Race, Music and Ashbury Park Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Today's Stories October 12, 2005 Diana Johnstone Srebrenica Revisited: Using War as an Excuse for War October 11, 2005 Roger Morris / Steve Schmidt Strategic Demands of the 21st Century Lila Rajiva Live from New Orleans: Abu Ghraib Bill Quigley New Orleans: Leaving the Poor Behind Again Paul Craig Roberts Natural Born Liars Dave Lindorff Recruiters in Schools: No Lie Left Untried Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Suspect Thy Neighbor Mitchel Cohen Showdown at Chuck E. Cheese Tariq Ali Pakistan will Never Forget This Horror Website of the Day L'Heure Americaine   October 10, 2005 Cindy and Craig Corrie Rachel's Words Live Joshua Frank Washington's War Dems Gideon Levy The Beautiful Life Without Arafat Alan Wallis The Fight for Free Speech at Union Square Mickey Z. In Defense of Liars CounterPunch News Service Vermont Independence Convention Paul Craig Roberts The Police State is Closer Than You Think Website of the Day Dylan's Chronicles   October 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Rhetoric and Reality in the Business of Getting Rid of Black People Ralph Nader Katrina and the Growls of Greed Jennifer Van Bergen New American Law: Legal Strategies in the Dharfir Case Saul Landau An Oily Religious Dream Jeff Halper Setting Up Abbas Lenni Brenner The Millions More Movement and Zionism Nikolas Kozloff Bird Flu and Bush Brian Cloughley Training Soldiers in Iraq Alice Slater A Nobel Prize for Chernobyl? John Gautreaux A View from Cajun Country Fred Gardner Does the Controlled Substances Act Mean What It Says? Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Leveethan Approach M.G. Piety Rot in the Ivory Tower: Collusion, Cover-Up and Kierkegaard Tom Gorman The Hitchens Doctrine Mike Whitney Bunker Days with George Aseem Shrivastava Beyond the Wasteland: Lessons from Afghanistan Ben Tripp Religion, an Epistle Poets' Basement Albert, Engel and Ford   October 7, 2005 Larry Johnson The Plame Case: the Real Issues Will Youmans Why Do We Hate Our Freedom? Recruiters and Thugs on Campus Dave Lindorff Bird Flu: Evolution or Intelligent Design? Judith Scherr Haiti's Children's Prison Russell D. Hoffman Nukes for Peace, Revisited?: Nobel Prize Debacle Jared Bernstein Katrina and Jobs Jennifer Van Bergen New American Law: the Case of Dr. Dhafir Website of the Day FBI Witchhunt October 6, 2005 P. Sainath "Take That, Tom Friedman": Indian Masses Reject NYT's Neoliberal Idol Again Scott Parkin When Antiwar Activists Get Mugged Paul Craig Roberts Blundering into Syria Andréa Schmidt Haiti's Biometric Elections: a High-Tech Experiment in Exclusion Dave Lindorff Easy Money in the Big Easy Joshua Frank In Defense of Lew Rockwell M. Junaid Alam Jackboots at George Mason Matthew Koehler Cock and Bull on the Bitterroot Robert Pollin Is the Dollar Still Falling?   October 5, 2005 Heather Gray Militarization is Not an Answer for Reconstruction: the Case of the Philippines Robert Jensen Is Bush a Racist? Ramzy Baroud Bush's Final Choice: America or the Empire Col. Dan Smith Keeping Promises to Iraq: "Everything is Bad" Dave Zirin Barry Bonds Laughs Last Paul Craig Roberts Liberal Guilt? How the Neocons Took Over Alan Maass Doing the Right Wing's Dirty Work   October 4, 2005 Nikolas Kozloff Shocking the Two Party System: a Political Opportunity for Sheehan and the Antiwar Mvt. Mike Roselle Houston, You've Got a Problem Joshua Frank The Scoop on Harriet Miers John Chuckman War Porn: What the Gruesome Images Say Alan Farago Storm Warning for Jeb: Developers, Hurricanes and the Keys Mickey Z. An Interview with Thaddeus Rutkowski Christine & Ethan Rose Home Depot Exploits Hurricane Victims Gary Leupp An Earlier Empire's War on Iraq: a Lesson from Roman History Website of the Day Rodney Crowell on Bob Dylan   October 3, 2005 Vijay Prashad Desperation at Holyoke Paul Craig Roberts Condi Rice: Gunslinger Joshua Frank An Interview with Cindy Sheehan Seth Sandronsky The Hiring Crisis for Black Teens Jeffrey St. Clair The Great Green Scare   October 1 / 2, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Democrats Sink Deeper into the Ooze Dave Marsh A Direction Home: a Message from Bob Dylan Ralph Nader Gutless, Spineless and Clueless Flavia Alaya Showdown at Sheriff's Plaza Uri Avnery The Gladiators: Sharon's Victory Chris Kutalik The Battle at Northwest Airlines Greg Moses Bill Bennett's Book of Cracker Virtues Brian J. Foley I Gave My Copy of the Constitution to a Pro-War Vet Nicole Colson Hunger Strike at Gitmo Ray McGovern Abu Ghraib is a Command Responsibility Fred Gardner Ricky Williams Takes a Late Hit Justin Felux Save America from Crime: Abort Every White Baby! Will Youmans "Free the P": Hip-Hop for Palestine Mike Ferner What Else Shall We Do? David Krieger The War in Iraq: a Broken Covenant Agustin Velloso Samson Returns to Gaza Saul Landau The Constant Gardener: Serious Cinema Ben Tripp Right Down the Middle Poets Basement Peddibone, Crowell, Engel and Albert Website of the Weekend Holler If Ya Hear Me   September 30, 2005 Mary Geddry Why I Marched: They Made My Son Kill Paul Craig Roberts Bush is Cooking Up Two New Wars Dave Lindorff Judith Miller's Strange Voluntary Jail Time Gregory Wilpert "The Osama Bin Laden of Latin America" Benjamin Dangl "Gringo, Go Home:" an Interview with Orlando Castillo James McMurtry We Can't Make It Here Anymore T.R. Johnson Return to the Ninth Ward   September 29, 2005 Sen. Russ Feingold Bush's Iraq War is Weakening America Carl G. Estabrook Obama the Enabler Ramzy Baroud Rhetoric and Reality of War Dave Lindorff What Opposition Party? Mike Whitney Brownie's Comic Opera Jozef Hand-Boniakowski What Noble Cause? Gary Handschumacher Getting Arrested with Cindy Sheehan Winslow T. Wheeler No Leaders in Congress Against This War: Lame Democrat and Tame Republicans   September 28, 2005 Dr. Eyad Serraj Letter from Gaza: What Disengagement Sounds Like William A. Cook Bush's Security Barrier Liaquat Ali Khan The Invention of Porno Torture Mike Whitney Apartheid Justice in America Joshua Frank Sheehan and the Democrats: Anybody Home? CounterPunch Wire New Orleans Prisoners Abandoned to Floodwaters Chris Genovali Cutting the Bears Out of the Great Bear Rainforest Linn Washington, Jr. White Affirmative Action: How John Roberts Got to the Top   September 27, 2005 Forrest Hylton Political Murder in Puerto Rico: a Matter for Our Movement Jason Leopold The Decline and Fall of Bill Frist Jennifer K. Harbury Torture is US Policy, Not an Aberration Ray McGovern Torture and Cowardice: Why are American Religious Leaders Silent? Mike Ferner Bringing the War Home: Arrested at the Pentagon Antony Loewenstein When the Truth Comes to Town: What You Can't Say About Israel in Australia Harry Browne Live from Hollywood: the IRA Disarms   September 26, 2005 Rafael Rodriguez Cruz Assassination in Puerto Rico: the FBI Murders a Legend Joshua Frank Democrats Flee Peace Protests Lamis Andoni The Railroading of Taysir Alony Mike Marqusee Those Pesky "Urban Intellectuals": Blair, Spiro Agnew and the Antiwar Movement Rep. Cynthia McKinney They Can't Fool Us Anymore Ron Jacobs A Small March for Me, a Giant March for the Antiwar Movement Norman Solomon The Media and the Antiwar Movement John Chuckman Bush in a Bottle Paul Craig Roberts America is Running Out of Time   September 24 / 25, 2005 Kathy and Bill Christison Polluting Palestine: Settlements & Sewage Ralph Nader Stealing the Moment: How Corporations Cashed in on Katrina Saul Landau The Terrorist Resumé of Luis Posada Greg Moses A Movement Gathers Power on the Sorrow Plateau Roger Burbach Hugo Chavez's Mission Vijay Prashad America's Shame Laura Carlsen After NAFTA Robert Fisk When Man and Nature Conspire to Expose the Lies of the Powerful Dave Lindorff A Gusher Called Katrina: They Fix Oil Prices, Don't They? Kirkpatrick Sale / Thomas Naylor Secession from the Empire: the Middlebury Declaration Maj. Anthony Milavic The US Military and Torture: the View of a Former Interrogator Brian Concannon, Jr. Haiti: the Time for Action is Now   September 23, 2005 CounterPunch News Service In Which, Phil Donahue Demolishes Bill O'Reilly Diane Farsetta Katrina and Right-Wing Think Tanks Robert Sandels Militarizing the Market Christopher Brauchli Bush: the Good Samaritan for Corporations Alan Farago Bird Flu Takes Flight Dave Zirin When Sports & Politics Collided: Redeeming the Olympic Martyrs of 1968 Maxine Conant A Simple Test for Bush David Price Workers Get Hit Twice: Katrina and Davis-Bacon Profiteering   September 22, 2005 Smith, Wood, Leas, and Greenfield Which Way Forward for the Green Party? a Report from Tulsa Patrick Cockburn Iraqis: This Government has No Authority Manuel Garcia, Jr. Thinking is Religious Freedom Lucia Dailey Trial of the St. Patrick's Four: Day One Mokhiber / Weissman Are You a Speed Freak? Russell D. Hoffman The Nukes in Rita's Path Kona Lowell God's Hurricane? Jason Leopold GOP Fiscal Policy and Katrina Website of the Day Robert Pollin on the Global Economy   September 21, 2005 Jorge Mariscal Military Recruiters: Counselers or Salesmen? Linda S. Heard Double Standards in Iraq: Basra Brit Jailbreak Joshua Frank NYPD Unplugs Cindy Sheehan Eric Ruder "The Problem in Iraq is the US": an Interview with Camilo Mejia Pierre Tristam The Struts and Bull Presidency Dave Lindorff The Real Story of the German Elections Mike Ferner Sit Down in DC Missy Comley Beattie Bush's Katrina Bling Bling Jeffrey St. Clair W Marks the Spot Website of the Day New Orleans: Survivor Stories   September 20, 2005 Steve Breyman Toxic Gumbo: Katrina and Environmental Justice George Galloway Et Tu, Greg Palast? Patrick Cockburn What Happened to Iraq's Missing $1 Billion? M. Shahid Alam Gen. Musharraf and Israel: Is Pakistan Selling Out? Mike Whitney The Gitmo Hunger Strikers Winslow T. Wheeler It's Not Rocket Science Niranjan Ramakrishnan Back to the Future: North Korea's Gambit Paul Craig Roberts Will Neocon Fanaticism Destroy America?         Subscribe Online

October 12, 2005 New Orleans will Never be the Same The Haves and Haves-Not-to-Much By JOHN GAUTREAUX Some wise man with a beard once told me, "You can tell more about people by what they don't own, than what they do own." That's true I guess, on some philosophical level, and I'll remember that quaint little aphorism next time I want to impress some people at a wine and cheese party. I can see it now, in the midst of a heated discussion about American materialism, I'll suddenly stand up, take a sip of my wine, and spout it out like dogmatic truth, using my dogmatic truth voice I keep in my throat just for such occasions. The debate will be silenced. The look on people's faces will stoke my ego. And after, thin women who own too may cats and thick framed glasses will ask me out for coffee Sorry, I'm rambling again. What I'm trying to say is, you still can tell a heck of a lot about people by what they DO own, especially us Americans.I've been helping people in New Orleans clean out their ruined homes. They pay me decently and provide transportation. On the way there, they usually say, "Don't worry man, I don't own a lot of stuff." That's bullshit. That's like people who say, "I don't watch a lot of TV." I swear, 80 percent of the people I meet say that phrase, yet every time I go to their house, they're watching TV. Anyway, I get ready to clean out a house. I put on my gloves and mask, feeling like a surgeon, save for the torn Miller High Life T-shirt. I start bagging up and throwing out, and the stuff I come across, is trulythought provoking. Everyone's life is in a pile on the curb. These piles announce to the world: The person who lived here just can't get enough statues of Mary. This one over here really like the color blue! This guy owned a beta max! What would you do with four rice cookers? I did'nt know they made life size cutouts of Nick Nolte? So many disco balls in this pile, but so few roller skates? Right here, on the ground, I see a helmet with a sticker on it that says, "Street Racing is not a crime!" Well, owning idiot slogan material is a crime against one's own dignity, but who am I to judge, I still wear my hat backwards sometimesusually when I'm feeling both aloof and gangsterish. Lives have been shattered, taken, and displaced, and the strongest manifestation of this is the piles of debris that line every street in New Orleans. For those of you who don't know, we bury our dead above ground. We're famous for this; it's in brochures and shit. It's wierd because the totality of our lives have also been buried above ground as well, in these huge piles. I don't have to write another symbolic sentence on why this is so profound, I trust in the intelligence and emotional intuition of those reading, plus, I doubt I could even accurately even articulate it all. Now let's talk about another thing the patrons of this water logged city do own. They own the right to have their asses kicked by police, always did. In case you did'nt see the news, it took five officers of the law to arrest and beat up an unarmed, unthreatening 64 year old ex-elementary school teacher who was just out trying to buy a pack of cigarettes. Then they charged him with public intoxication.on Bourbon st. Charging people with public intoxication on Bourbon St. is like walking into congress and charging everyone with Stupidity. Most hilarious part of the whole event, Mr. Davis (the brutalized man) says he has'nt had a drink in 25 years. Out of all the drunken idiots to beat up on Bourbon St, these pigs pick the elderly ex-elementary educating teetotaler. Glad these cops were "holding the city together" in it's time of crisis. And was this attack racially motivated? Perhaps? Would this have happened if Mr. Davis was your run of the mill Bourbon St. patron throwing money around? I doubt it. Let's picture your typical French Quarter tourist: He's a middle-aged balding white male wearing a collar shirt tucked into the elastic waistband of short khaki shorts. Beads are draped around his neck and it's not even Mardi Gras, a "brewski" is in one hand, and he's just looking to see some bresticles. I've literally seen one of these guys run up to a police officer, take the hat from his head, and pose for a picture. The officer just laughed, they shook hands, exchanged some words and parted ways into the rambunctious crowd and neon lights. I always wondered what they said in that brief conversation. Guy: I'm just gonna borrow your hat for a second ossifer.take me a little pic-chuuur! Officer: OK, whatever my white brother, just don't barf on it! Guy: (holdin up hat) I'm so freakin wasted man! *man's wife takes picture* Officer: How much did you drink? Guy: A sixer of Bud and some shots of Jack. Officer: Awsome! Guy: Hey, I'm going beat up Homos wanna come? Officer: Naw, it's Negro Night Thursday, and I've gotta beat my quota! Guy: OK, catch you on the flip side! Officer: (waving) Toodles! Imagine if Mr. Davis would have run up to the cop and tried the same thing. I imagine he would have been shot, or at least tasered, which always brings a smug smile to the cops. Ever watch those videos on the internet where the cops tase some unruly traffic violator? While the law breaker is squirming around on the ground like George W in a tickle fight with Dick Cheney, the policeman stands over him triumphantly with this look on face, the same look a child gets when setting grasshoppers on fire. Yup, these are our heroes. If I ever have a kid, (and that would not be on purpose) and he ever says he wants to be a cop when he grows up, I'm going to retroactively abort him right there with a macheteand that would be out of love people. But what really cracked me up was the cop who harassed the media after for doing their job. Did see that shit? He jabs the camera man in the gut, and in this high-pitch girlish yelp exclaims, "I've been fighting to stay alive for six weeks!" That shit was pathetic. Doesn't this guy watch any action movies, and judging by his gut and penchant for punching people, I'm guessing he does. Anytime you're gonna say some macho ass shit like that, you gotta put some bass in your voice. He totally ruined the moment. With that girlish cadence, he may as well have yelled, "Tiffany hit me with a pillow, MOM!" Same shit to me. Beating a 64 year old unarmed ex-elementary school teacher senseless is not quite the epitome of toughness, but still, you don't go sounding like some frightened schoolgirl after. That is not how Jesus would have sounded. And if anything, at least fire him for that.and the fact that he had bitch-tits. Yall notice that? How you gonna beat up a defenseless old man and have lil man boobs? Come on, that mother fucker's guilty of something! I guess what I'm trying to say is, New Orleans sucks right now, and it will never be the same. I know the media keeps saying how "resilient" these people are, and how they will "bounce back" but I'm really not that sure. The media HAS to say dumb shit like that. After all the natural disasters in history, have you ever heard the media say, "these people were corrupt, negative, and backwards people to begin with I doubt they will regain their former glory, no matter how mediocre it was." No, the media always heaps praise on defeated people. I guess that's the political correct thing to do, but that does'nt mean it's the truth. Example: I got a square ass fucking head, no lie. And when I'm feeling self conscious about it, I ask my mom, "Is my head too square mom?" And she usually tells me, "It's perfect honey. It's wonderful!" I know that's some bullshit right there, but I guess at the time I just needed to hear I was OK. I'm nervous about the future of this city. I don't believe unconditionally the words of hope by the media, by the public officials, and the president. Honestly, I think when it's all said and done, the rich will be richer and the poor will be poorer. John Gautreaux is a social worker in southern Louisiana. He can be reached at: johngautreaux@yahoo.com                                       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

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 WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair