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What You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter "THE USE OF CHEMICAL WARFARE IS AUTHORIZED" America's secret war plans: "The military purpose is to overthrow the present existing Federal Government of Mexico." Floyd Rudmin uncovers the sick dreams of America's generals. Alito says, Constitution okays Bush to set up prison camps here and torture US citizens. Dems praise his "even demeanor" and shirk the filibuster. Cockburn and St Clair on the Alito hearings and the Democrats' collapse. ... 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! Get CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year

Today's Stories February 3, 2006 Robert Bryce The Problem with Cutting US Oil Imports from the Middle East February 2, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler Pentagon Pork: How to Eliminate It Stan Cox Outsourcing the Golden Years Rachard Itani Danes (Finally) Apologize to Muslims (For the Wrong Reasons) Mike Whitney Afghanistan Five Years Later: Buildings Down, Heroin Up Amira Hass In the Footsteps of Arafat: an Interview with Hamas' Ismail Haniya Norman Solomon When Praise is Desecration: Smothering King's Legacy with Kind Words Michael Simmons Stew Lives! Christopher Reed Japan's Dirty Secret: One Million Korean Slaves Website of the Day State of Nature   February 1, 2006 Sharon Smith The Bluff and Bluster Dems: Alito and the Faux Filibuster Jason Leopold Enron and the Bush Administration Cindy Sheehan Getting Busted at the State of the Union: What Really Happened Joseph Grosso Oprah and Elie Wiesel: a Match Made in "Neutrality" Earl Ofari Hutchinson Coretta Scott King was More Than Just Dr. King's Wife Steven Higgs Life After Roe. v. Wade Robert Robideau "God Given Rights": Palestine and Native America R. Siddharth Tales of Power: When Gandhi Rejected a Faustian Bargain with Henry Ford Jim Retherford Remembering Stew Albert: the Quiet Genius Rep. Cynthia McKinney The Legacy of Coretta Scott King Paul Craig Roberts The True State of the Union Website of the Day Candide's Notebooks   January 31, 2006 Jeffrey St. Clair Revolutionary for the Hell of It: the Good Life of Stew Albert Clancy Chassay US Prods Lebanon Towards Civil War Dave Lindorff The Democrats' Alito Debacle Niranjan Ramakrishnan Alito: Harry-Kerry in the Senate Oren Ben-Dor Hamas' Victory: a New Hope? Winslow Wheeler Pentagon Pork: What is It? Who Cooks It Up? John Ryan Canada: a Chilling Echo of Bush's Republicans Mike Marqusee Privatizing Health Care: the Poor Pay the Price Ron Jacobs For Stew Andrew Cockburn Why Bush Probably Won't Attack Iran Website of the Day Celebrating Stew Albert   January 30, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Bush, Fox News and the Coming War on Iran Winslow Wheeler Inside the Pork Shop: the Defense Budget and Congressional Earmarks Niranjan Ramakrishnan Development Interrupted Marcus Dam "The Real Threat is from Imperial Fundamentalism": an Interview with Tariq Ali John Bomar Message to Democrats: the Case Against Pre-War Lying is a Slam Dunk, Stupid Ben Beachy Swindling the Sick: the IMF Debt Relief Sham Gideon Levy The Good News About Hamas' Victory Michael Carmichael Alito and Opus Dei Missy Comley Beattie Of Losses and Lies Norman Solomon The Question Journalists Refuse to Ask Bush Brian Concannon, Jr. Finally Some Good News From Haiti Michael Ratner Tomorrow is Today; the Time for Resistance is Now Website of the Day "I'm So Bored with Capitol Hill"   January 28 / 29, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Nicholas Kristof's Brothel Problem Ralph Nader The Impeachable Mr. Bush Col. Dan Smith Spying and Lying by the Pentagon Paul Craig Roberts Blind Ignorance: Polls Show Many Americans Simply Dumber Than Bush Tammara Rosenleaf Homefront War Diary: On Monday, My Husband Didn't Call Ron Jacobs Google This! Harry Browne Irish "Peace" Process at Recriminations Stage Fred Gardner Grover Norquist, Drug Policy Reformer? Christopher Reed North Korean Forgeries Bernard Chazelle France's Colonial Blowback Daniel Wolff Radioactive Money, 2005: How Entergy Gets Its Way at Indian Point Tom Kerr Small Fry: If You're Not in Power, You'd Better Not Lie Asad Abu Khalil The Demise of Fatah Chris Murphy The Medicare Disaster Dr. Susan Block America Wants a Divorce Kathy Deacon Hippocratic Oaf St. Clair / Walker / Palmer / Shields Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Laymon, Engel, Holt, Davies and Buknatski Website of the Weekend Your Child Can Be a NSA Spook! January 27, 2006 Suren Pillay Making the World Safe for Nuclear Violence, Again Lawrence R. Velvel The NYT and Alito: Journalistic Schizophrenia J.L. Chestnut, Jr The Cold Hard Truth: Marching Backwards on Civil Rights Uri Avnery To Talk with Hamas Gary Leupp Hamas's Victory: "the Power of Democracy" Samar Assad A New Political Landscape in Palestine Jeffrey St. Clair King of the Hill: Sen. Ted Steven's Empire of Corruption Website of the Day Bush Jobs Program: You Too Can Be an FBI Snitch   January 26, 2006 Robert Robideau An AIM Activist's View of Jack Abramoff: Another Racist Out to Defraud Native Tribes Paul Craig Roberts Bolton Orders Syria to Do the Impossible Gilad Atzmon Hamas' Victory Jason Leopold A Vaster Conspiracy?: Fitzgerald Probes Niger Forgeries Joshua Frank Iran, Nukes and Oil Dave Lindorff Bush Calls Hamas Kettle Black Susan Lee An Open Letter to the State Dept. on the Cuban Five Missy Comley Beattie A Plea to the Marines: Stop Sending Recruiting Letters to Our House! Michael Carmichael Extraordinary Alito Michael Neumann The Core of Zionism Website of the Day Who Will Stop the Slaughter of Yellowstone's Bison?   January 25, 2006 Saul Landau Domestic Spying, Now and Then: When Hoover Bugged Phone Calls with My Father James Petras Is Chile's Bachelet Washington's Best New Ally? Lawrence R. Velvel Alito and Roberts' Self-Gag Rule is a Phony Vijay Prashad From Chennai with Love Kevin Zeese Gen. William Odom Supports the Empire, But Opposes the War Alison Weir When a Mother Gets Killed Does She Make a Sound? Anatomy of a Cover-Up Bruce K. Gagnon Bush War Economy: Exporting Jobs and Security Joan Roelofs Military Contractor Philanthropy Website of the Day Bob Marley Does Dylan   January 24, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts The Patriot Police: the Unfathomed Dangers of Patriot Act Reauthorization Kathy Kelly Liberation and Deliverance Jorge Mariscal Bush's War Viewed from the South Winslow T. Wheeler Smoke and Mirrors in the Defense Budget John Walsh Why We Picket John Kerry: Join Us Friday in Boston Youmans / Muaddi The Growing Israel Divestment Movement Roger Burbach Bolivia's Evo Morales: Original Mandate for Social Revolution Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste Letter from a Haitian Prison Noam Chomsky The Terrorist in the Mirror Website of the Day Big Brother Watch January 23, 2006 Uri Avnery Pity the Orphan: Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Elections Susan Pynchon Diebold in Florida: "I Saw It Hacked" William Loren Katz Harry Belafonte Reaffirms a Proud Tradition Christopher Brauchli Bush's IRS: Squeezing the Poor Chris Floyd The Goon Show Joshua Frank Tre Arrow and ELF: Environmentalism on Death Row Norman Solomon The Other Shoe Drops: Classified Leaks and Journalists Jackie Corr Working for the Railroad: Racicot and the Burlington Northern Paul Craig Roberts Inside Cheney's War Workshop Website of the Day Arms Against War   January 21/22, 2006 Tim Shorrock Why the Buses Didn't Come: Bush-Linked Florida Company and the Katrina Evacuation Fiasco Ralph Nader Congressional Ethics After Abramoff Peter Feng Casualties of War: Neoliberalism, Katrina and the Asian Tsunami Brian Cloughley CIA Bombs Pakistan, Hits America Michael Donnelly Tapes and Snitches: Feds Hand Down Eco-Sabotage Indictments Tom Kerr Crackdown in San Quentin: Why are They Rounding Up Tookie Williams' Friends? Tim Matson Best Not Drive While Black on I-91 (But Walk Tall With the Bloody Chainsaw You Just Topped Your Neighbor With) Dave Lindorff Rumsfeld: Venezuela "Overspending" on Military Daniel Wolff Hour of Reckoning: the Gospel Roots of Wilson Pickett Fred Gardner "Metabolic Syndrome" is to "Clinical Depression" as Acomplia is Prozac Jason Leopold How Cheney Used the NSA to Spy on Americans Prior to 9/11 Matthew Koehler Betting on Biscuit: Does Post-Fire Logging Make Ecological (or Economic) Sense? John Bomar The Emperor's Clothes: from Bonaparte to Bush Ron Jacobs When Miners March: Struggle and Lose, Struggle and Win! Becky Akers Debunking Democracy Joanne Mariner Security, Terrorism and Human Rights St. Clair / Walker / Pollack CounterPunch Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert, Holt, Engel and Davies Website of the Day Osama's Book Club: Featured Selection January 20, 2006 Brian J. Foley What Kind of War Doesn't Allow for a Truce? Richard Gott Revolution in the Andes Joshua Frank Israel and US Threats Against Iran Pierre Tristam Imperial Mongers: From Gladstone to "King George" Bernstein / Allegretto Hourly Wages Have Fallen in 18 of the Last 20 Months Elizabeth Schulte Abortion Before Roe Website of the Day This Dog Bites   January 19, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Political Machines: Was the 2004 Election Stolen? Bill Simpich Those Damn Democrats: To End War, Don't Ask for What You Don't Want Kevin Alexander Gray Reclaiming King Day (From the NAACP) Sam Husseini Rot at the Top: If the Democrats Really Want to Stop Bush, They Need New Leadership Sam Smith The Real Chocolate City Monica Benderman Dare to Make a Stand Winslow T. Wheeler Just How Big is the Defense Budget? Website of the Day Leave My Child Alone   January 18, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Gore's Speech: a Challenge That Cannot be Ignored Norman Solomon The Crime of Giving the Orders: Executing Clarence Ray Allen Jonathan M. Feldman The System Doesn't Work Anymore Michael Carmichael "Extraordinary Circumstances": the Case Against Alito Paul D'Amato The Crimes of Jimmy Carter Cynthia McKinney King's Mission Endures Norman Finkelstein Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified Website of the Day The Planetary Movement   January 17, 2006 M. Shahid Alam "Real Men Go to Tehran": Has al-Qaeda's Gambit Paid Off? John Ross Latin America's Indians on the Move--in Different Directions Tariq Ali God, Blood, Oil and Iraq Michael Donnelly Killing Anna Mae Aquash, Smearing John Trudell Amira Hass No Child Left Unharassed: the Obstacle Course to School in Palestine Doug Giebel Alito's CAP: Either He Lied on His Resumé or There's a Cover-Up Bill Quigley MLK Day in a Haitian Prison Ron Jacobs Meet the Son of Jim Crow: MLK Day Below the Mason/Dixon Line Mike Stark Governor on a Killling Spree Werther The Liberties of the Subject January 16, 2006 John Walsh Tears of a Neocon: The Good News from Daniel Pipes Earl Ofari Hutchinson Black Students Under Fire: Racial Profiling in Public Schools Roger Burbach Bachelet's Victory: Leftward Drift in Chile? Norman Solomon Ted Koppel, NPR and Henry Kissinger: a Natural Fit? Robert Jensen Dreams and Nightmares: How Would King Judge America? Sam Husseini Martin Luther King and the Deeper Malady Paul Craig Roberts Bush Crosses the Rubicon Website of the Day MLK: Beyond Vietnam   January 14 / 15, 2006 Alexander Cockburn What the FBI Repairman Wore When He Tried to Bug Edward Said JoAnn Wypijewski What is an Antiwar Movement? James Petras The State of the Empire, 2006 Ron Jacobs Fifteen Years of War: Who's Better Off? Brian Cloughley Fly Boys and Lie Boys: Smart-Bombing Iraqi Families While They Sleep Marianne McDonald The Madness of Ajax: a Play for Our Time Bruce Tyler Wick Bush on Torture Echoes Charles I on Arbitrary Imprisonment Fred Gardner A Last, Desperate Plea to Stay in Canada Flavia Alaya Victory at Passaic County Jail Gary Leupp A Neocon Plan to Plant WMDs? Dr. Susan Block Peeping Tom in the Bush: Nonconsenual Voyeurism and the NSA Nicole Colson The House Jack Built: The Abramoff Giude to Buying Friends and Influencing Politics Jeffrey Kolakowski Senator as Illusionist: the Hypocrisies of John McCain Missy Comley Beattie The Stepford Hearings of Samuel Alito: The Senator, the Weepy Wife and a Secret Annoiting Charles Thomson Is Serota Dead in the Water?: the Ofili Scandal at the Tate St. Clair / Walker / Vest Playlsts: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert, Engel, Ford and Davies Website of the Weekend Historians Against the War   January 13, 2006 Ralph Nader The Two Questions the Senate Should Have Asked Alito Leonard Weinglass The Singular Story of the Cuban Five Amira Hass Prisoners in Their Own Land: 800,000 Palestinians Sealed Off by IDF in West Bank Chris Kutalik / Jennifer Biddle Airline Workers Fight Back Lawrence R. Velvel Alito and the Democrats Dave Lindorff Eight Who Dared: a (Short) Congressional Honor Roll Mike Whitney Countdown to War with Iran? David Price How the FBI Spied on Edward Said   January 12, 2006 Jennifer Van Bergen The Unitary Executive: Why the Bush Doctrine Violates the Constitution Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Command Responsibility: Torture and Legal Accountability Lawrence R. Velvel Alito Refuses to Answer Fundamental Questions Ralph Nader / Robert Weissman Corporations, Originalism and the Bill of Rights: an Open Letter to Justice Scalia Jackie Corr Killing the Big Sky's Golden Goose: Marc Racicot and the Deregulation of Montana Power Jared Bernstein The Wage Doldrums Russell D. Hoffman New Horizons in Space, New Lows in Government Aubrey Streit I Was Born in a Small Town: the Fate of Rural America Clancy Sigal Hugh Thompson and My Lai: He Broke Ranks; He Did the Right Thing Website of the Day Nukes in Space   January 11, 2006 Kevin Zeese NSA Spied on Baltimore Peace Group (And They've Got the Documents That Prove It) Ray McGovern The Big Wiretap Allan Maass / Joe Allen Schwarzenegger's Hit List: Smearing Mandela, Killing Tookie Earl Ofari Hutchinson Snatching at King's Legacy: Mythmaking, Profiteering & Outright Distortions Annie Murphy Evo Morales' Sweater Allan Lichtman Abramoff's Kind of Big Government Ramzy Baroud Politics of Chaos: Gaza's Turmoil in Context Joshua Frank MoveOn Surrenders to Hillary Kathleen and Bill Christison "Eating Palestine for Breakfast": the Real Sharon Website of the Day Memoirs of Rummy's Geisha   January 10, 2006 Uri Avnery The Post-Sharon Landscape: Three Fingers, No Fist Saul Landau Different Americas Noam Chomsky Beyond the Ballot: Iraq, Iran and China Brian J. Foley Playing with Fire: Congress and Executive Power Lenni Brenner The War Within the Antiwar Movement Ronan Sheehan Sheehan to Sheehan: Cindy Sheehan's Irish Interview Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Con Jobs   January 9, 2006 Behzad Yaghmaian Who is to Blame for the Deaths of the Sudanese Refugees? George Bisharat US Aid to Israel is Out of Hand Dave Lindorff How the US Press Squelches Bush Impeachment Drive Norman Solomon Smoke a Marlboro, Then an Iraqi: How Media War Images Distort Not Inform Christopher Brauchli The Generosity of Credit Card Companies Aharon Shabtai A Poet's Letter on the Occupation Andrew Cockburn How Many Iraqis Have Died Since the US Invasion in 2003?   January 7 / 8, 2006 Lawrence Velvel The NYT's Unconscionable Decision to Sit on the NSA Story for a Year James Petras AIPAC on Trial: Them or US J.L. Chestnut Racism and Injustice in Alabama's Courts Mike Ely The Dead Miners in Sago Andrew Wilson The Dying of Ariel Sharon Lila Rajiva Two Moms Go to Capitol Hill William Cook The Rape of Palestine Ramor Ryan The Sub Motorcycle Diaries: On the Road with the Zapatistas Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff An Interview with Michael Scheuer on the CIA's Rendition Program Peter Montague Inherit the Wind: the Global Spread of GMO Crops Ron Jacobs Would Ethan Allen Pay to Protest? Neve Gordon Images of Real Eco-Terrorism in Twaneh Fred Gardner Business as Usual in San Diego Josh Mahon Idaho Timber Industry Leader Advocates Violence Against Green's Mom Dr. Susan Block Abramoff Family Values: the Lobbyist Who Screwed Us All Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert and Engel Website of the Weekend Bush Crimes Commission   January 6, 2006 José Pertierra Posada Carriles May Soon Hit the Streets Joe Allen Gary Freeman's Struggle: a Black Radical from the 1960s Fights Extradition to the US Winslow T. Wheeler Huge Defense Budget, Lousy Equipment John Bomar A Former NSA Officer on Snoopgate: the Squawkers Should be Congratulated Jason Leopold Snoop and Shred Norman Solomon Axis of Fanatics: Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad Robert Pollin Remembering Harry Magdoff: the Man Who Explained the Empire   January 5, 2006 Scott Boehm Big Profits, Buried Lives: Bulldozing the Dead in New Orleans Zoltan Grossman New Challenges for the Antiwar Movement Heather Gray Whistling Dixie Yet Again Haninah Levine Simple is Dangerous: the Pentagon's Plan for a Manhattan Project on IEDs Pierre Tristam The Sham of Homeland Security: a West Virginia Parable Remi Kanazi Stroke of Luck?: Political Hemorrhage in Israel Gilad Atzmon Sharon Meets His Maker Kathleen and Bill Christison What Hillary Clinton Doesn't Know About Palestine   January 4, 2006 Ron Jacobs Pity the Miner: A-Diggin' My Bones Lila Rajiva Terror Hits Bangalore Huibin Amee Chew Why the War is Sexist Pat Williams How the West Turned: Biting the Hands That Steal Linda Milazzo The House That George and Jack Built: Ownership Society Meets the Entrepreneurial Style Nick Dearden The Fantasy of "Even-Handedness": Blair's Cynical Policy on Palestine James Petras Evo Morales: All Growl, No Claws? Website of the Day Rat Out a Lobbyist for Jesus   January 3, 2006 James Ridgeway Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and 9/11: How Much Did the Bush Administration Know? Laith al-Saud Iraqi Intellectuals and the Occupation: an Interview with Dr. Saad Jawad Dick J. Reavis Border Walls: the View from Mexico Joshua Frank Hillary Clinton, AIPAC and Iran Rochelle Gause Inside Rafah: Collective Punishment as Normalcy Missy Comley Beattie How My Mother Went from a Republican to a Screaming Progressive Paul de Rooij A Glossary of Dispossession   January 2, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts A Gestapo Administration Clancy Sigal A Trip to the Far Side of Madness Cindy Sheehan A Tour of Europe: Friends Don't Let Friends Commit War Crimes Alexander Cockburn A NYT Editorial Contemplates Iraq   Dec. 31 / Jan. 1, 2005/6 Patrick Cockburn The Year in Iraq Alexander Cockburn Who Are We to Complain?: a Diary of 2005 Ralph Nader Rumsfeld vs. the Military: a Pentagon of Loyalists and Enforcers James Petras The Politics of Language: "Escalation" or "Retaliation" in Israeli Attacks on Palestinians Peter Montague A Darker Bioweapons Future J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Black Forever: Race, Class and Activism in the South Vijay Prashad My California Vacation: Conversations with Indian Americans P. Sainath Farm Suicides in Vidharbha James Brooks The Spoils of War: Israel's Corruption was Inevitable Eileen E. Schell The Farmer Wants a Wife: Hayseeds and Hickxploitation in the Land of Reality TV Christopher Brauchli Birds of a Feather: George and Vlad Jo Guldi Politics, Gay Marriage and Christianity Fred Gardner America's Only Legal Grower Ben Tripp A Hapless New Year St. Clair / Walker / Pollack Playlists: What We're Listening To This Week Poets Basement Engel, Albert, LaMorticella, Buknatski, Davies, Ford and Bear Dog Website of the Weekend Commit Bloggamy with Dr. Suzy   December 30,2005 Evo Morales I Believe Only in the Power of the People Earl Ofari Hutchinson The Toxic Air in Black America Dave Lindorff Bush's NSA Spying Jeopardizes National Security Gary Leupp Targeting Iran and Syria: Goss Builds Case for Turkey-Based Attacks Ron Jacobs A Dead New Year's Eve Brian Concannon Down in Haiti, the Chickens are Coming Home to Roost Sandra Lucas Inside TeenScreen: the Making of Mental Patients T.W. Croft The Wind Has Changed: Gulf Storms, Fables of Reconstruction and Hard Times for the Big Easy Website of the Day Images of Mass Consumption   December 29, 2005 Norman Solomon Journalists Should Expose Secrets, Not Keep Them Missy Comley Beattie Christmas Without Chase Dave Zirin Over the Edge: the Year in Sports Kevin Zeese Top 10 Antiwar Stories of 2005 Derrick O'Keefe Bolivia and Venezuela Offer an Alternative to Neo-Liberalism Sam Bahour Turning the Page in Palestine, Again Macdonald Stainsby What's Behind Paul Martin's Broadside Against Bush? Bill & Kathleen Christison Let's Stop a US/Israel War on Iran Website of the Day Deconstructing the Democrats   December 28, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair The Worst Day of Ted Stevens' Life? Lila Rajiva Operation Romeo: Lessons on Terror Laws from India Amira Hass The Humanitarian Lie Joshua Frank Let the Drilling Begin: Iraq's IMF Loan David Swanson Leaking Top Secret Lies Richard Thieme High Time for Torture Paul Craig Roberts Three Books to Wake You Up Website of the Day Conyers Report: "Constitution in Crisis"   December 27, 2005 Evan Jones Whither the National Guard? Uri Avnery The Peretz Shuffle Mike Whitney Pop Goes the Bubble! Gideon Levy Dusty Trail to Death David Swanson Kurt Vonnegut: a Man Without a Country Norman Solomon NSA Spied on UN Diplomats During Push for Invasion of Iraq   December 26, 2005 Lawrence R. Velvel The Usurpers of Our Freedoms Lance Olsen The Toughest Challenge for Intelligent Design Ben Terrall No Holiday Compassion for Haiti's Political Prisoners Scott Boehm Santa Drove a Bulldozer Charlie Ehlen A Vietnam Vet's Appraisal of Bush Tom Kerr The Atheist Dad at Christmas   December 24/25, 2005 Aleander Cockburn The Year of Vanished Credibility James Petras Iran in the Crosshairs: Israel's Deadline Ralph Nader Talkin' About the "I"-Word Lila Rajiva Horowitz's New Project: Begging for Brownshirts Fred Gardner Dialogue with the DEA Ron Jacobs When Impeachment was Taken Seriously Dave Lindorff Xmas Games for a Gitmo World Gary Leupp Happy Birthday Mithras!: the True Meaning of December 25th Saul Landau Bush's Year in Review: a Report Card from Santa John Chuckman A Christmas Tale for Bushtime Dr. Susan Block Merry XXX-mas! St. Clair / Vest / Pollack / Donnelly Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Holt, Jones, Landau, Ross and Albert Website of the Weekend Merry Xmas, From the Beatles   December 23, 2005 John Ross The Corrido of Death Row: Mexico Ends the Death Penalty Chris Floyd Gospel Truth: Bush Hypocrisy, Radical Holiness and Woody Guthrie Lawrence Mishel / Ross Eisenbrey The Economy in a Nutshell Joanne Mariner Bringing Torture into Court: the Loopholes in McCain's Bill Eric Johnson-Debaufre The Trew Law of Free Democracies? Ray McGovern Cheney the Bully; Rockefeller the Coward J. L. Chestnut, Jr. What White America Doesn't Hear Website of the Day BB King: What I've Learned This Year   December 22, 2005 Ingmar Lee The Citizen's Metamorphosis: I Awoke an Object of Suspicion Elisa Salasin Classrooms in Cages Christopher Brauchli Absolut Bush: "I Swear to Upturn and Rear End the Constitution of the United States" Robin Blackburn Rudolf Meidner, a Visionary Pragmatist Evelyn Pringle Dan Olmstead, Autism & the Dangers of Thimerosal Amira Hass A 14-Year Old's Prison Journey: "I Refused and He Hit Me" Francis A. Boyle Iraq and the Laws of War: US as "Belligerent Occupant" Stew Albert The Spies Who Thought We Were Messy Website of the Day How to Reach a Human Voice   December 21, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts One Nation, Under Prosecutors: Presumed Guilty Lila Rajiva A Short History of Radio Free Iraq Joshua Frank Nancy Pelosi's Truth Dave Zirin The Bray of Pigs: Bush Nixes Beisbol Cubano Ramzy Baroud US Image Problem Rooted in History, Not Media Sonia Nettnin Connect the Dots: Decoding Bush's Mumbo Jumbo Ben Saul Torture as Calculated Policy Jonathan Cronin Anniversary of a Handshake: Cherry-picking History in Iraq Patrick Cockburn Iraq Election Spells Total Defeat for US Website of the Day Nixon on Presidential Power   December 20, 2005 Jackie Corr Natural Gas: a Montana Tragedy Earl Ofari Hutchinson Nothing New About NSA Spying on Americans Michael Donnelly "Eco Terrorism": Cui Bono? Gian Paulo Accardo Empire of Shame: a Conversation with Jean Ziegler Pierre Tristam Trifler, Fibber, Sophist, Spy: How Bush Flouted the Constitution Norman Solomon The Foulest Media Performances of the Year Sen. Robert Byrd No President is Above the Law Dave Lindorff Missing Black Boxes in WTC Attacks Found by Firefighters, Analyzed by NTSB, Concealed by FBI Website of the Day FBI's Spy Files: Got Yours Yet?   December 19, 2005 Mike Marqusee The Global War on Civil Liberties Gary Leupp Feds Ask Student: "Why are You Reading that Little Red Book?" Ron Jacobs The Antiwar Movement, the Democrats and the Delusions of Bushworld John Blair Stealing the Golden Shovel: Lessons on Civil Disobedience Gideon Levy Sadism at the Qalandiyah Checkpoint Kevin Zeese The Global War on Civil Liberties Missy Comley Beattie Warnings from a Military Man and Dad Don Santina Ride 'Em Brush Cutter: Cowboy Imagery and the American Presidency Website of the Day A Call for Justice in Palestine         Subscribe Online

February 3, 2006 Increaseing US Hostillity Toward Venezuela Rumsfeld and Negroponte Amp Up Attacks on Chavez By EVA GOLINGER During an appearance today at the National Press Club in Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld compared Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to Hitler, declaring, "We've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He's a person who was elected legally, just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally, and then consolidated power, and now is of course working closely with [Cuban leader] Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales [Bolivian President Evo Morales] and others. It concerns me." Concurrently, in testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence of the U.S. Congress, John Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the 15 intelligence bodies of the U.S. Government, claimed, "In Venezuela, President Chavez, if he wins reelection later this year, appears ready to use his control of the legislature and other institutions to continue to stifle the opposition, reduce press freedom, and entrench himself through measures that are technically legal, but which nonetheless constrict democracy. We expect Chavez to deepen his relationship with Castro (Venezuela provides roughly two-thirds of that island's oil needs on preferential credit terms). He also is seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea. Chavez has scaled back counter-narcotics cooperation with the US. Increased oil revenues have allowed Chavez to embark on an activist foreign policy in Latin America that includes providing oil at favorable repayment rates to gain allies, using newly created media outlets to generate support for his Bolivarian goals, and meddling in the internal affairs of his neighbors by backing particular candidates for elective office." Apart from the dangerous misrepresentation of the reality of Venezuelan social and political life and the absurd comparison to Hitler, with whom the U.S. went to world war, these declarations evidence a scary escalation of aggression towards the Venezuelan government and people by the Bush Administration. Rumsfeld and Negroponte represent the two entities in the United States that wage war: Defense and Intelligence. Their positions go beyond the State Department's diplomatic rhetoric that has characterized relations between Venezuela and the United States during the past few years and up the ante to an increasing possibility of war between the two nations. As the U.S. prepares to take actions against Iran in the very near future, publicly declaring a link between Venezuela and Iran, as well as North Korea, provides justification for an inclusion of Venezuela on the list of nations targeted by the Bush Administration for military intervention. During the past few days, the Venezuelan government has made public concrete evidence of an espionage case that has resulted in the expulsion of a U.S. military attaché, Navy Capitan John Correa, from this South American nation. Capitan Correa had been recruiting Venezuelan naval officials over a period of more than twelve months, with the aim of obtaining inside information of military and political strategies of the Venezuelan government and pressuring officials to turn against President Hugo Chávez. Although the U.S. Embassy in Caracas and its Ambassador, William Brownfield, have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing on the part of U.S. diplomatic officials, evidence of illegal penetration of Venezuelan armed forces by U.S. military attachés has been provided to this author. An excerpt of testimony from a Venezuelan soldier recruited by the U.S. Embassy and working as a "double-agent" for the Venezuelan government, to be published in entirety in my next book, the follow-up to The Chávez Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela, follows: "I am an enlisted soldier pertaining to the action command group. I am testifying about the activities of officials from the United States Embassy [in Caracas]. They seek information and analysis about certain activities of members of our Armed Forces and have contacts with officials that work with the Minister of Defense and they provide them with activities about our Armed Forces. My job is to try and find certain information and to monitor different political organizations, such as the Tupamaros, Bolivarian Circles, the people who work with Lina Ron, as well as information about the acquisition of arms in the Armed Forces. I note herein that I am working as an infiltrator in these groups, an undercover agent, I do not share the anti-American views of these groups, I am just trying to obtain the best information possible for my superiors, for the defense of our nation." "What do they give you in return?" "Money, political contacts and the possibility of work" "What is the best they have given you up until now?" "A ten-year visa to enter the United States, whenever I want, and according to them, in the future I can attend a course in their intelligence agency in the United States and once I prove my loyalty to them and they see I truly have guts, I can possibly do an intelligence course with the CIA, that's what the military attaché at the Embassy, [name removed], told me himself." Today's statements by Rumsfeld and Negroponte merely confirm the diehard intentions of the U.S. government to continue its efforts to remove President Chávez from power and impede the development of the Bolivarian Revolution. Over the past few years, the Bush Administration has funneled millions upon millions of dollars into building up an opposition movement to the Chávez administration in Venezuela, utilizing U.S. tax payer dollars filtered through the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and has backed a failed coup d'état against President Chávez and oil industry sabotage that caused billions of dollars in damages to the nation yet failed to oust the government from power. For the year 2006, the U.S. Congress has allocated more than $9 million dollars to opposition groups in Venezuela (again, U.S. taxpayer dollars) and has launched a psychological operations campaign coordinated from the Pentagon's Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida. In a document published by the U.S. Army in October 2005 entitled "Doctrine for Asymmetric War Against Venezuela," President Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution were labeled as the "largest threat since the Soviet Union and communism." Clearly, the Bush Administration has decided Venezuela and President Chávez represent a "severe threat" to U.S. domination in the region and U.S. control over energy resources in the hemisphere. Venezuela may very well be next on the list for a "preemptory war" in the style of Iraq. Citizens of the United States need to be aware of these dangerous steps taken by their government against a nation exercising its democratic and sovereign right to decide the type of socio-political system it desires. Venezuela's democracy, participatory in nature, is supported by more than 70% of its populace. Recent polls place President Chávez's popularity at 77%. Citizens from around the world had the opportunity to witness Venezuela's thriving democratic revolution firsthand during the VI World Social Forum that just ended in Caracas. Hundreds of thousands of diverse voices from around the world, along with millions of Venezuelans, can attest to the fact that no dictatorship or threat to democracy exists in Venezuela. The only threat Venezuela presents to the United States is that of a good example. Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American attorney and author of The Chávez Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela, available in English and Spanish through her website, www.venezuelafoia.info/codigo.html.

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