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How the Press & the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career   Today's Stories December 27, 2004 Saul Landau James Cason's Cuban Delusions December 25 / 26, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Yup, It's Moral Outrage Time Diane Christian The Christmas Christ Dr. Susan Block Faith-Based Sex Gary Leupp Rumsfeld, His Critics and the Draft Ron Jacobs Music in Wartime Elaine Cassel Articles I Didn't Write Jim Minick Beyond Organic Poets Basement Louise, Landau, Orloski, Albert and Collins   December 24, 2004 Diane Christian Winning: Rummy and John Milton Chad Nagle Ukraine's Real Underdog Saul Landau My Friend Richard Barnet Greg Moses Ramsey Muniz Speaks Joe DeRaymond The Endless War in Colombia: a View From Within Borzou Daragahi Iraq's Christians: Tolerated by Saddam; Targets Under Occupation Mike Whitney Rummy's Quagmire of Lies Francis A. Boyle O Little Town of Bethlehem: Another Christmas Under Occupation William Loren Katz Florida 1837: Christmas Eve Resistance to the First US Occupation   December 23, 2004 Chad Nagle Report from Kiev: Yushchenko's Not Quite Ready for Sainthood David Smith-Ferri The Real UN Disgrace in Iraq Bill Quigley Death Watch for Human Rights in Haiti Mickey Z. Crumbs from Our Table Christopher Brauchli Merck's Merry X-mas Greg Moses When No Law Means No Law Alan Singer An Encounter with Sen. Schumer: a Very Dangerous Democrat David Price Social Security Pump and Dump Website of the Day Gabbo Gets Laid   December 22, 2004 James Petras An Open Letter to Saramago: Nobel Laureate Suffers from a Bizarre Historical Amnesia Omar Barghouti The Case for Boycotting Israel Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond They Were Waiting on Chicken Tenders When the Rounds Hit Harry Browne Northern Ireland: No Postcards from the Edge Richard Oxman On the Seventh Column Kathleen Christison Imagining Palestine Website of the Day FBI Torture Memos     December 21, 2004 Greg Moses The New Zeus on the Block: Unplugging Al-Manar TV Dave Lindorff Losing It in America: Bunker of the Skittish Chad Nagle The View from Donetsk Dragon Pierces Truth* Concrete Colossus vs. the River Dragon: Dislocation and Three Gorges Dam Patrick Cockburn "Things Always Get Worse" Seth DeLong Aiding Oppression in Haiti Ahmad Faruqui Pakistan and the 9/11 Commission's Report Paul Craig Roberts America Locked Up: a System of Injustice     December 20, 2004 Gary Leupp Japan in Iraq Robert Fisk An Army Without Compassion Uri Avnery The Mountain and the Mouse Francisco Letelier My Case Against Pinochet Patrick Cockburn The Polls of Fear Bill Conroy Charles Bowden on the Legacy of Gary Webb: "He Drew Blood" Yoshie Furuhashi Chokeholds of a Giant: Attacking Wal-Mart's Supply Chain David Swanson Media Blackout of Bush's War on Labor Chad Nagle Did Yushchenko Poison Himself?     December 18 / 19, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Why They Hated Gary Webb Saul Landau Gen. Pinochet Should Also Face Charges in DC Patrick Cockburn Losing Mosul: Once They Called It a Model for the Occupation Douglas Valentine Wolves and Revolution in Venezuela: a Caracas Romance Ray McGovern Laughing Dragon, Dancing Bear: the New China / Russia Alliance Fred Gardner DEA Upholds Grower's Marijuana Monopoly Jean-Guy Allard Locked Up Naked in a Hole Within a Hole: Have the Cuban 5 Been Tortured in US Prisons? Ron Jacobs Drifters Escape, Again: Encounters with Berkeley's Police Raymond G. Helmick, S.J. The Law and Peace in the Middle East Sean Sellers Values Voters, Desperate Housewives and Sweatshop Tacos Lee Sustar Christmas on the Picket Line at CNH: "They Want to Break Our Unions" Richard Thieme Webb's Wife: "Gary Was Never the Same After They Attacked Him" Sam Bahour WANTED: Middle East Negotiator Joshua Frank The Spin Doctor: an Interview with Mickey Z. Dave Lindorff A Man Who Confers with God Should Have Good Hearing Stan Cox What Kids Cost: Dallas v. Delhi Chris Frasier Farming By Numbers: More Poets, Fewer MBAs Poets' Basement Katz, Melek, Harley, Albert and Ford     December 17, 2004 Cockburn / St. Clair CounterAttack: How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career Dave Lindorff Racism: Philly Style Dan Bacher Bush Abandons Salmon Restoration Marisa Jacott NAFTA and the Environment: Trade Still Runs Roughshod Francis Thicke How Now, Industrial Cow? Rupert Cornwell The Inuit Strike Back Website of the Day Franz Boas Unrolls Over in His Grave     December 16, 2004 Michael Neumann How We Became Barbarians Merlin Chowkwanyun An Interview with Ralph Nader Gabriel Espinoza Gonzales The Dubious Career of John Bolton Christopher Brauchli Louis Freeh's New Gig: Usurer Patrick Cockburn Allawi's Pre-Election Ploy: Putting "Chemical Ali" on Trial Mike Whitney Gearing Up for a Draft? Walter Brasch Hillbilly Humvees and Rumsfeld's New Physics Bill Conroy How Gary Webb Saved My Ass from the FBI Website of the Day Saturday Memorial for Gary Webb     December 15, 2004 Robert Fisk Who Killed Baha Mousa? Jennifer Van Bergen The Monster Under the Bed Heather Gray Will the Real Christians Please Stand?: a Personal Testimony Dave Lindorff The DNC, Albright and the Iraq Elections Luis Hernandez Navarro To Die a Little: Migration and Coffee in Mexico and Central America Joshua Frank The Ohio Recount: an Exercise in "Dumbocracy" Greg Moses Eighty-Sixing Civil Rights in Ohio? George Caffentzis The Petroleum Commons     December 14, 2004 Dave Lindorff DNC Meddling in the Ukraine Elections Larry Birns / Seth DeLong Haiti is Unraveling and No One is Saying Anything Richard Thieme My Last Talk with Gary Webb: "I Knew It Was the Truth and That's What Kept Me Going" Patrick Cockburn A Year After Saddam's Capture, Iraq is Getting Worse Chris Floyd Client State: Moral Values and Voluntary Servitude in Bush's America Akiva Eldar A One-time Hanukkah Miracle Burbach / Cantor The Legacy of Pinochet: Kissinger and the Teflon Tyrant   December 13, 2004 Cockburn / St. Clair Gary Webb: a Great Reporter, Trashed by the CIA's Claque David Phinney "Contract Meal Disaster" for Iraqi Prisoners: Rancid Food Sparked Abu Ghraib Riots Paul Craig Roberts A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality for Douglas Feith M. Junaid Alam The War is the War Crime Robert Jensen The US Has Lost the Iraq War...and That's a Good Thing Richard Oxman Kafkaesque Lessons for the Left Greg Moses Send No Messengers of Defeat Douglas Lummis The Pentagon's Neurosis: Fallujah Gulag   December 11 / 12, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Running an Empire on the Cheap Ron Jacobs The Drugs of War: Getting High in the Green Zone? Saul Landau Listening and Talking to God About Invading Other Countries Gary Leupp Bush's Capital Sharon Smith The Horrible Toll on US Troops Dave Lindorff Deja Vu All Over Again: 5,000 Desertions and Counting Uri Avnery The Boss Has Gone Crazy Jude Wanniski The Neo-Con Smear on Kofi Annan: What Food-for-Oil Scandal? Heather Gray How the South Became Republican: an Interview with John Egerton Patrick Cockburn / Ken Sengupta Fallujah: the Homecoming and the Homeless John Pilger Return to Kosovo: Calling the Humanitarian Bombers to Account Joshua Frank All the Rage: Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry Ben Tripp O Canada!: the Truth About the Election of 2004 John Stanton God Speaks! Laura Nathan Porn Stars are People, Too: a Talk with Christi Lake Poets' Basement Capaccio, Davies, Louise, Ford and Albert Website of the Day Fallujah Photos: Killed in Their Beds   December 10, 2004 Ralph Nader President Bush, Stop Destroying the Mosques of Iraq Greg Moses Whitewashing Voter Fraud Nicole Colson Rebellion in the Ranks: Grunts Are Resisting Stop-Loss Orders Frederick B. Hudson "They Still Got Those Dogs": A New Book Probes Old Civil Rights Lessons Patrick Cockburn Iraq's Insurgents Oppose the Occupation, Not the Elections Kathy Kelly From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water   December 9, 2004 Greg Moses Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah Joshua Frank Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser! Ralph Nader An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to Disclose the Real Casualty Figures Lee Sustar Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster Tom Barry Restrictionist Resurgence Mickey Z. Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement Christopher Brauchli Bush in the Bubble Mark Donham Why are House Democrats Trying to Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority? Gary Corseri On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012 Paul de Rooij The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers     December 8, 2004 Ralph Nader Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge? Ann Harrison The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials and Few Rules Paul Craig Roberts War Crime Dave Lindorff They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for Spying Patrick Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency Col. Dan Smith Rules of Engagement in Iraq Emily Alves / Michael Johnson Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica Richard Oxman The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas Ron Jacobs In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free   December 7, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Running Battles in Baghdad Behrooz Ghamari Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent Dave Lindorff American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy, Did You Hear How Well the War's Going? Joshua Frank Dean at the DNC? Richard Oxman Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview Ray McGovern All Mosquitoes, No Swamp John Chuckman The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada James Petras Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears Website of the Day ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You   December 6, 2004 Paul Craig Roberts Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the Bush Administration Certifiable? December 4 / 6, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Politicize the CIA? You've Got to be Kidding Joe Bageant Dining with the Rhinos Alan Maass Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick Cockburn Brian Cloughley Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf Laura Carlsen Latin America Shifts Left Lenni Brenner Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion Anna Ioakimedes Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's? Uri Avnery Widow of Opportunity? Fred Gardner Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case Dave Zirin Steroids to Heaven Jackie Corr Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation Don Fitz Will Greens Abandon IRV? Lucy Herschel "Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview with Artist Anthony Papa Richard Oxman No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play Ron Jacobs Holiday Greeting Card Poets' Basement Collins, Albert, LaMorticella   December 3, 2004 Dave Lindorff Lie Then Escalate Ben Tripp Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a Time of Crisis Joe Allen Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer Gilberto Soto Matthew B. Riley Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson Meir Shalev In the End, It is the Violin that Wins Bob Wing The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004 Christopher Brauchli When McCain Bit His Tongue Sasan Fayazmanesh The EU, the US, Israel and Iran   December 2, 2004 Tito Tricot No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free Behzad Yaghmaian The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration Dr. Susan Block Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes Frank / Chowkwanyun Liberalism and Its Bounds Lee Sustar Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt Patrick Cockburn Another Grim Record in Iraq Mark Engler Seattle at Five Michael Donnelly Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham Nate Collins The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds Saul Landau The Assassination of Danilo Anderson   December 1, 2004 Phillip Cryan Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias in Wire Coverage of Colombia Dave Zirin What's the Matter with "Leon"?: Budweiser's Racist Commercial Ghali Hassan Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation: 200 Children Die Every Day Donna J. Volatile Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy" Patrick Cockburn How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency Nick Meo Chemical War Over Afghanistan Mike Ferner The Battle of Toledo Mokhiber / Weissman Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising Kathy Kelly Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes of the UN in Iraq   November 30, 2004 Jennifer Van Bergen The Veil of Secrecy Toni Nelson Herrera Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime Paul Craig Roberts The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence Patrick Cockburn The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq Chuck Munson WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization Movement Adam Williams Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana Gregory Elich A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for North Korea Website of the Day Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!   November 29, 2004 Dave Lindorff Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of the CIA? Omar Barghouti "The Pianist" of Palestine: Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint Mike Whitney The US Media and Fallujah: How to Market a Siege Uri Avnery The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me Some Credit!" Matt Vidal Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers Patrick Cockburn An Interview with Iraq's Foreign Minister Alan Farago Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters Justin Huggler Bhopal 20 Years Later Antony Loewenstein How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy Gary Leupp Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real Issue Website of the Day Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone     November 27 / 28, 2004 Peter Linebaugh Torture & Neo-Liberalism with Sycorax in Iraq Alexander Cockburn What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa? Fred Gardner Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court Kathy Kelly What We Can Control Diane Christian The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts" Gary Leupp One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea Lenni Brenner Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York Times Ron Jacobs Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of the AMS Clerics Joshua Frank An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd Toni Solo The Murder of Danilo Anderson Saul Landau Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica JoAnn Wypijewski Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are No Cure for Homophobia Justin Taylor Empire's Lawless Opportunities Amos Harel The Case of Captain R. Walter A. Davis Tabloid Justice Stephen Hendricks God's Kind of Men Poets' Basement Albert, LaMorticella and Ford     November 26, 2004 Peter Feng Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine? Greg Moses It's the White Vote, Stupid Liaquat Ali Khan The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments Michael Mandel / Gail Davidson Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry of Immigration Dave Lindorff Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the Way Gary Corseri When Black Friday Comes... Paul Craig Roberts Whatever Happened to Conservatives? Website of the Day Iraq Pipeline Watch     November 25, 2004 Willliam Loren Katz Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today" Mitchel Cohen Why I Hate Thanksgiving Mike Ferner An Uncommon Mom     November 24, 2004 Gila Svirsky License to Kill: the Example of Violence is Set by the State Winslow T. Wheeler The Other Mess in Congress Christopher Brauchli The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay Dave Lindorff Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony Ron Jacobs The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem Ken Sengupta Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah Diana Barahona The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader John L. Hess Safire the Shameless Jason Leopold Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal? Jeffrey St. Clair The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear War Map of the Day Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860   November 23, 2004 Forrest Hylton Bush and Uribe at the Beach         November 22, 2004 Dave Zirin Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage in Detroit Paul Craig Roberts On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again? Michael Mandel / Gail Davidson Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada Kathie Helmkamp Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill Ken Sengupta The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place in Iraq" Mike Whitney Greenspan's Hammer Roger Burbach Why They Hate Bush in Chile Website of the Day Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?     November 20 / 21, 2004 Alexander Cockburn The Poisoned Chalice Todd May Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear Abbas Ahmed Ibrahim The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account Kevin Zeese Mishandling Nader Landau / Hassen After Arafat Tom Barry The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley Fred Gardner Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd Justin E.H. Smith Triumph of the Will: the Sequel Carl Estabrook Where We Are Now Gary Leupp Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue Dave Lindorff Apocalypse Soon Jenna Michelle Liut Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower and Lives Mickey Z. The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William Blum Greg Moses The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America Sharon Smith Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now? Ron Jacobs Sandwiches and Car Bombs Ben Tripp Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days Richard Oxman Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules! Gilad Atzmon Politics and Jazz Poets' Basement LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon. Website of the Day Voice of the Forest                                                     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

December 27, 2004 Targeting Human Rights Advocates Honduras Validates Its Banana Republic Status, Again By GENNA GOODMAN-CAMPBELL Throughout the 1980s, Honduras was the linchpin in the U.S.' Central American policy, serving as Washington's "unsinkable aircraft carrier" for covert Contra missions against Sandinista Nicaragua and providing a base for U.S. military trainers and secret intelligence operations. Since that era, however, Honduras has struggled to remain on Washington's political radar by various self-serving strategies, including, for a brief period, its opera bouffe military support for the war in Iraq, as well as sponsoring this year's United Nations, condemnation of Cuba's human rights record and volunteering to participate in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti (only to delay the deployment of its troops due to the country's financial strains). Honduran sponsorship of the 2004 U.N. human rights commission's vote to condemn Havana for its imprisonment of 75 dissidents (the figure has since been reduced) clearly stems from Maduro's desire to stay in Washington's good graces. It has been a tradition for more than a century for the country's presidents to be servitors of Washington (with the notable exception of the distinguished patriot Ramon Villeda Morales, who ruled from 1957-1963), making Honduras the hemisphere's preeminent banana republic. Similarly, by backing the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, by assigning its troops there, as well as by politically backing the unpopular U.S.-installed and heavily compromised Haitian interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue. Honduras created a good deal of good will with the Bush administration. The Honduran military's symbolic deployment of 368 troops to Iraq in 2003 also reflects Tegucigalpa's willingness to sacrifice resources in order to obtain the multiple rewards coming from being a prime ally of Washington. Due to the efforts of President Maduro to win the administration's gratitude, Maduro has successfully achieved another of his primary aspirations: toning down any U.S. criticism of Honduras' glaring human rights record. A Faulty Reform Washington was not tardy in displaying its gratitude-­In a September 2004 report, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) boasted of "unprecedented judicial reform" in Honduras, claiming that country's new penal code, which was fully implemented in 2002 and which it fully supports, is "laying the groundwork for greater respect for the rule of law and improved functioning of the judicial system." But this assessment is little more than pure fantasy since the new code has done next to nothing to combat the impunity that exists for those who committed violent crimes during the dark years of the 1980s, as well as their death-squads today. Additionally, while other judicial reforms implemented under the guidance of USAID were the first of their kind to be seen in Honduras, structural flaws in recently implemented anti-crime programs such as the Mano Dura (hard fist) anti-gang campaign and the 2001 Police and Social Order Law, actually have encouraged police abuse and restrictions on freedom of association. In their support of judicial reform in Honduras, U.S. authorities have ignored numerous reports from human rights groups that, despite some recent improvements to the Honduran judicial system, extra-judicial killings of children have been on the rise since 1998. In a recent interview with COHA, Mark Ungar, a Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, commented, "The combination of a vague law and the lack of accountability on the part of the police has led to the worsening of human rights situation [in Honduras]." Through his research on judicial reform in Honduras, Ungar has observed that while the new code is positive in its conception, the anti-gang laws have been harmful to the constitutional rights of citizens, and "give police too much leeway in its exercise of power-specifically to discriminate against youth." He also pointed out that the provision of the new penal code that requires more evidence, makes it harder to obtain a conviction and leads police to take the application of punishment in their own hands, unchecked. Although clearly not the intention of the new penal requirements, it is likely that these vitiating factors, coupled with poor training, the lack of professionalism and a surfeit of weapons in the country, have enabled police and private death squads (made up mostly of retired police officers committed to "social cleansing") to detain and even summarily execute children based solely on the bases of having tattoos or being homeless. There are no current statistics available on the number of children murdered by police, but government officials speculate that 20 percent of the fatalities affecting minors in the past five years can be blamed on police or private security forces who conduct regular "street sweeps" looking for potential gang members, who largely consist of vagrant youth. According to Amnesty International, between 2000 and 2002 there was an "unprecedented increase" of extra-judicial executions of children, with the number of murders rising by over 100 percent in these three years. This appalling trend has not ceased-between February and September of 2004 alone, 700 youths were murdered. Such "unprecedented" violence reflected in the increased killings of children, leaves USAID-supported reforms looking more than a little suspect. "Zero-Tolerance" Policies Bankrupting Human Rights The increase in the murders of youths can be partially attributed to the structure of the "Mano Dura" policy. Introduced in 2001, the anti-gang law was based on the "zero-tolerance" policy that helped New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani clean up the streets of the notoriously crime-ridden city. But less-publicized collateral results of Giuliani's policy were racial profiling and an increase in illegal actions by police. In 1995, civilian complaints of police brutality rose by 61.9 percent. Furthermore, complaints of abuse of authority and illegal searches went up 86.2 and 135 percent, respectively. The fact that 75 percent of these complaints of New Yorkers came from ethnic minorities indicates a high level of racial profiling under "zero-tolerance" laws. However, these results were passed over when the "zero-tolerance" policy was implemented. In 2001, Maduro told the Associated Press, "I saw how it worked in New York, and I liked how it worked." In a later interview, he commented that the policy had helped his government to crack down on gang violence: "Instead of taking the long route of accumulating proof of types of crimes committed, we opted to make it illegal to belong to gangs." But his critics say that Maduro's policy actually has resulted in an increase of violence, although the government apparently could not care less about the population that it affects-homeless youth and gang members. Furthermore, under the 2001 Police and Social Order Law, Honduran police are allowed to detain gang members and vagrants without a warrant. Largely as a result of arrests under this law, it is currently estimated that 90 percent of prison inmates have not been convicted of any crime. Forty percent of the inmates at the San Pedro Sula prison were arrested and detained as a result of Mano Dura gang laws, and in May, a fire in that structure killed 106 of them. The fire was allegedly set by prison guards in the cellblock in which Mara Salvatrucha gang members were housed, but after further investigation by a national commission and the FBI, nearly seven months later, there have been no convictions. Human Rights Protectors Targeted Upon his election, Maduro created the Inter-institutional Commission of Human Rights, the function of which was not so much to protect the citizens of Honduras from abuses, but to defend the state against embarrassing accusations of such abuses, particularly from international groups. Antagonism towards human rights groups was further demonstrated in the continual rejection of valid criticism by foreign organizations' of several of the administration's more controversies policies. In addition, Honduran human rights defenders and activists for indigenous causes within the country have been unfairly targeted by police and private civilian anti-crime operations. On January 8, 2003, CONPINH (the Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations) activists Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda were arrested by National Police officers and armed civilians, tortured in front of relatives and forced to confess to unknown charges. They were later accused with illegal seizure of land, battery and the 2001 murder of Juan Reyes Gómez. In addition, Leonardo was charged with "attack against the State of Honduras." Although all but the murder charges were eventually dropped, the brothers were sentenced to 25 years in prison on December 16, 2003. According to Amnesty International (AI), ten witnesses testified that the Miranda brothers were not present at the scene of the murder, but their statements were ignored, while the tales told by the prosecution's witnesses were accepted in their entirety. Even the fight to exonerate the Miranda brothers should be considered not without its dangers. In a report on the protection of human rights defenders released on November 18, 2004, A.I. expressed its continued concern for all activists in Honduras, and issued a finding that the Miranda brothers should be considered political prisoners because they did not receive a fair trial and were apparently arrested for political reasons. This case is just one example of the government's determination to purge the country of those who insist on critiquing its human rights record. Washington Turns a Blind Eye Although judicial reform in Honduras initially resulted in decreased crime, the long-term effect has been an increase in overall violence. The new penal code may have strengthened the courts, but these putative improvements have done almost nothing to convict the murderers of hundreds if not several thousands of children, or identify those responsible for setting fire to the San Pedro Sula facility. USAID support of judicial reforms in Honduras remains crucial, but such reform is counterproductive when it results in an increase of violence and police brutality. Experts say that new steps have to be taken in order to examine the root of the war on youth, but this will not happen if the government refuses to admit that there is anything wrong. Those who back the laws are responsible for assuring that the nature of the justice being doled out under their watch is both fair and deserved, and the U.S. must be prepared to criticize vigorously the current situation in Honduras in order to positively affect change. One can only hope that the $2,229,000 U.S. dollars provided by USAID for fiscal year 2005 towards judicial reform efforts there will be used for genuine community police training, and not for the further entrenchment of an already unaccountable law-and-order force, which is basically out of control. A Call for Consistency in U.S. Policy Criticizing Honduras for sponsoring the UN Human Rights commission finding that condemns the arrests of 75 Cuban dissidents (some were later released), Havana accused Tegucigalpa of giving in to U.S. pressures. The Castro régime also could have pointed out the Honduras itself has thousands of inmates crowding its prison system who have never been convicted of a crime, thus inviting comparison with Cuba. In not criticizing Honduras as vigorously as it does Cuba, the U.S. greatly weakens its claim that the condemnation of the Castro's regime is solely due to the country's poor human rights record. Political favoritism and double standards aside, Washington should take a step back to take in a panoramic view of Honduras in order to achieve a truly integrated and germane policy, if its criticisms of human rights practices elsewhere in Latin America are to be taken seriously. Gena Goodman-Campbell is a Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Weekend Edition Features for November 27 / 28, 2004 Peter Linebaugh Torture & Neo-Liberalism with Sycorax in Iraq Alexander Cockburn What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa? Fred Gardner Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court Kathy Kelly What We Can Control Diane Christian The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts" Gary Leupp One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea Lenni Brenner Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York Times Ron Jacobs Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of the AMS Clerics Joshua Frank An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd Toni Solo The Murder of Danilo Anderson Saul Landau Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica JoAnn Wypijewski Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are No Cure for Homophobia Justin Taylor Empire's Lawless Opportunities Amos Harel The Case of Captain R. Walter A. Davis Tabloid Justice Stephen Hendricks God's Kind of Men Poets' Basement Albert, LaMorticella and Ford WWW http://www.counterpunch.org