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Recent
Stories
April
30, 2003
Ashley
Smith
Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History
of Washington's Occupations
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/30
Gary
Leupp
Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre
Robert
Jensen
Fighting Alienation in the USA
Wayne
Madsen
The Four Horsemen of Propaganda
Ahmad
Faruqui
Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East
Gabriel
Kolko
Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition
Adolfo
Perez Esquivel
A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush:
"You Talk of Freedom; You Detest Freedom"
April
29, 2003
Gary
Leupp
Disorder and Opportunity: the Results
of the Iraq War
Uri
Avnery
Don't Envy Abu-Mazen
Anthony
Gancarski
Brush with the Law
Mickey
Z.
POWs: Then and Now
CounterPunch
Wire
How to Spin Israel on the Hill: Internal Lobbying Documents
Robert
Fisk
Did the US Murder Journalists?
Chris
Floyd
Bush Telegraphs His Punches on Syria
Wayne Madsen
About Those Iraqi Intelligence Documents
Wallace
Gagne
Pilgrimage or Demolition Derby?
Eliot Katz
Playing Catch with Cracked Globes
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/29
April
28, 2003
Ann
Harrison
Fighting Back: Medical Marijuana
Patients Sue Ashcroft
Robert
Jensen
Lack of WMD Kills the Case for War
Peter Phillips
Total Information Control
Ron
Jacobs
Get the US Out of Iraq and Its Military Out of Our Minds
Mark Hand
Peace Park: The Pentagon Solution
to a Baseball Stadium Dilemma
Linda
S. Heard
Repeat After Me: Iraq is Weapons Free
Kurt Nimmo
US Military Bases: the Spoils and
Deceptions of War
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/28
April
26 / 27, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
Plant?
Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
Wire
An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against
Peace Activists and Dock Workers
Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
April
25, 2003
David
Vest
It's Not the Oil; It's the Art!
Steven
Higgs
All About Tucker Carlson
Walt
Brasch
The Shock and Awe of American Ignorance
Alexander
Cockburn
The Decline of American Journalism:
the Case of Judy Miller
Zeynep
Toufe
A Letter to the People of Iraq from an Anti-War Activist
CounterPunch
Wire
Season of the Witch: Jeane Kirkpatrick Unbound
Hammond
Guthrie
Springtime in Iraq
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/25
Website
of the Day
Having
a Great Time, Wish You Were Here: Postcards from a War
April
24, 2003
Lois
Whitman
An Open Letter to Rumsfeld on the
Child Detainees at Guantanamo
Uri
Avnery
Abu vs. Abu: It's Not About Egos
David
Lindorff
Day Care in the Name of National Security? About Those Kids in
Camp X-Ray
John Grebe
Rev. Pat Robertson's Message in the Temple
Dokhi
Fassihian
Monster.Com: Ethnic Cleansing on the Web?
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Israeli Army Chief Threatens Peace Activists
Sam
Hamod
Our Man in Baghdad
Annie
C. Higgins
Do You Regret Being an American?
Harold
A. Gould
Will They Hate Us Forever?
Stew Albert
Big Brother in Bed
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/24
Website
of the Day
Muscles
Abroad
April
23, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
When Young Mothers Die in Combat
Chris
Floyd
Desolation Row: Bush's Barbarians Teach
by Example
Marjorie
Cohn
Tax the War Profiteers
William
Lind
The Fourth Generation of Modern War
Dave Marsh
Nina Simone: Freedom Singer
Binoy
Kampmark
Malayasia's America: the War on Iraq
David Vest
Who's Looting Whom?
Standard
Shaefer
Super Imperialism: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Andrew
Rodman
Lawn Poem
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/23
Website
of the Day
Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East
April
22, 2003
Edward
Said
The Appalling Consequences of the Iraq
War are Now Clear
Sam
Hamod
What's the Deal with This War?
Kurt
Nimmo
Shi'a Will to Power
Gary
Leupp
At last! The Necessary Evidence
Carl
Estabrook
Oblivious Americans: They Distort,
We Subside
John
Stanton
Iran's Reza Pahlavi: a Puppet of the US and Israel?
Ramzy
Baroud
What Else Hasn't Israel Told America?
Steven
Sherman
About That Cuba Letter
Wayne Madsen
Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult
Stew
Albert
Creep
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/22
Website
of the Day
Critical Media Literacy in Times of War
April
21, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
An Administration in Contempt
Gary
Leupp
Easter Thoughts on Liberation, Jesus
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Roger
Witherspoon
Why Michigan Needs Affirmative Action
Uri Avnery
At Midnight, a Knock on the Door
Col. Dan
Smith
Early Lessons from Iraq
Jo
Freeman
After the Protest Comes Politics
Michael
Berry
The Friedman Absurdities
Gray
Brechin
Hang Black Banners: Mourning the Cultural Loss
Bob Riedel
The Taliban from Texas
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/21
April
19, 2003
Gary
Leupp
The Rape of History
Saul
Landau
Shop, Go to Church, Support Bush's
War, Wait for Armageddon
Michael
J. Fellows
Off With Their Heads: the Constitution According to Scalia
Pablo
Mukherjee
Roadmap to Resistance
Omar
Barghouti
Sharon's Bloody Beat
Anthony
Gancarski
Tony Blair: the Most Powerful Man in the World
Mickey
Z.
Animals: the Other Collateral Damage
Will
Potter
When Police Attack Journalists
William
MacDougall
America's In-Bedded Journalism
Neve
Gordon
Haunted by History
Adam
Engel
Wal-Mart and Peace
Dr.
Susan Block
Art Bombs: American Libertines for Peace
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Buono, Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/19
Song of
the Weekend
Baghdad to Basra
April
18, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Operation "Syrian Freedom":
This One's Not About Oil
Jorge
Mariscal
"They Died Trying to Become
Students": the Future of Latinos in an Era of War and Occupation
Mickey
Z:
Coalition of the Unindicted: Only Losers Get Tried for War Crimes
Hussein
Ibish
Syria and the Road to World War IV
Reza Ladjevardian
Tarqeting Iran? Do It With TV, Not Cruise Missiles
Matania
Ben-Artzi
You Are Not Protecting My Son's Rights: a Letter to the President
of Israel's Supreme Court
Bruce Jackson
Jews Like Us
Joe
Allen
My Lai Revisited
Carl Estabrook
Support Our Euphemism
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/18
Website
of the Day
Meet the Victims of War
April
17, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Patriot Gore: the Fatal Flaws in
the Patriot Missile System
Joanne
Mariner
Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications
for the Pentagon
Issam
Nashashibi
Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman
to Baghdad
Wayne Madsen
Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism
Robert
Fisk
The Army of Occupation
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Virtual Saddam Takes Aim
Biljana
Vankovska
A Personal View of Iraq: Where
is the Truth?
Dan Brook
Oil War: Fueling the Empire
Stanley
Heller
Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like
Tim Robbins
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation
Harold
A. Gould
Iraq After the War
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/17
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Cassel
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Watch
Michel
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Embedded Photographer Says: "I
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Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
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May
Day Edition
May 1, 2003
Killings in Al Fallujah,
City of Mosques
Has
America Taken on a New Military Culture with New Rules that Allow
Us to Kill Civilians at Will?
By SAM HAMOD
Al Fallujah is known in Iraq as the "city
of mosques." There is a reverence for the holiness of the
city and Muslim leaders made clear to American troops that they
did not want them in their city. The US troops responded by saying
they had to be there for "security." The Muslim leaders,
led by Sunni Imam Jamal Mahmood, said they had their own security.
The US troops were determined to stay. They say, Saddam had weapons
factories there. The Iraqis say the "factories" have
been destroyed and there is no need for the US troops to stay.
This is a situation that the Americans cannot say is being fomented
by the Shi'a or Iran because Al Fallujah has always been a Sunni
stronghold.
What happened next has raised questions
among Iraqis and many international Middle East experts. Crowds
gathered and demanded the troops leave. As the crowds became
louder and more insistent, the American troops fired into the
crowd and killed 13 people and injured more than 20 more according
to doctors at the local hospital. The American troops said they
were fired on; but all other witnesses at the scene denied the
gunfire came from the demonstrators. Today, 2 more people were
killed and more injured, with the Muslims of Al Fallujah and
the city officials saying no one shot at the Americans, the American
troops claiming otherwise.
There is something troubling about this
situation. Why is it that crowds of people cannot be dispersed
by tear gas rather than bullets? Certainly, this is not an unknown
tactic.
Furthermore, why is it that the American
troops insist in remaining or trying to remain in these "holy
cities"? Surely, the commanders must be at least half way
intelligent; they should know this will cause upset and protests.
Or, are these commanders following orders from above so that
there can be cause for firing on the crowds in order to terrorize
them into submission-just as the Israelis do to the Palestinians?
Are the American troops following the Israeli style of occupation,
massive force, even against stone and shoe throwing protesters
to show them that America controls Iraq and that the Iraqis had
better get used to it in a hurry?
Where did I get this idea. Ironically,
from a rabbi who is a friend of mine, a man who protested Sharon's
brutality in Israel because he said it was against Judaism. He
called me and said, "Look at that, it's Israel and Palestine
all over again!" At first, I thought it was his fixation
and anger, but then as time went on, I began to feel that he
was right.
Just as America has hired many former
KGB agents to work with the Homeland Security Agency, so too
has the National Transportation Security Agency that "protects
airports" hired many former Mossad agents. We also have
the tie in between the Israeli and the American military on so
many levels, why not on the levels of strategy and crowd control.
This is not normal command procedures for American troops when
confronted by a demonstrating crowd; they are told not to cause
civilian casualties-at least they were up until this new administration.
Has something changed in our military rules of engagement when
dealing with crowds? Has America taken on a new military culture?
If so, we need to know.
I am worried that our men are becoming
part of a new brutality as seen through their behavior in Iraq.
I remember one young soldier, early in the war, when interviewed
on TV saying, "I want to get my nose wet-I want to get me
some Iraqis, I want to kick some butt." These are not the
words of a mature human being-they are the mouthings of an immature
and impressionable TV spawned juvenile who neither realizes the
value of human life or the humanity of the soldier fighting on
the other side. Many of the US military, when I have heard them
at West Point and in Annapolis, sound the same as our Commander
in Chief, Bush, when he says, "I'm gonna git him, dead or
alive."
It almost sounds as if he's come out
of a bad Western movie. But to hear Rumsfeld, Cheney and Franks
and some of the other generals speak, I can start to believe
that our men are getting the same cruel orders the Israelis have
given their soldiers when they go in and kill demonstrators.
If not, then why were there children killed in this massacre
they perpetrated in the last few days in Al Fallujah? Surely,
the children did not shoot at them, if anyone shot at them at
all. NO, something is wrong in this scenario and should be the
subject of congressional hearings. Just what are the orders to
our soldiers and who is giving them. There has to be an explanation
for the shootings in Al Fallujah two days in a row, without apology;
with a terse, "we heard gun shots coming at us"-with
the Imams and the cities leaders contradicting them.
It is also strange that the people have
their own security, but that our troops refuse to leave, but
want to remain to provide "security" and end up shooting
civilians in the town square just because they were protesting.
But lest you say I am one-sided, allow me to say, suppose there
were shots at them. I understand, having been in combat, that
you would consider shooting back. However, we always understood
that you don't just shoot your gun off at first blush, you have
to look at what the situation is, where the shots may be coming
from, and then the best way to return fire without killing innocent
civilians in the process-this is true in the military and in
our police training. To shoot into the crowd of protesters two
days in a row, killing unarmed civilians (in all cases these
people killed had no weapons, though someone else, somewhere
else, may have had weapons-that is still a moot point), including
children, is not something our military has ever allowed, advocated
or allowed to happen without arrests and punishment.
As a veteran and as a US citizen, I am
waiting to see what the military will do about these killings
in Al Fallujah. I hope our congress will look into this matter
and find out if our troops are being given new orders of engagements
toward civilians, or are our troops so poorly trained that they
panic at the slightest thing.
Sam Hamod
is an expert on world affairs, especially the Arab and Muslim
worlds, former editor of THIRD WORLD NEWS (in Wash, DC), a professor
at Princeton University, former Director of The National Islamic
Center of Washington, DC, an advisor to the US State Department
and author of ISLAM IN THE WORLD TODAY. He may be reached at
shamod@cox.net
Today's
Features
Ashley
Smith
Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History
of Washington's Occupations
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/30
Gary
Leupp
Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre
Robert
Jensen
Fighting Alienation in the USA
Wayne
Madsen
The Four Horsemen of Propaganda
Ahmad
Faruqui
Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East
Gabriel
Kolko
Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition
Adolfo
Perez Esquivel
A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush:
"You Talk of Freedom; You Detest Freedom"
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