home / subscribe / donate / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events / faq

The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! Why Wall St is Betting Millions on Obama In part 2 of her investigation, market veteran Pam Martens traces the money big Wall Street players are sluicing into Obama's war chest and exactly why they are investing big-time in the "campaign for change". Plus more on the "No federal lobbyists on my team" fraud. You've heard about the plutonium-powered spy transmitters the CIA tasked climbers to haul up 25,000 feet to the high peaks of the Himalayas? What happened to the one they lost and to the men who carried them? Peter Lee gives CounterPunchers the full amazing story. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great holiday presents. Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !

Today's Stories March 17, 2008 Pam Martens The Fed's Wall Street Dilemma Sasan Fayazmanesh The US, Iran and the Policy of Dual Containment March 15 / 16, 2008 Patrick Cockburn How to Destroy a Country in Five Years Mike Whitney Bearly Alive: Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief Ralph Nader Of Laws and Men Robert Pollin It's Still the Economy, Stupid Diane Christian The Poetics of Perversity: From Boccaccio to Spitzer Wajahat Ali Faking the Hood: a Conversation with Ishmael Reed Tom Wright / Therese Saliba Rachel Corrie's Case for Justice Alan Farago Back to Florida: Where Bushtime Began Greg Moses Raiding the Family Room in Texas Michael Hudson A Grand Global Bargain? Martha Rosenberg Why Hillary's Favorite Chicken Company is Eying China John Goekler Fourth Generation Warfare in a Fifth Generation Conflict Uzma Aslam Khan A Letter to Barack Obama: Where's the Change, Barack? Oren Ben-Dor The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon David Underhill Mammon, Morals and the Mobile Tanker Deal Fred Gardner The Education of Eliot Spitzer David Michael Green Why Spitzer Should Have Resigned (and Why He Shouldn't Have) Rev. William E. Alberts Jesus, Entombed in Heaven Gail Dines It's All About the John: Prostitution and Male Power David Yearsley Conducting, Anarchy and the Problem of When to Begin Chris Clarke Walking with Zeke: the Luckiest of Dogs Poets' Basement Anderson, Lodge & Subiet Website of the Day Deviant Art   March 14, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Watching the Dollar Die Don Santina Vichy Democrats: Pelosi and the Politics of Collaboration Patrick Cockburn Iraqi Mother Vows Revenge on US: How She Lost Her Husband and Her Sons Tim Rinne StratCom Rules! The Next War Will Start in Nebraska Robert Fantina In Torture We Trust Saul Landau Letter to the Presidents-in-Waitings David Macaray Common Myths About Labor Unions Franklin Lamb Is the Bush Administration Switching Horses in Lebanon Michael Neumann The One State Illusion: Reply to My Critics March 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Republicans and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America Mike Whitney Meltdown Looms Larger As Credit Markets Freeze Assaf Kfoury "One-State or Two State?"- Sterile Debate on False Alternatives Andy Worthington Afghan Hero Who Died in Guantánamo: The Background to the Story Adam Federman From Autopia to Autogeddon: Cars Reach the End of the Road March 12, 2008 Dave Lindorff Bringing Down Spitzer: It's the Big Brother Who Should Bother US R.F. Blader The Spitzer Backlash Yonatan Mendel How to be an Israeli Journalist. Never Write "Murder" or "Palestine" Jonathan Cook One State or Two? Neither. The Issue is Zionism Bill and Kathy Christison Fallon and Gates -- At Least One Cheer James J. Brittain Was the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders Ron Jacobs "All the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul" March 11, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts How to End the Subprime Crisis Ed O'Loughlin How Israeli Troops Invade Homes in Gaza, Brutalize, Smash and Steal Ramzy Baroud 'Unwavering Commitment' to Inequality Kathy Christison One State or Two? The Debate Over Israel and Palestine China Hand PRC Plays it Cool, as U.S. Tries to Amp Up Pressure on Iran John Joslin Thank You, Nafta! Welcome to Weirton, Home of the Discount Cigarette Mike Averko Serb Politics, Kosovo and the Moscow-Washington Divide Ben Rosenfeld Gavin Newsom's Kneejerk Plan Thierry Paquot High Rise, Low Spirits:The Curse of the Tower Block March 10, 2008 Uri Avnery "Kill A Hundred Turks and Rest": The Five-Day War in Gaza Col. Dan Smith Scoring the "Surge" and What Lies Beyond R.F. Blader Why "Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key" is Losing its Sheen Michael Neumann The One-State Illusion: More is Less Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman Did the Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio? James J. Brittain Anti-Uribe Protests in Colombia and the World Missy Comley Beattie The Passion of John McCain March 8-9, 2008 Weekend Edition JoAnn Wypijewski The Only Way to Fight the Clintons Mike Whitney Sorting Through the Rubble in Post Bubble America Peter Morici Fed and Treasury Fiddle as Economy Plummets Ralph Nader The Silent Violence of Gaza's Suffering that Candidates Ignore Jonathan Cook The Meaning of Gaza's Shoah Steve Niva Behind the Israeli Escalation in Gaza Bill and Kathy Christison Crisis over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax Hervé Do Alto and Franck Poupeau Bolivia: Morales is Checked Eric Walberg To Leave and Stay at the Same Time: Putin to Medvedev to…? Scott Johnson City of A Thousand Foreclosures Mark Scaramella James Brown's Gate Bill Clinton President Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force Chairman Poet's Basement St. Thomasino, Engel, Davies and Willson Website of the Weekend Hillary Blackens Barack March 7, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Why Iraq Could Blow-Up in John McCain's Face Robin Blackburn Question for Barrack Obama: Why Afghanistan is the 'Right War'? Saul Landau The Stupid Economy Binoy Kampmark When Competition is Good: McCain and the Muddled Democrats Chris Floyd Crushing the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire Andy Worthington Spanish Drop "Inhuman" Extradition Request for Guantánamo Britons Will Potter Before the Smoke Even Clears in Seattle: Bringing Out the T Word March 6, 2008   March 6, 2008 Vincent Navarro The Next Failure of Health Reform Forrest Hylton High Stakes in the Andes: Colombia's Cornered President Peter Morici Why the Dollar is So Cheap George Ciccariello-Maher Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats John Ross Taxi! Taxi! The Dark Side of the Oscars Jacob Hornberger No Standing to Lecture on Justice Paul Watson Illegal Japanese Whaling by the Numbers Dan Bacher Off the Deep End Website of the Day A Katrina Reader Online   March 5, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair A Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader) Joanne Mariner After Guantanamo Fidel Castro The Raid on Ecuador: Underestimating Rafael Correa Christopher Brauchli The Turkish Invasions Steven Sherman Obama and the Prospects for a Renewal of the Left Dave Lindorff Busting Bush & Co. in New England James Murren Bombing Somalia Adam Engel Necropolis Now Website of Day Remember Song   March 4, 2008 Wajahat Ali Mumbo Jumbo: Naming Names with Ishmael Reed William Blum How Could Hillary Have Known? Bill Quigley The Cleansing of New Orleans Ralph Nader The Prince Harry Solution Patrick Irelan Oil and Health in Venezuela James J. Brittain / R. James Sacouman Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing a New Latin America Norman Solomon The War Election Jacob Hornberger Hillary in Waco: the Missing Apology Andy Worthington Guantánamo and the European Parliament Mike Averko Kosovo and the Press Website of the Day Tex-Mex Primary   March 3, 2008 Jennifer Loewenstein Gazan Holocaust Alan Farago American Politics and the Faltering Economy Richard Gott Colombian Deaths in Ecuador Wajahat Ali Who Speaks for a Billion Muslims? Analyzing the World Gallup Poll with John Esposito Paul Craig Roberts The Mukasey Conspiracy: a Bi-Partisan Attack on the Constitution Robert Weissman When Multinationals Say Adieu Uri Avnery Good Morning, Hamas Martha Rosenberg When Your Meat is a Downer Eva Liddell Leave the Next Dance for Bill Michael Donnelly Will Ferrell Does Flint Website of the Day Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home Blues   March 1 / 2, 2008 Alexander Cockburn The Race Card Paul Craig Roberts The Political Trial of Don Siegelman Kathleen and Bill Christison Nader the Best Antidote to American Imperialism Nelson P. Valdés Cuba After Fidel Christopher Brauchli Meet Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev: Friend of Bill, George and Dick Ron Jacobs Inside the Secret City: Bomb Making at Oak Ridge John Ross The New Conquistadores: Spain's Reconquest of Mexico Robert Fantina Posturing Over Patriotism: Obama and Those Lapel Pins Robert Weissman Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Rights Hypocrisy Mohammed Omer Fear in Gaza Remi Kanazi Barack Obama and the Politics of Xenophobia Bob Jackson Why is Yellowstone Destroying Its Bison Herd? Richard Rhames Casual Threats: Loaded with Mercury Franklin Lamb Lebanon Awaits the Arrival of the USS Cole Rannie Amiri Showboat Diplomacy: US Warships Steam Toward Lebanon David Michael Green The Three Faces of Hillary: the Politics of Flim-Flam Conn Hallinan Notes from the Southern Cone Faheem Hussain Prince Harry of Afghanistan and the Meaning of Normalcy Poets' Basement Gibbons, Orloski, Gardner and Ford Website of the Weekend The Palestine Chronicle Needs (and Deserves) Your Help!     February 29, 2008 Matt Gonzalez The Obama Craze Jonathan Cook Academic Freedom? Not for Arabs in Israel Joshua Frank Obama and Israel Anthony DiMaggio The Unilateral Presidency: Signing Statements and the Rollback of American Law Linn Washington, Jr. Cop Abuse in America Binoy Kampmark Hubris and Nemesis Robert Bryce Energy Efficiency May be a Good Thing, But It Won't Cut Energy Use Sonja Karkar Australia's Government Continues Its Love Affair with Israel Dave Lindorff A Manchurian Candidate in the White House? Obama or Bush? Website of the Day Olduvai George   February 28, 2008 Patrick Cockburn "Iraq" Falls Apart Fred Gardner The Birth of NAFTA Michael Levitin The Crisis in Kosovo is Just Beginning William S. Lind The Fake State of Kosovo David Macaray A Ray of Hope for Organized Labor Stephen Fleischman Nader's Latest Run: Monkey Wrench or Cattle Prod? George Wuerthner The Myths of Forest Health: Why Ecological Logging is an Oxymoron Laura Carlsen The North American Union Farce Carl Finamore Why the Delta-Northwest Deal Hasn't Taken Off Michael Dickinson The Day I Bombed the House of Commons Website of the Day Plane Stupid   February 27, 2008 David Rosen Playing the Race Card: Obama, Love Across the Color Line and Political Dirty Tricks Vijay Prashad Bomber John: McCain and the 100 Year War Harvey Wasserman Incident at Turkey Point: Did Florida Go to the Radioactive Brink? Andy Worthington Guantánamo's Shambolic Trials: Pentagon Boss Resigns, Ex-Prosecutor Joins Defense Wajahat Ali Pakistan for Sale: an Interview with Ayesha Siddiqa on Pakistan's Military Economy Peter Morici The Auction-Rate Securities Fiasco: a Drama of Greed and Betrayal Stephen Philion Conspiracy Theory, Fears of Betrayal and Today's Anti-War Movement Michael Donnelly Obama by Unanimous Decision Erica Rosenberg / Janine Blaeloch After the Land Deals: Will There be Any Wilderness Left to Protect? Website of the Day Dress Blues   February 26, 2008 Debbie Nathan Confessions of a Gitmo Guard Alan Dershowitz v. Frank Menetrez On Finkelstein Harvey Wasserman How Ohio Got Nuked Michael Colby Ralph Nader vs. the Fundamentalist Liberals Gary Leupp Condi vs. Putin on Bullying Belgrade David Orchard The New Conquistadors: Canada in Afghanistan Martha Rosenberg The Big HRT Fran Shor The Electoral Circus and Nader's Sideshow Serge Halimi The Dom Perignon Socialist Manifesto: Bernard Henri-Levy's Plan for the French Left Global Balkans Neo-Liberalism and Protectorate States in the Post-Yugoslav Balkans: an Interview with Tariq Ali Website of the Day Texistentialism   February 25, 2008 Roger Morris A Death in Damascus Anthony DiMaggio Military Bases, the Media and the Democrats Ralph Nader Why I'm Running Patrick Cockburn Iraq Broils Paul Craig Roberts Kosovo and the Empire Crazies Peter Morici Bernanke's Failing Policies: a Long Recession Looms Dave Lindorff General Welch's Whitewash: What We Still Don't Know About That Minot Nuke Incident Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen Fanatics, Mountebanks and Drillers: a Bloody Oil Film Heather Gray James Orange, Civil Rights Legend Robert Weitzel Accomodating Torture John Halle Kucinich Goes Down Website of the Day Do the Trunk Monkey! February 23 / 4, 2008 Alexander Cockburn The Mushrooming Clouds That Hang Over McCain Paul Craig Roberts Obama and Global Trade Wajahat Ali Omissions of the Commission: an Interview with Phillip Shenon on the 9/11 Commission Ralph Nader Neutering the FDA Jürgen Vsych "What Was Ralph Nader Thinking?" Fidel Castro Watching the US Presidential Campaign from Havana Andy Worthington Britain's Guantánamo David Macaray Unions Under Assault Jeremy Scahill The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence David Krieger Stanley Sheinbaum Caging the Cold War Monster Ron Jacobs Building for the Future Michael Garrity The Last, Best Hope for the Northern Rockies Brian McKenna Higher Ed's "Civic Engagements" Get Dumbed Down Missy Beattie Over the Hill with John McCain Fred Gardner American College of Physicians Takes Pro-Cannabis Stand (Mostly) Boris Kagarlitsky The Growth of the Russian Labor Movement Mike Ferner Kick That Barrel Dan Bacher On the Trail with the Border Angels Christopher Ketcham Hillary Goes Where Obama Fears to Tread Poets' Basement Davies and Buknatski Website of the Weekend Obama Mariachi   February 22, 2008 Mike Whitney The Bonfire of Capital Jason Hribal Elephants and the Circus: The Story of Janet Liaquat Ali Khan Arresting Musharraf Joshua Frank That Obama Glow: the Nuclear Industry's Golden Child Dave Lindorff Vicki's John: Ask Not What She Did for Him, Ask What He Did for Her! Liliana Segura When Torture is Old News: McCain's Blonde Diversion Robert Fantina Castro, Bush and Cuba: a Fiasco Waiting to Happen? Yifat Susskind The ABCs of Death: Bush vs. Africa's Women Norm Kent Pushing 60 with Pot Website of the Day Bush Gets Down in Liberia February 21, 2008 Saul Landau Fidel Steps Aside Elizabeth Schulte Left Behind, With No End in Sight: America's Long-Term Unemployed Helen Redmond Health Care as a Human Right Benjamin Dangl Undermining Bolivia Michael Levitin Kosovo's Dilemma Liam Leonard Fear and Loathing on the Emerald Isle Patrick Irelan Land and Food in Venezuela Linn Cohen-Cole Poor Ohio: a Second Letter to Hillary on Her Ties to Monsanto Michael Simmons Daydream Believer: John Stewart, the Miles Davis of Folk Music CounterPunch News Service A Message from the Women of Okinawa to US GIs Website of the Day Cop Abuse in Shreveport             Subscribe Online

St. Patrick's Day Edition March 17, 2008 The Vicious Dragnet on the Undocumented Saint Patrick's Day in Fortress America By SHAUN HARKIN "'Where Liberty is, there is my country.' So said the enthusiastic 18th century revolutionist. But if he lived nowadays he would have a long search for his country -where Liberty is. The only liberty we know now, outside of the liberty to go hungry, stands in New York Bay, where it has been placed, I am told, in order that immigrants from Europe may get their first and last look at it before setting foot on American soil. You see, it would be decidedly awkward for our Fourth of July orators to be orating to the newcomers about the blessings of American liberty and then to be asked by some ignorant European to tell them where that liberty is to be found. Some ignorant, discontented unit of the hordes of Europe, for instance, might feel tempted to go nosing around in search of liberty, and his search might take him into the most awkward places. He might go down South and see little white American children of seven, eight and nine years working in our cotton mills enjoying their liberty to work for a boss when other children are still compelled by tyrannical laws to stay on wrestling with the dreadful problems of reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. The Liberty we have in Bartholdi's statue is truly typical of liberty in this age and country. It is placed upon a pedestal out of reach of the multitudes; it can only be approached by those who have money enough to pay the expense; it has a lamp to enlighten the world, but the lamp is never lit, and it smiles upon us as we approach America, but when we are once in the country we never see anything but its back 'Tis a great world we live in." From Facets of American Liberty, James Connolly, 1908 American rivers will literally run green on Saint Patrick's Day to celebrate the 'Irish in America.' Annually, massive parades, green beer, the 'wearing of the green' and a genuflection by the political establishment mark the Irish contribution to and presence in the United States. The 2006 US census bureau reports that close to 36 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. However, such a spectacular celebration of one of America's largest immigrant population seems especially ill-fitted today in the midst of a growing crackdown on immigrants and the ratcheting up of anti-immigrant rhetoric. Crudely put, every foreign military adventure must be complemented by a war at home: undocumented immigrants are a domestic target in the United States today. The war on immigrants consists of workplace raids, Greyhound bus raids, neighborhood checkpoints, armed vigilantes at the Mexican border and hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of legislation intending to make life here unbearable. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 30,408 immigrants with deportation orders in fiscal year 2007, about twice as many as the previous year. ICE claims to have deported a record 276, 912 immigrants in 2007. And this does not include those who are pressured into accepting 'voluntary departure.' Up to 30,000 undocumented are held in deplorable detention centers on any given day. As 'Irishness' is celebrated real Irish men and women are caught up in this vicious dragnet. Every week undocumented Irish are being sent back to Ireland or put in detention centers. The October 9, 2007 press release of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in New York reads as follows: "Over the past three weeks, the Emerald Isle Immigration Center has received countless calls from friends and families of individuals who have been detained by Homeland Security and are in the process of being deported. These are all tragic circumstances and highlight the plight of the undocumented in our community and the urgent need for immigration reform. Until there is any change, we should be reminded of the risks our community faces with any travel in the US and with any encounter with law enforcement authorities, including during traffic stops. The reality remains that travel within the US is not without risk. That risk increases the closer you travel to the border with Canada or Mexico and especially if you are within 100 miles of that border, the current law permits ICE to demand proof of ANYONE'S legal status within the US. The best way to prevent these situations is to pay strict attention to obeying local traffic laws and avoid unnecessary confrontation with authorities. "Many of our undocumented community have entered the US on the Visa Waiver program, explained Siobhan Dennehy, Emerald Isle Immigration Center's Executive Director " and actually, what that waiver means is that if you have overstayed, you have waived your rights to a defense for your overstay in front of an Immigration Judge and that if caught, you will be automatically deported. This applies to everyone who signs that green visa waiver form upon entry to the US." John Thompson, from Garvagh, Co. Derry, said his 34 year old son living in St. Paul, Minnesota died because he was afraid to go to hospital for fear of being deported. The labyrinthine and unresponsive nature of the ICE system came home with brute force as I tried to navigate my brother's detention and eventual deportation earlier this year. Despite not wanting to stay in the U.S. and offering to pay his own fare he was held for months at the ICE detention facility in York, Pennsylvania before being escorted to New York in prison clothes for a flight to Dublin. Some 35 million, 12% of the total U.S. population, are foreign-born. Of that total around 12 million are estimated to be undocumented, including around 50,000 Irish undocumented. Mexicans make up around 60% of the undocumented population. And it is towards Mexicans that a small but well-organized and well-funded modern Know-Nothing movement directs their venom and gets to drive public discussion of immigration. You'll often find them apoplectic at the sight of the Mexican flags but they have absolutely no problem with the Irish contagion on St. Patrick's Day. This and their visible mumbling confusion when confronted with the problems faced by Irish undocumented tears the veil of their thinly disguised racism summed up in 'we support legal immigration.' Surely, anyone who has watched the remarkable performance of Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis in the Gangs of New York can see the Irish and Mexican immigration stories have so much in common. Today, the numbers of Irish arriving into U.S cities is comparatively low compared to Mexicans or Filipinos. The Republic of Ireland's recent economic fortunes have meant that fewer Irish have been forced to leave in large numbers to find employment overseas. In fact, Ireland has now become a beacon of economic hope for immigrants from all over Eastern Europe and Africa. The mainstream media and US Presidential candidates scarcely acknowledge that vast numbers of Mexican workers have been driven here out of pure desperation because of US imposed neo-liberal trade agreements. NAFTA is only the most recent manifestation of Uncle Sam's imperial trade policy towards its southern neighbors. Internal restructuring of the US economy recruited Mexican workers in massive numbers and simultaneously drove down the living standards of US and Mexican workers either side of the border. Irish emigration to the U.S. exploded during the years of Ireland's Great Hunger. The famine lasted from 1845 to 1851 and was a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Over 1 million people died of starvation and disease and another 1 million emigrated. As Christine Kinealy points out "The Irish Famine did not occur in a vacuum and is better understood within the continuum of Anglo-Irish relations." The potato blight was a natural occurrence but Imperial Britain's free-market capitalism meant the outcome was far more devastating. The obvious point: the hidden hand of the free-market, today and yesterday, has always played a large role in shaping where we go, where we can live and where we work. The St. Patrick Day parades illuminates how the US has benefited greatly from massive waves of immigration. The US could never have become an economic and military powerhouse without wave after wave of newcomers, 'flooding' its shores. Yes, immigrants, from every corner of the globe, and their children built America and continue to build America. The great wealth and power of America's elites and the political establishment comes in no small part from the labor of immigrant workers. This makes the treatment of its newest arrivals all the more reprehensible. ICE raids and Lou Dobbs represent the schizophrenic sickness of American politics today. In the Irish context, this sickness is embodied in the pathetic but dangerous persona of Republican Congressman, Peter King. An outright reactionary, King was once a highly prominent and outspoken supporter of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), back in its Marxist phase. In the 1980's, New York based IRA supporters, many of them undocumented economic refugees, were the ground troops for King's political career. Today, King is a leading Know-Nothing, sponsoring some of the most draconian anti-immigrant legislation. The Peter King phenomenon is merely a microcosm of the sickness of the whole political and economic system. Immigrants are the source of great wealth and profit but they are also stigmatized, criminalized and hounded. The hypocrisy here does not belong to the undocumented. Today, we are told we have to wait for a solution, for legalization. Yet, the war continues. In fact, it gets worse. We should not have to wait. Immigrants, past, present and future, are owed a tremendous debt, the fruit of their labor, in America. The raids, the deportations, the breaking up of families, the fear-mongering has to end now. Yet, none of the candidates demand this. The assumptions enforcement politics are built on are racist and legitimizing them only aids the immigrant-bashers. Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is set to give an address to a joint session of the US Congress on April 30th. He could speak out forcefully about the conditions the undocumented face, demand an end to the terrorizing of all immigrant communities and take a stand in solidarity with all the undocumented within US borders. However, the odds are against this. Ahern is praised for steering the Irish economy to unprecedented heights and Ireland certainly has boomed in concert with the US boom. Yet, there is another less discussed synthesis: the gap between the haves and haves not has soared in Ireland as in the US. In his book, The Corporate Takeover of Ireland, Kieran Allen, documents how the Irish political establishment has bent over backwards to give American corporations everything they want and more: massive tax breaks and a low-wage, pliant workforce. Worse still, Ireland's political elite acted as the US's hammer in the European Union, advancing a specific US agenda and advancing neo-liberalism in general. The Irish State is a neo-liberal regime modeled on and dependent on the US. In many respects, Ireland today seems like an economic colony of the United States. US investment has come at a price. The U.S. socialist journalist, John Reed, once said: "Uncle Sam never gives something for nothingHe comes along with a sack stuffed with hay in one hand and a whip in the other. Anyone who accepts Uncle Sam's promises at face value will find that they must be paid for in sweat and blood." Like in the United States, a large majority of Ireland's population is hostile to the US war on Iraq but the Irish government has refused to deny access to Shannon Airport to the US military. Even though Ireland is officially neutral, Shannon has become a key refueling facility for US war planes en route between the US, Afghanistan and Iraq. Ahern's real legacy is that is no different from the disgraced Tony Blair. Some commentators have said Ahern has intimate knowledge of the plight of the undocumented in the US. Perhaps this is true. However, it does not mean he will confront Congress. A few suffering and moaning undocumented will not get in the way of Ireland's special relationship with the US. When I was following up about my brother with the Irish Consulate here I was amazed to hear they had a great relationship with ICE. Is the Irish Government doing all it can? When you go to the Irish Consulate website and click on 'emergency assistance' the same page reappears. There were definitely helpful people at the Consulate who seemed to understand what is happening but the policy is not to challenge the neo-liberal masters. Maybe Bono and U2 will use their 'clout' and boycott the US until the war against the undocumented ceases. Maybe Ahern will embarrass US politicians over the apartheid conditions immigrants face..Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, has said: "The plight of the thousands of Irish undocumented working and living in the USA is a priority for Sinn Fein. We will continue to raise this issue at every political and governmental level open to us." The US ­ Northern Ireland Investment Conference scheduled for Belfast on May 7-9 will be an excellent opportunity to put this into practice. Maybe. During the US invasion of Mexico in 1846 a group of Irish immigrants had enough with hypocrisy. They deserted the invading US Army and joined the Mexican side as the Saint Patrick's Battalion (Batallón de San Patricio). Real heroes: "In all my letter, I forgot to tell you under what banner we fought so bravely. It was that glorious Emblem of native rights, that being the banner which should have floated over our native Soil many years ago, it was St. Patrick, the Harp of Erin, the Shamrock upon a green field." ­ John Riley, rebel commander of the San Patricios. Shaun Harkin, originally from Derry, can be reached at: shaunharkin@gmail.com

Now Available! How the Press Led the US into War Buy End Times Now! New From CounterPunch Books The Secret Language of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD! Click Here to Buy! Cassidy on Tour Click Here for Dates & Venues "The Case Against Israel" Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Click Here to Buy! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal Click Here to Order!   Grand Theft Pentagon How They Made a Killing on the War on Terrorism             The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn     Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont     CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed