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/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
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Today's
Stories
May
17, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The John-John Ticket: Kerry Woos McCain
Laura
Santina
Military Conditioning and Abu Ghraib
Mickey
Z.
With Friends Like These: More Election 2004 Madness
Frederick
B. Hudson
Police Terror: Three Mothers Search for Justice
Shakirah
Esmail-Hudani
Inside Abu Ghraib: the Violence of the Camera
Boris
Leonardo Caro
The Revelations of Mr. W.
Alex
Dawoody
Iraq: From Saddam to Occupation
Victor
Kattan
On Watching the Execution of Nick Berg
Ron
Jacobs
Rumsfeld's Sovereignty Shell Game
May
15 / 16, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Green Lights for Torture
Douglas
Valentine
ABCs of American Interrogation: Phoenix Program, Revisited
John
Stanton
Kings of Pain: UK, US and Israel
Ben
Tripp
Torture: a Fond Reminiscence
Brian
Cloughley
Where are You Heading, America? Taking a Closer Look at the Patriot
Act
Justin
E. H. Smith
Islam and Democracy: the Lesson from Turkey
Brandy
Baker
Equal Opportunity Torture: Lynddie England, the Right and Feminism
John
Chuckman
Peep Show on Capitol Hill: Sex, Lies and Videotape
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Goon Squad
John
Holt
Fencing the Sky
Ron
Jacobs
The Power of Patti Smith
Brian
J. Foley
Why the Outrage Over Abu Ghraib?
Robin
Philpot
Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide
Eric
Leser
The Carlyle Empire
Ray
Hanania
From Abu Ghraib to Nick Berg: There's No Such Thing as a Good
War Crime
Jeff
Halper
Dozers of Mass Destruction
Joe
Surkiewicz
Inside the Baltimore Detention Center
John
Whitlow
Iraq Goddamn
Michael
Leon
Invitation to a Beheading: Why Bush Should Watch the Berg Video
Poets'
Basement
Krieger, Ford, LaMorticella, Smith and Albert
May
14, 2004
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's POW Porn
Ron
Jacobs
Secret History of the War on Drugs
William
Blum
God, Country and Torture
Michael
Donnelly
The People v. Corporate Greed: A Victory on the North Coast
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
India Shines
Stephen
Gowans
Building Democracy in Iraq and Other
Absurdities
May
13, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Where is Kerry?
Colm
O'Laithian
Torture and Degradation: Revenge American Style?
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassan
Wal-Mart: Scrooge with Hi-Tech Accounting
Practices
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush on the Inhumane Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners
Willliam
James Martin
Deir Yassin Massacre Recalled
Marc
Salomon
Reality TV Bites
Forrest
Hylton
Law 'n Order in La Paz: All Quiet
on the Southern Front?
May
12, 2004
Blanton
/ Kornbluh
Prisoner Abuse: Cheney Warned in
1992
Virginia
Tilley
So, Who's to Blame?
Bruce
Jackson
James Inhofe, the Dumbest Senator
of Them All
Thomas
P. Healy
No Enemies: Making Peace with Bert Sacks
Linda
S. Heard
Racism and Ignorance: a Lethal Cocktail in Iraq
Norman
Solomon
Spinning Torturegate
Lisa
Viscidi
The People's Voice: Community Radio in Guatemala
Jack
Heyman
View from the Bay Bridge: Longshoremen Plan Mass Workers March
on DC
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Rummy's Reprieve
CounterPunch
Wire
Teamsters Corruption Scandal: Hoffa Exec. Assistant Alleged to
Have Quashed Investigation into Mob Influence
Christopher
Brauchli
Detention Camp, USA
William
S. Lind
Bush's Waterloo?
May 11, 2004
Mark
Engler
On the "Necessity" of Torture
Ray
McGovern
More Troops? A March of Folly
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Nukes and Jefferson's Grand Experiment
Mickey
Z.
Less Than Hero
Christopher
Reed
Torture on the Homefront: America's Long History of Prison Abuse
Dennis
Hans
When John Negroponte was Mullah Omar
Bruce
Jackson
Pete Seeger at 85
Mike
Whitney
Killing al Sadr
Simon
Helweg-Larsen
Shrinking the Guatemalan Military
William
A. Cook
The Unconscious Country: Righteous Indignation,
Nakedly Displayed
May
10, 2004
Robert
Fisk
From Hollywood to Abu Ghraib: Racism
and Torture as Entertainment
Wayne
Madsen
The Israeli Torture Template: Rape,
Feces and Urine-Soaked Cloth Sacks
Col.
Dan Smith
The Shame of Abu Ghraib
Joe
Bageant
John Ashcroft, Keep Your Mouth Off My Wife!
Ron
Jacobs
Rummy's Prisongate Blues: Don't Leave Mad; Just Leave
Ben
Tripp
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Savage
Ray
Hanania
Why They Hate Us: Racism, Bigotry and Abuse
Reza
Fiyouzat
"Mishandled" Invasions
Diane
Christian
Images & Abstractions &
Genitals
Website
of the Day
Crushing Iraqi Skulls with Tanks for Sport?
May
8 / 9, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Torture: as American as Apple Pie
Adam
Jones
America's Srebrenica: What About the Hundreds of POWs Suffocated
and Shot at Kunduz?
Douglas
Valentine
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Torture, the CIA and the Press
Kurt
Nimmo
Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib
Brian
Cloughley
Humpty Dumpty is Falling
Lucia
Dailey
Forbidden Games
Joanne
Mariner
* * * *: Redacting Moussaoui
Mickey
Z.
Please Forgive U.S.? (There Are No Innocent Bystanders)
John
Chuckman
The Thing with No Brain
Doug
Giebel
Someone Knew: There Were No WMDs
Norm
Dixon
How the Bush Gang Exploited 9/11
Sam
Bahour
A Guiding Light Falls on Ramallah
Susan
Davis
Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art
Dave
Marsh
In a Pig's Eye: Alan Lomax, Dead But Still Stealing
Laura
Flanders
Life with Dick and Lynne
Dave
Zirin
Fans Push Spiderman Off Base
Carolyn
Baker
Why I Won't Vote in 2004
Prince
"Ain't No Sense in Voting"
Dr.
Susan Block
Onan for Two: Liberating Masturbation
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Sleeth, Ford, Albert and Saska
May
7, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
10 Prisons; 9,000 Prisoners: US Detention
Facilities in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
UnAmerican? I Wish It Were So
Robert
Fisk
An Illegal and Immoral War
Ahmad
Faruqui
The 50th Anniversary of Dien Bien
Phu
Alexander
Zaitchik
From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib: Doesn't It Ring a (Prison)
Bell?
Mike
Whitney
The Price of Victory
Norman
Solomon
This War, Racism and Media Denial
M.
Shahid Alam
A Comic Apology
May
6, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
They Did It for Jessica: Smeared with
Shit; Kicked to Death
Kathy
Kelly
May Day in Pekin Prison: Prison Labor
for the War Machine
Werther
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: War as Vegas
Casino Game
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti
Totalitarian Democracy
Robert
Fisk
"Smoke Him": Video Shows Wounded
Men Being Shot by US Helicopter
John
Janney
Torturing the Way to Freedom?
Christopher
Ketcham
Outlaw Heterosexual Marriage Now!
Alan
Farago
Dead Oceans: So Long, Thanks for the Fish
Sam
Hamod
Bush on Arab TV: Worthless and Demeaning
James
Brooks
Sullen Spring
William
S. Lind
On the Brink of Defeat in Iraq
May
5, 2004
Maj.
Gen. Antonio M. Taguba
Complete US Army Report on Abuse of
Iraqi Prisoners
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Kerry: a Lost Cause for Progressives?
Will
Youmans
Deal with the Devil: a Palestinian
Zionist and the End of the World
Patrick
B. Barr
Terrorists R Us: the Powerful are Exempt from the Label
Lawrence
Magnuson
Nightline's All-American Morgue
Greg
Moses
Pocketbook of Denuded Ideals
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Tormenting Prisoners, Torturing
Truth
Lee
Ballinger
Cinco de Mayo and Unity
Gilbert
Achcar
Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quaqmire
Website
of the Day
Operation Phoenix & Iraq
May
4, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
A Timeline of Torture and Abuse Allegations
and Responses
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Privatized Torture
David
Peterson
CBS, Self-Censorship & Iraq
Barry
Lando
CACI's Private Torture Chambers
Patrick
Cockburn
Torture: Iraqis Disgusted, But Not Surprised
Dr.
Susan Block
Indecent Insurgents: Watch What You Say
Fidel
Castro
A Mindless, Unnecessary War
Mike
Whitney
Empire of Torture
Sonali
Kolhatkar
How to Stop the War: Demonstrate Against
John Kerry
Josh
Frank
The Lost Sierra Club
Stan
Goff
The Role: Another Open Letter to US Troops in Iraq
Agustin
Velloso
Spare Us Your Disgusting Ethics
Stew
Albert
American Know-How
Website
of the Day
Scenes from a Cover-Up
May
3, 2004
Virginia
Tilley
Let the Wall of Silence Fall
May
1 / 2, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
An Army in Disgrace, a Policy
in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat
Robert
Fisk
"Good Guys" Who Can Do No
Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders,
Useless Spies, Angry World
Heather
Williams
Gringo, We're Going Home: Latin
American Troops Flee Iraq
Diane
Rejman
An Army Vet on Torture in Iraq:
Abu Ghraib as My Lai?
Diane
Christian
Blood Spilling: Osama, Bush and
Sharon Speak the Same Language
Patrick
Cockburn
Seems Like Old Times in Fallujah
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Torturous Logic: Shocked,
Shocked, Shocked
Chris
Floyd
Suicide Bomber: Neocons, Nihilists
and Annihilation
April
29 / 30, 2004
Dave
Zirin
A Pawn in Their Game: the Unlonesome
Death of Pat Tillman
Kathy
Kelly
The Warden's Tour
Greg
Weiher
Fallujah and the Warsaw Ghetto: the
Banality of Evil
Michael
S. Ladah
Terrorism and Assassination: the
Ultimate Depception
Patrick
Cockburn
The Fallujah Mutinies
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.
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May
17, 2004
Puppets and
Power in Iraq
Rumsfeld's Sovereignty
Shell Game
By RON JACOBS
During his recent visit to Abu Gharaib,
Mr. Rumsfeld told those US soldiers who were allowed to see him
that troops from other countries would be joining them soon in
their debacle. As anyone who has followed this war knows, this
has been one of the ongoing fables from the Pentagon since before
the occupation began and its veracity is even less likely in
light of the current situation in that country. Rumsfeld also
told the GIs (who were cleared by security before they were commanded
to go to the photo op-don't want the boss to have to face dissension
from the troops) that they would be the next 'greatest generation"-a
reference to the characterization of World War II GIs currently
popular among pro-military Americans. Now, not only is this a
stretch of the imagination, it could be considered a slight (if
not a direct insult) to the memory of those men who died in Europe
and the Pacific. This ongoing attempt by the war's champions
to equate the disaster in Iraq with the struggle against fascism
is, to say the least, embarrassing.
Meanwhile, back in Washington,
a slight difference of opinion erupted on May 13th between two
US officials over the future of the occupation. According to
the Associated Press, legislators were first told by Undersecretary
of State Marc Grossman that occupation forces would leave if
asked to do so by the "new" governing authority that
the US plans to put into place on July 1, 2004. Within minutes,
however, this statement was nullified by Grossman and another
State Department official who said that this was definitely not
the case and that the US would decide when it was time for the
occupying troops to leave. In other words, the US-appointed "sovereign"
government will be in no more control of the US military and
its actions than the prisoners in Abu Gharaib.
Now, if the members of the
US-appointed government were politically smart, one of the first
public statements they would make on July 1st would be one that
demanded that the US and other occupying forces leave Iraq within
a given time, say thirty days. Such an action would not only
put the Americans on notice, it would also lend some credence
to the puppet government's authority. After all, if this made
in America government was willing to place itself firmly on the
side of the majority of Iraqis who want the US out immediately,
Iraqis might be willing to support its existence until elections
are held. Of course, any statement that demanded the withdrawal
of US troops would probably end much of Washington's support
for the government that issued said demand. In addition, it would
put the Iraqi "Authority" in between the Iraqi people
and its US paymasters.
Would the new "sovereign"
council do something like this? Not according to the State Department.
Colin Powell and his minions insist over the dead bodies piling
up in Iraq that this new government wants the US military there.
Unmentioned in that statement is the fact that most of the "leaders"
in America's new handpicked "authority" need the US
military for protection, so of course they don't want them to
go. On the other hand, a few other members, who might actually
represent legitimate elements of Iraqi society, would probably
fare better in terms of their support by demanding that the occupiers
leave. Nonetheless, Mr. Powell and his cohorts at the State Department
don't "anticipate" any such request and expect a close
partnership. Unsaid here is that those who do want the US to
get out will most likely be removed from their posts, through
verbal or physical force (remember Mr. Diem of southern Vietnam?)
In fact, according to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal,
this has already begun, with various Iraqi administrators losing
their positions or having their powers assumed by US officials
or other Iraqis who are more willing to comply with US demands-in
essence, leaving little room for independent-thinking Iraqis
of any persuasion to have a role in their new government.
Perhaps the most important
word in the above paragraph is the word "leaders."
I say this for a couple of reasons: first, because I wonder exactly
which Iraqis these leaders are leading? It certainly isn't the
Iraqis in Falluja, Sadr City, Basra, Najaf, and a dozen other
places in Iraq. Indeed, if one is to believe the most recent
polls of Iraqi citizens, these leaders are "leading"
hardly anyone. Polls suggest that over 80% of all Iraqis want
the occupiers to leave immediately and let the Iraqi people design
their own government. That is hardly a mandate for continued
US military presence in the country. Secondly, this statement
reveals once again Washington's reliance on Iraqis who have little
support in their own country. Just as they have done in past
attempts to recreate foreign political societies in their own
image, the US government is only talking to locals who say what
it wants to hear. That's because Washington is never truly interested
in helping people in other countries create a government that
represents that country's interests; its true goal is creating
governments that will assist US business interests.
Usually, that requires a US
military presence. In a place like Iraq, where most of the population
wants the US out and enough of that population is willing to
fight to achieve that goal, that means that a state of war will
exist until the US leaves or until it quashes the insurgency.
The likelihood of the latter is much more remote than that of
the former. Because of that, those handpicked leaders who lead
virtually no one better hope there's a plane waiting for them
when events finally force them to leave.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter
what Mr. Powell or anyone else in the State Department thinks,
as George Bush made clear in his radio address on Saturday, May
16, 2004. During the course of this weekly event that nobody
but the media seems to listen to, Bush told his radio audience:
Our forces will remain in Iraq to assist the Iraqi people until
Iraqis can secure their own country." Even though Pentagon
favorite Ahmed Chalabi is on record as saying this refusal to
cede genuine sovereignty to any Iraq regime will only make things
worse for the Americans, Washington is going ahead with its plans
to retain control of those things that matter most in Iraq-the
military and the oil. Although Iraqi officers in the US-created
security forces will be able to organize and train the new army,
an edict issued by Overseer Paul Bremer in March contains a paragraph
that gives operational control of those Iraqi forces to US commanders.
What this means is that only the US can order the Iraqi forces
in or out of combat.
As for the oil revenues-those
that exist (which are in much smaller amounts than hoped for
by the US before the war, mostly because of sabotage by the resistance)
are currently placed into a Federal Reserve Bank of New York
account, which is controlled by the United States. Although Iraqis
hope to have control over the expenditures after June 30th, US
administrators are demanding that the US maintains their current
control through the current international board that is chosen
and controlled by Washington. Even Chalabi has a problem with
the existing scenario, although one could assume (given his past
passion for the quick and illegal dollar) that this concern has
little to do with helping out his fellow Iraqis and much to do
with some scheme he has for skimming a portion of those revenues
for himself.
In six weeks, there will be
a considerable amount of fanfare in Baghdad as new "made
in America" flags are raised and soldiers with a lot of
ribbons on their chest salute each other. Speeches full of flowery
words about independence and freedom will be given. Donald Rumsfeld
will smile one of his demonic grins (unless he's been sacrificed
to the cause by then), Dubya will smirk while he prays, John
Kerry will provide the assent of the loyal "opposition,"
and nothing will change for the Iraqis. Washington will still
be the real seat of power in Iraq. Like a dealer in the ancient
shell game, it is Washington who has the control.
Ron Jacobs is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground,
which is being republished by Verso.
He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Weekend
Edition Features for May 15 / 16, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Green Lights for Torture
Douglas
Valentine
ABCs of American Interrogation: Phoenix Program, Revisited
John
Stanton
Kings of Pain: UK, US and Israel
Ben
Tripp
Torture: a Fond Reminiscence
Brian
Cloughley
Where are You Heading, America? Taking a Closer Look at the Patriot
Act
Justin
E. H. Smith
Islam and Democracy: the Lesson from Turkey
Brandy
Baker
Equal Opportunity Torture: Lynddie England, the Right and Feminism
John
Chuckman
Peep Show on Capitol Hill: Sex, Lies and Videotape
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Goon Squad
John
Holt
Fencing the Sky
Ron
Jacobs
The Power of Patti Smith
Brian
J. Foley
Why the Outrage Over Abu Ghraib?
Robin
Philpot
Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide
Eric
Leser
The Carlyle Empire
Ray
Hanania
From Abu Ghraib to Nick Berg: There's No Such Thing as a Good
War Crime
Jeff
Halper
Dozers of Mass Destruction
Joe
Surkiewicz
Inside the Baltimore Detention Center
John
Whitlow
Iraq Goddamn
Michael
Leon
Invitation to a Beheading: Why Bush Should Watch the Berg Video
Poets'
Basement
Krieger, Ford, LaMorticella, Smith and Albert
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