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May
28, 2003
David
Vest
DubyaCo.: It's Not So Funny Any More
Dave
Lindorff
My Grandfather's Medal
John
Stanton
America's Dying: Arts and Philosophy Hold the Key
Bernard
Weiner
A PNAC Primer
Robert
Jensen
Texas Dems Set a Standard for the Rest of the Party
Ahmad Faruqui
The Oil Business of Regime Change:
the CIA and Iran
Hammond
Guthrie
Disarming Conundrums
Steve Perry
What If There's No Such Thing as Al-Qaeda?
May
27, 2003
Kurt
Nimmo
Condoleezza Rice: Huckstress for Israeli
Myths
Anthony
Gancarski
Hillary: a Dem the NeoCons Could Love?
Patrick
Cockburn
Terror, Bush and Joseph Conrad
John Chuckman
an Interpretation of Bush's Character
Kathleen
Christison
What Sharon Wants, Sharon Gets
Jeffrey
Blankfort
AIPAC Hijacks the Roadmap
Steve
Perry
Trouble in the Hinterlands
May
26, 2003
Franklin
C. Spinney
Test Anxiety: Star Wars, Punctuated
Epistimology and the Triumph of Medievalism
Elaine
Cassel
Supreme Sacrifice
Sam
Hamod
When Trained Killers Return Home
Stew Albert
The Final Conflict
May
24 / 25, 2003
Gary
Leupp
The Philosopher Kings: Leo Strauss
and the Neo-Cons
Uri Avnery
The Hannibal Procedure
Diane
Christian
Who's the Real Enemy?
"Just Cause" or "Kill the Bastards"
Alexander
Cockburn
Derrida's Double Life
William
S. Lind
Is Saddam Really Out of the Game?
William
Cook
Road to Nowhere
David Krieger
Bush's War on the Poor: Economic Justice
Ilan
Pappe
Academic Freedom Under Assault in Israel
Wayne Madsen
American Idle
Noah
Leavitt
Slowing Sowing Justice in the Killing Fields
Walt Brasch
Americans are Liars
Lenni
Brenner
John Brown and Dutch Bill
Mickey
Z.
Hope, Crosby & Al Qaeda
Michael
Ortiz Hill
Grievous Harm Here and Abroad
Adam Engel
Towers of Babel
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Guthrie, Alam, Orloski
May
23, 2003
Standard
Schaefer
Lifting the Sanctions: Who Benefits?
Ron
Jacobs
Long Live People's Park!
Michael
Greger, MD
Return of Mad Cow: US Beef Supply
at Risk
Elaine
Cassel
Tigar to Ashcroft: "Secrecy is the Enemy of Democratic Govt."
Sam
Hamod
The Shi'a of Iraq
Christopher
Greeder
After the Layoffs (poem)
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog 5/23
May
22, 2003
Mark
Gaffney
Christian in Name Only
Carl
Estabrook
Republic of Fear
Carl
Camacho, Jr.
Reason for Hope
Ben
Granby
What Rates a Headline from the Middle
East?
Vanessa
Jones
Terror Alerts in Australia
Mickey
Z.
Instant Understanding
Don
Monkerud
Snowballs in a Soggy Economy
Barry Lando
The Nether-Nether World of G.W. Bush
Steve
Perry
Total Information
Awareness: Secret Shadow Program?
May
21, 2003
Dave
Lindorff
Ari Fleischer Quits the Scene: The
Liar's Gone, the Enablers Remain
Chris
Floyd
How Blood Money Becomes Business Opportunity
Dr. Gerry
Lower
Graham's God and Bush's Pathology
Patrick
Cockburn
In Post War Iraq, the Signs of Breakdown
are Everywhere
Brian Cloughley
The Fatuous Braintrust: Newt, Rummy and Wolfowitz
Saul
Landau
Shopping, the End of the World and the Politics of Bush
Larry Kearney
Two Morning Poems, May 2003
Steve
Perry
Chaos in Iraq: Just What the US Wanted?
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Justice Comes to Iraq
May
20, 2003
Tariq
Ali
The Empire Advances
Ahmad
Faruqui
Whither American Nationalism?
Ben Tripp
Dialysis with Osama
Linda
Heard
The Cage of Occupation
Cynthia
McKinney
Toward a Just and Peaceful World
Edward
Said
The Arab Condition
Mokhiber
and Weissman
Why Ari Should Have Resigned in Protest Long Ago
Stew
Albert
Yale Men
Steve Perry
The New Face of Al-Qaeda
May
19, 2003
Veteran
Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
A Letter to Kofi Annan on Powell's Missing
Evidence
CounterPunch
Wire
"Terror" Slut Steve Emerson
Eats Crow
John
Chuckman
Blair's Awkward Lies
Matt
Vidal
Corporate Media and the Myth of the Free Market
Michael
S. Ladah
The Fine Print to Bush's Road Map
Robert
Fisk
Bush's Eternal War Backfires
Elaine
Cassel
Clarence Thomas, Still Whining After All These Years
Jonathan
Freedland
Ann Coulter's Appalling Magic
Steve Perry
Play It Again, O-Sam-a
May
17 / 18, 2003
Uri
Avnery
The Children's Teeth
Peter
Linebaugh
An American Tribute to Christopher
Hill
Gary
Leupp
Nepal Today
Rock and
Rap Confidential
The Republican Plot Against the Dixie Chicks
Walter
Sommerfeld
Plundering Baghdad's Museums
Ron Jacobs
Condy Rice's Yipping Tirades
Thomas
P. Healy
Dubya Does Indy
Tarif Abboushi
Bush, Sharon and the Roadmap
Francis
Boyle
Debating US War Crimes in Iraq
Mark Davis
An Interview with Richard Butler
Richard
Lichtman
American Mourning
Michael
Ortiz Hill
Overcoming Terrorism
Adam
Engel
Uncle Sam is YOU!
Alan Maas
The Best News Show on TV
Poets'
Basement
Reiss, Guthrie, Albert
Elaine
Cassel
Good Enough for an Alien
Website
of the Weekend
The 37 Americans Who Run Iraq
Song of
the Weekend
Talkin' Sounds Just Like Joe McCarthy Blues
May
16, 2003
Leah
Wells
In Iraq Water and Oil Do Mix
Ben Tripp
Fear Itself
Sharon
Smith
The Resegregation of US Schools
Ramzy Baroud
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Hamod
A Nation of Fear
Phil Reeves
Baghdad Pays the Price
Robert
McChesney
The FCC's Big Grab
Mark Engler
Those Who Don't Count
Steve
Perry
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Extras in Bush's Movie
Website
of the Day
Iraq and Our
Energy Future
May
15, 2003
Ayesha
Iman and Sindi Medar-Gould
How
Not to Help Amina Lawal: The Hidden Dangers of Letter
Writing Campaigns
Julie
Hilden
Moussaoui and the Camp X-Ray Detainees:
Can He Get a Fair Trial?
Tanya
Reinhart
Bush's Roadmap: a Ticket to Failure
Laura Carlsen
Here We Go Again: NAFTA Plus or Minus?
Kenneth
Rapoza
The New Fakers: State Dept. Undercuts
New Yorker's Goldberg
Stew Albert
A Story I Will Tell
Steve
Perry
Bush's Little
Nukes
Website
of the Day
Strip-o-Rama
May
14, 2003
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Jason
Leopold
The Pentagon and Hallburton: a Secret
November Deal for Iraq's Oil
David
Lindorff
Fighting the Patriot Act: Now It's
Alaska
John
Chuckman
Giggling into Chaos
Jack
McCarthy
Twin Towers of Journalism: Racism
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Wayne
Madsen
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M.
Junaid Alam
The Longer View
Paul
de Rooij
The New Hydra's Head:
Propagandists and the Selling of the US/Iraq War
James
Reiss
What? Me Worry?
Steve Perry
More on Saudi Arabia Bombings
Website
of the Day
A Tribute to Ted Joans
May
13, 2003
Saul
Landau
Clear Channel Fogs the Airwaves
Michael
Neumann
Has Islam Failed? Not by Western
Standards
Uri
Avnery
My Meeting with Arafat
Steve Perry
The Saudi Arabia Bombing
Jacob
Levich
Democracy Comes to Iraq: Kick Their Ass and Grab Their Gas
William
Lind
The Hippo and the Mongoose: a Question of Military Theory
The
Black Commentator
Fraud at the Times: Blaming Blacks for White Folks' Mistakes
Stew Albert
Asylum
Hammond
Guthrie
An Illogical Reign
Website
of the Day
Sy Hersh: War and Intelligence
May
12, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel, and Baghdad
Dave
Lindorff
America's Dirty Bombs
Sam
Hamod and Elaine Cassel
Resisting the Bush Administration's War on Liberty
Uzi
Benziman
Sharon and Sons, Inc.
Jason
Leopold
The Decline and Fall of Thomas White
Rich Procter
George Jumps the Shark
Federico
Moscogiuri
Going to Israel? Sign or Else
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 5/12
Book
of the Day
Fooling
Marty Peretz
Website
of the Day
T-Shirts to Protest In
Hot Stories
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
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
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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May
29, 2003
Return to Iran?
Popular Uprising,
Inc.
By RON JACOBS
I visited some friends over the Memorial Day weekend
whose television is all too often tuned to FoxNews. As you might
guess, our views on foreign affairs and the economy are not very
similar. Fortunately, we spent most of our time working, drinking
beer and watching the Red Sox play baseball. However, I did sit
through a Memorial Day morning FoxNews narrative that concerned
the increasing verbal attacks by the U.S. regime against the
country of Iran. What began as a hint that Iran might be harboring
Al-Queda terrorists has now become an ever more inclusive accusation
that the country is supporting the activities of this organization.
In addition, according to the Pentagon, the Iranian government
is actively involved in "destabilizing" Iraq. Now,
forgive me if I'm reading the news wrong, but it seems to me
that the U.S. is doing a pretty good job of that all on its own.
As for the supposed Iranian-al-Qaeda connection, it is most likely
that if any members of this group are in Iran, it is without
the knowledge of the Iranian government (unless they are in Iranian
prisons).
What's really at stake in Iran has nothing
to do with al-Qaeda and very little to do with Iraq. However,
it has plenty to do with the Iranian government's independence,
its oil, its geopolitical position, and the fact that the Iranian
revolution of 1979 was the second biggest defeat for the US after
Vietnam. These are pretty high stakes, especially to the armchair
bombardiers currently running the show at the Pentagon. Iran
continues to insist on its independence by going ahead with its
nuclear development. Of course, when any country develops nuclear
capability, it makes the world a more dangerous place. However,
as my FoxNews-viewing friend noted: Iran sees northern Korea
playing the nuclear card and avoiding a US military attack, so
why shouldn't Iran do the same thing? It does seem to change
the rules of Washington's imperial game. Indeed, it even lowers
Mr. Rumsfeld's bombast level-not an easy task for a man who loves
to hear himself talk as much as Rummy does.
Nonetheless, Rumsfeld continues to issue
threats to various Shi'a factions in Iraq whose leaders spent
years of exile in Iran and only returned after Saddam's government
fell. In the mind of Rumsfeld, the very fact that these leaders
spent their exile in Iran is reason enough to conclude that they
are agents of the theocratic government there. In the same manner
that the U.S. government saw all national liberation movements
that included communists and socialists after World War Two as
being agents of the Soviet Union, Washington now sees all Islamic
movements (no matter what their politics) as agents of Iran or
al-Qaeda. It doesn't matter if this is true right now, for as
long as the American population believes it to be true, the empire
builders will act as if it is, eventually creating a situation
where the truth will fit the lie. In other words, all those organizations
in resistance to U.S. domination and working towards some kind
of Islamic representation in countries around the world with
large Islamic populations will be under the wing of the extremists
or only the extremists will remain. One might look at the history
of the Palestinian resistance movement for an example of how
this scenario unfolds.
FoxNews had a member of the National
Council of Resistance of Iran on during their program who spoke
about the nuclear program in Iran. It was apparent from what
he said that he knew no more about the program than what he had
read in U.S. newspapers. In other words, he spoke mostly in generalizations
and suppositions. What was curious about his presence on the
program, however, is that this man represents an organization
that is not known for its fondness of the United States. Indeed,
some of its members are armed guerrillas who are rumored to have
taken money and arms from Saddam Hussein's regime. One wonders
if FoxNews were unaware of this connection or just couldn't find
someone who represented a view more identical to theirs and the
Bush regime. Say, perhaps, the son of the deposed and dishonored
Shah Reza Pahlavi, Reza Pahlavi the next. According to the May
27, 2003 issue of the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper, Washington
has been promoting this fellow despite the fact that he has no
credibility among the overwhelming majority of Iranian "pro-democracy"
groups, much less the rest of the Iranian people.
Like the Bush administration, I would
like to see a popular uprising in Tehran. However, unlike the
Bushites, I would like to see that the resultant government be
one that the Iranian people put in place themselves without any
CIA "help." Although most Americans don't know or remember,
the Iranian revolution that culminated with the Shah's exit in
January 1979 was not just a religious uprising. It was a revolution
that was the result of all sorts of organizations determined
to overthrow the Shah and his puppet masters in D.C. Some were
socialist and communist in nature, some were Islamist progressives,
some were bourgeois democrats, and some were followers of the
Ayatollah Khomeini. Some were students, some were workers, some
were peasants, some were religious and some weren't. Unfortunately,
in the vacuum that followed the Shah's hasty exit, the followers
of the Ayatollah Khomeini were able to consolidate their power
and, in the months that followed, tighten their control on the
reins of power. Since those years, the movement for a non-theocratic
Iran that is not beholden to the United States or any other power
has grown, although it remains for the most part underground
due to the strength of the ruling clerics' security forces.
So, a change in Tehran's government would
be great if the Iranian people bring it about. However, the United
States government and its subsidiaries should have no role in
any such endeavor. Just as in Iraq, Washington has no real interest
in any popular government in Iran unless it is a government that
does Washington's bidding (which would mean it probably wouldn't
be that popular). Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool. After
all, it was Washington that thwarted the first popular uprising
in Iran after World War Two. How? First, by forcing the popularly
elected Mohammed Mossadegh to step down in 1952 because of his
enforcement of the laws nationalizing Iran's oil and, then, when
the Iranian people revolted against Mossadegh's forced resignation
and placed him back in power, by organizing a coup in 1953 that
put the Shah in complete control. The Shah then began his 25-year
reign of terror that saw the Iranian oil industry (and the Pahlavi
family's wealth) expand, the Iranian military and police budget
grow to obscene proportions, and most of the Iranian people's
poverty increase. As for the second popular post WW II uprising
of the Iranian people-it is enough to say that it was against
the Shah. Consequently, Washington had nothing to do with encouraging
it. Indeed, according to then national security adviser Zbigniew
Brzezinski, the Pentagon considered using military force to prevent
it. Since then, Iran has rarely been in Washington's favor, even
when it was trading hostages for weapons in the 1980s.
When the interview with the Iranian exile
ended, the FoxNews guy stated once again as if it were a fact
that Iran was arming and helping al-Qaeda. The next story had
to do with some confused (or worse) mother who had been arrested
for placing her young child in a laundromat washing machine.
Mercifully, it was time for a beer run. That was the best news
of the day so far.
Ron Jacobs
is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground.
He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Today's
Features
May
28, 2003
David
Vest
DubyaCo.: It's Not So Funny Any More
Dave
Lindorff
My Grandfather's Medal
John
Stanton
America's Dying: Arts and Philosophy Hold the Key
Bernard
Weiner
A PNAC Primer
Robert
Jensen
Texas Dems Set a Standard for the Rest of the Party
Ahmad Faruqui
The Oil Business of Regime Change:
the CIA and Iran
Hammond
Guthrie
Disarming Conundrums
Steve Perry
What If There's No Such Thing as Al-Qaeda?
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