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The War So Far: a Failure Worse Than Vietnam by Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad "The need for the White House to produce a fantasy picture of Iraq is because it dare not admit that it has engineered one of the greatest disasters in American history. It is worse than Vietnam because the enemy is punier and the original ambitions greater." Get the answers you're looking for in the subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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Otober 27, 2005 Lila Rajiva Ilan Pappe Stuart Hodkinson Cockburn / St. Clair
October 26, 2005 Kathy Kelly Gary Leupp Mike Marqusee Eric Ruder Patrick Cockburn Joshua Frank J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Website of
the Day
October 25, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn Conn Hallinan Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Jackie Corr Robert Day John Sugg
October 24, 2005 Dave Lindorff Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Bill and Kathleen
Christison
October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Billy Sothern Saul Landau Ralph Nader Behrooz Ghamari Brian Cloughley Diana Barahona Fred Gardner Lee Sustar Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen James Petras Joshua Frank Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Michelle Bollinger Missy Comley
Beattie Kona Lowell Ben Tripp Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff Winslow T. Wheeler Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Madis Senner Michael Donnelly
Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Jeremy Brecher
/ Patrick Cockburn Kevin Zeese Ross Eisenbrey Randy Shields Justine Davidson After Lucas
Cranach Joe Allen
October 19, 2005 Christopher Reed Stephen Soldz Chet Richards Patrick Cockburn Scott Richard
Lyons Ralph Nader Website of
the Day
October 18, 2005 Chet Flippo Ron Jacobs Keeanga-Yamahtta
Taylor Dave Lindorff Virginia Rodino Thomas Healy Ralph Nader Stephen Lendman Patrick Cockburn
October 17, 2005 Peter Linebaugh Norman Solomon Cockburn /
Sengupta Mike Whitney Uri Avnery Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
October 15 / 16, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Neve Gordon Moshe Adler Christopher Brauchli Diane Farsetta Sam Husseini Monica Benderman Mickey Z. Douglas C.
Smyth Lee Sustar Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Joshua Frank David Vest Ben Tripp Poets Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 14, 2005 Farrah Hassen Ron Jacobs Sasha Kramer Katrina Yeaw Nicole Colson Raúl Zibechi Nikolas Kozloff Website of the Day
Jeremy Scahill Jeff Birkenstein Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher Stan Cox Anis Memon Gary Leupp Dave Zirin Matthew Koehler Werther Website of
the Day
Omar Waraich William Cook Phil Gasper Dave Lindorff Matt Vidal John Gautreaux Diana Johnstone Mark Weisbrot Brian J. Foley Website of
the Day
October 11, 2005 Roger Morris
/ Steve Schmidt Lila Rajiva Bill Quigley Paul Craig Roberts Dave Lindorff Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Mitchel Cohen Tariq Ali Website of
the Day
October 10, 2005 Cindy and Craig
Corrie Joshua Frank Gideon Levy Alan Wallis Mickey Z. CounterPunch News Service Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
October 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ralph Nader Jennifer Van Bergen Saul Landau Jeff Halper Lenni Brenner Nikolas Kozloff Brian Cloughley Alice Slater John Gautreaux Fred Gardner Niranjan Ramakrishnan M.G. Piety Tom Gorman Mike Whitney Aseem Shrivastava Ben Tripp Poets' Basement
October 7, 2005 Larry Johnson Will Youmans Dave Lindorff Judith Scherr Russell D. Hoffman Jared Bernstein Jennifer Van
Bergen Website of
the Day
P. Sainath Scott Parkin Paul Craig
Roberts Andréa Schmidt Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank M. Junaid Alam Matthew Koehler Robert Pollin
October 5, 2005 Heather Gray Robert Jensen Ramzy Baroud Col. Dan Smith Dave Zirin Paul Craig Roberts Alan Maass
October 4, 2005 Nikolas Kozloff Mike Roselle Joshua Frank John Chuckman Alan Farago Mickey Z. Christine & Ethan Rose Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 3, 2005 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig
Roberts Joshua Frank Seth Sandronsky Jeffrey St. Clair
October 1 / 2, 2005 Cockburn
/ St. Clair Dave
Marsh Ralph
Nader Flavia
Alaya Uri
Avnery Chris
Kutalik Greg
Moses Brian
J. Foley Nicole
Colson Ray
McGovern Fred
Gardner Justin
Felux Will
Youmans Mike
Ferner David
Krieger Agustin
Velloso Saul
Landau Ben
Tripp Poets
Basement Website
of the Weekend
September 30, 2005 Mary
Geddry Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Gregory
Wilpert Benjamin
Dangl James
McMurtry T.R.
Johnson
September 29, 2005 Sen.
Russ Feingold Carl
G. Estabrook Ramzy
Baroud Dave
Lindorff Mike
Whitney Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski Gary
Handschumacher Winslow
T. Wheeler
September 28, 2005 Dr.
Eyad Serraj William
A. Cook Liaquat
Ali Khan Mike
Whitney Joshua
Frank CounterPunch
Wire Chris
Genovali Linn
Washington, Jr.
September 27, 2005 Forrest
Hylton Jason
Leopold Jennifer
K. Harbury Ray
McGovern Mike
Ferner Antony
Loewenstein Harry
Browne
September 26, 2005 Rafael
Rodriguez Cruz Joshua
Frank Lamis
Andoni Mike
Marqusee Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Ron
Jacobs Norman
Solomon John
Chuckman Paul
Craig Roberts
September 24 / 25, 2005 Kathy
and Bill Christison Ralph
Nader Saul
Landau Greg
Moses Roger
Burbach Vijay
Prashad Laura
Carlsen Robert
Fisk Dave
Lindorff Kirkpatrick
Sale / Thomas Naylor Maj.
Anthony Milavic Brian
Concannon, Jr.
September 23, 2005 CounterPunch
News Service Diane
Farsetta Robert
Sandels Christopher
Brauchli Alan
Farago Dave
Zirin Maxine
Conant David
Price
September 22, 2005 Smith,
Wood, Leas, and Greenfield Patrick
Cockburn Manuel
Garcia, Jr. Lucia
Dailey Mokhiber
/ Weissman Russell
D. Hoffman Kona
Lowell Jason
Leopold Website
of the Day
September 21, 2005 Jorge
Mariscal Linda
S. Heard Joshua
Frank Eric
Ruder Pierre
Tristam Dave
Lindorff Mike
Ferner Missy
Comley Beattie Jeffrey
St. Clair Website
of the Day
September 20, 2005 Steve
Breyman George
Galloway Patrick
Cockburn M.
Shahid Alam Mike
Whitney Winslow
T. Wheeler Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Paul
Craig Roberts
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October 27, 2005 Kerr-McGee National Park?Escape the Weight of Your Corporate LogoBy RON JACOBS So I'm sitting on the couch last Saturday evening watching the World Series game with my friend's eleven year old daughter. My night for childcare, you see. It's a lot different for me this year since the Boston Red Sox are out of the mix after the first three games of what Major League Baseball (MLB for you non-sports fans out there) calls the postseason. My child care charge tells me it's a lot more fun for her to watch games with me when the Red Sox aren't playing. Says I don't get as excited one way or the other when they're not playing. No cussing at the television. She's right. Rationality takes over because I don't care who wins. Anyhow, back to the game. We're listening to the so-called "color" guy repeat everything the play-by-play announcer says and then add his own take on the just completed selection of pitches. Nowadays FOX Sports--the network that carries most of the big professional sporting contests in the US--add these obnoxious animated features to their explanatory narrative. Some yellow baseball with a face that FOX named Scooter explains various pitches to the uninitiated. Of course, every little extra feature like Scooter is sponsored by some damn corporation. So, the "color" guy says something like: "Let's see what the EXXONMobil Scooter has to say about the Ford Motor Company pitch selection to that last batter....." When he's finished, the play-by-play guy says something like this, "Now, we're going to take this game sponsored by the Army of One and Ameriquest Mortgage to a commercial break. Be right back in a Xanax minute. Now, I don't have the exact corporate sponsors there, but you get the point. My eleven year old charge looks at me during the commercial and asks point blank. "Why does everything have to be sponsored by someone? It's like at our school, where they have billboard like advertisements painted on the cafeteria walls." So, I explain to her about how the government used to pay for a lot of things that they don't pay for anymore--like schools. Since the government doesn't pay for these things, the schools have to go find funding somewhere else. Which means they go to big companies and corporations that never give away anything for nothing. Since they never give away something for nothing, the schools offer to provide advertising. As for the big time sports, well, the reason they have corporate sponsors for so much is because the owners are just plain greedy. I then proceeded to tell her a little story about the public schools in Burlington, Vermont where we used to live. Since it was about Burlington she listened for a little while, 'cause she misses her friends from up there. What happened was that the schools did not have enough money in their budgets to buy new books every year, especially for the various school's media centers (that school libraries for you old timers) so they asked for corporate donations. The corporation that stepped up was one known for all of the good its done for humanity--General Dynamics, war merchant extraordinaire. Now, I've written about this corporation before. It makes nothing that has any redeeming social value. All it makes is weapons and systems to deliver them. One of its plants is located in Burlington, Vermont. This plant has been the target of antiwar and anticapitalist protests over the years, but it remains a (now downsized) stalwart of the city's economy. Progressives in office have never openly challenged it and neither have Democrats or Republicans. Anyhow, back to the story.. General Dynamics donated some money to the book purchasing cause, but with one stipulation. The books had to have a sticker placed in an obvious place that said something to the effect that the book was generously donated to the school by General Dynamics. You know, just to make kids comfortable with the brand name. Kind of like German kids during Hitler's reign getting comfortable with the Krupp and IG Farben brands. I could see that I was starting to bore my young friend, so I jumped to the conclusion of the tale. Some parents didn't like this attempt by General Dynamics to legitimize their war profiteering and challenged the process in community and school PTA meetings. Indeed, it was the daughter of one of these parents who brought up the issue in her classroom right before some General Dynamics employees came to read to the students. Why, wondered this eight year old, are we making heroes of people who make bombs? The teacher's response was to make the child sit alone in the classroom while the other children attended the reading session. Apparently, the teacher was afraid that the girl might ask the General Dynamics employees an "embarrassing" question. Seems to me like they need to have those kind of questions asked more often. Eventually the issue went to the school board, where a debate raged. General Dynamics played usual corporate tricks, even having the mother of an elementary school student advocate for the stickers. Turns out she is the chairwoman of the Burlington Republican Committee--one of the few groups in Burlington that supports the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't know how the issue was resolved up in Burlington, since it was still being debated when I moved out of the area. I do know that most of the folks who work at the plant, just like other war industry employees throughout the world, are good people and probably truly enjoyed the chance to go into the city schools and read to kids. I also believe that most of the Germans who worked for the Nazi war machine were good people. Somewhere, somehow, though, we must take responsibility for the work we perform and the consequences of that work. It's like that old poster said: What if they gave a war and nobody came? Anyhow, back to that corporate naming business. I was with my young charge again on Monday and we were listening to some commentary on the radio about an effort to get corporate sponsorship for the national parks. Seems like the federal government doesn't have enough money to pay for them anymore. So, the next time I head up to the Great Smokies I might be entering Kerr-McGee National Park. My young friend listened to the story on the radio and then we began playing with the idea--matching corporations with various national parks that we could remember. Then she stopped. "This isn't funny, Ron. In fact, it sucks." I agreed. "You know what?" she queried. "They should stop using tax money for their wars and make the companies that make money from them pay for them. Then they could use the taxes for schools and parks and helping people." I beamed a bit. My words were being heard by this youngster. Imagine. Halliburton and ExxonMobil and General Dynamics and all the rest of those war profiteers paying for their own wars. Who knows, maybe they would stop lobbying for the damn things if they were paying for them instead of making money off 'em.
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair                      |
