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Today's
Stories
April 9, 2009
Mike Whitney
The Decade of Darkness
Patrick Cockburn
What It Would Take to Mend Fences with Islam
Stephen Soldz
Diagnostic Abuse of Veterans
P. Sainath
The Rise of the Shoe-cide Bomber
Gareth Porter /
Jim Lobe
Obama and Israel's Threat to Strike Iran
Jerry Kroth
Saving GM From Bankruptcy--With the Stroke of a Pen
April 8, 2009
John Prados
The Af-Pak Paradox
Bill Moyers /
Michael Winship
Changing the Rules of the Blame Game
Winslow T. Wheeler
The Tooth Fairy and the Defense Budget
Russell Mokhiber
PBS Lashes Back
Kathy Sanborn
Depression Fury
Rev. William E. Alberts
If the Shoe Fits: Bush and Al-Zaidi
James McEnteer Rashomon and the Binghamton Shooter: the Rush to Interpret Jiverly Wong's "Statement"
Nadia Hijab
Olmert's Nightmare
Adam Turl
Card Check on the Ropes
Kevin Zeese
Escaping the Drug War Quagmire
Website of the Day
Walk Score Your Neighborhood
April 7, 2009
David Price
Counterinsurgency's Free Ride
Uri Avnery
Who's the Boss?
Chris Floyd
Talking Peace in Prague, Dropping Bombs in Pakistan
Winslow T. Wheeler Defense Cuts: Gates and the System
Marjorie Cohn
Prosecuting the Bush Torture Team:
Spain Leads the Way
Dean Baker
Hands Off Social Security
Diana Johnstone
NATO, Strasbourg and the Black Block
Dave Lindorff
Politicizing Accounting
Martha Rosenberg
Life on HBO's Factory Hog Farm
Evelyn Pringle
Motherhood and the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Complex
Website of the Day
Gaza: Closed Zone
April 6, 2009
Michael Hudson
The IMF Rules the World
Andy Worthington Bagram: Guantánamo's Dark Mirror
Ray McGovern
Profiles in Cowardice: Eric Holder and Colin Powell
Deepak Tripathi
The Pakistan Enigma
Mike Whitney
Bernanke's Financial Rescue Plan: a Glide-Path to Destitution
Norman Solomon
Meet the New Escalators: the Democrats and the Afghan War
Jonathan Cook
Israel Railways Accused of Racism in Firing of Arab Workers
Judith Bello
Justice for the Developmentally Disabled
Deena Metzger Blackwater in Liberia
Dr. M. Kamiar
"There's No 'Eye' in Iran:"
Obama's Pronunciation Problem
Website of the Day
Prison Talk
April 3-5, 2009
Alexander Cockburn
From Twin Towers to Twin Camelots
Kathy Kelly /
Brian Terrall
Getting a Closer Look at the Killer Drones
Sue Sturgis
Fooling with Disaster? Startling Revelations About Three Mile Island Raise New Doubts Over Nuclear Plant Safety
Peter Morici
Girding for a Depression
Kathy Sanborn
Homeless in Tent City, USA
Andy Worthington
Britain's Guantánamo: Fact or Fiction?
Rob Larson
Subprime Supreme Court: The Roberts Court Has Become a Powerful New Tool for Business
Saul Landau
Biden and Nixon: a Tale of Two Latin American Experiences
Steve Early
An Evening with Andy Stern
John Goekler
Was Gaza Israel's Waterloo?
Rannie Amiri
Arab League Reconciliation Summit a Bust
Dave Lindorff
Hooray for Juries! A Courtroom Victory for Ward Churchill and Academic Free Speech
Lee Ballinger
Sound Garden: Tom Morello at the Grammy Museum
Ron Jacobs
Artifacts for Survival
David Macaray
AIG Plays the Sympathy Card
John Wight
G20: Capital's New World Symphony
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Race in the Obama Era
Mychal Bell
Surviving Jena Six
Missy Beattie
Hoop Hopes, War and Peace
Reza Fiyouzat
The Iran/US Rapproachment Dance
Michael Boldin
The War on Drugs is a War on You
Christopher Brauchli
The Pope's Batting 50-50
Charles R. Larson
Too Much Stuff
Susie Day
Bernie Breakout Shocker!!
Stephen Martin
Gordon Brown's Chicken Run at the G20
Kim Nicolini
"Last House on the Left:" Vigilantes of the Bourgeoisie
David Yearsley
Homage to Moog and Mallards
Phyllis Pollack
An Interview with Legendary Rock Producer Chris Kimsey on Working with the Stones, Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh and Saint Jude
Poets' Basement
Foley, Valentine and Kozak
Website of the Day
The Corner Store
April 2, 2009
Robert Weissman
What If Obama Had Treated Detroit Like Wall Street?
Eric Toussaint /
Damien Millet
A G20 Meeting for Naught
George Bisharat
Israel's Impunity Must End
Russell Mokhiber
Something is Rotten at PBS
Franklin Lamb
Has Washington Lost Lebanon?
Gareth Porter
Settling Scores in Iraq: Maliki Draws US Troops into Crackdown on Sunni Rivals
David Macaray
Obama and the Ruling Class: "Only the Little People Pay Taxes"
Chris Genovali
B.C.'s Bloody Grizzly Hunt
Sam Smith
The Politics of Adulation
Suzan Mazur
Is Neo-Darwinism Dead?
Website of the Day
Fighting for Change in St. Louis
April 1, 2009
Chris Floyd
Surging Further Into the Afghan Abyss
Stanley Heller
Israeli War Crimes:
Thank God, It Was Only Rumors
Mark Brenner, Mischa Gaus and Jane Slaughter Obama's Perilous Plan for Detroit: Restructure the Big 3, But Not With Bankruptcy
Jonathan Cook
The Slow Demise of Ehud Olmert
Eric Walberg
EU in Tatters: Only the Protesters Have Any Vision
Richard Morse
Why Haiti Can't Forget Its Past
Don Fitz
Guess Who Came to Dinner with a Match? Green Mayoral Candidate's Van Firebombed in St. Louis
Laray Polk
Texas and Evolution
Belén Fernández
12 Años de Soledad?
Harvey Wasserman
Cracking the Media Silence on Three Mile Island
Website of the Day
Pentagon Fraud Investigations Fell, While Contracts Soared
March 31, 2009
Uri Avnery
The Deception Tango
Peter Lee
Ghosts in the Machine: the World's Hottest Cyberwar Battlefield
Nicholas Dearden
A New Global Debt Crisis
Dave Lindorff
The Obama Betrayal
Joanne Mariner
"We'll Make You See Death"
Ron Jacobs
Obama's Pakistan Gambit
Wiliam S. Lind
Another Lost War
David Michael Green
Who Says the GOP Doesn't Have a Plan?
Benjamin Dangl
Beyond Elections in the Americas
Johnny Barber
Meditation in Orange
Dedrick Muhammad
Economic Inequality: the Foundation of the Racial Divide
Website of the Day
How the Obama Dems Took Over the Peace Movement
March 30, 2009
Michael Hudson
Financing the Empire: Do US Face G20 Mutiny?
Patrick Cockburn
What Next in Afghanistan?
Henry A. Giroux
Hard Lessons
Mike Whitney
Where's Eliot Spitzer Now That We Need Him?
Ralph Nader
Where's All the Money Coming From?
Paul Craig Roberts
Obama's War on the (Upper) Middle Class
Jeremy Scahill
The Logistical Nightmare in Iraq
Robert Bryce
The Cellulosic Ethanol Delusion
Jonathan Cook
Remembering Land Day in Palestine
Ray McGovern
Obama Bombs
Website of the Day
Hersh: Syria Calling
March 27-29, 2009
Alexander Cockburn
Obama's Fall Guy
Arno J. Mayer
Too Big to Fail?
Michael Hudson
How the Scam Works
José Pertierra
Gesture for Gesture: How to Free the Cuban Five
Andy Worthington
A Letter to Obama From a Guantánamo Uighur
Mike Whitney
Geithner's Hog Wallow
Winslow T. Wheeler
What Does an F-22 Cost?
Souad N. Al-Azzawi
Iraq: Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves
Dave Lindorff
A Financial History Lesson
Ian Masters
The Zombie Presidency
Barbara Rose Johnston
Water Culture Wars
Jami Tarn
Smearing Tristan Anderson
Diane Farsetta
The Nuclear Industry Targets Wisconsin
David Ker Thomson Against Democracy
Ramzy Baroud
Netanyahu and the Future of the Peace Process
Rannie Amiri
Saudi Shiites' One-Word Demand
Wajahat Ali
Writer as Fighter: the Genius of Ishmael Reed
Nick Egnatz
Whatever Happened to the Fierce Urgency of Now?
Gregory A. Burris
The Insolents Abroad: a Defense of Iceland
Missy Beattie
This Land
Stephen Martin
The Broken Stone of Corporatism
Charles R. Larson
Obama, Smoking and Me
David Yearsley
How They Built Bach's Face (Is the Bard Next?)
Ben Sonnenberg
Won't You Please Get Thee Behind Me? Buñuel's Simon of the Desert
Kim Nicolini
The Mafia Without Moralizing: Garrone's Gomorrah
Lorenzo Wolff
Pat Boone Syndrome
Poets' Basement
Four Poems by Paulann Petersen
Website of the Weekend
Ann Coulter: a Portrait by Ben Tripp
March 26, 2009
Paul Craig Roberts
Is the Bail Out Breeding a Bigger Crisis?
Sharon Smith
Another Blow to Labor ... from the Democrats
Neve Gordon
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Shame
Patrick Madden
Why the Geithner Plan Will Fail
Gareth Porter
The Big Con on Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Why Do We Need a Health Insurance Industry?
Hannah Safran
The Israeli Resistance: "Ready to be Traitors"
Keith Newell
Will the Cellphone Please Take the Stand?
Todd Chretien
Behind the Green Collar
Nelson P. Valdés
When It Comes to Cuba and the Media Anything Goes
Website of the Day
G20 Meltdown
March 25, 2009
Robin Blackburn
Media Revolution or Mirage?
Conn Hallinan
Europe in Crisis
David Rosen
Sexting: a First Amendment Challenge for Obama
Jonathan Cook
Turkey's Fallout with Israel Deals Blow to Settlers
Dean Baker
Billions More for Failed Banks
Ron Jacobs
Karzai on a String
Russell Mokhiber
Corporate Liberals vs. Single-Payer
David Macaray
Slice and Dice on Card Check
Dave Lindorff
Geithner's Power Grab
Sarah Knopp
LA Teacher's Sit-In Over Layoffs
Website of the Day
How to Create an Animal Rights "Terrorist"
March 24, 2009
Robert Sandels
Obama and Cuba: Real Change or Minor Tweaks?
Harvey Wasserman
People Died at Three Mile Island
Franklin Lamb
Who Tried to Kill Palestinian Ambassador Abass Zaki and Why?
Michael Donnelly
Obama's Team of Losers
Norman Solomon
Denial and Evasion on Afghanistan
Elizabeth Schulte
The Stark Facts About Violence Against Women
John Goekler
The Most Dangerous Person in the World?
Nicole Colson
Is Justice Finally in Sight for Sami Al-Arian?
Global Balkans
NATO's 78-Day Bombing of Yugoslavia: Ten Years On
William S. Lind
Cat-and-Mouse Off Hainan Island
Website of the Day
Video: IDF Fired on Medics in Gaza
March 23, 2009
M. Shahid Alam
Capitalism From the Standpoint of Its Victims
Uri Avnery
Israel's Most Revolting Law?
Mike Whitney
Zombie Economics: Judgment Day for Geithner
Ralph Nader
Bush the Teacher
Brian Cloughley
Tilting at Afghan Windmills
Dave Lindorff
Toxic Bailouts
Amira Hass
The Rules of Engagement in Gaza: Open Fire on Rescuers
Chris Irwin
When Nonprofit Groups Go Bad
Binoy Kampmark
The Celebrity of Celebrity
Michael Dickinson
Tollbridge Over Troubled Waters
Website of the Day
State of the Birds
March 20-22, 2009
Alexander Cockburn
On the Edge of the Volcano
Paul Craig Roberts
When Things Fall Apart
P. Sainath
Slumdogs vs. Billionaires
Robert Weissman
Lessons From AIG
Saul Landau
Sliding Down in Anger: If We Bail Out the Banks, Why Shouldn't We Own Them?
David Michael Green
Obama and the Altar of Greed
Greg Moses
Winter Soldiers Come to Texas
Ron Jacobs
Pakistan in Turmoil: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Michael D. Yates
A Nation of Immigrants
John V. Whitbeck
Happy New Year, Iran!
Andy Worthington
The Case of Ahmed Zuhair
Linn Washington Jr.
Supreme Test: the Latest Twist in the Mumia Case
David Ker Thomson
Actions: Things to Do Instead of Hailing the Chief
Laurent Jacque
Is the Euro Doomed?
Rannie Amiri
The Middle East's Jittery Monarchies
Reiko Redmonde /
Larry Everest
The Cold-Blooded Murder of Oscar Grant
David Macaray
The Myth of the Powerful Teachers' Union
Kenneth Couesbouc
Where has the Consumption Gone?
Martha Rosenberg
Meltdown in the Drug Industry
Alan Farago
The Recession, the Developers and Baseball
Missy Beattie
Still Waiting for Change
Richard Rhames
Invisible But Not Completely Insolvent
Stephen Martin
Barack and the Jets
Charles R. Larson
Impeach Obama!
David Yearsley
On Bach's Birthday
Lorenzo Wolff
Manic Levity
Poets' Basement
Three Poems by Gary Corseri
Website of the Weekend
Teachers for CEO Merit Pay!
March 19, 2009
Dave Marsh
Sir Bono: the Knight Who Fled From His Own Debate
Paul Craig Roberts
Was the Bailout Itself a Scam?
Mike Whitney
Why Business is Hysterical About Card Check (And Why America Needs It)
Sam Smith
The Economy in Two Eras of Democrats
Harvey Wasserman
The Crash of France's Nuclear Poster Child
Binoy Kampmark
Back Into NATO: the End of French Exceptionalism
Kathy Sanborn
Broken Culture: the Desecration of Iraq's Art Treasures
Christopher Brauchli
Taxing Problems
George Wuerthner
Permanent Damage From Temporary Logging Roads
Diann Rust-Tierney
New Mexico Abolishes the Death Penalty
Website of the Day
Bailout Plan: "Cross Your Fingers and Hope"
March 18, 2009
Michael Hudson
The Real AIG Conspiracy
Paul Craig Roberts
Israel's American Chattel
Nelson P. Valdés
Why Obama's New Cuba Rules Violate the Constitution
Jonathan Cook
Bedouin Villages Left in the Dark Ages
John Ross
The Death of the American Newspaper
Yifat Susskind
Where Are We Leaving Iraqi Women?
Dave Lindorff
Who's Calling the Shots Now?
Frances Moore Lappé
The City That Ended Hunger
Richard Grossman
Beware the Madoff Diversion!
Rev. William E. Alberts
On Being Whole Not Holy
Website of the Day
Three Weeks in Cuba: a Painter's Perspective
March 17, 2009
Michael Hudson
Mr. Bernanke Spreads the Fire
James G. Abourezk
Show Business:
AIG and the Posturing Democrats
Harry Browne
Ireland's Blast From the Past
Joanne Mariner
U.S. Human Rights Abuses in the War on Terror
Alan Farago
The National Ponzi Scheme
Dean Baker
Getting Lehman Bros. Wrong ... Again
Peter Morici
Cuts for Autoworkers, Bonuses for Derivatives Traders
Bill and Kathleen Christison
Obama and the Empire
Richard Gott
Victory for the Left in El Salvador
Walter Brasch
Dog Mutilations vs. Cosmetics
Website of the Day
Single-Payer Action
March 16, 2009
Pam Martens
Has a Comedian Just Saved America?
Uri Avnery
The Rape of Washington
Mike Whitney
Bernanke's Witness Protection Program
Ralph Nader
Americans Want Justice for Wall Street Crooks
Nikolas Kozloff
Down But Not Out: the Latin American Right
John Walsh
Redbaiting on the Left
Ron Jacobs
A Call for Common Sense
Binoy Kampmark
The Case of Tim K
Stephen Fleischman
Coxey's Army Will March Again!
Christian Christensen
A 25-Year Misunderstanding: Springsteen's "Born in the USA"
Scott Handleman
Shooting Tristan Anderson
Website of the Day
Clean, Green, Sustainable
March 13 / 15, 2009
Alexander Cockburn
The Parable of the Shopping Mall
Peter Lee
What the Chas Freeman Fight Was Really About
Diana Johnstone
NATO's Global Mission Creep
David Harvey
Is This Really the End of Neoliberalism?
Petrino DiLeo
Inside Obama's Housing Plan: Will Millions be Left Out in the Cold
David Ker Thomson
Tender to the Earth
Eric Ruder
Massacre in Slow Motion: an Interview with Haider Eid on Gaza
Fred Gardner
Cannabidiol Now!
David Yearsley
Music Torture
Saul Landau
How Israel Gives Jews a Bad Name
Laura Carlsen
Drug War Doublespeak
Robert Weissman
We Told You So
John Goekler /
Merle Lefkoff
The Struggle in Saffron
Tom Barry
Imprisoning Immigrants for Profit
Kathy Sanborn
Money Out of Thin Air
Chris Mobley / Leela Yellesetty
Criminalizing Poverty:
the Jail Seattle Doesn't Need
David Michael Green
The Perils of Being Right and Wrong
Alan Maass /
Lee Sustar
A Socialist Moment?
Christopher Brauchli
Pity, the Poor Tax Collectors
Richard Morse
Clinton in Haiti
Lorenzo Wolff
Taking It From the Streets: From Springsteen to the Wu-Tang Clan
Poets' Basement
Springate and Johnston
Website of the Weekend
Hear the Buffalo
March 12 , 2009
Sharon Smith
Bottom Feeders at the Trough
Christopher Ketcham
Full Spectrum Penetration: Israeli Spying in the United States
Mike Whitney
Haircut Time for Bondholders
Ray McGovern
Obama Caves to the Lobby
Eric Toussaint /
Damien Millet
The Doublespeak of a Discredited IMF
John Ross
The War is Not Over
M. Reza Pirbhai
Men in Black: Another View of Pakistan
Chris Floyd
Lost Liberty Blues: Prisons, Profits and the Banality of Evil
Steve Early
Why Labor Doesn't Need a "House of Lords"
Quentin Gee
Hiding the Costs of Coal
Website of the Day
Amadee Coral Reef: a Spherical Panorama
March 11 , 2009
Mike Roselle
From Birmingham to Coal River: Why is the Environmental Movement So Timid?
Paul Craig Roberts
The Criminal Injustice System
Henry A. Giroux
Academic Labor in Dark Times
Nikolas Kozloff
The Death Cries of the Salvadoran Right
Norm Kent
I am Patient Number 380206011
Mitu Sengupta
Reforming the World Bank: Different Image, Same Tune?
Ludwig Watzal
The Structure of Israel's Occupation
David Macaray
The Battle Over EFCA Has Begun
William S. Lind
Rounding Up the Usual Suspects
Martha Rosenberg
A Merger From the Folks Who Brought You Vytorin
Website of the Day
American Indicator: One in Fifty Kids are Homeless
March 10 , 2009
Franklin Spinney
What Israeli Peace Process?
Vijay Prashad
What Did Hillary Clinton Do?
Stan Cox
There's No Free Lunch on Your Browser: the Internet's Energy Drain
Zoltan Grossman
Coffee Strong: Listening to the G.I. Voice at Fort Lewis
Reuven Kaminer
Pure and Unadulterated Racism
Jonathan Cook
Memoricide in the West Bank
Dave Lindorff
Business Rules
Brian McKenna
How Anthropology Disparages Journalism
Harvey Wasserman
Is This the End of the Age of the Automobile?
Corey Pein
He Told You So
Website of the Day
AIG and Systemic Failure: $1.6 Trillion in Insured Deriviatives
March 9 , 2009
Pam Martens
Madoff and the Sorkin Affair
Ralph Nader
Too Big...Period
Peter Lee
Meet Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: the US's Worst/Best Hope for Afghanistan?
Mike Whitney
Geithner's Charade
Peter Morici
Fixing the Banks: Treasury's Doomed Strategy
Dean Baker
Why Do We Need a Private Health Insurance Industry, Anyway?
Steve Ault
Kiss Thailand's Tolerance for Gays Goodbye
Stephen Lendman
Guantánamo Under Obama
Farooq Sulehria
Tennis Without Spectators
Belén Fernández
Chávez, a Cockfight and the Caracazo
Website of the Day
How Lincoln Learned to Read
March 6-8 , 2009
Alexander Cockburn
Harlots High and Low
Chris Floyd
Tangled Up in Karl
Uri Avnery
Remember Ophira?
Dave Lindorff
Kiss the Banks Goodbye
Mark Weisbrot
The Crisis vs. the Dogma
David Ker Thomson
Against Work
Phil Aliff
Soldier Suicides
Rebekah Ward
Georgia Injustice: Another Young Life Wrecked
Tracey Briggs
How Capitalism Feels in the Head
Dean Baker
Depression Nostalgia?
Daniel P. Wirt, M.D.
Remove the Handle From the Health Insurance Misery and Death Pump
Carl Finamore
The Recovery Plan: Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us
Wajahat Ali
The Pakistani Monster
David Michael Green
Smart is the New Stupid
David Macaray
The Minimum Wage Revisited
Michael Dickinson
On Financial Fools Day
Susie Day
Line in the Sand
Bob Sommer
Echoes of the Townhouse Explosion
Ben Sonnenberg
No Forgiveness for the Bourgeoisie: Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel"
David Yearsley
Sonic Fakery in "Slumdog" From the Mozart of Chennai
DC Larson
They're Writing Those Depression Songs, Again
Lorenzo Wolff
Live Truth: Music Sans Headphones
Poets' Basement
Dominquez, MacNeil and Buknatski
Website of the Weekend
The Environment & Obama: a Conversation with Jeffrey St. Clair
March 5 , 2009
James G. Abourezk
This Time It's Mrs. Clinton's Turn
Kathleen and Bill Christison
U.S. Military Aid to Israel
Robert Weissman
Wall Street's Best Investment: Paying for Public Policy
Patrick Cockburn
My Day at the Terror "Charity"
William Blum
Being Serious About Torture...Or Not
Robert Fantina
From Iraq to Afghanistan: Augmentation All Over Again
Saul Landau
The Unseen Crisis
Benjamin Dangl
Striking a Blow Against the Beer Cartel: a Grassroots Victory in Utah
Christopher Brauchli
The New Leaders of the GOP
Website of the Day
The Angola 3: 36 Years of Solitude
March 4, 2009
Marjorie Cohn
Blueprints for a Police State
Mike Whitney
Blowing Up the Economy: How Securitization Lit the Fuse
Ron Jacobs
The Banality of Occupation: the Rand Papers
Ashley Smith
War by Another Name
Joanne Mariner
Obama's War on Terror
Dan Bacher
The California Water Wars: Why It's Not a Conflict Between Fish and People
Mark Engler
Will the Winds of Change Reach El Salvador?
Franklin Lamb
"What's Hezbollah Done for Us Lately?"
Cal Winslow
Slugging It Out in California
David Mandelzys
Apartheid Week
Website of the Day
Guantánamo: the Definitive Prisoner List
March 3, 2009
Conn Hallinan
Ethnic Cleansing and Israel
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
The Long, Dark Night of Pakistan
Brian M. Downing
The Changing Game in Afghanistan
Robert Larson
External Damnation: Companies are Designed for Destruction
Daniel P. Wirt, MD
Single-Payer Health Reform
Russell Mokhiber
Burn Your Health Insurance Bill!
William Loren Katz
Obama, One Ape and Two Newspapers
Kathy Sanborn
The Lazy Man's Guide to the Economic Crisis
Pauline Imbach
A New Start for the World Social Forum?
Christopher Ketcham
The Best Journalism You'll Write is Priceless
Website of the Day
The Surveillance Self-Defense Project
March 2, 2009
Andrea Peacock
A Poisoned Town's Shot at Justice
Paul Craig Roberts
Obama's Budget
Peter Lee
Pakistan Lurches Toward the Abyss
John Blair
Locking Down Big Coal
Peter Morici
Treasury's Flawed Plan for Citigroup
Uri Avnery
10 Ways to Kill Fatah
Michael Donnelly
Resistance to the War on the Wild
Fred Gardner
The Judge Who Ruled Marijuana is Medicine
Sonia Nettnin
Middle East Medical Mission Heroes
Andrew Lehman
A New Deal for the Web
Website of the Day
Pentagon Papers II?
Eric Holder and the Whitewashing of Racism
Tom Barry
Napolitano's Hard Line
Harvey Wasserman
Obama's Excellent Atomic Omission
Adam Turl
The Enemies of Unions and the Lies They Tell
David Macaray
When People are Fired Illegally
James McEnteer
Rush to the Rescue: Limbaugh's Secret Plan to Save the Economy
Website of the Day
The Carbon Casino
|
April 9, 2009
The Conviction of Fujimori
A Measure of Justice in Latin America
By BINOY KAMPMARK
“With this ruling, and its exemplary performance during the trial, the Peruvian court has shown the world that even former heads of state cannot expect to get away with serious crimes.”
Maria McFarland, Human Rights Watch, April 8, 2009.
In a region of the world where state brutality has been the depressing norm, the conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on grave human rights charges seems something akin to a miracle. Usually, cases of brutality have been papered over by the granting of amnesties, ostensibly to allow countries to reconcile contesting and bitter factions. This decision challenges that approach, setting a chilling precedent to leaders who might argue that such an outcome is best reserved for dictators and despots. Fujimori was, after all, democratically elected.
The Peruvian leader, elected in 1990, had promoted himself as strongman and protector of the state during that turbulent decade, overwhelming the insurgent challenge posed by the guerillas of the Maoist Shining Path. But that came with its share of blood and carnage. Faced with a mountain of corruption charges, he submitted his resignation, somewhat unusually, by fax, promptly fleeing to the country of his parent’s birth, Japan, in 2000. Feeling the wanderlust of a political return, he traveled to Chile, only to find himself facing an extradition order in 2007.
The three judges who tried Fujimori found him guilty of an assortment of “crimes against humanity” after a fifteen-month trial, imposing a 25-year prison sentence. Amongst the charges were military operations that left 15 people dead on November 3, 1991, including the death of an eight-year old boy in the Barrios Altos neighbourhood in Lima; the kidnapping, disappearance and murder of a group of students along with a professor from La Cantuta University on July 18, 1992; and the murder of 25 others. These had been perpetrated by a military death squad belonging to the Army Intelligence Service headed by Fujimori’s close advisor, Vladimiro Montesinos.
Fujimori has had little interest in the charges, or for the process that brought him there in the first place. And little wonder. Students of the region will remember his efforts to immunize the police and armed forces from charges of human rights violations with a blanket amnesty in 1995. His amnesty laws were subsequently struck down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which found them obnoxious to notions of justice.
From Fujimori’s perspective, evidence linking him to the events in question is lacking. The links simply did not exist. “As I said in the beginning,” he had told the court, “I’m innocent.” The murders and kidnappings were simply the enterprising moves of free spirited anti-communist operatives connected with the security forces, known as the Grupo Colina or Colina Group.
This, it would seem, was far from the case. Reports have circulated since 2005, most notably a Human Rights Watch document, Probable Cause: Evidence Implicating Fujimori, showing strong links between Fujimori and the brutalities of the Colina group. Abundant testimony and documentation suggests that the group figured prominently in military operations. The army and National Intelligence Service, both under Fujimori’s control, supplied them with plentiful resources and logistical support. Even the US Embassy in Lima had to concede that the Fujimori regime had been engaged in a “covert strategy to aggressively fight against subversion through terror operations, disregarding human rights and legal norms.”
Whatever the international repercussions of the decision, its effectiveness will have to be gauged within Peruvian circles. Hugo Relva, legal advisor for Amnesty International, lauded it as a blow to those who still believed in impunity. Efrain Gonzales, vice rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima, suggested the healing propensities of the verdict. In this sense, the argument is very conventional: punishment through regular tribunals in a manner just for both the person charged and the society he is said to have harmed. In Gonzales’s words, quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, “It’s an acceptance that we had a problem. He is guilty… The nation can move forward from here.”
A considerable minority of Peruvians who continue supporting the convicted leader may not be convinced. The matter has become something of a family affair, with Fujimori’s daughter, Keiko, describing the verdict as one filled with “hate and vengeance.” The precedent against impunity in Latin America has, however, been set, whatever the aspirations of the Fujimorists and their supporters.
Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com |
