Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
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Today's
Stories
May
6, 2004
Werther
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: War as Vegas
Casino Game
Robert
Fisk
"Smoke Him": Video Shows Wounded
Men Being Shot by US Helicopter
Alan
Farago
Dead Oceans: So Long, Thanks for the Fish
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
April
28, 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
Meet Congressman Know-Nothing:
Tom Tancredo
Wendy
Brinker
The Politics of the Numb
Faisal
Kutty
The Dirty Work of Canadian Intelligence
John
Chuckman
Seeking the Evil One
Mike
Whitney
Flag-Draped Coffins and the Seattle Times
Tom
Mountain
Rwanda and the F***** Word
Graeme
Greenback
The Iraqi Alamo: a CNN/CIA Production
Tracy
McLellan
The War Comes Home
M.
Junaid Alam
We are the Barbarians
William
Loren Katz
Iraq, the US and an Old Lesson
April 27, 2004
James
Davis
The Colombia 3 Acquitted
Dave
Lindorff
Chalabi as Prosecutor
Bruce
Schneier
Terrorist Threats and Political
Gain
Cockburn
/ Sengupta
British Generals Resist Calls for
More Troops to Aid Americans in Iraq
Walt
Brasch
Presidential Letters: The Day I
Was Asked to Feed an Elephant
Saul
Landau
The Empire in Denial and the Denial
of Empire
April 26, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Crossing the Shia Line: US Troops
Prepare to Enter Najaf
Wayne
Madsen
Trading Places: Will the US Go the Way of the USSR?
Grover
Furr
Protest, Rebellion, Commitment
Elaine
Cassel
Lies About the Patriot Act
Mickey
Z.
Inspired by Pat Tillman?
Greg
Moses
Bremer's De-De-Ba'athjfication Gambit
Gila
Svirsky
Anarchy in Our Souls
Uri
Avnery
Vanunu and the Terrible Secret
April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
April 23, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
The Only Solution is Immediate Withdrawal
Dave
Lindorff
Imagination Deficit Disorder
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Contractors and Mercenaries: the Rising Corporate Military Monster
Norman
Solomon
Country Joe Band, 2004: "What Are We Fighting For?"
Cynthia
McKinney
All Things Are Not Equal: the Perils of Globalization
CounterPunch
Wire
A Bitch Called Wanda
Karyn
Strickler
Sierra Club, Inc.
Hammond
Guthrie
Yellow Caked in the Face
Paul
de Rooij
Graveyard of Justifications: Glossary
of the Iraqi Occupation
April 22, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
When Terror Came to Basra: "I
Saw a Minibus of Children on Fire"
Tanya
Reinhart
The Wall Behind Disengagement
Lance
Selfa
Why is Kucinich Still in the Race?
Josh
Frank
Street Fighting Man? Kucinich's Pulled Punches
Sen.
Robert Byrd
Bush Owes America Answers on Iraq
William
S. Lind
Why We Get It Wrong
Mickey
Z.
Undoing the Latches
Robert
Jensen
Why They Fast: Remembering the Victims of the World Bank
John
L. Hess
The New York Times from 30,000 Feet
April
21, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Yeats on Iraq
Alfredo
Castro
Colombia's Forgotten Prisoners
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's Taliban Drug Deal
William
A. Cook
George 1 to George 2
Jack
Random
Iraq and Vietnam
Jean-Guy
Allard
Alarcon Meets the Editors
Mike
Whitney
Charade in the Desert
Bill
Christison
Only Major Policies Changes Can
Help Washington Now
April 20, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Bush and Kerry Share a Problem
Stan
Cox
Wal-Mart's Magic Numbers
Bruce
Anderson
On Listening to Air America
Joseph
Kalvoda
Czech Mate for Condi
Greg
Moses
Yesterday's Intelligence
Stan
Goff
The Democrats and Iraq
Website
of the Day
Santorum Happens
April 19, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The "Central Hand" of the
Resistance
Mike
Whitney
Bob Woodward's Imperial Trifles
Douglas
Valentine
52 Pick-Up and the 100-to-1
Rule
John
Chuckman
The Sharon Annex: Evil Does Often
Triumph
Doug
Giebel
Welcome to the Club
Rahul
Mahajan
Hospital Closings and War Crimes
April
16 / 18, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Bush Legitimizes Terror
Saul
Landau
Subverting Brazil and Cuba
Dave
Lindorff
Paying for War: $2,150 per Family
and Counting
Brandy
Baker
Fallujah's Collateral Damage
Mickey
Z.
The Left Attacks from the Right
Bruce
Jackson
The Bush Press Conference: Gott Mit
Uns
Norman
Solomon
How the "NewsHour" Changed
History
Alexander
Cockburn
Bush, Kerry and Empire
April
15, 2004
Greg
Moses
Follow the Families, Not the Script
Virginia
Tilley
The Carnage According to Gen. Kimmitt:
Just Change the Channel
Ron
Jacobs
They Coulda Been Champions of the
World: Hurricane Carter and Ron Kovic
Michael
Neumann
A Happy Compromise: Hate Crimes
Reporting in the Toronto Globe and Mail
April
14, 2004
Tom
Reeves
Return to Haiti: an American Learning
Zone
Reza
Fiyouzat
Japan and Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
What Bush Really Said
Diane
Christian
The Real Passion
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
6, 2004
Prison Labor
for the War Machine
May Day in Pekin
Prison
By KATHY KELLY
Pekin Federal Prison
Peoria, Illinois
It's Saturday morning, May 1, 2004,
and women here at Pekin Federal Prison Camp who watched CNN news
feel indignant about the way Iraqi prisoners have been treated
by US military guards. "Did you see those pictures?"
Ruth asked. What in the world is going on over there?"
The news coverage they watched
had photo-ops from last year's May Day, when President George
Bush triumphantly boarded a USS Carrier ship to declare "Mission
Accomplished," juxtaposed with the recently released ghastly
photos of US military members apparently enjoying degradation
and torture of Iraqi prisoners.
"Where did May Day traditions
come from?" I later asked aloud, in the prison library.
The librarian, Lori, quickly found an Encyclopedia item detailing
various May Day traditions. Several of us laughed about one which
holds that the dew on the grass, on May 1, holds special qualities
for restoring youth. Authorities would be mighty surprised if
we all started rolling on the grass. "It would be better
to celebrate morning dew than to boast about dropping all those
bombs over Iraq," said Carol. "Looks like people there
are going to hate us so much, they'd rather kill us than look
at us."
Discussion turned to an April
7, 2004 press release which arrived in yesterday's mail. Issued
by the American Federal Government Employees union, it urges
members to lobby against Senate Bill 346, introduced by Senators
Carl Levin and Craig Thomas. The bill proposes rescinding federal
contracting preferences for Federal Prison Industries (FPI).
The FPI, or UNICOR, was begun
in 1934, under President Franklin Roosevelt, as a program to
keep prisoners busy and equip them with job skills in preparation
for release. It now employs 21,000 prisoners. The UNICOR workers
earn hourly rates ranging from 0.23 to $1.23. Much of that money
goes back into prison related industry if the prison laborers
buy highly priced commissary items or make regular phone calls
which cost 0.25 per minute.
At the Federal Correctional
Institute (FCI) medium high security men's prison adjacent to
this camp, and at many other FCIs, the UNICOR factories operate
24 hours per day, employing three shifts of prison laborers.
The laborers may be learning
new skills, but their experience won't guarantee them jobs on
"the outside" where they are not allowed to even list
UUNICOR as a reference. Imagine telling a prospective employer
that you have 15 years of experience as a welder, but can't supply
a reference... and you're an ex-con.
I don't think the American
Federal Government Employees union cares, primarily, about helping
prisoners "while away the hours" or prepare for employment
after being released. A clue about their interests in maintaining
UNICOR lies in the fact that the only ones who can hold a share
in UNICOR profits are federal employees. Since the FPI/UNICOR
doesn't have to compete with any other industry to procure federal
contracts, they can charge any price they want for the products
or services they supply. One prisoner here is helping make chains
for light switches at her UNICOR job. Each chain is sold for
$32.00.
UNICOR factories use antiquated
equipment, have a hard time meeting deadlines, and aren't subject
to much quality control. If they were forced to be competitive
with outside industries, many within the prison system forecast
that UNICOR wouldn't last long. However, under the present conditions,
UNICOR is a profitable company. The wages are low, the client
base (the US federal government) is guaranteed, and there's no
need to worry about paying company insurance, retirement benefits,
or vacation pay. Nor is the FPI/UNICOR subject to compliance
with OSHA regulations.
"Prisoners are responsible
for producing a diverse range of products," stated Senator
Craig Thomas before the Senate Committee on Governmental affairs,
on April 7, 2004, "ranging from office furniture to clothing,
from electronics to eyewear, from military gear to call centers
and laundry services, to mapping and engineering drafting."
"It is ironic," Senator
Thomas continued, "that in recent months as we have been
debating the issue of off-shoring of American jobs, we continue
to lose good paying American jobs to a government sponsored prison
labor program."
In a Harper's Magazine article,
Ian Urbina reports that "FPI, the federal government's 39th
largest contractor, sells more than $400 million worth of products
to the US military." (October 2003) Prison laundries clean,
press and repair uniforms. Prisoners manufacture helmets, shorts,
underwear, flak jackets and ammunition.
On May Day, 2003, when President
Bush proudly outfitted himself in military clothing, posing for
a photo-op to proclaim "Mission Accomplished," did
he wear clothing manufactured by forced laborers in US prisons?
This May, remembering the "Mission
Accomplished" banner displayed behind President Bush a year
ago, we need to ask ourselves very carefully, while listening
to the stories of prisoners here and abroad, what is the mission?
What has been accomplished?
Kathy Kelly is a co-coordinator of Voices
in the Wilderness. To learn more about how to become part
of efforts to close the SOA, visit www.soaw.org
Kathy will also spend time in prison for crossing the line at
Project ELF, a US Navy nuclear weapon facility in northern WI
which helped fast-track Tomahawk Cruise missiles that attacked
Iraq during the Shock and Awe campaign. To learn more about the
campaign to shut down Project ELF, visit www.nukewatch.com.
She can be reached at: Kathy@vitw.org.
Weekend
Edition Features for April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
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