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Special Report on the Global Trade in Body Parts in the New Print Edition of CounterPunch! Peter Linebaugh on the Resurrectionists: Organs of Chinese Prisoners Harvested While Still Alive; Group Executions for Mass Body "Harvesting"; Israel's Global Network for Body Parts; Kidney Belts Flourish from Romania to Iraq to the Philippines; Brave New World of "Organ Suppliers" and Organ Receivers Monitored by Berkeley Prof Nancy Scheper-Hughes; Origins of Body Part Market in 19th Century England; Body Snatching Gangs; Plus Bruce Anderson on How the Hippies and New Settlers of California's North Coast Became the Democratic Party Machine: Scratching Their Own Backs, Crushing Dissent. CounterPunch Online is read by over 20 million 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 (tax deductible) donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Introducing CounterPunch Books! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Now Available! Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils Order Here! Today's Stories September 25, 2004 Alexander Cockburn C'mon Ralph, You've Got Nothing to Lose   September 24, 2004 Dr. Teresa Whitehurst The Value of One Life: Keeping Up Appearances and Leaving Hostages to the Wolves William S. Lind Destroying the National Guard Mike Whitney The Bush Tent Show Nancy Welch What's at Stake for Women in 2004? Niranjan Ramakrishnan Logical Limbo Joshua Frank Fear Mongering 101 Victor Kattan An Interview with Afif Safieh Ben Terrall Kerry and Haiti: Will He Stand Up? Kathleen and Bill Christison "Finally It Broke My Heart": Random Impressions from Palestine   September 23, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Why Are They Still Holding "Mrs. Anthrax?" Christopher Brauchli Ashcroft's "Distressing Lack of Care": Hamdi and the Phony War on Terrorism Derek Seidman Fighting for a Union at Starbucks: an Interview with Daniel Gross Michael Neumann Three Years and Counting? How Time Flies   September 22, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Zarqawi's War: the Mysterious Sadist from Jordan Neve Gordon The Wall, the Court and Sharon Joshua Frank History Repeating: New York, 1832 and Now Ron Jacobs Stormy Seas on the Citizen Ship Jack Random Defending Dan? Rather Not Tarif Abboushi Kerry's Final Straw: Confessions of a Despairing Voter Mickey Z Stupid White Guy Quiz John L. Hess Faking the Difference: a Serious Debate? Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: The House Rules September 21, 2004 Gary Leupp "We Are Not Secure": Kerry's "Unwavering Commitment" to Securing a Middle East Realm Robert Jensen Large Dams in India: Temples or Burial Grounds? Elaine Cassel Fourth Circuit to Moussouai: Ask Your Questions; Prepare to Die Stanley Heller Reagan and the Killing Fields of Lebanon Adam Federman America Will Disappoint the World, Again David Whitehouse What's Behind the Horror in Darfur? M. Junaid Alam How to Avoid Becoming an Anti-American Paul Craig Roberts Attention Deficit America Website of the Day True American War Heroes: the Iraq Refuseniks Sex, Drugs & the Blues! Serpents in the Garden CounterPunch's Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available Click here to purchase   September 20, 2004 Cockburn / Buncombe Get Fallujah David Price Relying on Phonies: What If The Problem with Phone Polls is That They Are Phone Polls Dave Lindorff How Dems Fight: Tigers Against Nader, Pussycats Against Bush Harry Browne Pre-Nup at Leeds: Talked Out, But Does IRA Give Up? Mark Wesibrot Bush's Ownership Society: No Taxes for Owners, Only Workers Karyn Strickler The Keys to the White House v. the Shrum Curse? Uri Avnery The Temple Mount Bombers       September 18 / 19, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Forgeries, Fingerprints and Forensic Fakery Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Bush's Mask of Anarchy Patrick Cockburn Into the Abyss: the Week Iraq's Dream of Peace Fell Apart Fred Gardner Pot Shots: Financial Torture (Asset Forfeiture) Joe Allen The Comrades Kerry Abandoned: the Real Story of Vietnam Vets Against the War George Corsetti Poletown Revisited: Finally, Some Vindication Scott Handleman The Knock-Knock of a Sledgehammer: Sequestered in Nablus Richard Ward Two Weeks in Beit Arabiya Conn Hallinan Ashcroft and Indonesia Lori Smith Health Care in America: And Then I Got Sick... Dave Zirin Hold the Booyah!: SportsCenter Out of the Middle East John L. Hess Rather Will Take the Heat, As Bush's War Deteriorates Brian J. Foley W is for Wimp: So Why do Manly Men Love Him? Mickey Z. Pat Tillman and Osama bin Laden: Odd Juxtapositions Poets' Basement Vest, Landau & Albert Website of the Weekend Eye on the NYTs     Septemeber 17, 2004 Ray McGovern Gossing Over the Record Patrick Cockburn The New Iraqi Economy: Baghdad's Thriving Kidnapping Industry Lee Sustar The State of Working America: an Autopsy of the American Dream Mike Whitney John Kerry: 195 Lbs. of Political Helium, Not an Ounce of Sincerity Victor Kattan Black September Ray Hanania Israel's Demographics Greg Bates Nader's Victories: a Mid-Campaign Assessment Website of the Day The Road to Hell     September 16, 2004 Landau / Hassen Meet the New Villain: Syria Joanne Mariner Inside Darfur: a Photo Essay Patrick Cockburn US Offers Conflicting Accounts of Baghdad Bloodbath Greg Moses Four Million Children Might Be News Joshua Frank Nader in the Battleground States Christopher Brauchli The Bush Drug Lottery Flops David Himmelstein Folke Bernadotte: a Rosh Hashonah Remembrance Website of the Day The Abu Ghraib Index     September 15, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Hell on Haifa Street Ron Jacobs Oppose War, Not Just Bush David Lindorff Blanking Out Dissent Joanne Mariner Talking About Darfur: Is Genocide Just a Word? Angela Godfrey-Goldstein An Open Letter to Madonna: Please Don't Support Israeli Apartheid Dave Zirin Is the NFL Ready for Us? Yigal Bronner "They Are Building Walls Around Us"     September 14, 2004 Gary Leupp The Problem of Chechnya Jennifer van Bergen What's Wrong with Torture? Stan Goff Wake Up and Smell the Jungle Rot Patrick Cockburn The Punishment of Fallujah: US Precision Strickes...on Ambulances Anis Memon Nader in Michigan Michael Donnelly The Nuance Comes Off: Former Naderites Beg for Kerry Votes Werther Zell Miller: the Peckerwood Pericles Website of the Day Osama Bin Forgotten?       September 13, 2004 Gabriel Kolko Elections, Alliances and the American Empire Phillip Cryan How Do You Say "Death Squad?": Language in Colombia's War Patrick Cockburn One of Baghdad's Bloodiest Days: "I'm a Journalist! I'm Dying! I'm Dying" Noah Leavitt The War on Civil Liberties Robert Jensen Highjacking Catastrophe: Bush, the Neo-Cons and 9/11 Mike Whitney Alan Greenspan: Fed-Master to the Wealthy John Chuckman Stop Talking About the "Election" Mike Burke Kerry/Edwards Website Censors Discussion of Israel/Palestine Issues CounterPunch Wire The Quotations of David Cobb: "I Don't Care How Many Votes I Get" Website of the Day Keep It In Your Pants: the Bush Plan to Combat Teen Promiscuity   September 11 / 12, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Swatting at Flies Fred Gardner Yet Another Prozac Scandal Saul Landau When Our Assassins Go Free Jennifer Van Bergen How to Beat Bush: a Simple Strategy for the Average American Roger Burbach / Jim Tarbell The Real Dead Enders: Iraq and the Crisis of Empire Christopher Reed 9/11 in an Historical Context: a Minor Event When Compared to Worldwide War Casualties Francisc Catalin An ABC of American Interventions Carl Estabrook Big Science and Government Terror Bernard Chazelle Anti-Americanism: a Clinical Study Sharon Smith Third Party Blues Dave Lindorff Perhaps This Time We're the Silent Majority Mike Whitney Fallujah: an Iraqi Beslan? Frederick B. Hudson Their Sons Perished in the Flames, But Not Their Faith Mickey Z. Round Up the Usual Suspects: a Look Back at 9/11 Ron Jacobs Redneck Music for the New Century Greg Moses Soap Opera Moments in Texas School Funding Trial Benjamin Dangl / Andrew Kennis An Interview with Leslie Cagan Poets Basement Del Papa, Albert, Gelman     September 10, 2004 Patrick Cockburn Disappointment at Samarrah? Michael Donnelly Democrats v. Democracy Alan Farago Mosquitoes in a Hurricane Doug Giebel Karl Rove's Terror Playbook Mike Whitney Bob Graham's Political Tsunami David Domke God's Will, According to the Bush Administration     September 9, 2004 Joe Bageant Karaoke Night in Bush's America Ed Kinane Abducted in Baghdad Peter Bohmer The Cuban Revolution: Present and Future Todd May The Emerging Case for a Single-State Solution Jeremy Scahill The New York Model: Indymedia and the Text Message Jihad Joshua Frank Green House Party Gasses Fran Shor The Crisis in Public Dissent: When Protest is Considered a Terrorist Act Patrick Cockburn Welcome to the Dirtiest City in the World: Despair in Baghdad Website of the Day Liberty Street Protest: No to War at Ground Zero   September 8, 2004 Patrick Cockburn This Doesn't Smell Like Victory: A War on Two Fronts in Iraq Dave Lindorff Bush Confuses; Kerry Mute: Spinning 1000 Dead Bulent Gokay Russian and Chechnia After Beslan Lisa Viscidi Land Reform and Conflict in Guatemala Niranjan Ramakrishnan Byrd's Eye View Mike Whitney Afghanistan: American's Drug Colony Stan Goff Body Count: 1001 Website of the Day Bush and the Love Doctors     September 7, 2004 Diane Christian Hostage Tactics: a Game of Mortal Poker Joshua Frank Greens Unravel from Within Patrick Cockburn Fallujah Erupts Again: US Death Toll in Iraq Nears 1000 Ron Jacobs Bush and Putin: "We're Not Girlie Men" Chris Floyd Cry Havoc: Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed Dr. Carol Wolman No Blood for Oil at Paul Bunyan Day Parade John Ross The Politics of Darkness North / South     September 6, 2004 Alexander Cockburn An Anti-Labor Day That Lives in Infamy: How Many Democrats Voted For Taft-Hartley? Ralph Nader The Cruel Legacy of Taft-Hartley: a Labor Day Call for Rights for Working People Lee Sustar What's Driving the Attack on Pensions? Kathleen and Bill Christison Dual Loyalties: the Bush Necons and Israel     September 4-5, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Elephants and Gramsci Ted Honderich The Way Things Are Sasan Fayazmanesh The Holy Empire: Who We Are and What We Do Douglas Valentine What the World Should Know About Guantanamo Patrick Cockburn New Iraqi Police State Flexes Its Muscles Gary Leupp Neo Cons Under Fire Fred Gardner Pot Shots: the Hempstead T-Shirt William A. Cook The Day of the Lemming Dave Zirin Kobe Bryant and the Price of Freedom John Chuckman The Day the World Ended Karyn Strickler God Save the Endangered Species Act Vanessa Jones Bad Day with an Ikea Cup Mike Whitney Kerry: the "Better" War Candidate Mark Donham Dear John (Kerry): Start Explaining and Fast Mickey Z. McBypass Nation: Feeling Clinton's Pain Alan Farago Can the Everglades be Fixed? Poets' Basement Landau and Albert     September 3, 2004 Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Jesus Told Him Where to Bomb Rahul Mahajan Bush's RNC Speech: an Annotated Response Carl Estabrook The Book of Slaughter and Forgetting Joshua Frank The Florida of the Northwest: Oregon Dems Sabotage Nader Again Gary Leupp Music to My Ears: Sunday's March James Hollander Deja Vu in Manhattan: Assisted Political Suicide? Mark Engler Republicans Among Us: a Week at the RNC, Inside and Out Jesse Sharkey Making Students and Teachers Pay for the Crisis in Education Jane Stillwater Calling the Cops on Your Own Kid Stephen Green Serving Two Flags: the Bush Neo-Cons and Israel     September 2, 2004 Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Part 3: More Pricks Than Kicks Max Gimble Et Tu, Menchu? Extrajudicial Killings and Clandestine Graves in Guatemala James Petras President Chavez and the Referendum: Myths and Realities Christopher Brauchli Bush and the Afghan Electoral Model: "If They Want to Vote Twice, Let Them" Todd Chretien & Jessie Muldoon Will the Democrats Expel Zell Miller? Jack Random Spite and Venom Day: the Turncoat and the Profiteer Alan Maass The Real Vietnam Christa Allen Contre Bush Website of the Day [Redacted]     September 1, 2004 Alexander Cockburn The Stench of Doom Kathleen and Bill Christison Poor Larry Franklin Dave Lindorff Kerry's Litmus Test Josh Frank Protest in White: Not All of New York Rises Up John L. Hess Moles, Scoops and Flip Flops Mike Whitney Deconstructing Arnold Jack Random Kindergarten Night at the RNC Andrew Wilson War on the Pachyderms: Why Do Elephants Hate Us? Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words     August 31, 2004 Joseph Nevins Escapism and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs Matt Vidal Beyond Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy Neve Gordon Kerry and the Middle East Dave Lindorff Bush the Peace Candidate? Mike Whitney NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran Jack Random Opening Night: Playing the War Card Jeffrey St. Clair High Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One) CounterPunch Photo of the Day Pete Seeger in NYC     August 30, 2004 Justin Podhur The Disappeared Mayor Shaun Joseph The Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com Mike Whitney Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly Want? Ron Jacobs Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate David Lindorff Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy Dave Zirin USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate Sam Husseini Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History     August 28 / 29, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Zombies for Kerry Patrick Cockburn Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US Ray McGovern Blowing Smoke on Intelligence Dr. Juan Romagoza From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor Ray Hanania An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous! Fred Gardner Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot Diane Christian Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live William S. Lind The Desert Fox Paul D'Amato The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry Joshua Frank Greens at the Crossroads Mickey Z. Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests Winslow T. Wheeler Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange Justin E.H. Smith The New Age Racket and the Left Thomas St. John Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Ali Tonak Help the NYPD? Mark Engler New York Says "No" Justin Felux Haiti: the Attica of the Americas Poets' Basement Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod     August 27, 2004 Gary Leupp Neocon Musings Robin Cook The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Diane Christian Disarming Michael Donnelly Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party? Jack Random 4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters Mike Ferner "To the Swift Boats!" Mazin Qumsiyeh 7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners Veronza Bowers, Jr. "You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"   August 26, 2004 M. Shahid Alam The Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology? Diane Christian War Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu Derek Seidman "They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get Organized David Lindorff Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally Christopher Brauchli Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble Stew Albert Reporting Suspicious Activity Mark Donham Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court Saul Landau Pinochet: the Al Capone of the Southern Cone Website of the Day The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See     August 25, 2004 Amelia Peltz Can I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time? Noah Leavitt Defining and Redefining Torture Ron Jacobs Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About Democracy James Brooks Coronado Crosses the Jordan Akiva Eldar How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan" Gemma Araneta Chavez's New Brand of Populism Philip Cryan Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia CounterPunch Wire Cheney Opens the Closet Door     August 24, 2004 Jeremy Scahill John Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate Gary Leupp "We Want Them to Go Away" David Domke God Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism William Loren Katz The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in Venezuela Jonah Gindin With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media Fran Schor Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah Joe Bageant Driving on the Bones of God Website of the Day The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC   August 23, 2004 Winslow Wheeler Don't Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror John Pilger Bush May Be the Lesser Evil Stan Goff Swift Boat Dogfight Bill and Kathleen Christison Notes from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild Mike Whitney The Unraveling of Afghanistan William Blum Brave New World of Iraqi Sovereignty Ralph Nader A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial     August 21 / 22, 2004 Cockburn / St. Clair "They Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on Drugs Landau / Hassen Failing the Mission? Form a Commission Brian Cloughley The Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts Josh Frank Nader as David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So Mike Whitney Reincarnating Mengele: the Torture Doctors of Abu Ghraib Ron Jacobs Day Labor Blues Mickey Z. Shooting at Whales: 40 Years After Tonkin Fred Gardner Dr. Wolman Comes Out: The Cannabis Consultants Dave Zirin Uprising in Athens: Iraqi Soccer Team Gives Bush the Boot Josh Saxe Witnessing Police Brutality in LA Yanar Mohammed Letter from Baghdad: a Democracy of Killings and Bombings Helen Williams Ali's Story: a Taste of Reality from Baghdad Michael Donnelly Elemental and NaturalForests, Fire and Recovery Elizabeth Schulte The Crisis in Affordable Housing Poets' Basement Adler, Albert, Virgil, Ford and Krieger                                   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.     Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition September 25 / 6, 2004 Terrible v. Worse The Reality of Empire and Campaign Rhetoric By SAUL LANDAU Try to digest radio blasts of campaign rhetoric amidst nerve-wracking traffic jams and insistent billboards. In a massive mall parking lot, designed to divert the brain from human themes, I try to understand my country's empire. The energy spent involved in avoiding promotional barrages leaves me with barely enough motivation to parse John Kerry's convex sentences or George Bush's convolutions. Check claims against facts and maybe light will shine through? The candidates offer to "keep the faith" in Iraq and "fulfill our mission." What faith? Islam? Bush's faith? What mission? Before invading, Bush defined his goal as ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, which Bush's appointed weapons inspectors did not find, and cutting Iraq's ties to Al-Qaeda terrorists, which didn't exist before March 2003 but now do. Who dictated this mission? Did God, posing as a neo-con, tell Bush to invade Iraq during a prayer session? Kerry's more historical view warns: don't repeat the terrible mistakes in Iraq that we made in Vietnam by denying that we are making them. Thus, sending more troops to Iraq might make our original mistakes worse, but we cannot simply walk away from the terrible mistake without making worse the original mistake. So, Kerry would or wouldn't send more troops to Iraq to support our troops there because they do or don't need extra help. Bush would not send more because they don't need it. Both candidates agree that shouting "support our troops" is the best support our troops can get. Have I missed something? On Israel, one candidate declares 100% support for whatever she does. The other contender favors giving full support for all of Israel's policies. See the difference? The candidates don't object to spending $400 plus billion on "defense." Neither explains how that money actually defends our country since we have no likely attackers. Over the last decades, defense money got spent offensively. Ask the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Grenada, Panama, the former Yugoslavia or nations attacked covertly, like Chile, Cuba, Brazil, etc. The candidates differ about imperial strategy. Bush invaded Iraq without junior partners ­ like France and Germany -- because he could. Kerry would invade weak countries with allied support because it looks better. What does "ally" mean after the Soviet monster collapsed? Kerry and Bush agree to aggressively pursue the global mission of freedom. In practice, freedom has meant Halliburton's right to do business with scum like Saddam Hussein before the United States invaded Iraq and then make billions repairing the damage done after the invasion; plus feeding, housing and building latrines for "our troops" (Is that what "supporting our troops" means?). Freedom also embodies Wal-Mart's right to expand globally. The vast corporation serves as means and ends of vast empire. Monster-sized stores wage peaceful aggression, seeking to re-conquer indigenous Mexico by demanding the placement for sale of its weapons (Chinese-made wares) at the 2,000 year-old Teotihuacan ruins. The globalizing giant has challenged the Indian gods by building its new superstore under the shadows of the ancient pyramids. Ironically, the Spanish built their churches and government edifices on top of the Aztec civilization they had just conquered. Now, we visit Mexico and admire the ruins of both old cultures. Local residents petitioned the court to stop Wal-Mart, which threatens small business, distorts the ecology and mocks the ruins. It will decimate a way of life. Wal-Mart demands freedom to sell. The State Department denies that Mexican courts have jurisdiction in questions about freedom to trade. Didn't NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) settle that issue? Indeed, Wal-Mart's freedom to operate megastores defines imperial goals. Nations that reject Wal-Mart, a symbol of corporate freedom, become international human rights violators in the media, which doesn't condemn Wal-Mart, however, for its contempt for labor rights. Instead, the press offers a "balanced picture" of Wal-Mart's ruthless resistance to organizing attempts. Political authorities offer the language. The media accepts it, without evaluating labels given to enemies: communism, socialism, nationalism -- or "terrorist regimes." Journalists assume that these regimes ipso facto violate the human spirit. Cuba, the media's arch-typical rogue nation, has suffered forty-five years of distortion. Reporters have filed tens of thousands of negative stories about Cuba's lack of freedom ­ along with a handful of "balanced" tales that praise its health care and education. "Communist China" became just China when the ruling Communist Party switched from state to private sector economics. Ironically, in school we don't learn that democracy and freedom mean the need to have unrestricted global access for Wal-Mart or post war contracts for Halliburton. Likewise, the candidates don't discuss corporate freedom. Instead, they intone on how Lincoln and Roosevelt fought for freedom, which the candidates will adapt to the war against terrorism. The public remains awash in conflicting facts and messages. The 9/11 Commission presented evidence that Iraq had no role in the 9/11 attacks. Yet, a Newsweek poll in September had 42% believing that Saddam Hussein authored the World Trade Center attacks. Vice President Cheney repeats this myth in his speeches. Fox, the privatized ministry of propaganda posing as a news organization, underscores that message. The public receives language that conceals both imperial intentions and the logical outcome of aggression. The torture of Iraqis resulted from an imperial invasion and occupation. Bush and Rumsfeld at least tacitly approved the torture, but now blame Abu Ghraib horrors on "a few bad apples." Yet, according to Heather Wokusch in the September 14 Common Dreams New Center, prison conditions in Texas under Governor Bush were a model for US prisons in Iraq. Wokush quotes federal Judge William Wayne Justice: "Many inmates credibly testified to the existence of violence, rape and extortion in the prison system and about their own suffering from such abysmal conditions." A September 1996 "videotaped raid on inmates at a county jail in Texas showed guards using stun guns and an attack dog on prisoners, who were later dragged face-down back to their cells." Same apples in Iraq? But the public, distracted by consumption and media distortions, move politically in a fog. Far right Republicans emphasize peripheral issues: abortion, guns, gay marriages and prayer in school--not war or the distribution of wealth and health. Kerry himself appears unfocused, almost hypnotized by his own monotone. Yes, a Kerry victory means better judges and heads of agencies. And Kerry wouldn't prematurely ejaculate "Mission Accomplished" as Bush did after landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003. The pilot who flew Bush to that publicity stunt died in Iraq on August 10. Bush did not attend Lt. Commander Scott Zellem's funeral -- just one more number in the 1,000 plus Americans who perished in Iraq. "We've turned the corner," Bush instead proclaimed (lied). Did this sick joke refer to 7,000 plus wounded who will no longer turn corners on their own feet? Did he mean by corner-turning his ability to sell imperial needs as a "war against terrorism"? Bush holds the presidential record for launching two wars and occupations in two years. If elected, more military operations will likely follow since he has apparently convinced tens of thousands of poor youth on the virtues of giving their lives -- not his ­ for causes like "liberating Afghanistan." He omits the thousands of Afghan dead, cities destroyed and the $400-billion spent on wars that have not yet produced Osama bin Laden. Foreign troops occupy "liberated Afghanistan." That country undergoes extreme poverty, while its opium production soars and instability runs rampant. In the August 27, 2004 Baltimore Chronicle Jane Stillwater reported an eyewitness' account: "Since the American takeover of Afghanistan, the major crops there are now opium, human organs and children." But reality has not pricked the "success and democracy" bubble; nor assuaged the "security" fears that guide election rhetoric. Kerry whines about "losing our allies" as if the nearly 55 year old and moribund NATO alliance served some purpose. New power realities have removed the need for junior partners (allies). 160,000 troops occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting for "freedom" by killing residents who get in their way. No end in sight. The Democrats have no clear alternative. Let rhetoric ring! The Pentagon's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania link "America's new imperial lifeline" to bases across Central Asia, Iraq and the Gulf. The 100,000 troops who staff those 700 plus outposts, writes Eric Margolis in the August 22 Toronto Sun, are "designed to cement Washington's hold on the Muslim world and its natural resources." The Pentagon outfits itself for 'expeditionary warfare', Margolis continues, which the British called "the `imperial mission'." Kerry also envisions new bases to stage operations in volatile strategic regions, but cautions against wasting money on "excess bases." The bi-partisan militarized foreign policy makes the United States resemble the British Empire, Margolis concludes, but most Americans "remain unaware of their government's new imperial plans to rule oil and the Muslim world, and of the unexpected conflicts that lie in wait for America's increasingly far-flung expeditionary forces." Halliburton and Wal-Mart CEOs understand. After all, it's their profits that the new armed forces will protect ­ no matter who wins in November. There's an argument for John Kerry, but it comes down to terrible is better than worse. Saul Landau is the Director of Digital Media and International Outreach Programs for the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. His new book is The Business of America. Weekend Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004 James Petras The Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of Abu Ghraib Fred Gardner Run Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain Justin Delacour Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela Brian Cloughley Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd? Joshua Frank The Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader Iain A. Boal On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection Chris Floyd All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome Andrew Fenton Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti Aseem Shrivastava Saga of an Anguished Afghan Neil Corbett See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush Carol Miller / Forrest Hill Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only 12% of the Vote Tarek Milleron Breaking the Principled Voter Donald Macintyre The Battle of Najaf Ron Jacobs Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies Mickey Z. Kid Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO Poets' Basement Adler, Ford and Albert WWW http://www.counterpunch.org   /