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Today's
Stories
December
10, 2004
Kathy
Kelly
From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water
December
9, 2004
Greg
Moses
Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah
Joshua
Frank
Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser!
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to
Disclose the Real Casualty Figures
Lee
Sustar
Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster
Tom
Barry
Restrictionist Resurgence
Mickey
Z.
Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush in the Bubble
Mark
Donham
Why are House Democrats Trying to
Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority?
Gary
Corseri
On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
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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Weekend Edition
December 11 / 12, 2004
From McKinley to Bush
Listening
and Talking to God About Invading Other Countries
By
SAUL LANDAU
"I went down on my knees
and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one
night. And one night late it came to me:
(1) That we could not give
them [the Philippines] back to Spain-that would be cowardly and
dishonorable;
(2) that we could not turn
them over to France and Germany-our commercial rivals in the
Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable;
(3) that we could not leave
them to themselves-they were unfit for self-government-and they
would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's
was; and
(4) that there was nothing
left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos,
and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace
do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom
Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep,
and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the ..War
Department map-maker, and I told him to put the Philippines on
the map of the United States (pointing to a large wall map),
and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!"
General James Rusling, "Interview
with President William McKinley," The Christian Advocate
22 January 1903, 17. Reprinted in Daniel Schirmer and Stephen
Rosskamm Shalom, eds., The Philippines Reader
President William McKinley's words should
echo with President Bush and his Evangelical zealots. Like the
Republican who initiated US overseas military expansion, the
current President also talks to God and hears His words. Like
McKinley, Bush understands that the stars and stripes stand for
inseparable US commercial interests and pious purposes.
After McKinley was assassinated
in 1900, subsequent Presidents sent troops back to Cuba three
times in the next two decades, until finally "losing"
the island in the 1959 revolution. Until 1933, 120,000 US occupied
the Philippines. "Pacifying" those "heathens"
took longer than McKinley thought and brought out the brute in
the soul of US Christian soldiers.
Long before troops destroyed the Vietnamese village "to
save it," and a century plus before GIs decimated Fallouja
and killed thousands of its residents to bring democracy to Iraq,
their predecessors committed atrocities in the Philippines.
A frustrated US general even ordered troops to kill every Philippine
male over age ten. Fortunately, that order was not carried out,
but US troops did slay up to 200,000 Philippine men and women
in three years, until overwhelming superiority in weapons and
sheer ruthlessness overcame local resistance forces. 2,000 US
servicemen died as well.
One critical citizen satirized McKinley's war:
"G is for guns
That McKinley has sent
To teach Filipinos
What Jesus Christ meant."
The bible thumpers of the time
praised McKinley's will in overcoming Satan (Filipinos, not Arabs)
with military force. Now, 106 years later, as scientists map
the human genetic structure and discover secrets of the galaxy
that date back thousands of centuries, the descendents of the
religious zealots that counseled McKinley win court battles to
validate creationism and push Armageddon and Rapture as themes
of US Middle East policy.
While the "end of the
world is near" gang drank unfermented apple juice to celebrate
the election results, I recalled the celebration in 1979 when
the Ayatollah Khomeini and his pious minions consolidated their
control of the Iranian Revolution.
How could so many people here and there, I asked myself, act
against their own freedoms? How can educated people--using high
technology and science believe that God revealed His Middle
East plan to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell?
In October, Robertson, the aging Baptist Maharishi, told some
4,000 plus pilgrims in Jerusalem's convention center that devious
Muslims intended to foil "God's plan" to let Israel
hold on to its lands. (Ha'aratz Oct 4)
Robertson interpreted Islam's intention "to destroy Israel
and take the land from the Jews and give East Jerusalem to Yasser
Arafat, [the Palestinian Authority Chairman who died in November]
as Satan's plan to prevent the return of Jesus Christ the Lord."
Robertson's fellow Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell has long proclaimed
strong support for Israel and evinced blatant anti-Semitism.
"A few of you don't like the Jews and I know why,"
Falwell sanctimoniously told his congregation. "They can
make more money accidentally than you can on purpose" (The
Washington Star, July 3, 1980).
Too bad such accidents don't happen to me. I thought. The Biblicists
have placed me inside a contradictory construction. As a Jew
I remain an object of their scorn, since I descended from the
tribe that betrayed Jesus. But I could move to Israel and convert
to rabid Zionism that calls for shooting Arabs as part of the
Lord's work. I would then become an instrument of the Lord in
removing pagan Palestinians from their lands so Jews can occupy
it. Then God can orchestrate the final wars in that region (which
will involve the whole world). Then, Robertson, Falwell
and company can enjoy their own special rapture. Whew!
Imagine Falwell and his pious congregation dropping acid amidst
velveteen paintings of Jesus, as the clean cut Liberty Baptist
Church of Lynchburg Virginia sings "Jesus Is All the World
to Me."
The support Israel dogma--especially its extremists -- has reached
the White House. President Bush even called Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon "a man of peace" (Sharon should have sued
Bush for slander; destroying his record as an unrelenting warrior.
At least Sharon could have retaliated by calling Bush "a
great intellectual").
Israeli extremists don't seem to mind that the most fervent supporters
of "a greater Israel" make anti-Semitic comments. "God
does not hear the prayer of Jews," one Texas TV preacher
announced. To prove his love for Israel, however, he showed a
star of David that he hung from a chain on his neck. "A
present from Menachem Begin [former Israeli Prime Minister],"
he announced. He agreed in principle with Begin that "all
Jews should be in Israel."
The preacher denied he was anti-Semitic. "An anti-Semite,"
he explained, "hates Jews more than he's supposed to."
Would Jesus have endorsed such flummery? "Would Jesus wear
a Rolex on his television show?" asked country satirist
Ray Stevens.
Life outstrips satire, however, when it comes to Robertson's
intimate relationship with God, especially as He dictates political
moves. Using God's name, Robertson sent "notice" to
Osama bin Laden, Arafat and Palestinian militant groups that
"you will not frustrate God's plan" to have Jews rule
the Holy Land until the Second Coming of Jesus."
"God alone," Robertson declared, should decide if Israel
should give up the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, captured in
the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. According to Robertson, "God
says, 'I'm going to judge those who carve up the West Bank and
Gaza Strip.'" He continued reciting God's words. "'It's
my land and keep your hands off it.'" Israeli officials
and Knesset members gleefully attended the October gatherings
of Robertson's pilgrims in Jerusalem.
Robertson and Falwell claim that the Bible predicts the Messiah's
return to the Holy Land at the time the Jews defeat the pagans.
I understand that Israelis need the pilgrims' tourist dollars,
but many Jews laugh at "Messiah babble." A Jew tells
his wife that after months of unemployment the elders hired him
to stand outside the village gate and greet the Messiah when
he comes--but for only 2 kopeks a month.
"You'll work for such low pay?" his wife asked incredulously.
"Don't worry," he reassured her, "it's a lifetime
job."
A visiting New Yorker told how shortly after the birth of Israel
a man told his wife to pack their belongings. "The rabbis
said that all Jews must move to Israel to greet the Messiah."
"Are you crazy," his wife replied. "After spending
all that money fixing up the house, I'm not moving."
The Israeli government, however, has submerged humor and forged
close alliances with fundamentalist Christians. In return, evangelicals
contribute big bucks to Israel and lobby for pro-Israeli policies.
So, Israeli officials turn blind eyes to Reverend Falwell's verbal
transgressions As recently as January 14, 1999 Jerry Falwell
speculated on "the Anti-Christ."
"Is he alive and here today?" asked Falwell. "Probably.
Because when he appears during the Tribulation period he will
be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish
and male." I looked in the mirror when I read that statement.
Could it be me? "Of course he'll pretend to be Christ."
I breathed easier since I had no such pretensions. But what about
other Jewish men? Well, most of them didn't vote for Bush, or
believe that God spoke to him--or McKinley for that matter. Reasonable
people don't think that God ordered Bush to bring freedom (free
markets) to the Middle East. Indeed, as Lily Tomlin quipped,
"Talking to God is prayer. God talking to you is schizophrenia."
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 November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|