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Recent
Stories
April
29, 2003
Gary
Leupp
Disorder and Opportunity: the Results
of the Iraq War
Uri
Avnery
Don't Envy Abu-Mazen
Anthony
Gancarski
Brush with the Law
Mickey
Z.
POWs: Then and Now
CounterPunch
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How to Spin Israel on the Hill: Internal Lobbying Documents
Robert
Fisk
Did the US Murder Journalists?
Chris
Floyd
Bush Telegraphs His Punches on Syria
Wayne Madsen
About Those Iraqi Intelligence Documents
Wallace
Gagne
Pilgrimage or Demolition Derby?
Eliot Katz
Playing Catch with Cracked Globes
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/29
April
28, 2003
Ann
Harrison
Fighting Back: Medical Marijuana
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Robert
Jensen
Lack of WMD Kills the Case for War
Peter Phillips
Total Information Control
Ron
Jacobs
Get the US Out of Iraq and Its Military Out of Our Minds
Mark Hand
Peace Park: The Pentagon Solution
to a Baseball Stadium Dilemma
Linda
S. Heard
Repeat After Me: Iraq is Weapons Free
Kurt Nimmo
US Military Bases: the Spoils and
Deceptions of War
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/28
April
26 / 27, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
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Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
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Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
April
25, 2003
David
Vest
It's Not the Oil; It's the Art!
Steven
Higgs
All About Tucker Carlson
Walt
Brasch
The Shock and Awe of American Ignorance
Alexander
Cockburn
The Decline of American Journalism:
the Case of Judy Miller
Zeynep
Toufe
A Letter to the People of Iraq from an Anti-War Activist
CounterPunch
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Season of the Witch: Jeane Kirkpatrick Unbound
Hammond
Guthrie
Springtime in Iraq
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/25
Website
of the Day
Having
a Great Time, Wish You Were Here: Postcards from a War
April
24, 2003
Lois
Whitman
An Open Letter to Rumsfeld on the
Child Detainees at Guantanamo
Uri
Avnery
Abu vs. Abu: It's Not About Egos
David
Lindorff
Day Care in the Name of National Security? About Those Kids in
Camp X-Ray
John Grebe
Rev. Pat Robertson's Message in the Temple
Dokhi
Fassihian
Monster.Com: Ethnic Cleansing on the Web?
CounterPunch
Wire
Israeli Army Chief Threatens Peace Activists
Sam
Hamod
Our Man in Baghdad
Annie
C. Higgins
Do You Regret Being an American?
Harold
A. Gould
Will They Hate Us Forever?
Stew Albert
Big Brother in Bed
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/24
Website
of the Day
Muscles
Abroad
April
23, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
When Young Mothers Die in Combat
Chris
Floyd
Desolation Row: Bush's Barbarians Teach
by Example
Marjorie
Cohn
Tax the War Profiteers
William
Lind
The Fourth Generation of Modern War
Dave Marsh
Nina Simone: Freedom Singer
Binoy
Kampmark
Malayasia's America: the War on Iraq
David Vest
Who's Looting Whom?
Standard
Shaefer
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Andrew
Rodman
Lawn Poem
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/23
Website
of the Day
Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East
April
22, 2003
Edward
Said
The Appalling Consequences of the Iraq
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Sam
Hamod
What's the Deal with This War?
Kurt
Nimmo
Shi'a Will to Power
Gary
Leupp
At last! The Necessary Evidence
Carl
Estabrook
Oblivious Americans: They Distort,
We Subside
John
Stanton
Iran's Reza Pahlavi: a Puppet of the US and Israel?
Ramzy
Baroud
What Else Hasn't Israel Told America?
Steven
Sherman
About That Cuba Letter
Wayne Madsen
Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult
Stew
Albert
Creep
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/22
Website
of the Day
Critical Media Literacy in Times of War
April
21, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
An Administration in Contempt
Gary
Leupp
Easter Thoughts on Liberation, Jesus
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Roger
Witherspoon
Why Michigan Needs Affirmative Action
Uri Avnery
At Midnight, a Knock on the Door
Col. Dan
Smith
Early Lessons from Iraq
Jo
Freeman
After the Protest Comes Politics
Michael
Berry
The Friedman Absurdities
Gray
Brechin
Hang Black Banners: Mourning the Cultural Loss
Bob Riedel
The Taliban from Texas
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/21
April
19, 2003
Gary
Leupp
The Rape of History
Saul
Landau
Shop, Go to Church, Support Bush's
War, Wait for Armageddon
Michael
J. Fellows
Off With Their Heads: the Constitution According to Scalia
Pablo
Mukherjee
Roadmap to Resistance
Omar
Barghouti
Sharon's Bloody Beat
Anthony
Gancarski
Tony Blair: the Most Powerful Man in the World
Mickey
Z.
Animals: the Other Collateral Damage
Will
Potter
When Police Attack Journalists
William
MacDougall
America's In-Bedded Journalism
Neve
Gordon
Haunted by History
Adam
Engel
Wal-Mart and Peace
Dr.
Susan Block
Art Bombs: American Libertines for Peace
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Buono, Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/19
Song of
the Weekend
Baghdad to Basra
April
18, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Operation "Syrian Freedom":
This One's Not About Oil
Jorge
Mariscal
"They Died Trying to Become
Students": the Future of Latinos in an Era of War and Occupation
Mickey
Z:
Coalition of the Unindicted: Only Losers Get Tried for War Crimes
Hussein
Ibish
Syria and the Road to World War IV
Reza Ladjevardian
Tarqeting Iran? Do It With TV, Not Cruise Missiles
Matania
Ben-Artzi
You Are Not Protecting My Son's Rights: a Letter to the President
of Israel's Supreme Court
Bruce Jackson
Jews Like Us
Joe
Allen
My Lai Revisited
Carl Estabrook
Support Our Euphemism
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/18
Website
of the Day
Meet the Victims of War
April
17, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Patriot Gore: the Fatal Flaws in
the Patriot Missile System
Joanne
Mariner
Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications
for the Pentagon
Issam
Nashashibi
Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman
to Baghdad
Wayne Madsen
Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism
Robert
Fisk
The Army of Occupation
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Virtual Saddam Takes Aim
Biljana
Vankovska
A Personal View of Iraq: Where
is the Truth?
Dan Brook
Oil War: Fueling the Empire
Stanley
Heller
Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like
Tim Robbins
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation
Harold
A. Gould
Iraq After the War
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/17
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Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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April 30,
2003
The Freislers of the Media
The Fourhorsemen
of Propaganda
By WAYNE MADSEN
History has all but forgotten Nazi Germany's most
feared judge, Roland Freisler, the President of the Volksgericht
(People's Court). Known as the "hanging judge," Freisler
was known for yelling at and berating prisoners paraded before
him. Newsreels of Freisler's trials show an animated judge constantly
playing up to German public opinion, already whipped into a fanatic
frenzy by the intensive propaganda of Joseph Goebbels. Freisler
was ultimately killed in an Allied bombing raid in 1945. Ironically,
he was presiding over one of his kangaroo courts at the time
his courtroom received a direct hit.
Today we are faced with the Freislers
of the airwaves - those right-wing hate mongers who act as judges,
juries, and character executioners. Chief among these are the
typical promoters of neo-conservative (read that as extreme right-wing)
policies. Among the most outrageous are Rush Limbaugh, Fox's
Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, and G. Gordon Liddy.
One good joke about Rush Limbaugh goes
like this -- Question: What does the airship Hindenburg and Rush
have in common? Answer: they are both flaming Nazi gasbags. But
Limbaugh, beyond being a gasbag, is also a complete phony. Many
have  heard that Limbaugh avoided the draft
by claiming a problem with rectal hairs and fissures (no pain
in the ass jokes please). Not so well known is Limbaugh's jaundiced
opinion of his fans.
When Limbaugh hosted a short-lived television
program, the executive producer of which was Roger Ailes -- the
current President of Fox News and former Ronald Reagan toady
- the gasbag demonstrated what he really thinks about his beloved
"ditto heads." A technician who worked on the show's
set in New York City reported that a group of Ohio fans once
arrived by bus to sit in as members of Limbaugh's studio audience.
After taping the show and after the audience left the studio,
the technician overheard Limbaugh saying, "Can you believe
these fucking ditto heads? They sit on a bus for eight hours
to sit for a half hour show, what morons." It's about time
for Limbaugh fans to face up to what their hero thinks about
them. You are money making morons for Mr. "Excellence in
Broadcasting." Limbaugh - phony number one.
Then there is Bill O'Reilly. His favorite
targets are all those anti-war liberals in Hollywood. O'Reilly
would rather his fans not know about his own sycophantic Hollywood
past. After having been a reporter for ABC and CBS News, O'Reilly
opted for the Hollywood route, becoming the co-anchor of the
tabloid program Inside Edition. From 1989 to 1995, O'Reilly fawned
all over those nasty Hollywood lefties he now pretends to despise.
There was O'Reilly, at his phony best, covering such Hollywood
lefties as Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Jane Fonda, Robert
Redford, Paul Newman, and Ed Asner. Imagine O'Reilly working
the phones in 1993 to get that big exclusive interview with the
liberal environmental activist Ted Danson to ask him about the
final episode of Cheers. "Hi Ted, it's Bill O'Reilly from
Inside Edition. I know you're busy trying to save the oceans
and all that stuff, but do you have time to come on my program
to talk about doing the last Cheers? I'd be so ever grateful."
Right O'Reilly, grateful until you get your own political platform
to beat up on environmentalists like Danson.
Having made his career, courtesy of left-wing
Hollywood, O'Reilly was plucked from Los Angeles by Roger Ailes,
who had just taken over the helm at Fox News after having blown
it ratings-wise with Limbaugh's ill-fated TV program. A few months
ago, I had a discussion with one of O'Reilly's Fox producers.
She asked me what I would want to talk to O'Reilly about if I
went on his program. I said, "that's easy, let's talk about
Hollywood making O'Reilly's career and how he now rants and raves
about Hollywood's lack of patriotism." Never heard anything
back. What a surprise! It seems O'Reilly is better at dishing
out criticism than taking it. No spin? Really O'Reilly! O'Reilly
- phony number two.
And what about Sean Hannity? Is this
some experienced inside-the-beltway political sage who has always
had his hand on the political pulse of Washington? No, alas Sean
started out as a deejay in the radio mega-market of Huntsville,
Alabama - a town that abounds with Wal Marts, fast food joints,
and military employees and contractors but little full spectrum
political discourse. Before ending up at WABC-AM in New York,
Hannity honed his Freisler-like skills in Atlanta, where his
audience, while larger than the one he had in Huntsville, was
still demographically largely male, white, and red neck. Hannity,
of course, was chosen by WABC to replace Bob Grant, who was fired
for expressing glee over the death of Commerce Secretary Ron
Brown in a plane crash in Croatia. Grant said that there were
initial reports that there was one survivor of the crash, adding,
"it's probably Ron Brown, but then again I'm a pessimist."
Hannity, who now spins right-wing muck instead of America's Top
40, was the perfect choice to replace Grant.
When I appeared on "Hannity &
Colmes" to defend former Representative Cynthia McKinney's
statement about what George Bush might have known about the terrorist
attacks in the months leading up to 9-11, I was pitted against
Florida's GOP Representative Mark Foley. During a commercial
break, Hannity said he enjoyed his recent trip to Florida and
his golf outing with Foley. Can anyone even spell "conflict
of interests?" Hannity: phony number three.
Then there is G. Gordon Liddy. A former
long-term guest of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Liddy was the
team leader for the botched 1972 attempt by Richard Nixon's "Plumbers
Unit" to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters
at the Watergate. Libby now shills for the neo-conservatives
and the Israeli right-wing. He constantly features Jerusalem
Post publisher Tom Rose on his radio show. Rose is tied at the
waist to Richard Perle, the neo-conservative's Prince of Darkness.
Liddy constantly makes racist comments about Arabs and parrots
the Israeli expansionist line. He often mentions his parachute
jumps with the Israeli Defense Forces. People have their price.
If Liddy had been offered a chance to fly Russia's latest MIG,
perhaps he would be singing the praises of Vladimir Putin's brutalizing
the Chechens.
Liddy once said he would stand on a Washington
street and take a bullet for Richard Nixon's administration,
if that's all it took to save it. Apparently, in his zeal to
defend Israeli expansionism, Liddy fails to remember that Nixon
was one of America's most anti-Semitic presidents - he always
complained about Jews to people like Billy Graham and his German-descent
gauleiters, John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman. And no one can
forget where Nixon went for a ticker tape parade as his administration
was crumbling in 1974: Damascus, Syria where he was hailed by
one Hafez al Assad, whose son Bashir is routinely demonized by
Liddy and his Israeli lobby guests. Liddy: phony number four.
Roland Freisler is gone but his ideological
grand-standing descendants rule the airwaves. The Federal Communications
Commission, which, under Colin Powell's son Michael, is now bought
and paid for by the corporate infotainment industry, should investigate
America's radio phonies and their connections to the GOP right-wing.
In a perfect world, there would be such an investigation. But
in a nation gone mad, the hate mongers of the airwaves continue
to spew forth their venom. Freisler would have loved it.
Wayne Madsen
is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist.
He wrote the introduction to Forbidden
Truth.
Madsen can be reached at: WMadsen777@aol.com
Today's
Features
Gary
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