home / subscribe / donate / about us / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events

New Edition CounterPunch: a Special Investigation in the Rise and Fall of Ahmed Chalabi The Truth About Chalabi: the Looting of Jordan; His Ties to Iran; Conduit to the NYTs and the Neocons; His Stake in the Privatization of Iraq; Why the US Raided His Baghdad Compound by Andrew Cockburn; Kerry Administers CPR to Stricken President: "Give Bush Slack on Iraq; Bush Deserves Credit for Job Growth; I'll Appoint an Anti-Abortion Judge" by Alexander Cockburn. In May, CounterPunch Online was read by over 20 million viewers! 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! Now Available: Hot New CounterPunch T-Shirts! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Cockburn / St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War Now Available! Today's Stories June 4, 2004 Chris Floyd Masked and Anonymous: Inside America's Animal House June 3, 2004 Ron Jacobs Iran's Nuclear Dilemma Dr. Susan Block America in tha Hood Michael Donnelly The Bully and the Brahmin John Chuckman Insanity in America: US Ranks Number One in the Deranged Christopher Brauchli The Return of Cardinal Law: Rome on $12,000 a Month Samia Nassar Melki Caravaggio in Iraq Mike Whitney Subverting Justice: Pre-Trial Ruminations in the Padilla Case Diane Rejman Memorial Day Isn't Just About the Dead Scott Morris "WMDs" in Cuba Paul de Rooij Palestinian Misery in Perspective June 2, 2004 Brian Cloughley The Liars are Winning Ray McGovern How Far Would They Go? Beware "Credible Intelligence" Josh Frank The Anybody But Bush Offensive Mike Whitney The Afghanistan Failure: Bush's Warlord Patriots Jackie Corr Iraq and Ireland: Three Tales from Butte, Montana Robert Jensen The US Lost the Iraq War...and It's a Good Thing, Too Alexander Cockburn "Bye, Bye Boonville!" June 1, 2004 Gary Leupp Instant Karma: Bush's Sins Catch Up with Him William A. Cook Manufacturers of Fear and Loathing in Rafah Dave Lindorff Will the Times Clean House? Kevin Zeese Inside the Kerry / Nader Meeting: Did the Kerry Campaign Lie About What Was Discussed? Jacob Levich Coming Soon: Return of the Draft, a Bipartisan Production Kathy Kelly Voices in the Wilderness v. the US Government Website of the Day Remind Us   May 29 / 31, 2004 Lee Ballinger / Dave Marsh The Origins of Memorial Day Janine Pommy Vega Memo for Memorial Day Mike Ferner On Their Way to Abu Ghraib Alfred W. McCoy The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research Douglas Valentine An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions Chris White First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto Bruce Anderson The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu David Vest Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire Saul Landau Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy? Kurt Nimmo Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA Elaine Cassel The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders Will Potter The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps; Get Arrested as a "Terrorist" Ben Tripp They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches Dr. Susan Block Save Abu Ghraib! Kia Kojouri Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh Mickey Z D-Day: 60 Years is Enough! Jon Brown Correcting the Correction at the Times Patrick B. Barr Pre-emptive War Insurance Stephen Gowans Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel Tom Gorman Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly New Dave Zirin Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad Gregory Weiher Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy" Erik Cummings Jung Meets Bush Poets' Basement Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert   May 28, 2004 Rafael Rodriguez Cruz Curtain of Silence on the Cuban 5 Greg Moses Bush's Misleading Speech on Abu Ghraib Dave Lindorff Dissing Independent Contractors: Those Who Do the Dirty Work Norman Solomon Leaping for Lies at the Times Rep. Bill Delahunt Bush's Cruel New Rules on Cuba Paul McGeough Chalabi Baba and the 40 Thieves Niranjan Ramakrishnan India and Nehru: 40 Years After Alexander Cockburn NYTs: "Maybe We Did Screw Up...a Little"   May 27, 2004 Amy Goodman / David Goodman Fatal Errors: the Lies of Our Times Douglas Valentine Ragging the Dogs of War at the NYTs John L. Hess The Times Confesses...Kind Of Stew Albert Dellinger, the Wrestling Pacifist Dave Dellinger a 1993 Interview Christopher Brauchli Tax Breaks for Scions...to Hell with Poor Kids Rampton / Stauber Banana Republicans: Pumping Irony   May 26, 2004 Ron Jacobs Goodbye, David Dellinger: He Was a Friend of Ours Robert Fisk The Things Bush Didn't Say in His Speech Zeynep Toufe New Draft UN Resolution Permits Perpetual Occupation Conn Hallinan Bush and Sharon: the Oil Connection Tom Stephens 2 + 2 is On My Mind: More Morons and War Crimes Derek Medley Protesting Gov. Bigot CounterPunch Wire FBI Abducts Artist; Seizes Art Andrew Cockburn The Trail to Tehran   May 25, 2004 Joe Bageant The Covert Kingdom: On Earth as It is in Texas Col. Dan Smith A Question of Human Dignity Gary Handschumacher Visiting Lori Berenson: Time to Bring Her Home Toni Solo A Developing War in the Andes Marc Estrin September Song: Disturbing Questions About 9/11 Stephen Banko, III A Vietnam Vet on "Supporting the Troops" Website of the Day The Wizard of Whimsy   May 24, 2004 Ron Jacobs Dan Senor is Safe! Kurt Nimmo Dirty Tricks & TortureGate: the Missing Taguba Pages Sam Hamod Gen. Zinni: "Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time" Mike Whitney The Wedding was a Bomb Stan Goff Open Season on MAMs Image of the Day A Photo from Abu Ghraib We Didn't See on the Front Page of the NYTs     May 22 / 23, 2004 Paul de Rooij Colin Powell, a Political Obituary Jeffrey St. Clair When War is Swell: Bush and the Carlyle Group Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Her Son Was Told He Wouldn't See Combat; Now He's Dead: an Interview with Sue Niederer Brian Cloughley America is Committing War Crimes in Iraq Saul Landau Democracy in Latin America: Great for Investors; Not So Good for People Brandy Baker Feminists Stand By Their Man: Abortion, Judges and Kerry Randall Robinson Bushwhacked in the Caribbean Uri Avnery The Rape of Rafah Ben Tripp Assume the Worst Bruce Anderson News from Ecotopia: the Truth About the Wine Business Josh Ruebner Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers Peter Wolson, Ph. D. Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib Chloe Cockburn In Defense of "Troy": What Hector Could Teach Rummy Linda Burnham Sexual Domination in Uniform: an American Value Adrien Rain Burke War of the Necrophiliacs: Spc. Sabrina Harman and Her Corpse David Krieger Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy Ron Jacobs Turnaround Poets' Basement Ford, Albert & LaMorticella   May 21, 2004 Ray Close The Canards of the Apologists Christopher Brauchli "The Object of Torture is Torture" Amira Hass Darkness at Noon Jack McCarthy Camilo Mejia: Can the Son of a Sandinista Get a Fair Trial from the US Army? Bill Kauffman Nader v. Bush Omar Barghouti No More Tears for America Ghali Hassan Moral Failure of the "Free World" in Gaza Christopher Reed How the CIA Taught the Portuguese to Torture Website of the Day Eric Idle on the Bush Administration: Fuck You, So Very Much   May 20, 2004 Andrew Cockburn The Truth About Chalabi Kathy Kelly A Visit from the FBI Niranjan Ramakrishnan Brown and Bored of Education in India Tom Stephens & John Philo The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney & Co. Sam Bahour / Michael Dahan Genocide by Public Policy Robert Ovetz Ending the Race for the Last Turtle Billy Wilson The Most Important Thing I Learned at School This Year Website of the Day Rafah Today         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

June 4, 2004 Apprehension and Frustration Neo-Cons on the Brink By WAYNE MADSEN Having just hit the half-century mark age wise, I can't remember a time when Americans were more apprehensive and frustrated than they are today. Sure, there was Watergate. But thanks to our then working system of checks and balances, the American political system righted itself and did not capsize as some doomsayers predicted. After Richard Nixon's resignation, the newly-sworn in President, Gerald Ford, said America's national nightmare was over. Unlike 1974, 2004's nightmare ­ called the George W. Bush administration ­ shows no signs of abatement. And for that reason, a majority of Americans with IQs representing a semblance of education are growing increasingly restless. How and when this simmering boil among Americans will overflow is anyone's guess but the consequences may shock advertising sponsored political pundits, corporate newspaper editors, and bought-and-paid for pollsters. From the halls of the Pentagon to the State Department, the offices of constitutional lawyers to political insiders, and the analytical shops of the Central Intelligence Agency to the Defense Intelligence Agency, people have had it with the ideologues (neo conservatives, evangelical dominionists, Christian Zionists, reactionary Catholics, expansionistic Israel Firsters, creative destructionists, Moonies, apocalyptic fundamentalists, and plain old fascists and assorted other kooks) who have nested and reproduced within the three branches of our Federal government. The growing restlessness in America now crosses political party lines, age, racial, and ethnic groups, religious affiliations, and income brackets. Every day brings a new outrage to those of us who realize that the future of America hangs in the balance. John Kerry should be reaping a whirlwind of support from those angered and disgusted at every syllabic-challenged utterance from the current occupant of the White House. But Kerry's support is lukewarm, even among committed Democrats. The reason is simple ­ all those who have ranted and raved over the years about the influence of special interests in controlling American foreign and domestic policy have been right on the money all along. The fact that Kerry is part of the nexus of filthy-rich special interests and policy making results in many of his prospective voters saying they will be voting against Bush and not necessarily for Kerry. Kerry's reluctance to besmirch or even talk about Yale's Skull and Bones crypto-Masonic and jingoistic fraternity (of which he is a member) add to the apprehension of many Americans. But Bush still stirs an angry bile across the land. Recent news that he has one of Saddam Hussein's favorite pistols in a room adjacent to the Oval Office should be no surprise. Bush likes to show the gun off to his visitors. After all, the Skull and Bonesmen regale themselves in objects looted from battlefields and graves. In their fraternity house at Yale, affectionately called "The Tomb," the Bonesmen are surrounded by Hitler's silverware, Nazi war booty (including swastika iconography), Apache Chief Geronimo's skull (allegedly grave robbed from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, by George Dubya's grandfather, Bonesman Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut), and the skulls of Pancho Villa, President Martin van Buren (what did he ever do to piss off the Bushes?), and abolitionist leader John Brown. And it should come as no surprise that nine members of a wealthy New England blue blood family, the Cheneys, who made their wealth in the Chinese silk trade, were Skull and Bonesmen. One branch of that family made its way to Nebraska with one of their progeny, Richard Brice Cheney, eventually moving to Wyoming where he launched the Cheney family's move back into political power. If Kerry wanted to reassure us that his administration will be radically different from the Bush-Cheney junta, he should immediately resign from the Skull and Bones, denounce their sordid agenda and rituals, and demand that human remains robbed from graves be returned to their proper burial places. We can understand why George W. Bush likes the death cult aspects of this gruesome and morose society of wealthy snot-nosed rich kids but there is no reason for Kerry to honor whatever goofy pledges he made to these ghouls when he was initiated by them. Between the Yalie death cultists, Christian evangelical end timers, neo-conservative global hegemonists, and those with IQs lower than George W. Bush (91), the rest of us (the good news is that we are still a majority), including a number with one or more stars on their military uniforms, are becoming irritated to the point where something is going to break. Some quotes recently picked up from two and three-star generals and bird colonels: "I took an oath to the Constitution, not Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld;" "If the Pentagon were being overrun by the enemy and I had one bullet left, I'd use it on Stephen Cambone" (the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence); "Too bad they missed Wolfowitz!" (a reference to the October 2003 Iraqi insurgent bombing of the Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad where Wolfowitz was staying). And this from a National Guard Colonel, "The Governors are ready to revolt if any more of their Guardsmen are sent to Iraq." If Bush, Cheney, and Rove interfere with the election process, either by postponing the November 2 election because of an unspecified "terrorist" threat or other concocted reason, many in the senior levels of the military are prepared to honor their oath to the Constitution and protect our nation from enemies "domestic." That includes presidents and their staff who want to overturn the Constitution process for their own nefarious purposes. A long time colleague, a well-known constitutional lawyer, told me that he would support the military taking such unprecedented action against an out-of-control executive branch. A seasoned Washington political observer, well known to television audiences, echoed the lawyer's sentiment ­ he even called for military trials of Bush, Cheney, and their henchmen after their ouster. Yes, the outrage factor is at an all time fever pitch. In my lifetime, I've seen nothing like it. Yet, it is wholly understandable. Every day the Bush regime outrages us and the world, the gulf widens between the reasoned masses and the perception managers and ideologues who surround the pathetic one in the White House. Al Gore (the man who should rightly be president) has certainly had enough. He let Bush have it in a recent speech in New York City. The whining right-wingers who back Bush cried foul. To those who think Kerry is "Bush-Lite," Gore's words were a health tonic. Gore said Bush, like Fautus, sold his soul in return for global domination. It's not known if Gore, a Harvard man, has read up on Yale's Skull and Bones, but such a comparison has much merit. Gore wowed the audience with a call for the resignation of Bush's national security and defense team: the whole shebang of neo-cons and incompetents: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Cambone, Condoleezza Rice. As Howard Dean would say, "Yee Haw!" If the military does have to purge the Executive Branch of nut cases and les démagogues très dangereux, they will find support from Gore, who somehow wound up on a "check baggage" alert list at Reagan National Airport when he was boarding a flight to Wisconsin. Candidates for the Green Party and the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate have been similarly placed on passenger watch lists in what has become a Soviet-style system of internal travel controls and checkpoints. Across the political spectrum, people want their Constitution protected and if the military steps up to the plate, they will have widespread support. So enough of this regime of fascists and suicidal Christian cultists. If the Bush junta and their panty-waste supporters want to take this battle into the streets they will find patriotic constitutionalist Americans up to the task. We have most of the military brass on our side and the real military veterans who have faced diminishing benefits under Bush (not that flotsam and jetsam of society that ride into Washington on Harleys every Memorial Day weekend and claim they have some God-given right to speak for veterans even if they do get a guided tour of the White House from the moron-in-chief in return for their meaningless political endorsement). The neo-cons appear to be sensing that the tide is turning against them. Their archangel, Richard Perle, recently complained that a gaggle of former intelligence officers helped bring down his friend, the Iraqi conman Ahmad Chalabi, by publishing defamatory stories about him. Hey, Richard, I plead guilty! But we won't stop with Chalabi. Former and current intelligence officers, retired and active duty military officers, and all those who want to see sanity return to American foreign policy won't stop until we see you and your duplicitous friends ­ Michael Ledeen, Elliot Abrams, Manucher Ghorbanifar, and the other Iran-contra alumni -- similarly exposed as agents of influence who gladly walk the line between the Israelis and Iranians and eke as much out of both as possible. Dan Senor, the Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman, not only worked for the criminal Carlyle Group, but his association with a company that seeks to accelerate Israeli technology infusion into the U.S. defense and homeland security markets, deserves special condemnation and continued scrutiny once he folds up his Baghdad tent and moves back to the United States. The frustration of Americans is matched by that of the people of Iraq, Britain, Haiti, Italy, Australia, and other nations that have come under the control of Bush's minions. The recent elections that threw out right-wing allies of Bush in Spain, South Korea, and India should serve as a stark warning to the neo-cons. Your time is also coming. Some members of the recently-dissolved Iraqi Governing Council, like the U.S. military, are in open revolt against the neo-cons. Tony Blair and Australia's John Howard are on the political ropes. Italy's neo-fascist Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi digs himself deeper into political and legal troubles. The neo-cons, the swaggering Bush hegemonists, and their off-base "End Times" religious allies must be ejected from the American body politic. They did more to destroy this country's constitutional fabric than any recent past conspiratorial group ­ including the Communist Party, Weathermen, Freemen, or Ku Klux Klan. None of them ever gained control of the White House and Pentagon. Let John Kerry begin the process of cleansing America of this ilk by resigning from and denouncing the Skull and Bones. Pass a Federal law requiring them to return human remains to proper burial places and stolen war booty to their rightful owners (in the case of Hitler's silverware, that would be the U.S. Government). The moron-in-chief should turn Saddam's pistol over to the new Iraqi government's archives. If our military leaders decide to honor their oath to the Constitution, let those of us who would normally find abhorrent a Seven Days in May scenario, welcome their action. If retired Generals Anthony Zinni and Joseph Hoar are any indication, our military leaders have more of an appreciation for our way of life and traditions than the "selected" occupants of the Executive Branch. Our military leadership may be the only power in the land that can challenge those who seek to destroy the United States, if not the entire world. Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates." Madsen can be reached at: WMadsen777@aol.com Weekend Edition Features for May 29 / 31, 2004 Mike Ferner On Their Way to Abu Ghraib Alfred W. McCoy The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research Douglas Valentine An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions Chris White First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto Bruce Anderson The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu David Vest Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire Saul Landau Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy? Kurt Nimmo Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA Elaine Cassel The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders Will Potter The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps; Get Arrested as a "Terrorist" Ben Tripp They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches Dr. Susan Block Save Abu Ghraib! Kia Kojouri Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh Mickey Z D-Day: 60 Years is Enough! Jon Brown Correcting the Correction at the Times Patrick B. Barr Pre-emptive War Insurance Stephen Gowans Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel Tom Gorman Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly New Dave Zirin Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad Gregory Weiher Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy" Erik Cummings Jung Meets Bush Poets' Basement Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert WWW http://www.counterpunch.org   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /