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Today's
Stories
March 26, 2008
Sharon Smith
Greed
Pays
March 25, 2008
Ishmael Reed
The
Crazy Rev. Wright
Corey D. B.
Walker
The Politics of Jeremiah Wright
Linn Washington Jr.
Racism in America and Other Uncomfortable Facts
Alan Farago
The Money Launderers: a Picnic for Wall St. Insiders
Vijay Prashad
A Glimmer of Hope From the Gulf Coast
Joshua Frank
A Silver Lining to the Bush Years?
Ralph Nader
How Public Servants Can Help End This War
David Rovics
If I Can't Dance: Why is the Left So Boring?
Peter Morici
America's Banks are Broken
Dave Zirin
Olympic Flames: China's Crackdown in Tibet
David Krieger
The Crisis in Tibet
Website of
the Day
Memorializing Iraq
March 24, 2008
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Blonde
Ambition: Hillary's Berserker Campaign for 2012
Peter Morici
Digging Out of the Recession
Uri Avnery
Two Americas
Wajahat Ali
First of the Mohicans: an Interview with Rep. Keith Ellison
Paul Craig Roberts
Inside the Shell Game
George Ciccariello-Maher
The Coming War on Venezuela
Stephen Lendman
Sami Al-Arian's Long Ordeal
Christopher
Brauchli
Possessing Someone Else's Country
Cat Woods
A Letter to Mom on Obama
Stacey Warde
Tax Burden
Dave Lindorff
The American Dead Hits 4,000, But Who's Counting?
Website of
the Day
Live from the Longest Walk
March 22 /
23, 2008
Ralph Nader
Bush
Blisters the Truth on Iraq
Nicole Colson
Can You Afford to Feed Your Family?
James Petras
The Cost of Unilateral Humanitarian Initiatives
Laura Carlsen
From Bombs to Markets: The Andean Crisis and the Geopolitics
of Trade
Greg Moses
Tolerance and the American Pulpit
Andy Worthington
Torture Stories Dog Guantánamo Trials
Michael Dickinson
Art on Trial
John Ross
Bush's Surge Hits Mosul
Missy Comley Beattie
Killer Economics
David Michael
Green
Happy Anniversary, America!
Ramzy Baroud
The Coming Uncertain War on Iran
Martha Rosenberg
Easter Egg Shells from Hell
Paul Watson
Evolution is Going to the Dogs in the Galapagos
Isabella Kenfield
Monsanto's
Raid on Brazil
James Murren
Logging v. Water in Honduras
Jacob Hornberger
Sex and the Immigration Officer
Kathlyn Stone
Ben Heine, Master of the Art of Resistance
Seth Sandronsky
Rethinking New Mexico's History
Kim Nicolini
Class, Gender and Abortion in Communist Romania
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Booked Up: What I'm Reading This Week
Poets' Basement
Wilson, Woods, Gibbons and Orloski
Website of
the Weekend
Merci, McCain!
March 21, 2008
Marleen Martin
Land
Behind Bars: the Hidden Casualties of America's "War on
Crime"
Peter Montague
Run
Your Car on Coal? Maybe Not
Saul Landau
Monroe's
Deadly Doctrine
Anis Hamadeh
Merkel in the Knesset
Jacob Hornberger
McCain's Al Qaeda Scare: Slip or Tactic?
Khalil Nakhleh
Al Nakba of 1948: How Long Will It Persist?
Adam Isacson
Colombia, Paramilitary Threats and Assassinations
Kenneth Couesbouc
Money for Nothing
Madis Senner
Will the Feds Underwrite the Stock Market?
Monica Benderman
The Costs of Freedom: What Are You Willing to Pay?
Website of the Day
Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
March 20, 2008
Damien Millet
/
Eric Toussaint
The
Triple Failing of the Big Private Banks
Mike Whitney
Winding
Up Bear
John Ross
What Do We Owe Iraq?
Dave Lindorff
Paying the Piper: the Bodies and Bills are Piling Up
Wajahat Ali
Pakistan on Fire
Jill Nagle
Memo to Sex Workers: Stop Financing Shock Journalism
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Obama and the Psychic Auto-Shrink-Wrapping Called Race in America
Dan La Botz
Obama's Race Speech
Robert Weissman
Alternative Power: Shutting Down the API
Stella Dallas
/
Jennifer Matsui
Apostasy Now! Mamet, Enter Stage Right
Website of the Day
The Angry Monk
March 19, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
A
War of Lies
Robert Fisk
The Little Men and the Inferno
Jeff Taylor
Five Years of War in Iraq
Ed Ruggero
From Pinkville to Iraq: the Dark Anniversary of My Lai
Ron Jacobs
Who'll Stop the Rain?
Christopher
Fons
Obama Takes the Race Bait
Sherwood Ross
In Defense of Rev. Wright
Cynthia McKinney
An Urgent Crisis: Confronting America's Racial Disparities
Joshua Frank
The Kool-Aid That Kills
Robert Weissman
Monsanto's Genetic Food Gamble
Walter Brasch
It's a Welfare State--If You're Rich
Yifat Susskind
Iraqi Women Resist the Occupation
Andrew Wimmer
War Demands Its Due
Website of
the Day
Glimpses of Nature
March 18, 2008
David Price
The
Military "Leveraging" of Cultural Knowledge
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Collapse of American Power
Tim Wise
Of National Lies and Racial America: Jeremiah Wright, Barack
Obama and the Unacceptability of Truth
Patrick Cockburn
One of the Most Disastrous Wars Ever Fought
Conn Hallinan
Afghanistan, a River Running Backward
James T. Phillips
Monsters: Past, Present and Wannabe
Uri Avnery
The Killing in Bethlehem
David Macaray
Could Wal-Mart Revive the Labor Movement?
Marjorie Cohn
Beware an Attack on Iran
Peter Zinn
Obama in New Orleans
Dan La Botz
The Economic Crisis, Labor and the Left
Monica Benderman
Where are We Going?
March 17, 2008
Pam Martens
The
Fed's Wall Street Dilemma
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The US, Iran and the Policy of Dual Containment
Nelson P. Valdés
The Imperial Branding of Simon Bolivar and the Cuban Revolution
Peter Morici
The Corrosive Consequences of the Trade Deficit
Wajahat Ali
Disrobing the Nine: a Conversation with Jeffrey Toobin on the
Supreme Court Since 9/11
Ronnie Cummins
Beyond Progressive Malpractice: Taking Down Big Pharma
Shaun Harkin
Saint Patrick's Day in Fortress America
Ali Khan
No Pardon for Musharraf
Robert Jensen
Beyond Peace
P. Sainath
Oh, What a Lovely Waiver!
Greg Moses
Jeremiah was a Bullhorn
Dr. Susan Block
Advice for Eliot Spitzer
Website of the Day
No Cowboys
March 15 /
16, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
How
to Destroy a Country in Five Years
Mike Whitney
Bearly
Alive: Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief
Ralph Nader
Of
Laws and Men
Robert Pollin
It's Still the Economy, Stupid
Diane Christian
The Poetics of Perversity: From Boccaccio to Spitzer
Wajahat Ali
Faking the Hood: a Conversation with Ishmael Reed
Tom Wright
/
Therese Saliba
Rachel Corrie's Case for Justice
Alan Farago
Back to Florida: Where Bushtime Began
Greg Moses
Raiding the Family Room in Texas
Michael Hudson
A Grand Global Bargain?
Martha Rosenberg
Why Hillary's Favorite Chicken Company is Eying China
John Goekler
Fourth Generation Warfare in a Fifth Generation Conflict
Uzma Aslam
Khan
A Letter to Barack Obama: Where's the Change, Barack?
Oren Ben-Dor
The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon
David Underhill
Mammon, Morals and the Mobile Tanker Deal
Fred Gardner
The Education of Eliot Spitzer
David Michael
Green
Why Spitzer Should Have Resigned (and Why He Shouldn't Have)
Rev. William E. Alberts
Jesus, Entombed in Heaven
Gail Dines
It's All About the John: Prostitution and Male Power
David Yearsley
Conducting, Anarchy and the Problem of When to Begin
Chris Clarke
Walking with Zeke: the Luckiest of Dogs
Poets' Basement
Anderson, Lodge & Subiet
Website of
the Day
Deviant Art
March 14, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Watching
the Dollar Die
Don Santina
Vichy
Democrats: Pelosi and the Politics of Collaboration
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Mother Vows Revenge on US: How She Lost Her Husband and Her Sons
Tim Rinne
StratCom
Rules! The Next War Will Start in Nebraska
Robert Fantina
In
Torture We Trust
Saul Landau
Letter
to the Presidents-in-Waitings
David Macaray
Common
Myths About Labor Unions
Franklin Lamb
Is
the Bush Administration Switching Horses in Lebanon
Michael Neumann
The
One State Illusion: Reply to My Critics
March 13, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Republicans
and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America
Mike Whitney
Meltdown
Looms Larger As Credit Markets Freeze
Assaf Kfoury
"One-State
or Two State?"- Sterile Debate on False Alternatives
Andy Worthington
Afghan
Hero Who Died in Guantánamo: The Background to the Story
Adam Federman
From
Autopia to Autogeddon: Cars Reach the End of the Road
March 12, 2008
Dave Lindorff
Bringing
Down Spitzer: It's the Big Brother Who Should Bother US
R.F. Blader
The
Spitzer Backlash
Yonatan Mendel
How
to be an Israeli Journalist. Never Write "Murder" or
"Palestine"
Jonathan Cook
One
State or Two? Neither. The Issue is Zionism
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Fallon
and Gates -- At Least One Cheer
James J. Brittain
Was
the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders
Ron Jacobs
"All
the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul"
March 11, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
How
to End the Subprime Crisis
Ed O'Loughlin
How
Israeli Troops Invade Homes in Gaza, Brutalize, Smash and Steal
Ramzy Baroud
'Unwavering
Commitment' to Inequality
Kathy Christison
One
State or Two? The Debate Over Israel and Palestine
China Hand
PRC
Plays it Cool, as U.S. Tries to Amp Up Pressure on Iran
John Joslin
Thank
You, Nafta! Welcome to Weirton, Home of the Discount Cigarette
Mike Averko
Serb
Politics, Kosovo and the Moscow-Washington Divide
Ben Rosenfeld
Gavin
Newsom's Kneejerk Plan
Thierry Paquot
High
Rise, Low Spirits:The Curse of the Tower Block
March 10, 2008
Uri Avnery
"Kill
A Hundred Turks and Rest": The Five-Day War in Gaza
Col. Dan Smith
Scoring
the "Surge" and What Lies Beyond
R.F. Blader
Why
"Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key" is Losing its
Sheen
Michael Neumann
The
One-State Illusion: More is Less
Bob Fitrakis
and Harvey Wasserman
Did
the Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio?
James J. Brittain
Anti-Uribe
Protests in Colombia and the World
Missy Comley
Beattie
The
Passion of John McCain
March 8-9,
2008 Weekend Edition
JoAnn Wypijewski
The
Only Way to Fight the Clintons
Mike Whitney
Sorting
Through the Rubble in Post Bubble America
Peter Morici
Fed
and Treasury Fiddle as Economy Plummets
Ralph Nader
The
Silent Violence of Gaza's Suffering that Candidates Ignore
Jonathan Cook
The
Meaning of Gaza's Shoah
Steve Niva
Behind
the Israeli Escalation in Gaza
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Crisis
over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax
Hervé
Do Alto and Franck Poupeau
Bolivia:
Morales is Checked
Eric Walberg
To
Leave and Stay at the Same Time: Putin to Medvedev to…?
Scott Johnson
City
of A Thousand Foreclosures
Mark Scaramella
James
Brown's Gate
Bill Clinton
President
Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force
Chairman
Poet's Basement
St.
Thomasino, Engel, Davies and Willson
Website of
the Weekend
Hillary
Blackens Barack
March 7, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Iraq Could Blow-Up in John McCain's Face
Robin Blackburn
Question
for Barrack Obama: Why Afghanistan is the'Right War'?
Saul Landau
The
Stupid Economy
Binoy Kampmark
When
Competition is Good: McCain and the Muddled Democrats
Chris Floyd
Crushing
the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire
Andy Worthington
Spanish
Drop "Inhuman" Extradition Request for Guantánamo
Britons
Will Potter
Before
the Smoke Even Clears in Seattle: Bringing Out the T Word
March 6, 2008
March 6, 2008
Vincent Navarro
The
Next Failure of Health Reform
Forrest Hylton
High Stakes in the Andes: Colombia's Cornered President
Peter Morici
Why the Dollar is So Cheap
George Ciccariello-Maher
Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats
John Ross
Taxi! Taxi! The Dark Side of the Oscars
Jacob Hornberger
No Standing to Lecture on Justice
Paul Watson
Illegal Japanese Whaling by the Numbers
Dan Bacher
Off the Deep End
Website of the Day
A Katrina Reader Online
March 5, 2008
Cockburn /
St. Clair
A
Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader)
Joanne Mariner
After Guantanamo
Fidel Castro
The Raid on Ecuador: Underestimating Rafael Correa
Christopher
Brauchli
The Turkish Invasions
Steven Sherman
Obama and the Prospects for a Renewal of the Left
Dave Lindorff
Busting Bush & Co. in New England
James Murren
Bombing Somalia
Adam Engel
Necropolis Now
Website of Day
Remember Song
March 4, 2008
Wajahat Ali
Mumbo
Jumbo: Naming Names with Ishmael Reed
William Blum
How Could Hillary Have Known?
Bill Quigley
The Cleansing of New Orleans
Ralph Nader
The Prince Harry Solution
Patrick Irelan
Oil and Health in Venezuela
James J. Brittain
/
R. James Sacouman
Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing a New Latin America
Norman Solomon
The War Election
Jacob Hornberger
Hillary in Waco: the Missing Apology
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo and the European Parliament
Mike Averko
Kosovo and the Press
Website of the Day
Tex-Mex Primary
March 3, 2008
Jennifer Loewenstein
Gazan Holocaust
Alan Farago
American Politics and the Faltering Economy
Richard Gott
Colombian Deaths in Ecuador
Wajahat Ali
Who Speaks for a Billion Muslims? Analyzing the World Gallup
Poll with John Esposito
Paul Craig Roberts
The Mukasey Conspiracy: a Bi-Partisan Attack on the Constitution
Robert Weissman
When Multinationals Say Adieu
Uri Avnery
Good Morning, Hamas
Martha Rosenberg
When Your Meat is a Downer
Eva Liddell
Leave the Next Dance for Bill
Michael Donnelly
Will Ferrell Does Flint
Website of the Day
Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home Blues
March 1 / 2,
2008
Alexander Cockburn
The
Race Card
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Political Trial of Don Siegelman
Kathleen and Bill Christison
Nader the Best Antidote to American Imperialism
Nelson P. Valdés
Cuba After Fidel
Christopher Brauchli
Meet Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev: Friend of Bill, George and Dick
Ron Jacobs
Inside the Secret City: Bomb Making at Oak Ridge
John Ross
The New Conquistadores: Spain's Reconquest of Mexico
Robert Fantina
Posturing Over Patriotism: Obama and Those Lapel Pins
Robert Weissman
Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Rights Hypocrisy
Mohammed Omer
Fear in Gaza
Remi Kanazi
Barack Obama and the Politics of Xenophobia
Bob Jackson
Why is Yellowstone Destroying Its Bison Herd?
Richard Rhames
Casual Threats: Loaded with Mercury
Franklin Lamb
Lebanon Awaits the Arrival of the USS Cole
Rannie Amiri
Showboat Diplomacy: US Warships Steam Toward Lebanon
David Michael
Green
The Three Faces of Hillary: the Politics of Flim-Flam
Conn Hallinan
Notes from the Southern Cone
Faheem Hussain
Prince Harry of Afghanistan and the Meaning of Normalcy
Poets' Basement
Gibbons, Orloski, Gardner and Ford
Website of
the Weekend
The Palestine Chronicle Needs (and Deserves) Your Help!
February 29,
2008
Matt Gonzalez
The
Obama Craze
Jonathan Cook
Academic Freedom? Not for Arabs in Israel
Joshua Frank
Obama and Israel
Anthony DiMaggio
The Unilateral Presidency: Signing Statements and the Rollback
of American Law
Linn Washington, Jr.
Cop Abuse in America
Binoy Kampmark
Hubris and Nemesis
Robert Bryce
Energy Efficiency May be a Good Thing, But It Won't Cut Energy
Use
Sonja Karkar
Australia's Government Continues Its Love Affair with Israel
Dave Lindorff
A Manchurian Candidate in the White House? Obama or Bush?
Website of
the Day
Olduvai George
February 28,
2008
Patrick Cockburn
"Iraq"
Falls Apart
Fred Gardner
The Birth of NAFTA
Michael Levitin
The Crisis in Kosovo is Just Beginning
William S.
Lind
The Fake State of Kosovo
David Macaray
A Ray of Hope for Organized Labor
Stephen Fleischman
Nader's Latest Run: Monkey Wrench or Cattle Prod?
George Wuerthner
The Myths of Forest Health: Why Ecological Logging is an Oxymoron
Laura Carlsen
The North American Union Farce
Carl Finamore
Why the Delta-Northwest Deal Hasn't Taken Off
Michael Dickinson
The Day I Bombed the House of Commons
Website of the Day
Plane Stupid
February 27,
2008
David Rosen
Playing
the Race Card: Obama, Love Across the Color Line and Political
Dirty Tricks
Vijay Prashad
Bomber John: McCain and the 100 Year War
Harvey Wasserman
Incident at Turkey Point: Did Florida Go to the Radioactive Brink?
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo's Shambolic Trials: Pentagon Boss Resigns,
Ex-Prosecutor Joins Defense
Wajahat Ali
Pakistan for Sale: an Interview with Ayesha Siddiqa on Pakistan's
Military Economy
Peter Morici
The Auction-Rate Securities Fiasco: a Drama of Greed and Betrayal
Stephen Philion
Conspiracy Theory, Fears of Betrayal and Today's Anti-War Movement
Michael Donnelly
Obama by Unanimous Decision
Erica Rosenberg /
Janine Blaeloch
After the Land Deals: Will There
be Any Wilderness Left to Protect?
Website of
the Day
Dress Blues
February 26,
2008
Debbie Nathan
Confessions
of a Gitmo Guard
Alan Dershowitz
v. Frank Menetrez
On Finkelstein
Harvey Wasserman
How Ohio Got Nuked
Michael Colby
Ralph Nader vs. the Fundamentalist Liberals
Gary Leupp
Condi vs. Putin on Bullying Belgrade
David Orchard
The New Conquistadors: Canada in Afghanistan
Martha Rosenberg
The Big HRT
Fran Shor
The Electoral Circus and Nader's Sideshow
Serge Halimi
The Dom Perignon Socialist Manifesto: Bernard Henri-Levy's Plan
for the French Left
Global Balkans
Neo-Liberalism and Protectorate States in the Post-Yugoslav Balkans:
an Interview with Tariq Ali
Website of
the Day
Texistentialism
February 25,
2008
Roger Morris
A
Death in Damascus
Anthony DiMaggio
Military
Bases, the Media and the Democrats
Ralph Nader
Why I'm Running
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq Broils
Paul Craig Roberts
Kosovo and the Empire Crazies
Peter Morici
Bernanke's Failing Policies: a Long Recession Looms
Dave Lindorff
General Welch's Whitewash: What We Still Don't Know About That
Minot Nuke Incident
Saul Landau
/
Farrah Hassen
Fanatics, Mountebanks and Drillers: a Bloody Oil Film
Heather Gray
James Orange, Civil Rights Legend
Robert Weitzel
Accomodating Torture
John Halle
Kucinich Goes Down
Website of the Day
Do the Trunk Monkey!
February 23 / 4, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
The
Mushrooming Clouds That Hang Over McCain
Paul Craig
Roberts
Obama
and Global Trade
Wajahat Ali
Omissions of the Commission: an Interview with Phillip Shenon
on the 9/11 Commission
Ralph Nader
Neutering the FDA
Jürgen
Vsych
"What Was Ralph Nader Thinking?"
Fidel Castro
Watching the US Presidential Campaign from Havana
Andy Worthington
Britain's Guantánamo
David Macaray
Unions Under Assault
Jeremy Scahill
The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence
David Krieger
Stanley Sheinbaum
Caging the Cold War Monster
Ron Jacobs
Building for the Future
Michael Garrity
The Last, Best Hope for the Northern Rockies
Brian McKenna
Higher Ed's "Civic Engagements" Get Dumbed Down
Missy Beattie
Over the Hill with John McCain
Fred Gardner
American College of Physicians Takes Pro-Cannabis Stand (Mostly)
Boris Kagarlitsky
The Growth of the Russian Labor Movement
Mike Ferner
Kick That Barrel
Dan Bacher
On the Trail with the Border Angels
Christopher
Ketcham
Hillary Goes Where Obama Fears to Tread
Poets' Basement
Davies and Buknatski
Website of
the Weekend
Obama
Mariachi
February 22,
2008
Mike Whitney
The
Bonfire of Capital
Jason Hribal
Elephants and the Circus: The Story of Janet
Liaquat Ali Khan
Arresting Musharraf
Joshua Frank
That Obama Glow: the Nuclear Industry's Golden Child
Dave Lindorff
Vicki's John: Ask Not What She Did for Him, Ask What He Did for
Her!
Liliana Segura
When Torture is Old News: McCain's Blonde Diversion
Robert Fantina
Castro, Bush and Cuba: a Fiasco Waiting to Happen?
Yifat Susskind
The ABCs of Death: Bush vs. Africa's Women
Norm Kent
Pushing 60 with Pot
Website of
the Day
Bush Gets Down in Liberia
February 21,
2008
Saul Landau
Fidel
Steps Aside
Elizabeth Schulte
Left Behind, With No End in Sight: America's Long-Term Unemployed
Helen Redmond
Health Care as a Human Right
Benjamin Dangl
Undermining Bolivia
Michael Levitin
Kosovo's Dilemma
Liam Leonard
Fear and Loathing on the Emerald Isle
Patrick Irelan
Land and Food in Venezuela
Linn Cohen-Cole
Poor Ohio: a Second Letter to Hillary on Her Ties to Monsanto
Michael Simmons
Daydream Believer: John Stewart, the Miles Davis of Folk Music
CounterPunch
News Service
A Message from the Women of Okinawa to US GIs
Website of the Day
Cop Abuse in Shreveport
|
March
26, 2008
Too Timid, Too
Little and Too Late
Frontline's
War
By RAY McGOVERN
Former CIA
Analyst
Frontline's "Bush's War" on
PBS Monday and Tuesday evening was a nicely put-together rehash
of the top players' trickery that led to the attack on Iraq,
together with the power-grabbing, back-stabbing, and limitless
incompetence of the occupation.
Except for an inside-the-beltway
tidbit here and there-for example, about how the pitiable secretary
of state Colin Powell had to suffer so many indignities at the
hands of other type-A hard chargers, Frontline added little to
the discussion. Notably missing was any allusion to the unconscionable
role the Fourth Estate adopted as indiscriminate cheerleader
for the home team; nor was there any mention that the invasion
was a serious violation of international law. But those omissions,
I suppose, should have come as no surprise.
Nor was it a surprise that
any viewer hoping for insight into why Cheney and Bush were so
eager to attack Iraq was left with very thin gruel. It was more
infotainment, bereft of substantive discussion of the whys and
wherefores of what in my view is the most disastrous foreign
policy move in our nation's history.
Despite recent acknowledgements
from the likes of Alan Greenspan, Gen. John Abizaid, and others
that oil and permanent (or, if you prefer, "enduring")
military bases were among the main objectives, Frontline avoided
any real discussion of such delicate factors. Someone not already
aware of how our media has become a tool of the Bush administration
might have been shocked at how Frontline could have missed one
of President George W. Bush's most telling "signing statements."
Underneath the recent Defense Authorization Act, he wrote that
he did not feel bound by the law's explicit prohibition against
using the funding:
"(1) To establish any
military installation or base for the purpose of providing for
the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq,"
or
"(2) To exercise United
States control of the oil resources of Iraq."
So the Frontline show was largely
pap.
At one point, however, the
garrulous former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage did
allude to one of the largest elephants in the living room-Israel's
far-right Likudniks-and their close alliance with the so-called
neo-conservatives running our policy toward the Middle East.
But Armitage did so only tangentially, referring to the welcome
(if totally unrealistic) promise by Ahmed Chalabi that, upon
being put in power in Baghdad, he would recognize Israel. Not
surprisingly, the interviewer did not pick up on that comment;
indeed, I'm surprised the remark avoided the cutting room floor.
Courage
No Longer a Frontline Hallmark
Frontline has done no timely
reportage that might be looked upon as disparaging the George
W. Bush administration-I mean, for example, the real aims behind
the war, not simply the gross incompetence characterizing its
conduct. Like so many others, Frontline has been, let's just
say it, cowardly in real time-no doubt intimidated partly by
attacks on its funding that were inspired by the White House.
And now? Well the retrospective
criticism of incompetence comes as polling shows two-thirds of
the country against the Iraq occupation (and the number is surely
higher among PBS viewers). So, Frontline is repositioning itself
as a mild ex-post-facto critic of the war, but still unwilling
to go very far out on a limb. Explaining the aims behind war
crimes can, of course, be risky. It is as though an invisible
Joseph Goebbels holds sway.
Too Late
On Monday evening I found myself
initially applauding Frontline's matter- of-fact, who-shot-John
chronology of how our country got lied into attacking and occupying
Iraq. Then I got to thinking-have I not seen this picture before?
Many times?
It took a Hollywood producer
to recognize and act promptly on the con games that sober observers
could not miss as the war progressed. Where were the celebrated
"weapons of mass destruction" (WMD)? Robert Greenwald
simply could not abide the president's switch to "weapons
of mass destruction programs," which presumably might be
easier to find than the much-ballyhooed WMD so heavily advertised
before the attack on Iraq. You remember-those remarkable WMD
about which UN chief inspector Hans Blix quipped that the U.S.
had one hundred percent certainty of their existence in Iraq,
but zero percent certainty as to where they were.
Robert Greenwald called me
in May 2003. He had read a few of the memoranda published by
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) exposing
the various charades being acted out by the administration and
wanted to know what we thought of the president's new circumlocution
on WMD.
I complimented him on smelling
a rat and gave him names of my VIPS colleagues and other experienced
folks who could fill him in on the details. Wasting no time,
he arrived here in Washington in June, armed simply with copious
notes and a cameraman. Greenwald conducted the interviews, flew
back to his eager young crew in Hollywood and, poof, the DVD
"Uncovered: The War on Iraq" was released at the beginning
of November 2003."
So Frontline is four and a
half years behind a Hollywood producer with appropriate interest
and skepticism. (Full disclosure: I appear in "Uncovered,"
as do many of the interviewees appearing in Frontline's "Bush's
War.")
Actually, the interviewing
by Frontline occurred just a few months later. I know because
I was among those interviewed for that as well, as was my good
friend and former colleague at the CIA, Mel Goodman. I was struck
that Mel looked four years younger on this week's Frontline.
It only then dawned on me that he was four years younger when
interviewed.
Have a look at "Uncovered,"
and see how you think it compares to Frontline's "Bush's
War."
Safety in
Retrospectives
It also struck me that producing
a Frontline-style retrospective going back several years is a
much less risky genre to work with. Chalk it up to my perspective
as an intelligence analyst, but ducking the incredibly important
issues at stake over the next several months is, in my opinion,
unconscionable. The troop "surge" in Iraq, for example.
Only toward the very end of
the program does Frontline allow a bit of relevant candor on
a point that has been self-evident since Cheney and Bush, against
strong opposition from Generals Abizaid and Casey (and apparently
even Rumsfeld), decided to double down by sending 30,000 more
troops into Iraq. A malleable new secretary of defense would
deal with the recalcitrant generals and pick a Petreaus ex Machina
of equal malleability and political astuteness to implement this
stop-gap plan.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist/author
Steve Coll, with typical candor, put the "surge" into
perspective:
"The decision at a
minimum guaranteed that his [Bush's] presidency would not end
with a defeat in history's eyes; that by committing to the surge,
he was certain to at least achieve a stalemate."
Given this week's fresh surge
of violence as the U.S. surge is scheduled to wind down, even
a stalemate may be in some doubt. But, okay, small kudos to
Frontline for including that bit of truth-however obvious-and
for adding the grim background music to its final comment: "Soon
Bush's war will be handed to someone else."
Rather
Not, Thank You
Intimidation of the media is
what has happened all around, including with Frontline, which
not so many years ago was able to do some gutsy reporting. Let
me give you another example about which few are aware.
Do you remember when Dan Rather
made his Apologia Pro Vita Sua, admitting that the American media,
including him, was failing to reveal the truth about things like
Iraq? Speaking to the BBC on May 16, 2002, Rather compared the
situation to the fear of "necklacing" in South Africa:
"It's an obscene comparison,"
Rather said, "but there was a time in South Africa when
people would put flaming tires around peoples' necks if they
dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be neck-laced
here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put
around your neck."
Talking to another reporter,
Dan told it straight about the careerism that keeps US journalists
in line. "It's that fear that keeps [American] journalists
from asking the toughest of the tough questions and to continue
to bore-in on the tough questions so often."
The comparison to "necklacing"
may be "obscene" but, sadly, it is not far off the
mark. So what happened to the newly outspoken Dan Rather with
the newly found courage, when he ran afoul of Vice President
Dick Cheney and the immense pressure he exerts on the corporate
media?
We know about the lies and
the cheerleading for attacking Iraq. But there is much more
most of us do not know and remain unable to learn if Rather and
other one-time journalists keep acting like Bert Lahr's cowardly
lion in the Wizard of Oz before he gets "the nerve"
and courage.
For Dan Rather, the fear would
simply not go away...even after leaving CBS for HDNet and promising
that, on his new "Dan Rather Reports" show, viewers
would see hard-hitting and courageous reporting that he said
he couldn't do at CBS.
Will it surprise you that Dan
Rather cannot shake the necklace? I refer specifically to a
program for "Dan Rather Reports," meticulously prepared
by award-winning producer, Kristina Borjesson. The special included
interviews with an impressive string of first-hand witnesses
to neocon machinations prior to the US attack on Iraq, and provides
real insights into motivations-the kind of insights Frontline
did not even attempt.
Nipped in
the Bud by the "Dark Side"
Last year Borjesson's taping
was finished and the editing had begun. Borjesson's requests
to interview people working for the vice president had been denied.
But, following standard journalistic practice (not to mention
common courtesy), she sent an email to John Hannah in Cheney's
office in order to give Hannah a chance to react to what others-including
several of the same senior folks on Frontline last evening- had
said about him for her forthcoming report.
At that point all hell broke
loose. Borjesson was abruptly told by Rather's executive producer
that by sending the email, Borjesson could have "brought
down the whole ('Dan Rather Reports') operation."
The show was killed and Borjesson
sacked. For good measure, she was also accused of "coaching"
interview subjects and taking their words out of context. Since
neither Rather nor his executive producer would provide proof
to substantiate that allegation, Borjesson took the unprecedented
step of sending her script and transcripts to all her interview
subjects, asking them to confirm or deny that she had coached
them or taken their words out of context. Not one of them found
her script inaccurate or said they were coached. She has the
emails to prove this.
This sorry episode and Frontline's
careful avoidance of basic issues like the strategic aims of
the Bush administration in invading and occupying Iraq are proof,
if further proof were needed, that the White House, and especially
Cheney's swollen office, exert enormous pressure over what we
are allowed to see and hear. The fear they instill in the corporate
press, and in what once was serious investigative reporting of
programs like Frontline, translates into programs getting neutered
or killed outright-and massive public ignorance.
Some consolation is to be found
in the good news that, in this particular case, Kristina Borjesson
is made of stronger stuff; she has not given up, and was greatly
encouraged by how many of the very senior officials and former
officials she had already interviewed consented to be re-interviewed
(since the tapes belonged to the "Rather Not" folks).
Now who looks forward to being
re-interviewed?
Borjesson's original interviewees
took into account her problems with the cowards and the censors-and
her atypical, gutsy refusal to self-censor-and went the extra
mile. A tribute to them as well, and their interest in getting
the truth out.
Borjesson is now completing
the program on her own. Look for an announcement in the coming
months, if you're interested in real sustenance rather than the
pabulum served up, no doubt under duress, by Frontline.
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990
and Robert Gates' branch chief in the early 1970s. McGovern now
serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity (VIPS). He is a contributor to Imperial
Crusades, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair.
He can be reached at: rrmcgovern@aol.com
This article originally appeared
on Consortiumnews.com.
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