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Today's
Stories
December
12, 2007
Alan
Farago
How Sprawl Eats Its Young
December
11, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
What's Really Happened During
the Surge?
Diana
Johnstone
The Next Kosovo War
Paul
Craig Roberts
It's Waco All Over Again: Preventive Detention and the Constitution
David
Macaray
Impasse in Hollywood
Ralph
Nader
Gail Collins Versus the Underdogs
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Britons to be Released: a Mixed Result
Martha
Rosenberg
No Holiday for High Risk Sex Workers
Steve
Champion /
Anthony Ross
Words for Our Brother, Tookie Williams
Kim
Nicolini
Tangled Up in Dylan
Michael
Dickinson
Say Goodbye to Purgatory: Pope Rat Gets Indulgent
Website
of the Day
A Charming (and Worthy)
Pitch
December 10, 2007
Uri
Avnery
How They Stole the Bomb From Us
Debbie
Nathan
The Perils of Journalism and Child
Porn
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Is There a Left Here Left?
If So, What Can It Do?
Steve
Kelly
Cheap Chips, Counterfeit Wilderness
Donna
J. Volatile
Welcome to the Revolution
December
8 / 9, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Coup Against Bush and Cheney
Brenda
Norrell
Seize the Land, Chain the Peace Activists
Saul
Landau
The Ruins of Empire
R.
F. Blader
A Rape in Every Drink?
Ray
McGovern
Spinning Iran's Centrifuges
Allan
Nairn
Imposed Hunger in Gaza, the Army in
Indonesia
Linn
Washington, Jr
Spotlight on Death Row
Paul
Craig Roberts
When Will Bush Come Clean?
December
7, 2007
Sean
Penn
Piano Wire Puppeteers
Arthur
Versluis
Mining Water in the Desert
M.
G. Piety
Racism and the American Psyche: Some
Thoughts on Race and Intelligence
Pam
Martens
Banksters Gone Wild
Alan
Farago
Will the Free Market Kill Suburbia?
Sprawl and the Credit Crisis
Allan
Nairn
It Takes (Out) a Village
Col.
Dan Smith
Bush, Iran and the Politics of Doomsday
Alice
Slater
The Iran Opening
Robert
Weissman
The Story of Stuff
Website
of the Day
Something
About Mitt
December
5, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Why the CFR Hates Putin
Sharon
Smith
The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden
and the Dead End Democrats
James
Petras
Venezuela in the Aftermath
Ron
Jacobs
The Iran Charade
Dave
Zirin
Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor
John
V. Whitbeck
Two States or One? Time to Choose
Peter
Zinn
Covered in New Orleans
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Impeach Pelosi Instead
Alan
Farago
The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida
Heather
Gray
US Meddling in Australian Politics
Website
of the Day
A Donner Summit Night Before Xmas
December
4, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in
Ann Arbor
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme
Court
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lies at the End of the American
Dream
Ray
McGovern
No-Nuke Iran
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are
Too Small
Allan
Nairn
The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just
Want Food"
Russell
Mokhiber
The USA v. Al Arian
Nikolas
Kozloff
As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American
Left
John
V. Walsh
Peace Movement Paralyzed
Ghada
Ageel
Will Peace Cost Me My Home?
Stephen
Soldz
The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist
Involvement in Interrogations
Website
of the Day
Hands Off the People of Iran
December
3, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Venezuela After the Referendum
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor,
Tax Credits for Developers
Eric
Walberg
The Bible and Middle East History
Uri
Avnery
After Annapolis
Marjorie
Cohn
Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed
Dave
Lindorff
Vengeance Isn't Sweet
Stephen
Fleischman
Homeless in Paradise
Martha
Rosenberg
Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile
Website
of the Day
So Just Lead!
December
1 / 2, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift
in a Sea of Booze
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
Mike
Whitney
"Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir
Rosen
Shemon
Salam
A Visit From the FBI
Roger
Burbach
The Battle in Bolivia
Benjamin
Dangl
New Politics in Old Bolivia
Brian
M. Downing
The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to
the Surge?
Greg
Moses
Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story
Sonja
Karkar
The "Never-Never" Peace Conference
Saul
Landau
Ethics and Evil in South Boston
Margaret
Kimberley
Black America Left Behind
John
Ross
What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution?
Reza
Fiyouzat
Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran
Judith
Scherr
Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays
Lance
Olsen
Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy
Christopher
Brauchli
Mr. Bush and the Despots
Robert
Fantina
Iraq as U.S. Colony
Dan
Bacher
Fish Triage on Prospect Island
Michael
Donnelly
Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency
Website
of the Weekend
Appalachian Voices
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
Wajahat
Ali
The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's
Former Minister of Information
Allan
Nairn
Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers
Alan
Farago
The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash
John
Ross
The Death of Latin America's First Revolution
Corporate
Crime Reporter
America's Corporate Crime Capitals
Lucia
Alvarez
Diego Gonzalez
Argentina's Political Future
James
Rothenberg
The Iraqi Miracle
Website
of the Day
Bio-Bling?
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
November
7, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Dollar's Fall Collapses the American
Empire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing
the Funding Bill to the Floor?
Vijay
Prashad
The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf
Alan
Farago
To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse
David
Macaray
The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker?
Nikolas
Kozloff
The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey
Charlotte
Laws
What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign
Daniel
White
Zahid's Story
William
Cook
The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby
Website
of the Day
Safe Lawns
November
6, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan
Revolution
Ralph
Nader
Who Determines the Price of Oil?
Andy
Worthington
The Torture of Ali al-Marri
Pam
Martens
Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Dark Future
William
Schroder
The Return of Water Torture
Stephen
Lendman
Punishing Gaza
William
Blum
Cuba and Original Sin
Former
US Intelligence Officers
A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey
November
5, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer
David
Macaray
How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer)
Gary
Leupp
General Musharaff's "State of Emergency"
Dave
Lindorff
Those Minot Nukes
Ludwig
Watzal
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine
Patrick
Cockburn
Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan
Peter
Stone Brown
John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past
Michael
Simmons
Yo! What Happened to Peace?
Website
of the Day
Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students
November
3 / 4, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night
David
Price
Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency
Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Splitsville
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American
Middle Class
Paul
Krassner
He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards
Rannie
Amiri
Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals
P.
Sainath
Indexing Humanity, Indian Style
Ayesha
Ijaza Khan
Pakistan in a Daze
Robert
Fantina
Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran?
Seth
Sandronsky
The Politics of Health Care in California
Ron
Jacobs
The Bebop of Baraka
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for Arab Dignity
Heather
Gray
When Capitalists Get a Free Ride
November
2, 2007
Dr.
Mary Pipher
Acting on Conscience: Psychologists
and Abusive Interrogations
Saul
Landau
How Pete Stark Became a Pariah
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo as House Arrest
Sharon
Smith
A Tale of Two Stadiums
Gary
Leupp
Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood
Gregory
Harms
The Chorus of Slander on Palestine
Christopher
Brauchli
Racism in High Places
Peter
Morici
The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit
Dave
Lindorff
The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran
David
Penner
Zombie Nation
Website
of the Day
Fall in Yosemite
November
1, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Wages of Hegemony
Patrick
Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Dam in the World
Dave
Lindorff
The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
Jonathan
Feldman
The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South
Mike
Ferner
They Met the Resistance in Iraq
William
S. Lind
A Question for Would-Be Presidents
Diana
Johnstone
"Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business"
Jacob
Hornberger
The War on Telephone Privacy
A..K.
Gupta
The Apocalypse will be Televised
Lyuba
Zarsky /
Kevin Gallagher
The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley
Felice
Pace
Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism?
Website
of the Day
This One's for You, Ed Abbey
October
31, 2007
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice
System
Rev.
William E. Alberts
A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News
Ray
McGovern
Attacking Iran for Israel
Eric
Walberg
Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War
V.
G. Smith
The Second Death of Guy Môquet
Luis
J. Rodriguez
"Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
Sheldon
Richman
Bush has Time to Run the World
Walter
Brasch
A Real Halloween Scare
Website
of the Day
Boogie Rocks!
October 30, 2007
David
Price
Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen.
Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual
M.
Shahid Alam
The Pakistan Question
Andy
Worthington
The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against
Gitmo
Patrick
Cockburn
The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba
Anthony
Papa
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December
12, 2007
Are Americans Really
"Better Than That?"
Torture,
Lies and Videotape
By RAY McGOVERN
A boyish, inquisitive face with an innocent
look peered out from the Washington Post's lead story
yesterday on torture. It was well groomed, pink-shirted John
Kiriakou, a CIA interrogator who could just as easily pass for
the local youth minister
The report by the Post's
Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen, which describes Kiriakou's experience
in interrogating suspected terrorists, raises in an unusually
direct way an abiding question: Should the United States of
America be using forms of torture dating back to the Spanish
Inquisition?
Nowhere is the mood of that
infamous period better portrayed than in the famous Grand Inquisitor
chapter of Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky
was unusually gifted at plumbing the human heart. While it has
been 127 years since he wrote Brothers Karamazov, he nonetheless
captures the trap into which so many Americans have fallen in
forfeiting freedom through fear. His portrayal of Inquisition
reality brings us to the brink of the moral precipice on which
our country teeters today. It is as though he knew what would
be in store for us as fear was artificially stoked after the
attacks of 9/11.
In the story, Dostoevsky's
Grand Inquisitor (the Cardinal of Seville) ridicules Christ for
imposing on humans the heavy burden of freedom of conscience,
and explains how it is far better, for all concerned, to dull
that conscience and to rule by deceit, violence, and fear:
"Didst thou forget that
man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the
knowledge of good and evil?...We teach them that it's not the
free judgment of their hearts, but mystery which they must follow
blindly, even against their conscience.... In the end they will
lay their freedom at our feet [and] become obedient...We shall
tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name....
we shall be forced to lie.... We shall tell them that every sin
will be expiated if it is done with our permission."
The Grand Inquisitor, in Brothers
Karamazov
Kiriakou was one of the first
interrogators to interview suspected terrorist Abu Zubayda in
a Pakistani military hospital, where Zubayda was recovering from
wounds suffered during his capture in early 2002. When he refused
to provide information about al-Qaeda's infrastructure, he was
flown to a secret CIA prison where, according to Kiriakou, the
interrogation team strapped Abu Zubayda to a board, wrapped his
nose and mouth in cellophane, and forced water into his throat.
In just 35 seconds, viola! Abu Zubayda starting talking. That
is called waterboarding.
The 15 & 16 Century Spanish
inquisitors were not squeamish, and had little need for circumlocutions
or euphemisms like "alternative set of procedures"
that are part of President George W. Bush's lexicon. The Spanish
called this procedure, quite plainly, "tortura del agua."
Lacking cellophane, they inserted a cloth into the victim's mouth,
forcing the victim to ingest water spilled from a jar starting
the drowning process. Four centuries later, the Gestapo put
out several technically improved releases of this operating system
of torture, so to speak.
Quick; someone please tell
newly confirmed Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who told reporters
yesterday he still cannot decide whether waterboarding is torture.
Abu
Zubayda: Poster Child
The information from John Kiriakou
confirms what has long been a no-brainer but not definitively
established before; namely, that President George W. Bush's "alternative
set of procedures" for interrogation by C.I.A. includes
waterboarding. Zubayda was given pride of place in George W.
Bush's remarkable speech of Sept. 6, 2006, in which he bragged
about the effectiveness of such procedures and appealed successfully
for passage of the Military Commissions Act. That law allows
a president to define what set of interrogation procedures can
be used by the C.I.A. This is Bush on Sept. 6, 2006:
We believe that Zubayda was
a senior terrorist leader and a trusted associate of Osama bin
Laden...[and that] he had run a terrorist camp in Afghanistan
where some of the 9/11 hijackers trained...We knew that Zubayda
had more information that could save innocent lives, but he stopped
talking...And so the CIA used an alternative set of procedures...The
Department of Justice reviewed the authorized methods extensively
and determined them to be lawful.... But I can say the procedures
were tough, and they were safe, and lawful, and necessary.
Zubayda was questioned using
these procedures, and soon he began to provide information on
key al-Qaeda operatives, including information that helped us
find and capture more of those responsible for the attacks on
September the 11th. For example, Zubayda identified one of Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed's accomplices in the 9/11 attacks -- a terrorist
named Ramzi bin al Shibh. The information Zubayda provided helped
lead to the capture of bin al Shibh. And together these two terrorists
provided information that helped in the planning and execution
of the operation that captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Bush claimed that his interrogation
program had saved lives, and Kiriakou says the use of waterboarding
"probably saved lives." We cannot know for sure if
this is true. Off-the-record interviews with intelligence officials
strongly suggest that there is much prevarication and exaggeration
in president's claims about lives saved and operations disrupted,
and that the his assertions merit no more credulity than other
claims-for example, that Iran's nuclear weapons program poses
a threat to the U.S., even though it has been stopped for four
years.
Other U.S. intelligence officials
take issue with the C.I.A.'s version of the questioning of Zubayda.
Some say that initially he was cooperating with F.B.I. interrogators
using a nonconfrontational approach, when C.I.A. assumed control
and opted for more aggressive tactics. After that experience,
the F.B.I. reportedly warned its agents to avoid interrogation
sessions at which harsh methods were used.
As for credibility, never has
a U.S. president's word been so cheapened as it is today. In
late July 2007, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
joined with Justin Frank, MD, psychiatrist, professor at George
Washington University Hospital, and author of "Bush on the
Couch," to search for insight on how President Bush thinks.
His pathology is a patchwork
of false beliefs and incomplete information woven into what he
asserts is the whole truth...He lies-not just to us, but to himself
as well...What makes lying so easy for Bush is his contempt-for
language, for law, and for anybody who dares question him....
So his words mean nothing. That is very important for people
to understand.
This Is
Oversight?
The past few weeks have witnessed
an unseemly square dance in Congress, highlighting conflicting
claims about what those who are supposed to be overseeing the
intelligence community knew and when they knew it-about torture,
about Iran, about many things. It is nothing short of an insult
to the Founders that members of the House and Senate can find
nothing more useful to do than wring their hands over their largely
self-inflicted powerlessness.
Lawmakers have been so thoroughly
intimidated by the White House that I get physically ill watching
the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, Bob Graham, and Jay Rockefeller
moan about how secretive and nasty the Bush administration has
been. Harman complained recently that when she was ranking Democrat
on the House Intelligence Committee some of the material (on
interrogations) was so highly classified that she had to take
a "second oath" to protect it.
What about the solemn oath
they all take to support and defend the Constitution of the United
States against all enemies, foreign and domestic? Should not
that oath transcend and govern others that an administration
might require for access to secret materials?
Senator Dick Durbin of the
Senate Intelligence Committee has complained that he was aware
that classified information did not justify the conclusion in
2002 that Iraq had unconventional weapons, but he could not say
anything because it was classified! Durbin explained:
... We're duty-bound once we
enter that room to respect classified information. Everything
you hear is supposed to stay in the room...I certainly had enough
to know that the statements that were made about mushroom clouds
were not the conclusions of someone in the administration who
was really being honest about the full debate. But you really
know, walking in the room, what the rules of the game will be.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
has admitted knowing for several years about the Bush administration's
eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant. She was briefed
on it when she was ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence
Committee when Bush and Cheney took office. One key unanswered
question is this: Was she told that within days of their taking
office-that is, seven months before 9/11, the National
Security Agency's electronic vacuum cleaner had already begun
to suck up information on Americans-the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, not to mention the Constitution, be damned?
In a Washington Post
op-ed of Jan. 15, 2006, Pelosi proudly advertised her uniquely
long tenure on the Intelligence Committee and acknowledged that
she was one of the privileged handful of lawmakers who were briefed.
"This is how I came to be informed of President Bush's
authorization for the NSA to conduct certain types of surveillance."
She then proceeded to demonstrate the bowing and scraping characteristic
of her subservient attitude toward the Executive Branch:
"But when the administration
notifies Congress in this manner, it is not seeking approval.
There is a clear expectation that the information will be shared
by no one, including other members of the intelligence committees.
As a result, only a few members of Congress were aware of the
president's surveillance program, and they were constrained from
discussing it more widely."
And so too, may we assume,
with respect to torture? This is oversight?
Neutered
Watchdogs: Rockefeller and Reyes
What can we expect from the
current Senate and House oversight chairmen regarding the recently
disclosed, deliberate destruction of two tapes of harsh interrogations
of Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri? (Al-Nashiri is thought
to have played a role in the attack on the USS Cole.) On the
Senate side, expect nothing of Mr. Milquetoast Jay Rockefeller,
chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who, it is said,
is so afraid of his own shadow that he only ventures outdoors
at night or in bad weather.
House Intelligence Committee
Chairman Silvestre Reyes has a different kind of problem, and
should recuse himself. He has been fawning all over José
Rodriguez, the former CIA Deputy Director of Operations who ordered
the tapes destroyed.
On August 16, 2007 Congressman
Reyes told a conference in El Paso he considered Rodriguez "an
American hero," proudly adding that, "with a few liberties
that Hollywood takes, the exploits of José Rodriguez are
documented in the FOX TV series "24." I am told that
almost every episode of "24" includes at least one
scene glorifying torture, usually with lead man Jack Bauer playing
a main role. Reyes made it clear he is a big fan of Bauer and
"24."
Were that not enough, after
Rodriguez' role in destroying the interrogation tapes became
public, Reyes immediately cautioned against allowing investigations
to find just one "scapegoat" (no secret to whom he
was referring). And so, unless Reyes does recuse himself, look
for a "complete and thorough" investigation of the
kind favored by the Nixon White House. (Just when you may have
thought it could not get any worse!)
Torture
as Technique: Stark Differences in View
On Sept. 6, 2006, the very
day Bush bragged about his "alternative set of procedures
for interrogation" and appealed for legislation allowing
the C.I.A. to continue using them, the head of Army intelligence,
Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, took a very different tack. Conducting
a Pentagon briefing shortly before the president gave his own
speech, Kimmons underscored the fact that the revised Army manual
for interrogation is in sync with the Geneva treaties. Then,
conceding past "transgressions and mistakes," Kimmons
updated something I learned 45 years ago as a second lieutenant
in Army intelligence:
"No good intelligence
is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells
us that. I think the empirical evidence of the last five years,
hard years, tells us that."
Grabbing the headlines the
following day, was Bush's admission that the CIA has taken "high-value"
captives to prisons abroad for interrogation using "tough"
techniques prohibited by the revised Army field manual-and by
Geneva, for that matter. Gen. Kimmons displayed uncommon courage
in facing into that wind.
How About-
Stop Torture Because It's Wrong?
Have you noticed the shameful
silence of our institutional churches, synagogues, and mosques?
True, on occasion a professor of moral theology will speak out.
Professor William Schweiker of the Chicago Divinity School,
for example, has heaped scorn on the scenario of the lone knower
of the facts whose torture is thought to be able to save millions
of lives. He notes that such is "the stuff of bad spy movies
and bad exam questions in ethics courses." Schweiker
warns Christians, in particular:
"Not to fall prey to fear
and questionable reasoning and this continue to support an unjust
and vile practice that demeans the nation's highest political
and moral ideals, even as it desecrates one of the most important
practices and symbols (Baptism) of the Christian faith."
And, to its credit, the National
Religious Campaign Against Torture, a coalition of 130 religious
organizations from left to right on the political spectrum, yesterday
issued a strong call for the appointment of a special counsel
to investigate the C.I.A.'s destruction of the videotapes of
harsh interrogation techniques. NRCAT's founder, Princeton Theological
Seminary professor George Hunsinger told the press that "to
acknowledge that waterboarding is torture is like conceding that
the sun rises in the east," adding:
"All the dissembling in
high places that makes these shocking abuses possible must be
brought to an end. But they will undoubtedly continue unless
those responsible for them are held accountable. Clearly a joint
probe by the Justice Department and the CIA -- agencies that
are both seriously compromised -- is not enough. A special counsel
is an essential first step."
But where are the official
voices of the institutional churches, synagogues, and mosques
in this country. In effect, they are ordaining Jack Bauer with
their silence.
This Happened
Before
With very few exceptions, the
institutional churches in Nazi Germany kept a shameful silence,
denying believers the moral authority and leadership so needed
to stand up to Gestapo torturers. Indeed, many of the bishops-like
military leaders, and jurists-swore a personal oath to Hitler.
For his part, the Nazi leader moved quite quickly to ensure
that there was a pastor-whether Evangelical or Catholic-in every
parish in Germany. He saw this as a source of support and stability
for his regime. And, sadly, it was.
While the Nazis were systematically
torturing and even murdering defenseless victims, they kept repeating
assurances that not a single hair of anyone's head would be harmed.
(Shades of the familiar refrain "we do not torture.")
And the propaganda machine under Joseph Goebbels made a fine
art of what President Bush calls the need to "catapult the
propaganda."
Sebastian Haffner, a young
German lawyer in Berlin during the thirties kept a journal that
his children subsequently published in book form as "Defying
Hitler." His fascinating account of Germany in the thirties
provides many thoughtful insights into prevailing attitudes and
the lack of moral leadership. Haffner's journal depicted the
kind of ambiance in which the approach of the Grand Inquisitor
would, and did, flourish-"in the end they will lay their
freedom at our feet [and] become obedient:"
"The weather in March
1933 was glorious. Was it not wonderful to...merge with festive
crowds and listen to speeches about freedom and homeland? (It
was certainly better than having one's belly pumped up with a
water hose in some hidden secret police cellar.)"
Breeding
and Breakdown
Haffner closes his chapter
on 1933 with observations that, in my view, apply much too aptly
to America today:
"The sequence of events
is, as you see, not so unnatural. It is wholly within the normal
range of psychology, and it helps to explain the almost inexplicable.
The only thing that is missing is what in animals is called
'breeding.' This is a solid inner kernel that cannot be shaken
by external pressures and forces, something noble and steely,
a reserve of pride, principle, and dignity to be drawn on in
the hour of trial. It is missing in Germans. As a nation we
are soft, unreliable, and without backbone. That was shown in
March 1933. At the moment of truth, when other nations rise
spontaneously to the occasion, the Germans collectively and limply
collapsed. They yielded and capitulated, and suffered a nervous
breakdown."
C.I.A.'s John Kiriakou says
he is now convinced that waterboarding is torture and he is against
it. He adds, "Americans are better than that."
But
Are We Better Than That?
Sadly, that remains to be seen.
With virtually all religious institutions, politicians, and
educators all squandering what moral authority they have left,
the Jack Bauer culture threatens to win out in the end. We cannot
let that happen.
The upcoming duel on the missing
interrogation tapes will again bring the issue of torture front
and center. And, strangely, waterboarding and other Jack Bauer
tradecraft tools still enjoy a strong constituency.
Here's where we come in; for
we are the ones we've been waiting for. As one of my intelligence
alumni colleagues noted recently, this is about our country losing
its soul. Let's rise to the occasion and stop unconscionable
policies like torture. True patriotism goes well beyond a flag-on-the-lapel.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, "Sometimes you have
to put your body into it." Besides, we need to keep the
water hose from pumping up our bellies and those of our loved
ones. I only wish that were as remote a possibility as it was
before President Bush and his associates came up with their "alternative
set of procedures."
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
An earlier, shorter version
of this piece appeared on Consortiumnews.com
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