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Special Issue: the Collapse of America Paul Craig Roberts gives CounterPunchers the definitive data on what is happening to jobs in America. Not just blue collar jobs. Middle-class, white collar jobs. Roberts' stunning probe is the first true picture of what the U.S. economy is fast becoming and of the savage class wars that lie ahead. Plus Mike Ferner on what it really means to investigate war crimes in Iraq. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! 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 towards the cost of this online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories August 25, 2006 Tom Barry August 24, 2006 CounterPunch
News Service Uri Avnery Nermeen al-Mufti Norman Solomon Megan Wiles Laura Santina Mike Whitney Seth Sandronsky Christopher
Brauchli
August 23, 2006 Dr. Trudy Bond Ramzy Baroud Ron Jacobs Heather Gray Amira Hass Mavis Anderson Ingmar Lee Francis Boyle John Ross
Gilad Atzmon Jack Heyman Eamon McCann Sharon Smith Edward S. Herman Ramzi Kysia Bill Quigley August 21, 2006 Jonathan Cook Paul Craig
Roberts Kathy Kelly Mike Roselle Lenni Brenner Maher Osseiran
August 19 /
20, 2006 Uri Avnery Eliza Ernshire Virginia Tilley Kathy Kelly Marc Levy Stephen Bradberry / Barbara Rose
Johnston William Blum Stephen Fleischman Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Fred Gardner David Krieger Dan La Botz Poets' Basement
August 18, 2006 Brian M. Downing John Blair Alan Hart Craig Murray Chris Dols Emily Kirksey Joaquín Bustelo William S.
Lind Podcast of the Day Website of
the Day
August 17, 2006 CounterPunch
News Service Barucha Peller Ramzy Baroud Rothem Shtarkman Craig Murray Samar Assad Mike Ferner Arnold Kohen Kevin Zeese Missy Comley Beattie Uri Avnery Video of the Day Website of
the Day
August 16, 2006 Merav Yudilovitch Robert Fisk Mark Williams John Ross Christopher
Brauchli John Walsh Ron Jacobs Rachard Itani Felice Pace Niranjan Ramakrishnan Frank, Sharma
and Peterson Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
August 15, 2006 Andrew Ford
Lyons Binoy Kampmark Robert Fisk Ralph Nader Todd Chretien Chris Floyd Mark Engler George Galloway Laray Polk Trish Schuh Website of the Day
Uri Avnery Karim Makdisi Kathy Kelly Robert Fisk Norman Solomon Sunsara Taylor Robert Jensen Mike Whitney P. Sainath Goretti Horgan Christopher
Reed
August 12 /
13, 2006 Jean Bricmont Norman Finkelstein Robert Fisk Adrian Grima Barucha Peller Omar Barghouti Adam Engel Conn Hallinan John Stauber Rev. William
Alberts Fred Gardner Lucinda Marshall Ron Jacobs CounterPunch
News Service Poets' Basement
Col. Dan Smith John Ross Michael Donnelly William S.
Lind Linda Milazzo Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Azmi Bishara Henri Picciotto CounterPunch News Wire Dave Lindorff Jonathan Cook
Uri Avnery Dave Marsh Gabriel Kolko Arthur Versluis Jennifer Loewenstein
Linda Schade Jackie Mason Jonathan Cook Gilad Atzmon
Charles Hirschkind
Tom Barry Cockburn &
St. Clair
August 8, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Paul Larudee Joan Roelofs Dimi Reider John A. Murphy Tim Llewellyn Website of the Day
August 7, 2006 Uri Avnery Karim Makdisi Nadia Hijab Sharon Smith Magan Wiles George Beres Rachard Itani Norman Solomon Stan Cox Mickey Z. Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
August 5 / 6, 2006 Virginia Tilley Uri Avnery Patrick Cockburn Sgt. Martin Smith Gary Leupp Neve Gordon Ralph Nader Peter Bouckaert Peter Montague David Krieger Michael Donnelly Fred Gardner Catherine Norris Imraan Siddiqi Missy Comley
Beattie Ira Kay Dave Lindorff Pratyush Chandra Ron Jacobs St. Clair / Donnelly Poets' Basement Website of the Day Video of the
Weekend
August 4, 2006 Ralph Nader Brian Cloughley Eliza Ernshire Roger Assaf George Bisharat Remi Kanazi Laura Carlsen Niranjan Ramakrishnan Derrick O'Keefe Mickey Z. Col. Dan Smith Website of the Day
Jonathan Cook Uri Avnery Saree Makdisi Robert Fisk Farrah Hassen Nicola Nasser Ron Jacobs Mitchel Cohen Seth Sandronsky Bruce K. Gagnon Alexander Cockburn
John Ross Chip Mitchell Saul Landau Naseer Aruri Winslow T.
Wheeler Matthias Gebauer Joshua Frank Bill Quigley Manuel Yang Shamai Leibowitz David Himmelstein Lara Marlowe Website of
the Day
August 1, 2006 Michael Neumann Robert Fisk Omar Barghouti Marc Levy Diana Barahona / Jeb Sprague Claud Cockburn Ross Eisenbrey Dave Lindorff John Chuckman Francis Boyle Phil Doe Stephen Soldz Website of the Day
July 31, 2006 Jonathan Cook Uri Avnery Robert Fisk Amina Mire Marjorie Cohn Sibel Edmonds / William Weaver John Ross Stanley Rogouski Gideon Levy Ron Jacobs James Ridgeway
/ Alicia Ng Brian Tokar Alexander Cockburn
July 29 / 30,
2006 Michael Neuman Vijay Prashad Ramzi Kysia Werther Robert Fisk Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Rachard Itani Eduardo Galeano Gary Leupp Eve Poretsky John Chuckman Fred Gardner Juan Santos Punyapriya Dasgupta Liaquat Ali
Khan Israel Shamir William A.
Cook Stanley Heller Dave Lindorff Moshe Adler Susie Day Pat Williams Anthony Papa John V. Whitbeck Jackie Corr Myles Palmer Tom D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
July 28, 2006 Jonathan Cook Uri Avnery Renee Bowyer Robert Fisk Patrick Cockburn Ramzy Baroud Don Fitz Elaine Cassel David Price Mike Whitney Mickey Z. Niranjan Ramakrishnan Charles Glass Website of
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July 27, 2006 Tanya Reinhart Saul Landau Ramzi Kysia Tom Barry Joseph Grosso Sharon Smith Gale Courey
Toensing Christopher Reed Werther Yusuf Mansur Richard Harth Website of the Day
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Solomon Barbara
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Nally Jonathan
Cook Patrick
Cockburn William
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Frank Gabriel
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Fisk Uri
Avnery Website
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July 25, 2006 Harry
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Craig Roberts Patrick
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July 22-23, 2006 Jonathan
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Shrivastava Alexander
Cockburn Website
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S. Lind Robert
Jensen John
Ross Tom
Hayden Paul
Craig Roberts July 19, 2006 Patrick
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Schuh Jonathan
Cook Vicente
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August 25, 2006 The Palestine ProblemThe Price of Ignoring the ElephantBy SALAH OBEID "Peace in the Middle East" may make for a snappy bumper sticker. But a more relevant message to send to fellow motorist--and to the presidential motorcade in particular--is "Free Palestine." Because getting that message right would not only mean peace between Israel and its neighbors, but also the elimination of the greatest reason terrorists target the United States and its allies in the first place. Two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, with smoke plumes still rising from the mountains of rubble that used to be the Twin Towers, the president assured the world that, "No group or nation should mistake America's intentions: We will not rest until terrorist groups of global reach have been found, have been stopped and have been defeated." For all the "have beens,"however, the president now stands on the precipice of becoming a has-been. And if there's one thing anyone possessing a brain stem can be certain of today, it's that most of the terrorists plotting attacks against the United States and its friends haven't been found, haven't been stopped and haven't been defeated. The reasons are myriad, but if one outshines the rest it's a little place called Bethlehem--where Jesus was born--along with other cities that together make up the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Year after year, as it has been for decades, this elephant in the room goes ignored, even as it sways from side to side in frustration and rams its massive body into the wall, causing everyone's cocktails to almost spill, but not quite. Despite several UN resolutions, the world has been unable--or unwilling--to dislodge Israel from the territories for half a century. That in turn has given Israel free rein to force Palestinians to live very much like cattle: daily schlepping their way toward checkpoints where, single-file, the young, the old, the infirm and the pregnant endure being humiliated by Israeli soldiers barely out of high school, with those fortunate enough to pass through only finding another checkpoint a few hundred yards away. Rinse, and repeat. Speaking of which, a few months following the attack on the World Trade Center, President Bush addressed a cattlemen's convention in Denver.
A sentiment no doubt reciprocated. But then the president, his eyes growing beady and his lips pursing with intensity, shifted gears. "I intend to find the killers wherever they may hide, and run them down, and bring them to justice. They think there's a cave deep enough, they're wrong. They think they're going to run out of patience, they are wrong," Bush told the convention, whose members had assembled to agree on how to get American cattle to thrash the bovine competition in places like Poland and France. "Those who hurt America and those who continue to want to harm America will not be able to escape the long reach of American justice." Any cattleman who'd just walked in might've been forgiven for thinking the president had just declared war on the European countryside. Others may have had their minds on more bullish issues to notice the president had probably meant to say, "They think we're going to run out of patience." But that isn't the point. The point is the president's speech amounted to an empty proclamation. Namely because it ignored the United States' role in the demise of a people whose plight has become a rallying call for terrorists everywhere. Using terror as a military tactic has long been seen as the freedom fighter's most effective tool against a conventional army. But it's a view that turns the task of fighting terrorism on its head--because just who is and who isn't the terrorist is never as simple as one, two, three. What is so conventional, after all, about the world's strongest armed forces fighting a relative piss-ant of a military with the invading army's primary objective being to produce enough "shock and awe" in the general population that a large portion of it ends up dead? And that's just Iraq. Or it was. Today, neither shock now awe accompanies the grim awareness shared by most Iraqis that their country, once the envy of the Middle East, has effectively ceased to exist. Meanwhile in Lebanon, Hezbollah's indiscriminate firing of Katyushas into Israel qualifies it as a bona fide terrorist organization. But if there was anything conventional about Israel's subsequent bombing of a good part of Lebanon into smithereens, it was that Israel used conventional weapons instead of going all out and dropping a few nukes. The question of who is terrorizing whom in that ongoing conflict is further complicated--or is it?--if one considers that of the 150 or so Israelis killed by Hezbollah, over 100 were soldiers. Whereas of the 1,300 or so Lebanese killed by the Israeli Defense Forces, the vast majority were civilians, many of them babies whose bodies continue to be extracted from the rubble. "The terrorists are fighting freedom with all their cunning and cruelty because freedom is their greatest fear. And they should be afraid, because freedom is on the march," the president said during the 2004 Republican National Convention. He might as well have been White Goodman (Ben Stiller's character in the movie "Dodgeball") saying to his nemesis, "Go ahead, make your jokes, Mr. Jokey . . . Joke-maker. But let me hit you with some knowledge: quit now . . ." Or else what? Talk is cheap, especially to would-be terrorists convinced that their communities are already under attack, and whose ranks are steadily swelling. Yet long before Iranians gave any serious thought to learning how to produce pretty mushroom clouds designed to erase humanity in broad strokes, or before Iraqis had reason to think anything but pleasant thoughts about America, or before the Taliban decided that playing host to Al-Qaeda might add some pizazz to a life bogged down by keeping girls out of school and maintaining strict guidelines concerning the lengths of men's beards--there was Palestine. Or rather, there wasn't. Which isn't to say there's been a lack of Palestinians. They're all over--in the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East (in Jordan, Palestinians outnumber the natives)--everywhere, that is, except in an independent Palestine. And though it may be tempting blame a group like Hamas for recruiting the suicide bombers that have so long bedeviled Israel, that would still leave two important considerations out of the equation. First, that Palestinians aren't fighting Israel; they're fighting Israel's illegal occupation of their territories, and see no clear incentive to stop. And second, that a teenager about to graduate high school abruptly finding himself at the funeral of his one-year-old sister, killed by an Israeli bomb as she slept in her crib, peacefully sucking on a pacifier and dreaming baby dreams, is unlikely to need much recruiting. Abandoned, stateless and impoverished (and were that not enough, targeted) many Palestinians--be they college students, professors, plumbers or young widows--turn to resistence, which often includes blowing themselves up in crowds of Israelis, because in their minds to not resist would be akin to joining the living dead. Far from being religious zealots, most Palestinians simply feel they've nothing left to lose. Al-Qaeda and other global terrorist organizations, which support the Palestinian cause but also have their own, more intractable agendas against the United States and its allies, appear to have even less. In the meantime, the United States continues to lavish not only money but also military assistance on Israel while putting no pressure on it to abandon the territories and to rely on securing its borders from within those borders, which to terrorists amounts to the U.S. foreign policy equivalent of "Bring them on." Anyone who ever got the chance to ask the president, without being hurled out onto the White House lawn, "Why so much moolah and military technology with no strings attached?" would cause the beady-eyed look of resolve to reappear, and prompt a reply, uttered between puckered lips, that went something like, "Well, you know what, why not? It's them Hamas and their terrorist buddies, Iran and the whole rest of them, that are to blame for the whole damn mess." "Yeah, but aren't Palestinians being" "Sure, they're bein' occupied, doggone it, but Israel's the only democracy in the whole God-forsaken valley, for Christ's sake, tryin' to protect itself from heathens that--believe you me--you would not wanna have over for dinner. Son, you forget already? You're either with us or . . ." For their part, of course, Al-Qaeda and Co., have not forgotten. Not about the United States' campaign, at the point of a gun, to spread democracy to places that just so happened to be gushing oil, nor its ongoing threats against Iran--where, incidentally, women drive cars, have successful careers, vote and hold office. Nor have they forgotten about the United States' dogged support for regimes like the Saudi royal family, which reigns supreme (so much for spreading democracy) in a land where, not only do women not drive, they're never even seen. Yet the first thing to roll off their tongues is always "Free Palestine." It is their constant refrain. Which is why only a free Palestine, not a bumper sticker weathered by rain, has any hope of silencing their singing. Salah Obeid can be reached at: invisibleafrican@yahoo.com
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.                    |
