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Today's
Stories
September
5, 2007
Stan
Goff
The End Begins
September
4, 2007
Jean
Bricmont
Why Bush Can Get Away with Attacking
Iran
Patrick
Cockburn
Cut and Run in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
The Haditha Massacre: Spinning a War Crime
Tom
Kerr
Buried Alive on San Quentin's Death Row
Gary
Leupp
The Case of Jose Maria Sison
Sonja
Karkar
The Weeping Olive Trees of Palestine
Heather
Gray
The Best and Worst of America: 9/11, Joseph Lowery and the Lethal
Silence of Billy Graham
Fidel
Castro
The Super-Revolutionaries
Jackie
Corr
Home Depot Comes to Butte--Begging Bowl in Hand
Sunsara
Taylor
Katrina and the Progress of the System
Website
of the Day
Colombia Journal
September
3, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
Brits Flee from Basra
Eamon
McCann
Qana, Derry: The Dead Lie in Familiar Shapes
Joshua
Frank
The End of the Green Party?
Chris
Floyd
Post-Mortem America: Bush's Year of Triumph
Marjorie
Cohn
A Look at Bush's Iran War Plans
Walter
Brasch
The News Drones: How Fake Photos Helped Lead the US to War in
Iraq
Matt
Reichel
Redefining the American Dream
Website
of the Day
Don't Get Fooled Again
September
1 / 2, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Entrapment Snares Larry Craig
Andy
Worthington
Britain's Guantánamo
Saul
Landau
The Tragic Ordeal of the Cuban Five
David
Keen
An Occident Waiting to Happen: Intellectuals and the War on Terror
Patrick
Cockburn
The Collapse of Iraq's Health Care
Services
Diana
Johnstone
Back in Uncle Sam's Pocket
George
Longstreth, MD
& Karen Longstreth, RN
The Sorrows of Occupation: Life in the West Bank
Linda
M. Woolf
A Sad Day for Psychologists--a Sadder Day for Human Rights
Ralph
Nader
Wrapping the World with Advertising
Fred
Gardner
The Trial of Mollie Fry, MD
Ben
Tripp
Enquiry in America Today
David
Michael Green
American Indigestion: Why Bush Governs from the Gut
Missy
Comley Beattie
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: What the GOP Hasn't
Learned About Tolerance
Michael
Dickinson
Who's Cheating: Remembering Princess Diana
Paul
Krassner
Assholes of the Week: From Larry Craig to Wesley Clark
Ron
Jacobs
A Sports Nation of Millions
Poets'
Basement
Buknatski, Davies and Mickey Z
August
31, 2007
Jeff
Gibbs
Why I Am Not Going to the Protest
Paul
Craig Roberts
The War Criminal in the Living Room
Ray
McGovern
Do We Have the Courage to Stop War with Iran?
Robert
Weissman
The Benchmarks Iraq is Missing
Matt
Vidal
Subprime Lending and Shady Mortgages
Robin
Mittenthal
The Biofuels Trap
Chris
Kutalik
Auto Makers Push Health Care Trust Solution for Industry in Crisis
Richard
Forno
Watching Freedom's Watch
Binoy
Kampmark
Dianified
Dave
Zirin
Kenneth Foster Lives
Website
of the Day
Free
the Jena 6
August
30, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Larry Craig on the Seat
John
Ross
Dead Forest Defenders
Anthony
DiMaggio
Arabic as a Terrorist Language: the Right-Wing Assault on the
Gibran Academy
Jordan
Flaherty
Racism and Criminal Justice in New Orleans
Michael
Donnelly
The Sierra Club Greenwashes Al Gore (and Desecrates John Muir)
Russell
Mokhiber
Whiskey is for Drinking, Water is
for Fighting
Dennis
Brutus
and Patrick Bond
Global Financial Apartheid
William
S. Lind
The Truth Tellers
Martha
Rosenberg
They Call Him Dr. Cruel
Jeff
Leys / Brian Terrell
Seasons of Discontent: a Presidential Occupation Project
Website
of the Day
Bragg: "Old Clash Fan Fight Song"
August 29, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
Maliki and The Mass Shia Pilgrimage
to Kerbala
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The Costs of the Afghanistan War
David
Rosen
The GOP's Outed All-Stars: The Forced Freeing of Gay Men from
the Republican Closet
Dave
Zirin
Confronting Katrina
Paul
Craig Roberts
More Shame, More Sorrow
Diane
Farsetta
Christie Todd Whitman's Nuclear Spinning Wheel
Ben
Davis
Who Won't Stand Up for Kenneth Foster?: Charles Rangel, For One
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crisis and the Environment
Jenna
Orkin
Echoes of 9/11: Another Fire at Ground Zero
Don
Monkerud
The Vanishing American Vacation
Richard
Nasser
Surfing Gaza: More Uplifting News from NPR
Website
of the Day
Don't Sleep on the Struggle
August
28, 2007
Uri
Avnery
The Language of Force
Bill
Quigley
Katrina, Two Years Later
Joshua
Frank
The Fight to Save the Rocky Mountains
China
Hand
"I am Alden Pyle:" Bush's Vietnam Fantasy
Firmin
DeBrabander
Drug Wars: From Afghanistan to Baltimore
Charles
Peña
Nuclear Fear Factor
Andy
Worthington
Good Riddance, Gonzales
Ramzy
Baroud
Abbas and the Abyss
Anthony
Papa
Roger Stone's New Patsy
Ashley
Smith
Drawing the Line at Kennebunkport
Website
of the Day
B is for Bomb
August 27, 2007
Jorge
Mariscal
The General Reports
Bill
Christison
Why the US and Israel Should Lose Middle East Wars
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
911 Emergency! Calling Robert Fisk!: You are Now Entering a Black
Hole
Anthony
DiMaggio
Chronicle of a Coup Foretold?: Bush, al-Maliki and the Press
Bruce
A. Roth
India and the New Nuclear Era
John
Walsh
Abe Foxman's Genocide Denial Roadshow, Part 2
Dave
Lindorff
Gonzo's Gone
Ron
Jacobs
Taking It to the Streets
Binoy
Kampmark
Poshed Up: Why the Beckhams Should Go Back to Brighty
Russell
D. Hoffman
My Favorite Scientist: John Gofman, Bane of the Nuclear Industry
Website
of the Day
George W. Told the Nation
August
25 / 26, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Don't Carpool with Nouri al-Maliki
James
Petras
The Great Financial Crisis
Jeffrey
Buchanan /
Chris Kromm
Where Did the Katrina Money Go?
Marjorie
Cohn
Turning Iraq into Vietnam
Rev.
William E. Alberts
Jesus, the Theological Prisoner of Christianity
Robert
Fantina
Ari Fleischer, Freedom Watch and the Pro-War Lobbyists
Brian
Concannon
Whitewashing the History of Abolition
Ralph
Nader
What Do They Have to Hide?
Laura
Carlsen
Extending NAFTA's Reach
Fred
Gardner
Notes from Hempfest
David
Michael Green
History, the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
Stephen
Soldz
Why Mary Pipher Returned Her APA Award
Mike
Ferner
Combatants for Peace: Former Enemies Find New Way Forward
Paul
Krassner
Mort Sahl's Punchline
Ben
Tripp
Resistance is Impossible--But Not Futile
Missy
Beattie
President Druzilla
Website
of the Weekend
Blue
Print for Gulf Renewal
August
24, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Hegemonic Hubris
Greg
Moses
A Cruel and Unusual Excuse
William Schroder
Bush, Vietnam and Iraq
Alan
Farago
The Pain of Paper Millionaires
Jackie
Corr
Uncle Ben Bernacke and the Nanny State
Jeff
Ballinger
Naomi Klein and the Path Not Taken
Bill
Quigley
Pere Jean-Juste Comes Home
Dave
Zirin
Inching Toward Insanity
Richard
Rhames
Deaver and the Making of Reagan
Ryan
Haygood
How Newark Can Mend
Website
of the Day
Lindorff's Iraq Rag
August
23, 2007
Kathy
Kelly
We Shouldn't be Causing This
P.
Sainath
Meeting the Mahatma
Ron
Jacobs
Bush, Vietnam and 14 More GIs Dead
Christopher
Brauchli
Beyond Kafka: Mistakes, Soreheads
and Eavesdropping
D.K.
Wilson
When Sports Journalists Talk Race
Joshua
Frank
The Weeds of Willapa Bay
Dan
Bacher
Schwarzenegger's True Lies About Dams and Canals
Brenda
Norrell
Bush's House of Snakes: Indians, Border Biometrics and Migrating
Corporations
John
Wright
The Ongoing Tragedy of Afghanistan
David
Vest
Elvis and Racism, Round 2
Website
of the Day
Urgent Plea: the Black Agenda Report Needs Your Help!
August
22, 2007
Norman
Finkelstein
Remembering Raul Hilberg
Marc
Levy
Sleepless in Iraq
Lawrence
R. Velvel
When Courts Bow Down to Secrecy
Ray
McGovern
Bush's Iran War Drums Beating Louder
Norman
Solomon
How to Survive at the Pentagon on $2 Billion a Day
John
Walsh
Abe Foxman's Genocide Denial Road Show
Michael
Dickinson
Little Brother is Watching You
William
S. Lind
Operation Kabuki?: the Credibility of David Petraeus
Bill
Hatch
A Short Walk into the Valley of Death
Kenneth
E. Foster and John Joe Amador
How We Will Protest Our Executions
David
Vest
Predictable Parallels: CNN and PBS
Website
of the Day
The Once and Future Steve Perry
August 21, 2007
Saul
Landau
The FBI's New Power
Alan
Farago
Sand Houses and Missing Beaches
John
Stauber
Iraq: the Gift that Keeps on Bleeding
Phillip
Rizk
Gaza and the Jordanian Option
Debbie
Nathan
Giuliani's Garden District
Binoy
Kampmark
The Art of Sinning
Martha
Rosenberg
The Fastow Economy
Sunsara
Taylor
Back to School During Wartime
Website
of the Day
Coffee with the Troops
August
20, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Padilla Jury Opens Pandora's Box
Uri
Avnery
Stumbling Toward Another War
Rannie
Amiri
Nasrallah's Surprise: a Warning from Beirut's No Bluff Zone
John
Ross
The Fine Art of Bad Elections
Harvey
Wasserman
The Senate's Radioactive Rip-Off
Robert
Billyard
Canada's Disgrace: the Cases of Maher Arar and Omar Khadr
Dave
Lindorff
Excuse Us, Nancy Pelosi
James
Rothenberg
Why Your Vote Will Never Matter
David
"DC" Larson
To Smear a King
Website
of the Day
Bird Cinema
August
18 / 19, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Exit Karl Rove, Everyone's Useful
Demon
Saul
Landau
The FBI in War and Peace
Ralph
Nader
Greed and Folly on Wall Street
Patrick
Cockburn
A Bloody Week in Iraq
Robert
Fantina
Cannon Fodder: Beau Biden and other "Deployable Assets"
Robert
S. Eshelman
Azar's Story: an Iraqi Refugee Living in Syria
P.
Sainath
The Last Battle of Laxmi Panda
Dave
Lindorff
Tossing Fuel on a Fire: US Military Aid to Israel
Anthony
DiMaggio
Iraq, Iran & the Vanishing Context in American News
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Schizophrenia
Ron
Jacobs
The Virtues of Resistance
Tom
Turnipseed
War Profiteering and Corruption: From Lexington, S.C. to the
White House
Paul
Krassner
Assholes of the Week: Special Preachers, Priests and Clerics
Edition!
Ben
Tripp
I'm So Screwed
Andrew
Wimmer
Living With Grief
Nancy
Oden
Where Inmates Can Grow for Free
N.D.
Jayaprakash
India Backtracks on Disarmament
Rick
Smith
Reflections on Cuba: an Interview with Doug Morris
Missy
Beattie
The Suicide Bomber
Poets'
Basement
Engel, Ford, Orloski and McLellan
Website
of the Weekend
Imperial Storm Troopers in Action
August 17, 2007
Joanne
Mariner
Terrorizing Social Protest
Paul
Craig Roberts
China is not the Problem
Shepherd
Bliss
Returning to the Scene of the Crime: Chile, 30 Years Later
Dave
Lindorff
Convicting Padilla: Bad News for All Americans
John
Muthyala
The Water and the Road: Katrina, Poverty and the American Dream
Patrick
Cockburn
Deepening Divsions in Iraq
Sherwood
Ross
Military Interrogators are Posing as Lawyers at Gitmo
Phil
Doe
The Old West Moves East: the Political Science of Colorado River
Water
David
Michael Green
Karl Rove and the Damage Done
Website
of the Day
Gorilla
Slaughter: a Personal Account
August 16, 2007
Jonathan
Cook
The Second Lebanon War, a Year Later
Christopher
Brauchli
Babes in Toxic Toyland
Norman
Solomon
Backspin for War
Lee
Sustar /
Orlando Sepuldeva
Victory on the Picket Line: How Immigrant Workers Won Their Strike
Against Cygnus
George
Bisharat
Boycott Movement Targets Israel
Binoy
Kampmark
Tasteless: Gordon Ramsey and the Death of Gastronomy
Evelyn
Pringle
Protection Racket?: the FDA and Avandia
Hugo
Blanco
The Epic Struggle of Indigenous Andean / Amazonian
Website
of the Day
Burning Man: the Field Recordings
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September
5, 2007
Why the British
Deployment was Doomed from the Start
The
Basra Debacle
By PATRICK COCKBURN
The British campaign in Basra was undermined
from the beginning to the end by lack of Iraqi support. The supposed
aim of the occupation of Basra and southern Iraq was to allow
time for a stable and democratically elected Iraqi government
authority to be established with its own police and army forces
on whom it could rely.
This was never likely to happen.
The British occupation began with the killing of six British
military policemen at Majar al-Kabir, south of Amara, in June
2003 after an ill-conducted search for arms.
Local people said they had
never bowed their heads to Saddam Hussein and asked why they
should now accept a foreign occupying power.
Tony Blair was endlessly claiming
that the British forces were usefully  engaged in training Iraqi
security forces in the face of dogged resistance from "rogue"
policemen.
But it was clear from early
on that the rogues were, in effect, in charge.
British forces had to storm
a police station to rescue their own soldiers who had been detained
while spying in Arab clothing on the same station.
"As early as 2004, British
influence was in steep decline," says Reidar Visser, a leading
academic specialist on Basra and southern Iraq.
"In other words, the recent
pull-out itself was a largely symbolic affair: the British ceased
exercising effective control of Basra a long time ago."
Could the British have done
any better?
The problem was the belief
that because in 2003 the Iraqis were glad to be rid of Saddam
Hussein, they would welcome a foreign occupation force.
The Sunni in central Iraq rose
in rebellion in 2003 but the Shia, though willing to use the
occupation, never accepted it as legitimate.
In fact, an increasing number
supported armed resistance.
They saw the rhetoric of President
George Bush and Mr Blair about installing democracy in Iraq as
propaganda concealing a neocolonial adventure.
Patrick Cockburn is the author of 'The
Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq', a finalist
for the National Book Critics' Circle Award for best non-fiction
book of 2006.
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