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April 14, 2002
William Blum
The CIA and Venezuela
David
Vest
A
Good Old-Fashion "Incursion"
Ralph Nader
General Motors:
Stuck in Reverse
M. Junaid
Alam
From
the Ashes: Palestinian Struggle for Freedom
Sam Bahour
Palestinians and Americans
April 13, 2002
Beth Daoud
Life
in the Ruins of Nablus
Patrick Cockburn
Bulldozing History:
The End Nears for Stalin's
Most Monstrous Hotel
Gregory
Wilpert
The
Coup in Venezuela:
an Eye-Witness Account
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Thoughts on Our War
Against Terrorism
Anne Winkler-Morey
Why
I Didn't Organize
a Passover Seder This Year
April 12, 2002
Nancy Stohlman
Live from East Jerusalem:
International Nonviolence
Brian
J. Foley
Defeating
Evil
Olivier Audeoud
Did the US Break
the Laws of War?
Rep. Ron
Paul
The
Middle East Quagmire
Michael Colby
Republican Porn:
Oiling Up the Caribou
John Chuckman
Tom
Friedman's Fabrications
April 11, 2002
Patrick Cockburn
Battle of St. Petersburg Zoo
Jeff Halper
After
the Invasion:
Now What?
Falk / Krieger
Taming the Nuclear Monster
Steve
Perry
The
Good Life of
Nellie Stone Johnson
Nick Ring
Efficiency and Occupation:
Terrorism vs. Taylorism
Alexander
Cockburn
From
the West Bank to BBQ
to Old Sparky, And Beyond
April 10, 2002
M. Junaid Alam
Blaming the Victims:
Hating the Palestinians
George
Monbiot
World
Bank to West Bank
Fran Schor
US-Sponsored State Terror
David
Vest
Political
Color Schemes
Jack McCarthy
Florida State Radicals:
The Berkeley of the South
Rises Again
Doreen
Miller
A
Tale of Two Warring Tribes
Michael Neumann
Israelis and Indians
April 9, 2002
Bernard
Weiner
Colin
Powell's Table Talk
Matt Vidal
Thomas Friedman,
Another Wasted Pulitzer
Ron Jacobs
Buyer
Beware
Robert Jensen
I Helped Kill a Palestinian
Vijay
Prashad
Memories
of Barbarity:
Sharonism and September
Wayne Madsen
Anthrax and the Agency:
Thinking the Unthinkable
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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This Explosive
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Reviews of Gore:
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April 14, 2002
Homicide Bombers
By James T. Phillips
A young man or woman who wants to become a homicide
bomber has to endure years of rigorous education and training
before they are competent enough to create collateral damage
out of innocent civilians. The young men and woman who decide
to become suicide bombers also undergo years of suffering and
hardship before they are experienced enough to kill blameless
victims. The education of homicide bombers begins in the scary
confines of schoolyards where bullies hone their craft; the suicide
bomber is home-schooled.
Professional homicide bombers strap themselves
inside weapons of destruction; their amateur counterparts, suicide
bombers, have to attach explosives on the outside of their bodies.
After engaging the enemy, homicide bombers survive their murderous
assaults; suicide bombers are pink mist and grisly body parts.
Homicide bombers earn money and, if on target, medals; suicide
bombers earn only martyrdom.
Homicide bombers are celebrated; suicide
bombers are eviscerated.
The suicide bombers will only have to
justify their actions when standing in front of their God; the
homicide bombers, though, are still able to provide answers to
questions posed by mere mortals. And, only the children of the
homicide bombers will be able to ask the question: What did you
do during the war, Daddy? In more progressive societies, a few
children can ask Mom, the distant relative or an uncle with ulterior
motives.
Dad, when you dropped the bombs, did
you know that innocent children would be killed? If you knew
that civilians would die when you dropped the bombs, what justification
were you given by your superiors? Did you object, and offer an
alternative that would have saved the lives of the innocent?
Or, did you just follow orders? Dad, would you fly your jet into
a target if ordered to do so by your leaders? If you did obey
the command, would you be considered a Kamikaze, a suicide bomber
or an obedient homicide bomber? Is it easy to learn to kill?
Mom, what made you decide to target the
television station? Is it difficult to distinguish between an
enemy and an embassy while sitting in front of a computer screen?
Did you use a Google search when looking for current location
of schools and hospitals that harbored terrorists? Did you get
seasick while performing your duties? Was it very strenuous to
push the button? Did you get to see the missile as it left the
warship? Mom, is the maternal instinct similar to the homing
instinct that guides a 2000-pound bomb to its target? Is it easy
to learn to kill?
Auntie Maim, when you saw the pictures
of dead babies, was it easy to dismiss them as alleged terrorists?
Were you certain that their diapers were loaded with something
other than baby-shit? You told those mean journalists to quit
asking about unimportant details, but could you tell me again
about your glee at seeing the bloodstained corpses of dead enemy
soldiers? I know we share good relations, Auntie, but would you
kill me if I misbehaved? I am also a child and I cannot fight
back. I fear your contempt. Is it easy to learn to kill?
Uncle Sam, how do you decide which enemy
needs to be bombed? Is it exciting to have the power to direct
the actions of homicide bombers? Was it fair to drop thousands
of tons of bombs on evildoers, yet not expend an ounce of explosives
on Moscow while preventing the Evil Empire from expanding? Are
there different rules of engagement, depending on the capability
of an enemy to retaliate with their own homicide bombers? Uncle,
do you have any idea about what life will be like after you deter
your enemies with nuclear weapons? Do you care? It is easy to
learn to kill.
The fledgling homicide bomber is an important
cog in the machine of war. It takes a lot of effort to learn
to kill, and schoolyard bullies are excellent candidates for
the schools of death. They don't care much for other children
and, when bullies become bombers, they are fully prepared to
answer the call of duty as well as the questions asked by children.
Homicide bombers, like suicide bombers,
are not born to wreak havoc on unsuspecting innocent civilians.
They are guided and molded by their elders; from the cradle to
an early grave for suicide bombers, and from the cradle to the
gratitude of fellow citizens for the homicide bombers.
James T. Phillips is a freelance reporter. He has covered wars
in Iraq, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. He can be reached
at: james@unet.com.mk
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