How
the Press &
the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Today's
Stories
December 30,
2004
Paul Craig
Roberts
Unbecoming
Conduct
December 29,
2004
Dave Lindorff
Us,
Stingy?: It's All Relative
M. Shahid Alam
America
and Islam: Seeking Parallels
Ronald D. Hoffman
Tsunamis
and Nuclear Power Plants
Sam Bahour
/ Todd May
Elections
Without Democracy
Fred Gardner
Ricky Does 60 Minutes
Ali Khan
Who's Feeding the Bin Laden Legend?
John Hansen
Family Farms Are Being Fed to Corporate Sharks
Sam Lewin
How the Justice Department Continues to Screw the Sioux
Richard Oxman
As Time Goes By With Andy Goldsworthy
Mickey Z.
A Wave of Questions: Putting a Disaster in Context
Website of the Day
Banking While Muslim
December 28,
2004
Brian Cloughley
The
Chief Weirdo at the Pentagon: Rumsfeld Must Go
Joshua Frank
Privacy Piracy? What Howard Dean May Bring to the DNC
Jessica Leight
The
Chilean Miracle: Less Than Meets the Eye
Dave Lindorff
A
Shameful Response to Disaster
John Walsh
Disappearing the Anti-War Movement at the NYTs
Dave Zirin
The Death of Reggie White: an Off the Field Obituary
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Be Careful Not to Get Too Much Education: It's Happened to a
Lot of Good Christians
Ron Jacobs
Iran
2004: The Resistance and the Western Anti-War Movement
December 27,
2004
M. Junaid Alam
"Civilization
v. Barbarism": an Interview with Noam Chomsky
Michael Donnelly
Greens and Greenbacks: How Nonprofit Careerism Derailed the "Revolution"
Greg Moses
Texas Election Scandal: Forty Faxes and a Whisper
Toni Solo
Colombia's Appalling Vista: Justice With Eyes Wide Open
Brian Kwoba
Blaming the Victims of the 2004 Elections
Genna Goodman-Campbell
Honduras Validates Its Banana Republic Status, Again
Mike Whitney
Disappearing Act: Fallujah and the Media
Ari Shavit
"Zionism Has Exhausted Itself": an Interview with Amos
Elon
Richard Oxman
Reflections on a Handful of Activists
Saul Landau
James
Cason's Cuban Delusions
December 25
/ 26, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Yup,
It's Moral Outrage Time
Diane Christian
The Christmas Christ
Dr. Susan Block
Faith-Based Sex
Gary Leupp
Rumsfeld, His Critics and the Draft
Ron Jacobs
Music in Wartime
Elaine Cassel
Articles I Didn't Write
Jim Minick
Beyond Organic
Poets Basement
Louise, Landau, Orloski, Albert
and Collins
December 24,
2004
Diane Christian
Winning:
Rummy and John Milton
Chad Nagle
Ukraine's
Real Underdog
Saul Landau
My Friend Richard Barnet
Greg Moses
Ramsey Muniz Speaks
Joe DeRaymond
The Endless War in Colombia: a View From Within
Borzou Daragahi
Iraq's Christians: Tolerated by Saddam; Targets Under Occupation
Mike Whitney
Rummy's Quagmire of Lies
Francis A. Boyle
O Little Town of Bethlehem: Another Christmas Under Occupation
William Loren
Katz
Florida 1837: Christmas Eve Resistance to the First US Occupation
December 23,
2004
Chad Nagle
Report
from Kiev: Yushchenko's Not Quite Ready for Sainthood
David Smith-Ferri
The
Real UN Disgrace in Iraq
Bill Quigley
Death
Watch for Human Rights in Haiti
Mickey Z.
Crumbs
from Our Table
Christopher Brauchli
Merck's Merry X-mas
Greg Moses
When
No Law Means No Law
Alan Singer
An
Encounter with Sen. Schumer: a Very Dangerous Democrat
David Price
Social
Security Pump and Dump
Website of the Day
Gabbo Gets Laid
December 22,
2004
James Petras
An
Open Letter to Saramago: Nobel Laureate Suffers from a Bizarre
Historical Amnesia
Omar Barghouti
The Case for Boycotting Israel
Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond
They Were Waiting on Chicken Tenders When the Rounds Hit
Harry Browne
Northern Ireland: No Postcards from the Edge
Richard Oxman
On the Seventh Column
Kathleen Christison
Imagining
Palestine
Website of the Day
FBI Torture Memos
December 21,
2004
Greg Moses
The
New Zeus on the Block: Unplugging Al-Manar TV
Dave Lindorff
Losing
It in America: Bunker of the Skittish
Chad Nagle
The View from Donetsk
Dragon Pierces
Truth*
Concrete
Colossus vs. the River Dragon: Dislocation and Three Gorges Dam
Patrick Cockburn
"Things Always Get Worse"
Seth DeLong
Aiding Oppression in Haiti
Ahmad Faruqui
Pakistan and the 9/11 Commission's Report
Paul Craig
Roberts
America
Locked Up: a System of Injustice
December 20,
2004
Gary Leupp
Japan
in Iraq
Robert Fisk
An
Army Without Compassion
Uri Avnery
The Mountain and the Mouse
Francisco Letelier
My Case Against Pinochet
Patrick Cockburn
The Polls of Fear
Bill Conroy
Charles Bowden on the Legacy of Gary Webb: "He Drew Blood"
Yoshie Furuhashi
Chokeholds of a Giant: Attacking Wal-Mart's Supply Chain
David Swanson
Media Blackout of Bush's War on Labor
Chad Nagle
Did Yushchenko Poison Himself?
December 18
/ 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
They Hated Gary Webb
Saul Landau
Gen.
Pinochet Should Also Face Charges in DC
Patrick Cockburn
Losing
Mosul: Once They Called It a Model for the Occupation
Douglas Valentine
Wolves
and Revolution in Venezuela: a Caracas Romance
Ray McGovern
Laughing Dragon, Dancing Bear: the New China / Russia Alliance
Fred Gardner
DEA Upholds Grower's Marijuana Monopoly
Jean-Guy Allard
Locked Up Naked in a Hole Within a Hole: Have the Cuban 5 Been
Tortured in US Prisons?
Ron Jacobs
Drifters Escape, Again: Encounters with Berkeley's Police
Raymond G.
Helmick, S.J.
The Law and Peace in the Middle East
Sean Sellers
Values Voters, Desperate Housewives and Sweatshop Tacos
Lee Sustar
Christmas
on the Picket Line at CNH: "They Want to Break Our Unions"
Richard Thieme
Webb's Wife: "Gary Was Never the Same After They Attacked
Him"
Sam Bahour
WANTED:
Middle East Negotiator
Joshua Frank
The
Spin Doctor: an Interview with Mickey Z.
Dave Lindorff
A Man Who Confers with God Should Have Good Hearing
Stan Cox
What Kids Cost: Dallas v. Delhi
Chris Frasier
Farming By Numbers: More Poets, Fewer MBAs
Poets' Basement
Katz, Melek, Harley, Albert and Ford
December
17, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
CounterAttack:
How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Dave Lindorff
Racism:
Philly Style
Dan Bacher
Bush Abandons Salmon Restoration
Marisa Jacott
NAFTA and the Environment: Trade Still Runs Roughshod
Francis Thicke
How Now, Industrial Cow?
Rupert Cornwell
The Inuit Strike Back
Website of the Day
Franz Boas Unrolls Over in His Grave
December
16, 2004
Michael
Neumann
How We Became Barbarians
Merlin
Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Ralph Nader
Gabriel
Espinoza Gonzales
The Dubious Career of John Bolton
Christopher
Brauchli
Louis Freeh's New Gig: Usurer
Patrick
Cockburn
Allawi's Pre-Election Ploy: Putting "Chemical Ali"
on Trial
Mike
Whitney
Gearing Up for a Draft?
Walter
Brasch
Hillbilly Humvees and Rumsfeld's New Physics
Bill
Conroy
How Gary Webb Saved My Ass from the FBI
Website
of the Day
Saturday Memorial for Gary Webb
December
15, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Who Killed Baha Mousa?
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Monster Under the Bed
Heather
Gray
Will the Real Christians Please Stand?: a Personal Testimony
Dave
Lindorff
The DNC, Albright and the Iraq Elections
Luis
Hernandez Navarro
To Die a Little: Migration and Coffee
in Mexico and Central America
Joshua
Frank
The Ohio Recount: an Exercise in "Dumbocracy"
Greg
Moses
Eighty-Sixing Civil Rights in Ohio?
George
Caffentzis
The Petroleum Commons
December
14, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
DNC Meddling in the Ukraine Elections
Larry
Birns / Seth DeLong
Haiti is Unraveling and No One is Saying
Anything
Richard
Thieme
My Last Talk with Gary Webb: "I Knew It Was the Truth and
That's What Kept Me Going"
Patrick
Cockburn
A Year After Saddam's Capture, Iraq
is Getting Worse
Chris
Floyd
Client State: Moral Values and Voluntary Servitude in Bush's
America
Akiva
Eldar
A One-time Hanukkah Miracle
Burbach
/ Cantor
The Legacy of Pinochet: Kissinger
and the Teflon Tyrant
December
13, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Gary Webb: a Great Reporter, Trashed
by the CIA's Claque
David
Phinney
"Contract Meal Disaster" for Iraqi Prisoners: Rancid
Food Sparked Abu Ghraib Riots
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality
for Douglas Feith
M.
Junaid Alam
The War is the War Crime
Robert
Jensen
The US Has Lost the Iraq War...and That's a Good Thing
Richard
Oxman
Kafkaesque Lessons for the Left
Greg
Moses
Send No Messengers of Defeat
Douglas
Lummis
The Pentagon's Neurosis: Fallujah
Gulag
December
11 / 12, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Running an Empire on the Cheap
Ron
Jacobs
The Drugs of War: Getting High in the Green Zone?
Saul
Landau
Listening and Talking to God About
Invading Other Countries
Gary
Leupp
Bush's Capital
Sharon
Smith
The Horrible Toll on US Troops
Dave
Lindorff
Deja Vu All Over Again: 5,000 Desertions and Counting
Uri
Avnery
The Boss Has Gone Crazy
Jude
Wanniski
The Neo-Con Smear on Kofi Annan: What Food-for-Oil Scandal?
Heather
Gray
How the South Became Republican: an Interview with John Egerton
Patrick
Cockburn / Ken Sengupta
Fallujah: the Homecoming and the Homeless
John
Pilger
Return to Kosovo: Calling the Humanitarian Bombers to Account
Joshua
Frank
All the Rage: Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry
Ben
Tripp
O Canada!: the Truth About the Election of 2004
John
Stanton
God Speaks!
Laura
Nathan
Porn Stars are People, Too: a Talk with Christi Lake
Poets'
Basement
Capaccio, Davies, Louise, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Day
Fallujah Photos: Killed in Their Beds
December
10, 2004
Ralph
Nader
President Bush, Stop Destroying the
Mosques of Iraq
Greg
Moses
Whitewashing Voter Fraud
Nicole
Colson
Rebellion in the Ranks: Grunts Are Resisting Stop-Loss Orders
Frederick
B. Hudson
"They Still Got Those Dogs": A New Book Probes Old
Civil Rights Lessons
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraq's Insurgents Oppose the Occupation, Not the Elections
Kathy
Kelly
From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water
December
9, 2004
Greg
Moses
Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah
Joshua
Frank
Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser!
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to
Disclose the Real Casualty Figures
Lee
Sustar
Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster
Tom
Barry
Restrictionist Resurgence
Mickey
Z.
Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush in the Bubble
Mark
Donham
Why are House Democrats Trying to
Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority?
Gary
Corseri
On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
December 30, 2004
Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Nuclear Testing
Unnatural
Disaster?
By
LILA RAJIVA
In the aftermath of a cataclysm like
the Asian tsunami, speculation can run wild. Reserving judgment
until we really know what happened, here is a list of salient
questions and answers that I,ve compiled from news reports, government
and other reliable sources.
Q: What set off the gigantic
tsunamis that devastated coastal south-east Asia?
A: An undersea earthquake
measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale with its epicenter about 160
km from the northern portion of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia
on Sunday, December 26.
Q: How soon after the quake
did the tsunami hit?
A: The earthquake hit Indonesia
at 6:58 a.m; the tsunami arrived as much as 2 1/2 hours later,
without warning, suggesting that it might not have been caused
directly by the quake but by some other change triggered by the
quake.
Q: How large was it?
A: It was the largest since
the 9.2 quake in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1964 and the
4th largest in the century. The quake moved the entire island
of Sumatra about 100 feet toward the southwest and even disturbed
the Earth's rotation. It was the first tsunami in the Indian
Ocean since 1883. Waves of around 30-40 ft in height and even
greater were widely reported.
Q: What caused the undersea
earthquake?
A: Compression between the
Indian and Burmese tectonic plates. Scientists believe that one
plate that comprised the landmass from India to Australia has
broken up into two. The initial 8.9 eruption happened near the
location of the meeting point of the Australian, Indian and Burmese
plates
Q: What made the plates shift?
A: It may have been set off
by another quake of about 8.1 on the Richter scale on the other
side of the plate about 900 km SE of the coast of Tasmania on
Thursday, December 24, which caused no serious damage however.
The causal relationship is not proved but the time sequence is
striking and some seismologists have considered it quite possible.
Q: Were tsunamis expected from
that earlier quake?
A: The U.S. government's Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center said on its Web site that ``widely destructive''
tsunamis from the quake were possible in the open ocean
Q: Have there been similar
earthquakes set off the South East of Tasmania before?
A: Yes, in 1998 a very large
earthquake occurred south of Australia and New Zealand, between
Macquarie Island and Antarctica on March 25 about 2,300 km south
of Hobart in Tasmania, and 500 km north of the Antarctic coast
Q: Did this generate tsunamis?
A: Very large long-period surface
waves were recorded in the hour after the earthquake.
Q: What connection if any is
there between Tasmania and Antarctica?
A: Its capital Hobart on the
South East coast is the base for the administration of Australia's
Antarctic program. The French regularly resupply their Antarctic
base at Dumont d'Urville from the port, and American, Chinese,
Russian and Italian ice breakers regularly visit.. Through its
exploratory, commercial and scientific associations with the
sub-antarctic and Antarctic regions, Hobart possibly enjoys a
longer continuous Antarctic connection than any other spot on
the planet.
Q: What are some other disturbances
that can cause tsunamis?
A: Landslides or explosions
such as underwater nuclear testing.
Q: Is underwater nuclear testing
common?
A: Yes, The United States has
conducted 1,054 tests of nuclear devices between July 16, 1945
and September 23, 1992. Before 1962, all the tests were atmospheric
(on land or in the Pacific or Atlantic oceans) but overall the
majority - 839 - were underground tests. From 1966 to 1990, 167
French nuclear test explosions have been performed on two atolls
in French Polynesia, Morurua and Fangataua. Of the 167 tests,
44 were atmospheric. Atmospheric explosions were carried out
until 1974, but only underground tests after that. The underground
tests have been conducted at the bottom of shafts bored 500-1200
meters into the basalt core of the atoll. Initially these shafts
were drilled in the outer rim of the atoll. In 1981, most likely
due to the weakening of that rim, the tests with higher yields
were shifted to shafts drilled under the lagoon itself.
Q: What are the effects of
underwater nuclear testing?
A: To quote from a 1995 case
brought against the French government, Case T-219/95 R, by Marie-Thérèse
Danielsson, Pierre Largenteau and Edwin Haoa, all residing in
Tahiti, French Polynesia: "Short-term effects include
geological damage and the venting of gaseous and volatile fission
products into the biosphere. Nuclear tests, the applicants say,
can cause landslides and did indeed cause a major underwater
landslide at Mururoa in 1979, when a nuclear device was exploded
after jamming half-way down its shaft. Since the geology of Mururoa
is already unstable due to large-scale fracturing caused by previous
tests, further major landslides are likely. Such landslides in
the past have given rise to tsunamis causing coastal damage in
areas as far away as Pitcairn and Tahiti and endangering residences
such as that of Ms. Danielsson. They can also release radioactive
material into the sea, with catastrophic effects on the food
chain in an area such as French Polynesia where fish is an important
part of the diet.
Q: What were the effects of
the Murarao landslide?
A: It shifted at least one
million cubic meters of coral and rock and created a cavity,
probably 140 meters in diameter and produced a major tidal wave
comparable to a tsunami, which spread through the Tuamotu Archipelago
and injured people on the southern part of Moruroa Atoll. French
authorities initially denied that any mishap had occurred and
declared that the tidal wave was of natural origin, but in a
publication in 1985 they did acknowledge "the accident of
25 July 1979".
Q: Can landslides create tsunamis?
A: Research on underwater landslides
is new and it is only in recent years that the potentially catastrophic
results of a landslide have become known. Dr Summerhayes, Director
of the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences in the United Kingdom,
is quoted in the Independent Newspaper on 9 September 1995 as
saying that volcanic islands like Mururoa were:
"... inherently unstable
and may fail given an appropriate trigger like an earthquake
or a very large explosion. Failure is likely to cause a giant
submarine landslide which may demolish parts of the island and
could create a tidal wave that may itself damage coastal installations
on other islands nearby."
Furthermore he stated that
the creation of such a tidal wave was "a general threat
to coasts as far away as New Zealand and Australia."
Q: How predictable would earthquakes
be in the region around Indonesia?
A: Indonesia, an archipelago
of 17,000 islands, lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire where
plate boundaries intersect and volcanoes regularly erupt.
Q: How common are tsunamis
in the Indian Ocean?
A: Tsunamis are rare in the
Indian Ocean though there have been 7 records of tsunamis set
off by earthquakes near Indonesia, Pakistan and at the Bay of
Bengal.
This is the first multi-ocean
tsunami since Krakatau erupted in the nineteenth century.
Q: Is there a warning system
for tsunamis in place?
A: An international system
of buoys and monitoring stations " the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center based in Hawaii " spans the Pacific, alerting nations
there to any oncoming disasters. But no such system guards the
Indian Ocean. Neither India or Sri Lanka are part of the system
and though Thailand is the south western coast does not have
the system,s sensors floated on buoys.
Q: Could the carnage have been
avoided?
A: Much of this death and destruction
could have been prevented with a simple system of buoys. Officials
in Thailand and Indonesia have said that an immediate public
warning could have saved lives, but that they did not know about
the danger because there was no international system in place
to track tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.
Q: How difficult would it
have been to set up?
A: The detector buoys have
been around for decades and the U.S. has had a monitoring system
for more than half a century. More than 50 seismometers dot the
Northwest ready to monitor earthquakes that might cause tsunamis.
There are 6 buoys in the middle of the Pacific equipped with
sensors called "tsunameters" that measure changes in
water pressure and programmed to alert the country's two tsunami-warning
centers in Hawaii and Alaska. Dr. Eddie Bernard, director of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pacific
Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, says just a few buoys
could do the job.
Q: What held up putting a system
in place?
A: Scientists wanted to place
two more tsunami meters in the Indian Ocean, including one near
Indonesia, but lacked funding, said Bernard. The tsunameters
each cost only $250,000.
Q: How soon did people know
about the tsunami?
A: Within 15 minutes of the
earthquake, scientists running the existing tsunami warning system
for the Pacific sent an alert from their Honolulu hub to 26 participating
countries, including Thailand and Indonesia, that destructive
waves might be generated by the Sumatra tremors.
Q: Did anyone warn Indonesia
or any other country?
A: "We put out a bulletin
within 20 minutes, technically as fast as we could do it,"
says Jeff LaDouce of the NOOA. LaDouce says e-mails were dispatched
to Indonesian officials, but he doesn't know what happened to
the information. Phone calls were hurriedly made to countries
in the Indian Ocean danger zone, Dr. Laura S. L. Kong, a Commerce
Department seismologist and director of the International Tsunami
Information Center said, but not with the speed that comes from
pre-established emergency planning. Reportedly, NOOA didn,t know
whom to contact.
Q: What responsibility do Asian
governments have in the lack of preparedness?
A: At a meeting in June of
the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, a United Nations
body, experts concluded that the "Indian Ocean has a significant
threat from both local and distant tsunamis" and should
have a warning network but India, Thailand, Malaysia and other
countries in the region have "never shown the initiative
to do anything," said Dr. Tad Murty, an expert on the region's
tsunamis who is affiliated with the University of Manitoba in
Winnipeg. "There's no reason for a single individual to
get killed in a tsunami," he noted, "The waves are
totally predictable. We have travel-time charts covering all
of the Indian Ocean. From where this earthquake happened to hit,
the travel time for waves to hit the tip of India was four hours.
That's enough time for a warning. In Thailand, officials reportedly
played down warnings afraid that if there was a false alarm,
tourism might be seriously damages as had happened once before.
Q: Were there any oddities
about the quake besides this?
A: The quake was rated a 6.4
on the Richter scale according to an official at the Bureau of
Meteorology and Geophysics in Jakarta. But the U.S. Geological
Survey measured the earthquake at a magnitude of 8.1. The assessment
significantly underestimated the size and impact of the quake.
Q: When were people in the
affected regions warned?
A: Officials in Thailand issued
the only warnings of the impending disaster, but broadcasts beamed
to tourist resorts in the country's south underestimated the
threat and a Web site caution was not posted until three hours
after the first waves hit.
Q: Was anyone warned in time
at all?
A: Yes. The NOAA immediately
warned the U.S. Naval Station at Diego Garcia, which suffered
very little damage from the tsunami. NOAA was able to get the
warning to the US Navy base in the area, but says it was unable
to contact the civil authorities in the region to warn them.
Q: Was there any damage to
Diego Garcia, the U.S. base in the Indian Ocean?
A: None, although Diego Garcia,
the southernmost island of the Chagos Archipelag, lies about
1,000 miles south of India and about 2,000 miles from the earthquake,s
epicenter. Meanwhile, Somalia, nearly 3,000 from the earthquake,s
center, reported more than 100 deaths in coastal areas. A spokeswoman
for the U.S. Geological Survey, said damage differs greatly because
of differences in the undersea topography. The numerous coral
reefs may have dissipated some of the waves, impact on the British-owned
island, resulting in only a slightly elevated tide, hardly noticeable
to residents
Q: Have tidal waves figured
in weapons research?
A: Yes. Secret wartime experiments
were conducted off the New Zealand coast to create a bomb that
would trigger tidal waves, according to government files declassified
in Auckland. But the tsunami bomb was never fully tested and
the war ended before the project was completed. Its mastermind
was Thomas Leech, an Australian professor who was the dean of
engineering at Auckland University from 1940 to 1950. He set
off a series of underwater explosions that caused mini tidal
waves at Whangaparaoa, north of Auckland, in 1944 and 1945. Details
of the research, known as Project Seal, are contained in 53-
year-old documents released by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Trade.
Q: Is it possible for a nuclear
explosion to have triggered the Macquarie quake in some way and
indirectly caused the changes that led to the Sumatra quake and
the Asian tsunami?
A: It is possible that a very
large explosion might have triggered the first quake directly
in some way or that repeated prior testing could have induced
changes that led to the quake indirectly, but research on the
fall-out of nuclear testing is so highly classified that little
is known of the possible impact. The U.S. has not ratified the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, leaving the door open to future
U.S. testing despite an extended moratorium. There has already
been a strong move toward resumption of testing since 2002. Now
earth-penetrating nukes (bunker busters) and mini-nukes might
provide the pretext.
Lila Rajiva is a free-lance journalist in the
Baltimore area and the author of "The Language of Empire:
Abu Ghraib and the American Media," to be released by Monthly
Review Press in 2005 Spring. She can be reached at: lrajiva@hotmail.co
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
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Alexander
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What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
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Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
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What We Can Control
Diane
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The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
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One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
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Ron
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Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
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Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
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Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
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Tabloid Justice
Stephen
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God's Kind of Men
Poets'
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Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
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