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Recent
Stories
April
15, 2003
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
April
14, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush's War Without End
Uri Avnery
Gunboat Democracy: This is Only the Beginning
Wayne
Madsen
Americans: The New Mongols of the Mideast?
Shahid
Alam
Iqra: Iraq is Free
Hani
Shukrallah
Day of the Chicken Hawks
Terry
Jones
The Iraq Gravy Train
John
Chuckman
The Iraq War's Trashiest Piece of Propaganda
Patrick
Cockburn
US has a Lot to Answer For: Violence,
Misery and Poverty in Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/14
April
12 / 13, 2003
Carol
Lipton
Wag the Kennel: the Kenneth Joseph
Story
Wayne
Madsen
Meet the New Butcher of Baghdad: Maj.
Gen. Buford Blount III
John
Brown
"They Got It Down": the Toppling
of the Saddam Statue
Kathy and
Bill Christison
Final Thoughts from Palestine
William
Blum
Our Vulnerable Warmongers' Rush to Justify Devastation
Wallace
Gagne
Let the Stealing Begin
Ann
Harrison
Rosenthal Update: Judge Delays Ruling in Medical Pot Mistrial
Case
Henry Miller
What is the Greatest Treason?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Render Unto Cesar
Zeljko
Cipris
Mocking Militarism: On Ishikawa Jun's Song of Mars
Ishikawa
Jun
The Song of Mars
Jamey Hecht
Chairman of the Sandwich Board
Adam
Engel
Hell of a Town: Mayor Bloomberg and
the News
Poets'
Basement
Chang Yang-Hao, Adam Engel and Hammond Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/12
April
11, 2003
Omar
Barghouti
From Saddam to Uncle Sam
Ron
Jacobs
Greed is Rewarded
David
Vest
The Corporate War on Iraq
Paul
de Rooij
Propaganda Stinkers: Fresh Samples from the Field
Anthony
Gancarski
Foreign Aid: Embezzlement as Public Policy
Mas'ood
Cajee
Franklin Graham: Spiritual Carpetbagger
Michael
Neumann
Now What?
Michael
Berry
The Neo-Cons Have a Dream
Stew Albert
Oh Freedom
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/11
Website
of the Day
About Those Dancing Crowds
April
10, 2003
Zoltan
Grossman
The Perils of Occupation: the Easier
the Victory, the Harder the Peace
Uri
Avnery
The Night After
Wayne Madsen
The Telltale Signs of Empire
David Krieger
Before You Become Too Flushed with Victory, Think of Ali Ismaeel
Abbas
Jeremy
Brecher
What Can the World Do Now That Tanks Prowl Baghdad?
Robert
Jensen
The Unseen War
Geoffrey
Neale
Ashcroft's War on the Constitution:
A Patriot Attack on America
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Last Tango in Baghdad
Hammond
Guthrie
Rumors of War
Joseph
Heller
Nately's Old Man
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/10
Website
of the Day
The
Third Page
April
9, 2003
David
Lindorff
Secret Bechtel Docs Reveal: Yes,
the War Is About Oil
Doug
Lummis
Saving Private Lynch: Hollywood and
War
Susan
Davis
The New York Times and the Peace Movement
David Vest
Smoking Gun? You're Watching It
John
Chuckman
America's Sovereign Right to Do
as It Damn Well Pleases
Akiva
Eldar
Gary Bauer and AIPAC: an Unholy Alliance
with the Christian Right
Ray
Hanania
Suicide Bombers without the Suicide:
Racism, Hypocrisy and the War on Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/9
April
8, 2003
David
Lindorff
Killing the Messengers: It Doesn't
Matter If It's Deliberate or Accidental
Richard
Lichtman
Dr. Phil in the Trenches
John
Brown
Why Uncle Ben Hasn't Sold Uncle Sam:
a Former Foreign Service Staffer on Bush's Policy Failures
Ben
Terrall
Report from the Oakland Docks: "The
Cops Had No Reason to Open Up on Them"
Jason Leopold
FERC and Wall Street: Conversations
May Have Violated Federal Law
Anthony
Gancarski
Conyers Heeds the Call on Perle
Linda Heard
Journalists Die, the Networks Lie, Iraqis Ask "Why?"
Ahmad
Faruqui
Wallowing in Hypocrisy
Wallace
Gagne
Baghdad Babble
Harry
Browne
Report from the Protests at the Bush/Blair
Summit
Larry Kearney
I Understand There's a Boy in
a Baghdad Hospital
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/8
M. Shahid
Alam
The Israelization of America
April
7, 2003
Todd
Chretien
Wooden Bullets & Grenades: Oakland
Cops Attack Peace Protesters and Dock Workers
David
N. Gibbs
Spying, Secrecy and the University:
The CIA is Back on Campus
Harry Browne
War and Peace Summit a Royal Farce
Gideon
Levy
America is Not a Role Model
Diane
Christian
A Scene from an Obscene War
Jules
Rabin
Remembering Deir Yassin
James Davis
Oddsmaking in Dublin: Will Bush
Shake Gerry's Hand?
Robert
Fisk
The Twisted Language of War
Patrick
Cockburn
Slaughter on the Road to Dibagah
John
Mackay
War and Art
Seth Sandronsky
Wars and the Color Line
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/7
April
5, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
The Iraqi Humanitarian Relief is
in Shambles
Anne
Gwynne
A Drowning in Salem
Uri
Avnery
Roadmap to Nowhere
Chris
Floyd
Hell for Leather: Bombs, Bullets, Bibles and Bush
William
Cook
Would You Have Sent Your Son (or Daughter) Off to War If...
Gila
Svirsky
A Busy Day for Bulldozers
Mike Ferner
Back from Baghdad: What Next for the Peace Movement?
Joanne
Mariner
Civilian Deaths and Official Apologies
John Stanton
Bush Takes His Killing Orders
from the Lord
Romi
Mahajan
Learning to Count the Dead
Aluf Benn
After Iraq, US Vows to Deal with
Other Mideast Regimes
Mary
Ellen Peterson
Gay Marine Refuses to Fight
William
MacDougall
Country Music and the Crimes of Patriotism
Ron
Jacobs
War and Occupation
Bernie
Pattison
Aborigines and the Different God
Mark
Engler
Iraq War as Arms Expo
Adam Engel
Li'l Box of Love: a Novelini
Poets'
Basement
Tripp, Albert, Katz
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Flesh and Its Discontents: the Paintings of Lucian Freud
Norman
Madarasz
Canada and the War
April
4, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell's Shame
John
Chuckman
Was Einstein Right About Israel?
David
Krieger
The Meaning of Victory
Tom
Gorman
The Mantra of the Troops: Support
or Treason?
Adam
Federman
The Absence of War
Vijay
Prashad
There Are No More Arguments
Tom
Stephens
The End of the Innocence
Mickey
Z.
Makes Me Sic (Sic): Copy Editing
Bush Speak
Pierre
Tristam
War Coverage: a Dishonest Reality
Show
Hammond
Guthrie
The Deadly Mihrab
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/04
April
3, 2003
Uri
Avnery
A Crooked Mirror: Presstitution and
the Theater of Operations
David
Vest
Can You Hear the Silence?
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell Telemarketer
David
Lindorff
Takoma: the Dolphin Who Refused
to Fight
Michael
Roberts
War, Debts and Deficits
Ramzy
Baroud
Now That Iraqis Are Being Killed Is Israel Any More Secure?
Jo Wilding
From Baghdad with Tears
Anton
Antonowicz
Cluster Bombs on Babylon
Alison
Weir
Israel, We Won't Forget Rachel Corrie
Bruce
Jackson
Hating Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Eliot Katz
War's First Week
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/03
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Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
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The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
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April 17,
2003
Baseball, Censorship
and the War
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through
This Nation
by
TIM ROBBINS
Transcript of the speech given by actor
Tim Robbins to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on
April 15, 2003
I had originally been asked here to talk about
the war and our current political situation, but I have instead
chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk about baseball and
show business. (Laughter.) Just kidding. Sort of.
I can't tell you how moved I have been
at the overwhelming support I have received from newspapers throughout
the country in these past few days. I hold no illusions that
all of these journalists agree with me on my views against the
war. While the journalists' outrage at the cancellation of our
appearance in Cooperstown is not about my views, it is about
my right to express these views. I am extremely grateful that
there are those of you out there still with a fierce belief in
constitutionally guaranteed rights. We need you, the press, now
more than ever. This is a crucial moment for all of us.
For all of the ugliness and tragedy of
9-11, there was a brief period afterward where I held a great
hope, in the midst of the tears and shocked faces of New Yorkers,
in the midst of the lethal air we breathed as we worked at Ground
Zero, in the midst of my children's terror at being so close
to this crime against humanity, in the midst of all this, I held
on to a glimmer of hope in the naive assumption that something
good could come out of it.
I imagined our leaders seizing upon this
moment of unity in America, this moment when no one wanted to
talk about Democrat versus Republican, white versus black, or
any of the other ridiculous divisions that dominate our public
discourse. I imagined our leaders going on television telling
the citizens that although we all want to be at Ground Zero,
we can't, but there is work that is needed to be done all over
America. Our help is needed at community centers to tutor children,
to teach them to read. Our work is needed at old-age homes to
visit the lonely and infirmed; in gutted neighborhoods to rebuild
housing and clean up parks, and convert abandoned lots to baseball
fields. I imagined leadership that would take this incredible
energy, this generosity of spirit and create a new unity in America
born out of the chaos and tragedy of 9/11, a new unity that would
send a message to terrorists everywhere: If you attack us, we
will become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified.
You will strengthen our commitment to justice and democracy by
your inhumane attacks on us. Like a Phoenix out of the fire,
we will be reborn.
And then came the speech: You are either
with us or against us. And the bombing began. And the old paradigm
was restored as our leader encouraged us to show our patriotism
by shopping and by volunteering to join groups that would turn
in their neighbor for any suspicious behavior.
In the 19 months since 9-11, we have
seen our democracy compromised by fear and hatred. Basic inalienable
rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have been quickly
compromised in a climate of fear. A unified American public has
grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound
sympathy and support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful,
viewing us as we once viewed the Soviet Union, as a rogue state.
This past weekend, Susan and I and the
three kids went to Florida for a family reunion of sorts. Amidst
the alcohol and the dancing, sugar-rushing children, there was,
of course, talk of the war. And the most frightening thing about
the weekend was the amount of times we were thanked for speaking
out against the war because that individual speaking thought
it unsafe to do so in their own community, in their own life.
Keep talking, they said; I haven't been able to open my mouth.
A relative tells me that a history teacher
tells his 11-year-old son, my nephew, that Susan Sarandon is
endangering the troops by her opposition to the war. Another
teacher in a different school asks our niece if we are coming
to the school play. They're not welcome here, said the molder
of young minds.
Another relative tells me of a school
board decision to cancel a civics event that was proposing to
have a moment of silence for those who have died in the war because
the students were including dead Iraqi civilians in their silent
prayer.
A teacher in another nephew's school
is fired for wearing a T- shirt with a peace sign on it. And
a friend of the family tells of listening to the radio down South
as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent anti-war
activist. Death threats have appeared on other prominent anti-war
activists' doorsteps for their views. Relatives of ours have
received threatening e-mails and phone calls. And my 13-year-old
boy, who has done nothing to anybody, has recently been embarrassed
and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes -- or, rather,
scratches his column with his fingernails in dirt.
Susan and I have been listed as traitors,
as supporters of Saddam, and various other epithets by the Aussie
gossip rags masquerading as newspapers, and by their fair and
balanced electronic media cousins, 19th Century Fox. (Laughter.)
Apologies to Gore Vidal. (Applause.)
Two weeks ago, the United Way canceled
Susan's appearance at a conference on women's leadership. And
both of us last week were told that both we and the First Amendment
were not welcome at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A famous middle-aged rock-and-roller
called me last week to thank me for speaking out against the
war, only to go on to tell me that he could not speak himself
because he fears repercussions from Clear Channel. "They
promote our concert appearances," he said. "They own
most of the stations that play our music. I can't come out against
this war."
And here in Washington, Helen Thomas
finds herself banished to the back of the room and uncalled on
after asking Ari Fleischer whether our showing prisoners of war
at Guantanamo Bay on television violated the Geneva Convention.
A chill wind is blowing in this nation.
A message is being sent through the White House and its allies
in talk radio and Clear Channel and Cooperstown. If you oppose
this administration, there can and will be ramifications.
Every day, the air waves are filled with
warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and hatred
directed at any voice of dissent. And the public, like so many
relatives and friends that I saw this weekend, sit in mute opposition
and fear.
I am sick of hearing about Hollywood
being against this war. Hollywood's heavy hitters, the real power
brokers and cover-of-the- magazine stars, have been largely silent
on this issue. But Hollywood, the concept, has always been a
popular target.
I remember when the Columbine High School
shootings happened. President Clinton criticized Hollywood for
contributing to this terrible tragedy -- this, as we were dropping
bombs over Kosovo. Could the violent actions of our leaders contribute
somewhat to the violent fantasies of our teenagers? Or is it
all just Hollywood and rock and roll?
I remember reading at the time that one
of the shooters had tried to enlist to fight the real war a week
before he acted out his war in real life at Columbine. I talked
about this in the press at the time. And curiously, no one accused
me of being unpatriotic for criticizing Clinton. In fact, the
same radio patriots that call us traitors today engaged in daily
personal attacks on their president during the war in Kosovo.
Today, prominent politicians who have
decried violence in movies -- the "Blame Hollywooders,"
if you will -- recently voted to give our current president the
power to unleash real violence in our current war. They want
us to stop the fictional violence but are okay with the real
kind.
And these same people that tolerate the
real violence of war don't want to see the result of it on the
nightly news. Unlike the rest of the world, our news coverage
of this war remains sanitized, without a glimpse of the blood
and gore inflicted upon our soldiers or the women and children
in Iraq. Violence as a concept, an abstraction -- it's very strange.
As we applaud the hard-edged realism
of the opening battle scene of "Saving Private Ryan,"
we cringe at the thought of seeing the same on the nightly news.
We are told it would be pornographic. We want no part of reality
in real life. We demand that war be painstakingly realized on
the screen, but that war remain imagined and conceptualized in
real life.
And in the midst of all this madness,
where is the political opposition? Where have all the Democrats
gone? Long time passing, long time ago. (Applause.) With apologies
to Robert Byrd, I have to say it is pretty embarrassing to live
in a country where a five-foot- one comedian has more guts than
most politicians. (Applause.) We need leaders, not pragmatists
that cower before the spin zones of former entertainment journalists.
We need leaders who can understand the Constitution, congressman
who don't in a moment of fear abdicate their most important power,
the right to declare war to the executive branch. And, please,
can we please stop the congressional sing-a- longs? (Laughter.)
In this time when a citizenry applauds
the liberation of a country as it lives in fear of its own freedom,
when an administration official releases an attack ad questioning
the patriotism of a legless Vietnam veteran running for Congress,
when people all over the country fear reprisal if they use their
right to free speech, it is time to get angry. It is time to
get fierce. And it doesn't take much to shift the tide. My 11-year-old
nephew, mentioned earlier, a shy kid who never talks in class,
stood up to his history teacher who was questioning Susan's patriotism.
"That's my aunt you're talking about. Stop it." And
the stunned teacher backtracks and began stammering compliments
in embarrassment.
Sportswriters across the country reacted
with such overwhelming fury at the Hall of Fame that the president
of the Hall admitted he made a mistake and Major League Baseball
disavowed any connection to the actions of the Hall's president.
A bully can be stopped, and so can a mob. It takes one person
with the courage and a resolute voice.
The journalists in this country can battle
back at those who would rewrite our Constitution in Patriot Act
II, or "Patriot, The Sequel," as we would call it in
Hollywood. We are counting on you to star in that movie. Journalists
can insist that they not be used as publicists by this administration.
(Applause.) The next White House correspondent to be called on
by Ari Fleischer should defer their question to the back of the
room, to the banished journalist du jour. (Applause.) And any
instance of intimidation to free speech should be battled against.
Any acquiescence or intimidation at this point will only lead
to more intimidation. You have, whether you like it or not, an
awesome responsibility and an awesome power: the fate of discourse,
the health of this republic is in your hands, whether you write
on the left or the right. This is your time, and the destiny
you have chosen.
We lay the continuance of our democracy
on your desks, and count on your pens to be mightier. Millions
are watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope - hoping
for someone to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution,
and to defy the intimidation that is visited upon us daily in
the name of national security and warped notions of patriotism.
Our ability to disagree, and our inherent
right to question our leaders and criticize their actions define
who we are. To allow those rights to be taken away out of fear,
to punish people for their beliefs, to limit access in the news
media to differing opinions is to acknowledge our democracy's
defeat. These are challenging times. There is a wave of hate
that seeks to divide us -- right and left, pro-war and anti-war.
In the name of my 11-year-old nephew, and all the other unreported
victims of this hostile and unproductive environment of fear,
let us try to find our common ground as a nation. Let us celebrate
this grand and glorious experiment that has survived for 227
years. To do so we must honor and fight vigilantly for the things
that unite us -- like freedom, the First Amendment and, yes,
baseball. (Applause.)
Tim Robbins
is an actor, director and activist. The DVD version of his groundbreaking
film, Bob
Roberts, contains a commentary on the film, the CIA, Iran/Contra
and Contra drug running by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St.
Clair.
Today's
Features
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
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