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Stunning New Print Edition of CounterPunch Will the US Labor Movement Rise Again in Chicago? Or is this just a power play at the top? JoAnn Wypijewski details what's really at stake in the great showdown as some of labor's most powerful bosses threaten to quit the AFL-CIO. No-holds-barred profiles of the SIEU's Andy Stern, Hoffa of the Teamsters and the other "insurgents". Jeffrey St Clair tells the incredible saga of the $30 billion bailout of Boeing. How the scandal reached the White House and Don Rumsfeld screamed, Let the woman take the fall. Plus Alexander Cockburn on the Judy Miller story. Get the answers you're looking for in the latest subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... 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 for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Show the New York Times You Don't Believe a Word of It: CounterPunch's New 14 Per Cent Club T-Shirts Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Now Available! Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by Kathy Kelly Click Here to Order the Hot New CounterPunch Book by 3-time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Kathy Kelly! Today's Stories July 12, 2005 Kara N. Tina "This is How We Do It": Report from the Gleneagles Battlefield Website of the Day Coke Gags Indian Artist   July 9 / 11, 2005 Alexander Cockburn After the Bombings Uri Avnery War of the Colors in Israel Sheldon Rampton Blaming Galloway: Rhetoric vs. Reality in London Bill Christison Hiroshima's 60th Anniversary and Nukes in Iran: an Opportunity or Just More Hand-wringing from the Peace Movement? Robert Fisk Blair's Alliance with Bush Bombed Stephen Winspear Collateral Damage in London? Saul Landau Mission Accomplished: Iraq is Broken Behrooz Ghamari Thomas Friedman's Muslim Problem Karl Beitel False Promises and Real Debt Relief Brian Concannon, Jr. Throwing Gasoline on Haiti's Fires Fred Gardner Sentencing Season John Whitlow And What Does the Market Say? Niranjan Ramakrishnan The London Blasts: Who's Being Transformed, Them or Us? Lila Rajiva Witches and Bastards Laura Carlsen CAFTA: Deepening the Inequities Jackie Corr Ted Turner and Jiminy Cricket Dave Lindorff "My Brother Went Over There Gung Ho; Now He's Just Bitter" N. D. Jayaprakash Why the CIA Tried to Kill Chou En Lai at the Bandung Conference Seth Sandronsky Meet the "Truth Tour": Rightwing Radio Hosts Go to Iraq Norman Madarasz The Choking of Brazil's Worker Party Ben Tripp The Inevitability of George W. Bush Poets' Basement Louise, Albert, Landau, Davies and Engel Website of the Weekend The Mother of All Enemies Lists   July 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Blowback Hits Britain: Londoners Pay Heavy Price for Blair's Deception Tariq Ali The London Bombings: Why They Happened Monica Benderman One Soldier's Fight to Legalize Morality Rick Jahnkow Beyond Opt-Out: the Counter-Recruitment Movement Christopher Brauchli Dear Vet: If You Want to Eat While You Recuperate, You Gotta Pay Extra Kim Peterson Bombs in the Underground: Terror Begats Terror Joshua Frank Leakers and Liars: Inching Toward Indictments? Norman Solomon Messages from the Carnage Website of the Day An Interview with Ray McGovern   July 7, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Judy Miller: the Luckiest Martyr John Walsh More Hawkish Than Bush: Dems in Full Battle Cry Mike Marqusee Message from London Gilad Atzmon London's Burning Nicole Colson Showdown at the Supreme Court Jack Random Judith Miller, Anti-Hero Norman Solomon Judith Miller, Drum Majorette for War Len Colodny Is Bob Woodward Still Protecting Al Haig? Cockburn / St. Clair Judy Miller: the Luckiest Martyr   July 6, 2005 Elaine Cassel Political Necrophilia in Florida: Jeb Bush and Terri Schiavo, a Strange Affair Sean Donahue Why the G8 Debt Relief Plan Won't Help Nicaragua's Poor Jeremy R. Hammond State Sponsors of Terrorism, Applying the US Standard Joshua Frank Will Rove be Indicted? Ali Khan The "Gift" of US Democratization Michael Dickinson Billy Graham's Final Crusade: Blessed are the Warmakers Norman Solomon How to Plunge Deeper into a Quagmire: Withdrawal and US Credibility Dave Zirin Triumph of the Shrill: Tony Blair's Olympiad Gary Leupp Accusing Ahmadinejad Website of the Day Humiliation in Baghdad: "Not Something We Would Do"   July 5, 2005 Behrooz Ghamari What's the Matter with Iran?: How the Reformists Lost the Presidency Elaine Cassel Why This Progressive Will Miss Sandra Day O'Connor Ron Jacobs Robert and Mabel Williams's Great Fight for Justice Bob Libal The Right's Assault on Academia Dr. Peter Rost Mea Culpa from a Big Pharma CEO Mark Engler The Big Debt Deal: Where's the Jubilee? Gideon Levy They Broke the Public's Heart Dave Zirin The Great Olympics Scam Sameer Dossani The Trouble with Gleneagles     July 2 / 4, 2005 Alexander Cockburn "Bomb Teheran!" Urges Jilted Condi? Lenni Brenner Jefferson, God and the Fourth of July Laura Carlsen Zapatista's Red Alert James Petras The Pretensions of Neoliberalism: Six Myths About the Benefits of Foreign Investment William A. Cook Kings of Serpents Brian Cloughley Quagmire of the Vanities Saul Landau The Mass Media, Symbols and Ownership Tom Crumpacker Who Has What to Hide About Luis Posada Carriles? Greg Moses Dylan's America Dr. Susan Block My Adelphia Story: a Tale of Censorship, Fraud, Christian Family Values and Really Lousy Cable Service Fran Shor Disassembling Bush's Iraq War: Liberated into a No Man's Land Fred Gardner Study: Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer Moshe Adler The New London Case: Corporate Giveaways That Destroy Communities, But Don't Create Jobs David Model The Downing Street Memo: So What's New? Seth Sandronsky California Spying, Schwarzenegger-Style Ramzy Baroud Managed Democracy in the Middle East Suzan Mazur Frank Carlucci the First: the "Sublime Prince" of Scranton Ben Tripp Voltaire, I Can Dig Your Rap Justin Taylor Faux Biography and the Pleasures of "Lint" Brendan Bailey Mesh Caps, Vice Magazine and the Trouble with Irony Poets' Basement Albert, Engel and Louise Website of the Weekend Radical Reference     July 1, 2005 Christopher Brauchli With Friends Like These: Bush Buddies Karimov and Musharraf Pat Williams What Real Westerners Think About Bush's Pseudo-Cowboy Palaver Gary Leupp Summer Surprise? John Stauber Mad Cow in America: the USDA Continues to Lie John Chuckman The Blessings of Canada Justicia y Paz Colombia's Disappeared: Their Names, At Least! Cockburn / St. Clair It's Put Up or Shut Up for Bush and the Dems on the Supreme Court   June 30, 2005 Kathy Kelly An Open Letter to Carl Levin: Compassion for Iraqis John Stauber Oprah Not the "Only" Mad Cow in America Virginia Rodino All Roads Lead to Baghdad: Unity in the Anti-War Movement Jason Leopold Meet the New Chair of the FERC: James Kelliher, the Man Who Invited Enron to Write Bush's Energy Policy Dave Lindorff What Was Bush Thinking? Greg Moses Racism at Cape Cod Norman Solomon Memo to the Iraq War Joshua Frank Israel's Theocrats Alexander Cockburn The Political Function of PBS   June 29, 2005 Mike Schaefer How the Washington Post Lied About Its Own War Poll Roger Burbach / Paul Cantor Bush's Big Democratic Hoax in Iraq Sharon Smith Democrats Shift into Reverse Sam Husseini A Quick Way to End the Insurgency John Stauber Put a Photo of Mad Cow #2 on a Milk Carton Ahmad Faruqui Is Militarism Irreversible in Pakistan? Linda S. Heard Bush's Speech: the View from Cairo Stew Albert Chet Helms: a Rock and Roll Hero Ray McGovern Bush at Ft. Bragg: Stay the Crooked Course     June 28, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts A Defeat Bred in Deceit Landau / Hassen Bush's Meddling in Internal Syrian Politics John A. Murphy Keeping Nader Off the Ballot: an Analysis of Political Profiling in Pennsylvania Mike Whitney More Lies from Rumsfeld: Those "Meetings" with Insurgents CounterPunch News Service JFK on Staying in Vietnam: Is Bush Reading from Kennedy's Playbook? Dave Zirin Pining for the Pistons Dave Lindorff Showtime in Washington Patrick Cockburn Iraq: a Bloody Mess     June 27, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Blood Sacrifices for Empty Slogans Mike Marqusee G8: Who are the Hijackers? Mark Scaramella When a Corporate Raider Claims Economic Hardship: the Court-Approved Lies of Charles Hurwitz Leigh Saavedra Press Apologists for Torture Kathy Kelly Where is the UN? June 25 / 26, 2005 Alexander Cockburn The Supreme Court's Jackboot Liberals Jennifer Van Bergen America's Parallel Legal Systems George Corsetti This Land is Their Land: Condemnation for Corporations Mark Chmiel / Andrew Wimmer Let's Open the Gulag: a People's Mission to Gitmo Kevin Zeese Counter-Recruitment: How to Keep the Military From Getting their Hands on Your Kids P. Sainath Russian Roulette in Vidharbha John Stauber How to Bury a Mad Cow Scott Handleman Gay in the Third World Tom Barry The Politics & Ideologies of the Anti-Immigrationists John Walsh Looking for Peace in All the Wrong Places Justin E.H. Smith The Hairless Apes of Kansas vs. the Reality-Based Community: Why Progressives Have a Stake in the War on Evolution Alan Wallis The Story of Pinky: the Drug Trade in My Neighborhood Ben Tripp Negative Space: an Artful Lesson Frederick B. Hudson Songs to Lose Your Loneliness By: the Raised Voices of Sweet Honey in the Rock Poets' Basement Gaffney, Engel, Davies, and Albert     June 24, 2005 Ray McGovern The Downing St. Fixation: Fixing to Fix "Fixed" Jorge Mariscal "They Only Call Us Americans When They Need Us for War": the Paradox of Mexican Americans in Iraq Desiree Hellegers Portland vs. the FBI Zeynep Toufe What Do the American People Know and When Did They Know It? Joshua Frank Call Him Senator Con Job David Lindorff Which Flag Would Jesus Burn? Michael Neumann Victory and Recruitment Website of the Day Gagging Dr. Dean June 23, 2005 Christopher Brauchli Thomas Griffith and Rule 49: He Practiced Law Without a License; Now He's a Federal Appeals Court Judge Clay Conrad Killing Off the Jury with Tort Reform Standard Schaefer A Retort to Military Neo-Liberalism P. Sainath Vidharbha: No rains and 116F, But It Does Have "Snow" and Water Parks Mark Engler CAFTA Deserves a Quiet Death Norman Solomon Voluntary Amnesia in America Cockburn / St. Clair Frank Calzon Kathy Kelly Where You Stand Determines What You See   June 22, 2005 Kevin Zeese The Bush Administration's Psy-Ops on the American Public: an Interview with Col. Sam Gardiner William S. Lind Afghanistan: the Other War Arsalan Iftikhar Patriots Against the PATRIOT Act Dan Nagengast Give Populism a Chance: From France to Kansas David Krieger To the Graduates: We Live in an Interdependent World Kathleen & Bill Christison Tempest in Santa Fe: Confronting Israeli Myth-making     June 21, 2005 Brian Cloughley Destroy the Unbelievers! Mike Whitney President Disconnect Dave Lindorff Who Needs Big Bird, Anyway? Mark Weisbrot Bush's Lonely Campaign Against Hugo Chavez Matthew R. Simmons The Coming Saudi Oil Crisis Dave Zirin The Crass Slipper Fits: Ron Howard's Terrible "Cinderella Man" Virginia Rodino The Anti-War Movement and Impeachment Paul Craig Roberts A War Waged by Liars and Morons   June 20, 2005 Alan Maass The GM Job Massacre Tariq Ali To the Gates of the Gleneagles Hotel! Mickey Z. WMDs American-Style: It's 60 Years Since Alamogordo William Blum Some Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends Gary Leupp Old News Indeed: In 1999, Bush Craved Chance to Attack Iraq Jason Leopold Someone Tell Bush Iraq Wasn't Behind 9/11, Before He Starts Another War Dave Lindorff Why the Media Should be Schiavo'd Alan Maass The GM Job Massacre Uri Avnery Condi and Hamas Website of the Day Crimes Against Poetry                                                                               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.     Subscribe Online

July 12, 2005 Voices of Resistance An Interview with Dr. Mohammad al-Obaidi of Iraq's Peoples' Struggle Movement By LAITH al-SAUD The mainstream media's attenuation of information regarding Iraq has now rendered public discourse about US policy in Iraq incoherent and incomprehensible. In spite of rising death and tragedy in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims "progress". Instead of debating the criminality of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, the New York Times and Washington Post are discussing what Dick Cheney actually meant by "last throes." And, of course, instead of finding a way to end the destructive campaign that the Bush administration inflicts on the Iraqi people, Americans are being asked for open-ended commitment to war. Completely obliterated in all this is the suppression by the tmainstream media of an entire side of the issue: the opposition. Opposition is always a check on hegemony, and the domination of the Bush administration's point of view in the mainstream media has induced complacency on the part of American officials-to the point they do not have to make sense or speak the truth. Clearly, opposition to the occupation of Iraq does not consist only of Iraqis, but many others . But with all due respect to the global moral support that the Iraqi people have in their resistance, we are concerned with here are what actual Iraqi intellectuals, professionals and community leaders who are connected to Iraq have to say of the situation. What follows is an interview, (in what is hoped to be a series of interviews of individuals and groups,) with someone actually connected to Iraq and those opposed to the American occupation. I should add that while I make no secret of my moral and political support for the Iraqis' right to defend themselves convincing the reader to adopt the same position is not the intention of the following discussion. It is simply to provide more information regarding one of the most important issues of our time. Dr. Mohammad al-Obaidi is a member of the People's Struggle Movement, more information on this group can be found at www.kifah.org in which links are provided to their political communiqué, available in English. Laith al-Saud: Many in the Bush administration argue that the resistance is made up of former regime members who have been marginalized by the current situation and by so-called "foreign fighters." What is your assessment and how does the resistance view the former regime? Dr. Mohammad al-Obaidi: The Iraqi people in general and the Iraqi National Resistance, which is its real name and nature, know that this claim is part of the propaganda and psychological warfare being targeted at Iraqis. What is clear on the ground is that the resistance is made of a plurality of groups with a single aim ­ namely to end the occupation of Iraq. The plurality of the resistance is a strength, not a weakness, as it shows that it is a nationalist resistance where being Iraqi trumps any sort of sectarianism ­ religious, ethnic, ideological or otherwise. It is well known in Iraq that the resistance is comprised of all sects and segments of Iraqi society: Islamists, Ba'athists, patriotic nationalists, and above all Arab Sunnis and Shii's. The Americans claimed before the last assault on Fallujah that the majority of the freedom fighters are so-called "foreign" Arabs and Muslims. (Though, after the inhumane destruction of Fallujah American officials openly said that [non-Iraqi] Arab fighters represent no more that 2% of the total number of freedom fighters in Iraq.) Most important, however, is the practical and logical conclusion that the Iraqis come to. When the US invaded Iraq she brought with her troops from all around the world. From thousands of miles away , from every quarter, the US employed several nations to occupy our country, so why can't our brother Arabs come to our country to help us defend our land and kick the occupiers out? This is a very logical question that I would like to ask the American people. As for the resistance's view of Saddam's regime, I think that all resistance factions condemn the regime for what happened in Iraq, but in the meantime we must keep in mind that the regime is gone now and forever and the Americans cannot hold Iraq hostage with the memory of the past. LS: How should the world distinguish between those groups who belong to the Iraqi National Resistance and those who do not? MO: By actions. It is known to all Iraqis that any operation carried out by the resistance targets the occupation and the security forces. It must be kept in mind that at this point in time, with the absence of any true sovereignty in Iraq, the security forces are merely an extension of the occupation itself. Those operations that do otherwise and target civilians can be said for certain to not belong to the National Resistance. For example, hundreds upon hundreds of university professors, military pilots, scientists and doctors have been killed in Iraq. What possible benefit would the resistance have in attacking our country's most talented and educated people? It is clear to all Iraqis that there are foreign fingers pulling the triggers to commit these crimes and murder the human resources of Iraq, all the while attempting to steal the country's natural resources. LS: Although many opposition groups in Iraq have repeatedly and explicitly condemned the targeting of innocent civilians in the country, the Bush administration has continually charged that this is part of the resistance's strategy. What is your response? MO: Once again, this has always been part of the propaganda of the occupiers. As I have said no resistance groups has ever targeted civilians or condoned it. All groups have clearly said that their targets are not and never will be the Iraqi people. How could it? The National Resistance is made up of the Iraqi people. Yet the question remains why do the occupiers not say anything of the killings being carried out by the militias that have been allowed to operate in our country, such as the peshmerga and the Badr Brigade? We have repeated reports that such militias have targeted clerics, worshippers and other Iraqis who have opposed the occupation and the current puppet government in Iraq. Yet the occupying powers and the international community in general have remained completely silent. LS: How have Iraqis who you have spoken to in the country described the nature of the occupation and the resistance? MO: Allow me to answer your question with another question. How would anyone feel if they had lost a loved one to an aggressive invasion and occupation? There are hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who find themselves in such a position and have lost dear ones to the hands of the occupiers. This is not to mention the prisoners, both men and women, who have families in the thousands. The destructiveness of the occupation affects the vast majority of Iraqis in a negative way and thus they are fed up with the presence of occupiers on our land. The resistance is not short on recruits to join them, as it is not difficult to find people sympathetic with the goals of the resistance in the country. Quite simply there are hundred of thousands of people in Iraq who are ready to sacrifice their lives for their country. Let me add one more thing. How do you think Iraqis would react when they do not have electricity and clean water for many days in the heat of our summer? It has been more than two years of occupation and yet the infrastructure of Iraq remains in shambles. Please do not claim that this is due to sabotage by the armed resistance, as we know where the resources are going and how they are being spent. It is a collective punishment to all Iraqis, particularly in Baghdad and other areas where the resistance is very active. LS: You suggest that the US military and administration has used methods of collective punishment in Iraq. What evidence can be shared with the world that this is happening in Iraq? MO: I am not suggesting, Laith. I am confirming that this is what is happening in Iraq. No one can deny what the US military has done in Falluja, Sammarra, Ramadi, Karbala, Heet, Qaim and other towns and cities. People have been denied water, electricity, medical treatment and other services. This has not only been confirmed by Iraqi eyewitnesses on the ground, which should be enough, but by international services such as the Red Crescent and others. Is that not collective punishment? Think of Baghdad for a moment. People in Baghdad never have electricity for three or four continuous days or clean running water for a week's time. Reuters has published photos of American soldiers swimming in the cool and clean water of a pool in one of Saddam's palaces; let the world compare this to the many photos of Iraqi children fighting for clean water. In addition, we also have many reports of American soldiers sabotaging main water stations. Take for example, the main water station in al-Karkh outside of Baghdad, eyewitnesses testify that there was a huge explosion just minutes after US soldiers left the site. Why does the world not raise concern over these accounts? Is it because they are being offered by Iraqis? It is time that the international community started to listen to Iraqis and not the lies of an occupying power that has never been shown to tell the truth. LS: Donald Rumsfeld recently claimed that the resistance lacks unity and has no vision for the future of the country? In this regard what are the long-term goals of the resistance? MO: Rumsfeld's claim is absolutely not true. The resistance factions are first and foremost united in ending the occupation and all traces of it. All resistance groups, which maintain strong ties and communications at all levels, believe they have a responsibility to all Iraqi people and are committed to defending the rights of the Iraqi people. It is very important that Iraq is completely liberated of all traces of the occupation and its effects; including the political, legal and social consequences of the occupation. As for the long-term goals, we seek a unified (non-federal), pluralistic and democratic Iraq where all Iraqis are thought of in terms of citizenship rather than ethnicity or sect. We are not opposed to elections. We are opposed to elections under occupation as they are tainted by the powers and pressures of the occupying forces. If anyone has questions as to the goals of the Iraqi National Resistance all they have to do is listen to the public spokespersons of the opposition in Iraq. The goals of the resistance have always been made clear. LS: What, then, is the resistance's position towards the current government in Iraq? MO: First of all the resistance, which represents the will of the majority of Iraqis is certain that the election was a violation of international law. International charters that regulate the relationship between occupiers and occupied do not give occupying authorities the mandate to instigate a change in the country's social, economic, and political structure. The election has changed the political composition of Iraq to suit the interests of the occupation of the authorities. The changes led, as we can now see, to ethnic, sectarian and religious divisions that the Iraqi people have succeeded in avoiding. Historically, Iraqis have always co-existed without any consideration of sectarianism or ethnic division; only after the country was stricken by the US-led occupation did the specter of civil war loom. These division serve the purposes of the occupying power as it is clearly and beyond any doubt an exercise in divide and conquer. The resistance, both political and martial, see that all steps have been taken to secure full US domination of decision makers in Iraq. A look at the electoral process and the composition of the current national council reveals that the election's main mission and accomplishment was the installation of some of the country's most notorious politicians who have often spoken proudly of their links to international intelligence agencies. Take for example Iyad Allawi and Ahmed Chalabi. The election has given power to every politician who has assisted the invaders and collaborated with them to consolidate the occupation; therefore the resistance confidently asserts that the political decision-making process in Iraq is taking place in the US embassy inside Baghdad and that the elected government is not more than a vehicle to carry out Washington's decisions. It is difficult for any sensible person to believe that the US would give up its domination of Iraq after spending billions of dollars and sacrificing the lives of hundreds of its soldiers. Iraqis never believed that the US would simply allow free and democratic elections that could, and would, result in a government that would make its first priority ending the occupation. In fact, the main purpose of the election process was to secure a government that will facilitate long-lasting agreements with the US to keep its forces on Iraqi soil and transform the country into an American colony. The US administration has worked hard to portray the Iraq election as a political achievement to cover over the scar that the war has left on its credibility. Washington has used the election card to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community and prevent it from seeing the tragic consequences that the war has left on the Iraqi people. For all these reasons, the resistance will also fight the current puppet government the same way they are fighting the occupiers. Laith al-Saud is an academic researcher and lecturer in the United States. He can be reached at: laithalsaud@aol.com