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Democrats on the Brink: Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair; Innocent Lads, Depraved Killers and Predatory Priests by JoAnn Wypijewski; Torture Air, Inc.: the Road to Rendition: by Jeffrey St. Clair. Remember these stories are available exclusively in the print 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! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY  Today's Stories March 9, 2004 Jeffrey St.
Clair Vijay Prashad
March 8, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Fisk Kurt Nimmo Suzan Mazur Evelyn Pringle Giuliana Sgrena Elaine Cassel
March 7, 2005 Dave Zirin Brian Cloughley John Chuckman Mike Whitney Mark Weisbrot Fred Gardner Richard Neville Uri Avnery
March 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Tom Reeves Jenna Orkin Tom Barry Joshua Frank Moshe Adler Jane Stillwater Omar Barghouti / Jacqueline
Sfeir Christopher
Brauchli John Pilger Raúl
Zibechi David Krieger Three Takes on Nepal Surendra R. Devkota Bhishma Karki Joseph Pietri Ben Tripp Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
March 4, 2005 Frederick Hudson
March 3, 2005 Pat Williams Brian Cloughley Dave Lindorff Amira Hass Greg Moses Lynne Landes Nelson P. Valdés John Ross
March 2, 2005 Saul Landau
/ Farrah Hassen Mike Roselle M. Junaid Alam Suzan Mazur Jackson Thoreau Michael Donnelly Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
March 1, 2005 Scott Richard
Lyons David Lindorff Patrick Cockburn
/ David Enders Ron Jacobs Tanya Garcia Joseph Pietri Kona Lowell Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
February 28, 2005 Gary Leupp Bill Quigley Paul de Rooij David Swanson Mario Lamo
Jimenez Emma Perez Diana Johnstone Website of the Day
February 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Noam Chomsky Rev. William E. Alberts Fred Gardner Gary Leupp Saul Landau Robin Philpot Yitkhak Laor Ben Tripp Justin Taylor Jack Random Rafael Renteria Jim B. Seth DeLong John Chuckman Alison Weir Richard Oxman Dr. Susan Block Poets' Basement
February 25, 2005 Roger Burbach Behzad Yaghmaian Kurt Nimmo Joshua Frank John Farley Lawrence Reichard Pratyush Chandra David Smith-Ferri Website of
the Day
February 24, 2005 Omar Waraich Brian Cloughley Tom Wright Sharon Smith Dave Lindorff Fred Feldman James Reiss
Diane Christian Website of
the Day
February 23, 2005 Werther W. John Green James Petras Conn Hallinan Joe Pietri Louis Proyect Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
February 22, 2005 Naseer Aruri Richard Manning William A.
Cook Paul Craig Roberts Ken Krayeske Dave Zirin Kirkpatrick
Sale
February 21, 2005 Hunter S. Thompson John Ross Ward Churchill Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst David Swanson Dave Lindorff Stew Albert Michael Neumann
February 19 / 20, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Kathleen Christison Ted Honderich Gary Leupp Don Santina Jennifer Roesch Scott Richard
Lyons Chris Clarke George Beres Harry Browne Manuel García,
Jr. Mark Scaramella Michael Donnelly John Pilger Norman Madarasz Surendra Devkota Deborah Rich Fred Gardner CounterPunch
News Service Richard Oxman Poets' Basement
February 18, 2005 Ben Moxham Dave Lindorff Larry Birns Gregory Elich Samuel Logan / John Meyers Nicole Colson Suzan Mazur Mickey Z.
February 17, 2005 Joshua Frank Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Fisk Christopher
Brauchli Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst Alison Weir Ahrar Ahmad Saul Landau Website of the Day
February 16, 2005 Robert Fisk Kevin Zeese Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Jessica Leight Greg Moses Mark Engler Jack McCarthy Bill Christison Website of the Day
February 15, 2005 CounterPunch
News Service Robert Fisk Uri Avnery Stan Cox Mickey Z. Dave Zirin Nadia Martinez Lila Rajiva Paul Craig
Roberts
February 14, 2005 Robert Jensen Brian Cloughley Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Michael Donnelly Dave Lindorff Elaine Cassel
February 12 / 13, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Paul Craig
Roberts Patrick Cockburn John Feffer Mickey Z. Kurt Nimmo Fred Gardner Dave Zirin John Chuckman Ben Tripp Carol Norris Robert Fisk Frank / Chowkwanyun Mike Whitney Deborah Frisch Niranjan Ramakrishnan Christine TenBarge Ron Jacobs Dr. Susan Block Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
February 11, 20055 Manuel Garcia,
Jr Kurt Nimmo Dave Lindorff Larry Birns Bill Quigley Tom Barry Jennifer Van
Bergen
February 10, 2005 Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Patrick Cockburn Nicole Colson Suzan Mazur Michael Donnelly Mike Stark Greg Moses Website of
the Day
February 9, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Mickey Z. John Ross Tom Barry Conn Hallinan Patrick Cockburn Steen Sohn Tim Wise Website of
the Day
February 8, 2005 Patrick Cockburn Brian Cloughley Steve Breyman Harry Browne Doug Giebel Nate Collins Dave Lindorff David Smith-Ferri
February 7, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Carolyn Baker Joshua Frank Mickey Z. Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Stacie Jonas Dave Zirin Tariq Ali
February 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Kurt Nimmo Joshua Frank P. Sainath Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen Dave Lindorff Pamela Olson Behzad Yaghmaian Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen Roger Burbach Robert Fisk David Swanson Justin E.H. Smith Cacie Hart Ron Jacobs Mickey Z. Ben Tripp Ben Sonnenberg Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
February 4, 2005 Brian Cloughley Bill Christison Elaine Cassel Jacob Levich Kanak Mani Dixit Ron Jacobs
February 3, 2005 Ward Churchill Sharon Smith Mickey Z. Mike Whitney Jenna Orkin Saul Landau Yitzhak Laor Dave Lindorff
February 2, 2005 David Domke
/ Kevin Coe Noam Chomsky M. Shahid Alam Richard Oxman Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Nina Hartley Website of the Day
February 1, 2005 Joshua L. Dratel Patrick Cockburn Robert Fisk Uri Avnery Col. Dan Smith Alison Weir Alan Farago Ray Hanania Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
December 22, 2004 James Petras Omar Barghouti Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond Harry Browne Richard Oxman Kathleen Christison Website of the Day
December 21, 2004 Greg Moses Dave Lindorff Chad Nagle Dragon Pierces
Truth* Patrick Cockburn Seth DeLong Ahmad Faruqui Paul Craig
Roberts
Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Subcomandante
Marcos Norman Finkelstein Steve Niva Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams Steve
J.B. Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber Wendell
Berry CounterPunch
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March 9, 2005 Dirty Harry's Fear of FlyingMaking Love, War and Profits at BoeingBy JEFFREY ST. CLAIR A few days after the Defense Department announced that it was once again probing irregularities in contracts with Boeing, the company axed its new CEO, Harry Stonecipher. The premature exit came only a few months after former CEO Phil Condit resigned in the wake growing scandals involving Boeing's cheating on Air Force projects that got the company banned from work on a missile launching program and landed two top executives in federal prison. This time the illicit relationship didn't involve a backroom assignation with the Pentagon. Instead, Stonecipher was apparently ousted because he had an affair with a female executive at the besieged company. Stonecipher is married; the female executive is divorced. Stonecipher, who had returned
to Boeing in 2003 after a few years of retirement on the golf
courses of Florida to rehabilitate the company's reputation after
the resignation of Condit, began his dalliance with an unnamed
woman executive "several levels down" the corporate
ladder in January of 2005. The affair flourished over a few fervid
weeks this winter. But "It wasn't the affair," explained Lewis Platt, chair of Boeing's board of directors. "It was the circumstances surrounding the affair. We thought there were issues of poor judgment that impaired his ability to lead going forward." Platt didn't disclose the lapses of judgement that cost Stonecipher his $1.5 million a year post. "We simply felt that if certain details were disclosed it would embarrass the company," offered Platt, rather obliquely. Company rules do not prohibit affairs between co-workers. In fact, inter-office romances are something of a tradition among Boeing executives. Stonecipher's predecessor, Phil Condit, married his secretary and later launched a torrid affair with a Boeing receptionist in the months before he resigned. When Stonecipher took the helm at Boeing in 2003, he held a sermonizing press conference where he boasted that his primary job was to convince Wall Street investors, Pentagon procurement officers and congressional appropriators that Boeing wasn't "run by a bunch of crooks." He was referring to the procurement scandal involving the leasing of Boeing-owned tankers to the Air Force that resulted in jailing of two Boeing executives and the resignation of Condit. In January 2005, Michael Sears, the former chief financial officer at the company and long-considered a front-runner for the CEO post, was sentenced to four months in federal prison for his role in illegally brokering a job for Air Force procurement official Darleen Druyun, who had steered numerous contracts to Boeing, including the tanker deal. Druyun is serving a nine-month sentence. At the same time, Boeing had also been caught cheating in another bid for a Pentagon contract. In that scandal, the Pentagon's Inspector General discovered that Boeing had used documents stolen from Lockheed-Martin to aid its attempt to win a rocket-launching contract. As punishment, the Air Force barred Boeing from bidding on new rocket-launching contracts for 20 months, although Stonecipher later prevailed upon the Pentagon to reduce the penalty by a period of several months. Stonecipher, a native of Tennessee who refers to himself as a Hillbilly executive, spoke of himself as a kind of corporate sheriff who would show no tolerance for ethical breaches by subordinates. "After the ink was dry on my appointment here, I said, OK we are going to have a dedication to a value system," Stonecipher said. "If you are going to work here, you must comply with the Boeing Code of Conduct." That code of conduct was written for Boeing by the pious Warren Rudman. Rudman, the former senator and Iran/contra cover-upper, has been dubbed the "white Andrew Young" for his resumé of providing, for a lofty fee, ethical nostrums for unsavory corporations. Under Stonecipher's regime, each Boeing employee was forced to sign the Rudman code. But the Rudman rules are silent on the subject of inter-office affairs. And Stonecipher's tenure as CEO had been very good for Boeing's bottom line. Despite losing commercial plane business to Airbus, Boeing's stock had soared to three-years highs under Stonecipher's leadership, largely as a result of defense contracts. This has led to speculation inside and out of the company that Stonecipher was shown the door for something more substantial than a mere consensual liaison with a female executive, who was not relieved of her position. It's not common practice in corporate America for a board to can a CEO who made millions for their company. Especially when the executive didn't commit a felony or even violate company rules. This has prompted speculation that Stonecipher may have been forced out in advance of a widening probe into Boeing's contracts with the Pentagon. In late February, Michael Wynne, the acting chief of Pentagon acquisition programs, announced that a recent review of Boeing defense contracts had found irregularities in four contracts ranging from $62 million to $1.5 billion each. Among the Boeing contracts being reviewed are a $1.5 billion award for depot maintenance of the Air Force's KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft; an environmental satellite system worth up to $400 million; a C-40 lease and purchase program worth about $244 million; and a C-22 replacement program worth about $62 million. The value of the suspect tainted totaled more than $2.2 billion. Wynne ordered the Pentagon's inspector general to begin a more detailed inquiry. A parallel investigation is being conducted by the Defense Science Board. It is slated for release in late March. We do know that Stonecipher was undone from the inside. On February 28, Platt received a packet of information on the affair from a Boeing whistleblower. The dossier included a memo and included copies of emails between Stonecipher and his lover, as well as other evidence of sexual banter. Similar packets were sent to heads of Boeing's legal and ethics departments. The whistleblower alleged in the memo accompanying the documents that Stonecipher had given a boost to the career and salary of his paramour. Platt immediately confronted Stonecipher with the accusations from the anonymous tipster. Stonecipher admitted the affair, but denied giving his lover any preferential treatment. The Boeing board was meeting that week in Huntington Beach, California. As the board members sat down to dinner, Platt broke the news of their CEO's erotic escapades. The board was split on how to handle the situation. Apparently, most board members thought that a mere reprimand would do the trick. After a few hours of heated debate, the board ordered an investigation by an outside law firm from Los Angeles. The inquiry took a week and Stonecipher was fired and removed from his position as board member soon after the lawyer's report was handed to the board. The findings of that report have not been made available. Few Boeing workers are shedding tears over the fall of Stonecipher. He was widely considered a pompous and abrasive executive, who had built his career by slashing jobs and moving production overseas. Many Boeing workers were still seething over Stonecipher's ruthless handling of the strike in 2000 by Boeing's engineers. At the time, Stonecipher was Boeing's chief operating officer. His drive to crush the union prompted striking workers to plaster his portrait on portable toilets along the picket lines with a sign reading, "Outsource Harry." Their wishes finally came true. Jeffrey St. Clair is the author of Been
Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: the Politics of Nature.
This essay is excerpted from his forthcoming book Grand
Theft Pentagon, to be published in July by Common Courage
Press. |
