Wars
of the Laptop Bombers
Today's
Stories
February 19
/ 20, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Back
to Salem: Paul Shanley and the Return of "Recovered Memory"
Kathleen Christison
Struggling
forr Justice in Palestine
Ted Honderich
On Being Persona Non Grata
Scott Richard Lyons
Ward Churchill and the Identity
Police
George Beres
Censorship in the Land of Wayne Morse: Gagging W. Churchill in
Oregon
John Pilger
First, They Attack the Past
Norman Madarasz
Death Wish for Reform in Brazil?
February 18,
2005
Ben Moxham
In
East Timor, the Nightmare Continues
Dave Lindorff
The
Scum Also Rises: the Bloody Career of John Negroponte
Larry Birns
Negroponte: a Resume of Death Squads, Deceptions and Bribery
Gregory Elich
N, Korea's Phantom Nukes and the US's Subversion of Diplomacy
Samuel Logan / John Meyers
The Future of Colombia's Paramilitary Death Squads
Nicole Colson
Shock and Awe on Civil Liberties: From Lynne Stewart to Ward
Churchill
Suzan Mazur
Whose National Security Are We Talking About?
Mickey Z.
"One
Man Has Stopped Killing"
February 17,
2005
Joshua Frank
Hogtying
of the Deaniacs
Paul Craig
Roberts
Bush's
Willing Sychophants: the Conservative Media
Robert Fisk
Under
the Shadow of Death in Lebanon
Christopher
Brauchli
Where
Time Stands Still: Kinsey and Darwin in Cobb County, GA
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
Military
Recruitment TV: Why Send Them to College, When Your Kid Can be
Cannon Fodder?
Alison Weir
Russia, Israel and Media Omissions
Ahrar Ahmad
A Review of Shahid Alam's "Is There an Islamic Problem?"
Saul Landau
An
Interview with Cuban VP Ricardo Alarcon: "The US Tramples
the Laws It Wrote"
Website of the Day
Petition to Support Ward Churchill
February 16,
2005
Robert Fisk
Lebanon:
a Battlefield for the Wars of Others
Kevin Zeese
Creating a Real Ownership Society: Share the Wealth; Protect
Retirement
Gary Leupp
Meanwhile, in Nepal...
Ron Jacobs
Why the Iranian Opposition Should Not Trust the Bush Administration
Jessica Leight
Oil-Flush Chavez Begins to Strut His Stuff
Greg Moses
Houston, You've Got a Problem: Documenting Voting Irregularities
in Texas
Mark Engler
The Last Porto Alegre
Jack McCarthy
Where's the Outrage About Pat? Buchanan Does a Churchill
Bill Christison
US
Foreign Policy Dangerously Slanted Toward Israel
Website of the Day
The
World is Melting: a Photo Survey by Gary Braasch
February 15,
2005
CounterPunch
News Service
Dean
a "Safe" Moderate, Says NYT Citing CounterPunch
Robert Fisk
The
Killing of Mr. Lebanon
Uri Avnery
"Sharm-al-Sheikh,
We Have Come Back Again"
Stan Cox
Fighting Big Pharma in Little Digwal
Mickey Z.
Radio
Active North of the Border: an Interview with Chris Cook
Dave Zirin
Bashing Bush: Jose Canseco Comes Clean
Nadia Martinez
Ending
World Poverty? Opening at the World Bank, Apply Now
Lila Rajiva
"Little Eichmanns" and the 'Harijan': the Danger of
Magical Thinking in Politics
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
American Job Sell Out
February 14,
2005
Robert Jensen
Ward
Churchill: Right to Speak Out; Right About 9/11
Brian Cloughley
Kuwait's Freedom, Bush-style
Patrick Cockburn
Outcome
of the Iraqi Elections: Shortages, Corruption, Guerrilla War
Gary Leupp
Post-election Iraq: What Next?
Michael Donnelly
Sacred Nature: Just Another Commodity?
Dave Lindorff
When Bush Came to My Neighborhood
Elaine Cassel
The
Lynne Stewart Verdict
February 12
/ 13, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Ward
Churchill's Genes
Saul Landau
Alarcon
Speaks: an Interview with the Vice President of Cuba
Paul Craig
Roberts
Nothing
to Fear But Bush Himself
Patrick Cockburn
Two Years After the Fall of Saddam, the Resistance Controls All
Major Roads into Baghdad
John Feffer
Bush
v. N. Korea: Round Two
Mickey Z.
Right to Remain Silent; Duty to Speak
Kurt Nimmo
Viva la Cucaracha!
Fred Gardner
Waiting for Raich
Dave Zirin
Fighting the New Republic(ans)
John Chuckman
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Ben Tripp
A Leftist on the Bush Payroll
Carol Norris
"Buddy, Can You Spare a Dwarf?"
Robert Fisk
No Middle East Peace Without Justice
Frank / Chowkwanyun
Muzzled Activist in an Age of Terror: the Case of Sherman Austin
Mike Whitney
Condi's Euro Tour
Deborah Frisch
A Psychologist's Defense of Ward Churchill
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Reading Khomeini in Colorado
Christine TenBarge
What's So Special About Ward?
Ron Jacobs
Curtis Mayfield's Train to Jordan
Dr. Susan Block
Chemistry of Love: a Valentine's Greeting
Poets' Basement
Louise, Smith-Ferri, Ford and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Free Sherman
February 11,
20055
Manuel Garcia,
Jr
The
Eight Percent War
Kurt Nimmo
Ann
Coulter's Racism: Where's Geronimo When You Really Need
Him?
Dave Lindorff
Guckert
or Gannon? The Perfect Plant; He Fit Right In
Larry Birns
War is Peace; Slavery is Freedom: Democracy According to Elliott
Abrams
Bill Quigley
Twenty Questions: a Social Justice Quiz
Tom Barry
Bush's State of Delusion
Jennifer Van
Bergen
Lynne
Stewart's Conviction Hurts Us All
February 10,
2005
Dave Lindorff
What
Academic Freedom?
Christopher Brauchli
The Love of Slaughter: From Rwanda to Iraq
Patrick Cockburn
In Baghdad, It's Easy to Get Killed
Nicole Colson
Have the Democrats Surrendered on Abortion Rights?
Suzan Mazur
More
on the Assassination of Lumumba from Mr. Garsin of Kinshasha
Michael Donnelly
Salvaging an Opposition
Mike Stark
Driving Ossie Davis: "Give Them a Little Truth, a Little
Hope"
Greg Moses
Taking
Jesus Back from the Hijackers
Website of
the Day
The Missionary Positions
February 9,
2005
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Duck
and Cover Redux: Bunker Busters and City Levellers
Mickey Z.
What Ward Churchill Didn't Say
John Ross
Hecho
en Mexico: the Iraqi Election
Tom Barry
Ambassador of Lies: Elliott Abrams, the Neocon's Neocon
Conn Hallinan
The
Coup in Nepal: Nursing the Pinion
Patrick Cockburn
Sistani's Vision for Iraq: Cricket is Fine, But Chess is "Absolutely
Forbidden"
Steen Sohn
Danish PM Says It's OK for Israel to Violate UN Resolutions
Tim Wise
Reflections on Empire and Uppity Indians
Website of
the Day
Support Antiwar.com
February 8,
2005
Patrick Cockburn
Shia/Kurd
Coalition to Dominate New Iraqi Govt.: "It's an Electoral
Pact, Not a Party"
Brian Cloughley
Out
of the Mouths of Generals: "It's Fun to Shoot Some People"
Steve Breyman
Against the Selfishness of the "Ownership Society"
Harry Browne
"Don't
Get on that Plane!": Soldiers Seek Asylum in Ireland
Doug Giebel
"We Love Free Speech in America": the People, the President
and Ward Churchill
Nate Collins
The Censorship of Ward Churchill and Dancehall Reggae: It's the
Same Beast
Dave Lindorff
It's Time for a Labor-Oriented Newspaper
David Smith-Ferri
Sanctions and the Health Crisis in Iraq
February 7,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Bush's
War on Jobs
Carolyn Baker
The New McCarthyism on Campus: Churchill and the Attack on Higher
Ed
Joshua Frank
Marc Cooper's Hit List: First Mumia; Now Ward Churchill
Mickey Z.
Warning: More Hate Speech from W. Churchill
Patrick Cockburn
The
Kidnapping Gangs of Iraq
Mike Whitney
Tom Friedman: Scribe for New Age Imperialism
Stacie Jonas
Pinochet: Fit to be Tried
Dave Zirin
A Miserable Super Sunday: Clinton, Bush and the FBI
Tariq Ali
Imperial
Delusions
February 5
/ 6, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Ward
Churchill and the Mad Dogs
Kurt Nimmo
A Ward Churchill Kind of Day
Joshua Frank
Liberals Trash Ward Churchill
P. Sainath
Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami
Patrick Cockburn
Sistani's Triumph; Allawi's Bust
Laura Carlsen
Bush, Rice and Latin America
Dave Lindorff
How the NYT Killed the Bush Bulge Story
Pamela Olson
West Bank Story
Behzad Yaghmaian
The Future of Sudanese Refugees in the West
Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
A Threatened UN in King George's Court
Roger Burbach
World Social Forum: a Tale of Two Presidents
Robert Fisk
History by Laptop
David Swanson
James Forman and the Liberal-Labor Syndrome
Justin E.H. Smith
Gay Marriage: a Report from Canada
Cacie Hart
The "State" of the Union: More War and a Ban on Love
Ron Jacobs
Chairman Bob Avakian: a Revolutionary Life
Mickey Z.
Viewing America from the Outside
Ben Tripp
Republican Heroes: a New Breed of Good Guy
Ben Sonnenberg
France at the End of the Devil's Decade: Renoir's Rules of the
Game
Poets' Basement
Smith-Ferri, Davies, Collins, & Albert
Website of
the Weekend
John Trudell: How to Earn a 17,000 Page FBI File
February 4,
2005
Brian Cloughley
The
Army Symphonist: "Sometimes the Only Way to Change the Behavior
of Someone Like That is to Kill Them"
Bill Christison
Election
Parallels: Vietnam, 1967; Iraq, 2005
Elaine Cassel
Did Zoloft Make Him Do It?
Jacob Levich
Chomsky and the Draft
Kanak Mani Dixit
Return of the Royalists in Nepal
Ron Jacobs
The
Downward Spiral in Iraq
February 3,
2005
Ward Churchill
On
the Injustice of Getting Smeared: a Campaign of Fabrications
and Gross Distortions
Sharon Smith
Resisting
Soldiers Need Our Support
Mickey Z.
Leslie
Gelb Asks Iraq: Who's Your Daddy?
Mike Whitney
President of Alienation: a Desperate State of the Union
Jenna Orkin
9/11 the Sequel: the Toxic State of Lower Manhattan
Saul Landau
Elections Won't Prevent Civil War in Iraq
Yitzhak Laor
Strange is the Silence
Dave Lindorff
The
Assault on Social Security: a New Campaign of Lies
February 2,
2005
David Domke
/ Kevin Coe
Bush's
Brand of Christianity
Noam Chomsky
Iraq
After the Elections
M. Shahid Alam
O'Reilly's
Fatwah on "Un-American" Professors: FoxNews Puts Me
in Its Crosshairs
Richard Oxman
Ringing in 1984 with Ward Churchill and Derrick Jensen
Joshua Frank
The Suckering of Howard Dean
Dave Lindorff
A History Lesson from the NYT
Nina Hartley
Feminists for Porn
Website of the Day
War is a Racket
February 1,
2005
Joshua L. Dratel
The
Torture Memos
Patrick Cockburn
New Doubts About Allawi
Robert Fisk
"The Only Decent Food We Get is at Funerals"
Uri Avnery
The Stalemate
Col. Dan Smith
"W" Stands for Withdrawal
Alison Weir
Making America as "Secure" as Israel
Alan Farago
Heaven and Hell in the Everglades
Ray Hanania
Low Voter Turnout of Iraqi Expatriates: Less Than 10% of Qualified
Voters
Paul Craig
Roberts
American
Police State
Website of the Day
Statisticians Refute Official Rationale for Exit Poll Errors
January 31,
2005
Dave Zirin
Mr.
Frank's Fatwah: New Republic Writer Calls for Death & Torture
of Arundhati Roy and Stan Goff
Robert Fisk
Amid
Tragedy, Defiance
Chyng Sun
Gonzales: Chief Prosecutor of Porn?
Greg Moses
The Real Scandals of the Texas Election
Mike Whitney
Cheney at Auschwitz
Ali Tonak
Turkey and the EU: Fantasies and Ultimatums
Patrick Cockburn
A
Victory for the Shia
Website of
the Day
Voting by the Script: Where Did the 8 Million Voter Turnout Figure
Come From?
January 29
/ 30, 2005
Manuel Yang
/ Peter Linebaugh
A
Dialogue About Murder in Toledo
Gabriel Kolko
Wilsonian
and Neoconservative Myths
Patrick Cockburn
Baghdad: City of Empty Streets
Robert Fisk
This Election Will Change the World, But Not as the US Wanted
Linn Washington,
Jr.
Con Job: Bush Pledges on Racism Lack Realism
Bernard Chazelle
Why the Children of Iraq Make No Sound When They Fall
Gary Leupp
"This Kind of Subject Matter": Bush's New Ed Secretary
vs. Vermont's Lesbians
JoAnn Wypijewski
The Passion of Paul Shanley
Alexander Cockburn
The Case of Father Jerry
Ron Jacobs
Ballot of the Puppets in Iraq
Brian Cloughley
Smart Bombs; Wrong House: Iraq's Civilian Dead
Fred Gardner
Peron May Split
Sister Dianna
Ortiz
Memo to Bush from a Survivor of the Guatemalan Torturers: Stop
the Torture!
Tom Reeves
How Bush Brings Freedom to the World: the Case of Haiti
Fran Quigley
Report: Haiti Now "More Violent and More Inhuman"
Suzan Mazur
"Mr. Garsin from Kinshasa": an Old Hand Weighs In on
the Murder of Lumumba
Kurt Nimmo
Condi Rice and the Neocon Plan for the Palestinians
Lenni Brenner
Holocaust History: Beyond the UN's Rhetoric
Gilad Atzmon
The
Politics of Auschwitz
Luis Gomez
Power and Autonomy in Bolivia
Mark Gaffney
NASA Searches for a Snowball in Hell: Why Velikovsky Matters
Ben Tripp
Lament of the Mnemonopath
Richard Oxman
Meet the Fuqers
Poets' Basement
Louise, Collins, Shanahan and Albert
Website of
the Weekend
Chemical Industry: Deceit and Denial
January 28,
2005
Rachard Itani
Tsunami
Aid By the Numbers: the US Really is a Miser
Jensen / Youngblood
Iraq's
Non-Election
Patrick Cockburn / Elizabeth
Davies
Attacks on Polling Places Leave 13 Dead
Dave Zirin
The Great Donovan McNabb: Proud "Black Quarterback"
Dave Lindorff
Suicide by State Execution?
Karyn Strickler
A Corporate Death Penalty Act?
Jorge Mariscal
Fighting
the Poverty Draft
January 27,
2005
Seymour Hersh
We've
Been Taken Over By a Cult
Cockburn /
Sengupta
The
US's Bloodiest Day in Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Juke Box Journalism: Shilling for Bush
Ignacio Chapela
/ John F. García
The Laws of Nature
Mike Whitney
The Widening Chasm Among Conservatives
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
Those Liberal Southern Baptists!
Ray McGovern
Reining In Cheney
Russ Wellen
Marginalizing Bin Laden
Christopher
Brauchli
The
FBI's Carnival of Errors
Website of
the Day
Informed Eating
January 26,
2005
Saree Makdisi
An
Iron Wall of Colonization: Fantasies and Realities About the
Prospects for Middle East Peace
Scott Fleming
In Good Conscience: an Interview with Concientious Objector Aidan
Delgado
Dave Lindorff
Filling Saddam's Shoes: the Puppet Regime Return's to Torture
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Salazar and Obama: Two Dismal Debuts
Toni Solo
The
US and Latin America: a Not-So-Magical Reality
William James Martin
Condoleezza Rice: Confused About the Middle East
William A.
Cook
Bush's Second Inaugural Address: the Lost Ur-Version
Eric Hobsbawm
Delusions
About Democracy
Alexander Cockburn
The CIA's New Campus Spies
January 25,
2005
Brian Cloughley
Iraq
as Disneyland
Mike Roselle
Satan is My Co-Pilot
Josh Frank
/ Merlin Chowkwanyun
The War on Civil Liberties
John Chuckman
Freedom on Steroids
Paul Craig
Roberts
A
Party Without Virtue
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
The
Intolerance of Christian Conservatives
James Petras
The
US / Colombia Plot Against Venezuela
Website of the Day
Lowbaggers for the Environment
January 24,
2005
Fred Gardner
Last
Monologue in Burbank
Lori Berenson
On the Politicization of My Case
Uri Avnery
King
George
January 22
/ 23, 2005
Jennifer Van
Bergen / Ray Del Papa
Nuclear
Incident in Montana
Alexander Cockburn
Prince
Harry's Travails
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Company That Runs the Empire: Lockheed and Loaded
Stan Goff
The Spectacle
Saul Landau
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
Gary Leupp
Official Madness and the Coming War on Iran
Fred Gardner
Is GW Getting the Runaround?
Phil Gasper
Clemency Denied: the Politics of Death in California
Stanley Heller
A Kill-Happy Government: Connecticut Chooses Death
Greg Moses
The Heart of Texas: an Inauguration Day Betrayal on Civil Rights
Justin Taylor
The Folk-Histories of John Ross
Daniel Burton-Rose
One China; Many Problems
Elaine Cassel
Try a Little Tyranny: Questions While Watching the Inaugural
Mike Whitney
Failing Upwards: the Rise of Michael Chertoff
Mark L. Berenson
My Daughter Has Been Wrongly Imprisoned
Christopher
Brauchli
It Doesn't Compute: a $170 Million Mistake
Gilad Atzmon
Zionism and Other Marginal Thoughts
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Day of the Rats
Mark Donham
The Secret Messages of Rahm Emmanuel
Ben Tripp
Adventures in Online Dating
Walter Brasch
Hollywood's Patriots: Soulless Kooks, Mr. Bush?
Poets' Basement
Wuest, Landau, Ford, Albert & Drum
January 21,
2005
Dave Lindorff
A
Great American Journalist:
John L. Hess (1917-2005)
Sharon Smith
The
Anti-War Movement and the Iraqi Resistance
Don Santina
Baseball, Racism and Steroid Hysteria
Ron Jacobs
Locked Out and Pissed Off: Protesting the Bush Inauguration
Kurt Nimmo
The Problem with Mike Ruppert
Don Monkerud
Once They Were Cults: Bush's Faith-Based Social Services
Alan Farago
Swimming Home from the Galapagos
Derek Seidman
An
Interview with Army Medic and Anti-War Activist Patrick Resta
January 20,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Dying
for Sycophants
William Cook
The
Bush Inauguration: A Mock Epic Fertility Rite
Joshua Frank
The Democrats and Iran: Look Who's Backing Bush's Next
Eric Ruder
Why Andres Raya Snapped: Another Casualty of Bush's War
Mike Whitney
Coronation in a Garrison State
Robert Jensen
A Citizens Oath of Office
Peter Rost
Bush Report on Drug Imports: Good Data, Bad Conclusions
David Underhill
Is It Torture Yet?: the Eclectic Fool Aid Torture Test
James Reiss
Adieu, Colin Powell: Pea Soup in Foggy Bottom
CounterPunch
Staff
Voices
from Abu Ghraib: the Injured Party
January 19,
2005
Marta Russell
Social
Security Privatization & Disability: 8 Million at Risk
Mike Ferner
Marines
Stretching Movement: Protesting Urban Warfare in Toledo
Nancy Oden
The
Nuremberg Principles, Iraq and Torture
Tony Paterson
A Catalogue of British Abuses in Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Bush's Divide-and-Conquer Plan to Destroy Social Security
Doug Giebel
BS and CBS: When 60 Minutes Helped Promote WMD Fantasies
Alexander Cockburn
Will
Bush Quit Iraq?
January 18,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
How
Americans Were Seduced by War: Empire and Militant Christianity
Jennifer Van
Bergen
Federal
Judge: Abu Ghraib Abuses Result of Decision to Ignore Geneva
Conventions
Douglas Lummis
It's a No Brainer; Send Graner: a Rap for Our Time
Ron Jacobs
Syria Back in the Crosshairs?
Seth DeLong
Enter the Dragon: Will Washington Tolerate a Venezuelan-Chinese
Oil Pact?
Lance Selfa
Stolen Election?: Most Democrats Didn't Even Bother to Inquire
Paul D. Johnson
Mystery Meat: a Right-to-Know About Food Origins
Elisa Salasin
An Open Letter to Jenna Bush, Future Teacher
January 17,
2005
Heather Gray
Misconceptions
About King's Methods for Social Change
Robert Fisk
Hotel Room Journalism: the US Press in Iraq
Dave Lindorff
What the NYT Death Chart Omitted: Civilians Slaughtered by US
Military
Jason Leopold
Sam Bodman's Smokestacks: Bush's Choice for Energy Czar is One
of Texas's Worst Polluters
Gary Leupp
A Message from the Iraqi Resistance
Douglas Valentine
An Act of State? the Execution of Martin Luther King
Harvey Arden
Welcome to Leavenworth: My First Encounter with Leonard Peltier
Greg Moses
King
and the Christian Left: Where Lip Service is Not an Option
January 15
/ 16, 2005
James Petras
The
Kidnapping of a Revolutionary
Robert Fisk
Flying Carpet Airlines: My Return to Baghdad
Ron Jacobs
Unfit for Military Service
Brian Cloughley
Smack Daddies of the Hindu Kush: Afghanistan's Drug Bonanza
Fred Gardner
The Allowable-Quantity Expert
Dr. Susan Block
The Counter-Inaugural Ball: Eros Day, 2005
John Ross
Zapatista Literary Llife
Suzan Mazur
Unspooking Frank Carlucci
M. Shahid Alam
America's New Civilizing Mission
Frederick B. Hudson
Jack Johnson's Real Opponent: "That I Was a Man"
Mike Whitney
Bush's Grand Plan: Incite Civil War in Iraq
Tom Crumpacker
A Constitutional Right to Travel to Cuba
Bob Burton
The Other Armstrong Williams Scandal
John Callender
La Conchita and the Indomitable 82-Year Old
Lila Rajiva
Christian Zionism
Saul Landau
An Imperial Portrait: a Visit to Hearst's Castle
Doug Soderstrom
A Touch of Evil: the Morality of Neoconservatism
Poets' Basement
Davies, Louise, Landau, Albert, Collins and Laymon
January 14,
2005
Robert Fisk
"The
Tent of Occupation"
Lee Sustar
Bush's Social Security Con Job
José
M. Tirado
The Christians I Know
Dave Zirin
The Legacy of Jack Johnson
Sheldon Rampton
Calling John Rendon: a True Tale of "Military Intelligence"
Tracy McLellan
Under the Influence
Yves Engler
The Dictatorship of Debt: the World Bank and Haiti
Tom Barry
Robert
Zoellick: a Bush Family Man
Website of
the Day
Ryan for the Nobel Prize?
January 13,
2005
Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer
Hearts
and Minds, Revisited
Joe DeRaymond
The Salvador Option: Terror,
Elections and Democracy
Greg Moses
Every Hero a Killer?...Not
Dave Lindorff
The Great WMD Fraud: Time for an Accounting
Jorge Mariscal
Dr. Galarza v. Alberto Gonzales: Which Way for Latinos?
Christopher Brauchli
Gonzales and the Death Penalty: the Executioner Never Sleeps
Gary Leupp
"Fighting
for the Work of the Lord": Christian Fascism in America
January 12,
2005
Robert Fisk
Fear
Stalks Baghdad
Josh Frank
The
Farce of the DNC Contest
Jack Random
Casualties
of War: the Untold Stories
John Roosa
Aceh's Dual Disasters: the Tsunami and Military Rule
Carol Norris
In the Wake of the Tsunami
Mike Whitney
Pink Slips at CBS
Alan Farago
Can
the Everglades be Saved?
Paul Craig
Roberts
What's
Our Biggest Problem in Iraq...the Insurgency or Bush?
January 11,
2005
Tom Barry
The
US isn't "Stingy"; It's Strategic: Aid as a Weapon
of Foreign Policy
James Hodge
and Linda Cooper
Voice
of the Voiceless: Father Roy Bourgeois and the School of the
the Americas
Linda S. Heard
Farah Radio Break Down: Joseph Farah's Messages of Hate and Homophobia
Derrick O'Keefe
Electoral Gigolo?: Richard Gere and the Occupied Vote
Gila Svirsky
A Tale of Two Elections
Harry Browne
Irish
"Peace Process", RIP
January 10,
2005
Ramzy Baroud
Faith-Based
Disasters: Tsunami Aid and War Costs
Talli Nauman
Killing
Journalists: Mexico's War on a Free Press
Uri Avnery
Sharon's Monologue
Dave Lindorff
Tucker
Carlson's Idiot Wind
Dave Zirin
Randy
Moss's Moondance
Dave Silver
Left Illusions About the Democratic Party
Charles Demers
Plan Salvador for Iraq: Death Squads Come in Waves
William A.
Cook
Causes
and Consequences: Bush, Osama and Israel
January 8 /
9, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Say,
Waiter, Where's the Blood in My Margarita Glass?
John H. Summers
Chomsky
and Academic History
Greg Moses
Getting Real About the Draft
Walter A. Davis
Bible Says: the Psychology of Christian Fundamentalism
Victor Kattan
The EU and Middle East Peace
John Bolender
The Plight of Iraq's Mandeans
Robert Fisk
The Politics of Lebanon
Fred Gardner
Situation NORML
Joe Bageant
The Politics of the Comfort Zone
Mickey Z.
I Want My DDT: Little Nicky Kristof Bugs Out
Ben Tripp
CounterClockwise Evolution
Ron Jacobs
Elvis and His Truck: Out on Highway 61
Saul Landau
Sex
and the Country
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Time to End the Blackout
Ellen Cantarow
NPR's Distortions on Palestine
Richard Oxman
Bageantry Continued
Poets' Basement
Gaffney, Landau, Albert, Collins
January 7,
2005
Omar Barghouti
Slave
Sovereignty: Elections Under Occupation
Kent Paterson
The Framing of Felipe Arreaga: Another Mexican Environmentalist
Arrested
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Old
Vijay Merchant and the Tsunami
David Krieger
Cancel the Inauguration Parties
Gideon Levy
New Year, Old Story
Dave Lindorff
Ohio Protest: First Shot Fired by Congressional Progressives
Christopher
Brauchli
Privatizing the IRS
Roger Burbach
/ Paul Cantor
Bush,
the Pentagon and the Tsunami
January 6,
2005
Brian J. Foley
Gonzales:
Supporting Torture is not His Greatest Sin
Greg Moses
Boot
Up America!: Gen. Helmly's Memo Leaks New Bush Deal
Petras / Chomsky
An
Open Letter to Hugo Chavez
Alan Maass
The Decline of the Dollar
Dave Lindorff
Colin Powell's Selective Sense of Horror
Jenna Orkin
The EPA and a Dirty Bomb: 9/11's Disastrous Precedent
P. Sainath
The
Tsunami and India's Coastal Poor
January 5,
2005
Alan Farago
2004:
An Environmental Retrospective
Winslow T.
Wheeler
Oversight
Detected?: Sen. McCain and the Boeing Tanker Scam
Jean-Guy Allard
Gary Webb: a Cuban Perspective
Fred Gardner
Strutting, Smirking, As If The Mad Plan Was Working
David Swanson
Albert Parsons on the Gallows
Richard Oxman
The Joe Bageant Interview
Bruce Jackson
Death
on the Living Room Floor
January 4,
2005
Michael Ortiz
Hill
Mainlining
Apocalypse
Elaine Cassel
They
Say They Can Lock You Up for Life Without a Trial
Yoram Gat
The
Year in Torture
Martin Khor
Tragic
Tales and Urgent Tasks from the Tsunami Disaster
Gary Leupp
Death
and Life in the Andaman Islands
January 3,
2005
Ron Jacobs
The
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Weekend Edition
February 19 / 20, 2005
About King Mswati...and His British Backers
Political
Developments in Swaziland
By
COUNTERPUNCH NEWS SERVICE
Probably in July King Mswati III of
Swaziland, who just added a $690,000 Daimler-Chrysler Maybach
62 to his fleet, will to attempt to impose a constitution,
unilaterally, on terms to suit himself. This after 31 years of
a "State of Emergency" and 21 years of The Peoples
United Democratic Movement's (PUDEMO) campaign for democracy.
Here's a very striking letter recentkly sent by PUDEMO (formed
in 1983) recently to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth Human
Rights Initiative, outlining the monstrous situation in Swaziland.
Swaziland
today.
* It is the smallest in mainland
Southern Africa.
* It has a population of 1.1 Million people.
* It has the highest HIV infection rate in the world, at around
40%.
* On the surface it is peaceful.
* Deficit of .5 Billion Emalangeni
* 67% of the population lives in rural areas and very poor.
* The people are being ruled by a 31 year state of emergency
(1973 - 2004)
* The ruler is from the Dlamini family with absolute powers.
2.1 The
powers of the King of Swaziland.
* Above the law
* Controls all land
* Controls all minerals
* Appoints and Control the Prime Minister Cabinet
* Controls the Legislature
* Appoints and Control the Judiciary
* Controls the Army
* Controls the Police
* Controls the Correctional Services Warders
* Controls the Public Service
* Controls the people who are not called citizens, but Subjects
* Controls the Economy through what was once a peoples' fund
called Tibiyo
through royalties and shareholding in many major companies in
Swaziland*.
* Controls everything that lives in Swaziland
It is very difficult for a
reasonable person to believe that there are a people who would
love and appreciate to be ruled in this fashion. Why would Swazis
love to be ruled in this fashion when billions of people of the
world would find it unacceptable? Is it because Swazis are some
kind of people
with no feelings of hurt, humiliation and human dignity?
The answer is, Swazis are just
as humane like their entire fellow Africans and other people
of the world. To free themselves they have been struggling for
the past 30 years, and the struggle took an upward turn in the
last 20 years.
3.0
A brief Historical background to the Constitutional making process.
The people under the leadership
of PUDEMO were the ones who demanded a written Constitution
for the country, not the Monarchy or Tinkhundla Government.
For the past twenty years of
struggle, PUDEMO has been the leading voice calling for an all-inclusive
political process that would ensure the free participation of
all sectors of our society in the constitution making process.
Such representatives would have had a clear mandate of the people
through their respective constituencies.
As mentioned above, the Royal
Family and its Tinkhundla government consistently opposed the
idea of a Constitution as they said a constitution is a foreign
idea. However, pressure from the people under the leadership
of PUDEMO forced it to relent and hence the reforms.
This is a historical fact that
we would like the Commonwealth and the whole world not to forget
nor ignore as it has a bearing in the future of this country.
Constitutional drafting process
at parallels
The reforms failed the litmus
test for a democratic constitution making process by;
3.1 Refusal to allow civic
formations representing their constituencies to be part of the
process.
3.2 All commissions were chaired
by Princess
3.3 Commissioners were handpicked
from the Conservative camp.
3.4 Divergent views were not
tolerated as those with differing views were discouraged to
voice their aspirations and concerns during the so-called consultations.
3.5 Process was a fattening
ranch where Princess were making themselves rich i.e. R120
Million over 8 years.
3.6 Lack of political education
on the populace on Constitutionalism for effective participation
during the so-called community consultations.
3.7 Lack of freedom of the
media in reporting divergent views.
3.8 Chiefs who control about
67% of the country and its population were used to intimidate
people who were pro democracy. Those who called for multi party
democracy were threatened with evictions from their land.
This resulted to the process
lacking legitimacy, and consequently;
* Can never be trusted to produce
a universally acceptable document.
* Can never be trusted that
it (the royal family) cannot reverse whatever gains have come
through this document.
* It is not in the royal family's
interest to have a document that will transfer power from the
family to the people safeguarded by the Constitution.
4.0 Current Constitution
4.1 Political parties
Political parties remain banned
to participate in the politics of the country. According to
the daft constitution, political parties will not contest for
elections, and hence cannot be part of the legislature, or executive,
but status quo will prevail.
4.2 Executive powers of the
King
The king still retains executive
authority, and he continues to appoint the following;
* Prime Minister, Cabinet,
* Judges
* Regional Administrators
* Army Commander
* Police Commissioner
* Correctional Services Commissioner
* Secretary to Cabinet
In addition he can summon and
Dissolve Parliament. He has control over land, Minerals, the
Armed forces.
This process is therefore prone
to reversal by the monarchy just like it happened in 1973 when
the King repealed the Independence constitution. This was after
the opposition party had won a single constituency out of a
total eight Constituencies.
5.0 The nation is still expected
to make inputs on the document.
Whilst this seem a good thing
for someone who does not understand the "Mafia" style
dictatorship that has ruined Swaziland for the past 30 years,
Swazis know what this mean. This is nothing but a ploy to give
legitimacy to a process that has been cast in stone.
Just like the initial process
of gathering views for the Constitutional Review process under
Prince Mangaliso where group submissions were not allowed, this
process will also not allow for group submissions.
The following situation will
take place;
* The royal family under Prince
David will continue with his family's project
* Members of the Royal family
will be allowed to have group input in how they want to see
the final document.
* The population will not be
educated on constitutionalism before their "views"
are sought. It must be remembered that Swazis were free for
only 5 years (1968 - 1973), and for the next 30 years they have
been ruled under a state of emergency. What then do they understand
about basic human rights to demand them?
* Chiefs will continue to
coerce and intimidate those who would be calling for a democratic
constitution, and threatening them with evictions from the lands.
These are the predominantly rural, uneducated, powerless, landless,
and majority of our people. They account 67% of the population.
* The state run media, the
Television and radio station will be used to spread propaganda
in favour of retaining the status quo, and differing views will
be suppressed.
What then will be the final
product?
From what has been described
above, it is clear that the final document will not reflect
the aspirations of our people. It will be a document to legitimize
the suffering of our people. We have no intention to abandon
our people at this time of the struggle. Our people have suffered
for three decades under the family and the time for their unconditional
freedom is now.
The July 2004 verdict on our
people.
The King has said he will force
the constitution on the people of Swaziland in July 2004.
The people have rejected this
sham and come together for an alternative all-inclusive process.
To counter the abovementioned
royal project,The Swazi populace is drafting an all inclusive
constitution under the auspices of the National Constitutional
Assembly.
Many civic organisations are
part of this alternative process, and this includes NGO's, Political
Parties, Labour, Church, Youth, Women rights organisation, People
with disability, University Academics, Parliamentarians*, Swazi
National Council Members (Advisors to the King)*, Senators*,
Traditional Women organisation* etc.
* The Government and powerful
Royal family members coerced these members to withdraw from
the initial process under the Council of churches.
6.0 The Militarisation
of the country
There is an increase of importation
of military hardware by the Government in recent weeks. This
shows that it is geared for war in defence of the undemocratic
system of Government and the looting of the finances of the
taxpayers. Two weeks ago a large consignment of ammunition was
discovered at the airport under a cloud of secrecy. Thousands
of hand grenades were discovered. Current expenditure indicates
more public spending is made on the army than social services
like health, education and food security.
7.0 Can PUDEMO
participate if invited at this stage?
PUDEMO is a movement whose
members are reasonable people. It is a movement with a very
proud history. Its entire leadership was arrested in 1990 and
charged with high treason. For the past twenty years we have
been persecuted, imprisoned, forced into exiles, our student
activists expelled from schools and denied government scholarships.
Our leaders have been dismissed from their places of work for
their conscience. Our president spent 21 months in the royal
maximum prison (2000 - 2002) for demanding the freedom of his
people.
How then could we refuse to
take part in a process if we are convinced it is genuine and
it will help free our people?
We have been ready and prepared
to be part of a genuine political process for the freedom of
our people for the past 20 years. We have written numerous letters
both to the government and the King requesting a meeting that
would have culminated to a negotiated settlement. We never received
a courtesy of an acknowledgement of receipt of such letters.
We have been vindicated. Our
direct answer therefore is we are ready anytime anywhere to
meet the King or his representatives, even at this late stage
of the process.
Once again we reaffirm our
commitment to genuine nation building and we wish to reiterate
our way forward as published way back in 1992 as a foundation
for taking our country forward.
Our way forward, towards a
constituent Assembly is as follows;
7.1 NEGOTIATION
PROCESS.
1. Preliminary negotiation
We as a Movement are firmly
convinced that a formal and properly constituted negotiation
process can only be effected through a broad-based representative
National Convention. However, we are conscious of the fact that
certain pre-conditions have to be met to facilitate the laying
down of the basis for a fundamental move towards the envisaged
convention, and of creating a conducive climate for the negotiation
process would be able to lay the foundation for a National Convention.
2. Memorandum of intent.
To ensure that the democratisation
process is itself democratic at the initial stage, the preliminary
negotiations must not only be confined to the progressive forces
but also be inclusive of traditional institutions-in-fact it
must be a microcosm of our society i.e. political parties, political
organisations, labour organisations, the youth, women's organisations,
traditional institutions and other interest groups. The outcome
of the preliminary negotiations will be a Memorandum of Intent
where His Majesty King Mswati III unreservedly commits himself
and the Government to formal and properly constituted peaceful
negotiations through a national convention. The Memorandum of
Intent shall include inter - alia the following: -
a) The outlining of all terms
of reference for the national convention; b) The meeting of
pre-conditions to facilitate the creation of a conducive climate
for negotiations which demands the political tolerance through
the lifting of the state of emergency and all other repressive
laws. Hence, the three specific decrees hereinafter set forth
must of necessity be repealed as they impede any genuine move
towards a new political dispensation-.
- Decree no.11 which provides
for the banning of political parties and other mass political
organisations;
- Decrees no.12 and 13 which
provides for the prohibition of meetings, processions/demonstrations,
associations and forming of political parties etc;
c) The abrogation of The King's
Proclamation of 1973;
d) The abrogation of the Establishment
of Parliament Order No. 23 of 1978;
e) The reinstatement of the
Bill of Rights;
f) The unbanning of all political
parties;
g) The unconditional return
and indemnification of all political exiles;
h) The dissolution and dismissing
of all "shadowy" cabals that surround the King like
the "Central Committee", The "Thursday Committee"
which has ruined the judiciary so that we know exactly who we
are dealing with; and
i) Such pre-conditions have
to be declared in a formal legal instrument.
7.2 NATIONAL
CONVENTION.
The Movement reaffirms its
conviction that formal and properly constituted negotiations
can only be done through a National Convention, with its immediate
objective of creating an interim government and electing a Constituent
Assembly. A national convention is a forum whereby all political
parties, political organisations, labour organisations, the
youth, women's organisations, traditional institutions and other
interest groups would come together to work out the details
of the democratic process and to lay down acceptable parameters
on the modalities leading to the Constituent Assembly.
A constituent assembly must
act as the place where a new constitution guaranteeing a truly
democratic Swaziland must be drawn up, but the run-in period
leading up to actual election of the constituent assembly and
the overseeing of the elections to the constituent assembly
requires some interim authority to manage the process.
This same national convention
will constitute an interim authority on a democratic basis to
govern and oversee the whole democratic process. It is our considered
view that a task of such fundamental importance can only be
carried out by a properly constituted and impartial government.
An interim government with clearly defined functions and limited
powers formed by the national convention would ensure a fair
democratic process without any biases in favour of one group.
It should be dissolved after the outcome of the constituent
assembly. We believe a minimum two-year period would be sufficient.
7.3 NATIONAL
REFERENDUM.
Subject to the outcome of the
national convention, a national referendum if necessary, would
have to be held to solicit views on a desirable constitutional
dispensation- whether the independence constitution should be
re-invoked and amended or a new one drafted.
However, from our viewpoint
the issue of a national referendum becomes redundant in view
of the King's (Sobhuza II) solemn commitment on a new constitution
drafted by the people of Swaziland for themselves, and the fact
that the tinkhundla was not envisaged to be a substitution for
a constitution.
7.4 CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY
A constituent assembly is a
body elected by all the people and its main responsibility will
be to draw up a constitution for the democratic Swaziland.
It is our fervent belief that
there can be no genuine political dispensation and constitutional
dispensation founded in such a system (Tinkhundla). A new political
and constitutional dispensation can only be arrived at, in a
properly constituted constituent assembly, where there can
be a genuine participation of the masses, ensuring that any
future political dispensation will not be dominated by royalty
or minority.
The position of our Movement
is that a new constitution for the country needs to be drawn
up and adopted by the people through a properly constituted
constituent assembly. The electoral process of the constituent
assembly will be defined at the national convention.
The reason why our Movement
supports the idea of elected delegates to draw up a constitution
is to ensure that the new constitution reflects the interests
of the people, and that those responsible for drawing up the
constitution must be elected by the people in free, and fair
elections. Only such an elected constituent assembly can ensure
that the process of drawing up a democratic constitution is
itself democratic.
7.5 OUTCOME
OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.
Once a new constitution for
the Kingdom of Swaziland has been adopted by the people of Swaziland
will result in the following-
- Dissolution of the constituent
assembly.
- Elections to be held for
the constitution of a popular elected government based on the
will of the people.
- Dissolution of the interim
government.
- Repeal of all laws inconsistent
with the constitution.
* All civic groups including
Political parties, youth, people with special disabilities,
Workers Unions, and other motiv |