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How a Tiny Alaskan Indian Tribe Got Billions in Pentagon Contracts by Jeffrey St. Clair; Dems and Dives by Alexander Cockburn; Spooky Grants: More on the CIA's Recruitment of Campus Professors by David Price. 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 April 4, 2005 Uri Avnery
April 2 / 3, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Stan Goff John Ross Saul Landau Robert Creeley Mike Roselle Joshua Frank Fred Gardner Greg Moses Fran Quigley Kurt Nimmo Nicole Colson Chris Genovali Alan Farago Lawrence Reichard Ben Tripp Avantika Regmi Lee Sustar Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
April 1, 2005 Tom Barry Rahul Mahajan Charlie Cray
/ Jim Vallette Dave Lindorff Zeynep Toufe Suzan Mazur Michael Dickinson Stan Cox Ra Ravishankar Daniel Wolff
March 31, 2005 Sharon Smith Ron Jacobs Tariq Ali Michael Dickinson Kanak Mani
Dixit Mitchell Zimmerman Xuan-Trang
Ho Dave Zirin Joe Bageant Jeff Halper Website of
the Day
March 30, 2005 Gary Leupp Ralph Nader
/ Kevin Zeese Chase Madar Toni Solo Jackie Corr Ahmad Faruqui Mike Roselle Jude Wanniski Francis A.
Boyle Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of
the Day
March 29, 2005 Ralph Nader Gary Leupp Sonia Cardenas Stew Albert Mark Weisbrot Dave Lindorff Carl G. Estabrook
March 28, 2005 Jeremy Scahill Sonali Kolhatkar Sasha Kramer Kevin Zeese Tom Stephens Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Newton Garver Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
March 26 / 27, 2005 Gary Leupp Peter Linebaugh Marc Robert Laura Carlsen Saul Landau
/ Puja Patel Dave Foreman Fred Gardner Jennifer Matsui Dave Lindorff Dharma Adhikari Joshua Frank Patrick Barr Christopher
Brauchli Ramzy Baroud Jackie Corr Ben Tripp Dr. Susan Block Mickey Z. Justin Taylor Richard Joseph Poets' Basement
March 25, 2005 Scott Richard
Lyons Yoshie Furuhashi Pat Williams Mark Engler Rahul Mahajan Lance Selfa Ralph Nader John R. Llewellyn Jo Guldi
March 24, 2005 Joshua Frank Talli Nauman Martin Espada Dave Lindorff Elaine Cassel Jack McCarthy Jack Random Barbara Ferguson Suzan Mazur Dorreen Yellow Bird Andrew Wimmer
and Mark Chmiel
Patrick Bond Mike Whitney Becky White Michael Donnelly Niranjan Ramakrishnan Ashley Smith David Swanson Derrick O'Keefe Paul A. Moore Dalton Walker Patrick Cockburn
March 22, 2005 William Blum Jim Vallette Greg Moses John Farley Ron Jacobs M. Junaid Alam Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Dave Lindorff James Petras
March 21, 2005 John Walsh Werther Mike Stark David Swanson James T. Phillips Mike Ferner Robert Jensen Paul Craig
Roberts Stew Albert Website of
the Day
March 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Tom Reeves Saul Landau Alan Maass Ron Jacobs David Green John Blair Steve Greenfield Ben Tripp Mike Roselle Joshua Frank Mark Weisbrot Dave Lindorff Sarah Schaffer Warren Hastings Poets' Basement
March 18, 2005 Dave Zirin Richard Thieme John Walsh David Swanson Ben Terrall David Boyle Dorreen Yellow Bird Mokhiber /
Weissman Greg Moses Website of
the Day
March 17, 2005 Christopher
Brauchli Bill Quigley Brian Cloughley Gary Bass / Adam Hughes Dave Lindorff Jude Wanniski Alexander Billet John Ross Website of the Day
March 16, 2005 Ralph Nader William Cook Kevin Zeese Jackie Corr Alan Maass David R. Kolker Cindy Ellen
Hill Paul Craig
Roberts
March 15, 2005 Gary Leupp Dave Lindorff Greg Moses Hadas Their
/ Katrina Yeaw Alison Weir Matt Koehler Evelyn Pringle Harry Browne
March 14, 2005 Ralph Nader David Miller Stan Cox Mike Roselle David Swanson Simona Sharoni Dave Lindorff Dorreen Yellow Bird Tom Barry Website of the Day
March 12 / 13, 2005 David H. Price Noam Chomsky Laura Carlsen Stan Goff Valentina Nicoli Michael Leonardi Saul Landau
/ Sarah Anderson Joe Bageant Manuel García,
Jr. Greg Moses James J. Brittain Ben Tripp Joshua Frank Fred Gardner Walter Brasch Ramzy Baroud Christopher
Brauchli Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Richard Oxman Poets' Basement
March 11, 2005 Jerry Fresia Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff William James
Martin Muqtedar Khan Kathryn Ledebur Mike Whitney Dave Zirin Website of the Day
March 10, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts John Marc Leas, Colleen McLaughlin
and Ashley Smith Larry Birns Michael Donnelly Luis Gomez Jackie Corr Uri Avnery Website of the Day
March 9, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Ward Churchill Robert Fisk Bernice Powell Jackson Mickey Z. Dave Zirin Michael Donnelly James Reiss 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
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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
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April 4, 2005 Bailing Out the PentagonCold Fusion: Liberals and Neocons for a DraftBy KEVIN ZEESE Washington, DC The debate over the size of the military inside-the-beltway is how to increase the number of troops by 100,000, not whether to do so. At a recent debate on the draft sponsored by the Center for American Progress, the views range from reinstating the draft to enhancing economic incentives to increase enlistment. Rather than questioning the administration's policy of preemptive strikes, or the vast size of the military industrial complex or urging cuts in the wasteful, redundant defense budget which consumes half the federal budget's discretionary spending, the inside-the-beltway crowd's analysis starts from the U.S. needing a larger military to achieve its foreign policy and economic agenda. Both the neo-conservative Project for a New American Century and the "progressive" Center for American Progress are calling for adding 100,000 new soldiers. During the presidential campaign Senator John Kerry also called for adding tens of thousand more troops to the military services. At the forum sponsored by the Center the span of the debate ranged one former captain, Phillip Carter, who is currently an international contracts lawyer and an advocate of the draft; and Lawrence Korb, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, also a retired captain and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress who advocates expansion of the military by 100,000 soldiers through an improved incentives program. However, Korb also said that if the United States invades Iran he would favor a draft. The Center for American Progress describes itself as non-partisan, but its Executive Director is John Podesta the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. Materials handed out at the event describe the Center as copying the strategy of Republicans creating think tanks, in order to "save the Democratic Party." The hand-out, an article Matt Bai of The New York Times, describes how Podesta is caught in the "treacherous crosscurrents" of the Democratic Party the left and center wings personified by Howard Dean and Senator Joe Lieberman. The "divide" may not be as treacherous as Podesta believes as Howard Dean did not challenge the military industrial complex and since being chosen to lead the Democratic Party has been silenced on Iraq. In fact, during the presidential campaign Dean criticized Rep. Kucinich for calling for cuts in defense spending. On the military manpower issue, the Center's summarizes their position saying:
Compare this to the right wing "Project for a New American Century" which wrote Congress on January 28, 2005 calling for an increase in troop strength saying: "While estimates vary about just how large an increase is required, and Congress will make its own determination as to size and structure, it is our judgment that we should aim for an increase in the active duty Army and Marine Corps, together, of at least 25,000 troops each year over the next several years." When you get into the details the differences shrink further. Phillip Carter calls for a draft based on pragmatism, not on equity or fairness. He recognizes the U.S. military is in a "pretty bad spot" describing the short falls in recruiting especially in the Army and Reserves and how more and more recruits are non-high school graduates. He acknowledged that the Iraq occupation is driving recruitment needs and problems. Further he argues we sent too few soldiers to Iraq comparing the number of troops used in recent military efforts (e.g., Kosovo) during the Clinton years and saying we needed "258,000 to 576,000 soldiers to pacify Iraq." Carter describes U.S. foreign policy as requiring a large military. In a matter of fact way almost equivalent to saying the sun rises every day he describes how every ten to twenty years the United States sends 600,000 to two million soldiers overseas to support our foreign policy. His thesis is that the United States can remain the world's superpower or it can maintain an all-volunteer military it can't do both. He recommends a national service plan, including military service, for anyone who wants to attend a four-year college. Lawrence Korb criticized the Bush administration for not planning the war better and for ruling out a return to the draft during the presidential campaign. He demonstrated their failed planning by highlighting how they expected to have reduced the number of troops to 30,000 by the end of 2003 and being out of Iraq by the end of 2004. Instead, more than 135,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq. Regarding the draft, Korb argues that the Bush administration "provides a textbook case on how to destroy the all volunteer force." He is concerned about the draft because there are always loopholes that allow people, especially the wealthiest and politically connected, to escape serving. Even at the height of the Vietnam War only one out of six eligible for the draft actually served. But he criticized President Bush for saying he would never allow a draft because that should be something a president keeps as an option. Indeed, Korb would support a draft if the United States invaded Iran. He rhetorically asks "Why do you think people are required to register with the selective service?" Rather than a draft Korb favors changes to make recruitment easier, e.g. for every year a soldier serves active duty abroad, s/he should get two years at home; National Guard and Reserve should have 30 days notice before being mobilized and serve no more than one year out of every five on active duty; troops deployed to hostile areas should spend no more than one year in the combat zone. He also favors ending the "back door draft by modifying stop-loss orders so that no soldier is extend ed more than once. He also wants to see more money, benefits and lifetime health care provided to soldiers. Finally, he wants the "don't ask don't tell policy" repealed as well as allowing women in combat. With all of this he would like to see recruitment increase the size of the Army by 100,000 people and paying for the increased personnel costs by cutting the F-22 fighter, the Virginia class submarine and the V-22 Osprey, as well as by slowing down the deployment of the untested national missile defense system. Both speakers see the crunch hitting at the end of 2006 but acknowledge the longer the Bush administration waits to ratchet up the size of the Army the more difficult it will be. Some might think that the Democratic Party leadership position is a tactic taunting Bush to make the political error of reinstating the draft. Whether a ploy or true belief, it is obvious from this inside-the-beltway discussion that those who oppose the draft will not be able to rely on the Democrats to stop it unless their spine is stiffened by the grass roots anti-war base. It is time to get organized now or risk being stampeded into the reinstatement of the draft. Groups opposing the draft are organizing a joint lobby day on May 16. People can come to Washington, DC or register to lobby from you home. Go to webpage at http://www.nisbco.org a to get information about the anti-draft lobby day, learn more about the issues and sign up to prevent a return to the draft. Other groups are working challenge recruitment in a counter recruitment drive. A list of counter recruitment organizations is available on the links page of DemocracyRising.US. Voters should be demanding that their elected officials oppose expansion of the Army, support the end of the Iraq war and occupation and oppose the reinstatement of the draft. Urge your representative to hold a public meeting where s/he should be required to publicly state their opposition to a draft, including a draft disguised as a national service plan. Make them put their view on the record in public so they can be held to it when the issue develops. The time to act is now. More importantly, as a paradigm shift in U.S. foreign policy we need to move away from a foreign policy based on the United States being the only world's superpower. Continuing to rely on our status as the world's preeminent military power and one that uses its economic power to force countries to change to our liking is an approach that will weaken us by sapping our strength financial, moral and human. It is time to confront the military industrial complex not kow-tow to it. Kevin Zeese is a director of the 'Stop the War' campaign of DemocracyRising.US. You can comment on this column by visiting the blog spot on DemocracyRising.US.
Further information: Center on Conscience and War http://www.nisbco.org/ Later this week, DemocracyRising.US will be publishing an interview with the director of the Center, J.E. McNeil. For links working on counter recruitment visit: http://democracyrising.us/component/option,com_weblinks/Itemid,4/ Phillip Carter's speech summarized an article he co-authored in The Washington Monthly, "More Boots on the Ground: The Case for the Draft." http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0503.carter.html. The Center for New American Progress describes it's position on military manpower in their "Progressive Priorities Series" in a report entitled "For Soldier and Country: Saving the All-Volunteer Army." [See: http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=269841] Letter to Congress calling
for expansion of military by the Project for a New American Century,
http://www.newamericancentury.org/defense-20050128.htm
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