How
the Press &
the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Today's
Stories
December 28,
2004
Ron Jacobs
Iran
2004: The Resistance and the Western Anti-War Movement
December 27,
2004
M. Junaid Alam
"Civilization
v. Barbarism": an Interview with Noam Chomsky
Michael Donnelly
Greens and Greenbacks: How Nonprofit Careerism Derailed the "Revolution"
Greg Moses
Texas Election Scandal: Forty Faxes and a Whisper
Toni Solo
Colombia's Appalling Vista: Justice With Eyes Wide Open
Brian Kwoba
Blaming the Victims of the 2004 Elections
Genna Goodman-Campbell
Honduras Validates Its Banana Republic Status, Again
Mike Whitney
Disappearing Act: Fallujah and the Media
Ari Shavit
"Zionism Has Exhausted Itself": an Interview with Amos
Elon
Richard Oxman
Reflections on a Handful of Activists
Saul Landau
James
Cason's Cuban Delusions
December 25
/ 26, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Yup,
It's Moral Outrage Time
Diane Christian
The Christmas Christ
Dr. Susan Block
Faith-Based Sex
Gary Leupp
Rumsfeld, His Critics and the Draft
Ron Jacobs
Music in Wartime
Elaine Cassel
Articles I Didn't Write
Jim Minick
Beyond Organic
Poets Basement
Louise, Landau, Orloski, Albert
and Collins
December 24,
2004
Diane Christian
Winning:
Rummy and John Milton
Chad Nagle
Ukraine's
Real Underdog
Saul Landau
My Friend Richard Barnet
Greg Moses
Ramsey Muniz Speaks
Joe DeRaymond
The Endless War in Colombia: a View From Within
Borzou Daragahi
Iraq's Christians: Tolerated by Saddam; Targets Under Occupation
Mike Whitney
Rummy's Quagmire of Lies
Francis A. Boyle
O Little Town of Bethlehem: Another Christmas Under Occupation
William Loren
Katz
Florida 1837: Christmas Eve Resistance to the First US Occupation
December 23,
2004
Chad Nagle
Report
from Kiev: Yushchenko's Not Quite Ready for Sainthood
David Smith-Ferri
The
Real UN Disgrace in Iraq
Bill Quigley
Death
Watch for Human Rights in Haiti
Mickey Z.
Crumbs
from Our Table
Christopher Brauchli
Merck's Merry X-mas
Greg Moses
When
No Law Means No Law
Alan Singer
An
Encounter with Sen. Schumer: a Very Dangerous Democrat
David Price
Social
Security Pump and Dump
Website of the Day
Gabbo Gets Laid
December 22,
2004
James Petras
An
Open Letter to Saramago: Nobel Laureate Suffers from a Bizarre
Historical Amnesia
Omar Barghouti
The Case for Boycotting Israel
Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond
They Were Waiting on Chicken Tenders When the Rounds Hit
Harry Browne
Northern Ireland: No Postcards from the Edge
Richard Oxman
On the Seventh Column
Kathleen Christison
Imagining
Palestine
Website of the Day
FBI Torture Memos
December 21,
2004
Greg Moses
The
New Zeus on the Block: Unplugging Al-Manar TV
Dave Lindorff
Losing
It in America: Bunker of the Skittish
Chad Nagle
The View from Donetsk
Dragon Pierces
Truth*
Concrete
Colossus vs. the River Dragon: Dislocation and Three Gorges Dam
Patrick Cockburn
"Things Always Get Worse"
Seth DeLong
Aiding Oppression in Haiti
Ahmad Faruqui
Pakistan and the 9/11 Commission's Report
Paul Craig
Roberts
America
Locked Up: a System of Injustice
December 20,
2004
Gary Leupp
Japan
in Iraq
Robert Fisk
An
Army Without Compassion
Uri Avnery
The Mountain and the Mouse
Francisco Letelier
My Case Against Pinochet
Patrick Cockburn
The Polls of Fear
Bill Conroy
Charles Bowden on the Legacy of Gary Webb: "He Drew Blood"
Yoshie Furuhashi
Chokeholds of a Giant: Attacking Wal-Mart's Supply Chain
David Swanson
Media Blackout of Bush's War on Labor
Chad Nagle
Did Yushchenko Poison Himself?
December 18
/ 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
They Hated Gary Webb
Saul Landau
Gen.
Pinochet Should Also Face Charges in DC
Patrick Cockburn
Losing
Mosul: Once They Called It a Model for the Occupation
Douglas Valentine
Wolves
and Revolution in Venezuela: a Caracas Romance
Ray McGovern
Laughing Dragon, Dancing Bear: the New China / Russia Alliance
Fred Gardner
DEA Upholds Grower's Marijuana Monopoly
Jean-Guy Allard
Locked Up Naked in a Hole Within a Hole: Have the Cuban 5 Been
Tortured in US Prisons?
Ron Jacobs
Drifters Escape, Again: Encounters with Berkeley's Police
Raymond G.
Helmick, S.J.
The Law and Peace in the Middle East
Sean Sellers
Values Voters, Desperate Housewives and Sweatshop Tacos
Lee Sustar
Christmas
on the Picket Line at CNH: "They Want to Break Our Unions"
Richard Thieme
Webb's Wife: "Gary Was Never the Same After They Attacked
Him"
Sam Bahour
WANTED:
Middle East Negotiator
Joshua Frank
The
Spin Doctor: an Interview with Mickey Z.
Dave Lindorff
A Man Who Confers with God Should Have Good Hearing
Stan Cox
What Kids Cost: Dallas v. Delhi
Chris Frasier
Farming By Numbers: More Poets, Fewer MBAs
Poets' Basement
Katz, Melek, Harley, Albert and Ford
December
17, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
CounterAttack:
How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Dave Lindorff
Racism:
Philly Style
Dan Bacher
Bush Abandons Salmon Restoration
Marisa Jacott
NAFTA and the Environment: Trade Still Runs Roughshod
Francis Thicke
How Now, Industrial Cow?
Rupert Cornwell
The Inuit Strike Back
Website of the Day
Franz Boas Unrolls Over in His Grave
December
16, 2004
Michael
Neumann
How We Became Barbarians
Merlin
Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Ralph Nader
Gabriel
Espinoza Gonzales
The Dubious Career of John Bolton
Christopher
Brauchli
Louis Freeh's New Gig: Usurer
Patrick
Cockburn
Allawi's Pre-Election Ploy: Putting "Chemical Ali"
on Trial
Mike
Whitney
Gearing Up for a Draft?
Walter
Brasch
Hillbilly Humvees and Rumsfeld's New Physics
Bill
Conroy
How Gary Webb Saved My Ass from the FBI
Website
of the Day
Saturday Memorial for Gary Webb
December
15, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Who Killed Baha Mousa?
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Monster Under the Bed
Heather
Gray
Will the Real Christians Please Stand?: a Personal Testimony
Dave
Lindorff
The DNC, Albright and the Iraq Elections
Luis
Hernandez Navarro
To Die a Little: Migration and Coffee
in Mexico and Central America
Joshua
Frank
The Ohio Recount: an Exercise in "Dumbocracy"
Greg
Moses
Eighty-Sixing Civil Rights in Ohio?
George
Caffentzis
The Petroleum Commons
December
14, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
DNC Meddling in the Ukraine Elections
Larry
Birns / Seth DeLong
Haiti is Unraveling and No One is Saying
Anything
Richard
Thieme
My Last Talk with Gary Webb: "I Knew It Was the Truth and
That's What Kept Me Going"
Patrick
Cockburn
A Year After Saddam's Capture, Iraq
is Getting Worse
Chris
Floyd
Client State: Moral Values and Voluntary Servitude in Bush's
America
Akiva
Eldar
A One-time Hanukkah Miracle
Burbach
/ Cantor
The Legacy of Pinochet: Kissinger
and the Teflon Tyrant
December
13, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Gary Webb: a Great Reporter, Trashed
by the CIA's Claque
David
Phinney
"Contract Meal Disaster" for Iraqi Prisoners: Rancid
Food Sparked Abu Ghraib Riots
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality
for Douglas Feith
M.
Junaid Alam
The War is the War Crime
Robert
Jensen
The US Has Lost the Iraq War...and That's a Good Thing
Richard
Oxman
Kafkaesque Lessons for the Left
Greg
Moses
Send No Messengers of Defeat
Douglas
Lummis
The Pentagon's Neurosis: Fallujah
Gulag
December
11 / 12, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Running an Empire on the Cheap
Ron
Jacobs
The Drugs of War: Getting High in the Green Zone?
Saul
Landau
Listening and Talking to God About
Invading Other Countries
Gary
Leupp
Bush's Capital
Sharon
Smith
The Horrible Toll on US Troops
Dave
Lindorff
Deja Vu All Over Again: 5,000 Desertions and Counting
Uri
Avnery
The Boss Has Gone Crazy
Jude
Wanniski
The Neo-Con Smear on Kofi Annan: What Food-for-Oil Scandal?
Heather
Gray
How the South Became Republican: an Interview with John Egerton
Patrick
Cockburn / Ken Sengupta
Fallujah: the Homecoming and the Homeless
John
Pilger
Return to Kosovo: Calling the Humanitarian Bombers to Account
Joshua
Frank
All the Rage: Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry
Ben
Tripp
O Canada!: the Truth About the Election of 2004
John
Stanton
God Speaks!
Laura
Nathan
Porn Stars are People, Too: a Talk with Christi Lake
Poets'
Basement
Capaccio, Davies, Louise, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Day
Fallujah Photos: Killed in Their Beds
December
10, 2004
Ralph
Nader
President Bush, Stop Destroying the
Mosques of Iraq
Greg
Moses
Whitewashing Voter Fraud
Nicole
Colson
Rebellion in the Ranks: Grunts Are Resisting Stop-Loss Orders
Frederick
B. Hudson
"They Still Got Those Dogs": A New Book Probes Old
Civil Rights Lessons
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraq's Insurgents Oppose the Occupation, Not the Elections
Kathy
Kelly
From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water
December
9, 2004
Greg
Moses
Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah
Joshua
Frank
Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser!
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to
Disclose the Real Casualty Figures
Lee
Sustar
Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster
Tom
Barry
Restrictionist Resurgence
Mickey
Z.
Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush in the Bubble
Mark
Donham
Why are House Democrats Trying to
Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority?
Gary
Corseri
On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
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.
|
December 28, 2004
The Chief Weirdo at the Pentagon
Rumsfeld
Must Go
By
BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
The new-model, compassionate, caring,
tender-hearted, public-related Donald Rumsfeld flew to Iraq
Christmas Eve, and went to Mosul. We are assured by the Pentagon
that the Mosul visit by their CEO was - but of course - planned
well before the carnage in the mess hall and that Rumsfeld went
to see wounded soldiers because he is a caring and compassionate
sort of guy. Pass the sick bag, Alice.
There is abundant evidence
that Rumsfeld, described by Bush as an "doing a very fine
job" as his Secretary for War and Incompetence, is an insensitive
creep who has all the tender feelings, urbane charm, moral awareness
and civilized manners of the recently not-appointed Bernard Kerik.
His antics at the Pentagon have been a disaster for the United
States. He has proved to be Osama bin Laden's Secret Weapon,
such is his never-failing aptitude for clumsy and callous statements
that are the hair-tearing despair of his supporters, some of
whom are beginning to realize he is CEO of the greatest military
shambles that has befallen America since Kennedy and MacNamara
began the Vietnam War.
On May 6, 2004 The Economist
carried a cover piece titled "Resign, Rumsfeld".
This exhortation, coming from a publication that believes the
world is a better place for having CEOs who display some of the
more unpleasant characteristics of Attila the Hun, was an extraordinary
yet appropriate demand for removal of a man who is arrogant,
evasive, mendacious and stupid.
Even the New York Times criticized
him when the sadistic torture at Abu Ghraib was first uncovered.
It pronounced that "The world is waiting now for a sign
that President Bush understands the seriousness of what has happened.
It needs to be more than his repeated statements that he is sorry
the rest of the world does not "understand the true nature
and heart of America". Mr Bush should start showing the
state of his own heart by demanding the resignation of his secretary
of defense." There seems little chance of that happening.
Even the latest discoveries of torture at Guantanamo Bay and
of torture and murder of countless Iraqis and Afghans in hideous
circumstances are not being sheeted home to Rumsfeld and his
grubby minions.
Rumsfeld's flaring anxiety
and spiteful (and often incoherent) responses when posed discomfiting
questions are a matter for deep concern. Sometimes he indulges
in insults or what he intends as humor (often of the crudest
kind, as about Afghanistan : "WE haven't run out of targets:
THEY have"), but his panic attacks may be symptoms of a
troubling mental malaise. One wonders if the men in white coats
may be preparing a padded room for him. His absurd throw-away
line about lack of armor protection for soldiers in Iraq was
but one example of his inability to understand the real world,
but it isn't that particular incident that may prove to be the
top of the ice-slide down which, we must all hope, the hard-hearted
thug will thunder to richly-deserved oblivion. In the end the
decider for Rumsfeld will probably prove to be his contemptuous
(and contemptible) treatment of soldiers' relatives.
Rumsfeld's refusal to personally
sign letters of condolence to the next-of-kin of soldiers killed
in the useless war in Iraq (and presumably Afghanistan) was presented
to us by his gnomes as being necessary to get the letters out
quickly. That is a deceitful and insulting explanation, simply
because personal signing of even fifty letters doesn't take more
than a few minutes. And the instant follow-up claim that Rumsfeld
is away from his office so much that the auto-pen is quicker
just doesn't wash. Nobody waits with bated breath to receive
a letter of condolence. It might relieve some of the ache when
it comes, but bereaved relatives don't expect it to arrive right
away. The new (caring) policy that will have Rumsfeld personally
signing messages makes it obvious that the explanation about
speeding-up dispatch of letters was a silly lie. His weirdly
asinine comment that "I have directed that in the future
I sign each letter" presumably means he has told his staff
to put letters on his desk rather than into the auto-pen, but
what he should have said was : "I'm sorry. I was insensitive
and personally wrong not to sign letters of condolence in the
past and I will ensure I sign them in future".
But the arrogant Rumsfeld couldn't
utter such decent words ; they wouldn't get past his lips.
(Incidentally : does Rumsfeld sign letters to the relatives
of those who are non-combat fatalities? Do the nearest and
dearest of those who die of diseases contracted in Iraq matter
as much as those who are killed by car bombs? And will he sign
letters to the relatives of those who die of wounds several months
after they are shot or blown up? Is there a cut-off date for
expressions of sympathy?)
The plain fact is that Rumsfeld,
like all abrasive, cocky and malevolent CEOs, does not believe
that human beings are important. People in US military uniform
don't matter unless they are his personally selected sycophantic
yes-team, and all others are but dust beneath the wheels of his
(well-armored) chariot. He, more than any other individual apart
from the Commander-in-Chief, is responsible for the shambles
in Iraq. And neither he nor George W ('The Buck Stops Anywhere
But Here') Bush could care less about the atrocities in Abu Ghraib,
Guantanamo Bay, the hell holes in Afghanistan, and other torture
chambers on ships and in faraway colonial gulags.
In the Bush/Rumsfeld prison
camp at Guantanamo Bay there are hundreds of people, some of
whom are children. We have recently learned there are seven kids
still there, but the fact that there are any children at all
in this terrible place is barely believable. The news was revealed
by accident, which is not surprising because you would think
that even the most hardhearted, cynical and unmerciful individual
would feel just a tad shamefaced about slamming kids inside without
any human rights whatever.
Well . . . no. There is not
the slightest remorse felt by Rumsfeld, Bush or General Myers,
America's senior military figure. Myers justified imprisonment
of children by saying his teenage prisoners "are very dangerous.
Some have killed, some have stated they are going to kill again.
They may be juveniles, but they're not on the Little League team
anywhere, they're on a major league team and it's a terrorist
team and they're in Guantanamo for a very good reason, for our
safety, for your safety." His pronouncement was bizarre.
"Some have killed,"
says Myers. Therefore "some" have not killed. So what
crimes are they being held for? How many is "some"?
There were at least three Afghan kids aged between 13 and 15,
but the ages and nationalities of the others under 18 can't
be discovered. These details are a State Secret because Myers
said the kids are "a terrorist team" and must be imprisoned
forever, without trial, "for our safety, for your safety".
What utter drivel.
Three of the youngest victims
of Bush democracy were quietly set free in 2004, and here is
part of the BBC report about one of them:
"More than a year after
being captured by US troops . . . Naqibullah, 13, is back home
in eastern Afghanistan [so he was 12 when he was thrown in the
slammer]. He spent much of his time in captivity in Camp Iguana,
the children's section of the US detention center on the tropical
island of Cuba. The teenager said he felt fine and was happy
to tell his story. He had never even been to Kabul, let alone
outside Afghanistan, before he was taken prisoner by the Americans.
'I hadn't done anything, but they suspected me because I was
standing next to some men who had guns,' he said. 'I told them
I was innocent. I don't even know how to use a gun'."
But the gallant Myers mouths
his idiotic incantation that these kids were "very dangerous".
The only dangerous thing about this fiasco is that there are
US generals who are so direly dumb that they make fools of themselves
and, by association, their country. And his commander-in-chief,
Bush, said on December 20 that "You've got to understand
the dilemma we're in. These are people that got scooped up off
a battlefield attempting to kill US troops. And I want to make
sure, before they're released, that they don't come back to kill
again." So it took his highly-skilled operatives over a
year to find out if a 12 year-old kid who didn't know how to
use a gun would "kill again". Do these people ever
listen to themselves?
Rumsfeld was also asked questions
about children imprisoned on his orders, and once more showed
himself to be a prize booby. He attracted criticism even from
the International Red Cross, an agency that is highly respected
throughout the world, except in Bush Washington.
The President of the Red Cross,
Mr Jakob Kellenberger, is considered to be yet another enemy
of the Bush administration and therefore must be attacked in
every devious way that can be dreamed up, as have been Kofi
Annan, Mohammad ElBaradei and Hans Blix (to name but a few),
who have dared to be right when the Bush World-Masters were wrong.
There has been flagrant misuse of US national intelligence-gathering
resources in attempts by the Bush Reich to 'get' something on
them, but even the most assiduous hi-tech snooping has not come
up with anything sordid in their past that can be handed to the
US media - - and this means that they MUST be clean. (What
a pity some of this spook energy wasn't devoted to investigating
the intricate past of colorful Bernard Kerik.) But the International
Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, is a pretty clean organization
all round.
I have two friends who work
for the ICRC. They never tell me anything about their travels,
or who they see, or what they talk about. This is frustrating,
because I would very much like to know what they do, but they
stick rigidly to the ICRC code of never speaking about any aspect
of their activities. It is vital they do not, because the Red
Cross guarantee of silence usually ensures access to all sorts
of prisoners held in hellish conditions throughout this horrible
world. Usually - but not in George Bush's America, because
Rumsfeld ordered that some of his captives be hidden from the
Red Cross.
Regarding one particular case,
on June 18 the Baltimore Sun reported that "Asked whether
other detainees were held in similar secrecy, and not registered,
the defense secretary said, "I don't know . . . I'll be
happy to tell you more when we get more . . . I can think of
one additional case off the top of my head . . . I think there's
some," he said."
ICRC representatives are trusted
by some of the world's vilest governments (but obviously not
by Bush Washington) whose victims receive at least some solace
from their visits. So the organization is never publicly critical
of any country or regime. Or it has never been until it was
forced by moral imperatives to state that "the ICRC does
not consider Guantanamo an appropriate place to detain juveniles.
It is especially concerned about the fact that they are held
away from their families and worries about the possible psychological
impact this experience could have . . ."
In terms of Red Cross diplomacy
this was a major outburst, and in an address to the 28th International
Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent a year ago Mr Kellenberger
stated bluntly that "The struggle against terrorist activities,
necessary and legitimate as it is, must not undermine the values
on which society must be founded." In particular, he said,
"the preservation of human dignity according to international
law" is paramount. I don't suppose Bush and Rumsfeld will
lose a moment's sleep about the concerns of a wimpish outfit
like the Red Cross, because they are without heart or compassion,
but it is obvious to most of the rest of us, the human beings
of the world, that there are serious moral and legal problems
in detaining children without charge, trial or hope.
The UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child is only a minor annoyance for Bush and Rumsfeld,
because they don't give a damn about such bleeding-heart nonsense.
(The latest vote on a US proposal to destroy the Convention's
main purpose was defeated by 126 to 2. Those who supported the
amendment were the US and Palau. Bush does not realize how ridiculous
this makes him appear.) Nevertheless, the Convention defines
a child as "every human being under the age of eighteen
years . . ." which is a reasonable definition but is considered
rubbish by Rumsfeld who became irritated, shrill and petulant
when asked why children are detained in his military prison.
He declared, presumably seriously, that "these are not
children".
The Rumsfeld response was agitated,
dislocated and verging on the hysterical. He shot back the querulous
complaint that his questioners were guilty of "a constant
refrain of 'the juveniles', as though there's a hundred children
in there". ("He's a good, decent man. He's a caring
fellow", said Bush about Rumsfeld last week.)
"As though there's a hundred
children in there." -- Did Rumsfeld mean that the situation
is less disgusting because there are fewer than a hundred children
in his prison? Is Bush morality measured in numbers of children
deprived of liberty? Is it in some way less inhuman if a dozen
children are imprisoned without charge rather than a hundred?
His mental confusion became more evident when his silly assertion
that "these are not children" was self-contradicted
by use of the word "children" in his attempt to justify
the detention of 13 year-olds who, according to Myers, were detained
by his soldiery "for our safety".
The seven children who remain
in Guantanamo prison camp have no rights under the UN Convention
or under any law, be that international, of their own country,
or even that of the United States. The Convention specifically
requires that every child alleged to have committed a crime must
be "presumed innocent until proven guilty" and must
"be informed promptly and directly of charges . . . and
have legal advice . . ." Little wonder the rights of children,
as endorsed by every country in the world except two (the US
and Somalia), are anathema to such as Rumsfeld, Bush and Myers.
They have stripped these children of dignity and protection.
No lawyer is allowed to defend them, and they have no contact
with their families. They are non-persons. What sort of demented
lost soul could order or try to justify such treatment?
But the new-style, caring,
compassionate Rumsfeld jets round the world to try to create
the impression that he really is a tender-hearted guy, gee golly
gosh, just like real people who actually believe in the Convention
which states "No child shall be deprived of his or her
liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily . . . The arrest, detention
or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law
and shall only be used as a measure of last resort and for the
shortest appropriate period of time".
The Washington Post editorialized
on December 23 that : "Since the publication of photographs
of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in the spring the administration's
whitewashers -- led by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld --
have contended that the crimes were carried out by a few low-ranking
reservists, that they were limited to the night shift during
a few chaotic months at Abu Ghraib in 2003, that they were unrelated
to the interrogation of prisoners and that no torture occurred
at the Guantanamo Bay prison where hundreds of terrorism suspects
are held. The new documents establish beyond any doubt that every
part of this cover story is false."
The facts are plain : Donald
Rumsfeld is a liar. Not only is he a liar, but he is incompetent
in directing the organization of which he is CEO. Not only is
he incompetent, but he is domineering and arrogant. And last,
but most important of all of his character defects, he is cruel
and heartless. He doesn't personally indulge in "mock executions
and the torture of detainees by burning and electric shock"
(which have been shown to be commonplace), but these atrocities
were committed while he was CEO. He is responsible for them.
One of the most damning sentences in the Post editorial was
"General Miller has testified under oath that dogs were
never used to intimidate prisoners at Guantanamo, as authorized
by Mr. Rumsfeld in December 2002 ; the FBI papers show otherwise."
Miller should have been instantly dismissed when this was revealed.
He deceived and insulted the Congress of the United States,
under orders of Rumsfeld. Is this the sort of America that its
citizens want to live in?
Rumsfeld seems to be the sort
of person that Bush trusts to continue to represent his administration.
In fact, when you think of it, Rumsfeld and Myers and Miller
are pretty good exponents of everything that Bush and his compassionate
crusaders (don't forget the 'Christian' fundamentalist nutcase
General Boykin), are determined to thrust upon the world. But
it must be obvious even to Bush that his ludicrously effusive
support of Rumsfeld is entirely misplaced.
To repeat the words of the
New York Times : "Mr Bush should start showing the state
of his own heart by demanding the resignation of his secretary
of defense."
Only after he gets rid of Rumsfeld
can there be a clean-up of the Pentagon's weirdoes. Rumsfeld
must go.
Brian Cloughley writes on military and political affairs.
He can be reached through his website www.briancloughley.com
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|