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Now Available! Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by Kathy Kelly Click Here to Order 3-time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Kathy Kelly's Harrowing First-hand Account of Iraq Under the Squeeze of Sanctions and Missiles of Shock and Awe! Today's Stories August 13 / 14, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair When Down is Up: the "Stricken" President August 12, 2005 Christopher Brauchli Courting God: Justice Sunday II Greg Moses A Crawford Peace House Morning with Cindy Sheehan Ramzy Baroud Israel's Nuclear Puzzle Norman Solomon Cindy Sheehan's Message: Repudiating Bush and Dean Chris Genovali Why is a Canadian Bureaucrat Trying to End Protections for US Grizzly Bears? Chris Floyd Cheney and Halliburton, the Stench Gets Worse Tariq Ali Blair's New Authoritarianism   August 11, 2005 Saul Landau Globalization and Its Discontents Dave Lindorff Privatization will Harm Same Sex Couples Ralph Nader Dear Cindy Sheehan: May You Prevail Where Others Have Failed Talli Nauman Radioactive Border: the Hot Mounds of Samalayuca Gary Leupp Politics of an Outing: Plame, Ledeen and Iran Sharon Smith The New Anti-War Majority Paul Craig Roberts Why is Cheney Lobbying for a Boost in China's Nuclear Capability?     August 10, 2005 Tim Wise Indian Mascots and White Rage Ron Jacobs Rumsfeld's Delusions Joshua Frank Dean and the PDA: Don't Believe the Hype Cynthia McKinney The 9/11 Op-Ed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Refuses to Run Rick Wilhelm Peter Jennings, Excuse Maker for War and Empire Stan Goff Homegrown Resistance   August 9, 2005 Mike Ferner What One Mom has to Say to Bush: Cindy Sheehan in Dallas Monica Benderman Is Being a Conscientious Objector Now Criminal? Mike Marqusee Making Excuses for Killing De Menezes Rep. Cynthia McKinney Strange Fruit and Tree-Shakers Paul Craig Roberts Watching the US Economy Crumble   August 6-8, 2005 Alexander Cockburn How the British Destroyed India Jason Leopold Halliburton and Iran: Still Doing Business After All These Years? Ray McGovern Iran, Truth-Tellers and the Devotees of Preemption David Krieger From Hiroshima to Humanity Sharon K. Weiner / Robert Jensen From Hiroshima to Iraq and Back Fred Gardner The Budtender's View of a Rip-Off   August 5, 2005 Bill Christison New NIE Report on Iran's Nukes will Not Deter US's Posture of Extreme Aggressiveness Paul Craig Roberts Kelo: a Supreme Assault on Personal Liberty Alexander Cockburn The Taj Mahal as Kitsch; the Editor and the Water-Walking Guru     August 4, 2005 Tom Barry Inside Bush's "World Democracy Movement" Lila Rajiva John Bolton's New Internationalism Greg Moses Bush Teaches Intelligent Design in Prison Alexander Cockburn Indian Journal: Why Indian Farmers Kill Themselves August 3, 2005     August 3, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Broken Arrows and Iran: a B-52 Pilot Remembers Paul Craig Roberts The Kelo Calamity: Money, Power and Eminent Domaine William A. Cook Innocent Victims: From Hiroshima to Lower Manhattan Dave Zirin Bush's Texas Rangers: a Crackhouse for Juiced Players? Dave Lindorff Court Packing and Worker Rights José Pertierra Why Hamdi Isaac Yes and Posada Carriles No?   August 2, 2005 Ramzi Kysia Disengagement and Diaspora: High Walls and Razor Wire in the Hebron William A. Cook Words Without Meaning: Torturing Bodies and Language Paul Craig Roberts When Armageddon Gets No Press Mike Whitney Chertoff's Preemptive Crackdown: 600 Arrests, Only 76 Charged Ron Jacobs Be a Hero: Demand That Johnny Come Home Norman Madarsz Before the Stun Gun: Jean Charles de Menezes, RIP Tim Wise The Faulty Logic of "Terrorist" Profiling     August 1, 2005 Virginia Rodino Why Bono and Geldof Got It Wrong: War and Global Poverty are Linked Diana Barahona Return to Venezuela: Land Reform and Neighborhood Doctors Joshua Frank Gitmo's Kangaroo Courts: First Torture Them, Then Rig Their Trials Mike Whitney The Consolidation of Powers: Rubber Stamp Roberts Norm Dixon The Worst Terror Attacks in History Norman Solomon Operation Withdrawal Scam James Petras The Corruption of Lula's Regime     July 30 / 31, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Lost Nuclear Warheads Now in Iran? JoAnn Wypijewski Scenes and Silver Linings from Labor's Crack-Up: a Special Report from Chicago Sheldon Rampton War is Fun as Hell: the Video Games Recruiters Play Jack Z. Bratich Fingerprints of Power: a Summer of Double Super Secrecy Greg Moses How to Cool Your Heels in Texas When It's Late July Across the World Jordan Green From Woolworth to Wal-Mart: Economics and the Race Divide in a Southern City Patrick Cockburn Getting Out of Iraq: 5,000 US Troops Have Gone AWOL Brian Cloughley The Bush-Cheney Fixation on Iran Justin Taylor Harry Potter and the War on Terror Saul Landau Enhancements for the Imperial Life: Fashionism Takes Command! John Walsh Dems Field Another Pro-War Candidate: Meet Hack the Hawk Joshua Frank Color-Coded Justice: John Roberts's Racial Hang Up Ron Jacobs Who Needs Feminism? We Have Condi Rice! Fred Gardner The Ethan and Gavin Show John Chuckman Friedman on Terrorism: the Dumbest Story Ever Written Liaquat Ali Khan Lessons City Bombers Need to Learn from Newton and Donne Remi Kanazi Annexing Justice in Palestine Naveen Jaganathan The Gurgaon Riots Rock India Richard Heinberg Where is the Hirsch Peak Oil Report? Max Watts Francis Ona, the Napoleon of Mekamui Ben Tripp Write Your Own Editorial! Poets' Basement Whalen & Engel, Landau, Albert and Krieger       July 29, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Who's the Real Martyr? Judy Miller or Jim DeFede? P. Sainath The Class War in Gurgaon Niranjan Ramakrishnan How the West Was Lost: CAFTA and the Disassembling of America Dave Lindorff Marvelous Marvin Bush J.L. Chestnut, Jr. America's Racist Inventory: Oppression Breeds Violence Pat Williams Giving Away the Last Best Place Norman Solomon In Praise of Kevin Benderman: a Moral Leader of the Nation Goes to Prison Sen. Russ Feingold The Bad News About the Energy Bill     July 28, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Departing Iraq William S. Lind The Duke of Alba and George W. Bush Gilad Atzmon Blair the Camera Man Joshua Frank Passing CAFTA: Blame the Democrats Lila Rajiva Vision Mumbai Submerged Amina Mire Pigmentation and Empire: the Emerging Skin-Whitening Industry Website of the Day Gateway to Underground News     July 27, 2005 Roger Morris The Source Beyond Rove: Condoleezza Rice at the Center of the Plame Scandal Gary Leupp Is Iran Being Set Up? Paul Craig Roberts US Falling Behind Across the Board Jackie Corr Class War on the Ruby River: the Billionaire with His Foot in His Mouth Mike Whitney The Coming End of the Housing Bubble Dave Zirin Why Lance Armstrong Must Break with Bush Christopher Bradley Why I Have Trouble Reading the News Norman Solomon Thomas Friedman, Liberal Sadist? Website of the Day Stormin' Norman     July 26, 2005 Suren Pillay The Enemy Within: When the "Other" is One of "Us" JoAnn Wypijewski Fission and Fizzle in Chicago: SEIU and Teamsters Quit the AFL Patrick Cockburn Iraq: the Unwinnable War David Anderson When the Greatest Outrage is the Lack of Outrage: NYC's Subway Searches Joshua Frank Hillary Clinton: Outflanking Bush from the Right Lenni Brenner Biography as Wish-Fulfillment: Jefferson, Hitchens and Atheism David Swanson Nuking Native Land     July 25, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts China-Mart Takes Over M. Shahid Alam Terrorism: America Defines Its Targets Uri Avnery March of the Orange Shirts Stan Cox Kreationism in Kansas Norman Solomon "Wagging the Puppy" Ramzy Baroud London Bombings: Barbaric, But Not Unexpected Mickey Z. No Gun Ri: 55 Years Later Website of the Day The Birth of a Hummingbird in 15 Images     July 23 / 24, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Islamo-Anarchs or Islamo-Fascists? Tariq Ali The War Comes Home Robert Fisk Something Happened Dave Lindorff Return of the Academic Witch Hunts Ricardo Alarcón Kidnapping in Miami: the UN, the US and the Cuban 5 Col. Dan Smith Living in a Twilight Zone: Troop Strength, Recruitment and the Draft Brian Cloughley The Pentagon's China Hypocrisy Kevin Zeese Growing Republican Opposition to Iraq War Bill Quigley Harrowing Hours in Haiti Fred Gardner The Reverberations of Raich Rep. Ron Paul The Patriot Act is a Threat to Liberty Joshua Frank Framing Abortion: Gonadal Politics and the Democrats Shivali Tukdeo Project Mumbai Makeover: Casualties of Development Gilad Atzmon Blair's "Evil Ideology" James Petras Baghdad: Barbarism and Civilization (a Fiction) Ben Tripp When Being American Was Fun Poets' Basement Krieger, Louise, Buknatski, Albert and Engel Website of the Weekend Remember the West Memphis 3   July 22, 2005 Heather Gray Home Grown Axis of Evil: Corp. Agribusiness, the Occupation of Iraq and the Dred Scott Decision David Domke The American Press and Credibility Lance Selfa Battle of the Insiders: No Heroes in the Plame Leak Scandal JoAnn Wypijewski Is This Really an "Insurgency" to Shake Up the Labor Movement?   July 21, 2005 Rose Ann DeMoro The Top 10 Problems with the "Crisis" in the Labor Movement William Blum London: Another Casualty in the War on Terror J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Whites Need to Learn Something: Dixie is Everywhere Christopher Brauchli Strange Affairs: Liberals and Alberto Gonzales Joshua Frank Plame Blame Game: the 5 Ws Brian Concannon, Jr. Haiti's Elections: Time for a Reality Check Patrick Cockburn The True, Terrible State of Iraq and the Link to London Website of the Day Who Blew Up the Murrah Building?     July 20, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Judge Roberts: Business as Usual Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Red Christmas Ray McGovern Did Dick Finger Valerie?: the Hand of Cheney Chris Floyd Judge Dread: John Roberts and the "Enemy Combatants" Uri Avnery "Silence is Filth" Dave Lindorff Westmoreland's Body Count Goes Up by One Norman Solomon Gen. Westmoreland's Death Wish Bill Quigley Travels in Haiti with a Wanted Priest       July 19, 2005 Tariq Ali An Isolated Regime John Ross Jihad Meets G-8 Davey D. More Clear Channel Censorship: "Don't F--K Around with Tha Police" Greg Weiher Muzzling Saddam: the Old Bait-and-Switch in Iraqi Jurisprudence Brian McKinlay An "Arse Licker" Goes to Washington: John Howard's Grand Tour Norman Solomon Nukes for India; Threats for Iran Dave Lindorff Get Back to Where We Once Belonged Bill Christison Bush's Itinerary: First Stop Syria, Next Stop Iran Joshua Frank Laura's Justice?: Meet Edith Brown Clement   July 18, 2005 Joshua Frank An Interview with Ward Churchill M. Shahid Alam A Muslim Problem: Did Thomas Friedman Flunk History? Jude Wanniski Memo to Patrick Fitzgerald Ron Jacobs A Weekend to Stop the War Mike Whitney The Straight Line Between Falluja and King's Cross Station William MacDougall From "Bring It On" to "London Can Take It" Seth Sandronsky Temporary Recovery: New Frontiers in Labor Flexibility Richard Lichtman The Consolations of George Lakoff Paul Craig Roberts Can Congressional Republicans End Bush's Wars? Website of the Weekend Novels of the Neo-Cons   July 15 / 17, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Don't You Dare Call It Treason Jeffrey St. Clair Sticky Fingers: the Making of Halliburton Paul Craig Roberts Economic Treason Harry Browne "What They Do to Us, They Will Do to You": Shell Oil in Mayo, Ireland Uri Davis, Ilan Pappe and Tamar Yaron A Warning from Israel Andrew Rubin End of the Enlightenment: an Open Letter to Stephen Plaut Patrick Cockburn Iraq's Ghost Battalions J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Changes in Selma: Standing Up to Racism in the South Fred Gardner A Professional Bust Christopher Brauchli An Olympic Feat: How to "Double" Aid with No New Money Chris Floyd The Great Iraq Oil Giveaway Ben Tripp The Dark Incontinent Col. Dan Smith General Abizaid, I'm Glad You Asked Jason Leopold What Did Rove Say and When Did He Say It? Jack Random Miller Time Norman Solomon War and Venture Capitalism George Ochenski Liberate Montana's Rivers: Come One, Come All! Website of the Weekend Vote for CounterPuncher David Vest     July 14, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Sticky Fingers: the Making of Halliburton Subcomandante Marcos This is What Will Do and How We Shall Do It: the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona Dave Lindorff No More Moral Relativism: the US is a Terrorist State Joshua Frank Rove Agency: Liberals and the CIA Jude Wanniski Those 8 Black Pages: What's the Real Story on Karl Rove? Dave Zirin Storming the Castle Kevin Zeese Exit Strategy: Within Reach? Robert Jensen War Myths and the Press Reza Fiyouzat A Worldwide Call to Free Akbar Ganji Carol Norris Governor Paranoid: Schwarzenegger Comes Unhinged Website of the Day Nate Osborn: Heroic Human Rights Activist and CounterPuncher   July 13, 2005 Brian Cloughley Cold Blooded Murders in Iraq George Galloway We Can't Separate the London Bombings from the Political Backdrop Carlos Fierro A Supreme Waste of Time Sarah Knopp Hate on the Border Norman Solomon "Isolated Pockets of Problems": the Fake Optimism of Washington's Warriors Mickey Z. Water on the Brain Jim Minick The Right Tree in the Right Place Pat Williams American Indian Education for All Andrew N. Rubin Life Behind the Wall: "We are No Longer Able to See the Sun Set" Website of the Day "London's Burning": the Mikey Mix     July 12, 2005 Laith al-Saud Voices of Resistance: an Interview with Dr. Mohammed al-Obaidi of Iraq's Peoples' Struggle Movement Kara N. Tina "This is How We Do It": Report from the Gleneagles Battlefield William A. Cook The London Bombings: Why Has It Come to This? Jack Bratich 2 Live Cruise: Tom Cruise v. Big Pharma Amina Mire The Problem with Speaking in the Name of Others Dick J. Reavis Lessons from the Christian Jihadists: the Virtues of Burning Crosses and Colored Smoke Kevin Zeese Depleted Uranium: States Take Action to Protect Their Vets Paul Craig Roberts No-Think Nation Website of the Day Coke Gags Indian Artist     July 9 / 11, 2005 Alexander Cockburn After the Bombings Uri Avnery War of the Colors in Israel Sheldon Rampton Blaming Galloway: Rhetoric vs. Reality in London Bill Christison Hiroshima's 60th Anniversary and Nukes in Iran: an Opportunity or Just More Hand-wringing from the Peace Movement? Robert Fisk Blair's Alliance with Bush Bombed Stephen Winspear Collateral Damage in London? Saul Landau Mission Accomplished: Iraq is Broken Behrooz Ghamari Thomas Friedman's Muslim Problem Karl Beitel False Promises and Real Debt Relief Brian Concannon, Jr. Throwing Gasoline on Haiti's Fires Fred Gardner Sentencing Season John Whitlow And What Does the Market Say? Niranjan Ramakrishnan The London Blasts: Who's Being Transformed, Them or Us? Lila Rajiva Witches and Bastards Laura Carlsen CAFTA: Deepening the Inequities Jackie Corr Ted Turner and Jiminy Cricket Dave Lindorff "My Brother Went Over There Gung Ho; Now He's Just Bitter" N. D. Jayaprakash Why the CIA Tried to Kill Chou En Lai at the Bandung Conference Seth Sandronsky Meet the "Truth Tour": Rightwing Radio Hosts Go to Iraq Norman Madarasz The Choking of Brazil's Worker Party Ben Tripp The Inevitability of George W. Bush Poets' Basement Louise, Albert, Landau, Davies and Engel Website of the Weekend The Mother of All Enemies Lists     July 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Blowback Hits Britain: Londoners Pay Heavy Price for Blair's Deception Tariq Ali The London Bombings: Why They Happened Monica Benderman One Soldier's Fight to Legalize Morality Rick Jahnkow Beyond Opt-Out: the Counter-Recruitment Movement Christopher Brauchli Dear Vet: If You Want to Eat While You Recuperate, You Gotta Pay Extra Kim Peterson Bombs in the Underground: Terror Begats Terror Joshua Frank Leakers and Liars: Inching Toward Indictments? Norman Solomon Messages from the Carnage Website of the Day An Interview with Ray McGovern   July 7, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Judy Miller: the Luckiest Martyr John Walsh More Hawkish Than Bush: Dems in Full Battle Cry Mike Marqusee Message from London Gilad Atzmon London's Burning Nicole Colson Showdown at the Supreme Court Jack Random Judith Miller, Anti-Hero Norman Solomon Judith Miller, Drum Majorette for War Len Colodny Is Bob Woodward Still Protecting Al Haig? Cockburn / St. Clair Judy Miller: the Luckiest Martyr                                                             Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con! Subcomandante Marcos The Death Train of the WTO Norman Finkelstein Hitchens as Model Apostate Steve Niva Israel's Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings? Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams CounterPunch Exclusive: 20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians Steve J.B. Prison Bitch Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber True Lies: the Use of Propaganda in the Iraq War Wendell Berry Small Destructions Add Up CounterPunch Wire WMD: Who Said What When Cindy Corrie A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter I Can't Hear From Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.     Subscribe Online

August 13 / 14, 2005 Exploiting the Faultlines The Bolton Opportunity By JOHN GERSHMAN President Bush's recess appointment of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations-the first time ever for the post-represents a sad irony in this year, the 60th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco charter on June 26, 1945 and the ratification of the charter by the 5 permanent members of the Security Council and the majority of the signatories to the San Francisco Charter, on October 24, 1945. The nomination places a Bush administration loyalist and assertive nationalist in a position that demands a skilled diplomat. Since the 1970s Bolton has aggressively and stridently attacked multilateral institutions and international treaties other than those the United States could control. While serving in the State Department he actively worked to undermine the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention and other international arms control and nonproliferation efforts. He worked to suppress dissenting intelligence on Iraq to support the Bush administration's plan to invade Iraq, and led the Bush administration's opposition to the International Criminal Court. Bolton's approach to the United Nations was outlined in a chapter to a Cato Institute book on the United Nations, Delusions of Grandeur: The United Nations and Global Intervention (1997). In the chapter he outlined what could be part of his policy agenda circa 2005: focus on management and financial reforms, oppose an expansion of the UN Security Council (beyond Japan), reorient the UN to humanitarian relief and away from nation-building. Some of this is clearly a UN-defunding agenda posing as reform, but other parts of the agenda he outlines here (and other issues such as restructuring the UN Human Rights Commission) can be positive reforms if the new institutions are given the financial and political resources necessary for them to be effective. As a recent New York Times article noted, some of this reform agenda is supported by other countries and Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Other parts are more controversial (i.e., the membership of the Security Council). In any event, constructive reforms (those which actually aim at enhancing and not dismembering the UN system) will require sustained diplomatic energy to make work. There is little evidence in Bolton's past that he holds such skills, but one always holds open the possibility. More significant will be Bolton's efforts to use the UN to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives, much the way the Bush administration attempted to use it as a multilateral fig-leaf on its unilateral decision to invade Iraq. As he noted in the Cato book: The UN should be used when and where we choose to use it to advance American national interests, not to validate academic theories and abstract models. But the UN is only a tool, not a theology. It is one of several options we have, and it is certainly not invariably the most important one. As an assertive nationalist in the mold of Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Bolton views international law as an undesirable constraint on the exercise of U.S. power. Bolton noted, It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so-because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States. Bolton led the fight to unsign the United States from the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court (ICC), the occasion of which he claims as the greatest day of his life. But the creation of the ICC represents in many ways the logical evolution of the framework of international law. By rejecting the ICC, international law, and the vision of collective security represented by the UN, John Bolton offers a rejection of an important, albeit embattled tradition of U.S. foreign policy. New Opportunities But Bolton's appointment offers new opportunities. Let me mention only four. First, his nomination exposed crucial fault-lines in the Republican Party, both within his administration-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was a less-than-enthusiastic supporter of Bolton's-and a number of Republican senators were opposed to the nomination, even those who eventually voted for him. These fault-lines suggest pressure points within the Bush administration that can and should be exploited as we endeavor to strengthen constituencies for constructive reform of the United Nations, and work to mitigate the most destructive aspects of Bush administration foreign policy, while pushing for more robust forms of genuine international cooperation. A key question will be whether Rice will actually be his boss or if Bolton will serve as an agent of the less realist and more aggressively unilateralist current in the Bush administration as he did during Colin Powell's tenure as secretary of state. Second, Bolton's performance will be examined as if under a microscope and we should be unyielding and aggressive in monitoring his role and holding him accountable. This will provide us with unending opportunities for education in the importance of international law and the UN. Third, his nomination battle and subsequent appointment have made the United Nations, if not exactly dinner table discussion material, at least a more familiar institution. Yet, it's still an institution about which many people are ignorant (for example, many people consistently overestimate the size of the UN's budget), and we should use the occasion of the anniversary, the Millennium Summit, and Bolton's nomination, to do just that. Polls repeatedly find that Americans across the spectrum support strengthening the UN. A recent poll by Public Agenda and Foreign Affairs (The Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index) found that two-thirds of respondents agreed that "showing more respect for the views and needs of other countries would enhance our security" either somewhat (38%) or a great deal (49%). This is the common-sense basis upon which to forge an approach to the UN and collective security that foregrounds international cooperation. Fourth, the celebrations around the 60 th anniversary of the United Nations allow us to remind people that the creation of the United Nations is integral, not alien, to U.S. political tradition and culture. It recalls a time when the United States chose to use its hegemonic power for a vision of collective benefit. It's time to shift the debate over the UN and international law from one about whether foreigners or Americans determine U.S. national interests and U.S. foreign policy, to a debate about which American tradition of foreign policy we will use to define and pursue our national interests. The United Nations was not founded by saintly altruists, but by hard-headed assessments that the interdependence of the modern world demanded collective security. The institutions that emerged were not, and are not, without fault. But that vision of collective security, of international cooperation to address common challenges, of a world which constrains the exercise of power by values embodied in international law, these are visions that are part of an American tradition. They are visions animated by the ethic of a good neighbor, not a bully. They demand to be defended and promoted with or without Mr. Bolton. Those who fought for them deserve no less. John Gershman is the Director of the Global Affairs Program at the International Relations Center (www.irc-online.org) and the Co-Director of Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org).