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CIA's Overthrow Plans for Iran Agency musters Swiftboat vets, pumps funding into destabilization program aimed at Teheran. Trish Schuh reveals how White House approves race-baiting smears of Islam. Remember how Leadbelly got ripped off by Lomax, how Louis Armstrong's agent got richer than his most famous client? The rip-offs never die. Fred Wilhelms narrates how artists and musicians are being shafted in the age of the internet. Meet the real Judge John Roberts, serf for big business. Cockburn and St Clair dissect the Court's new nominee. Tailhook vet and self-proclaimed Tom Cruise model bites dust in Pentagon scandal: a defense industry parable. St. Clair on Duke Cunningham's Crash Landing. Get the answers you're looking for in the latest subscriber-only 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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The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Today's Stories August 24, 2005 Stan
Goff August 23, 2005 Rev.
Graylan Scott Hagler Karen
Kilroy Stew
Albert Joshua
Frank Dave
Zirin Julia
Olmstead CounterPunch
Wire Jason
Leopold Diane
Christian
August 22, 2005 Sonia
Nettnin Mike
Whitney Kevin
Zeese Norman
Solomon Christopher
Brauchli Jeff
Bale Greg
Moses
August 20 / 21, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Saul
Landau Kevin
Zeese Greg
Moses Ray
McGovern Fred
Gardner Martin
Smith Benjamin
Granby Frankie
Lake Joshua
Frank Ron
Jacobs Tom
Crumpacker Mike
Ferner James
Petras Col.
Dan Smith Dr.
Teresa Whitehurst Ben
Tripp Poets'
Basement
August 19, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Neve
Gordon Gary
Leupp William
S. Lind Vijay
Prashad Dave
Lindorff Pat
Williams John
Pilger Elaine
Cassel
August 18, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Greg
Moses Ramzy
Baroud Joshua
Frank Monica
Benderman Paul
Craig Roberts
August 17, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Robert
Jensen Carl
G. Estabrook Mike
Whitney Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Norman
Solomon Dave
Zirin Jennifer
Loewenstein CounterPunch
August 16, 2005 Greg
Moses Thomas
Larson Diana
Barahona Dave
Lindorff Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Elisa
Salasin David
Krieger Alexander
Cockburn Website
of the Day
August 15, 2005 Greg
Moses Paul
Craig Roberts Mike
Whitney Robert
Jensen CounterPunch
Wire Norman
Solomon Kathleen
Christison
August 13 / 14, 2005 Cockburn
/ St. Clair William
Blum Gary
Leupp Jack
Z. Bratich Brian
Cloughley Ron
Jacobs John
Farley Dave
Lindorff Tim
Wise J.L.
Chestnut, Jr. John
Gershman Felice
Pace Fred
Gardner David
Krieger Roxanne
Dunbar-Ortiz Ben
Tripp Poets'
Basement
August 12, 2005 Christopher
Brauchli Greg
Moses Ramzy
Baroud Norman
Solomon Chris
Genovali Chris
Floyd Tariq
Ali
August 11, 2005 Saul
Landau Dave
Lindorff Ralph
Nader Talli
Nauman Gary
Leupp Sharon
Smith Paul
Craig Roberts
August 10, 2005 Tim
Wise Ron
Jacobs Joshua
Frank Cynthia
McKinney Rick
Wilhelm Stan
Goff
August 9, 2005 Mike
Ferner Monica
Benderman Mike
Marqusee Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Paul
Craig Roberts
August 6-8, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Jason
Leopold Ray
McGovern David
Krieger Sharon
K. Weiner / Robert Jensen Fred
Gardner
August 5, 2005 Bill
Christison Paul
Craig Roberts Alexander
Cockburn
August 4, 2005 Tom
Barry Lila
Rajiva Greg
Moses Alexander
Cockburn August 3, 2005
August 3, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Paul
Craig Roberts William
A. Cook Dave
Zirin Dave
Lindorff José
Pertierra
August 2, 2005 Ramzi
Kysia William
A. Cook Paul
Craig Roberts Mike
Whitney Ron
Jacobs Norman
Madarsz Tim
Wise
August 1, 2005 Virginia
Rodino Diana
Barahona Joshua
Frank Mike
Whitney Norm
Dixon Norman
Solomon James
Petras
July 30 / 31, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn JoAnn
Wypijewski Sheldon
Rampton Jack
Z. Bratich Greg
Moses Jordan
Green Patrick
Cockburn Brian
Cloughley Justin
Taylor Saul
Landau John
Walsh Joshua
Frank Ron
Jacobs Fred
Gardner John
Chuckman Liaquat
Ali Khan Remi
Kanazi Naveen
Jaganathan Richard
Heinberg Max
Watts Ben
Tripp Poets'
Basement
July 29, 2005 Cockburn
/ St. Clair P.
Sainath Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Dave
Lindorff J.L.
Chestnut, Jr. Pat
Williams Norman
Solomon Sen.
Russ Feingold
July 28, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts William
S. Lind Gilad
Atzmon Joshua
Frank Lila
Rajiva Amina
Mire Website
of the Day
July 27, 2005 Roger
Morris Gary
Leupp Paul
Craig Roberts Jackie
Corr Mike
Whitney Dave
Zirin Christopher
Bradley Norman
Solomon Website
of the Day
July 26, 2005 Suren
Pillay JoAnn
Wypijewski Patrick
Cockburn David
Anderson Joshua
Frank Lenni
Brenner David
Swanson
July 25, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts M.
Shahid Alam Uri
Avnery Stan
Cox Norman
Solomon Ramzy
Baroud Mickey
Z. Website
of the Day
July 23 / 24, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Tariq
Ali Robert
Fisk Dave
Lindorff Ricardo
Alarcón Col.
Dan Smith Brian
Cloughley Kevin
Zeese Bill
Quigley Fred
Gardner Rep.
Ron Paul Joshua
Frank Shivali
Tukdeo Gilad
Atzmon James
Petras Ben
Tripp Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
July 22, 2005 Heather
Gray David
Domke Lance
Selfa JoAnn
Wypijewski
July 21, 2005 Rose
Ann DeMoro William
Blum J.L.
Chestnut, Jr. Christopher
Brauchli Joshua
Frank Brian
Concannon, Jr. Patrick
Cockburn Website
of the Day
July 20, 2005 Cockburn
/ St. Clair Roxanne
Dunbar-Ortiz Ray
McGovern Chris
Floyd Uri
Avnery Dave
Lindorff Norman
Solomon Bill
Quigley
July 19, 2005 Tariq
Ali John
Ross Davey
D. Greg
Weiher Brian
McKinlay Norman
Solomon Dave
Lindorff Bill
Christison Joshua
Frank
July 18, 2005 Joshua
Frank M.
Shahid Alam Jude
Wanniski Ron
Jacobs Mike
Whitney William
MacDougall Seth
Sandronsky Richard
Lichtman Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Weekend
July 15 / 17, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Jeffrey
St. Clair Paul
Craig Roberts Harry
Browne Uri
Davis, Ilan Pappe and Tamar Yaron Andrew
Rubin Patrick
Cockburn J.L.
Chestnut, Jr. Fred
Gardner Christopher
Brauchli Chris
Floyd Ben
Tripp Col.
Dan Smith Jason
Leopold Jack
Random Norman
Solomon George
Ochenski Website
of the Weekend
July 14, 2005 Jeffrey
St. Clair Subcomandante
Marcos Dave
Lindorff Joshua
Frank Jude
Wanniski Dave
Zirin Kevin
Zeese Robert
Jensen Reza
Fiyouzat Carol
Norris Website
of the Day
July 13, 2005 Brian
Cloughley George
Galloway Carlos
Fierro Sarah
Knopp Norman
Solomon Mickey
Z. Jim
Minick Pat
Williams Andrew
N. Rubin Website
of the Day
July 12, 2005 Laith
al-Saud Kara
N. Tina William
A. Cook Jack
Bratich Amina
Mire Dick
J. Reavis Kevin
Zeese Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
July 9 / 11, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Uri
Avnery Sheldon
Rampton Bill
Christison Robert
Fisk Stephen
Winspear Saul
Landau Behrooz
Ghamari Karl
Beitel Brian
Concannon, Jr. Fred
Gardner John
Whitlow Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Lila
Rajiva Laura
Carlsen Jackie
Corr Dave
Lindorff N.
D. Jayaprakash Seth
Sandronsky Norman
Madarasz Ben
Tripp Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
July 8, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Tariq
Ali Monica
Benderman Rick
Jahnkow Christopher
Brauchli Kim
Peterson Joshua
Frank Norman
Solomon Website
of the Day
July 7, 2005 Cockburn
/ St. Clair John
Walsh Mike
Marqusee Gilad
Atzmon Nicole
Colson Jack
Random Norman
Solomon Len
Colodny Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Subcomandante
Marcos Norman Finkelstein Steve Niva Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams Steve
J.B. Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber Wendell
Berry CounterPunch
Wire Cindy
Corrie Gore Vidal Francis Boyle
Subscribe Online
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August 24, 2005 The Hayden PlanContaining the Anti-War MovementBy STAN GOFF I feel compelled once again to be a skunk at the party, but it's a role I'm growing into. Cindy Sheehan's squatter's camp has re-energized the antiwar movement, but just as it has done so, it has also re-energized the herd dogs of the Democratic Party who fear nothing more than an independent mass movement. Cindy plopped down outside the Bush gopher ranch on a 98-degree day. The cops told her to leave. As tactfully as she could, Cindy advised them in less scatological terms to piss up a rope, putting the cops, the Bush administration, and the Democratic Party in a dilemma. Neither the cops nor the admnistration wanted to be held responsible on camera for dragging away the grieving mother of an Iraq war fatality (her son, Casey). For a moment, they were hopeful that there would be an untimely end to this little action when Cindy collapsed from severe dehydration on the first day; but alas she re-hydrated and re-appeared the following day and began attracting mad media. For the Democrats, of course, of whom exactly one elected offical (Maxine Waters) has deigned to visit "Camp Casey," this presented quite another problem -- the same problem that the whole movement against the war presented prior to the last electoral farce in 2004. The masses were moving to their left and threatening to expose this moribund Weimar formation as the waste of both money and oxygen that it has repeatedly demonstrated itself to be. But Joshua Frank did an excellent job recently on this site of describing the Democratic Party. I want to talk about something more specific, and that is one of the tactics being employed by the partisans of this rotting political edifice to try and contain the newfound energy that exploded onto the scene at Crawford and threatens to fill the DC Mall with malcontents on September 24th. And that is the "exit
strategy" proposal drafted by Tom Hayden and being vigorously
pimped by by policy-encrusted liberals all through cyberspace,
the print media, and soon enough on television. This is the
oral fomulaic appeal to "reasonableness and realism"
of weak-kneed liberals every time a mass Republicans, of course, are only at risk of losing a tiny sliver of their base among the strictest libertarians over the war. The Democrats are already grooming a few 2008 candidates, including the execrable Hillary Rodham Clinton who has stated her desire to beef up the war against Southwest Asia. Let's not forget that her husband presided over an Iraqi holocaust that George W. Bush is still trying to match. The Republicans are secure for now with their white nationalist popular base. An active and increasingly militant left is a more immediate threat to the Democrats who have prospered from Repubilican reaction for decades now by capturing social bases that feel they have nowhere else to go. That dilemma is real, but it is also predicated on the notion that to "go there" we need to contain ourselves in electoralism and pluralist policy fights that are engineered by corporations and NGOs. That's why Sheehan and others who propose the radical option of simply leaving Iraq are now being surrounded by the friendly faces of "progressives" who will try and redirect this newfound mobilization along the acceptable policy-debate paths. Enter Tom Hayden with his "proposal" for disengagement in Iraq. Hayden's proposal appeared recently in the LA Times, where he explained:
Oh thank you, oh wise one, for instructing us on the finer points of political realism. And thank you for putting words in our mouths that have us express precisely the kinds of chauvinist horse manure being shoveled out of the DP stable. Most of us oppose the war because it is a cynical, amoral, imperial crime. To hell with allies and "honor." And don't worry. We will not be dismissed. Cindy Sheehan, one of those naifs who say "out now" isn't being dismissed, now is she? Except by Tom Hayden, who in a patronizing tone, calls Cindy's "bring them home now" position a "moral stance." Tom says that we "deserve a hearing," and that this means we will have to propose an exit strategy of our own... which is actually Tom Hayden's. By they way, Tom, we intend to be heard one way or another, unless you mean we deserve to be heard -- with our respectful hats in our respectful hands -- by the venal "leadership" of elected official-dum. Your statement is a non sequitur, by the way. There is not anything about our deserving-ness that in any way suggests we have to propose some abstract, unenforceable, debatable-for-the-next-five-years "exit strategy." But thank you oh so much for validating us in our deserving. Tell the surviving families of those thousands of Iraqis whose corpses rotted under the rubble of Fallujah that they "deserve a hearing." Where do you people learn to talk like that? Is there some kind of secret school for Democrats where they get a graduate degree in Weasel Wording? Here's Tom Hayden's "plan":
Tom, old boy, I can't help myself. This is bullshit. Are you joking about this? Guarantees from the US? You been to Pine Ridge lately? Ask them about guarantees from the US government. Perhaps you can explain to some of us why this adminsitration would ever offer a guarantee to turn its back on the central goal of the whole Iraq invasion. Let me propose a different confidence building measure to reach out to Iraqis. We make the political cost so high in the US for continuing the war that it threatens the entire US state with destabilization... just an alternative suggestion, you understand. More of Tom's "exit strategy":
Tom, are you having a mescaline flashback? The United Nations? What nationalities, pray tell, will be under those Carolina-blue K-Pots? Or does the UN employ angels? Moreover, why in the world would the US or the Iraqis need anyone to "oversee" a disengagment? Here you propose a plan that is allegedly going to conform to a set timeline, yet it is utterly dependent on the script being followed by actors over whom the US exercises little to no control. I can't help remembering a similar notion that was enacted by Richard Nixon in 1969. He did get out of Veitnam, however, six years and a million dead bodies later with people clinging to the skids of UH1H helicopters. Let me just say something about how to withdraw. This is my plan. Hey, if Tom Hayden is qualified to write up exit strategies, why not an old grunt like me, eh? The Plan: The National Command Authority orders all US forces redeployed out of Iraq within one month and out of the theater in two months. Any commander that fails to meet the deadline will be summarily relieved, and replaced with a commander that will thereby be placed on a shorter timeline. I can promise anyone who has no experience of the military that this is perfectly feasible, and that with that kind of command emphasis, the mission can and will be accomplished. Here, of course, is where we discern the liberal pre-occupation (pun intended) with "overseeing" disengagement and other such poppycock. Oh Gasp! they will delcare. What then will become of these simple-minded brown people who want nothing more than to drink each other's blood? At the end of the day, a liberal can be every bit as much the white nationalist as any rock-ribbed Republican Confederate. They really believe that the United States is the beacon of civilization because we have sitcoms and theme parks, and that the brutality of the US military occupation is an aberration -- the antithesis of our true nature. Under all this verbiage is plain, Anglo-American Kiplingesque white supremacy. Remember the "white man's burden to civilize the dark races?" Tom, here is a delivery from the cluetrain. Iraqis were doing algebra and astronomy when some of our European anscestors still believed that a bath would leave you vulnerable to evil spirits -- number one clue. Having smart bombs doesn't make you smarter. It just makes you meaner. Get over your chauvinist self. Number two clue -- the primary catalyst for the intensifying violence in Iraq right now is... the US military presence. Tom, you say this yourself later on in your proposal, which only makes this protracted and abstracted "disengagement" thing all the more remarkable. But, of course, Tom goes on:
So let me get this straight. The US authorities should be replaced... by a different US authority, remaned, of course, an "envoy." And the the envoy would be the countryman of... the occupying military. This bait-and-switch is... a "political settlement." Wow, I'm really getting the hang of this now. I'm beginning to feel like I might be able to CLEP out of Weasel Wording 101. Tom reminds us that "[n]either the Bush administration nor the news media have shown interest in these voices [of the antiwar movement], perhaps because they undercut the argument that we are fighting to save Iraqis from each other." Huh? You yourself are proposing a plan with this assumption at its very core. But even more astonishing is the attempt to lay the blame for this war at the doorstep of Republicans (and of course the news media). There is an entire party allegedly in opposition to the Republicans -- your party, Tom -- that hasn't shown any interest in the voices raised against the war, until of course two things happened: (1) The polls shifted against the war, and (2) large numbers of non-Republican people became disenchanted with the utter and gutless capitialationism of the Democratic Party and started listening to actual leftists. Some of us were saying all the way back when that Arkansas horseshit-huckster was in the Oval Office that Iraqis were being killed off by the hundreds of thousands in a war (and its sanctions) that started -- by the way -- in 1990 and has not ceased for one moment since. That war went on all the way through both terms of that sexully exploitative (It DOES matter!) prevaricator, who bombed Yugoslavian bridges and aspirin factories with the same enthusiasm that Bush the Younger has displayed in bombing Afghani weddings and Iraqi hospitals. Where were the Democrats listening to "these voices" then? Here's another voice the DP can listen to. "You're over." More and more of us are learning that we can never let you take us for granted again. And we can fight Republicans on our own terms... by any means necessary. See you in September. Stan Goff is the author of "Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti" (Soft Skull Press, 2000), "Full Spectrum Disorder" (Soft Skull Press, 2003) and "Sex & War" which will be released approximately December, 2005. He is retired from the United States Army. His blog is at www.stangoff.com. Goff can be reached at: sherrynstan@igc.org
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