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April
26 / 27, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
Plant?
Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
Wire
An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against
Peace Activists and Dock Workers
Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
April
25, 2003
David
Vest
It's Not the Oil; It's the Art!
Steven
Higgs
All About Tucker Carlson
Walt
Brasch
The Shock and Awe of American Ignorance
Alexander
Cockburn
The Decline of American Journalism:
the Case of Judy Miller
Zeynep
Toufe
A Letter to the People of Iraq from an Anti-War Activist
CounterPunch
Wire
Season of the Witch: Jeane Kirkpatrick Unbound
Hammond
Guthrie
Springtime in Iraq
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/25
Website
of the Day
Having
a Great Time, Wish You Were Here: Postcards from a War
April
24, 2003
Lois
Whitman
An Open Letter to Rumsfeld on the
Child Detainees at Guantanamo
Uri
Avnery
Abu vs. Abu: It's Not About Egos
David
Lindorff
Day Care in the Name of National Security? About Those Kids in
Camp X-Ray
John Grebe
Rev. Pat Robertson's Message in the Temple
Dokhi
Fassihian
Monster.Com: Ethnic Cleansing on the Web?
CounterPunch
Wire
Israeli Army Chief Threatens Peace Activists
Sam
Hamod
Our Man in Baghdad
Annie
C. Higgins
Do You Regret Being an American?
Harold
A. Gould
Will They Hate Us Forever?
Stew Albert
Big Brother in Bed
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/24
Website
of the Day
Muscles
Abroad
Hot Stories
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
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April 28,
2003
Peace Park?
The Pentagon Solution to a Baseball
Stadium Dilemma
By MARK HAND
Baseball boosters in the Washington, D.C., area
are conducting an agonizing search for the perfect location to
build a new baseball stadium. The metropolitan area doesn't have
a major league baseball team yet, but some local officials are
betting that leaders of Major League Baseball will decide to
relocate slugger Vladimir Guerrero and his Montreal Expos franchise
to the D.C. region. Having a stadium deal completed or in the
works typically serves as a strong incentive for a city trying
to lure a professional sports franchise. But NIMBY and public
funding issues always seem to get in the way of major construction
projects in urban areas.
In case anyone from the D.C.-area baseball
groups is reading this, I have the perfect stadium solution.
Build the new baseball stadium on the
site of the Pentagon facility in Arlington, Va. The stadium could
be sited on the east side of the Pentagon, with an opening beyond
the outfield wall that would give fans with a seat behind home
plate magnificent views of the Potomac River and the Washington
Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. If you have
season tickets in the stadium's nosebleed section, you could
feel a patriotic rush each game with a sightline to the ultimate
symbol of representative democracy, the Capitol building, at
the opposite end of the Mall.
Building a stadium at the Pentagon also
could unite the business groups competing to site the stadium
in either northern Virginia or within D.C.'s city limits. It
would be a win-win situation for the two groups, especially if
the groups can agree to pool their resources, thereby making
it unnecessary for a single penny of taxpayers' money to be spent
on the stadium. Since most people around the country automatically
assume the Pentagon is in D.C., the team of business leaders
from D.C. could claim victory in bringing a team to the nation's
capital, while the business group from Virginia could legitimately
say they succeeded in attracting the only major league sports
franchise to the Old Dominion.
The plan would not involve demolishing
the Pentagon building; the new stadium could abut the existing
Pentagon building, similar to how the Baltimore Orioles' Camden
Yards stadium is located next to the old B&O Warehouse. One
major condition in the plan would involve forcing the Pentagon's
current Defense Department tenants to vacate the premises. Despite
what former Republican Party operative and current head of the
Baseball of Hall Fame Dale Petrosky might think, baseball and
warmongering just don't mix.
I'm sure most Arlingtonians would be
thrilled to exorcise the world headquarters for USA murder and
mayhem from within their county's borders. Having such an obvious
symbol of the malevolent side of the American Empire located
within Arlington makes most Arlingtonians nervous that they could
be hit with an even deadlier terrorist strike than occurred on
Sept. 11, 2001.
In addition to its eviction from the
Pentagon, the Defense Department and its contractor partners-in-crime
could be forced to depart the premises of all other office buildings
they occupy in Arlington. If another central location cannot
be located in the D.C. metro area in which to consolidate the
military-industrial apparatus, I have another recommendation.
Relocate the war department's headquarters
to Iraq, where the Bush administration apparently has its heart
set on setting up military bases in the recently liberated country
in order to serve as the launching pad for waging what James
Woolsey has dubbed World War IV.
With its invasion of Iraq, it appears
that the U.S. government's primary goal is the defense of oil,
Israel and the Arab feudal monarchies in the Middle East. So
why not build a replica of the Pentagon on the banks of Euphrates
in Nasiriyah or farther north along the banks of the Tigris in
Baghdad? Defense Department officials would feel right at home
working in a gigantic office building on the banks of a famous
river. The drier climate would be more favorable than the terribly
humid summers current DoD employees must suffer through by commuting
to the swampland along the Potomac River.
Relocating the Defense Department's headquarters
also would give military leaders easier access to meet face-to-face
with the empire's foot soldiers during the expected 100-year
crusade against militant Islam. Nothing lowers morale among the
rank-and-file than military superiors who bark orders while lounging
in the plush confines of the empire's capital. With military
leaders and their civilian administrative support staff roughing
it in the outposts of the empire, the foot soldiers will be less
inclined to grow disgruntled with their assignments far away
from home.
By moving DoD abroad, the U.S. government
would once again be following the lead of Corporate America,
which has successfully grown profits by exporting jobs overseas.
DoD could save taxpayers' money by setting aside a large percentage
of jobs and a few contracts for the indigenous population, who
surely would be content in making a fraction of the money of
their American counterparts.
Relocating the military headquarters
overseas also would give U.S. corporate leaders the opportunity
to meet with military officials out of the media spotlight. As
the empire expands in the region, the military's corporate masters
will be able to have direct input on the best strategies for
boosting their profit margins and pacifying the local populations
in the conquered lands in order to create large pools of cheap
labor to meet the demands of their shareholders back home.
Given the U.S. public's inclination to
support all overseas military adventures, placing the U.S. military
headquarters in one of America's colonies would provide the U.S.
military with virtual unanimous support for its endeavors. All
Americans would be cajoled by the dominant U.S media to back
the military's activities, especially when its headquarters is
situated in the middle of the war zone. There would be no excuse
for any American to oppose the military leadership or its foot
soldiers, given how we have learned that expressing dissent at
home jeopardizes the mission of the military abroad.
Once the war makers at the Pentagon building
leave the premises, work could begin on the building of the new
baseball stadium, which, once completed, could be dubbed Peace
Park at Pentagon City.
The old Pentagon building itself could
be transformed into a social services headquarters for the Washington,
D.C., area. Given the miserable condition of the public health
system in the D.C. area, part of the building could serve as
a free hospital for the uninsured. Another portion of the building
could serve as a temporary homeless shelter for individuals and
families that fallen on hard times. If Dennis Kucinich wins the
presidency in 2004, perhaps he'd be interested in housing his
proposed Department of Peace in the old Pentagon building.
Local authorities would not have to worry
about traffic problems. The mass transit and road and parking
systems currently in place at the Pentagon already do a wonderful
job ferrying the Pentagon's 25,000 workers back and forth to
work each day. A new stadium in the Pentagon area easily could
handle 30,000 to 40,000 fans traveling to 81 home games between
March and October. More than a quarter of the games would occur
on weekends, which means the baseball traffic would not compete
with weekday rush hour traffic.
Instead of needlessly disrupting old
neighborhoods in D.C. or the other areas of Arlington targeted
for a possible stadium, boosters for baseball in the D.C. area
should immediately present the Pentagon stadium proposal to the
federal government, given that Major League Baseball officials
say they will make a decision this summer on the location of
the new home for the Montreal Expos. Imagine how the U.S. government
could promote peace here at home and around the world by the
symbolic removal of the war machine's headquarters from the banks
of the Potomac.
Baseball is rapidly becoming an international
sport. A large percentage of major league players were born outside
of the United States. By giving Major League Baseball's D.C.
franchise a home at Peace Park at Pentagon City, baseball's top
brass would be instantly tapping into this international fan
base intrigued by America's move toward helping non-Americans
by exporting its military services and administration to foreign
countries.
Mark Hand,
an Arlington, Va., resident, is editor of Press
Action.
Yesterday's
Features
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
Plant?
Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
Wire
An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against
Peace Activists and Dock Workers
Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
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