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/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
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Today's
Stories
June
4, 2004
Chris
Floyd
Masked and Anonymous: Inside America's
Animal House
June
3, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Iran's Nuclear Dilemma
Dr.
Susan Block
America in tha Hood
Michael
Donnelly
The Bully and the Brahmin
John
Chuckman
Insanity in America: US Ranks Number
One in the Deranged
Christopher
Brauchli
The Return of Cardinal Law: Rome
on $12,000 a Month
Samia
Nassar Melki
Caravaggio in Iraq
Mike
Whitney
Subverting Justice: Pre-Trial Ruminations in the Padilla Case
Diane
Rejman
Memorial Day Isn't Just About the Dead
Scott
Morris
"WMDs" in Cuba
Paul
de Rooij
Palestinian Misery in Perspective
June
2, 2004
Brian
Cloughley
The Liars are Winning
Ray
McGovern
How Far Would They Go? Beware "Credible
Intelligence"
Josh
Frank
The Anybody But Bush Offensive
Mike
Whitney
The Afghanistan Failure: Bush's Warlord Patriots
Jackie
Corr
Iraq and Ireland: Three Tales from Butte, Montana
Robert
Jensen
The US Lost the Iraq War...and It's a Good Thing, Too
Alexander
Cockburn
"Bye, Bye Boonville!"
June
1, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Instant Karma: Bush's Sins Catch Up
with Him
William
A. Cook
Manufacturers of Fear and Loathing in
Rafah
Dave
Lindorff
Will the Times Clean House?
Kevin
Zeese
Inside the Kerry / Nader Meeting: Did
the Kerry Campaign Lie About What Was Discussed?
Jacob
Levich
Coming Soon: Return of the Draft,
a Bipartisan Production
Kathy
Kelly
Voices in the Wilderness v. the US
Government
Website
of the Day
Remind Us
May
29 / 31, 2004
Lee
Ballinger / Dave Marsh
The Origins of Memorial Day
Janine
Pommy Vega
Memo for Memorial Day
Mike
Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib
Alfred
W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research
Douglas
Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions
Chris
White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto
Bruce
Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu
David
Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire
Saul
Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?
Kurt
Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA
Elaine
Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders
Will
Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps;
Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"
Ben
Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches
Dr.
Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!
Kia
Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an
Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh
Mickey
Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!
Jon
Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times
Patrick
B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance
Stephen
Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel
Tom
Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly
New
Dave
Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa
Muhammad
Gregory
Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"
Erik
Cummings
Jung Meets Bush
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert
May
28, 2004
Rafael
Rodriguez Cruz
Curtain of Silence on the Cuban 5
Greg
Moses
Bush's Misleading Speech on Abu Ghraib
Dave
Lindorff
Dissing Independent Contractors:
Those Who Do the Dirty Work
Norman
Solomon
Leaping for Lies at the Times
Rep.
Bill Delahunt
Bush's Cruel New Rules on Cuba
Paul
McGeough
Chalabi Baba and the 40 Thieves
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
India and Nehru: 40 Years After
Alexander
Cockburn
NYTs: "Maybe We Did Screw Up...a
Little"
May
27, 2004
Amy
Goodman / David Goodman
Fatal Errors: the Lies of Our Times
Douglas
Valentine
Ragging the Dogs of War at the
NYTs
John
L. Hess
The Times Confesses...Kind Of
Stew
Albert
Dellinger, the Wrestling Pacifist
Dave
Dellinger
a 1993 Interview
Christopher
Brauchli
Tax Breaks for Scions...to Hell with Poor Kids
Rampton
/ Stauber
Banana Republicans: Pumping Irony
May
26, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Goodbye, David Dellinger: He Was a
Friend of Ours
Robert
Fisk
The Things Bush Didn't Say in His Speech
Zeynep
Toufe
New Draft UN Resolution Permits Perpetual Occupation
Conn
Hallinan
Bush and Sharon: the Oil Connection
Tom
Stephens
2 + 2 is On My Mind: More Morons
and War Crimes
Derek
Medley
Protesting Gov. Bigot
CounterPunch
Wire
FBI Abducts Artist; Seizes Art
Andrew
Cockburn
The Trail to Tehran
May
25, 2004
Joe
Bageant
The Covert Kingdom: On Earth as It
is in Texas
Col.
Dan Smith
A Question of Human Dignity
Gary
Handschumacher
Visiting Lori Berenson: Time to Bring Her Home
Toni
Solo
A Developing War in the Andes
Marc
Estrin
September Song: Disturbing Questions
About 9/11
Stephen
Banko, III
A Vietnam Vet on "Supporting the
Troops"
Website
of the Day
The Wizard of Whimsy
May
24, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Dan Senor is Safe!
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Tricks & TortureGate: the
Missing Taguba Pages
Sam
Hamod
Gen. Zinni: "Wrong War, Wrong
Place, Wrong Time"
Mike
Whitney
The Wedding was a Bomb
Stan
Goff
Open Season on MAMs
Image
of the Day
A Photo from Abu Ghraib We Didn't See on the Front Page of the
NYTs
May
22 / 23, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
Colin Powell, a Political Obituary
Jeffrey
St. Clair
When War is Swell: Bush and the Carlyle Group
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Her Son Was Told He Wouldn't See Combat; Now He's Dead: an Interview
with Sue Niederer
Brian
Cloughley
America is Committing War Crimes in Iraq
Saul
Landau
Democracy in Latin America: Great for Investors; Not So Good
for People
Brandy
Baker
Feminists Stand By Their Man: Abortion, Judges and Kerry
Randall
Robinson
Bushwhacked in the Caribbean
Uri
Avnery
The Rape of Rafah
Ben
Tripp
Assume the Worst
Bruce
Anderson
News from Ecotopia: the Truth About the Wine Business
Josh
Ruebner
Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers
Peter
Wolson, Ph. D.
Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib
Chloe
Cockburn
In Defense of "Troy": What Hector Could Teach Rummy
Linda
Burnham
Sexual Domination in Uniform: an American Value
Adrien
Rain Burke
War of the Necrophiliacs: Spc. Sabrina Harman and Her Corpse
David
Krieger
Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy
Ron
Jacobs
Turnaround
Poets'
Basement
Ford, Albert & LaMorticella
May 21, 2004
Ray
Close
The Canards of the Apologists
Christopher
Brauchli
"The Object of Torture is Torture"
Amira
Hass
Darkness at Noon
Jack
McCarthy
Camilo Mejia: Can the Son of a Sandinista Get a Fair Trial from
the US Army?
Bill
Kauffman
Nader v. Bush
Omar
Barghouti
No More Tears for America
Ghali
Hassan
Moral Failure of the "Free World" in Gaza
Christopher
Reed
How the CIA Taught the Portuguese to
Torture
Website
of the Day
Eric Idle on the Bush Administration: Fuck You, So Very Much
May
20, 2004
Andrew
Cockburn
The Truth About Chalabi
Kathy
Kelly
A Visit from the FBI
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Brown and Bored of Education in India
Tom
Stephens & John Philo
The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney & Co.
Sam
Bahour / Michael Dahan
Genocide by Public Policy
Robert
Ovetz
Ending the Race for the Last Turtle
Billy
Wilson
The Most Important Thing I Learned at School This Year
Website
of the Day
Rafah Today
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.
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June
4, 2004
Ambassador
to Death Squads
Who
is John Negroponte?
By
GHALI HASSAN
The White House has appointed Mr. John
Dimitris Negroponte to be United States ambassador to Iraq. He
will preside over the largest embassy in the world, and housed
in the Republic Palace (misleadingly named Saddam's Palace by
the U.S. occupation). He will be protected by high concrete walls,
barbed wires and more than 150,000 occupation force, including
several thousands of foreign mercenaries armed to the teeth with
the most violent tools. Mr. Negroponte is Greek-American diplomat.
He is currently leading the diplomatic war against the people
of Iraq as the U.S. envoy at the United Nations (UN) in New York.
Negroponte is Jewish. A friend in Spain expressed his deep concern
to me recently: " to appoint a Jew as ambassador to the
Arab country that has been devastated because of the will of
a cabal of Jewish neocons headed by Wolfowitz Bush is just
an accessory -, is like trying to put off a fire using buckets
of gasoline".
Mr. Negroponte has served as
U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985; a period during which
the U.S. military aid to Honduras grew from $5 million to nearly
$100 million, and more than $200 million in economic aid, making
Honduras the largest aid recipient in the region. Honduras was
the launching pad from which the Reagan administration runs its
violent "war on terror" in Central American. The U.S-backed
atrocities and terror were condemned by the International World
Court in the Hague (1). Like most of his colleagues in the Bush
administration, Mr. Negroponte is a "recycled reaganites".
At the time Mr. Negroponte
was in Honduras, Honduras was a military dictatorship. Kidnapping,
rape, torture and executions of dissidents was rampant. The military
top and middle ranks were U.S-trained at the School of the Americas
(SOA), the Harvard version of the CIA, based in Fort Benning,
Georgia. According to Human Rights Watch, graduates of the SOA
are responsible for the worst human rights abuses and torture
of dissidents in Latin America. Some of its 60,000 graduates
are notorious Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo
Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado
of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, Hugo Banzer Suarez of
Bolivia and Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, Honduras
security police chief and later Honduran top military commander.
In Honduras the army intelligence
unit, Battalion 3-16, which was involved in kidnappings, rape,
torture and killing of suspected dissidents. In 1995 Gary Cohn
and Ginger Thompson of The Baltimore Sun unearthed massive
and substantiated evidence from various sources pointing the
finger at Mr. Negroponte knowledge of the crimes. The reporters
also found that hundreds of Hondurans "were kidnapped, tortured
and killed in the 1980s by a secret army unit trained and supported
by the CIA"(2). Reliable evidence from the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights in Honduras alleged that Negroponte
oversaw the expansion of U.S training camp and military base
on Honduran territory, where US-trained Contras terrorists, and
where the military secretly detained, tortured and executed Honduran
suspected dissidents.
During his years in Honduras,
Negroponte acquired a reputation, justified, as an old-fashioned
imperialist, and devoted to Realpolitik (3). Mr. Negroponte will
bring to Iraq his version of "democracy" à la
Latin America, where the people vote for one of two candidates
every half decade, in which civilian leaders have to obey U.S-controlled
militaries or face dismissal by military force. Mr. Negroponte
will find the Iraqi soil fertile for his version of democracy
and human rights. The U.S. administration turn blind eye to violations
of human rights by their own troops and mercenaries. Nazi's methods
of torture, sexual abuses and murder of Iraqi prisoners by the
racist soldiers of the occupying forces are in use immediately
after the invasion and occupation of the Iraq.
The occupying powers also ignores
the criminal activities of four militia thugs, which according
to exile Iraqis have murdered many Iraqi academics and intellectuals.
The Iraqi-born novelist and artist Haifa Zangana wrote in the
Guardian of London: "the peshmergas of the two Kurdish parties;
the Badr brigade of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution
in Iraq; Ahmed Chalabi's troops; and the ex-Ba'athist Mukhabarats
under Iyad Alawi's national accord. These militias are run by
members of the IGC and no one can touch them"(4). The occupying
powers have not put an end to these violent crimes.
Recently, Mr. Negroponte talked
about: "real dialogue between our military commanders, the
new Iraqi government and, I think, the United States mission
as well". He said: "the American military is going
to have the freedom to act in their self-defence, and they are
going to be free to operate in Iraq as they best see fit".
Negroponte stint at the UN was to shield Israel crimes against
the Palestinians, and to coerce smaller nations at the Security
Council exercising the threat of U.S. power.
Negroponte diplomatic responsibilities
were appalling. Democracy and human rights are not on Negroponte
preferred menu. Negroponte will be serving the interests of U.S.
tyranny and U.S. Corporations in Iraq. Negroponte will bring
to Iraq the economic disasters inflicted on the people of Latin
America by the U.S. and U.S-backed corporations. Negroponte is
not suitable to serve in the current political environment of
Iraq.
[1]. Noam Chomsky, Terror and
Just Response, www.chomsky.info/articles/20020702.
[2]. Gary Cohn & Ginger
Thompson, Former envoy to Honduras says he did what he could,
The Baltimore Sun, December 15, 1995.
[3]. Stephen Kinzer, Our Man
in Honduras, The New York Review of Books, 48(14), September
2001.
[4]. Haifa Zangana, The Enemy
within, The Guardian, 10 April 2004.
Ghali Hassan is in the Science and Mathematics
Education Centre, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.
Hassan@exchange.curtin.edu.au
Weekend Edition
Features for May 29 / 31, 2004
Mike
Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib
Alfred
W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research
Douglas
Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions
Chris
White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto
Bruce
Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu
David
Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire
Saul
Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?
Kurt
Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA
Elaine
Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders
Will
Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps;
Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"
Ben
Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches
Dr.
Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!
Kia
Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an
Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh
Mickey
Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!
Jon
Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times
Patrick
B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance
Stephen
Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel
Tom
Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly
New
Dave
Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa
Muhammad
Gregory
Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"
Erik
Cummings
Jung Meets Bush
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert
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