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
Iran 2004
The
Resistance and the West's Anti-War Movement
By
RON JACOBS
Imagine yourself coming of age in a
country where speaking out against the government is severely
repressed. Activism of any sort is met with torture, imprisonment
and even death, all courtesy of the US-trained secret police
employed by a ruler who owes his very existence to the CIA.
In turn, the United States has access to the seemingly endless
oil resources underneath your country's sands. Because you oppose
the ruler, his decadence and his repressive government, you join
an opposition movement. Many of its members are in prison and
many have been executed by the regime.
Finally, after years of struggle
and countless murders and tortures by the regime, the movement
opposing the ruler and his government has reached across class,
religion, and social situation to become the majority in the
country. After months of mass demonstrations and some acts of
resistance, the oppressive ruler is forced out of power. In
the period that follows, all of the popular forces vie for a
role in the new democratic political climate that has replaced
the old regime. Then strange things began to happen. Thanks
to a confluence of domestic and foreign influences and intrigue,
social and political reactionaries hiding under the cloak of
religion began to consolidate their power, taking over the reins
of government and stealthily excluding all other popular voices
from the discussions about your country's future. Soon, restrictions
are applied to women's social standing and their employment and
attire, worker-run oil wells are taken over by the religious
leaders' militias, and these same militias fire into mass demonstrations
opposed to this new repression, killing hundreds. Some groups
who were part of the popular opposition to the old regime have
joined ranks with the new regime, claiming that the regime's
opposition to foreign powers (esp. the US) is more important
than democracy. Your group begs to differ, believing that the
only true way to ensure Iran's independence is by creating a
truly democratic, popular and secular government. The next thing
you know, the group you belong to is once again the object of
repression. This time, more ominously, the government uses religion
in addition to the state powers to enforce its will. Your insistence
on a secular government makes you the enemy once again.
This is the story, in as few
words as possible, of many Iranians, including the People's Mujahedin
Organization of Iran (PMOI).
In recent weeks, the US press
has printed thousands of lines regarding the Iranian government's
pursuit of nuclear technology. It has dutifully reported outgoing
Secretary of State Colin Powell's allegations of an Iranian nuclear
weapons program and openly speculated about a possible military
attack on  the country by the US or Israel. Meanwhile,
the EU is attempting to negotiate some kind of agreement with
Tehran that is designed to prevent said attack while keeping
the trade lines various EU members have with Tehran open. In
Iran itself, recent parliamentary elections (of questionable
fairness) ensured a continued majority for the mullahs supporters.
What about those allegations
made by Colin Powell? Where did they come from? Some believe
that the information is from Israeli and US intelligence. The
same week, similar claims were presented to the media by the
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a Paris-based
Iranian opposition coalition that the PMOI is a member of. The
NCRI claims that the information they have comes from their network
inside Iran. This network includes some Iranians who are involved
in the project and do not want to see the current government
in Tehran have nuclear weapons capabilities. Tehran's claims
of the arrests earlier this month of a "large number"
of employees at different nuclear sites following the Iranian
Resistance's revelations about Tehran's top-secret nuclear programs
tend to bolster the NCRI's assertion. Three members of the People's
Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) were allegedly among those arrested.
It was through these sources that the NCRI was able to provide
information to the media regarding Tehran's nuclear plans, not
because the group was fed information from Israel or the US,
as its detractors claim.
Meanwhile, some individuals
in the US media (most recently via an op-ed piece in the December
10, 2004, edition of the Los Angeles Times) have once
again stepped up their attacks on the NCRI. The LA Times
piece is titled "A Cult Is Trying to Hijack Our Iran Policy."
The columnist, Reza Aslan, who is the author of No God but
God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, (to be
published by Random House), launches a blistering attack on the
NCRI and PMOI. He calls the PMOI a "violent, pseudo-Marxist
Iranian religious cult" that rules "with draconian,
god-like authority" and "seek(s) to replace Tehran's
religious tyranny with their own." (These claims are reminiscent
of claims made against various groups within the US New Left
thirty years ago). Unfortunately for the reader, the op-ed piece
provides little evidence to establish this claim. Instead, it
gives a brief account of the group's history, acknowledging its
roots in the Iranian democratic movement of the 1960s and 1970s,
but downplaying the role it played in the Iranian revolution
that culminated in 1979 with the overthrow of the Shah. The
piece continues, inaccurately comparing the NCRI to the US-funded
and designed Iraqi National Congress (INC), the exile group that
fed false information to the US media and Congress regarding
the presence of WMD in Iraq.
Mr. Aslan's hatred of the NCRI
and PMOI echoes that which I have heard from some other Iranian
exiles whenever I have written positively about either of these
organizations. Given the often-extreme sectarianism found among
Iranian political activists, this is not surprising. However,
it makes it difficult for US residents concerned about the possibility
of a war between their country and Iran confused and hesitant
to take a stand on the very important issues of war and nuclear
proliferation. After all, virtually every progressive in the
US and the rest of the west does not want to see a war on Iran,
yet many do not want to support the socially regressive regime
of the mullahs in Tehran. Nor do they want to give credence
to a group that they are told is a cult that cozies up to the
neoconservative hawks in Washington who are intent on remaking
the world in their own image. So, instead, the antiwar movement
either places its trust in President Khatami's so-called reform
movement, a movement that seems to have no teeth (much like the
antiwar grouping within the Democratic Party in the US) and intends
to preserve the pillars of the ruling establishment, or they
take no stand at all against the mullahs, preferring to believe
that one either supports the hawks in DC in their desire for
a US domination of Iran or the hawks in Tehran in their opposition
to that desire.
With these concerns in mind,
I recently had a phone and email conversation with three Iranian-Americans.
None of them are members of either PMOI or NCRI, but consider
these groups to represent their hopes for Iran. Just as importantly,
they believe that it is this coalition that is most likely to
succeed in moving Iran toward a pluralistic, secular, and democratic
country beholden to no other nation. They are not fanatics and
come across as very reasonable men. They contacted me in the
interest of getting out an alternative view of the PMOI and NCRI
in the hope that the antiwar movement in the United States would
take a longer look at the PMOI and NCRI and hopefully consider
their positions as the movement develops a stance vis-à-vis
Iran, nuclear proliferation, and the US Empire. What follows
is a report of that series of conversations and emails.
All three men emphasized that
they hoped to clarify some misconceptions about PMOI and NCRI,
whom they call the Resistance. (I will use their terminology
from here on out.) In order to make these points, they defined
some terms one hears all too often these days. First among them
was the phrase "regime change." When those of us in
the west hear this term, we usually think of it as defined by
the regimes in London and Washington. That is, some kind of
military intervention by the forces of one or both of these capitals
designed to incorporate the targeted country into Washington's
new world order. When the Resistance uses the term, they mean
the fall of the ruling regime as result of a popular homegrown
mass movement-hopefully one that is nonviolent in nature. When
speaking of Iran, this mass movement is considered to be a continuation
of the popular mass uprisings that overthrew the Shah in 1979
by sharing the same unfulfilled aspirations of that period: Freedom
and popular sovereignty. Much of the confusion in the west over
this and other terms is the general lack of historical knowledge
so prevalent among our populations. Unlike our thirty-minute
society where last week's news is already forgotten, the Iranian
Resistance and the people it hopes to organize have a memory
longer than the organization's existence (40 years). Regime
change in this instance means going to the people of the nation,
not to another nation's intelligence agencies. Of course, this
is not a simple thing, given the oppressive hold that the current
regime has on Iran's media and political space. Indeed, as much
as the Resistance detests the cleric's regime in Tehran, that
hatred is returned with equal intensity.
What this means in practice
is an unending parade of propaganda against the Resistance inside
Iran and in the world. Given this concerted effort by the Tehran
regime, it seems that the PMOI and NCRI get little room for a
fair hearing inside Iran. Nor, for some reason, do they get
much of a fair hearing among progressive forces in the west.
This is in spite of their history that lists them as a consistent
force for secular, popular democracy. Their unwavering demand
for this puts them at odds with other secular groups they fought
alongside during the anti-monarchical revolution of the 1979.
When organizations like the Tudeh (Iran's Communist Party) and
the so-called majority Fedayin formed a coalition with the Khomeini
forces after the Shah's downfall, PMOI did not. Unlike the former
groups, who believed that Khomeini's anti-democratic fundamentalist
policies should be overlooked in the interest of his anti-US
stance, PMOI held fast to their belief that the only sure way
for the post-Shah Iranian government to remain independent was
to build a truly popular and democratic regime that had no religious
controls. Because of this theoretical approach, they had no
use for forming any front with the religious fundamentalists
that Khomeini represented. They were joined in their endeavor
by a variety of other groups and individuals who shared their
views in this regard. These people later became the nucleus
of the NCRI. In the face of unparalleled repressive political
atmosphere in Iran in the early 1980s, all of these groups eventually
went underground. Many were destroyed following a wave of executions
by Khomeini's regime that lasted several years.
Since the overthrow of the
Shah, the members of PMOI have always focused on one objective-the
overthrow of the mullahs' regime. Sometimes this meant that
they worked with the democratic and progressive elements in the
government; men like Bani-Sadr, who was eventually forced into
exile by Khomeini. Other times, it meant holding mass demonstrations
demanding an end to restrictions on women's movements. After
the mullahs' consolidated their power, it meant going underground
and waging armed struggle while simultaneously waging a popular
political struggle around the issues of democracy and individual
rights. Nowadays, it means working with people from all walks
of life and of numerous political persuasions as a means of getting
their message out. Perhaps it is this single-mindedness that
causes many western progressives to shy away from them. Yet,
if one accepts the fundamental tenet that the best way to keep
foreign exploitation under control in one's own country is to
be as democratic as possible, than it all makes sense.
What about the nuclear question?
Although one can easily understand why Tehran would want some
kind of nuclear threat to keep potential invaders at bay or intimidate
its regional rivals to submit to its regional designs, a longer-term
perspective demands that there be no further nuclear proliferation
in Iran or any other country. So, to prevent the mullahs from
obtaining nuclear weapons capability, the Resistance has made
the publication of Tehran's nuclear plans one of their objectives.
Their reasons are these:
1. Nuclear weapons development
runs contrary to the best national interests of Iranians by empowering
a religious tyranny and exposing Iran to possible foreign military
strikes. It is also very expensive and takes money away from
urgently needed public services and;
2. A government that believes
it is doing god's will is dangerous enough without nuclear weapons
(this dynamic applies to the US as well.)
As I mentioned earlier, the
information about Tehran's nuclear program that the NCRI provides
is the result of some of its members inside Iran's nuclear facilities
doing what we here in the US call whistle blowing. It does not
come from Israeli or US spy agencies, although one imagines that
these agencies pay attention to the NCRI information and then
corroborate it with their own. The Iranian Resistance has been
involved in exposing the plans of Tehran's ruling clerics since
1993 via sympathetic Iranians involved in the projects.
Why are individuals known for
their right wing and imperialist viewpoints among the NCRI's
diplomatic audience? This is perhaps the most difficult practice
of the Iranian Resistance for the US progressive movement to
understand. As one of the men I spoke with said, however: What
is a neocon to an Iranian living in Iran? The individuals I spoke
with emphasized that the NCRI are merely engaging in a practice
common among most nationalist movements when it comes to seeking
outside support. One seeks support where one can find it. For
the Iranian resistance, this means talking to US Republicans
and Democrats, French Socialists and Gaullists, western communists
and social democrats-whatever it takes to mobilize support.
If a group or individual knows their own politics and objectives,
it is unlikely that they will be manipulated by others whose
agendas are different even if they work together on some issues.
Besides, most of the western supporters of the NCRI come from
the progressive side of the spectrum. The men and women of NCRI
understand quite clearly that the neocons want regime change
in Tehran for the benefit of Washington. At the same time, they
know even more clearly that they want regime change for the people
of Iran and that such a change can only happen through the popular
will of the Iranian people, not through foreign military intervention.
One of the primary methods
employed by those who oppose the NCRI and PMOI (in Iran and in
western capitals) is the designation of these groups as "terrorist."
Washington enacted this designation during Clinton's presidency
as a way of currying the mullahs' favor. This is the same reason
the EU accepted this designation. The ultimate result of this
designation, despite the fact that neither of these groups have
committed any acts of terror according to the definition in use
by the US State Department and its sister agencies in Europe,
is that it severely limits their ability to organize opposition
to the Tehran regime. If one truly supports the Iranian peoples'
right to resist the tyranny in Tehran, then they should demand
that these groups be removed from these lists.
If you recall, this article
began by mentioning an opinion piece in the LA Times that
argued that the PMOI and NCRI were a cult intent on "hijacking"
our Iran policy. The conversations summarized here try to prove
otherwise. These two organizations are fundamentally committed
to Iran's independence and are on public record opposing any
kind of foreign military intervention in Iran. If there is any
cult that is attempting to manipulate our policy, it is the neoconservative
cult of war profiteers and wannabe Disraelis currently in power
in DC.
Ron Jacobs is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground,
which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill
Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's new collection on music,
art and sex, Serpents
in the Garden. He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
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
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