Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
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Today's
Stories
May
5, 2004
Gilbert
Achcar
Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quaqmire
May
4, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
A Timeline of Torture and Abuse Allegations
and Responses
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Privatized Torture
David
Peterson
CBS, Self-Censorship & Iraq
Barry
Lando
CACI's Private Torture Chambers
Patrick
Cockburn
Torture: Iraqis Disgusted, But Not Surprised
Dr.
Susan Block
Indecent Insurgents: Watch What You Say
Fidel
Castro
A Mindless, Unnecessary War
Mike
Whitney
Empire of Torture
Sonali
Kolhatkar
How to Stop the War: Demonstrate Against
John Kerry
Josh
Frank
The Lost Sierra Club
Stan
Goff
The Role: Another Open Letter to US Troops in Iraq
Agustin
Velloso
Spare Us Your Disgusting Ethics
Stew
Albert
American Know-How
Website
of the Day
Scenes from a Cover-Up
May
3, 2004
Virginia
Tilley
Let the Wall of Silence Fall
May
1 / 2, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
An Army in Disgrace, a Policy
in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat
Robert
Fisk
"Good Guys" Who Can Do No
Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders,
Useless Spies, Angry World
Heather
Williams
Gringo, We're Going Home: Latin
American Troops Flee Iraq
Diane
Rejman
An Army Vet on Torture in Iraq:
Abu Ghraib as My Lai?
Diane
Christian
Blood Spilling: Osama, Bush and
Sharon Speak the Same Language
Patrick
Cockburn
Seems Like Old Times in Fallujah
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Torturous Logic: Shocked,
Shocked, Shocked
Chris
Floyd
Suicide Bomber: Neocons, Nihilists
and Annihilation
April
29 / 30, 2004
Dave
Zirin
A Pawn in Their Game: the Unlonesome
Death of Pat Tillman
Kathy
Kelly
The Warden's Tour
Greg
Weiher
Fallujah and the Warsaw Ghetto: the
Banality of Evil
Michael
S. Ladah
Terrorism and Assassination: the
Ultimate Depception
Patrick
Cockburn
The Fallujah Mutinies
April
28, 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
Meet Congressman Know-Nothing:
Tom Tancredo
Wendy
Brinker
The Politics of the Numb
Faisal
Kutty
The Dirty Work of Canadian Intelligence
John
Chuckman
Seeking the Evil One
Mike
Whitney
Flag-Draped Coffins and the Seattle Times
Tom
Mountain
Rwanda and the F***** Word
Graeme
Greenback
The Iraqi Alamo: a CNN/CIA Production
Tracy
McLellan
The War Comes Home
M.
Junaid Alam
We are the Barbarians
William
Loren Katz
Iraq, the US and an Old Lesson
April 27, 2004
James
Davis
The Colombia 3 Acquitted
Dave
Lindorff
Chalabi as Prosecutor
Bruce
Schneier
Terrorist Threats and Political
Gain
Cockburn
/ Sengupta
British Generals Resist Calls for
More Troops to Aid Americans in Iraq
Walt
Brasch
Presidential Letters: The Day I
Was Asked to Feed an Elephant
Saul
Landau
The Empire in Denial and the Denial
of Empire
April 26, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Crossing the Shia Line: US Troops
Prepare to Enter Najaf
Wayne
Madsen
Trading Places: Will the US Go the Way of the USSR?
Grover
Furr
Protest, Rebellion, Commitment
Elaine
Cassel
Lies About the Patriot Act
Mickey
Z.
Inspired by Pat Tillman?
Greg
Moses
Bremer's De-De-Ba'athjfication Gambit
Gila
Svirsky
Anarchy in Our Souls
Uri
Avnery
Vanunu and the Terrible Secret
April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
April 23, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
The Only Solution is Immediate Withdrawal
Dave
Lindorff
Imagination Deficit Disorder
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Contractors and Mercenaries: the Rising Corporate Military Monster
Norman
Solomon
Country Joe Band, 2004: "What Are We Fighting For?"
Cynthia
McKinney
All Things Are Not Equal: the Perils of Globalization
CounterPunch
Wire
A Bitch Called Wanda
Karyn
Strickler
Sierra Club, Inc.
Hammond
Guthrie
Yellow Caked in the Face
Paul
de Rooij
Graveyard of Justifications: Glossary
of the Iraqi Occupation
April 22, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
When Terror Came to Basra: "I
Saw a Minibus of Children on Fire"
Tanya
Reinhart
The Wall Behind Disengagement
Lance
Selfa
Why is Kucinich Still in the Race?
Josh
Frank
Street Fighting Man? Kucinich's Pulled Punches
Sen.
Robert Byrd
Bush Owes America Answers on Iraq
William
S. Lind
Why We Get It Wrong
Mickey
Z.
Undoing the Latches
Robert
Jensen
Why They Fast: Remembering the Victims of the World Bank
John
L. Hess
The New York Times from 30,000 Feet
April
21, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Yeats on Iraq
Alfredo
Castro
Colombia's Forgotten Prisoners
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's Taliban Drug Deal
William
A. Cook
George 1 to George 2
Jack
Random
Iraq and Vietnam
Jean-Guy
Allard
Alarcon Meets the Editors
Mike
Whitney
Charade in the Desert
Bill
Christison
Only Major Policies Changes Can
Help Washington Now
April 20, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Bush and Kerry Share a Problem
Stan
Cox
Wal-Mart's Magic Numbers
Bruce
Anderson
On Listening to Air America
Joseph
Kalvoda
Czech Mate for Condi
Greg
Moses
Yesterday's Intelligence
Stan
Goff
The Democrats and Iraq
Website
of the Day
Santorum Happens
April 19, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The "Central Hand" of the
Resistance
Mike
Whitney
Bob Woodward's Imperial Trifles
Douglas
Valentine
52 Pick-Up and the 100-to-1
Rule
John
Chuckman
The Sharon Annex: Evil Does Often
Triumph
Doug
Giebel
Welcome to the Club
Rahul
Mahajan
Hospital Closings and War Crimes
April
16 / 18, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Bush Legitimizes Terror
Saul
Landau
Subverting Brazil and Cuba
Dave
Lindorff
Paying for War: $2,150 per Family
and Counting
Brandy
Baker
Fallujah's Collateral Damage
Mickey
Z.
The Left Attacks from the Right
Bruce
Jackson
The Bush Press Conference: Gott Mit
Uns
Norman
Solomon
How the "NewsHour" Changed
History
Alexander
Cockburn
Bush, Kerry and Empire
April
15, 2004
Greg
Moses
Follow the Families, Not the Script
Virginia
Tilley
The Carnage According to Gen. Kimmitt:
Just Change the Channel
Ron
Jacobs
They Coulda Been Champions of the
World: Hurricane Carter and Ron Kovic
Michael
Neumann
A Happy Compromise: Hate Crimes
Reporting in the Toronto Globe and Mail
April
14, 2004
Tom
Reeves
Return to Haiti: an American Learning
Zone
Reza
Fiyouzat
Japan and Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
What Bush Really Said
Diane
Christian
The Real Passion
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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May
5, 2004
Too Mature?
Nightline's
All-American Morgue
By LAWRENCE MAGNUSON
Call me sentimental, but as I look back
at this invasion and pick and choose photos for my own Book of
the Dead, I get most depressed about the slaughtered children.
Whether by cluster bomb or checkpoint machine gun, the young
have suffered and died like there is no God, except maybe an
Old Testament divinity like that radical disciplinarian and plague-giver
Yahweh. Could this be Bush's own model for retributive and collective
justice? It seems so. That stern God's heaviest season in epochs,
he's been busy dividing the sodomy from the torture at America's
Gothic reconstruction effort, the blood-spattered Abu Ghraib
prison. Unfortunately, old Yahweh hasn't been able to keep his
eye on all the children for all the adult mayhem going on. A
little more justice on the ground is in order, but the wielders
of twenty-first century might are still ruling there recklessly,
and the children, our and theirs, are still dying.
Bush's army (and ours) has
brought obituary-making justice to nearly a thousand inhabitants
of Fallujah--some of them armed combatants but many of them helpless
children. None of these fallen appeared on Nightline's bittersweet
photographic elegy. However, the retributive justice now at work
in Fallujah and elsewhere makes the pseudo-ethical guarantee
that more violence is certainly just around the corner. In particular,
the chaotic urban "justice" now in play is saying yes
to volumes more confused violence. "Let no fountain be dry!"
in the midst of their own intractable droughts, those old Gods
said. But then why does it keep raining pictures of the dead?
"Bring 'em on!" and "Stay the course!" some
moral Simpleton says.
When old Yahweh said Abraham
give me your son, he was really only kidding. It was a loyalty
contest and false-gods ratings war that only an Old Testament
divinity could appreciate. But when Bush says give me your sons
and daughters, he keeps the knife in his hands-and theirs.
As has been made clear (to the point of moral clarity?), this
administration's own version of a loyalty contest is also a "for
us or against us" proposition. Cluster bombs, civilian-flooded
hospitals and morgues and all. I guess even the Iraqi children
are against us?
Call me ecumenical, but the
current rules for photo memorials on illegal wars should be neo-liberalized.
For once, let's take all the time and all the space we need to
grasp what's really happening to all of humanity in Iraq. Thus,
persons of any nationality or any age may qualify (with exceptions
that follow). To win you simply have to be killed. To place you
must either kill others, be wounded yourself, or wound others.
Thus the harmed and the harmful are represented as the fundamentally
inseparable elements of war, which is the case. As in old Yahweh's
version, there's a place for children like Abraham's son, the
sacrificial altar, but more truthfully urbanized into the cities-wide
shambles Iraq has become. Lest the cynical conclude Bush's new
version of endless justice is just godless war and carnage, kindly
refer to his own musing that in these trials he "was chosen
by God." As in all contests of this sort, friends and family
members of the chosen won't be participating. Federal office
holders and all their sons and daughters are exempt. Finally,
minorities are encouraged to apply. As even a cursory look at
Nightline's sorrowful pantheon shows, their participation has
been outrageously disproportionate to the public acknowledgment
their deaths have so far been given. Wolfowitz himself is several
hundred sympathy cards behind.
Nightline announced only the
first seven hundred adult American winners Friday night. But,
if we finally face the detestable facts, the international version
of this contest has involved so many first place winners (hundreds
of young and once-tender children included) that thousands of
the foreign-born dead, the traumatized and the maimed were unable
even to be mentioned on Nightline's funereal special. Amazingly,
not one child was represented except by the misled young men
and women who killed them as they themselves were killed. Isn't
it time to correct the record and stop this horrifying circle
of violence? As amazingly, some think not.
Breaking a few eggs in making
come true the modest proposal for a New Iraq as an oil-pumping,
democratic, Christian-leaning New Jerusalem New Mecca has had
minor setbacks for its American neoliberal chefs and their keep-it
clean media helpers. For one thing, there's just not been enough
space on the cake to credit all the posthumous contributors,
many of whom never lived long enough for their names to be entered
in the Book of the Living or a photograph of them to be taken,
except in death. But as we light the candle on the New Iraq's
first birthday cake, a future pregnant with opportunities to
make up for past missed ones is revealing itself: John Kerry,
The New York Times, John McCain, Ted Kennedy, and even two minor
prophets, Thomas Friedman and David Kay, demand that the killing
contest be expanded. Britain says so, too, and plans to send
another four thousand soldiers into the whirlwind. The old gods
must be smiling.
Nightline's all-American photo
morgue was a grim and patriotic start, but the current decimation
of our best soldiers and of hapless civilians in Fallujah, including
innocent young ones, begs the question: Isn't it about time we
started thinking about the children? Ours, most just old enough
to fight, and theirs, just old enough to die?
Larry Magnuson still barely believes in justice.
He can be reached at lawrence [at] pmicomputers.com
Weekend
Edition Features for April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
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