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Today's
Stories
November 20,
2006
David H. Price
American
Anthropologists Stand Up Against Torture and the Occupation of
Iraq
November 18
/ 19, 2006
Weekend Edition
Alexander Cockburn
Top
Dems to Voters: "Shut Up! We've Got a War to Run!"
Ralph Nader
The Hole in Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Lost the Senate
Barucha Calamity Peller
Who Will Live on in the Oaxaca Uprising?
John Ross
Halliburton Wrecks Mexico
Dave Lindorff
The Albatross: Why the Democrats Should Cut Loose Joe Lieberman
Fred Gardner
The Adverse Effects of Marijuana: California Medical Survey
Ron Jacobs
Back in the Aether Again: Thomas Pynchon's Stunning Return
Larry Portis
The Songs of Basilio Martin Patino: Father of the New Spanish
Cinema
Frida Berrigan
The Weapons Bonanza: a Perfect Storm of Profit
Wes Enzinna
Ghosts of Dictatorships Past: the School of the America's and
Memory in Latin America
Elizabeth Schulte
The Fall of Donald Rumsfeld: Architect of a Disaster
Peter Rost,
MD
The Credit Card Trap
Martha Rosenberg
We're Drinking What? Milk, rBST and Monsanto's Rats
Seth Sandronsky
University Unity: California's Professors and Students Unite
Missy Beattie
Explore This!
Adam Engel
Data Days
Jeffrey St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Newberry and Curtis
Website of the Weekend
A Modest Proposal for the Art World
November 17,
2006
Greg Grandin
The
Road from Serfdom: Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire
Joseph Massad
Pinochet in Palestine: Fateh's Unholy Alliance
Kevin Zeese
George McGovern's Return to Capitol Hill: "A Down-to-Earth
Disengagement Plan"
Gideon Levy
After the Rain of Death
Bill Quigley
WMDs Protected!: Blood-Pouring Anti-Nuke Clowns Sent to Prison
David Swanson
Last Chance for the Democrats?: a Tale of Two Conyers
Sherry Wolf
Gay Rights: When Will the US Catch Up with Africa?
Jerry Beisler
What James Webb Knows
Website of the Day
Thanks for the False Memories!
November 16,
2006
Kathy Kelly
Sources
of Violence
Col. Douglas
MacGregor
Was It Only Rumsfeld?
Norman Solomon
Operation Last Resort: the Media Offensive to Prolong the Iraq
War
Nikki Thanos
From Oaxaca to Portland
Cindy Sheehan
Impeachment Proceedings
Lena Khalaf
Tuffaha
Jimmy
Carter and the "A" Word: Will the Democrats Listen
to Carter on Palestine?
Gloria La Riva
Where is the Justice? Anti-Castro Terrorist Gets Only 4 Years
Pat Williams
How the Democrats Won the West
Kerry Joyce
From Rummy to Rahmmy: Bob Novak's New Source
CP News Service
Wal-Mart Charged with Selling Non-Organic Food as "Organic"
David Letterman
Top 10 Slogans for Wal-Mart Wine
James Ridgeway
Did Robert Gates' Planning Help Bring Black Hawk Down?
Website of
the Day
A Conversation with West Point Grads Against the War
November 15,
2006
Jennifer Loewenstein
Alice
in Erez: the Gaza Crossing
David Rosen
Rev. Ted Haggard and the Eclipse of Evangelical Fury
Ashley Smith
A Socialist in the Senate?
Landau / Hassen
Talking Tough on Iraq Isn't Courageous
Walden Bello
Iraq After November 7: New Challenges for the AntiWar Movement
Sibel Edmonds
The Highjacking of a Nation
Austin / Bernstein
Why Bill Cosby is Wrong to Link Black Culture to Economic Decline
Yitzhak Laor
This Merchandise, Security
James Rothenberg
Unimpeachable: a Brief Argument Why
Gail Dines
"Borat": It's a Guy Thing
Website of the Day
Kakistocracy
November 14, 2006
Werther
Beltway
Bromo-Seltzer: a Sneak Peak at the Baker Report
Ray McGovern
Benching Scowcroft
John Walsh
Korea, Vietnam and Iraq Syndrome: Alive, Well and Gaining Strength
David MacMichael
Gates to the Pentagon
William S.
Lind
Lose a War, Lose an Election
Sharon Smith
Democrats, Born to Compromise
Laura Carlsen
Oaxaca Fights Back
Ron Jacobs
The Perishing Republic
Peter Rost,
MD
Whistleblowers: Who Are They?
Carol Norris
Post-Campaign Ad Stress Disorder?
Website of
the Day
A Map of the US Nuclear Arsenal
November 13,
2006
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
Screw
the Palestinians, Full Steam Ahead
Bill Quigley
Robin Hood in Reverse: the Corporate Looting of the Gulf Coast
Paul Craig Roberts
The Democrats and Civil Liberties: Will They Turn a Blind Eye?
Uri Avnery
Call It What It Is: a Massacre!
Joe DeRaymond
The Strange Return of Daniel Ortega
Norman Finkelstein
Jimmy Carter's Roadmap
Col. Dan Smith
The Pentagon's Revolving Gates: Out with the Old, In with the
Old
Shepherd Bliss
After the Party
Dave Lindorff
What Vote-Theft Conspiracy?
Missy Beattie
For Better / For Worse: Will Laura Stay the Course?
Trenticosta / Fleming
Vindication for the Angola 3
Weekend Edition
November 11 / 12, 2006
John Walsh
Rahm's
Losers
Barucha Calamity
Peller
Oaxaca at Any Cost
Al Krebs
Be Careful What You Wish For
Niall Meehan
Ireland's Freedom Struggle and the Foster School of Historical
Falsification
Conn Hallinan
The Ills of War: Shafting the Vets
Patrick Cockburn
"We
Worry About Staying Alive, Not the U.S. Elections"
Gary Leupp
Democrats Can Be NeoCons, Too
P. Sainath
India High and Low: the Anatomy of a Tiger
Nikolas Kozloff
The Return of Tom Lantos: Beware Venezuela, Here Come the Democratic
Hawks
Lawrence R.
Velvel
Throwing
Rumsfeld Under the Bus
Fred Gardner
Marijuana, the Anti-Drug
Ralph Nader
Taking on the Boss: Claybrook vs. the Chamber
Ben Terrall / John Miller
East Timor: 15 Years After the Massacre
Mike Whitney
Cheney in a Box
Joshua Frank
Post-Electoral Deliriums
Mukul Dube
The Death Penalty Case of Mohd. Afzal
Jason Hribal
Jesse: Eulogy for a Working Dog
Daniel Wolff
The Unseen Springsteen
Michael Donnelly
Red Rock Blues: the Moab Folk Festival
Lord Montague
A Dissenting Note on the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917
Poets' Basement
Davies, Louise, Buknatski and Orloski
November 10,
2006
Alexander Cockburn
Lame
Duck
Marjorie Cohn
The War Crimes Case Against Rumsfeld
Jorge Mariscal
What Veterans See
Gregory Elich
The Trial of Saddam: Who Will Pass Judgment on the Judges?
Joshua Frank
Blue Dog Group: Bye-Bye Coke, Hello Pepsi
Megan Boler
The Joke is On Us: How "Borat" Lowers the Bar of Political
Satire
Ramzy Baroud
The Treacherous Road to Oslo Begins Here
Farzana Versey
An Iraqi in India
Roberto Rodriguez
A Thumpin' or a Whippin'?
Cartoon of
the Day
Splat!
November 9,
2006
Jennifer Loewenstein
How
Gaza Offends Us All
Patrick Cockburn
War of the Snipers
Paul Craig Roberts
Will Democrats Become Part of the Problem?
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
The Roots of Corruption
Mike Whitney
Bush's Chernobyl Economy
Alan Maass
The Repudiation of One-Party Rule
Robert Jensen
Blood on the Tracks: the Elections and the Coming Train Wreck
Nicola Nasser
Saddam's Trial in Context
John Chuckman
As I Lay Dying: Watching the US Elections from Canada
Jamal Juma
Between Resistance and Deception in Palestine
Felice Pace
Can the Klamath be Restored?
Website of
the Day
The Robert Gates Files
November 8,
2006
Alexander Cockburn
/ Jeffrey St. Clair
Count
Your Blessings: NeoCons and NeoLibs Take Big Hit as Voters Say
No to Bush, War and Free Trade
Lawrence E.
Walsh
Robert Gates and Iran/Contra: Lies, Cover Ups and Slanted Intelligence
Bruce K. Gagnon
What's Next for the Peace Movement?: Confront the Democrats,
Now!
Neve Gordon
Anti-Semitism?
Mr. Dershowitz, You Just Don't Like What I Say
Dave Lindorff
Election Post-Mortem: What's Next?
Arthur Neslen
Another Tragic Day in Palestine
Joshua Frank
An Election Hangover: Thank God It's Over
James Goodman
The Corporate Food System is Broken
Charles Sullivan
Voting in the Absence of Choice
David Swanson
Subpoena Envy: The Dems Have the Power, But Will They Use It?
Missy Beattie
The Electorate Speaks and Barney Barks!
Dr. Susan Block
American Voters Say, "Bush Sucks!"
Website of the Day
Stealing Olive Groves from Palestinians
November 7,
2006
Michael Neumann
Cut
and Run from Iraq: Sooner Rather Than Later
Paul Wolf
Saddam Must Die: A Pre-Ordained Verdict
Nikolas Kozloff
In Nicaragua, a Chavez Wave?
Eliza Ernshire
The Women of Beit Hanoun
William S. Lind
The Smile on Saddam's Face: He's Tan, Rested and Ready
Mike Ferner
Pick a Number: Greater Than 47,615
Felice Pace
Pumping the Klamath Dry
Chris Genovali
The Problem with PBDEs: Why Canada's Proposed Ban Won't Protect
People or Wildlife
Gilad Atzmon
Watching Borat
Dick J. Reavis
Going to Class War with the Proletariat We Got ...
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Lives (and Votes) Lost: the Ordeal of Larry Peterson
Website of
the Day
Magic Sam: a Sure Cure for the Election Day Blues
Question of the Day
Is Bush Gay?
November 6,
2006
Alexander Cockburn
The
Message of Campaign 2006
Norman Solomon
Saddam's
Unindicted Co-Conspirator: Donald Rumsfeld
Robert Fisk
A Guilty Verdict on America, as Well
Marjorie Cohn
The Banana Election: From Hanging Chads to Hanging Saddam
Paul Craig Roberts
The Goose and the Gander: Is Bush Next?
Nikolas Kozloff
Election Eve Jitters: the Chavez Factor
Newton Garver
The Progress in Bolivia: Morales' Stunning Victory Over Big Oil
Mike Whitney
Bush's Carnival of Blood
Jesse Hagopian
From the Black Panthers to the Green Party: an Interview with
Aaron Dixon
Dr. Peter Rost,
MD
The Genocide Election: When a Life Saving Industry Cheats, People
Die
Website of
the Day
Robert Pollin vs. Rick Wolff: Is Pomo Marxism Marxism?
November 4
/ 5, 2006
Dave Zirin
Political
Players: Where Athletes Give Their Money
Patrick Cockburn
When
Does Incompetence Become a Crime?
Sanho Tree
War
Timing and Opportunism
Ralph Nader
Failure
Across All Fronts
Lee Sustar
The Obama Myth
Dr. Shepherd Bliss
Torture Memories
Adam Elkus
Babies and Banks: Celebrity Colonialism in Africa
Seth Sandronsky
Is Another Recession Looming?
Fred Gardner
10 Years of Medical Pot in California: Dr. Mikuriya's Observations
Joshua Sperber
How the US Lost Latin America
Evelyn Pringle
Ohio Redux: Mr. Blackwell and the Henhouse
Mitchel Cohen
The Left and the Environment: Notes on the Ecological Dimension
Missy Beattie
The Medium is the Massage
Michael Dickinson
Watching the Guards: a Prison Diary
John Holt
The Silk Road to Ruin
Dr. Susan Block
The Beastly Bombing
Poets' Basement
LaMorticella, Engel, Orloski and Davies
November 3, 2006
Laura Carlsen
Day
of the Dead in Oaxaca
Stephan Said
Honoring Bradley Will
John Stauber
"Victory in Iraq:" The PR Machine Behind Bush's Favorite
Slogan
Mike Whitney
Baghdad is Surrounded
Joshua Frank
DNC Deja Vu
Victoria Furio
More Than Timetables
Tammara~85,441
They Say He is Coming Home
Stuart Croswaithe
Beatings and Sugar Plums: New Labor's War on the Kurds
Missy Beattie
Bush Shock
Website of
the Day
Howlin' Wolf
November 2, 2006
Winslow T.
Wheeler
The
US Body Count in Iraq: an Analysis of Who is Dying and How
Paul Craig
Roberts
Evil
is as Evil Does
Dave Lindorff
Kerry Out: the Joke's Still on Us
Uri Avnery
The
Lovable Man? Lieberman and the Decline of Israeli Democracy
Jeff Birkenstein
Smearing Harold Ford in Black Face
John Ross
Slave Labor in Private Prisons
Zoltan Grossman
Recharging the Anti-War Movement
Eveyln Pringle
The SEC's Probe of Halliburton: Is Cheney Being Fitted for a
Striped Jumpsuit?
Christopher
Brauchli
Drug Profits and PACs: Why Big Pharma Pushes the GOP
November 1,
2006
Alan Dershowitz
v. Bruce Jackson
On
Torture
Brian Tokar
Running
on Hype: the Real Scoop on Biofuels
Fred Leonhardt
Democrats,
Sex Crimes and the Press: the Goldschmidt Affair
Richard W.
Behan
Triumph
of the Petropublicans: Bush's Other Civil War
Brenda Norrell
Indigenous Opposition to the Border Wall
Charles Sullivan
Spoils of Corruption: Who Will Stand Up When America Goes Wrong?
Ron Jacobs
Hell is Rising in Oaxaca: interview with a Oaxacan Rebel
Mike Knapp
Green Stench in Minnesota: the Commissioner and the Hog Lot
Moshe Adler
The Temptations of a Union Boss: the Case of Brian McLaughlin
Walden Bello
Chain Gang Economics
Lee Ballinger
The Collapse of Hip Capitalism: How Tower Records Committed Suicide
Joshua Frank
Party in a Cage: Snake Oil and the Midterm Elections
Carl Gelderloos
Cheerleading the Massacre in Oaxaca: an Open Letter to the Washington
Post
Peter Rost,
MD
Panic
in Big Pharma
Saul Landau
Bush's
Anti-Terrorism Record: Don't Look Too Close
Website of the Day
The Meatrix
October 31, 2006
William S.
Lind
The
Third and Final Act: Iran
Stephen S.
Pearcy
Dem Candidate's Wife Urges Cindy Sheehan Not to Protest Iraq
War
Uri Avnery
Who's
Afraid of an Iranian Bomb?
Michael Colby
Corporations Win Again!: Bush Opens National Parks to Bio-Prospecting
Sunsara Taylor
A No-Win Election for Women
Ben Beachy
Targeting Nicaraguans' Stomachs: 11th Hour Election Meddling
by the US
Edward Humes
Nine Words: America's Disservice to Veterans
Roger Burbach
The Meaning of Lula's Victory in Brazil
Subcomandante Marcos
A Communique from the EZLN on Oaxaca
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Funny Business in the Booth: Vote for James H. 'Jim'
Sharon Smith
Those
Damned Democrats
Website of
the Day
Parks Not for Sale
October 30,
2006
Robert Fisk
Dirty
Bombs Over Lebanon: Did Israel Use Uranium Weapons?
Bruce Jackson
Normalizing
Torture
Norman Solomon
I Was Wrong About Thomas Friedman, the World's Wealthiest Pundit
Lance Selfa
Liberal Doormats: Tread on Us
Ali Khan
The Veil and the British Male Elite
Lee Sustar
European Islamophobia: Fanning the Flames of Hate
Robert Jensen
The Death of Empathy
Akiva Eldar
Lieberman: Making Haider Look Good
Tim Montague
The Natural Step to Eco-Villages
Brian M. Downing
Evil in the Valley: Civilian Massacres, From Vietnam to Iraq
Website of the Day
Alien Impeachment
October 27 / 29, 2006
Weekend Edition
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Hogwash:
Fecal Factories in the Heartland
Maher Arar
The
Horrors of Extraordinary Rendition: a Personal Account
David Rosen
Perversions of Power: Mark Foley and the Bush Administration
Gregory Elich
"A Bursting Boiler at Russia's Doorstep:" Why Bush
is Seeking Confrontation with N. Korea
Tom Barry
Fear and Loathing in the North: an Apartheid Fence in America?
Jeff Taylor
Democrats By Default?
Dave Lindorff
Why Nancy Pelosi is Wrong
Ron Jacobs
The General Who Called Out the Devil: the Politics of Hugo Chavez
Maurus Chino
Hauba Hanu: Oppression Affects All People
Christopher
Brauchli
Veiled Threats: the Global War on Fashion
Sherwood Ross
The Wages of Whistleblowing: Why Bunny Greenhouse Sits in a Corner
Rev. William
Alberts
In Search of a Real Inter-Religious Dialogue on War and Justice
Aseem Shrivastava
Pushing India Toward a "Dollar Democracy"
Saul Landau
/ Farrah Hassen
Bush's Mea Culpa Speech, First Draft
Russ Fine / Dee Fine
Of Peters and Principles: Learning About Sex and Hypocrisy from
the GOP
Seth Sandronsky
Social Security: the Distortions of Sebastian Mallaby
Michael Carmichael
Rogue President: Midterm Meltdown
Joe Allen
The Legacy of Gillo Pontecorvo: a Maker of Revolutionary Films
David Vest
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Landau, Engel and Buknatski
Website of the Weekend
Safely Home
October 26,
2006
Ismael Hossein-zadeh
Islamic
Fascism?: Inflammatory Ironies
Carlos Zorrilla
The
Police Raid on My House: Trumped Up Charges and Collusion Between
a Mining Company and the Government of Ecuador
Paul Craig Roberts
The Crimes of Greed vs. the Crimes of Government: If Enron's
Skilling Gets 24 Years in Prison, How Many Should Bush and Cheney
Get?
Mike Whitney
The Charnel House of Baghdad
Lily Hughes
A Cruel and Unusual Reality: Inside the Texas Death House
Jennifer Matsui
Madonna's African Safari: The Great White Baby Hunter
Tim Matson
How to Save Vermont
Stephen Fleischman
Like a Soldier: Benchmarks, Timelines and Lies
Missy Beattie
The Blood of October: Are We Sure Barney Still Supports This
War?
Patrick Cockburn
From
"Mission Accomplished" to "Mission Impossible"
in Iraq
Website of the Day
Open Letter to The Nation
October 25,
2006
Michael Donnelly
Ethnicity
and Baseball
John Stanton
The
Vindication of Sibel Edmonds
John Ross
Upheaval from the Bottom
Conn Hallinan
Hunting Hugo: When It's About Oil Nothing is Off the Table--Not
Even Assassination
Robert Jensen
Academic
Freedom on the Rocks
Johnny Barber
Drinking Tea with Hizbullah
Bruce K. Gagnon
Space Cowboy: Bush's War on Heaven
Daniel McGowan
Elie Wiesel for Israeli President?
James J. Brittain
Uribe's Failure to Learn from Colombia's Past
Peter Harley
Afghanistan in 3-D
Jonathan Cook
Israel's
Minister of Strategic Threats
Shepherd Bliss
The Bioneers and the New York Times
Website of
the Day
The Price of Staying the Course
October 24,
2006
John Walsh
The
Book of Rahm: Emanuel's War Plan for Democrats
M. Shahid Alam
Not All Terrorists Are Muslim: the Latest Falsehood from the
Advocates of Civilizational War
Dr. Trudy Bond
The Silence at Home, as America Eats Her Young
Michael Phillips
The Story of My Kidnapping in Nablus: "I Never Feared for
My Life"
Dave Lindorff
Truth and Consequences on Iraq: Bush's Latest Cut-and-Paste War
Plan
David Phinney
A US Fortress Rises in Baghdad: Asian Labor Trafficking Used
to Build World's Largest Embassy
Laura Carlsen
Food Insecurity: the World Needs Its Small Farmers
Pierre Tristam
The American Way of Gore
Marguerite
Rose Jimenez
"About
That Trip to Cuba:" When the FBI Came Calling
Website of
the Day
Tampon Terrorists
October 23,
2006
Saree Makdisi
Israel's
Cluster Bomb War: "What We Did Was Insane and Monstrous"
Joshua Frank
The
Antiwar Movement and Independent Politics: an Interview with
Cindy Sheehan
Fred Gardner
What Have California Doctors Learned About Cannabis?
Ralph Nader
The End of Habeas Corpus and the Belligerent Despot-in-Chief
Ron Jacobs
Bush's Clark Clifford: James Baker Wants a Kinder, Gentler War
Norman Solomon
Punditry Without Consequences: Channeling Thomas Friedman
Richard Manning
Outside the Market: We Need and Owe Rural People
Neil Kitson
Canadians in Afghanistan: Bloody, Unbowed, Stoned?
William MacDougall
The Socialist, the Columnist, His Wife and the Prostitute
Gilad Atzmon
Surviving the Board of Deputies
Werther
The
Evening of Empire
Website of
the Day
Different Drummer: Internet Coffeehouse Movement
October 20
/ 22, 2006
Alexander Cockburn
The
Myth of Microloans
Gary Leupp
How
the US Declared War on North Korea
Brian Cloughley
What Are They Dying For?
Dave Zirin
Pat Tillman's Brother Breaks His Silence
William Blum
Don't Look Back: Who Said Clinton Didn't Kill Anybody?
Christopher
Brauchli
The
Cronies' War
Winslow Wheeler
The
Mad Logic of Pentagon Spending: As Costs Rise, Readiness Declines
Michael Donnelly
GOP Death Slide: Is the Party Really Over?
Fred Gardner
Corporate Drugs Useless Against Alzheimer's
Susie Day
How
to Stay Out of Gitmo
Lucinda Marshall
Behind Closed Doors: the Invisibility of Domestic Violence
Fred Wilcox
The Second Palestinian Intifada: History of a Struggle for Survival
Alan Maass
Standing Up Against Racism at Columbia: a Wake Up Call to the
Passive Left
Lee Sustar
A Bipartisan Border Wall: New Phases in the Crackdown on Immigrants
Ariadna Theokopoulos
Shame on You, Dr. Warf: Hail the Epidemiologist in Chief
Missy Beattie
Surges: the Dow and the Death Count
CP News Wire
Bush's Paraguay Land Grab: Hideout or Water Raid?
CP News Services
Sexually Repressed Republicans: Robert Bork, Riveted
Poets' Basement
Davies, Engel, Buknatski and Orloski
Website of
the Weekend
Scenes from Oaxaca
October 19,
2006
Elaine Cassel
The
Bush Administration's Assault on Defense Lawyers
Col. Dan Smith
Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine: Cracks in the Bush / Blair
Axis
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
North Korea's Nuclear Test: a Q & A
Josh Gryniewicz
Wal-Mart Tightens the Squeeze on Workers
Amira Hass
What is 20 Tons of Explosives?
Eric Holt-Gimenez
Poison and Famine in the Fields: How the Agri-Food Industry's
Deadly Cycle Feeds Immigration
Jesse Hagopian
Arrested Democracy: On Trying to Ignore Aaron Dixon
Sam Husseini
How Third Parties Can Solve the "Spoiler" Problem and
Win Elections
John Weisheit
A
Gathering of Water Buffaloes: Feds Celebrate Death of the Colorado
River
CP News Service
A Plea to U2 From Africa's Children: Stop Bono Before He Kills
Again
Website of
the Day
George W. Bush: Hollywood Producer
Art Gallery
of the Day
Botero's Abu Ghraib Paintings in Manhattan
October 18,
2006
Joshua Frank
Cindy
Sheehan's Lesser Evilism: Democrats or Bust?
Dr. Curran
Warf, MD
Slandering Sound Science: Bush's Attack on the Lancet Iraq War
Death Study
Saul Landau
Bush's
Foley: Will the Dems Blow It?
Tom Barry
The
Politics of Fear
Bruce Jackson
Thundersnow: a Report from Buffalo
Dave Lindorff
Loveless Among the Ruins: Even Repubs Flee Bush's Failed Middle
East Policy
Frederico Fuentes
When Cochabamba Said "Enough": Bolivia's Blow to Neoliberalism
Michael Simmons
Greetings from Echo Park: an Open Letter to Rolling Stone's Jann
Wenner
Daryll E. Ray
The Root Problems in American Agriculture
Kate Doyle
The Dead of Tlatelolco
Website of
the Day
The
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
October 17, 2006
Michael Neumann
Hit
and Run: Guerrilla Reviewing
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
Nuclear
Test, Political Flare: Interpreting the Physics and Politics
of N. Korea's Nuclear Test
Stephen S.
Pearcy
The Interrogation of Julia Wilson: Secret Service Grills 14 Year-Old
Artist
Sharon Smith
Afghanistan
Reconsidered: The Taliban Aren't Gone, Women Haven't Been Liberated
Al Krebs
The Corporate Assault on Zoning
David Underhill
Politicus Interruptus: Come Back, Jo Bonner
Daniel Wolff
NY's Iraq Veterans Against the War Needs Your Help ... Now
James Brooks
Desirable
Duds: Israeli / US Cluster Bombs Litter Lebanon
Website of the Day
Stop Torture Now
October 16,
2006
Gary Leupp
North
Korea as a Religious State
Patrick Cockburn
General
Mutinies Against Blair
David Wilson
Where Have All the Doctors Gone?: the Collapse of Iraq's Health
Care Services
Robert Fisk
Confronting Turkey's Armenian Genocide
Robert Jensen
Racism and Cheap Thrills at U. of Texas Law School
Ingmar Lee
/ Krista Roessingh
An Appeal for S. India's Wild Elephants
Mike Whitney
America's Other War Party
Jake Whitney
The Courageous Dr. Rost
Sanho Tree
Sugar Daddy Politics: Was Foley Blackmailed to Secure His Vote
on CAFTA?
Website of
the Day
Best
War Ever
October 14/15, 2006
Weekend Edition
Uri Avnery
Gaza
as Laboratory: the Great Experiment
John Walsh
How
Rahm Emmanuel Has Rigged a Pro-War Congress
Jean Bricmont
A Fable About Palestine
Jennifer Van Bergen
Bush's Military Commissions Act and the Future of America
Ralph Nader
Wilted Yankees: the Fruits of Checkbook Baseball
Floyd Rudmin
The Logic of Proliferation: How Bush's Belligerence Prompted
N. Korea to Pursue Nuclear Weapons
Mark Weisbrot
Correcting the Facts on US/Venezuela Relations
Laura Carlsen
Building a Future in the Mixteca
Hani Shukrallah
A Stroll Through the Cairo Mall: Shopping as Cultural Pursuit
Dr. Susan Block
The Spent Milk of Human Foley
John Chuckman
North Korea's Bomb: Still 1,126 Nuke Tests Behind the US
Lucinda Marshall
Is Betty Ugly?: the Profits of Denigration
Don Monkerud
The Case Against Depleted Uranium
Missy Comley
Beattie
What Bush Means By Tolerable Violence in Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Shouting "No One is Illegal" in a Crowded Theater
Website of
the Weekend
Ratfink Raunchfest
October 13,
2006
Jorge Mariscal
PowerPoint
Racism: How Military Recruiters Pitch to Latinos
Stephen Philion
The
Myth of the Spat Upon Vets: an Interview with Jerry Lembcke
John Blair
Strip Mining Wildlife Preserves: Black Beauty's Filthy Lucre
Col. Dan Smith
Oil, Atoms and War
Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry
How Hezbollah Defeated Israel: Part Two, Winning the Ground War
Stephen Fleischman
Journalism Then and Now
Charles Perroud
The Death Penalty's Invisible Victims
Anne E. Brodsky
Return
to Afghanistan: Where the Rhetoric Doesn't Match the Reality
Website of the Day
Underwater Nuke Test
October 12,
2006
Jonathan Cook
Israel's
Plan for a Military Strike on Iran
Norman Solomon
The Pundit Path to Death in Iraq
M. Shahid Alam
On Colonialism and Colleagues
Paul Craig
Roberts
Can We Call It Genocide Now?
Meredith Schafer / Chris Kutalik
Is a General Transportation Strike Looming for 2008? Can Labor
Seize the Moment?
Carl Gelderloos
Images of Occupation: Teaching in Nablus
Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry
How Hezbollah Defeated Israel: Part One, Winning the Intelligence
War
Charles Sullivan
Assassins of Truth
William S. Lind
Why Do We Still Fight a Lost War?
CP News Service
The South Turns Against the War
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What Cynthia McKinney Means to Me
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World Bank Shuts Out Dissident Voices: Big Dams, Huge Profits
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Rank Invitations: Dining with Bush
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Outrage as Misdirection: The Real Scandal isn't Foley
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For Sale: Iraqi Kurdistan
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November
20, 2006
The 2007 Defense Authorization Act and
the "Reform" of the Insurrection Act of 1807
Usurpation
of Power
By Col. DAN SMITH
Messages are circulating on the Internet
that raise an alarm over a provision of the FY2007 Defense Department
Authorization Act (PL 109-364) that expands presidential discretion
to declare martial law and to federalize the National Guard in
case of insurrection.
The first to raise the subject
was Senator Patrick Leahy (VT). On September 19th , 2006, and
again on September 29th, 2006, he decried this expansion of presidential
power previously restricted by the Insurrection Act of 1807 (10
U.S.C. 331) (as updated) and a similar weakening of the limits
on presidential power in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
(18 U.S.C. 1385).
BACKGROUND
Many who have taken note of
Senator Leahy's remarks have also included in their analysis
the generally unheralded Department of Homeland Security contract
awarded to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary. The five-year, $385
million "Indefinite delivery/Indefinite quantity sole-source
contract calls for construction on a contingency basis, under
supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, of "temporary
detention and processing capabilities to augment existing Immigration
and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Detention and Removable Operations"
should there be an "emergency influx of immigrants into
the U.S. or to support the rapid development of new programs."
This is not a new contract; Halliburton secured a similar contract
covering 2000 with four one-year extensions that carried the
contract to 2005. The "one-year" provisions are part
of the current contract.
Before delving into the concerns
raised by Senator Leahy and others, it might be helpful to start
at the beginning--with what the U.S. Constitution says about
militias, "insurrection" and with George Washington's
actions in response to the "Whiskey Rebellion of 1791"
that formed the precedent in these matters.
The Constitution
and the Role of Congress Regarding Insurrection
Albeit somewhat ancillary to
the main threads to be followed, it remains important to the
evolution of laws touching on insurrection to recall Article
1 Section 8 of the Constitution. This enumerates the powers reserved
for the legislature. As with any document of such fundamental
import, constitutional scholars have poured over the order of
words and the placement of every comma, semi-colon, and period
in making the case for their interpretation of the meaning intended
by the writers.
In regard to the public order,
it seems noteworthy that the Framers saw fit not to insert commas--which
could be taken to indicate a sequencing or hierarchy of congressional
powers and duties in that part of this section reading "to
pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general
welfare of the United States" This indicates that the common
defense and the general welfare, which arguably includes domestic
tranquility, are of equal importance.
Moreover, Article 1 Section
8 empowers Congress, not the president,
"To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasion"
and "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining,
the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the United States, reserving to the states
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority
of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed
by Congress."
Article 1, Section 9 states
that "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not
be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the
public safety may require it."
The Constitution
and the Role of the Executive Regarding Insurrection
Article 2 Section 2 of the
U.S. Constitution provides that "The President shall be
commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,
and of the militia of the several states, when called into the
actual service of the United States." This latter ostensibly
would occur when a natural disaster or man-made event or threat
to the "common defense and the general welfare" either
entails external attack (common defense) or exceeds the ability
of local authorities to handle (general welfare).
IMPLEMENTING
THE LAW: Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794
In 1791, in order to raise
revenue to help pay the Revolutionary War debts the federal government
assumed from the states, Congress imposed a tariff on the sale
of "distilled spirits." The tax was not a major burden
for large distillers. For the smaller operators who were chiefly
located along the frontier and who had other grievances against
the federal government, the tax was the last straw. By 1794,
Washington and Allegheny Counties in western Pennsylvania had
evolved into centers of resistance to the federal government,
with mobs destroying property and threatening the lives and well-being
of revenue collectors, physically assaulting and kidnapping a
federal marshal, and stealing mail from a post-rider.
Under the 1792 Militia Act,
Congress had enumerated the three specific circumstances that
would justify calling up a state militia for federal service:
"calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union,
suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." The militia
of the state or states concerned was to be called first, but
should it refuse or be deemed insufficient to deal with the insurrection,
militias of adjacent states could be called up for a period extending
30 days after reconvening of the Congress, a period thought sufficient
for Congress to take action if necessary.
But before the militias could
be called out, two conditions had to be met: a reasonable time
for ending the insurrection had to be publicly proclaimed and
to have expired, and evidence of "combinations too powerful
to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings"
or by federal marshals had to be presented to a federal associate
or district judge. Having reviewed the material presented, the
judge would in writing inform the president that a state of insurrection
existed.
Using the authority given him
by the Militia Act, in August 1794, President Washington issued
a proclamation calling on those in rebellion to "disperse
and retire peaceably to their respective abodes." Upon receiving
the required judicial notification, Washington called up nearly
13,000 militiamen, most from Virginia, and joined them in the
field for part of their march westward.
Washington's proclamation is
noteworthy for its details on the rebellion: "misrepresentations
of the laws," acts committed that "amount to treason,
being overt acts of levying war against the United States,"
"intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of
the said laws," and "it is my judgmentthat the very
existence of government and the fundamental principles of social
order are materially involved in the issue."
Congress had intended that
the 1792 Militia Act would have to be renewed every three years.
But when renewal was considered in 1795, this requirement, along
with the involvement of a federal judge, was dropped. Moreover,
the bar against initially federalizing out-of-state militias
was also rescinded. The revised Militia Act passed in 1795 permitted
the president to act virtually unilaterally and quickly when
Congress was not in session.
One other, albeit temporary,
change to the law occurred in 1799 when Congress authorized the
president to call out the federal regulars in circumstances in
which he was empowered by the 1795 Militia Act to federalize
state militias. This change was repealed in 1802.
The Burr
Conspiracy and the First Insurrection Act
In 1806, Aaron Burr was accused
of treasonous acts for planning to sail down the Mississippi
River to attack Spanish New Orleans or to engineer the secession
of the states of the southeast U.S. Burr was acquitted, and
the incident largely forgotten except for what came to be known
as the "Insurrection Act of 1807." This Act, in effect
a one-sentence amendment to the Militia Act, reinstated and made
permanent the 1799 expansion of the use of federal troops in
domestic disorders and insurrections. (By 1806, the regular army,
which had been reduced after the Revolutionary war to 80 officers
and men, numbered over 12,000.)
Why this change was made is
unclear because this Act has no legislative history; it was passed
with no debate, along with other bills, on the last day the Ninth
Congress was in session in 1807. Whatever the reason, the Insurrection
Act of 1807 amended the 1795 statute to permit, "where it
is lawful for the President of the United States to call forth
the militia for the purpose of suppressing such insurrectionit
shall be lawful for him to employ for the same purposes, such
part of the land or naval forces of the United States, as shall
be judged necessary, having first observed all the prerequisites
of the law in that respect."
Other 19th
Century Changes to the Law
With the Civil War looming,
Congress in 1861 authorized the president to call up either the
militias of the states or federal troops "whenever, by reason
of unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages of persons,
or rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United
States, it shall become impractical, in the judgment of the President
of the United States, to enforce, by the ordinary course of judicial
proceedings, the laws of the United States within any State or
Territory." This revision also extended the call-up period
to 60 days into a new session of Congress and eliminated the
requirement for a presidential proclamation. The significant
changes were the addition of "rebellion" to the circumstances
empowering federalizing militias and permitting the president
to determine on his own that the laws could not be enforced.
The addition of "rebellion" also linked use of militias
and federal troops to the question of declaring martial law and
suspending habeas corpus, as "rebellion" is
constitutionally specified as a trigger for such suspension.
A minor change to the Militia
Act was made in 1871 to counter the depredations of the Ku Klux
Klan in the post-Civil War South. With the withdrawal of federal
troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction, Congress
also passed the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This Act
sought to limit the power of the president to "employ any
part of the Army of the United States, as a posse comitatus,
or otherwise, for the purpose of executing the laws, except in
such cases and under such circumstances as such employment of
said force may be expressly authorized by the Constitution or
by act of Congress." Note that the law applies only to federal
troops. Non-federalized militias, because they are from the local
community and, under normal "peacetime" conditions,
come under and respond to the direction of their state's governor,
are exempt from this 1878 law.
At the turn of the century,
then, distinctions existed as to the conditions that empowered
the president to employ federal troops or federalized troops.
Normally he waited until a state governor or legislature requested
federal assistance. But in extremis, should the president
determine that the state government was incapable of or refused
to protect the rights of a significant part of its population,
whether the rights were guaranteed by the constitution or by
statute, he could use federal troops without waiting for a state
request. And because the state militias at the time were so poorly
organized, trained, and equipped, presidents had to use federal
troops when unrest or disasters struck--e.g., the Pullman strike
when the movement of the U.S. mail was endangered.)
Finally, in 1903, Secretary
of War Elihu Root convinced Congress to pass a new Militia Act.
This created the Organized Militia, which came to be called the
National Guard. In ordinary times, control and employment of
Guard personnel remained with state governors. The president
retained authority to call the Guard into federal service in
case of invasion or insurrection or to enforce the laws of the
Union--and only for a maximum of nine months.
Nonetheless, between 1807 and
1925, federal troops were employed more than 100 times under
the auspices of the Militia and Insurrection Acts to resolve
civil disturbances that state authorities could not or would
not control.
The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.
331) itself was expanded during these years to five sections.
These roughly empower the president:
* upon application by state
authorities for help in suppressing an insurrection, to federalize
sufficient militia troops or use federal troops "as he deems
necessary";
* upon determining that the
laws of the U.S. cannot be enforced through normal judicial proceedings
because of "unlawful combinations , or assemblages, or rebellion,"
to federalize the militia or use federal troops in sufficient
numbers to end the rebellion;
* to use the militia or federal
troops if he determines that such use is the way to put down
"any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination,
or conspiracy" that deprives any class or part of a state's
population of their right privileges, immunities, or protections
under the Constitution or in statute and the state authorities
cannot or will not act to ensure these rights--or if they even
oppose or obstruct the e execution of federal law or "impede
the course of justice";
The fourth section requires
the president, upon determining the need to use militia or federal
troops, to "immediately order the insurgents to disperse"
and return home peacefully. The fifth specifies that the act
applies to Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The 2007
Defense Authorization Act
The Senate version of this
bill (H.R.5122) went to conference with a section intended to
strengthen the independence of the National Guard by raising
its bureaucratic profile, requiring the Pentagon to provide more
and better equipment, and emphasizing its role in responding
to domestic disasters. When the Senate-House conference ended,
the legislation not only had been stripped entirely of these
proposals, in their place were revisions "making it easier
to usurp the Governors' control and making it more likely that
the President will take control of the Guard and the active military
operating in the states," according to Senator Leahy. Why?
Because, as noted before, the National Guard (militia) when operating
under state control can be used to augment law enforcement, thus
removing the need for federal troops. But if a president invokes
the Insurrection Act with its tie to "rebellion," he
can override state objections and authority and use federal forces
or federalized forces (National Guard) for purposes of "enforcing
the laws of the United States."
Senator Leahy sees the changes
as "payback" by the administration for the refusal
of the Louisiana governor to cede control of post-Katrina recovery
efforts to Washington. Indeed, the title of Section 1076 of the
FY2007 Defense Authorization act suggests an expansion of presidential
power--"Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies."
Section 333 of the Insurrection Act now permits the president
to use "the armed forces, including the National Guard in
Federal service, to restore public order" in circumstances
that now include "terrorist attack or incident, or other
condition in any State or possession of the United States, the
President determines" that state authorities cannot "maintain
public order" because of "domestic violence."
The balance of the current Section 333 of the Insurrection Act
is repeated in the 2007 legislation
Section 334 of the Insurrection
Act which deals with the presidential proclamation ordering those
engaged in opposing the government or fomenting unrest to disperse.
The 2007 law adds to "insurgents" the phrase "or
those obstructing the enforcement of the laws." The fact
that the president determines to whom the proclamation applies
gives him, ipso facto, the power to determine when the
laws are being obstructed regardless of the views of state authorities.
Senator Leahy sees these changes
as "automated triggers" that congressional allies of
the administration rammed through the conference to further consolidate
power in Bush's unitary presidency. In point of fact, Congress
has so yielded its power under the Militia clauses of the constitution
that a president has nearly a free hand in case of a major man-made
or natural disaster. And until one of these disasters actually
occurs and the federal government usurps first line--that is,
state controlled--assets, Congress is unlikely to try to claw
back power to the states. One major impediment to congressional
action is that the 2007 legislation also requires the Pentagon
to provide relief supplies and emergency shelters needed "for
the immediate preservation of life and property" once the
president invokes the new powers. States will not reimburse the
federal government for these supplies. The law also calls for
coordination between the Department of Homeland Security and
the Pentagon's Northern Command which is responsible for Defense
Department actions inside the United States.
And at a deeper level, there
is still the power to suspend habeas corpus upon presidential
declaration.
CONCLUSION
Section 1076 of Public Law
109-364 does expand presidential power to declare when an emergency
exceeds the power of a state government to handle and has tied
ill-defined concepts such as "public orderor other condition"
to rebellion, thus triggering potential presidential suspension
of habeas corpus.
THE QUESTION IS: WHEN AND HOW
FAR WILL THE CURRENT OR ANY FUTURE PRESIDENT DECIDE TO GO IN
EXERCISING THE INCREASED LATITUDE CONFERRED BY THIS LAW?
Given the propensity for power
to always tend toward the center, Congress needs to reverse this
propensity. Its springboard is the Tenth Amendment--if it will
but use it.
Col. Dan Smith is a military affairs analyst for
Foreign Policy In Focus ,
a retired U.S. Army colonel, and a senior fellow on military
affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Email
at dan@fcnl.org.
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