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Today's Stories

April 28, 2004

Faisal Kutty
The Dirty Work of Canadian Intelligence

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


April 10 / 12, 2004

Alexander Cockburn
The Greatest Radical Journalist of His Age

Patrick Cockburn
Ambush, Kidnap, Murder: Another Day in "Post War" Iraq

Ellen Cantarow
Health Under Siege on the West Bank

Tariq Ali
Iraqi Resistance: a New Phase

Werther
Pseudoconservatism Revisited: When God is Pro War & Other Delicacies

Robert Fisk
Bush's War Lords to Their Critics: "Just Shut Up"

Gary Leupp
Indian Wars, Vietnam and Orientalist Fantasy

Ron Jacobs
The Iranian Revolution, Cont.

Jorge Mariscal
Perils of the Bootstrap

Phil Gasper
Defying Stereotypes About Death Row

Dave Zirin
Bringing the Black Freedom Struggle Into Sports: an Interview with Lee Evans

Brandy Baker
The Revolution is Playing at a Theater Near You

Mickey Z.
Underground Music is Free Media: an Interview with Twiin

Ali Tonak
Get Ready for the Million Worker March

Harry Browne
Asking the Wrong Question About Richard Clarke & 9/11

Gideon Samet
The Sharonizing of America

Conn Hallinan
Remote Control Warriors

Website of the Weekend
Taboo Tunes

 

 

April 9, 2004

Robert Fisk
This War's Simple Truth: Iraqis Do Not Want Us

John L. Hess
The Non-Confessions of a Warrior Princess: Condi on the Stand

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Condoleezza's Condescensions

Christopher Brauchli
Holes in the Sky: Bush's Crazed Missile Defense Plan

Don Santina
Forget the Alamo!: Glorifying the Fight for Slavery in Texas

William S. Lind
The 4G Warfare Seminar, Cont.

Bill Christison
9/11 Commission is Bush's New Lapdog

Website of the Day
What We've Done to Fallujah

 

 


April 8, 2004

Wayne Madsen
Rice (and the Record) Proves It: Bush Knew, But Failed to Act

Kurt Nimmo
Will Bush Flatten Fallajuh?

Patrick Cockburn
Guided Missile; Misguided War

Laura Flanders
Steamed Rice

Larry Everest
What Condi Rice is Hiding

Adam Federman
Sacred Capitalism Hits Russia

M. Junaid Alam
The Iraqi Intifada Begins

Norman Solomon
The Quest for a Monopoly on Violence

Douglas Valentine
Echoes of Vietnam: Phoenix, Assassination and Blowback in Iraq

Website of the Day
Xispas: Chicano Art, Culture and Politics

 

April 7, 2004

Alexander Cockburn
Those Pulitzers!

Sen. Robert Byrd
Deeper into the Mouth of Hell: We Must Find the Exit from Iraq

Ron Jacobs
Tet in Iraq: Closer to the Cosmic Disaster?

Patrick Cockburn
Battles Across Iraq: US Death Toll Mounts

Kathy Kelly
Pacification: Worth the Price?

Sonali Kolhatkar
What Are You Doing About Afghanistan?

Rahul Mahajan
Report from Baghdad: Opening the Gates of Hell

Robert Fisk
US Airlifts Saddam to Qatar

Mike Whitney
America Out of Iraq, Now!

Sam Hamod
Bush, Pandora's Box and the Tiger


April 6, 2004

C.G. Estabrook
Mercenaries and Occupiers

William Blum
The Anti-Empire Report: the Israel Lobby

Col. Dan Smith
The Language of Disbelief: 1.3 Billion Still Live in War Zones

Dr. Bulent Gokay
The Coming Islamic Republic of Iraq?

Lynn Landes
Faking Democracy: Americans Don't Vote; Machines Do

Sheila Samples
What Would Royko Write?

Jason Leopold
Condi's Blind Spot: Rice Never Mentioned al-Qaeda

Mickey Z.
A Reality Show with No End in Sight

Robert Fisk
Iraq on the Brink of Anarchy

 

April 5, 2004

John Farrell
Lessons from El Salvador and Iraq

Robert Fisk
Bloodbath a Bad Omen for Bush

Gary Leupp
Shiites Say No: Another "Nightmare Scenario"

 

 

April 3 / 4, 2004

Alexander Cockburn
Anti-Depressants a Problem? We're Shocked

Jeffrey St. Clair
How Neil Bush Succeeded in Business Without Really Trying

Gary Leupp
On Jefferson, Diderot and the Political Uses of God

Lawrence Davidson
Orwell and Kafka in Israel / Palestine

Frederick B. Hudson
Condi Rice: the Family Retainer

Phillip Cryan
The Magic of Coca-Cola: Colombian Workers, Civil Rights and Advertising

Dave Zirin
Lester Speaks: an Interview with Lester "Red" Rodney

Ben Tripp
Talking Dirty: Obscene But Not Heard

Bruce Anderson
Phony Liberals and Fake Concern for the Homeless

Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Justice and Legitimacy in Haiti

Mark Scaramella
Do You Have What It Takes to Be Sec. of Defense? Take the Rumsfeld Quiz

Sharon Smith
Do Most Iraqis Really Want the US to Stay?

Rick Giombetti
Melissa Ann Rowland: a Witch for Our Time

Nader/Kerry Quandary

Stephen Gowans
Communists for Capitalism?

Frank Bardacke / Doug Lummis
Support Nader; Dump Bush: an Election Manifesto

Mickey Z
Turn ON

Saul Landau
Kerry: a Less Dangerous Imperialist?

Richard Oxman
Nader and/or Death?

Poets' Basement
Holt, LaMorticella, Davies, Albert and Tripp

Website of the Weekend
Missing

 

April 2, 2004

Dave Lindorff
Barbaric Relativism: the Press and Fallujah

Kurt Nimmo
Wherever Bush Goes, Osama is Bound to Follow

Emma Miller
The Role of the West in the Rwandan Genocide

Dr. Susan Block
Same Sex Marriages: Just Say "No" to Prohibition

Norman Solomon
Media Strategy Memo for George & Dick

Sacha Guney
The Meaning of the Elections in Turkey

Christopher Brauchli
The Disturbing Case of Cpt. Yee

Website of the Day
Mercenaries, Inc.

 

April 1, 2004

Ron Jacobs
Dying in Vain in Iraq

Harry Browne
No Smoke, Plenty of Fire: Ireland's Pubs Go Smokefree

Chris Floyd
Towel Boy: Bush Hits Workers with Chemical Weapons

Nicole Colson
Inside America's Concentration Camp: Tortured at Guantanamo

Charles Arthur
Haiti's Army Cracks Down on Workers

Laura Flanders
Elaine Chao: a First Daughter for the First Son

 


March 31, 2004

M. Junaid Alam
Israel: Suicide Nation?

John L. Hess
Condi Under Oath: But What About the NYTs Reporters?

Fernando Suarez del Solar
A Year Since My Son's Death in Iraq

Sofia Perez
Spain's U-Turn on Iraq is Real Democracy in Action

David Vest
Stick 'Em Up: Put Cheney and Bush Under Oath

Tanya Reinhart
As in Tiannamen Square: Justice and the Yassin Assassination

Mike Whitney
Time to Dump the Pledge

Donald Kaul
Martha Stewart's Lesson: Never Talk to the FBI

Milt Bearden
Mired in the Tracks of Alexander the Great

Marjorie Cohn
The Illegal Coup in Haiti: How the Kidnapping of Aristide Violated US and International Law

Website of the Day
New Pentagon Papers Dropped at DC Starbucks

 

 

 

 

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Alexander Cockburn
Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con!

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The Death Train of the WTO

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Hitchens as Model Apostate

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Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians

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Prison Bitch

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
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Wendell Berry
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CounterPunch Wire
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April 28, 2004

Where Have They Been for the Last Year?

Flag-Draped Coffins and the Seattle Times

By MIKE WHITNEY

On April 18, The Seattle Times ran a photograph of flag-draped coffins leaving Iraq on the front page of its Sunday edition. Since then, the photograph has been circulated around the world and its author, Tami Silicio, has become an overnight celebrity.

For its part, the Seattle Times has run a front page segment every day, (for the last 8 days) extracting every bit of life it can from the well-worn photograph.

The reader response has been overwhelming, with thousands of e mails filing in from around the world. Most of those writing have been supportive of both Silicio and the Times for publishing the picture, although their have been a few strident critics of the policy.

Despite the groundswell of public approval, the President and the Pentagon have said that the policy of photographing the coffins of dead soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base will not change. They know as well as anyone that support for the war in Iraq is likely to shift quickly if Americans become more familiar with its terrible cost.

The story is as illustrative of the abysmal coverage of the ongoing conflict as it is of the heavy-handed state censorship that keeps such pictures out of public view.

How is it that more than a year has passed without seeing one casket, one dead soldier or one maimed civilian?

When Democracy Now's Amy Goodman asked CNN's Aaron Brown why they weren't showing footage of casualties, Brown responded that it might be seen to be in poor taste. It's poor taste when the electorate is informed of the realities of war, but not when TV reels off the hundreds of violent acts that are considered routine on an evenings programming.

No one is confused by Brown's analysis. Most people understand that showing the bloody mess in Iraq would have dire political consequences; consequences that might be incompatible with the long-range goals of America's pro-war media.

And no one should be confused about the Seattle Times transformation into "defender of the First Amendment," a pathetic ruse if ever there was one. The Times has taken a photograph that should be the average fare for any truly free press, and is trying to make it look like the second drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The amount of self congratulations in running the photo is downright embarrassing.

The Times record in the area of free speech is somewhat dimmed by its lawsuit against its city rival, The Seattle PI. The Times is doing whatever it can to undermine the JOA (Joint Operating Agreement) which is the PI's only lifeline to continuing in the Seattle market. If the Times lawsuit succeeds the PI will be forced to close its doors and the Times will be in the enviable position of being the only newspaper in town.

In other words, free speech is just fine with the editors of the Times as long as all other voices are effectively silenced.

Anyone who reads the Times knows that they've been on board with virtually every right wing policy emerging from the Bush White House. They even went so far as to endorse the war in Iraq a full month before Bush called for the invasion. (While the weapons inspectors were still on the ground and the UN was not involved) The Times has never backtracked or apologized for its original support of the war even in the face of the overwhelming evidence that it was based on false pretenses.

Instead, they have augmented their error by endorsing the dubious policy of "democratizing" Iraq, even while the carnage in both Fallujah and Baghdad steadily increases.

The Times may imagine itself as "rebelling" against the directives from the Pentagon or as an ardent defender of free speech, but the truth is far different.

The photograph may shore up the Times crumbling credibility, but it will never atone for the many who died in Iraq with the newspaper's tacit approval.






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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