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Inside the New Print Edition of CounterPunch: a Special Report by David Price on the CIA on Campus The CIA's New Campus Spies: Meet "PRISP", it may be at work on a campus near you. Program doles out cash to train tomorrow's spooks ; they say it's like ROTC, only it's all secret; a hundred spooklets on campus today; thousands down the road; pay back your loan by translating for torturers in tomorrow's Abu Ghraibs; meet PRISP's Frankenstein, Prof Felix Moos; anthropologists and the CIA, a deadly embrace by David Price; ALSO Alexander Cockburn on Disaster Relief as Scam; air-conditioned tents for the NGOs and money to burn; how tourist "development" deepened tsunami's impact; why governments love "relief". AND Humans and Woodchippers: When small isn't beautiful. Remember these stories are available exclusively in the print edition of CounterPunch. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Wars of the Laptop Bombers   Today's Stories February 5, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ward Churchill and the Mad Dogs February 4, 2005 Brian Cloughley The Army Symphonist: "Sometimes the Only Way to Change the Behavior of Someone Like That is to Kill Them" Bill Christison Election Parallels: Vietnam, 1967; Iraq, 2005 Elaine Cassel Did Zoloft Make Him Do It? Jacob Levich Chomsky and the Draft Kanak Mani Dixit Return of the Royalists in Nepal Ron Jacobs The Downward Spiral in Iraq   February 3, 2005 Ward Churchill On the Injustice of Getting Smeared: a Campaign of Fabrications and Gross Distortions Sharon Smith Resisting Soldiers Need Our Support Mickey Z. Leslie Gelb Asks Iraq: Who's Your Daddy? Mike Whitney President of Alienation: a Desperate State of the Union Jenna Orkin 9/11 the Sequel: the Toxic State of Lower Manhattan Saul Landau Elections Won't Prevent Civil War in Iraq Yitzhak Laor Strange is the Silence Dave Lindorff The Assault on Social Security: a New Campaign of Lies   February 2, 2005 David Domke / Kevin Coe Bush's Brand of Christianity Noam Chomsky Iraq After the Elections M. Shahid Alam O'Reilly's Fatwah on "Un-American" Professors: FoxNews Puts Me in Its Crosshairs Richard Oxman Ringing in 1984 with Ward Churchill and Derrick Jensen Joshua Frank The Suckering of Howard Dean Dave Lindorff A History Lesson from the NYT Nina Hartley Feminists for Porn Website of the Day War is a Racket   February 1, 2005 Joshua L. Dratel The Torture Memos Patrick Cockburn New Doubts About Allawi Robert Fisk "The Only Decent Food We Get is at Funerals" Uri Avnery The Stalemate Col. Dan Smith "W" Stands for Withdrawal Alison Weir Making America as "Secure" as Israel Alan Farago Heaven and Hell in the Everglades Ray Hanania Low Voter Turnout of Iraqi Expatriates: Less Than 10% of Qualified Voters Paul Craig Roberts American Police State Website of the Day Statisticians Refute Official Rationale for Exit Poll Errors       January 31, 2005 Dave Zirin Mr. Frank's Fatwah: New Republic Writer Calls for Death & Torture of Arundhati Roy and Stan Goff Robert Fisk Amid Tragedy, Defiance Chyng Sun Gonzales: Chief Prosecutor of Porn? Greg Moses The Real Scandals of the Texas Election Mike Whitney Cheney at Auschwitz Ali Tonak Turkey and the EU: Fantasies and Ultimatums Patrick Cockburn A Victory for the Shia Website of the Day Voting by the Script: Where Did the 8 Million Voter Turnout Figure Come From?     January 29 / 30, 2005 Manuel Yang / Peter Linebaugh A Dialogue About Murder in Toledo Gabriel Kolko Wilsonian and Neoconservative Myths Patrick Cockburn Baghdad: City of Empty Streets Robert Fisk This Election Will Change the World, But Not as the US Wanted Linn Washington, Jr. Con Job: Bush Pledges on Racism Lack Realism Bernard Chazelle Why the Children of Iraq Make No Sound When They Fall Gary Leupp "This Kind of Subject Matter": Bush's New Ed Secretary vs. Vermont's Lesbians JoAnn Wypijewski The Passion of Paul Shanley Alexander Cockburn The Case of Father Jerry Ron Jacobs Ballot of the Puppets in Iraq Brian Cloughley Smart Bombs; Wrong House: Iraq's Civilian Dead Fred Gardner Peron May Split Sister Dianna Ortiz Memo to Bush from a Survivor of the Guatemalan Torturers: Stop the Torture! Tom Reeves How Bush Brings Freedom to the World: the Case of Haiti Fran Quigley Report: Haiti Now "More Violent and More Inhuman" Suzan Mazur "Mr. Garsin from Kinshasa": an Old Hand Weighs In on the Murder of Lumumba Kurt Nimmo Condi Rice and the Neocon Plan for the Palestinians Lenni Brenner Holocaust History: Beyond the UN's Rhetoric Gilad Atzmon The Politics of Auschwitz Luis Gomez Power and Autonomy in Bolivia Mark Gaffney NASA Searches for a Snowball in Hell: Why Velikovsky Matters Ben Tripp Lament of the Mnemonopath Richard Oxman Meet the Fuqers Poets' Basement Louise, Collins, Shanahan and Albert Website of the Weekend Chemical Industry: Deceit and Denial     January 28, 2005 Rachard Itani Tsunami Aid By the Numbers: the US Really is a Miser Jensen / Youngblood Iraq's Non-Election Patrick Cockburn / Elizabeth Davies Attacks on Polling Places Leave 13 Dead Dave Zirin The Great Donovan McNabb: Proud "Black Quarterback" Dave Lindorff Suicide by State Execution? Karyn Strickler A Corporate Death Penalty Act? Jorge Mariscal Fighting the Poverty Draft     January 27, 2005 Seymour Hersh We've Been Taken Over By a Cult Cockburn / Sengupta The US's Bloodiest Day in Iraq Dave Lindorff Juke Box Journalism: Shilling for Bush Ignacio Chapela / John F. García The Laws of Nature Mike Whitney The Widening Chasm Among Conservatives Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Those Liberal Southern Baptists! Ray McGovern Reining In Cheney Russ Wellen Marginalizing Bin Laden Christopher Brauchli The FBI's Carnival of Errors Website of the Day Informed Eating         January 26, 2005 Saree Makdisi An Iron Wall of Colonization: Fantasies and Realities About the Prospects for Middle East Peace Scott Fleming In Good Conscience: an Interview with Concientious Objector Aidan Delgado Dave Lindorff Filling Saddam's Shoes: the Puppet Regime Return's to Torture Niranjan Ramakrishnan Salazar and Obama: Two Dismal Debuts Toni Solo The US and Latin America: a Not-So-Magical Reality William James Martin Condoleezza Rice: Confused About the Middle East William A. Cook Bush's Second Inaugural Address: the Lost Ur-Version Eric Hobsbawm Delusions About Democracy Alexander Cockburn The CIA's New Campus Spies     January 25, 2005 Brian Cloughley Iraq as Disneyland Mike Roselle Satan is My Co-Pilot Josh Frank / Merlin Chowkwanyun The War on Civil Liberties John Chuckman Freedom on Steroids Paul Craig Roberts A Party Without Virtue Dr. Teresa Whitehurst The Intolerance of Christian Conservatives James Petras The US / Colombia Plot Against Venezuela Website of the Day Lowbaggers for the Environment     January 24, 2005 Fred Gardner Last Monologue in Burbank Lori Berenson On the Politicization of My Case Uri Avnery King George January 22 / 23, 2005 Jennifer Van Bergen / Ray Del Papa Nuclear Incident in Montana Alexander Cockburn Prince Harry's Travails Jeffrey St. Clair The Company That Runs the Empire: Lockheed and Loaded Stan Goff The Spectacle Saul Landau Nothing Succeeds Like Failure Gary Leupp Official Madness and the Coming War on Iran Fred Gardner Is GW Getting the Runaround? Phil Gasper Clemency Denied: the Politics of Death in California Stanley Heller A Kill-Happy Government: Connecticut Chooses Death Greg Moses The Heart of Texas: an Inauguration Day Betrayal on Civil Rights Justin Taylor The Folk-Histories of John Ross Daniel Burton-Rose One China; Many Problems Elaine Cassel Try a Little Tyranny: Questions While Watching the Inaugural Mike Whitney Failing Upwards: the Rise of Michael Chertoff Mark L. Berenson My Daughter Has Been Wrongly Imprisoned Christopher Brauchli It Doesn't Compute: a $170 Million Mistake Gilad Atzmon Zionism and Other Marginal Thoughts Niranjan Ramakrishnan Day of the Rats Mark Donham The Secret Messages of Rahm Emmanuel Ben Tripp Adventures in Online Dating Walter Brasch Hollywood's Patriots: Soulless Kooks, Mr. Bush? Poets' Basement Wuest, Landau, Ford, Albert & Drum     January 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff A Great American Journalist: John L. Hess (1917-2005) Sharon Smith The Anti-War Movement and the Iraqi Resistance Don Santina Baseball, Racism and Steroid Hysteria Ron Jacobs Locked Out and Pissed Off: Protesting the Bush Inauguration Kurt Nimmo The Problem with Mike Ruppert Don Monkerud Once They Were Cults: Bush's Faith-Based Social Services Alan Farago Swimming Home from the Galapagos Derek Seidman An Interview with Army Medic and Anti-War Activist Patrick Resta       January 20, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Dying for Sycophants William Cook The Bush Inauguration: A Mock Epic Fertility Rite Joshua Frank The Democrats and Iran: Look Who's Backing Bush's Next Eric Ruder Why Andres Raya Snapped: Another Casualty of Bush's War Mike Whitney Coronation in a Garrison State Robert Jensen A Citizens Oath of Office Peter Rost Bush Report on Drug Imports: Good Data, Bad Conclusions David Underhill Is It Torture Yet?: the Eclectic Fool Aid Torture Test James Reiss Adieu, Colin Powell: Pea Soup in Foggy Bottom CounterPunch Staff Voices from Abu Ghraib: the Injured Party       January 19, 2005 Marta Russell Social Security Privatization & Disability: 8 Million at Risk Mike Ferner Marines Stretching Movement: Protesting Urban Warfare in Toledo Nancy Oden The Nuremberg Principles, Iraq and Torture Tony Paterson A Catalogue of British Abuses in Iraq Dave Lindorff Bush's Divide-and-Conquer Plan to Destroy Social Security Doug Giebel BS and CBS: When 60 Minutes Helped Promote WMD Fantasies Alexander Cockburn Will Bush Quit Iraq?       January 18, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts How Americans Were Seduced by War: Empire and Militant Christianity Jennifer Van Bergen Federal Judge: Abu Ghraib Abuses Result of Decision to Ignore Geneva Conventions Douglas Lummis It's a No Brainer; Send Graner: a Rap for Our Time Ron Jacobs Syria Back in the Crosshairs? Seth DeLong Enter the Dragon: Will Washington Tolerate a Venezuelan-Chinese Oil Pact? Lance Selfa Stolen Election?: Most Democrats Didn't Even Bother to Inquire Paul D. Johnson Mystery Meat: a Right-to-Know About Food Origins Elisa Salasin An Open Letter to Jenna Bush, Future Teacher     January 17, 2005 Heather Gray Misconceptions About King's Methods for Social Change Robert Fisk Hotel Room Journalism: the US Press in Iraq Dave Lindorff What the NYT Death Chart Omitted: Civilians Slaughtered by US Military Jason Leopold Sam Bodman's Smokestacks: Bush's Choice for Energy Czar is One of Texas's Worst Polluters Gary Leupp A Message from the Iraqi Resistance Douglas Valentine An Act of State? the Execution of Martin Luther King Harvey Arden Welcome to Leavenworth: My First Encounter with Leonard Peltier Greg Moses King and the Christian Left: Where Lip Service is Not an Option   January 15 / 16, 2005 James Petras The Kidnapping of a Revolutionary Robert Fisk Flying Carpet Airlines: My Return to Baghdad Ron Jacobs Unfit for Military Service Brian Cloughley Smack Daddies of the Hindu Kush: Afghanistan's Drug Bonanza Fred Gardner The Allowable-Quantity Expert Dr. Susan Block The Counter-Inaugural Ball: Eros Day, 2005 John Ross Zapatista Literary Llife Suzan Mazur Unspooking Frank Carlucci M. Shahid Alam America's New Civilizing Mission Frederick B. Hudson Jack Johnson's Real Opponent: "That I Was a Man" Mike Whitney Bush's Grand Plan: Incite Civil War in Iraq Tom Crumpacker A Constitutional Right to Travel to Cuba Bob Burton The Other Armstrong Williams Scandal John Callender La Conchita and the Indomitable 82-Year Old Lila Rajiva Christian Zionism Saul Landau An Imperial Portrait: a Visit to Hearst's Castle Doug Soderstrom A Touch of Evil: the Morality of Neoconservatism Poets' Basement Davies, Louise, Landau, Albert, Collins and Laymon     January 14, 2005 Robert Fisk "The Tent of Occupation" Lee Sustar Bush's Social Security Con Job José M. Tirado The Christians I Know Dave Zirin The Legacy of Jack Johnson Sheldon Rampton Calling John Rendon: a True Tale of "Military Intelligence" Tracy McLellan Under the Influence Yves Engler The Dictatorship of Debt: the World Bank and Haiti Tom Barry Robert Zoellick: a Bush Family Man Website of the Day Ryan for the Nobel Prize?     January 13, 2005 Mark Chmiel / Andrew Wimmer Hearts and Minds, Revisited Joe DeRaymond The Salvador Option: Terror, Elections and Democracy Greg Moses Every Hero a Killer?...Not Dave Lindorff The Great WMD Fraud: Time for an Accounting Jorge Mariscal Dr. Galarza v. Alberto Gonzales: Which Way for Latinos? Christopher Brauchli Gonzales and the Death Penalty: the Executioner Never Sleeps Gary Leupp "Fighting for the Work of the Lord": Christian Fascism in America     January 12, 2005 Robert Fisk Fear Stalks Baghdad Josh Frank The Farce of the DNC Contest Jack Random Casualties of War: the Untold Stories John Roosa Aceh's Dual Disasters: the Tsunami and Military Rule Carol Norris In the Wake of the Tsunami Mike Whitney Pink Slips at CBS Alan Farago Can the Everglades be Saved? Paul Craig Roberts What's Our Biggest Problem in Iraq...the Insurgency or Bush?     January 11, 2005 Tom Barry The US isn't "Stingy"; It's Strategic: Aid as a Weapon of Foreign Policy James Hodge and Linda Cooper Voice of the Voiceless: Father Roy Bourgeois and the School of the the Americas Linda S. Heard Farah Radio Break Down: Joseph Farah's Messages of Hate and Homophobia Derrick O'Keefe Electoral Gigolo?: Richard Gere and the Occupied Vote Gila Svirsky A Tale of Two Elections Harry Browne Irish "Peace Process", RIP   January 10, 2005 Ramzy Baroud Faith-Based Disasters: Tsunami Aid and War Costs Talli Nauman Killing Journalists: Mexico's War on a Free Press Uri Avnery Sharon's Monologue Dave Lindorff Tucker Carlson's Idiot Wind Dave Zirin Randy Moss's Moondance Dave Silver Left Illusions About the Democratic Party Charles Demers Plan Salvador for Iraq: Death Squads Come in Waves William A. Cook Causes and Consequences: Bush, Osama and Israel     January 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Say, Waiter, Where's the Blood in My Margarita Glass? John H. Summers Chomsky and Academic History Greg Moses Getting Real About the Draft Walter A. Davis Bible Says: the Psychology of Christian Fundamentalism Victor Kattan The EU and Middle East Peace John Bolender The Plight of Iraq's Mandeans Robert Fisk The Politics of Lebanon Fred Gardner Situation NORML Joe Bageant The Politics of the Comfort Zone Mickey Z. I Want My DDT: Little Nicky Kristof Bugs Out Ben Tripp CounterClockwise Evolution Ron Jacobs Elvis and His Truck: Out on Highway 61 Saul Landau Sex and the Country Rep. Cynthia McKinney Time to End the Blackout Ellen Cantarow NPR's Distortions on Palestine Richard Oxman Bageantry Continued Poets' Basement Gaffney, Landau, Albert, Collins January 7, 2005 Omar Barghouti Slave Sovereignty: Elections Under Occupation Kent Paterson The Framing of Felipe Arreaga: Another Mexican Environmentalist Arrested Niranjan Ramakrishnan Old Vijay Merchant and the Tsunami David Krieger Cancel the Inauguration Parties Gideon Levy New Year, Old Story Dave Lindorff Ohio Protest: First Shot Fired by Congressional Progressives Christopher Brauchli Privatizing the IRS Roger Burbach / Paul Cantor Bush, the Pentagon and the Tsunami     January 6, 2005 Brian J. Foley Gonzales: Supporting Torture is not His Greatest Sin Greg Moses Boot Up America!: Gen. Helmly's Memo Leaks New Bush Deal Petras / Chomsky An Open Letter to Hugo Chavez Alan Maass The Decline of the Dollar Dave Lindorff Colin Powell's Selective Sense of Horror Jenna Orkin The EPA and a Dirty Bomb: 9/11's Disastrous Precedent P. Sainath The Tsunami and India's Coastal Poor     January 5, 2005 Alan Farago 2004: An Environmental Retrospective Winslow T. Wheeler Oversight Detected?: Sen. McCain and the Boeing Tanker Scam Jean-Guy Allard Gary Webb: a Cuban Perspective Fred Gardner Strutting, Smirking, As If The Mad Plan Was Working David Swanson Albert Parsons on the Gallows Richard Oxman The Joe Bageant Interview Bruce Jackson Death on the Living Room Floor       January 4, 2005 Michael Ortiz Hill Mainlining Apocalypse Elaine Cassel They Say They Can Lock You Up for Life Without a Trial Yoram Gat The Year in Torture Martin Khor Tragic Tales and Urgent Tasks from the Tsunami Disaster Gary Leupp Death and Life in the Andaman Islands   January 3, 2005 Ron Jacobs The War Hits Home Dave Lindorff Is There a Single Senator Who Will Stand Up for Black Voters? Mike Whitney The Guantanamo Gulag Joshua Frank Greens and Republicans: Strange Bedfellows Maria Tomchick Playing Politics with Disaster Aid Rhoda and Mark Berenson Our Daughter Lori: Another Year of Grave Injustice David Swanson The Media and the Ohio Recount Kathleen Christison Patronizing the Palestinians     January 1 / 2, 2005 Gary Leupp Earthquakes and End Times, Past and Present Rev. William E. Alberts On "Moral Values": Code Words for Emerging Authoritarian Tendencies M. Shahid Alam Testing Free Speech in America Stan Goff A Period for Pedagogy Brian Cloughley Bush and the Tsunami: the Petty and the Petulant Sylvia Tiwon / Ben Terrall The Aftermath in Aceh Ben Tripp Requiem for 2004 Greg Moses A Visible Future? Steven Sherman The 2004 Said Awards: Books Against Empire Sean Donahue The Erotics of Nonviolence James T. Phillips The Beast's Belly David Krieger When Will We Ever Learn Poets' Basement Soderstrom, Hamod, Louise and Albert         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                                     Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con! 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Weekend Edition February 5 / 6, 2005 Ad Hoc Interventions? Bush, Rice and Latin America By LAURA CARLSEN In her January 18 confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sec. of State-designate Condoleezza Rice asserted that the Western Hemisphere is "extremely critical" to the United States. "With our close neighbors in Latin America we are working to realize the vision of a fully democratic hemisphere bound by common values and free trade." While it's heartening to see that Latin America has made it onto the map of the Bush administration's foreign policy, there is little reason to expect policy toward the region to change or deepen in the next four years. More likely, with all eyes on the Middle East , the region will remain an arena for ad hoc crisis intervention, with Cuba and Colombia as opposite focal points. Does Latin America Matter? Latin American countries have faded from focus since the September 11 th attacks on the World Trade Center . While little has been said about the region's significance in contemporary geopolitics, even less has been said about what short- and long-term policies could feasibly lead to more integrated but less economically and politically polarized hemisphere. Latin American countries have been forging a new role over the past few years. They have already consolidated surprising leadership on issues of international trade, finance, and regional economic integration. Since the formation of the Group of 21 at the 5 th Ministerial of the World Trade Organization in Cancun in 2003, Brazil has adopted the role of trade reformer. Its principal banner is to reduce farm subsidies in the United States and Europe . Argentina 's insistence on stabilizing its economy before paying off creditors has made the country a maverick in financial communities and an unsung hero for many other nations facing stifling foreign debts. The Latin American region has also become a global leader in questioning other aspects of the neoliberal model of economic integration. The list of national battles over privatization plans grows daily. Privatization of services, promoted in U.S. free trade agreements and adjustment programs has recently become a lightening rod for discontent in Latin America . Bolivian civil society has two major victories on water under its belt: against Bechtel in Cochabamba (2004) and with the cancellation of the contract with Suez in El Alto/La Paz (January 2005). Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Uruguay, and El Salvador have also rejected privatizations. The Community of South American Nations founded on January 9, 2005 may be mostly symbolic, but it should be viewed as a statement of independence with respect to the Bush administration's assumption of regional hegemony. The new multilateral forum should also be viewed in the political context of the leftward shift in the Southern Cone. In recent elections, Uruguay elected a president from the leftist Broad Front, the Workers Party (PT) in Brazil made significant gains, Hugo Chávez consolidated power in Venezuela , and other center-left organizations gained on the municipal level. This, of course, isn't exactly the kind of leadership the Bush administration wanted to see coming from its Southern flank. But it reflects deeply felt contradictions within Latin American societies and at the same time offers a serious challenge to U.S. policymakers to adopt more flexible and reality-based positions. Ideological Offensive, Policy Vacuum The second Bush administration appears unlikely to rise to the challenge. Before the Senate foreign relations committee, Rice reiterated positions put forth during the first administration. She reaffirmed the clampdown on Cuba and severely criticized Venezuela 's Hugo Chávez. Brazil was cited as a critical partner, Mexico viewed as key to strengthening the global competitiveness of the NAFTA bloc, the Andean countries heralded as "a vital region with a lot of potential," and Colombia 's Uribe government praised as a model of successful cooperation. But the main message of the incoming Secretary of State was that the criteria for U.S. involvement around the world will be largely the promotion of "freedom and democracy." In this way, Rice presaged President Bush's inaugural address, which promised a crusade for freedom across the globe, leaving in the dust predictions of a more isolationist United States . This reinforced agenda unfortunately fails to define the terms "freedom" or "democracy," much less the policies to back them up. In Latin America, phrases like "America's influence is considerable and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause" sound ominous. The neighboring superpower has a track record for sponsoring repression and intervention cloaked in similar rhetoric. Moreover, the kind of engagement envisioned by the second Bush administration espouses lofty principles but shows little commitment to grappling with the pressing problems that exist in the region. Terrorism remains at the top of U.S. security concerns, when the term rarely even figures on lists of priorities for the other nations of the hemisphere. In Colombia , the battle lines have been drawn against "narco-terrorism"--a questionable category that conflates the drug war with counter-insurgency efforts in a general campaign that has raised serious questions of human rights violations. Cuba remains on the list of state terrorists, despite no evidence that the Cuban government has ties to international terrorism. Latin American governments, meanwhile, face daunting challenges of poverty, economic inequality, urban violence, and massive displacement. All these require U.S. support for domestic policies that have little or nothing to do with the "War on Terrorism" (now "Tyranny"), or free trade. In addition to these long-term challenges, the United States is already deep into policy conflicts with individual nations that require immediate, negotiated solutions. In Mexico , the issue is immigration. In the United States , the issue is treated by restrictionists, corporate interests, and pro-immigrant groups as a political hot potato. But in Mexico, fair treatment of immigrants is regarded by all sectors as a measure of the government's ability to protect its people and a weather vane for binational relations. In Brazil-U.S. relations, the issue of U.S. farm subsidies remains in the center of the table. The Lula government has made it clear that it will not negotiate an FTAA without a commitment to subsidy reductions. No such commitment has been forthcoming from the Bush government. The Bush government has offered no concrete proposals to these sticky issues. In fact, beyond the counter-terrorist agenda, there still is no evidence of any coherent policy toward the region that takes into account real problems and the need for two-sided dialogue.   The "Freedom" Lens In this context, Latin American policy is likely to be a series of reactions, punctuated by a few pet projects, especially Plan Colombia . This lack of an overall policy--and particularly the absence of concern over deepening poverty and inequality--could have profoundly negative effects. Such a disjointed and disoriented policy perspective leaves policymakers without tools for interpreting growing protest in the region. Generally treated as problems of "governance" by the Washington elite on both sides of the aisle, demands to maintain public services and assert more local and national control over natural resources cannot be dismissed as "populism" or mob hysteria, but in most cases represent organized expressions of public will. The "freedom" lens that defines governments as good and bad along a single, invisible axis, renders these demonstrations of public will incomprehensible. In a refrain well-known from the days of the Central American conflicts, the Bush administration tends to accuse third parties of outside manipulation before acknowledging popular discontent with policies favored by the United States . This political short-sightedness leads to a serious underestimation of the breadth and depth of the indigenous movements in the Andes, for example.   The Second-Round Team The new team being put together for the second Bush term leaves little reason to foresee the emergence of a more coherent policy agenda for Latin America . Condoleezza Rice brings a marked lack of experience in Western Hemisphere affairs to her post. Her training in Cold War mentality feeds into the president's messianic vision of foreign policy to create a dangerous tendency to prejudge events. Rice's refusal to condemn the thwarted coup in Venezuela raises concerns that in certain circumstances she places ideological objectives over rule of law.2 At a time when most Latin American countries seek to consolidate democratic institutions, basic governance depends in large part on the United States respecting internal processes. The appointment of Robert Zoellick as Under-Secretary of State also does not bode well for Latin America. Zoellick's crusade for the free trade model and corporate privileges has caused him to dig in when the U.S. should have been negotiating. The WTO ministerial in Cancun broke down due to the combined intransigence of Zoellick's team and the European Union's Pascal Lamy,4 and talks over the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas have arrived at a stalemate due to the same intransigence. Zoellick's style of trade negotiation has been characterized by a hard-line unconditionality combined with personal arrogance. Brazilians still smart over his 2002 remark that if the country didn't like the FTAA offered by the United States it could always head south, to trade with Antarctica . Much to Zoellick's chagrin, that is exactly what Brazil is doing. Bypassing the penguins, Brazil has sought to form alliances with Southern countries both in the Americas and on other continents. In so doing it seeks to improve its bargaining position--and that of other developing countries--in trade negotiations. The formation of the Community of South American Nations and the association of Andean nations to Mercosur both form steps along the path of alternative regional integration. At the same time, Zoellick has openly favored breaking down resistance to U.S. agendas by choosing bilateral negotiations over multilateral institutions.5 In this way, the U.S. trade negotiator hopes to bulldoze through some issues that are highly sensitive--including farm subsidies--for developing countries in the region. Zoellick has made rhetorical allusions to subsidy reduction while refusing to budge in practice. Other sensitive trade issues include a reticence on the part of many governments and civil society groups to grant so-called "investor rights" as established in Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Many of these "protections" border on the absurd, including not only liberal expropriation compensation but compensation for future earnings for cancelled projects. Intellectual property rights that outlaw state programs for treatment with generic drugs have also raised protests, especially in Brazil , where successful control of the HIV-AIDS pandemic is based on access to generic drugs. Washington 's insistence on including all these issues as a package deal in free trade negotiations will undoubtedly continue, leading to more friction with Southern trade partners.   Policies that Divide or Unite Democracy, freedom, and good governance are undoubtedly shared goals in the hemisphere. The recent, reinvigorated activity of truth commissions and courts to prosecute human rights violations committed under dictatorships is proof of reinvigorated democracy, the end of impunity, and a new era of responsibility. Ironically, as the Bush administration proposes these principles as the guidelines for foreign policy, the U.S. government appears repeatedly on the wrong side of these cases. Its at-least tacit acceptance of repression under Operation Condor, and its role with Central American death squads and contra forces, have generated long-term resentments in the region. Recommending application of a "Salvadoran solution" in Iraq6 or placing indicted criminals like <http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/abrams/abrams.php>Elliott Abrams7 in high-level State Department posts rubs salt in old wounds. To move toward a united hemisphere capable of guaranteeing mutual security and well-being, the United States needs a policy toward Latin America that learns from--rather than repeats--past mistakes. Despite differences of opinion, the dynamism and innovation in Latin American politics today provides a source of hope. Urgent tasks remain to consolidate democratic institutions, foster grassroots alternatives, and channel movements for change. Decades of experience have disproved the theorems that democracy and development flow naturally from the center to the periphery. The model is even more unlikely to apply to "freedom." Imposed freedom is an oxymoron. As in other parts of the world, Latin America 's freedom will depend on its people and U.S. policy must be sensitive to the needs and challenges determined through strong democratic processes in those societies. Laura Carlsen is Director of the Americas Program for Interhemispheric Resource Center. She holds a BA in Social Thought and Institutions (1980) from Stanford University and an MA in Latin American Studies (1986) from Stanford. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the impact of the Mexican economic crisis on women in 1986 and has since lived in Mexico City. She can be reached at: laura@irc-online.org WWW http://www.counterpunch.org