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What You're Missing in Our Subscriber-only CounterPunch Newsletter Blood Diamonds: the Inside Story An amazing expose by T.R. Naylor: How the "Blood" or "Conflict Diamonds" Myth peddled by NGOs Helped a Vicious Mining Company Shore Up Its Monopoly, Made a Pile of Money for A Washington Post Reporter and Leonardo di Caprio, Served As A Propaganda Myth in the "War on Terror" and had Nothing to Do With Osama Bin Laden. Pinochet is gone, and the world is a cleaner place. JoAnn Wypijewski recalls 1988 in Santiago, when Chile lost its fear. And yes, here they are in charge of Congress again, ready to facilitate a troop hike in Iraq. Alexander Cockburn re-introduces an old acquaintance: the Democrats--Party of War. 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 towards the cost of this online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now Get CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year

Today's Stories January 10, 2007 Robert Fantina Punishing Deserters: Prosecution or Persecution? January 9, 2007 R. T. Naylor The Somalian Labyrinth Jonathan Cook Israel's Purging of Palestinian Christians Mike Ely and Linda Flores The Smithfield Strikers: No Longer Hidden, No Longer Hiding Joshua Frank The Democrats and Iran: More Bellicose Than Bush Norman Solomon The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse Sen. Russell Feingold An Open Letter to President Bush: So Now You Want to Snoop Through Our Mail? Joe Allen Justice for the Omaha Two: Black Power, Racism and COINTELPRO in the Heartland James T. Phillips "Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate": The Hell That is Iraq Brian Concannon Resolutions for Haiti Leonard Peltier When the Truth Doesn't Matter: 30 Years of FBI Harassment and Misconduct Website of the Day Kick Out the Jams, MFers!: Meet the New RRC   January 8, 2007 Werther Why We Fight Jeff Leys The Occupation Project: a Campaign of Civil Disobedience to End Iraq War Funding Paul Craig Roberts Nuking Iran Shulamit Aloni Israeli Apartheid: Sorry, This Road is For Jews Only Dave Lindorff The Party of Invertebrates Reverts to Form Sunsara Taylor The Democrats' First Day: Same As It Ever Was Seth Sandronsky Syndicated Error: George Will and the Minimum Wage Dr. Susan Block Baghdad Cockfight Ends in Snuff Film Website of the Day Watch CounterPuncher Sunsara Taylor Take on Bill O'Reilly! January 6 / 7, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The War and the NYT Franklin C. Spinney Stalingrad on the Tigris Paul Craig Roberts The Urge to Surge Ralph Nader Democrats in the Spotlight Walden Bello Globalization in Retreat? Marleen Martin The Needle and the Damage Done: Tortured in the Death Chamber Brian Cloughley We Do What We Like: Return Our Rapist or Else ... Uri Avnery The Kiss of Death Saul Landau Fidel Castro in the Fields Ron Jacobs From Cointelpro to the Patriot Act: a Legacy of Torture Joseph Nevins Crimes Against Humanity from Ford to Saddam William S. Lind A State Restored? Somalia and 4GW Gary Leupp Attention John Conyers: Impeach the President! Elisa Salasin Bringing Life to Numbers George Ciccariello-Maher Beyond Chavistas and Anti-Chavistas: Deepening the Bolivarian Revolution Stefan Wray Confronting Recruiters: the Story of the Bush Street Raiders Michael Leonardi Toward an International Moratorium: Italy's Crusade Against the Death Penalty Richard Rhames Reality TV: Triumph of the Thugs Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Barbara LaMorticella Two Poems Website of the Weekend FBI Witch Hunts Song of the Weekend End Times: a Soundtrack January 5, 2007 Jorge Mariscal Growing the Military: Who Will Serve? John Walsh Clash of the Elites: Beltway Insiders vs. Neo-Cons! Christopher Brauchli The Great Relaxer: Bush and Federal Regulations Travis Sharpe No More New Nukes, Please Tom Barry Hawk for Hire: Roger Noriega's New Gig Linda Schade / Kevin Zeese Americans Voted for Peace: Has the New Congress Already Let Them Down? Tiffany Ten Eyck Workers' Centers and Unions: a New Alliance Mahmoud El-Yousseph A Challenge to Pelosi Lucinda Marshall 3003 Funerals: "And They're Still Burying Ford!" Website of the Day Van the Man: Warm Love January 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The Martyrdom of Saddam Hussein Winslow T. Wheeler A Guide to Earmarks: Will the Democrats' Reforms Do Anything to Curb Pork Barrel Spending? M. Shahid Alam Has Regime Change Boomeranged? Raed Jarrar So This is Plan B? The US Attack on Saleh Al-Mutlaq's Headquarters Bert Sacks Can the US Legally Kill Iraqi Children?: a Challenge to the Supreme Court Kathy Rentenbach Report from Oaxaca Stephen Fleischman The Rain of Riches: Bonuses, Then and Now George Bisharat Carter's Truths Peter Rost, MD Hail the Hangman, Jail the Cameraman! Evelyn Pringle Can Eli Lilly be Held Criminally Liable for Zyprexa? Website of the Day Courage to Resist   January 3, 2007 Kathy Kelly Wrapped Around a Bullet Paul Craig Roberts His Last Hurrah: Bush Cuts and Runs from Reason William Johnson No Worker is Illegal: SEIU Members Push Their Union to Change Its Policy on Immigration Stan Cox Under a Brown Cloud: Money vs. the Monsoon Trita Parsi A Lose-Lose Situation with Iran Declan McKenna Ireland's Slavish Hostility Toward Cuba Joe Bageant Dispatch from the Chinese Landfill Nicola Nasser Somalia: New Hotbed of Anti-Americanism Missy Beattie Dead Wrong Website of the Day Pharmed Out January 2, 2007 Michael Watts Oil Inferno Amina Mire Return of the Warlords: Death and Destruction for Somalis James Brooks Pushing the Wedge in Palestine Alevtina Rea The Tyrant is Dead! Long Live ... ? Al Krebs Global Food Security: a Call to Action Peter Rost Invitation to a Hanging: the Saddam Hussein Execution Video Niranjan Ramakrishnan A Deadly December John Stanton Appetites for Destruction Website of the Day Out Now: Petition   January 1, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Iron Man, Tin God: the Meaning of Saddam Hussein Uri Avnery What Makes Sammy Run? Joshua Frank Eliot Spitzer's Constitutional Hang Up: Architect of New York's Patriot Act   December 30 / 31, 2006 Weekend Edition Alexander Cockburn 2006, Hard to Call It Vintage, But 2007 Could Finally Be Bobby Byrd's Year Patrick Cockburn Iraq 2006: a Nation Soaked in Blood Tears Itself Apart Paul Wolf Dying for Our Sins: A Lawyer for Saddam Describes How His Execution on the First of Eid May Transform Him Into a Martyr Manuel Garcia, Jr. Executing Saddam, Protecting the Rackets Tariq Ali Saddam at the End of a Rope Paul Craig Roberts The New Dark Age: Official Lies, Dogma and Unaccountable Power Douglas Valentine At the End of My Rope: Hanging With Saddam Brian M. Downing The New Iraq Policy: Escalation Michael Donnelly Injustice in Black and White: the Duke Non-Rape Case Stephen Lendman Did Sharon Order the Assassination of Arafat? The Revelations of Uri Dan Fred Gardner Comes Now the Ghost of "Decrim:" Nixon and Marijuana Bailly / Caudron / Lambert Who Owns Ikea?: the Opaque Legacy of Ingvar Kamprad Ralph Nader The Prospects for Progressive Politics Nick Dearden The War on Terror Hits Africa Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg The Third Degree: an Interview with AC Thompson on the Origins of the CIA's Secret Rendition Flights Missy Beattie In Harm's Way: How Our National Coward Describes War Ron Jacobs Sigh of the Oppressed: Religion and Politics Dan La Botz Defend Illegal Immigrants: Help Them! Harbor Them! Andrew Wimmer An Act of Contrition: the Peace Movement in 2007 Dr. Carol Wolman, MD Psychiatrist: Impeach Bush for Good of Country Martha Rosenberg New Year's Resolutions for Big Pharma Dick J. Reavis News Before It Happens: Bush's 2007 MLK Day Speech Jeffrey St. Clair Listening to James Brown and His Followers Poets' Basement Grima, Curtis, Davies, Orloski and Engel Website of the Weekend Charlie Fowler's Photolog: a Life at Altitude Music Video of the Weekend "We're Winning the War on Drugs!" December 29, 2006 Bill Quigley A Tale of Two Sisters: Why is HUD Spending Tens of Millions in Katrina Money to Bulldoze 4,534 Public Housing Apartments in New Orleans? Norman Finkelstein The Dershowitz Treatment John Borowski Curb Your Environmentalism: Laurie David and Me Abid Mustafa The Re-Talibanization of Afghanistan Greg Moses World Responds to Palestinian Family's Jailing Despite Media Blackout Uri Cohen Stand Up for Herod: a Seasonal Story of Ancient Palestine Bailly / Caudron / Lambert The Secrets in Ikea's Closet Website of the Day Justice for New Orleans   December 28, 2006 Norman Finkelstein The Ludicrous Attacks on Jimmy Carter's Book Anthony Cowell Highway Robbery: Privatizing New Jersey's Toll Roads John Ross Gateway to the Next Mexican Revolution? Hilaria Cruz I'm Going to Stay Right Here: Story of a Oaxacan Prisoner Greg Moses Palestinian Immigrant Jailings in Texas Brittany Bond The Blood Trail of Luis Posada Carriles, Washington's Preferred Terrorist Website of the Day Godfather of Soul and Father of Funk   December 27, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Farewell to Our Greatest President: Adieu, Gerald Ford Faruq Ziada Is There a Sunni Majority in Iraq? Christopher Brauchli Burning EPA's Books: What They Don't Want You to Read Might Save Your Life Michael Ortiz Hill Journey to Vietnam: Dare We Not Say Genocide? Nikolas Kozloff Saving Caracas Mark Schneider Why Hope? Reasons for Optimism December 26, 2006 Peter Stone Brown James Brown: Please Don't Go Tito Tricot Chile: the Ghosts of Torture Gary Leupp Cowboys Differ on Iran Attack: Cheney/Bush vs. the Baker Commission John V. Walsh Dershowitz vs. Carter in Beantown: Peace Movement AWOL, Again Reza Fiyouzat Red Christmas: Why Santa Was Hot in China This Year Ron Jacobs The Golem: a Conversation with Marc Estrin Website of the Day JB: Prisoner of Love December 25, 2006 Saul Landau A Jeep Trip with Fidel Lang / McGovern To Surge or Not to Surge? Michael Dickinson Should Stupid Thoughts Be Crimes?: Deny Santa If You Will, But ... Website of the Day James Brown, RIP December 23 / 24, 2006 Marjorie Cohn What's Going On? Jeffrey L. Gould The Capital of Salvadoran Memory: El Mozote After 25 Years Diane Christian The Rape of Iraq William Loren Katz From the Raid on "Fort Negro" to Iraq: Lessons from the First US Invasion Greg Moses This War Can't be Made Right by Winning M. Shahid Alam An Islamic Civil War: Chaos by Design? Fred Gardner Exposé as Inoculant: HRT, Zyprexa, Lilly and the Press Dave Lindorff Crime of the Century Azmi Bishara Ways of Denial Ralph Nader The BCS: a Monopoly on College Football Seth Sandronsky Fiscally Imperiled Social Security? William Hughes Cop Assaults Activists at Lockheed Protest Ron Jacobs Making Stones Weep Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to on New Year's Eve   December 22, 2006 David Rosen Bush's Foreign Sex Policy: Imperialism's Second Front Christopher Brauchli When the Secret is the Question: Secret Prisons, Top Secret Interrogations John Ross Flashlights in the Tunnel of Hate J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Political Sell-Outs in Black and White Rahul Mahajan Dennis Kucinich: Maverick or Stalking Horse? Arthur Neslen Provoking Civil War in the Occupied Territories Peter Rost, MD The Secrets of His Success: Fired Pfizer CEO Walks Away with $198 Million Website of the Day 10 Ways to Change the World in 2007 December 21, 2006 Rosa Mariam Elizalde An Interview with Gore Vidal: "I am Jealous of Cuba" Arundhati Roy Breaking the News Brian Cloughley Poppies Rising: Afghanistan's Drug Catastrophe Daniel White Jimmy Carter in Austin: Time to Come Clean on the Shoot Down of That Itavia DC-9 John V. Whitbeck On Israel's Right to Exist Sam Smith Still Smearing Ralph Nader for 2000 Paris Reidhead GM Ice Cream: Something's Fishy in Your Good Humor Bar Kevin Wehr Denying Disaster: Katrina and the Case for Impeachment Website of the Day Pesticides and Amphibians: a Vital New Database December 20, 2006 Gabriel Kolko Rumsfeld and the American Way of War Winslow T. Wheeler The Pentagon Measures the Chaos in Iraq Tariq Ali The War is Lost Saree Makdisi Israel, Apartheid and Jimmy Carter Bruce Jackson Saying "Oh!": John Mohawk and the Power to Make Peace Dave Lindorff Democrats Walk Into a Bush Trap on Iraq Leslie Radford The Winter Harvest of the South Central Farmers Dave Jansson Divided We Stand, United We Fall: Secessionists Confront the Empire Johnny Barber Jesus is a Terrorist Website of the Day Is It for Freedom? December 19, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Democrats Prepare to Fund Longer War Jonathan Cook End of the Strongmen Greg Moses Globalized Gulag: Palestinian Refugees and Children Held in Hutto, TX Jail Sean Penn Georgie, There's a Crowd Downstairs Dave Lindorff Innocents Abroad: Cracking Down on Gitmo Detainees Despite Overwhelming Evidence Most Are Not Terrorists Ralph Nader Going Postal Laura Carlsen Latin America's Pink Tide? Carlos Villarreal The Well is Poisoned: Victory Requires an Immediate Pull-Out Website of the Day Chuck Spinney on the Pentagon December 18, 2006 Luis J. Rodriguez En Lak Ech: Chicanos, Mayans and Mel Gibson Norman Solomon Washington Refuses to End the War: Powell, Baker, Hamilton--Thanks for Nothing! Uri Avnery Lebanon: War Without a Plan Ron Jacobs More Troops, More Body Bags Phil Gasper Afghanistan: Bush's Other War Unravels Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi Iran's Elections: The World Isn't Florida and Bush Isn't Its Supreme Leader William Blum The United States of Punishment Jim Goodman So What's the Big Deal If Wal-Mart Makes a Mistake? James Brooks Talking Surge: Let's Kill Some More Before We Go Maria C. Khoury Walking Into the Art World: Designing a Palestinian Academy for the Arts Website of the Day Got Powell December 16 / 17, 2006 Weekend Edition Vijay Prashad A Perilous Way to Socialism Saul Landau Filming Fidel Anthony Arnove The US Occupation of Iraq: Act III of a Tragedy of Many Parts Paul Cantor The Puppet and the Puppeteer: Pinochet and Kissinger Annie Nocenti Baluchistan's Fight: The Khan of Kalat Gathers the Tribes Nicole Colson Hard Times on the Killing Floor: Smithfield's Rotten Record Stephen Gowans Tehran's Holocaust Conference Jordan Flaherty A Catastrophic Failure: Foundations, Nonprofits and the Second Looting of New Orleans Fred Gardner Dustin Costa Faces 15 to Life P. Sainath There's No Such Thing as a Free Cow Seth Sandronsky The Democrats and Social Security: Watch What the Party Says and Does Nadia Hijab An AIPAC Shot Across Baker's Bow? Deb Reich Dear Santa, (Or Someone): Greetings from the Occupied Holy Lands Susie Day Cops Shoot Another Rich White Man! Albert Wan Why Does It Take 50 Bullets? Missy Beattie Will the Next Leader Stand Up? Please! Martha Rosenberg Kicking the Wyeth Habit Saves Women's Lives Lee Ballinger The Devil's Highway: Clinton, Border Checkpoints and the Deaths of the Yuma 14 Michael Dickinson Kingdom of Fear Jeffrey St. Clair Live/Evil: Listening to Miles Davis Poets' Basement Davies, Buknatski and Ford Website of the Weekend "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"   December 15, 2006 Eliza Ernshire Palestinian "Civil War" and the Israeli Chocolate Ration Virginia Tilley What Are You Going to Do Now, Israel? Mike Ferner Roll Call for the Choir: If They Vote for War, Occupy 'Em! John Ross Mad Mel's Mayan Apocalypse Fred Wilhelms The Flip Side of Ahmet Ertegun: Where Did You Get Those Shoes? Kevin Zeese Dennis Kucinich's Strange Mission: Can You Be a Real Anti-War Candidate in a Pro-War Party? David Severn Social Engineering Begins at Home: Jeffrey Skoll, Billionaire Philantropist Dave Lindorff Sen. Tim Johnson Death Watch: Senate Gridlock May Be Best Outcome Sunsara Taylor As American as Shopping and Torture Website of the Day June 2, 2004: When Iraq Was There For The Looting   December 14, 2006 Jonathan Cook The Recognition Trap Riz Khan An Interview with Jimmy Carter Jason Hribal Kasatka, the Sea World Orca Pennick / Gray The Plight of Black Farmers: Racism in the US Farm Program Richard Levins That Embezzled Anti-Castro Money Pat Williams The College Crisis: Universal Access, Student Loan Debts and Pell Grants Peter Rost, MD Simply Irresistible: Do Women Prefer Bad Boys? Website of the Day The Sound of Rummy   December 13, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Iraq is Beyond Repair Greg Moses The Dixie Chicks Come Home to Roost Elizabeth Schulte Hungry for the Holidays Joshua Frank Death By Coke Debra Eschmeyer Corporations Control Your Dinner Leon Hadar Baker's Rescue Mission: Too Little, Too Late Peter Rost, MD I've Been a Very Bad Boy Margaret Knapke Mow bé and Malachi, Presenté! Reza Fiyouzat Are Cows Free? Fred Wilhelms A Last Minute Appeal: If You Know One of These Musicians Let Them Know They Are Owed Money--By Friday! Website of the Day The Crimes of Augusto Pinochet December 12, 2006 Fernando A. Torres The Last Man of the Junta: an Open Letter to Kissinger from One of Pinochet's Political Prisoners Paul Craig Roberts America's Injustice System is Criminal Stephen Soldz Abusive Interrogations Uri Avnery Baker's Cake William S. Lind Knocking Opportunity: From Vulcans to Vultures in Iraq Missy Beattie Convicted for Our Convictions: Trespassing for Truth at the UN Dave Lindorff The 35-Year Long Scream: Torture, Impeachment and a Vietnam Vet's Tears George Pyle Our Perverse Farm Plan: Where Christmas Comes Every Five Years Norman Solomon Is the USA the Center of the World? Website of the Day Citizens' War Tribunal   December 11, 2006 Virginia Tilley Banning Mandela Roger Burbach The Condor Model: the Atrocities of Pinochet and the US Col. Douglas MacGregor There's Only One Option Left: Leave! Fawwas Traboulsi Lebanon on the Brink Ron Jacobs Death of a Pig: Poetic Justice for Pinochet Gideon Levy The Cruel Line into Gaza: Elbow to Elbow, Like Cattle Mary McGrane Burning Books at Harvard Law Bernardo Ruiz The Disappeared of Oaxaca: a Message from One of the Actors in Apocalypto Website of the Day La Cancion de la Unidad Video of the Day Killing Castro: Congresswoman as Contract Killer?   December 9 / 10, 2006 Weekend Edition Alexander Cockburn Liberal Consensus for More Troops in Iraq Sen. Gordon Smith Out of Iraq: Cut and Run or Cut and Walk Greg Grandin Jeane Kirkpatrick, Mid-Wife of the Neo-Cons Paul Craig Roberts How Many More Will Die for Bush's Ego? Col. Dan Smith The Vietnamization of Iraq: Inside the Military Training Program Ralph Nader The Man from NAM: John Engler's Trail of Destruction Behrooz Ghamari The Donkey and the Date: Iran's Upcoming Municipal Elections Rev. Willliam Alberts Doing Unto Others: Pastor Haggard and President Bush James T. Phillips The James Gang: "Did You Kill Her?" Bennis / Leaver A Bi-Partisan Occupation Dave Lindorff A Congress of Hucksters and Pipsqueaks Nikolas Kozloff Robert Gates and Venezuela: Another Saber Rattler in Latin America Seth Sandronsky Activating White Racism Lucinda Marshall McKinney and Karpinsky: Silenced for Telling the Truth Mike Whitney Something's Gotta Give: James Baker vs. the Lobby John V. Whitbeck Recommendation No. 80 Faisal Kutty Is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Merely a Western Construct? Hugh Sansom Smearing Jimmy Carter: an Open Letter to the New York Times Robert Gold My South American Journey: Impunity in Colombia Boots Riley Crash and Burn: an Urgent Message from The Coup Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Engel & Buknatski Website of the Weekend Alive in Mexico December 8, 2006 Patrick Cockburn The Iraq Study Group's Cautious Appraisal Leutisha Stills Just How Progressive is the Congressional Black Caucus? Norman Finkelstein The Media Lynching of Jimmy Carter Will Youmans Mr. Lieberman Comes to Washington: Brookings Hosts an Ethnic Cleanser Peter Rost, MD What Went Wrong at Pfizer? Jonathan Demme My Friend Bruce Langhorne: a Great Musician Needs Your Help! Ray McGovern Senate Democrats Give Gates a Free Pass Lucinda Marshall What She Wore Tariq Ali / Robin Blackburn The Lost John Lennon Interview Website of the Day John Lennon's FBI Files   December 7, 2006 Alex Friedman Rev. Phelps' Hate-Fueled Fanatics Find a Home in the Kansas Prison Industry Maureen Webb Risk Scoring and the National Insecurity State Paul Craig Roberts Catastrophe Still Awaits Dave Lindorff Prosecutor Admits: Mumia Abu-Jamal Had "No True Defense" Matt Vidal Drug Pushers, Inc.: Power and Profit in the Legal Drug Trade Yifat Susskind Looking for a Few Good Principles: What Should be Done in Iraq Rodriguez / Jones NYPD's Death Squads: From Diallo to Sean Bell Website of the Day 2006, Remixed December 6, 2006 Robert Bryce Omitting the Obvious with James Baker: From the S&L Crisis to the Iraq Study Group William S. Lind The Boomerang Effect: When Will the First IED Strike Cincy? Zoe Blunt The Clearcut Truth About the Great Bear Rainforest Corporate Crime Reporter The New Conventional Wisdom: Prosecute Individuals, Not Corporations Amira Hass A Regrettable Indifference: Israel's Treatment of Palestinian Prisoners Richard W. Behan The Surreal Politics of Premeditated War Sophie McNeill Why Hezbollah is Broadcasting Sunday Mass December 5, 2006 Virginia Tilley Apartheid Israel: a Beacon of Hope? Sharon Smith The New Washington Consensus: Blame the Victims in Iraq Joe Bageant Somewhere a Banker Smiles Ron Jacobs A War Washington Can't Win Norman Solomon Media Consensus, Stay in Iraq! Mike Whitney Rumsfeld's Final Snowflake: "I Was Just About to Change Everything ... " Derrick O'Keefe Regimes Unchanged: Chavez's Victory Strengthen's Cuba Julian Assange The Road to Hanoi Missy Beattie Bush, the Unhappy Helmsman Website of the Day Lessons of Suez and Iraq   December 4, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Gaza and Darfur George Ciccariello-Maher Tears of the Escualidos: Election Diary, Venezuela Ray McGovern Lame Ducks, Hold That Nomination!: a CIA Insider's Take on Gates John Ross Repression on the Menu in Mexico Walden Bello Hurricane Milton: Friedman, Bayonets and Markets Peter Rost, MD Pfizer's Clueless Executives Stephen Lendman The Withering of the Bush Dynasty Gideon Levy This Ceasefire will Go Up in Flames Website of the Day The "Babes" of Hizbullah?   December 2 / 3, 2006 Weekend Edition Barucha Calamity Peller The Dirty War of Oaxaca Paul Craig Roberts Is Bush Sane?: When Denial Goes Pathological Ralph Nader The Big Boys of Financial Crime Winslow T. Wheeler Committee of Enablers: Is Gates Fit to Serve? Are the Senators? Amira Hass The Checkpoint Generation Maymanah Farhat Depoliticizing Arab Art: Christie's and the Rush to "Discover" the Arab World Dave Lindorff Fighting the Iraq War--At Home Fred Gardner Dr. Jimenez Defends His Practice Methods Col. Dan Smith The Semantics of Civil War Raed Jarrar Maliki's Monopoly of Power Seth Sandronsky US Prison Nation: Locking Up Surplus Labor K.-Y. Taylor The Bride Wore Black: the Shooting of Sean Bell and the Resurgence of American Racism Yifat Susskind Greed, Dogma and AIDS David Rosen Made in China: the Global Trade in Sex Toys Ron Jacobs All Hands on Deck!: the New Pirates of the Caribbean Nikolas Kozloff Venezuela Prepares to Vote Talli Nauman Fighting La Choya: the Secret Toxic Dump on the Border Alan Gregory Shadow Trout: Why Hatchery Fish Aren't Real Joe Allen RFK and Hollywood Mythmaking: Emilio Estevez's Beatification of Bobby Kennedy St. Clair / D'Antoni Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Davies, Engel, Ford and Orloski Website of the Day Demo for Oaxaca   December 1, 2006 Greg Grandin Midnight in Mexico: Calderón's Inauguration Behind Closed Doors Linn Washington, Jr. The Mumia Case After 25 Years: Still More Keystone Kops Antics George Ciccariello-Maher Sleeping with the Enemy: At Home with the Anti-Chavistas Brian J. Foley Taking Responsibility for Iraq Dave Zirin Rebel Athletes: Organizing the Jocks for Justice Joshua Frank The Montana Formula: Jon Tester's Neopopulism Chris Floyd Hideous Kinky: Thomas Friedman Comes Undone Ingmar Lee Atomic Porker Strikes Indian Point Nuke Plant Manuel Garcia, Jr. Dark Fire: the Fall of WTC 7 Website of the Day No Gun Ri Revisited Video of the Day Drunken Hack Goes Ape at Aussie "Pulitzers"     Subscribe Online

January 10, 2007 Hierarchical and Relational Societies Why U.S. Policy is Failing By Col. DAN SMITH The death of former President Gerald Ford on December 26, 2006 produced a collective outpouring of sympathy and remembrances across the United States that culminated in a formal state funeral January 2, 2007. And while many dignitaries attended, the service at the National Cathedral was, in effect, an "American" one led by President Bush. The ritual associated with the death and burial of a former leader normally is a communal or relational undertaking--unless the former leader fell from power. This latter circumstance also played out, ironically, on December 30 in the unseemly hasty execution of Saddam Hussein, a sentence not so much of justice but of revenge, which is an individual as opposed to a collective act. But there was another significant death at the end of December 2006 that could not be completely masked by either Gerald Ford's death or Saddam's execution. However much the White House might have wanted to deflect attention away from the event, it could not control the reality that on December 31st the U.S. military reached its 3,000th fatality in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Gerald Ford and that U.S. soldier were in different wars and of different generations, but both were caught up in a "war gone wrong." By this I mean armed conflict stemming from a fundamental misunderstanding by U.S. policymakers of foreign cultures that lead to unanticipated or unintended reactions to the application of U.S. power. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon bear responsibility for the morass in Vietnam that Gerald Ford inherited when he became president. George Bush cannot claim the equivalent for Iraq. By his failure to foresee that Iraqis would react violently to foreign troops on their soil, Bush must assume full responsibility for dividing not only Iraqis but also the U.S. public. Moreover, he seems to be attempting to hijack this fatality milestone for policy ends, transforming what otherwise would be a private or semi-private ritual of loss into a communal affair whose message is "honor the dead by more dying." A proposal to "surge" forces, expected in an address to the nation next week, would undoubtedly initiate other clashes that could only "go wrong" in terms of lives lost and resources consumed. Can anything be done to stop this drift toward continued armed violence in Iraq and elsewhere in the region? Yes. War is a communal activity; this opens the possibility that a people, a community, can stop wars. What is needed first is knowledge--"Know thyself" and "Know thy enemy"--organizationally, historically, mentally, and emotionally--particularly when different cultures engage each other. To the extent that the public understands the sociology powering its communal (and also the individual) evolution--the better prepared it can be and grasps the reality and that these differences can be critical, the better prepared it can be to resist government policies that increase the chances for or result in war. Background Iraq attests to the need to be alert. It was only four and a half months after September 11, 2001, on January 29, 2002, that George W. Bush used his second State of the Union speech to identify--"create" might be more accurate ­a new mini-bloc of nations: the now infamous "Axis of Evil." It was perfect: easily remembered, didn't require more than two of the typical adult's 10-second attention span, and was brief enough to go on a bumper-sticker in big letters. It was also disastrous reductionism. Considering the World War II referent for that night's rhetorical creation, the rulers of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea--if they were watching Bush--must have marveled at the ignorance and insanity that could lump their three countries in the same foreign policy basket. Iranians and Iraqis had been at each other's throats--again--less than 15 years earlier in their eight-year (1980-1988) bloodbath. The super-reclusive North Korean regime may have sold conventional arms to Iran and Iraq and transferred nuclear technology to Iran, but its primary partner in the nuclear field was Pakistan, a country that didn't even exist until after the first "axis" lay in ruins. To maintain the "war fever" that developed during the attack on and defeat of the Taliban, Bush had to find a way to re-focus the public's post-September 11 "fear factor" on a credible "new" enemy. The World War II axis had possessed both the intention and the capability to try world domination. Applying the old image to the new targets served as a springboard in the effort to induce unquestioned acceptance of the administration's war policy by U.S. and world audiences. Clearly, the phrase is simple speechwriting sloganeering. Had it ended there, the subsequent military and diplomatic disasters stemming from this psychological reductionism might have been avoided. Unfortunately, as the sound-bite settled in the psyche of Bush administration officials and the U.S. pubic, it quickly eclipsed the relatively subtle differences in morés and culture among the three states in Bush's axis. Worse, the phrase also created a propensity among administration policymakers and negotiators to forget (if they ever really understood) that cultural differences are not fantasies created out of thin air. They do exist and have deep sociological roots. For example, in some cultures "form" seems almost as important as "substance," while in others only the substance matters. So, when the two collide, especially if the "substance only" culture has "required" actions or makes other demands (e.g., "with us or against us"), not only can the immediate result be less than satisfactory, the entire relationship can turn so sour as to become downright poisonous. This is not to say that at the analytical or operative levels the Bush administration has been oblivious to the differing capabilities of each country--e.g., North Korea has exploded (or half-exploded) a nuclear device while Iran has not. But, judging from the extensive failures in advancing historic U.S. foreign policy goals, either those serving in foreign affairs positions are inept or they don't make adequate allowance for and adjustment to cultural or societal differences. The problem is not a lack of available information or having to spend weeks and months decoding a special sociological vocabulary. To that extent, there is still time for this administration to mitigate the effects of bad policy and programs and start the process of healing U.S. relationships with other countries and cultures. With that in mind, what follows is a short look at one small element of human interactions. Relational Societies Cultural anthropologists have long understood that the form and conduct of interpersonal relations are unconsciously governed by a set of expectations or "rules" that can vary from one society to another or even within the same society, depending on its level of complexity. One such variable, variously labeled "hierarchical-relational" or "individualistic-collective," considers the set of expectations that shape an individual's social development and harmonious integration into structures as simple as tribal to as complex as modern bureaucracies. At first glance, this may seem a facile dichotomy, for every human "unit" from the family to modern governmental bureaucracies and transnational organizations seem to possess a hierarchical structure. But I suggest that this dichotomy is real for the following reasons. * A sketch of relationships within a tribal power (and thus social) structure typically is vertically compressed into only three or four levels from top (sheik, sub-chief, Council of Elders) to the bottom, where the majority of ordinary members are found--and further "ordered" by gender and age; * Westerners are conditioned by their upbringing to accentuate any sign of "individualism" and to overlook the degree to which human relationships (as opposed to institutional ones) are actuated by the pronounced predisposition toward mutual interdependence for survival as well as mental and physical development. * Because relational societies are vertically compressed, a large number of people can be at all but the very top levels of the organization, greatly attenuating the "irrational" struggle to beat out possible competition as there is little to gain and much to lose trying "to get ahead." * In relational societies, all are in their places and there are places for all--as long as one does not roil traditions and practices. In short, what facilitates maintenance of the group is more important than any individual desire. This conditionality may never be explicitly taught, but it is part of the individual's knowledge base by virtue of being a member of the specific society in which one is born and raised. In turn, individual survival is enhanced because each person discovers where he or she fits in the social structure; discovers what the responsibilities of their "place" are, what they are entitled to do, have, and be; and the acceptable methods for competing for influence and eventual leadership. Such societies may appear to lack sources of motivation, inspiration, and achievement. Nothing could be further from the truth. The human drive to achieve goals and to have one's accomplishments recognized is re-channeled from the Euro-American concern with accumulating personal fortunes and power into other areas of life. For instance, in battles between Native Americans, to rush or ride up to an enemy warrior, strike him a non-lethal blow, and escape back to one's war-party was counted a greater accomplishment and brought greater prestige than killing the enemy--until the European settlers came on the scene. Not quite as clear-cut is the traditional labor union, an organization that exists on the basis of a shared occupation across many corporate hierarchical structures. In this case, "recognition" of member accomplishments (greater individual productivity) is sought in a greater share of the corporate profits for the union members, which in turn theoretically raises the standard of living of the members. Relational societies regard "honor" as a non-negotiable collective or tribal attribute that must be defended and, if "lost," regained at all cost--including in some groups the death of the one victimized (dishonored) because he or she is a constant reminder of the dishonor, as well as the one who did the "dishonoring." But unlike the West, where swift justice and "closure" drive retribution, in relational societies the figurative "sword of Damocles" can hang for years, even decades, over the neck of the offender because of time, distance, or other physical impediments. But the "crime" is never forgotten let alone forgiven. Hierarchical Societies Hierarchical or individualistic societies are another way to organize human endeavors. The more complicated and the bigger the organization, the more likely the evolution of hierarchies and their administrative support structures, regardless of whether one is in the Orient or the Occident. An important organizing feature of these entities is the "line and block" chart, either actual (as in modern bureaucracies) or virtual (as in ancient, highly structured empires such as Egypt). Particularly in modern bureaucracies, these specify the channels of authority and responsibility of each person in the group as well as which individual occupies which place on the chart. This, essentially a directed or selective process made at the top of the organization, is far different from the relational "discovery" process. Unlike relational societies, hierarchical ones have many more levels and therefore many more channels for interaction among peers on the same level and with those on levels above and below. Another difference is the widespread development and sometimes intense use of networks held together by informal (nonlinear) communication links (the ubiquitous "back channels"). The Roman Catholic Church and the armed forces of every country in the world are examples of hierarchical entities. Within the different levels of the organization there may be many individuals doing virtually the same type of work. Those who outperform their peers (or obtain an advantage in some other way) can be selected to fill a vacancy at the next higher level. What one does often is not as important as how well the work is done. Advancement comes when performance exceeds expectations of the contribution made to achieving the organizational goals AND because those in authority notice the achievement. Thus individual reputation becomes the critical key for advancing even as the number of positions available at higher levels becomes fewer. Eventually, there are simply not enough places for the number of "qualified" individuals in the organization since "place" is contingent on continually ascending the levels on the chart--or staging a coup and creating a new chart. The Church, even with its "militants," has traditionally differed from armies in that its members, once within the fold, tend toward a posture that is spiritually-based and relational. That is, once a Roman Catholic, always a Roman Catholic--except for the occasional heretics, the "Great Schism" of 1054, and the Protestant Reformation that began in Europe in 1517. The military, however, tend to be "rotational"; that is, when called to duty they gather, perform their mission, and disperse or, in more modern times, move periodically from one post to another and from one unit to another, thus attenuating the formation of a relational society. In such hierarchical systems, less emphasis is on "honor" and "honesty" as collective or relational virtues. These become "objective" virtues. But because they depend primarily on and are observed by imperfect or seducible individuals who make decisions that are not always in the best interest of the organization, these virtues are supplemented with positive or negative (or both) incentives to help motivate observance of the "virtue" by the individual. In the end, the overall goals of the institution are met by the reciprocal integrity of each individual's contribution. Surviving The Encounters Before going further, a cautionary note is necessary. While a "civilization" may exhibit a proclivity for either the relational or the hierarchical paradigm, some societies within each civilization inevitably will be contrary to the dominant model. Moreover, where both exist within a single culture, it is possible for the paradigm to flip as older generations pass from the scene. As astro-physicist Dr. David Darling notes in his book, Equations of Eternity, Plato's relational universe of pre-existent perfect "forms" and their flickering shadows in the material world gives way to (but is not destroyed by) Aristotle's view that true "reality" is a combination of the singular objects that comprise the material world and the abstract characteristics of objects that allow for generalizations and classifications. In China, highly developed relational philosophies such as Taoism existed along side the hierarchical Confucian "civil service." When two hierarchical societies confront each other--where "confronting" does not have to include armed conflict--one usually will be seen to "win" and the other to "lose." Such judgment can flow from one-on-one negotiations between the disputants, arbitration--e.g., decisions of the World Trade Organization--or from intervention by outside parties trying to prevent the start or mitigate the effects of armed conflict. But when a more relational social order encounters or is challenged by a hierarchical order, westerners invariably assume--even predict--the demise of the relational model. Yet its structural bias toward extensive interdependence ought to be a formidable barrier to such unraveling since its very existence rests on relational bonds--as in today's Iraq. Is there some mode of thought or interaction that is so naturally a part of the culture and social development of non-western children that it parries effortlessly the assumed strengths of hierarchies? And if this is the practical reality of the 21st century, does it constitute enough of a modification to the traditional relational structure to constitute a third model to which western leadership elites have yet to respond? Face One prized characteristic of a great leader is the ability to project and, at critical junctures, demonstrate near-perfect competence, defined as exerting personal influence, overcoming any opposition, or meeting the expectations of his followers--at a calculated cost that is less than the expected benefit. A classic (literally) illustration from ancient Greece is Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia to placate Poseidon and assure good winds for the deployment of his soldiers during the opening days of the Trojan War. This is an example of the Greco-Roman-Western interpretation of the concept of "reputation" or what, in 1992, Professor Stella Ting-Toomey termed "face saving." The Occident's emphasis on the individual in terms of obligations, rights, responsibilities, and competency within a hierarchy reflects preoccupation with the "self"--self respect, personal credibility, and values. Thus a Westerner who "loses face" suffers first and foremost personal humiliation. The more traditional relational societies understand "face saving" in a collective context. It is the sense that one does not do or say anything that would reflect poorly on the carefully crafted honor or image of the organization, group, or family. Thus while a dishonorable act can be purely individualistic, that the offender was not constrained by the group's values and peer pressures to uphold collective values and practices is seen as a group's failure, rather than being a personal one. This is not an inconsequential distinction for business leaders, diplomats, and presidents who have to work with people whose cultural paradigm is less hierarchical. The individualistic western model tends to trap westerners in a rigid dichotomy: when challenged (or challenging) on the basis of individual status, the context becomes win-lose. One either saves or loses face. And, because the apparent choices are limited to two and are so intimately tied to self or ego, those who come from hierarchical societies or even sub-cultures rarely can disengage sufficiently to see that a third option is possible when the "self" no longer is the focus. This third option Ting-Toomey calls "face giving." Although the term sounds like something from Eastern philosophy, the idea it describes is not completely unknown in the West--it simply is as rare as hen's teeth in the conduct of U.S. diplomacy. "Face giving" is the ability to sustain a sufficient breadth of context so that, when the participants complete their discussions, each can claim a positive outcome--e.g., a potential confrontation has been avoided or a dispute resolved. But this can happen only if rigid positions are avoided, if a discussant does not press an advantage so far that others feel backed into a corner. Moreover, only if face giving extends beyond an individual problem can it establish the type of "win-win" mentality that will keep the discussions going until a resolution agreeable to all emerges. And that solution may be as simple as redefining the issue so as to provide a more inclusive context that draws in the resources of additional stakeholders. But for someone who sees only black and white, good and evil, in the world, face giving can easily be demonized as a form of "evil" appeasement--Neville Chamberlain's sin. He tried to mollify Hitler by relinquishing something valuable (e.g., Sudetenland's liberty) that was not his to give or to take to then give. Fred Hutchinson, writing in 2005 about the two forms of appeasement, saw Winston Churchill and Christ as "virtuous" appeasers because their actions were undertaken at significant personal cost and generated enormous "good." Yet here too, there is danger, for an evaluator may consciously or unconsciously incorporate the premise that whatever provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people is ipso facto virtuous. Face giving is also part of the process of recovering face in non-Western countries. Again, the East looks at "win-win" as the goal. Because westerners tend not to be practiced in this art, they are more prone to move from the initially confused state that accompanies the loss of face to a defensive and even an "offensive" stance--each of which is an individualistic response rooted in a confrontational, hierarchical culture. The result is predictable: growing if not immediate distrust of motives, means, and goals. Unless quickly reversed, these negative influences can whirl out of control--not in the emotional sense but through intra- and inter-personal alienation. The complex, hierarchical society founders on centrifugal alienation that finds each person standing alone relative to every other person. But this is an exposed and therefore inherently dangerous, even potentially self-destructive, scenario. Escape is necessary and is achieved by rationalizing the experience of alienation as the more admirable Western myth of "standing tall" or "standing on principle." Conversely, alienation in more relational or traditional societies tends to be intra-personal and centripetal. It is a loss of self--in extremis a loss of identity as "self" is subordinated in the process of conforming to the collective. Conclusion One could, in fact, do much worse than to survey the myths of a people or culture to gain an appreciation of the balance between hierarchical and relational propensities that distinguish a particular society. For example, a prominent U.S. myth is the inevitable triumph of the "exceptional" experiment summarized in the phrase "Manifest Destiny." The April 1859 Democracy Review opined: "We are governed by the laws under which the universe was created, and therefore, in obedience to those laws, we must of necessity move forward in the paths of destiny shaped for us by the great Ruler of the Universe." This is the substance--the laws that govern the course of nature. The form, the image might change and did change: for the Puritans it was "the city on the hill," for the colonial revolutionary leaders it was Enlightenment principles. Ralph Waldo Emerson advised "hitch your wagon to a star," while John Soule, editor of the Terre Haute, Indiana Express, titled an 1851 editorial "Go west young man, and grow up with the country." By the end of the 19th century, "Manifest Destiny" served as the guiding narrative of the American experience. While clearly glorying in the power the U.S. amassed, late 20th and early 21st century U.S. leaders too often seemed to disregard the fact that the ascendancy of the U.S. was in part due to the widespread devastation of Europe, Asia and much of Africa in 20th century armed conflict--made possible by building the cold, efficient, rigid organizational structure that in turn built the means of destroying the planet many times over. But this is not the worst failure. That can be found in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand," a short story whose title character embarks on a quest to identify the "unpardonable sin." Eighteen years later, having indulged in every imaginable evil, he returns home, his quest ended. Ethan Brand found that the unpardonable sin, "a sin that grew within my own breast [and] nowhere else," is the excising of all human emotions and relational feelings in an unrelenting, highly focused pursuit of an idea or ideology. And this brings the issue full circle back to the Bush administration. For in the act of developing and applying the neocon orthodoxy, the true believers became so invested in attempting to make events conform to their vision that they could not admit even the smallest variation or interpretation to their creed. They mercilessly manipulated every available force--including fear of an enemy that allegedly had the intent and capability to cause extensive death and destruction--in defense of their "truth." In such an ideological fog, ordinary people and even government officials were not inclined or motivated to try to understand or to meet the "other"--which of course left no opportunity to "give face." For the neocons, but for no one else, it was "win-win." Success was its own justification. Failure did not mean the vision was flawed but that the public lacked the will to carry through and reach the vision offered them. Everything depended on isolating the I.S. public from contact with the "enemy." For without contact, it was easier to exaggerate threats to the point that fear became communal hatred--cold, calculating, the type that consumes all feeling, sunders all charity, and excises all mercy as it tramples all justice. This is the emptiness, the unpardonable sin, of Hawthorne's Ethan Brand. Will it also be the sin of George W. Bush's administration--and the nation's? 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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