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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 January 31, 2005 Patrick Cockburn A Victory for the Shia 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 Read How the Press & the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career     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! Subcomandante Marcos The Death Train of the WTO Norman Finkelstein Hitchens as Model Apostate Steve Niva Israel's Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings? Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams CounterPunch Exclusive: 20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians Steve J.B. Prison Bitch Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber True Lies: the Use of Propaganda in the Iraq War Wendell Berry Small Destructions Add Up CounterPunch Wire WMD: Who Said What When Cindy Corrie A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter I Can't Hear From Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.     Subscribe Online

January 31, 2005 Fantasies and Ultimatums Turkey and the EU By ALI TONAK On December 17, 2004 Turkey's long-awaited dream took a critical turning point. After 41 years of tease, the European Union winked and offered a date for initiating membership negotiations. This relationship, and the Turkish ambition to join the European Union, dates back to September 1963 when the European Common Market, the pre-cursor to the European Union, and Turkey signed the Ankara Agreement. Since then, Turkey has witnessed three military coups (two proper ones in 1971 and 1980 and a "post-modern coup" in 1997), four devaluations of its extremely unstable currency and a 15 year civil war costing the Turkish Government more then $120 billion and claiming the lives of more then 30,000 people (mostly Kurds). The news of the increased possibility that Turkey might join the EU made news around the world and raised predictable and mildly boring questions such as: is this the antithesis of "the clash of civilizations" or does this mean that Turkey will now recognize Cyprus? * But what are the real issues involved in Turkey's entry into the EU that are being carefully tucked away? Counter-What? Is Europe a compassionate, multilateral and self-determining entity that strategically sets itself against an aggressive, unilateral and imperialist US? Not necessarily. Europe has participated in a number of recent battles, ranging from the First Gulf War to the bombing of Yugoslavia, not to mention its complicity in the UN sanctions on Iraq that have killed upwards of 1.5 million Iraqis, now forgotten in history. Italy, Poland and Spain have all contributed symbolically and Britain significantly to the most recent invasion and occupation of Iraq, reaffirming their commitment to US imperialism. While seemingly anti-war, both France and Germany have refused to take a firm stance against the invasion within the narrow confines of the UN. Europe does take up a counter-position to the U.S. but it isn't one of peace against war. Rather, European policymakers want to regain their historic position of domination within the economic realm against the United States. This strategy is ultimately one of neo-liberalism. nEU-Liberalism The European Union was conceived as a neo-liberal project and this has framed the conditions of Turkey's entrance. Part of the Ankara Agreement was geared towards entrance into the European Customs Union (January 1, 1996) before entering into the Union proper. The Customs Union, like other free trade zones, removes tariffs and other so-called trade barriers, privatizes state run industries and makes labor markets "flexible." Economic prosperity, stemming from capital inflow, is one of the shams designed to sell the EU to Turkish citizens. Any capital inflow takes the form of portfolio investment for speculation rather than of direct productive investment and as such intensifies the fragility of the Turkish financial structure. Some supporters of the Customs Union and the EU argue that -- unlike western hemispheric free trade agreements (NAFTA, FTAA, CAFTA)-- the EU also guarantees free movement of individuals and not just resources and commodities. Currently, this principle is only talk. "Freedom of movement" is the primary concern EU countries have over accepting Turkey into the EU, since ultimately it means a greater work-force for a limited number of desirable jobs. This concern is also why a 7-year waiting period was imposed on the 10 countries who joined the EU last May. The potential for complete "freedom of movement" is bleaker for Turkey, due to a huge youth population ready for work (25 million under 15), the large number of Turkish immigrants already in the EU (3.2 million), who would instantaneously become European citizens, and also the rise of xenophobic nationalist politicians such as Le Pen in France and Haider in Austria. With the hypothetical entrance year of 2014 and a 7-year waiting period, the earliest date for work-force movement would be 2021. (A previous date for "freedom of movement" of December 1, 1986 was agreed upon in the Ankara Agreement). Until at least 2021, and presumably later, capital will flow in and out of Turkey while people will be kept behind borders. The talk of the impending EU membership is already pushing more neo-liberal policies on Turkey. On January 3, 2005 the EU announced its disapproval of generic medicine produced in Turkey. A week later on January 11, another ultimatum was issued: Turkey wasn't fulfilling its promise to import 21.5 tons of meat per year from EU countries. Turkish officials argue that this is due to the threat of Mad Cow disease, a reasonable concern. Another, just as reasonable concern, is the undermining of the significantly large animal husbandry in Turkey. Now that Turkey stands on the threshold of full membership, the European Commission has a much greater pull on Turkey's policy-making and the ultimatums appear in rapid-fire succession. Unfortunately, constraints imposed by globalized capitalism and competition are slowly dismantling the European economics of social democracy. In this respect, it can be said that the European Union is becoming less European. This is happening from inside and outside of Europe. World Trade Organization rulings, such as the one against the preferential treatment European countries gave to former colonies, exemplify the external influences. Internally, European lobbies for capital, such as the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT), form the European Commission's major influence. In April 2000, at a meeting of the Trilateral Commission in Tokyo, ERT member Baron Daniel Jannssen (head of Belgian chemical firm Solvay) illuminated the interaction between the Round Table and the Commission, stating: "The Commission plays the lead role in many areas of economic importance and it is extremely open to the business community, so that when businessmen like me face an issue that needs political input, we have access to excellent Commissioners." Military Might? The key to why there is a European push towards including Turkey into the EU is the military power that Turkey possesses. With 650,000 members, Turkey's military is the second largest armed force in NATO after the US. The size of Turkey's army is a direct product of long-lasting US military aid due to Turkey's shared border with the former USSR. The geopolitical (mis)fortune has been continued in 21st century in which Turkey is now seen as the gateway to Southwest Asia, bordering Iraq. One thing that has remained constant in the past 50 years is the importance the Turkish geography has played for US imperialism, from the chilling Cold War to the burning War on Terror. A European Commission report concerning the advantages and disadvantages of Turkey's inclusion into the club stated that "with its expansive army it will be able to contribute to the EU's security and defense policy." (Radikal, October 1, 2004). Last year, Spanish Newspaper ABC asked the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Javier Solana: "Is there a place for Turkey in the EU?" Solana responded: "We need Turkey for our security" (Cumhuriyet, October 18, 2004). Incidentally, Solana is NATO's former Secretary General. While affirming that all military institutions are rooted in oppression of both populations and their members, the Turkish military is not the conventional army and could compete with Israel in its ferocity, dirty tactics and complete disregard for human rights. It has gained a significant expertise in organizing counter-insurgency groups, torturing and eliminating resistance movements within the geography of the Middle East. This experience is worth great value in the years to come. And if one theory around the war on Iraq is true, that the control over Middle Eastern resources is in fact about impacting the European economy, then Turkey is the trophy nation state. Richard Boucher, then spokesperson for the State Department, said on october 9, 2002 "Because we're not a member, we have no formal role in determining the European Union's relations with third countries. We've long believed, however, that Turkey's future is in Europe; it's in the strategic interest of the United States and the European Union, of Turkey and the European Union, that Turkey and the European Union build the closest possible relationship." The neo-cons in the US are calculating another state to add to their obedient, well-behaved and "new" Europe to contribute to the rift they have created. And the EU is accepting another Trojan Horse because it has the foresight to see that the control over Turkey will be an important battle in the years to come. Human Rights the Wrong Way The Turkish left has two main prevailing analyses of the EU debate. The first is an acceptance of Turkey's ambitions to gain EU membership with fingers crossed, hoping for the best. This position posits the existence of a Europe different than defined by the neo-liberals: that while capital calls the shots there is a historical tradition of socialism rooted in society, from revolutionary thinkers to trade unions, and that solidarity within the European working class is the strategy to pursue. It is hard not to agree with this line of thinking but while there is more than one "Europe" there is only one EU; the one outlined above. The Turkish left is at a strategic junction where it will either choose to become obsolete or actively partake in European constructs such as the European Social Forum (ESF) and others who are actively working to define another Europe. The ESF and the Europe of working class solidarity and struggle does not require the EU, in fact requires the elimination of it. The second is a flat out rejection of Turkey's ambitions. Yet why is there such broad support for the EU within Turkey? According both to private and to state-run surveys, support for entering the EU is between 70% and 80%. One factor which I will not go into much detail is an underlining longing and inferiority complex within Turkish society to become more "European" i.e. "modern" and sophisticated. The origins of this go to the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, when the multi-culturality of the Republic's geography was rejected by the revolutionary cadre and a white Europeanness was imposed. Another reason for such strong support is that the same public that despises the IMF and its policies has been delicately shielded from the EU's neo-liberalism. Yet a much more concrete reason for broad support also exists. The first pro-EU rally was held in Diyarbakir, regarded as the capital of Kurdistan. Thousands of Kurds converged from around southeastern Turkey to say "Yes to Differences! No to Discrimination!" There is such a deep longing for certain rights in Turkey, namely freedom of speech, freedom from state terror, freedom to assert your ethnic identity, that this longing has overshadowed all other aspects of the EU. And to give credit to where it is due, pressure from EU authorities has resulted in the abolishment of the death penalty, the freedom of Kurds to speak and communicate in Kurdish, and a reformed and more humane criminal code. These are all crucial for a democratic and free society, but they need to be rooted in social struggle not in European bureaucratic imposition. A conceivable scenario is a complete backfire resulting from years of partial acceptances, no freedom of travel and work in Europe and no full membership leading to an impulsive anti-EU backlash, a complete reversal of all reforms made and increased state repression in Turkey. *Turkey has had a military presence in Northern Cyprus since 1974 when it invaded the island in response to a military coup initiated by a Greek military junta, effectively creating two separated populations. Since Cyprus was initiated into the EU with nine other countries last May, Turkey now faces the challenge of internationally recognizing the southern portion of the island. Ali Tonak can be reached at: ali@riseup.net Main sources for this article were: Emrah Göker, "How the we get into a different "Europe" Gelecek, Worker's Struggle (http://www.iscimucadelesi.net/), Susan George, Another World is Possible If... Andy Storey "The European Project: Dismantling Social Democracy, Globalising Neoliberalism" Issues of Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet (www.cumhuriyet.com.tr), Birgun (www.birgun.net) and Radikal (www.radikal.com.tr). WWW http://www.counterpunch.org