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Exclusive to CounterPunch Newsletter Subscribers! THE ORIGINS OF THE ISRAEL LOBBY "It was impossible to hold the line. All we got was a battering from the Jews." --John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, 1956 Read Harry Clark's devastating chronicle of how the Lobby humbled Ike, in our new CounterPunch newsletter. PLUS It'll be different under the Democrats? Think again, as Diana Johnstone returns to Kosovo. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Remember contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now Order CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year and Receive a Free Copy of "Imperial Crusades: a Diary of Three Wars" by Cockburn and St. Clair This is no April Fool! Alexander Cockburn live for three hours on C-SPAN-2, April 1, Noon (EST), repeated at midnight

Today's Stories March 29, 2007 Saul Landau Comparing Padillas March 28, 2007 Nicole Colson The Ongoing Persecution of Sami Al-Arian Harry Clark Michigan Peaceworks on Palestine Larry Everest Another $100 Billion to Continue the War Jonathan M. Feldman Citigroup, Property and Theft Dave Zirin Yet Another Book on Muhammad Ali (and Why I Wrote It) Jane Stillwater How Runaway Inflation Has Slipped Under the Radar Ayesha Ijaz Khan Pakistan's Cry for Justice Jim Wilfong Who Owns Maine's Water? Hawra Karama An Open Letter to Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi Uncle Tom Website of the Day Free Fire on Iraqi Civilians March 27, 2007 Iain Boal / Standard Schaefer British Petroleum and the New Greenmail Patrick Cockburn The Hostage Game Monica Benderman On Ending War: Is America Ready for the Troops When They Come Home? Corporate Crime Reporter Political Players and Single Payer Joshua Frank Dems in Power: Broken Promises and Bald-Faced Lies Harvey Wasserman Will Al Gore Deliver Us to Solartopia? Sen. Russell Feingold FBI Abuses of the Patriot Act Tillman Family Crimes and Cover Ups are Not "Missteps" Patrick Bond Zimbabwe's Descent David Judd Arbitrary Discipline at Columbia Website of the Day Why Work? March 26, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Seven Days on Iraq's Cruel Roads Uri Avnery Schoolbooks and Borders Greg Moses Hothouses for Hapless Masses on the Rio Grande Bill Hatch A Plague of Big Shots John V. Walsh The Democrats' War Funding Debacle Diane Christian God Does Not Love the Aggressor Dan La Botz The Immigration Movement at a Crossroads Frederico Fuentes Latin America Tells Bush to "Get Out!" Sunsara Taylor Democrats' Victory Means More Iraqi Deaths Mickey Z. Pat Tillman: Beyond the Hype Website of the Day DynCorp's Iraq Training Policy   March 24 / 25, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Where are the Laptop Bombardiers Now? Jeffrey St. Clair Nuclear Saviors?: Kyoto, Gore and the Atomic Lobby David Rosen An American Obituary: Anna Nicole Smith and the Exploitation of Nature Ron Jacobs The Political History of the Car Bomb Robert Fantina Vietnam and Iraq, the Rhetoric Remains the Same Alan Maass Why Ralph Nader Took a Stand Atul Gawande On Washing Hands: A Surgeon's Notes on How Infections Spread in Hospitals Marianne McDonald Staging Anti-Colonial Protest China Hand Zealots Scheme to Derail North Korea Accord Kaz Dziamka The Iroquois Way of Impeachment Andrew Wimmer The Nursemaid's Tale Don Monkerud World's Biggest Debtor Nation Anthony Papa Bong Hits 4 Jesus Case Matthew Provonsha Return of the Black Bloc Missy Beattie Calling Youth and Young Adults Stephen Fleischman Confrontation, At Last Poets' Basement Newberry, Laymon, Harley and Buknatski Website of the Weekend An Interview with Ron Jacobs Song of the Weekend "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" March 23, 2007 Saul Landau Return to Syria Patrick Cockburn Welcome to Iraq, Mr. Ban Greg Moses Protesting Immigrant Prisons in the Rio Grande Valley Rep. Ron Paul The War Funding Bill Franklin Lamb Will Hezbollah Hand Israel Its 6th Defeat? Stephen Gowans Mugabe Gets the Milosevic Treatment Roger Burbach Leftist Victory in Ecuador Dave Lindorff The Gutless Mini-Politics of the Congressional Democrats William S. Lind Candles in the Hurricane Alan Mammoser The New Rules of Food Russell Hoffman Al Gore's Nose is Glowing Website of the Day Global Outsourcing and the US Working Class   March 22, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Oil-Rich Kirkuk at the Melting Point Robin Blackburn Toxic Waste in the Sub-Prime Market Michael Donnelly Mr. Green Goes to Washington: Another Oscar Performance from Al Gore Uzma Aslam Khan Down Pakistan's No-Constitution Avenue Lee Sustar Bush's Braceros: The Ugly Truth About the Guest Worker Program Robert D. Skeels LA's Vicious War on the Homeless Rev. William Alberts The Forbidden C-Word Anne McElroy Dachel The Search for the Elusive Autism Gene Mickey Z. This is Your Brain on Meat Website of the Day Raimondo Does Hitchens   March 21, 2007 Tao Ruspoli A Conversation with Robbie Conal James Petras Meet the Global Ruling Class Fred Gardner A U.S. Army Pipe Dream Corporate Crime Reporter Cramer Comes Clean: Lies, Market Manipulation and Wall Street Faisal Kutty Too Guilty to Fly, Too Innocent to Charge? Robert Fantina U.S. Imperialism in Action Isabella Kenfield and Roger Burbach Brazilian Opposition to Bush-Lula Ethanol Accords Lucinda Marshall Missing in Action: Why is the Peace Movement Ignoring the Impact of War on Women? Winslow Wheeler Dem Budget Tricks: Reform Means What We Say It Means! Website of the Day Student Day of Action Against the War     March 20, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Iraq is a Vast, Blood-Drenched Human Disaster Winslow T. Wheeler The Blank Check War Sharon Smith Hillary's Cojones: Our Bleached-Blond Thatcher? Uri Avnery The New Palestinian Unity Government Stan Cox Down-to-a-Trickle Economics Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Hating the Rich Alan Farago Why Al Gore Soft-Peddled the Environment in 2000 Richard W. Behan Impeachment and Patriotism Juan Antonio Montecino Latin America Has Moved On David Krieger The Treaty of Tlatelolco Peter Rost, MD An Open Letter to Pfizer's CEO: $11 Million Salary, 36% Raise, 10,000 Fired Employees Mickey Z. A Cat-Eat-Cat World: Beyond the Pet Food Recall Website of the Day Bringing the War Home Webclip of the Day Sunsara Taylor Beats O'Reilly, Again   March 19, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Crime Blotter: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Patrick Cockburn Operation Deepening Nightmare Stauber / Rampton Why Won't MoveOn Move Forward? Werther Plame Wars: Valerie Plame, the Washington Post and the Ghost of Joe McCarthy Noam Chomsky In Memory of Tanya Reinhart Jeff Leys Tap Dancing on Graves: How Democrats Bought the War Richard May And Then There Were None: Europe's Afghan Backlash Ron Jacobs Lessons of the Antiwar Movement and the Washington Post's Lessons of the Iraq War Mike Whitney Rove in the Dock Website of the Day Ringtones That Roar     March 17 / 18, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Here Comes Another "Crime Wave" John Scagliotti A Sissy's Manifesto Jeffrey St. Clair The Green Imposter: When Al Gore Was Veep Paul Craig Roberts The Confession Backfired Greg Moses Jailing Immigrant Mothers in El Paso Harry Clark Thrice-Told Tales: Those Israel-Syria Peace Talks Brian Cloughley In the Name of Improving People's Lives: Mounting Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq Mehran Ghassemi An Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh on the US, Israel and Iran William Loren Katz A Disturbing Expulsion: Racism and the Cherokee Nation John Ross Being a Zapatista Where You Live Ralph Nader Ban the Bomblets! Walter Brasch An Intolerant Minority: the Witch Hunt Against Gays in the Military Samer Assad The Palestinian Unity Government: Another for US Diplomacy Dave Zirin Bowie Kuhn: Death of a Baseball Reactionary Ron Jacobs The Darker Nation's: Remembering and Re-examining the Third World Missy Beattie No to War and Pace Don Santina First, They Came for the Democrats Sami Adwan What Hillary Should Know About Palestinian Schoolbooks Dr. Susan Block Gods of Spring: the Erotics of the Equinox Poets' Basement Reed, Landau, Engel, Buknatski Website of the Weekend God Save Helen Mirren   March 16, 2007 R. T. Naylor The Political Economy of Diamonds Paul Craig Roberts The Last Days of Constitutional Rule Joshua Frank Obama's Israel Problem Diane Farsetta How Reporters Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Front Groups Tom Barry Tancredo's Putsch: Anti-Immigrant Agenda Veers Hard Right Stephen Lendman Plays from a Political Fake Book: Congress's Phony Opposition to War Al Krebs Compounding Infamy: Chiquita, Its Workers and Colombia's Death Squads Jackie Corr Senator Schumer and the Corruption Culture Ramzy Baroud Palestinians Must Redefine Struggle Reza Fiyouzat The Chinese Way of Capitalism Website of the Day Introducing: the iRak   March 15, 2007 Alison Weir Strip-Searching Children at Israeli Checkpoints Patrick Cockburn Baghdad Under Surge Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Memo to Congressional Leaders on Iraq Funding: First Stop the Bleeding Franklin Spinney Of Character and Contractors: the Unauthorized Rumsfeld Standard Schaefer Biofuels and the Green Resistance Conn Hallinan The Right's Stuff in Africa: Neocons, Evangelicals and Sudan Maureen Webb Another Patriot Act Abuse Sonja Karkar Rachel Corrie and Palestine Margaret Kimberly The Profits of Self-Hatred: Malkin and D'Souza, Incorporated Anthony Papa The New Capones: It's Time to Rethink Drug Prohibition Katherine Hancy Wheeler Bush's Latin American Tour: Good Will Lost Video of the Day The Easiest Targets Website of the Day Memo to Kucinich: Watch Your Back!   March 14, 2007 Tao Ruspoli A Conversation with Peter Linebaugh on the Slave Trade, Magna Carta and the State of the Left Philip Agee The Decline of the US, the Rise of Latin America Bruce Dixon The Digital Redlining of African-Americans John Walsh How One Senator Could End the War Sunsara Taylor Red Light, Green Light: the Democrats and Iran William Johnson Still Reeling from Katrina: The Spirited Strike at Pascagoula Shipyards Richard Thieme Entitlement and Empire Jeffrey Klein Right-Wing Academic Values Nicola Nasser This Time, Israeli is Missing an Historic Opportunity Dave Lindorff Political Hide-and-Seek with the Democrats Website of the Day Oil Change   March 13, 2007 Catherine Wilkerson, M.D. Scenes from a Cop Riot Jonathan Cook The Real Goal of Israel's Invastion of Lebanon Robert Bryce Beyond Redemption: the Legacy of George the Second Corporate Crime Reporter Coal-Powered Democrats Pierre Rimbert Libération and the Evolution of French Neoliberalism Dave Lindorff What's Good for Halliburton is Good ... for Dubai Elizabeth Schulte The Repackaging of John Edwards Norman Solomon The Pragmatism of Prolonged War Kevin Zeese The Democrats' Fraudulent Iraq Exit Plan Jeff Conant Greeting Rumsfeld in Taos Website of the Day Tacoma and the Big Heat     March 12, 2007 Marjorie Cohn Patriot Act Unbound Col. Dan Smith Ghost Prisoners, Shadowy Jails and Secret Trials Paul Craig Roberts Neocons in Kafkaland Ingmar Lee The Sentencing of Betty Krawczyk: a 78-Year-Old Eco-Heroine Fred Gardner Cannabis for the Wounded: Another Walter Reed Scandal Ron Jacobs Showdown at Port Tacoma: Confronting the War Machine in the Northwest Ralph Nader Send the Bush Twins to Iraq! John Ross Political Prisoners in Calderon's Mexico Stephen Fleischman Bush's Latin American Slip Eva Carazo Vargas Why We Reject CAFTA Website of the Day Mountain Justice Spring Break   March 9 / 11, 2007 Sameer Dossani Interview with Noam Chomsky: War, Neoliberalism and Empire in the 21st Century Jeffrey St. Clair Crude Alliance: The Bi-Partisan Politics of Oil Dave Marsh Bono's Bullshit: Not One Red Cent Patrick Cockburn Shia Pilgrims Die Despite US Offensive Jennifer Van Bergen A Gonzo Argument: Alberto Gonzales's Defense of NSA Domestic Spying James P. Stevenson Pardon Whom? Libby and the Cheney Unseen Arthur J. Versluis Crusade for Commercialism Corporate Crime Reporter Not a Dime's Worth of Difference: Congress and Corporate Crime Missy Beattie Too Much Info, Newt!: Sex, God and Praying Michael Simmons Annie Get Your Gums: Why I Like Ann Coulter Kevin Zeese Making Democrats Pay the Price: Voting Against the War is No Longer Enough David Swanson Shocking Video: The Dark Side of the Democrats John A. Murphy Are the Congressional Democrats Spineless? Dave Lindorff Bush Dodges a Constitutional Bullet in New Mexico: Abetted by Democrats Nikolas Kozloff Lights! Camera! Chavez! Christopher Fons Bush Goes to Latin America: Is It All About (N)PR? Mike Roselle A Thousand Miles of Bad River Mike Mejia Justice for Sibel Edmonds Susie Day Anna Nicole Smith Bombs Iran! Michael Donnelly LA Story: Rock Stars, Porn Stars and Peace Tao Ruspoli Just Say Know (Parts 4 and 5) Poets' Basement Reed, Laymon, Mezmer and Harley Website of the Weekend Japanese Dolphin Massacre   March 8, 2007 Elaine Cassel The Tragic Case of Jose Padilla Yifat Susskind Iraq's Other War: Violence Against Women Under US Occupation Corporate Crime Reporter Politics and the Prosecutors Col. Dan Smith The Sins of Walter Reed William S. Lind The Washington Dodgers Mark Engler Bush's Latin American Spring Break Roger Burbach With Negroponte as Tour Director, Bush's Trip Destined to Fail Dana Cloud Return of the Campus Witch Hunts: David Horowitz and the Thought Police Isabella Kenfield Brazil's Ethanol Pland: Breeding Rural Poverty and Environmental Degradation Lucinda Marshall We Stand with the Women of the World Tao Ruspoli Just Say Know: a Personal Look at Drugs and Drug Addiction (Part 3) Website of the Day Filibuster for Peace March 7, 2007 Christopher Ketcham What Did Israel Know in Advance of the 9/11 Attacks? Christopher Ketcham The Kuala Lumpur Deceit: a CIA Cover Up Alexander Cockburn / Jeffrey St. Clair Ketcham's Story: Coming in From the Cold Winslow T. Wheeler Mismeasuring the Defense Budget Sean Donahue Free Scooter Libby! Dave Lindorff The Fall Guy Has Fallen Evelyn Pringle Psychosis and Mania: ADHD Drug Warnings Come Too Late for Many Tao Ruspoli Just Say Know: a Personal Look at Drugs and Drug Addiction Website of the Day Debating Iraq: Gaffney Against the World!   March 6, 2007 Gary Leupp Meet Eliot Cohen: "As Extremist a Neocon and Warmonger as It Gets" Uri Avnery Esterina Tartman: The Big Mouth of Israeli Fascism Patrick Cockburn The War on Terror is a Bust: Bush is Now Al Qaeda's Top Recruiter Saul Landau World in Crisis, Candidates in Denial Corporate Crime Reporter John Edwards' Big Lie Ron Jacobs The Legacy of Lordstown: The Union Makes Us Strong! Mike Roselle Judi Bari: Ten Years Gone P. Sainath Neoliberalism and the Ideology of the Cancer Cell Joshua Frank Dump the Dems, Unite Against the War Aniket Alam Women's Day, Lenin and a Riot in Copenhagen Dave Zirin Resurrecting Don Barksdale: Basketball's Forgotten Pioneer Website of the Day Physicians for a National Health Program   March 5, 2007 Greg Moses Holding Suzi Hazahza for Profit Patrick Cockburn Exodus of Iraq's Ancient Minorities James Petras Bush vs. Chavez Frida Berrigan US Nuclear Hypocrisy and Iran Marjorie Cohn Conscientious Objector Faces Court-Martial: the Case of Augustín Aguayo Douglas Kammen and S.W. Hayati The Rice Crisis in East Timor Sen. Barack Obama On Israel and AIPAC: "We Must Preserve Our Total Commitment to Our Unique Defense Relationship with Israel" Michael Young Sy Hersh and Iran: the Dark Side of Spun a Lot? Dave Lindorff It's the People of Washington vs. Pelosi, et al Sonja Karkar Raiding Nablus: Israel's Hot Winter Offensive Website of the Day How Obama Learned to Love Israel   March 3 / 4, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Persecution of Sami Al-Arian Corporate Crime Reporter "No Fingernails, No Good:" Al-Arian Prosecutor's Anti-Muslim Bias Jeffrey St. Clair Glory Boy and the Snail Darter: Al Gore, the Origins of a Hypocrite Patrick Cockburn War Reporting in Iraq: Only Locals Need Apply Ralph Nader Hillary, Inc.: Sen. Clinton and Corporate America M. Shahid Alam American Mamlukes Gilad Atzmon From Esther to AIPAC Fred Gardner It's Official!: Cannabis Reduces Pain George Ciccariello-Maher The Fourth World War Started in Venezuela Rock & Rap Confidential Do the James Brown!: "No One Could Speak More Authoritatively for Blacks" Gillian Russom The Court Martial of Agustín Aguayo Michael McPhearson My Small Act of Civil Disobedience Kevin Zeese The Democrats and the Peace Movement: Who Owns Whom? Sunsara Taylor Four Years of an Unjust War Wendy Thompson Re-Organizing the UAW Kenneth Rexroth Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" Missy Beattie Regarding Cheney Don Monkerud Jesus Turned Away at US Border Tina Louise Stuffed with Terror, Starved of Dreams Poets' Basement Richards, Landau and Davies Website of the Weekend John Prine: Flag Decal   March 2, 2007 Roger Morris Cheney's Bagram Ghosts Phil Gasper Prisoners of Ideology Mike Roselle Buffalo Gore: The Blood-Stained Snow of Yellowstone Robert Bryce The Ethanol Scam John V. Walsh Who is He This Time?: Kerry's Strange Call to Filibuster the War Sherwood Ross Bush and Walter Reed Hospital: Praise the Care, Slash the Budget China Hand Who Let North Korea Get the Bomb? David Rosen To Cut or Not to Cut?: the Politics of Circumcision in America Chris Genovali Connecting the Dots Peter Harley The Wall, Apartheid and Mandela Website of the Day Courage to Resist   March 1, 2007 Laura Carlsen Return to Sender: Migrants as Globalization's Junk Mail Paul Craig Roberts The Tragedy of a Dozen Evil Men Ray McGovern How Far is Iran from the Bomb? Who the Hell Knows? Christopher Brauchli Bush's Theater of the Absurd Najum Mustaq America's Musharraf Dilemma Brent Bowden The War on Terror and the Terror of War Tina Richards Demoralizing the Troops? The Mother of an Iraq War Vet Responds Ethan Nadelman Mexico and the Drug War Mike Stark "Tough on Crime" is the Problem, Not a Solution Wadner Pierre / Jeb Sprague Haiti's Poor Under a State of Siege by UN Mike Whitney Market Meltdown: the Dead Hand of Greenspan Website of the Day Dylan Hears a Who   February 28, 2007 Peter Linebaugh An Amazing Disgrace Tao Ruspoli A Conversation with Francisco Letelier China Hand The Shanghai Crash: Take the Money and Run Marjorie Cohn Why the Boumediene Case on Gitmo Detainees and Habeas Corpus Was Wrongly Decided Sarah Olson Is Lt. Watada an Isolated Case of Military Dissent? Susan Van Haitsma Mark Wilkerson: Standing for a Soldier's Right to Conscience Nicole Colson License to Torture Harvey Wasserman The Sham of Nuclear Power William S. Lind The Non-Thinking Enemy Nicola Nasser US Turnabout?: Engagement and Confrontation in the Middle East Website of the Day Andrew Cockburn on Rumsfeld   February 27, 2007 Tariq Ali The Khyber Impasse: the Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan Tom Barry America's Crusaders: Santorum and Lieberman Uri Avnery The Next War Antonia Juhasz / Raed Jarrar Oil Grab: the Secret Scheme to Split Iraq Jeff Nygaard Howard Hunt and the National Memory System Hugh O'Shaughnessy Grenada: an Invasion Revisited Mitchell Kaidy Israel's Cluster Bombs: Made in USA, Ground-Tested in Lebanon Carl Finamore Airline Bankruptcies, Mergers and Profits Anne McElroy Dachel The Really Big Lie About Autism Ramzy Baroud Who is Really in Control? Andrew Rouse The Queen, Her Apothecary and the War on Iraq Website of the Day New York City Skyline   February 26, 2007 Franklin Lamb US Israel Lobby Targets Lebanon's Jihad al-Bina Bill Quigley The Right to Return to New Orleans Greg Moses Suzi Hazahza in Haskell Hell Col. Dan Smith Calling All Carriers Ralph Nader The Bush Administration is a Threat to Our National Security Paul Buchheit The Income Gap Jeff Leys How Democrats Are Buying the Iraq War Dave Zirin Bojangling for Bigots: an Open Letter to Jason Whitlock Mike Whitney Doomsday Dick and the Plague of Frogs Michael Dickinson Free Kareem Amer! Website of the Day Beware the Chickenhawks!   February 24 / 25, 2007 Jeffrey St. Clair Frightening Tales of Endangered Species R. T. Naylor Inside Islamic Charity Gary Leupp AIPAC Demands "Action" on Iran Saul Landau Modern Day Miracle: Rev. Haggard Cured! Thank You, Jesus! Ron Jacobs Missile Defense Redux Jeffrey Blankfort A Debate on the Israel Lobby Chris Sands Afghanistan in Winter: Where Death Comes Cheap Gary Freeman The N-Word and Black History Month Larry Portis Zionism and the United States: the Cultural Connection P. Sainath Two Million People in "Maximum Distress" Lee Sustar What Next for the Immigrants' Rights Movement? Kevin Wehr Liberal vs. Radical Enviros: the Thrill isn't Gone, It's Just Moved Ken Couesbouc The African Card Soffiyah Elijah FBI Hunting Dead Panthers: Can John Bowman Ever Rest in Peace? Kathlyn Stone Iraqi Labor vs. Big Oil Dave Lindorff Breaking the Dam in Olympia Jason Kunin Criticizing Israel is Not an Act of Bigotry Kevin Zeese Can Hillary be Trusted? Remi Kanazi All Roads Lead to Checkpoints Missy Beattie Five Words That Change Lives Poets' Basement Davies, Holt and Rodriguez Website of the Weekend Caught on Tape: an Anti-War Movement Finding Its Feet?   February 23, 2007 Franklin Spinney Top Gun vs. the Axis of Evil: Is This What We Have Become? Jonathan Cook Watching the Checkpoints Patrick Cockburn The True Extent of Britain's Failure in Basra Kathy Kelly Do Something Good Chris Dols Islamophobia at Urban Outfiters: the Case for Keffiyehs Evelyn Pringle The Neurontin Suicides: Risks Kept Hidden for Years Stephen Pearcy If Bush is a War Criminal, What About the Troops? Dan Brook Making Poverty History Yifat Susskind Iraqi Police Commit Rapes Website of the Day A Citizens Arrest of Patty Murray   February 22, 2007 Robert Fantina Repeating History Tariq Ali Prodi's Soap Operatic Fall: Neoliberalism and War in Italy Michael Shank An Interview with Noam Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, the Democrats and Climate Change John Ross Calderon's War on Drugs Christopher Brauchli Stockcars on Dope: How NASCAR and the Tour de France are Bring the World Together Cindy Litman Paying for the Damage Done to Iraq Niranjan Ramakrishnan Mr. Jefferson's Inheritors: Caution, Calculation and Cold Feet Kevin Zeese Finally, a Populist Antiwar Candidate for President Aseem Shrivastava The New Indian Way?: a Developer's Model of Development Reza Fiyouzat A Letter to the Israeli People: We are All Led by Mad Men Illinois Students Against the War Why We Protested at Obama's Speech Website of the Day An Interview with Mike Gravel   February 21, 2007 Maass / St. Clair The Clintons: the Art of Politics Without Conscience Sharon Smith Inside the Imperial Budget Greg Moses Showdown Over Texas Immigrant Prisons Margaret Kimberly America the Stupid Ralph Nader Making Cancer Cool: Tobacco and Hollywood Nicola Nasser Evasive Diplomacy: Bush Adm. Shuns Middle East Peace Talks Mike Whitney The Second Great Depression Tao Ruspoli Revolutionary But Gangsta: a Conversation with Stic.Man of Dead Prez Byeong Jeongpil Beyond the "Protection Facility", Another Prison Corporate Crime Reporter Why Hillary, Obama and Edwards Oppose Single-Payer Health Care Josh Mahan The Lost Art of Shattuck: a Good, Old-Fashioned Drinking Story Website of the Day Time to Free the Puerto Rican Nationalists February 20, 2007 Sgt. Martin Smith Structured Cruelty: Learning to be a Lean, Mean Killing Machine Werther How to be a Washington Expert Corporate Crime Reporter Exposing SAIC Carl G. Estabrook Common Sense About the Recent Past China Hand Setting Sun: The Diverging US-Japan Relationship Joshua Frank Cleaning Up Exxon's Greenpoint Oil Spill Megan Boler The Daily Show and Political Activism John Feffer People Power vs. Military Power in East Asia Daryll E. Ray What's Inside the New Farm Bill Alan Gregory Midwest Wolves Fall Prey to Slob Hunters' PR Scam Website of the Day "Not a Target Rich Environment?"   February 19, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Economists in Denial: Blind to the Consequences of Offshoring Gary Leupp "A Genocidal, Suicidal Nation:" Mitt Romney Joins Iran's Hysterical Accusers Ron Jacobs The Mecca Agreements: the Future Remains Bleak Michael F. Brown The Peace Process Industry Robert Jensen Liberal Icons and War: Bi-Partisan Empire-Building Roger Burbach Ecuador Stands Up to US Monica Benderman America, Where Are You Now? Sonja Karkar Apocalyptic Archaeology: Israel's Provocations Threaten Jerusalem John Walsh Some Good News from Beantown Talli Nauman Colorado Delta Blues: Challenging the Law of the River Website of the Day "The Best Place to be in Town"   Feburary 17 / 18, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Sold to Mr. Gordon, Another Bridge! Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: a Conversation with Patrick Cockburn, Part Two Gary Leupp Iran: A Chronology of Disinformation Jeffrey St. Clair Dark Mesas in an Ancient Light Roger Morris The Undertaker's Tally: the Tragedy of Donald Rumsfeld Uri Avnery Facing Mecca James Brooks Palestinians and the "Diplomatic Horizon" Sen. Russell Feingold Congress Must Defund the Iraq War Linn Washington, Jr. "Death Row is a Web That Catches Only the Poor" Michele Brand Iran: the Proxy War? Fred Gardner Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Music and Basketball in the Harlem Renaissance Mitchel Cohen Storming the Pentagon: Lessons from 1967 Mike Ferner Democrats Keep Ohio Refugee Free: "No Iraqis in Our Backyards!" David Swanson Memo to Don Young: What Lincoln Really Said P. Sainath In the Theater of the Jungle Belt Mike Stark GoreAid: Gore Plans Concert with Musicians He and Tipper Betrayed in the 80s Missy Beattie The Object of My Disaffection Jonathan Franklin Carnival: Where Dance is Hope Website of the Weekend The Godfather and the Tenor: "It's a Man's World" February 16, 2007 Marc Levy Turning Point: Veterans' Voices Trigger Response Andrew Cockburn In Iraq, Anyone Can Make a Bomb Glen Ford Powell, Rice and Obama: Putting Black Faces on Imperial Aggression Greg Moses The Terror of Suzi Hazahza: Why Her Family Must Be Freed Ron Jacobs Marching on the Pentagon: Then and Now John W. Farley Hook, Line and Sinker: The Press and Stephen Hadley James Marc Leas Vermont Legislature Says: "Bring Them Home Now!" Tim Rinne The Most Dangerous Place on the Face of the Earth?: StratCom and the Coming War on Iran Albert Wan Star-Cross'd Lovers?: The Strange Romance of Hillary and David Brooks Website of the Day Did Wal-Mart Murder Tweety Bird?   February 15, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Who is Muqtada al-Sadr? Saul Landau How to Obsess Your Enemies Stephen Lendman The Rules of Imperial Management Evelyn Pringle More Zyprexa Postcards from the Edge Michael Simmons Is the Joke Over?: an Evening with Ralph Steadman Kevin Zeese A Congressional Kabuki Show Dave Lindorff The Co-Dependent Congress Pete Shanks They Want You to Eat Cloned Meat--And They Don't Want You to Know It Peter Rost The Michelle Manhart Affair: the Air Force Listens! Lenni Brenner / Gilad Atzmon An Exchange Website of the Day Barack Obama vs. Huey P. Newton   February 14, 2007 Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: A Conversation with Patrick Cockburn Dick J. Reavis War Without a Name Margaret Kimberly Medical Apartheid in America Christopher Brauchli The Perils of Charity: You Can be Prosecuted for Funding Terror Even If the Designation of the Group as a Terrorist Organization was Wrong! Paul Craig Roberts Cracks in the Pentagon John Ross The Plot Against Mexican Corn Michael F. Brown The Democrats and Palestine: New Chairman, Old Rules Dave Lindorff The Press Bites, Again: a Word of Caution on Those Iranian Weapons J.L. Chestunut, Jr. Texas-style Injustice in Black and White Don Fitz Hybrids, Biofuels and Other False Idols Michael Donnelly Give Love, Give Life Dr. Susan Block The Chemistry of Love Website of the Day Code Pink Drops By Hillary's Office   February 13, 2007 Uri Avnery Three Provocations: the Method in the Madness Patrick Cockburn Targeting Tehran Ralph Nader When Wall Street Whines (You Know They're Making a Killing) Marjorie Cohn Fool Us Twice? From Iraq to Iran Col. Dan Smith Iran Bashing Goes Prime Time Col. Douglas MacGreagor Empty Vessels: Gen. Patraeus and Other Hollow Men Thomas Power Coal Ambivalence: Mining Montana Nicola Nasser The Politics of Archaeology in Jerusalem David Swanson Iran War Talking Points Columbia Coalition Against the War Why We Are Striking Website of the Day Our Friends at Antiwar.com Need Your Help   February 12, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Scapegoating Iran Paul Craig Roberts How the World Can Stop Bush: Dump the Dollar! John Walsh A Splintered Antiwar Movement: Nader and Libertarians Not Welcome Dr. John Carroll, MD What Next for Haiti's Cite Soliel?: a Journey Through the World's Most Miserable Slum Greg Moses An Outrageously Sickening Immigration Policy Nicole Colson The Frame-Up That Fell Apart: Jury See Through Another Botched Federal "Terrorism" Case Dave Lindorff Acting in Bad Feith: Inappropriate Behavior and Impeachment Ray McGovern The Kervorkian Administration: Are Bush and Cheney the Biggest Threats to the Existence of Israel? Doug Giebel Rampant Cyncism David Swanson Twisted: Sex and Torture in America Website of the Day The Texas Model: Executing Women in Iraq     Subscribe Online

March 29, 2007 The Queen's Celebration: Slavery Without Regrets Incident at Westminster Abbey By MICHAEL DICKINSON "You should be ashamed!" Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth, and Prime Minister Tony Blair, among a congregation of 2000 attending the memorial service at London's historic Westminster Abbey earlier this week to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, quickly glanced at their programmes. According to the official schedule, which included speeches and readings from the writings of abolitionist William Wilberforce delivered by a succession of dignitaries and church leaders, the next item was to be a recitation of the Absolution prayers, but suddenly there's this shouting black guy in a colorful African tunic out of his seat and storming up the central aisle towards where the Queen sat with her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, along with senior members of the government and their wives. This was an unrehearsed event in the ceremony. It was real. "This service is a disgrace!" shouted the shaven-headed man. "It is an insult to Africa." Within almost 10 feet of them, and pointing, he ranted on: "You are the Queen and the Prime Minister--this is all wrong. You don't have the decency, Mr Blair, to make an apology and the word sorry, and you, the Queen ... " Abbey ushers and security-men rushed forward to tackle him as he roared: "I'm a proud African. Men of God should be ashamed. We should not be here. This is a white man's service--it is an insult to us. I want all the Christians who are Africans to walk out." Uniformed police entered the church and lent their force to drag the angry black away as he shouted and pointed at the icy-faced Queen. Outside he was handcuffed and arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. Journalists briefly managed to learn a little about the protestor before he was whisked off by armed police. His name: Toyin Agbetu. Age: 39. As a founder of the African-British human rights organisation, Ligali, which campaigns against racial discrimination and fights for black people's rights, Agbetu had obtained a media pass to attend the ceremony, which he decried. "It was an insult to us. This is just a memorial for William Wilberforce. There was no mention in there of African freedom fighters. What about my ancestors? Where were the Africans talking about how they feel? "The three major institutions involved in slavery - the monarchy, the government and the church - are all inside there, patting each other on the back," he said. "No one has had the decency to say the word 'Sorry'." The Royal Family and Government have both refused to follow the example of the Church of England and apologise publicly for their roles in the slave trade. Agbetu's protest was aimed at forcing the Queen and the Prime Minister to pronounce an official apology for Britain's central role in the trade that enslaved as many as 20 million Africans in the colonies' cotton, tobacco and sugar plantations for over three centuries. Blair has expressed instead a "deep sorrow and regret" for the suffering caused. And royal aides insist that the Queen was acknowledging her family's role and the wrongs of past generations by simply attending the service. Toyin Agbetu, however, demands that the Queen officially apologize for the monarchy's role in supporting the slave trade, an industry upon which much of the wealth of the UK was built on. "She has to say sorry," he said. "Queen Elizabeth 1 commissioned John Hawkins, financed him, and funded him to go to my continent and enslave my people." (In 1564 she loaned Hawkins her armed 700-ton ship, Jesus of Lubeck, as a slave vessel, made money from the investment, and knighted him for his efforts.) Nick Hazelwood, in his book The Queen's Slave Trader: John Hawkyns, Elizabeth and Trafficking in Human Souls, writes: "In their simplest form the Hawkins voyages were exercises in turning a quick profit: for the Queen, for himself, and for the group of rich London merchants and royal courtiers who had invested in the expedition." The Royal Family built much of its fortune on the slave trade. 'The Royal African Company was a slaving company set up by the Stuart family and London merchants once the former retook the English throne in the English Restoration of 1660. It was led by James, Duke of York, Charles II's brother. Originally known as the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa, it was granted a monopoly over the English slave trade, by its charter issued in 1660. With the help of the army and navy it established trading posts on the West African coast, and it was responsible for seizing any rival English ships that were transporting slaves. In the 1680s it was transporting about 5000 slaves per year. Many were branded with the letters 'DY' on the left buttock, after its chief, the Duke of York, who succeeded his brother on the throne in 1685, becoming James II. Other slaves were branded with the company's initials, RAC, on their chests. And both crown and parliament were involved in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which granted Britain the exclusive right to sell African people into slavery in all of Spain's American colonies. The 'asiento' was crucial because it broke the Spanish hold on the trade; England became, and remained, the world's biggest slaver. Queen Ann then awarded the right to the notorious South Sea Company, 'forever'. Lord Harley, the Lord Chancellor was directly involved in the running of South Sea Company, as were several other members of government. The Company exported 75, 000 slaves from Africa between 1713 and 1739, shipping them thousands of miles via Liverpool and Bristol, tied like hogs, lying in their own excrement, then whipped and forced to work on plantations for generations, all for the benefit of the British economy. The mortality rate of South Sea Company slave-ships was so high that in later years captains were allowed four slaves each, as an incentive to keep the their cargoes alive and healthy. The Church of England also owned hundred of slaves, branded them like cattle on plantations in Barbados and, of course, made money off the evil. But the Church, unlike the Government and the Monarchy, has apologized and is studying what to do about reparations. Fear that an official government statement of apology might fuel attempts to seek reparations from descendants of slaves seems to be the reason for Blair's weak "regrets" rather than "apologies". And in response to a letter from a group of Rastafarians from Jamaica seeking reparation a few years ago, Queen Elizabeth II skirted the issue this way: "Under the statue of the International Civil Court, acts of enslavement committed today do constitute crimes against humanity. But the historic slave trade was not a crime against humanity or contrary to international law at the time when the U.K. government condoned it." During the service, before the interruption, Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, spoke movingly. "Slavery is not a regional problem in the human world; it is hideously persistent in our nations and cultures," he told the Queen and her guests. "We are born into a world already scarred by the internationalizing and industrializing of slavery ... and our human inheritance is shadowed by it. We who are heirs of the slave-owning and slave-trading nations of the past have to face the fact that our historic prosperity was built in large part on this atrocity; those who are heirs of the communities ravaged by the slave trade know very well that much of their present suffering and struggling is the result of centuries of abuse. Today it is for us to face our history; the Atlantic trade was our contribution to this universal sinfulness." And he urged the congregation "to have the courage to face the legacies of slavery ... (and) the courage to turn to each other and ask how, together, we are to make each other more free and more human." That sounds like a very good idea. So where do we start? A start would be ending, NOW and FOREVER the obscene exploitation that still goes on in Africa. We can do nothing to alleviate the suffering of those who are long dead. Their best memorial would be for us all to demand the end of the poverty-driven slavery of this century. To be successful we have to examine how we in the west relate to third world peoples, particularly, but not only in Africa, where the current western hegemony is maintained, among other things, by crippling loans, and 'strings attached "aid', 'unfair trade', and the still continuing 'propping up' of tyrants that serve the western interests. It is conditions like these that largely give rise to child labour and sex slaves. Debt has to be cancelled - no ifs or buts, no cavilling, no arguments. That would be one way of giving back a little of what we stole. Let's abolish the monarchy rather than asking the queen to apologize for slavery. The monarchy has been responsible for the robbing and exploiting its 'subjects' since its conception, and there is much that it could apologize for. Let the queen resign instead. If we are to 'make each other more free and human', how can there be a monarch? And as for the corrupt lying government--that must go too, or change, and we must establish a proper social democracy, putting people first, with deep structural changes aimed at making a better society, hand in hand with proper reparation. Then could begin the process of transforming the country and the world away from operating on the principle of personal greed, to principles of decency, equality and human values. This world was made a common store for all to share. Are we not all, whatever our color or race, men and women and brothers and sisters? Michael Dickinson lives in Istanbul . He can be contacted through his Saatchi Gallery

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