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Exclusive to CounterPunch Newsletter Subscribers! WHAT DID ISRAEL KNOW IN ADVANCE OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS? * Those Celebrating "Movers" and Art Student Spies * Who were the Israelis living next to Mohammed Atta? * What was in that Moving Van on the New Jersey shore? * Was the Mossad Tracking the 9/11 Hijackers in the US? * How did two hijackers end up on the Watch List weeks before 9/11? At last, the answers. Read Christopher Ketcham's exclusive expose in CounterPunch special double-issue February newsletter. Plus, Cockburn and St. Clair on how this story was suppressed and ultimately found its home in CounterPunch. 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 Get CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year Cockburn in Tucson / Landau at UC Santa Cruz

Today's Stories February 16, 2007 Marc Levy Turning Point: Veterans' Voices Trigger Response 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   February 10 /11, 2007 Weekend Edition Alexander Cockburn Will They Nuke Iran? Gabriel Kolko Israel, Iran and the Bush Administration Patrick Cockburn Now It's War on the Shia Jeffrey St. Clair Till the Cows Come Home: How the West was Eaten Kevin Alexander Gray Barack Obama: Not a Bold Bone in His Body M. Shahid Alam The Pacification of Islam Greg Moses The Words of Mohammad: an 11 Year-Old Prisoner Paul Craig Roberts Brzezinski's Damning Indictment George Ciccariello-Maher Coups and Democracy in Venezuela Kevin Zeese "You Can't Oppose the War and Fund the War:" a Conversation with Anthony Arnove Turner / Kim The World's Factory: China's Filthiest Export George Duke Has Jazz Lost Its African-American Core? Walter Brasch A Dream Still Unfulfilled: America Remains Divided Shepherd Bliss Veterans' Love Story Missy Beattie Fear and Diversions: Anna Nicole, Wolf Blitzer and the Missing Body Count in Iraq Peter Harley Mr. Hyde and Uncle Sam: Reading Stevenson in an Age of Shock and Awe Pat Wolff Oprah's Strange Endorsement of "The Secret" Poets' Basement Davies, Holt, Engel and Louise Website of the Day The 25 Most Corrupt Members of Bush Administration February 9, 2007 Conn Hallinan The Najaf Massacre: an Annotated Fable Gary Leupp Charging Iran with "Genocide" Before Nuking It Lee Sustar An Interview with Patrick Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff Bombing Venezuela's Indians Newton Garver Politics and Apartheid Yitzhak Laor Under the Steamroller Dave Lindorff Truth or Consequences: Some Questions for Bush David Swanson The Politics of Self-Congratulation: Democrats Change Gas, Claim It's a New Car Website of the Day Why Corporate Social Responsibility is Not Working for Workers   February 8, 2007 John V. Walsh Filibuster to End the War Now! Marjorie Cohn Watada Beats Government Trish Schuh The Salvador Option in Beirut Ron Jacobs The Case of the San Francisco 8 Laura Carlsen Mexico at Davos: the Split with Latin America Widens Ramzy Baroud Countdown for Iran Brenda Norrell "Leave It in the Ground": Indigenous Peoples Call for Global Ban on Uranium Mining Bryan Farrell The Splinter and the Beam: Violence in the Eye of the Beholder Judith Scherr BP Beds Down with Cal-Berkeley Website of the Day Peace TV   February 7, 2007 Daniel Wolff "The Road Home is a Joke": Playing Politics with the Recovery of New Orleans Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: A Conversation with Oliver Stone on Art, Politics and the Future of Cinema in Bush's America Tony Swindell The Looming Shadow of Nuremberg Sharon Smith Why Protest Matters Ken Couesbouc Delenda Est Baghdad: Why Republics End Up as Empires Jeff Cohen Jonah Goldberg's Gambling Debt Col. Dan Smith The Self-Destructive Logic of War Tom Kerr McCain to Wounded Soldiers: When Words Fail Fundamentally Joshua Frank The Democrats and Iran Adam Elkus Surging Right Into Bin Laden's Hands Stephen Fleischman The Good News About War on Iran Website of the Day Vote Vets: Battling Escalation   February 6, 2007 Diana Johnstone Frenzy in France Over Iranian Threat Gregory Wilpert Did Chavez Over-reach?: Venezuela's Enabling Law Could Enable Opposition Norman Solomon A Kangaroo Court Martial: Making an Example of Ehren Watada Dave Lindorff Borat Goes to Washington: Don't Experiment with the Economy? William Blum Space Cowboys: Full Spectrum Dominance Mike Ferner War Opponents Occupy Congressional Offices CP News Service Nader's CNN Interview: "Hillary's a Panderer and a Flatterer" Evelyn Pringle Eli Lilly and Zyprexa: Even the Insurance Companies are Bailing Christopher Brauchli Corporate Advice from the Office of Detainee Affairs Alan Cabal How Charles Manson Kept Me Out of Vietnam Website of the Day Free Josh Wolf: the Longest Jailed Journalist in US History February 5, 2007 Dave Zirin Super Bore: When Hawks Cry Uri Avnery The Fatal Kiss: Wars and Scandals Ron Jacobs The Looming War on Iran: It's Not About Democracy Paul Craig Roberts The Real Failed States Newton Garver Bush and the Old Hands: Decider vs. Negotiator Bruce Anderson The Genocidal Namesake of the Hastings School of Law Saul Landau The Golden Globes After a Mud Bath Ralph Nader The Good Fight of Molly Ivins James T. Phillips Road Outrageous: Tailgating and Iraq Mike Whitney Quarantine USA: Bird Flu Panic and Profiteering Kenneth Rexroth Clowns and Blood-Drinking Perverts: Imperial History According to Tacitus Website of the Day Richard Thompson's Anti-War Song: "'Dad's Gonna Kill Me" February 3 /4, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Who Can Stop the War? Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: a Conversation with Dr. Susan Block on Sex, Censorship and Liberation Jeffrey St. Clair The Thrill is Gone: the Withering of the American Environmental Movement Patrick Cockburn Iraqis on the Run P. Sainath They Take the Early Train Sen. Russell Feingold A Symbol of a Timid Congress Diane Christian Dying Well: Why Killing Saddam Backfired on Bush Brian Cloughley Space Missiles Away!: the Irony of Bush's Indignation Diana Barahona How to Turn a Priest into a Cannibal: US Reporting on the Coup in Haiti Timothy J. Freeman The Iraq War Hits Hawai'i: the Stryker Brigade and the Watada Case Conn Hallinan The Vishnu Strategy John Ross Felipe's First Fifty Days Greg Moses The Government Blinks: Freedom for the Ibrahim Family Missy Beattie No More Rebukes or Non-Binding Resolutions Joshua Frank Unsafe in Any Seas: Cruising with Ralph Nader? Evelyn Pringle "These Drugs are Poison to Some People" Stephen Fleischman Let's Hear It for Chuck Hagel! Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Iraq in Fragments Poets' Basement Holt, Engel, Ford and Saavedra Website of the Day Flamenco Dali February 2, 2007 Chris Kutalik The Meanest Industry R. Gibson / E. W. Ross Cutting the Schools-to-War Pipeline Pam Martens America's "Money Honey" as Corporate Matchmaker: Maria Bartiromo and the Co-Branding of CNBC and Citigroup John Feffer Picturing the President Daryll E. Ray Why the Family Farm is Good for Rural America Ronald Bruce St. John Apartheid By Any Other Name Mitchel Cohen Listen Gore: Some Inconvenient Truths About the Politics of Environmental Crisis Website of the Day The Real Issue is Empire February 1, 2007 Diane Farsetta An Army Thousands More: How PR Firms and Major Media Military Recruiters Marjorie Cohn Bush Targets Iran: Cruise Missile Diplomacy Mark Scaramella Our Founding War Profiteers Ranni Amiri Senator Prejudice: the Day Joe Biden Threatened to Kick My Ass Christopher Ketcham Die, TV! Winston Warfield Art Panic Hits Boston! Corporate Crime Reporter Jailing the Artists, Not the Executives: the Great Boston Art Panic, Turner Broadcasting and the AG Who Won't Pursue Corporate Crime Thomas P. Healy Adios Molly Ivins: Populist Journalism and Never Dull Website of the Dau The Ordeal of Gary Tyler   January 31, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Waco of Iraq?: US "Victory" Cult Leader was a "Massacre" Jean Bricmont What is the Decisive "Clash" of Our Time? Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: a Conversation with Dr. Susan Block on Sex, Politics and Liberation James T. Phillips Flashbacks de Jour: Photographing War William Johnson Worker Reistance at Smithfield Foods Tim Wilkinson A Hawk in Drag: Dershowitz and the Iraq War Evelyn Pringle The Judge, the Reporter and the Secret Zyprexa Documents Joshua Frank What America Really Needs to Hear Ramzy Baroud Shameless in Gaza Mickey Z. Nader Still in the Crosshairs Website of the Day What's Goin' On? January 30, 2007 Werther Slapstick on Jenkins Hill: DC's Botoxed Golems Kathy Kelly Engagement with War Uri Avnery "If Arafat Were Alive" Franklin Spinney Embedded Without Blending: Humvees and Tactical Madness in Iraq William S. Lind The Real Game in Iraq Pariah An Iron Curtain is Descending--and Most Americans Don't Know Mike Whitney The Mother of All Bubbles Rev. William E. Alberts Hiding America's Surging Militarism Behind Children Fran Shor Shadow of a Resistance: Can the Anti-War Mvt. Dismantle the War Machine? Anthony Arnove The Logic of Withdrawal: There's Nothing Precipitous About It Website of the Day Our Boys in Iraq January 29, 2007 Nurit Peled-Elhanan "We Are All Victims of the Occupation" Patrick Cockburn Raid on the Soldiers of Heaven JoAnn Wypijewski The Demo in DC: Chirpy Slogans, Empty City Ron Jacobs Our Fire, Congress's Feet Dave Lindorff The Missing Word at the Anti-War Demo Kevin Zeese A Republican Peace Candidate?: Chuck Hagel's Challenge to America Reza Fiyouzat Iran, Bush and the Banging of the Ironsmiths Pat Williams Turnout and Same-Day Voting: Did It Sink Conrad Burns? Website of the Day Galloway's Indictment of Blair   January 27 / 28, 2007 Diana Johnstone Do We Really Need an International Criminal Court? Eliza Ernshire Exiled from Palestine Patrick Cockburn Slaughter in Baghdad's Bird Market David Rosen Pay-to-Play: the Double Life of Prostitution in America Greg Moses Children Without a Country: Maryam Ibrahim Remains in a Texas Jail Bernard Chazelle Bush the Empire Slayer Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: a Video Interview with Jeffrey St. Clair, Part Two Hermán Uribe Murdering Journalists in Latin America Ralph Nader Democracy in Crisis Paul Craig Roberts Why Can't Americans See What's Coming? Fred Gardner The Suppression of Collective Joy: Barbara Ehrenreich at the Commonwealth Club Brian Cloughley Dying for Lies James Abourezk The High Cost of Congressional Trips to Israel John V. Whitbeck The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine: Ilan Pappe and the Nakba Deniers Seth Sandronsky Peace-In Politics: Localizing the Anti-War Movement Alan Cabal Mayday from the Circus Tent Pam Martens America's Money Honey Does Davos Website of the Weekend Gil Scott-Heron: Winter in America January 26, 2007 Charlotte Laws Are You the Terrorist Next Door?: AETA and the New Green Scare Mike Ely / Linda Flores The Workers at Smithfield Joe DeRaymond Paying for Health Care and Not Getting It Phil Donahue Get Sarah Olson! Zia Mian The Three US Armies in Iraq: Grunts, Contractors and Laborers Jeb Sprague Haiti Struggles to Defend Justice Evelyn Pringle Eli Lilly, the Habitual Offender Missy Beattie Inside the Criminal Mind of George Bush: He Thinks; Therefore, It is So Martha Rosenberg Cloned Food: From Designer Hens to the Transgenic Omega-3 Pig Website of the Day Save Grand Canyon from Glen Canyon Dam! January 25, 2007 Patrick Cockburn What's Really Going on in Baghdad John Ross Mexico Under Calderon: Fake Left, Rule Right Jeremy Scahill Our Mercenaries: Blackwater, Inc and the Privatization of Bush's War Machine Frida Berrigan "Hearts Ruptured with Sadness:" Protesting Gitmo Paul Craig Roberts Bush's State of Deception Jason Yossef Ben-Meir Iraq Reconstruction Failure Christopher Brauchli Why Bush is Arming Fatah: When in Doubt, Start Another Civil War Holger W. Henke Cuba at the Crossroads? Dave Lindorff Falling Dominos and Failing Presidencies Julia Landau From Your Young Cousin Website of the Day The Mighty Edwards Sisters   January 24, 2007 Tao Ruspoli CounterViews: a Filmed Interview with Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig Roberts The Empire Turns Its Guns on the Citizenry Lt. Gen. William Odom What Can be Done in Iraq? Sharon Smith Health Care Reform for the Insurance Industry Brian M. Downing Two Americas: the Grunts and the War Profiteers Heather Gray Surviving War Ron Jacobs SOTUS Quo James Brooks Out of Europe, Out of Time Robert Day Translating Snow Website of the Day Defend Sarah Olsen January 23, 2007 Trish Schuh Lebanon on the Brink of Civil War, Again Robert Bryce The Politics of Cheap Oil Stephen Soldz Aliens in an Alien Land John Blair King Coal's Latest Con Job: Clean Coal is Not Clean Gloria La Riva Miami: a Place of Refuge for Anti-Castro Terrorists Joshua Frank Turning Silence into Gold: Hillary and Israel Lobby Patrick Cockburn In Iraq, All Foreigners are Targets Ralph Nader Questions for Bush on Iraq Dave Lindorff Pelosi and Iraq: Blunder or Treason? Uri Avnery Israel and Apartheid Website of the Day Down By the River   January 22, 2007 Manuel Garcia, Jr. China's New Chip in Space War Poker Jen Marlowe Trapped in Darfur: the Ordeal of Suleiman Jamous George McGovern War of the Belligerent Professors: Get Out of Iraq Paul Craig Roberts Only Impeachment Can Save Us from More War Norman Solomon The Pentagon vs. Press Freedom Amira Hass Life Under Prohibition in Palestine Mike Whitney A Fool's Errand in Baghdad Ramzy Baroud The Things We Take for Granted John Walsh Support Jimmy Carter in Boston! Website of the Day The Hagelian Dialectic   January 20/21 2007 Alexander Cockburn First Bomb Carter; Then Nuke Iran! Gail Dines I Was Ambushed by Paula Zahn Newton Garver Evo Morales' First Year Gilad Atzmon 100 Years of Jewish Solitude Seth Sandronksy New Push For Social Security "Reform" Raphaelle Bail Where Nicaraguans Go to Work Jim Goodman Round Up the Usual Experts: Make Them Live on a Dollar a Day Larry Portis Chouraki's Oh Jerusalem Website of the Weekend Press Poodles Play it Safe January 19, 2007 Jonathan Cook Jimmy Carter Doesn't Tell the Half of It Glen Ford Barack Obama: The Mania and the Mirage Dave Lindorff Bush Blinks on Illegal Spying--Don't let him off the hook Larry Portis Zionism in the Cinema: Part Two Website of the Day For Whistleblowers January 18, 2007 William Peace Protest From a Bad Cripple Virginia Tilley The Steady March to War on Iran: What It Would Take to Stop It Michael Donnelly The Real Reason I Can't Stand Obama B.R. Gowani Democracy: Everywhere and Nowhere Larry Portis Zionism in the Cinema: Part One Jason Hribal A Horse is Worth More than Riches Website of the Day Baghdad Clampdown January 17, 2007 Franklin Spinney Why Time is not on Bush's Side John Ross Oaxaca's Rising: Vibrant as the Paint on the Walls Susan George Can World Trade Ever Be Fair? Back to Keynes! Paul Craig Roberts Attacking Iran: What's In It For Bush Joshua Frank Obama and the Middle East David Lindorff Towards Oil at $200 a Barrel January 16, 2007 Col. Sam Gardiner Escalation Against Iran Marjorie Cohn Stimson's Outrageous Threat Saul Landau Gore Vidal in Havana: Part 2 Ron Jacobs Welcome Back to 1965 Susan Block From Snowjob to Blowjob Ken Couesbouck Year of the Pig Website of the Day Amazon's Hit on Jimmy Carter January 15, 2007 Roger Morris Another War the Voters Hoped to End Paul Craig Roberts Bush Must Go Kathy Kelly Umm Heyder's Story William Blum The Anti-Empire Report Ralph Nader The Class War's New Map Saul Landau Gore Vidal In Havana January 12 / 14, 2007 Patrick Cockburn "21,500 More Troops": Will America Ever Leave Iraq? David Rosen Bush's Domestic Sex Policy: the Teen Abstinence-Only Crusade William S. Lind Less Than Zero Laith al-Saud The Ironies of Bush and Iraq Paul Craig Roberts Surge and Mirrors: What Bush Really Said John Ross Celebrating the "Sum of the World" in Chiapas George Ciccariello-Maher The Case of Venezuela's RCTV: Not About Free Speech Christopher Brauchli How to Avoid an IRS Audit: Become a Millionaire! Robert Buzzanco Rogue State, Redux Evelyn Pringle The Secrets in Eli Lilly's Cabinet Peter Rost, MD. Promises, Promises: Playing Politics with Drug Reimportation Mike Whitney Baghdad Crackdown Yifat Susskind Beyond the Surge: Demanding an End to Bush's Wars Saul Cohen Latin America's Real Mr. Danger: Negroponte's Latest Gig Missy Beattie A Day of Action and Questions Stephen Lendman Holiday Hypocrisy Website of the Weekend Bruegel on Bush War Plan   January 11, 2007 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh The Profits of Escalation Paul Craig Roberts Carter's Inconvenient Truths Kathy Kelly Refugee Dreams Dave Lindorff Blood for Face Jeff Leys The War Widens Richard W. Behan Barrels and Bodies Col. Douglas MacGregor Surging Right Into Al-Sadr's Hands Website of the Day An Explanation from Google Speech of the Day Is There Even One Politician Alive Who Could Give This Speech? January 10, 2007 Peter Linebaugh A Walk in Oaxaca Robert Fantina Punishing Deserters: Prosecution or Persecution? Patrick Cockburn Why Troop Escalation Won't Bring Peace to Iraq Paul Craig Roberts Distracting Congress: Troop Escalation and Iran Col. Dan Smith Why U.S. Policy is Failing Ben Tripp The Politics of Bad Karma Evelyn Pringle How the FDA Protects Big Pharma Ron Jacobs Coalition of the Lunatics: Trying to Create the Next World War Mike Ferner If Not Now, When? Dave Zirin Judgment of the Juiced: Why McGwire Wasn't Elected to the Hall of Fame Website of the Day Revolting Students! Bootleg of the Day Bob Dylan: Live at Scotia Bank Place 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         Subscribe Online

February 16, 2007 "I Swore to Uphold the Constitution. Instead, I Disgraced It" Vermont Legislature Says Bring Them Home Now! By JAMES MARC LEAS The Vermont Senate and House both passed resolutions "urging the President and Congress to commence immediately the orderly withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq." The resolutions also both urge Vermont "Governor [James] Douglas to enlist the support of other members of the National Governors Association to speak out against the war in Iraq and the announced troop surge and to support a withdrawal from Iraq of American troops." Vermont is the first state to pass a resolution calling for troops to come home from Iraq. Representative Mike Fisher, the lead sponsor of the resolution, told Democracy Now, "sometimes states have to step up and lead when Congress is not doing enough. And this was a time when Vermonters were able to speak up and say clearly that it was time to take some real leadership to end this war." The Vermont Senate resolution was sponsored by 18 of the 30 members and passed with a vote of 25 to 4 without any amendment. The Vermont House resolution was sponsored by 72 of the 150 members, and as amended, passed with a vote of 95 to 52. The resolutions gained the support of the leadership of both houses. While both resolutions oppose the escalation of troop levels in Iraq, the Vermont Senate version states that "this legislative body believes that an escalation of American troops in Iraq is exactly the wrong foreign policy direction, and that the presence of American troops in Iraq has not, and will not, contribute to the stability of that nation, the region, or the security of Americans at home or abroad." Both resolutions call on "the Administration and Congress to fund fully all veterans' benefits to care appropriately for our brave men and women when they return from this war." Both resolutions note that "Vermont has had the highest number of soldiers per capita who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives in this war." The resolutions also point out that "the cost of this war according to the Congressional Research Service is at least $379 billion, that "Vermont's share of the cost exceeds $750 million," and "these costs will have a significant impact on Vermont households and the Vermont state budget process for years to come." The non-binding resolutions adopted by the Vermont House and Senate do not need to be reconciled with each other or go to the governor for signature. The resolutions were introduced following citizen organizing and passage of antiwar Town Meeting proposals during the past several years. For example, a referendum question on the ballot in the City of Burlington in 2005 that called for "bringing the troops home from Iraq now" passed with a vote of 65.2% of the electorate. Fifty other Vermont towns passed antiwar resolutions at Town Meeting that same year. A series of speak outs, marches, and rallies at the State House in Montpelier and in towns throughout Vermont led to introduction of a resolution last year in the Vermont House, but that resolution never made it out of committee. This year leaders of the Vermont legislature were persuaded that the time had come for Vermont to speak out. Factors included the decisive election last November that removed Republicans from control of the US Congress, largely over the war issue; a large demonstration at the Vermont State House on January 20; the massive demonstration in Washington, DC on January 27; successful petitioning to put a new antiwar resolution up for a vote in dozens of Vermont towns; the articulate statements by active duty soldiers and returning Vermont Iraq War veterans against the war, including the "Appeal for Redress;" and outrage among Vermonters that President Bush was responding to all this by escalating the war. One example of the new antiwar resolution that will be voted at Town Meetings on March 7 states: "Shall the voters of the town of Newfane advise the President, Congress and Vermont's state and federal office holders that Newfane and its citizens strongly support the men and women serving in all branches of the United States Armed Forces in Iraq and believe that the best way to support them is to bring each and every one of them home now and take good care of them when they get home." Before the debate in the House began, three Vermont Iraq War veterans, former Army Sgt. Drew Cameron, Former Marine Cpl. Matt Howard, and former Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne, all members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and two members of the Vermont Military Families Speak Out, Nancy Brown and Nicole Conte, were seated in plush red chairs at the front of the chamber and introduced to the House. They received an extended standing ovation from the representatives. During the debate in the House, Representative Sue Minter, from Waterbury, stated, "I support this resolution because I support our troops. And the best way that we can support the Vermont men and women who have been deployed in Iraq is to bring them home from countries where they live every day at great risk of being killed or wounded by people who consider them unwanted occupiers, not liberators, as they were promised. We must not stand by silently while more of Vermont's finest sons and daughters and their families are asked to sacrifice for a war that has no clear end. This resolution sends a simple message to Vermonters in uniform: Thank you. You have done enough. It is time to come home to Vermont. And we will take care of you. Our General Assembly has supported our men and women in uniform, and this Resolution is no exception." Former Marine Cpl. Matthew Howard served two combat tours in Iraq, deploying with the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division. He served four years in the United States Marine Corps. In a statement distributed to House and Senate sponsors of the resolution before the debate he explained his opposition to the war: Sometimes it's the post traumatic stress B the anxiety, the fear, the isolation. Sometimes it's the false pretenses. Sometimes it's the mass civilian casualties. Sometimes it's the corporate profiteers. Sometimes it's the faulty equipment and faulty planning or the lack of equipment and lack of planning. The people of Iraq are suffering horrors hard to conceive on a daily basis because we are there. And yet their only crime is that they were also victims of previous horrors under a different regime. The people fighting us are fighting for their freedom--to be free from foreign military occupation. While I despise their violence, unfortunately I can understand it. Conditions are exponentially worse than when I invaded their country four years ago. I saw this on my second tour of duty and continue to hear it from my brothers in arms today. Hospitals are morgues, schools are landfills, streets are sewers. We have overwhelmingly proven that we are not there to help these people. Unemployment is hovering at 70% yet we import Pakistanis to run our chow halls. The country is in shambles and KBR gets to no bid contracts with no quantifiable progress. I swore to uphold and defend the constitution. Instead I disgraced it. I urge you all to honor the veterans placing themselves in death's cross hairs and support this legislation calling for immediate withdrawal. Don't be fooled by those saying you must support the troops. I never received support from this government. Never. I can write a book about the things we didn't get issued, the things we were forced to pay for, the pointless missions we were told to execute. Withdrawal is what we as veterans want, it is what the people of this country want, and it is what the Iraqis want. You can't win a crime, you can only stop it. Please join myself and Iraq Veterans Against the War in finding the courage to put a stop to this war now. Former Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne served in the Army from 1994 to 2004 as an Arabic linguist in military intelligence, with a total of six years on active duty. She distributed the following statement to her Vermont state representatives and senators: During the period leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I was disturbed by the administration's recklessness, its misrepresentation of the facts, and manipulation of the events of 9/11. At the time, I felt powerless to do anything about the wrongs that were being perpetrated by those in charge. In the years subsequent to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, that feeling of powerlessness followed me. The only reprieve that I experienced from that feeling came following the election of 2006 when it became clear that the American public had finally spoken. At that time, just a few short months ago, I thought to myself, finally, things are going to change. Unfortunately, that hopeful feeling was not to last. When the administration announced that additional troops were going to be sent to Iraq, I not only felt powerless, but angry. I firmly believe that whatever grip on reality the administration may have once had, it is now all but gone. The reality is that the U.S. military's continued presence in Iraq is clearly making the situation on the ground there more dangerous. We are fueling the fire of anti-American sentiment in the hearts of many, thereby easing the job of terrorist organizations in their quest for new volunteers -- a fact that seems contrary to the goals of a "war on terror." We are also making it more difficult for those Iraqis who want to bring stability to their country to serve without fear of reprisals by those who would see them as American collaborators. The time has come for the United States to end its occupation of Iraq, thereby allowing Iraqis the opportunity to forge their own path. Only Iraqis can decide what is best for Iraq. As a Veteran, I know that our military is all-volunteer. I know that the men and women of our Armed Forces took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, to obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over them. I believe in the spirit of that oath; however, I also believe that the time has come for us to support and defend our brave men and women by bringing them home now. I say this to you as a veteran who continues to support her fellow veterans and wishes them all a safe return. I say this to you as the big sister of a Reservist who is afraid that her little brother could be called to Iraq any day. I say this to you as the friend of a fellow woman veteran, who is also a two-time breast cancer survivor and mother of two, and whose husband will be deploying to Iraq in the coming weeks. I say this to you as someone who has worked with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom have suffered traumatic brain injuries and/or suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As someone who has worked in the Veterans Health Administration, I can tell you that the resources are not there to provide our veterans the quality health care and mental health care that they have earned and deserve. On that subject, I urge you all to ensure that Veterans hospitals receive the funding they need to get the job done. And, finally, I say this to you as a human being who thinks that we are all morally obligated to do whatever is in our power to bring our troops home now and out of harms way. The following statement from former Marine Sgt. Liam Madden, a veteran of the war in Iraq who finished his Marine service last month was distributed by his representative to members of the Vermont House and Senate: I admire and support the Vermont State Legislature for setting a precedent for other legislatures to follow in calling for an end to an illegal and unjust war. Once again Vermonters are proving their independence and commitment to a more just and peaceful world. American service members pledged an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic. Your actions make that oath meaningful and give us something to defend. We volunteer to serve our nation's best interest, not to throw our lives away for a lie. If your call for an immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq can save one more mother one more tear then you have done more to support our men and women in the United States military than any other governmental body in the nation. James Marc Leas is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and helped lead the effort to get a resolution introduced to the Vermont legislature.

Coming in March from CounterPunch Books The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained! Buy End Times Now! Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal Click Here to Order!   "The Case Against Israel" Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair       The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn   Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"