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Today's Stories March 20, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Iraq is a Vast, Blood-Drenched Human Disaster 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 20, 2007 Our Bleach-Blond Thatcher? Hillary's Cojones By SHARON SMITH In recent weeks, Hillary Clinton's campaign strategy appears increasingly centered on proving she has the cojones to ruthlessly pursue U.S. imperial interests the world over. With Barack Obama nipping at her polling numbers by invoking his opposition to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Clinton steadfastly refuses to pander to the antiwar movement by admitting she made a mistake in voting to authorize the war in 2002. These days, Clinton misses no opportunity to demonstrate her own combative stance on foreign affairs, whatever the subject under discussion. After pledging to work toward energy independence at a March 18 mid-Manhattan fundraiser, Clinton told an audience laden with Wall St. financiers that each time she switches off a light bulb in her own home, she mutters, "'Take that, Iran,' and 'Take that, Venezuela.' We should not be sending our money to people who are not going to support our values." And Clinton has made clear she has no intention of ending the occupation of Iraq if elected president. In an interview published by the New York Times on March 15, she was explicit on this issue-sounding remarkably like, well, George Bush. A complete U.S. withdrawal from Iraq could turn it into "a petri dish for insurgents and Al Qaeda," she said, adding, "It is right in the heart of the oil region. It is directly in opposition to our interests, to the interests of regimes, to Israel's interests." Clinton would downsize the U.S. troop presence, pulling them out of urban combat to minimize U.S. casualties while preserving enough troops "for our antiterrorism mission, for our northern support mission, for our ability to respond to the Iranians, and to continue to provide support, if called for, for the Iraqis." As the Times reported, "Mrs. Clinton said the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence - even if it descended into ethnic cleansing." Indeed, Clinton responded coldly to the prospect of such a mass sectarian bloodletting: "This is an Iraqi problem; we cannot save the Iraqis from themselves." Clinton's candid Times interview seems to place her well to the right of other Congressional Democrats, currently absorbed in an apparently principled fight to pass antiwar legislation through the House and Senate. On March 13, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked, "The administration's answer to continuing violence in Iraq is more troops and more treasure from the American people." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated defiantly that Bush "must change course, and it's time for the Senate to demand he do it." But behind the scenes, Democratic Party Congressional leaders were maneuvering frantically to avoid conflict with the Bush administration's war aims. On March 13, Democrats announced plans to remove a requirement that Bush gain Congressional approval before taking military action against Iran in its military spending bill. Democrats, not Republicans, stymied the Iran proposal during a meeting held behind closed doors, objecting to possible opposition from Israel. As Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley explained, "It would take away perhaps the most important negotiating tool that the U.S. has when it comes to Iran." The spending bill to be debated in the House this week includes nearly $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan-more than Bush requested. Its antiwar provisions require most U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn by August 31, 2008. But the President "may waive" these requirements for reasons of "national security," according to the now toothless legislation. In concrete terms, three months after establishing a majority in Congress, the Democrats have little to show for themselves. The House managed to pass a single non-binding resolution against Bush's troop surge on February 16, while the Senate failed even to accomplish that much. This is hardly what the antiwar majority has in mind. Rhetoric aside, how much political distance separates Hillary Clinton from her more impassioned Congressional counterparts? Less than it might appear. The notion of withdrawing most combat troops is less dramatic than it seems. Although the House resolution currently up for debate calls for removing most combat troops from Iraq by September 2008 (presidential waivers aside), it also acknowledges the need to maintain the presence of a "limited" number of U.S. soldiers for purposes including "targeted counterterrorism operations." Obama has admitted that he, too, might decide to retain some U.S. troops in Iraq as president. No major Democratic Party presidential candidate has so far called for a complete U.S. troop withdrawal, and with good reason: the party's powerbrokers aim to salvage, not renounce, U.S. war aims in Iraq. As the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) notes on its website, "A rapid and complete withdrawal from Iraq isn't really a Plan B: it's a 'Plan Zero' for liquidating the whole Iraq engagement as hopeless." The Times noted that Clinton's plan is not a new one-and has already been advocated by Dov S. Zakheim, the Pentagon's comptroller under Rumsfeld, who estimated that roughly 75,000 "non-combat" troops would be required to fulfill this limited set of strategic U.S. aims in Iraq. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are biding time in Iraq, in the hopes of consolidating a long-term U.S. military presence there-while leaving open the option of attacking Iran as a bargaining chip. Clinton stated recently, "No option can be taken off the table" against Iran's alleged nuclear threat, while presidential rivals John Edwards and Obama echoed, "All options on the table." The aim of a continued military presence in Iraq is a given for both Democrats and Republicans. Rarely has the U.S. fought a major war without leaving permanent military bases behind. No longer referred to as "permanent bases" in Iraq, the Pentagon has successively described U.S. military bases as "Enduring Bases" and then as "Contingency Operating Bases" since February 2005. The purpose remains the same. As a former Pentagon official told the New York Times, Clinton's Iraq plan, by minimizing U.S. troop casualties, would make it politically possible to sustain a long-term military presence in the Middle East Region. Only a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq can end the occupation--and prevent a region-wide Middle East war. Don't count on the Democrats to make it happen, rhetoric aside. Sharon Smith is the author of Women and Socialism and Subterranean Fire: a History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States. She can be reached at: sharon@internationalsocialist.org

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