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Lesser of Two Evils
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Today's
Stories
December
7, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
December 7, 2004
Seeking the DNC Chair
What
Direction Would Dean Go?
By
JOSHUA FRANK
Months after he fled the Democratic
primaries with his tail between his legs, Howard Dean is again
in the spotlight, where is (half-heartedly) seeking the chair
of Democratic National Committee. Dean hopes his influence can
steer the Democratic Party away from future electoral defeats.
But even if Dean is victorious, he will not be guiding the Democrats'
foreign policy agenda in a new direction. The fact is, Dean's
own foreign policy agenda is strikingly similar to that of George
W. Bush. Sad, but true.
Nonetheless, during his bid
for president Dean was labeled by Republicans -- and much of
the mainstream media -- as the anti-war candidate, representing
the left wing of the Democratic Party. But while Dean dodged
the draft during the 1960s (he had a bum back) to avoid serving
in Vietnam, the conscientious objections of his youth were not
representative of his policy stance once he became involved in
national politics.
Looking back, Dean had a long
pro-war history. He praised the first Gulf War, NATO's intervention
in Bosnia, Clinton's bombing of the Sudan and Iraq, and both
the international and domestic war on drugs. Dean even went so
far as to write President Clinton a letter praising his foreign
policy in 1995 as the U.S. waged a brutal air attack on Serbia,
bringing death and destruction to civilians and the infrastructure
that provided their only life support. He confessed to President
Clinton: "I think your policy up to this date has been absolutely
correct Since it is clearly no longer possible to take action
in conjunction with NATO and the United Nations, I have reluctantly
concluded that we must take unilateral action." According
to most post-war accounts, U.S. air bombardment left the Serbian
military relatively unscathed, while ethnic cleansing increased
drastically. Nonetheless, Governor Dean supported Clinton's
deadly policy without a wince of embarrassment.
Candidate Dean was no different.
Despite voicing his opposition to Bush's war when he entered
the race for the White House, Dean never wholeheartedly opposed
overthrowing Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In September 2002,
Dean had announced that if Saddam failed to comply with the demands
of the United Nations, the U.S. reserved the right to "go
into Iraq." Dean claimed he would gladly endorse a multilateral
effort to destroy Saddam's regime. In fact, as we will discuss
shortly, Dean wasn't even opposed to a unilateral effort lacking
the support of the U.N., NATO, or the European Union.
On CBS's Meet the Press
in July 2003, Dean told Tim Russert that the United States must
increase its pressure on Saudi Arabia and Iran. "We have
to be very, very careful of Iran" because President Bush
"is too beholden to the Saudis and the Iranians," he
explained. But later in the broadcast, he conceded, "I
support the president's War on Terrorism." Dean even went
so far as to tell Russert: "I believe that we need a very
substantial increase in troops. They don't all have to be American
troops. My guess would be that we would need at least 30,000
and 40,000 additional troops." Sounds like John Kerry at
the height of campaign 2004.
In a New York primary debate
two months later, Dean elaborated: "We need more troops.
They're going to be foreign troops [in Iraq], not more American
troops, as they should have been in the first place. Ours need
to come home." Dean, it seems, would have the disorder in
Iraq go on at all costs, though he wasn't quite sure whose soldiers
should do the occupying.
When Dennis Kucinich grilled
Dean during that same debate about Bush's $87 billion Iraq package,
Dean claimed that he would support it since "we have no
choice ... we have to support our troops." So do we support
our troops by bringing them home, or by financing the occupation?
The self-proclaimed anti-war candidate never clarified.
Prior to the invasion of Iraq,
Dean deemed the Afghanistan war vital to ending terrorism. The
governor also failed to critique the misguided foreign policy
paradigms of the U.S. leading up to and following the September
11 attacks. He believed that in order to fight terror, America
must use an "iron fist" approach. Aggression, according
to Dean, was the only way to challenge the cycle of terror plaguing
our vulnerable capitalist world.
More fervent observers of Bush's
foreign policy will notice that Dean's hollow position on the
war on terrorism did not differ drastically from Bush's. In fact,
with the exception of the rhetoric used by their proponents,
the two strategies seem to be virtually identical.
Pre-Emption and Meager Opposition
On April 9, 2003, Dean all
but endorsed Bush's pre-emptive doctrine. Though Dean didn't
join in the hawks' celebration of Bush's "liberation of
Iraq" that day, he stressed the necessity of pressuring
Iran and North Korea, saying he would not rule out the use of
military force to do so.
By conceding that effective
containment of such rogue states may necessitate the use of force,
Dean endorsed a pre-emptive dogma that has had catastrophic consequences.
It goes without saying that by embracing the doctrine, Dean's
foreign policy vision would not have reversed this trend.
Despite the similarities between
Dean and Bush on pre-emption (or as some call it: preventive),
American progressives eagerly embraced Dean's nuanced position
against the Iraq war. As he told National Public Radio political
correspondent Mara Liasson, "There are two groups of people
who support me because of the war One are the people who always
oppose every war, and in the end, I probably won't get all of
those people." The other group, Dean said, were constituents
who supported his Iraq position because he spoke out early and
"represented the facts."
But this so-called representation
of the facts demands closer examination.
According to the aforementioned
reference, had Bush produced accurate data proving that Saddam
harbored weapons of mass destruction, Dean would have supported
the unilateral invasion of Iraq. As Ron Brownstein reported in
The Los Angeles Times on January 31, 2003, Dean said,
"if Bush presents what he considered to be persuasive evidence
that Iraq still had weapons of mass destruction, he would support
military action, even without U.N. authorization."
Just one month later, Dean
alienated his anti-war base, admitting in a February 20 Salon.com
interview: "if the U.N. in the end chooses not to enforce
its own resolutions, then the U.S. should give Saddam 30 to 60
days to disarm, and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a regrettable,
but unavoidable, choice."
As Dean initially articulated
his muddled position on Iraq, Danny Sebright, one of the premier
architects of Bush's Afghanistan conflict, played puppeteer behind
the theatrical curtain. According to Sean Donahue, the Project
Director of the Corporations and Militarism Project of the Massachusetts
Anti-Corporate Clearinghouse, Sebright constructed and wrote
Dean's early statements on war. At that time, Sebright worked
under Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon as the Director of the
Executive Secretariat for Enduring Freedom.
The fact that a close Dean
advisor worked for a consulting firm involved in pitching contracts
for reconstruction projects in Iraq, raises questions about the
true motives of Dean's support for the President's $87 billion
Iraqi reconstruction program.
Dean's ties to such contracts
likely explain his refusal to challenge a longstanding U.S. foreign
policy agenda. And based on the statements made by Dean after
announcing his campaign in the summer 2003, it appears that he
only opposed the war in Iraq because he didn't believe the Bush
administration had proven that Iraq posed an "imminent threat"
toward the United States. Dean also suggested that he would
have jumped on the war train with other Democratic cheerleaders
like John Kerry had the international community backed U.S. intervention
in Iraq.
Joshua Frank, a contributor to A
Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils,
is putting the finishing touches on Left
Out: How Liberals did Bush's Work for Him, to be published
by Common Courage Press in 2005. He welcomes comments at frank_joshua@hotmail.com.
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|