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Today's
Stories
August 18,
2004
Sean Donahue
Kerry
and Bolivia: To the Right of Bush?
August 17,
2004
Norm Dixon
Darfuris
Made Pawns in Western Power Play for Oil
Alan Farago
In
Charley's Wake: Opportunity from Misfortune
John L. Hess
The
Meaning of Venezuela
Lisa Taraki
/ Omar Barghouti
Presbyterian Church Divests from Israel
Allen Thompson
Et Tu, Patti? An Open Letter to Patti Smith
John Ross
Mexicans
Dying in Bush's War
Website of the Day
List of Civilian Contractors Killed or Missing in Iraq
August 16,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Attack on Najaf: the Ultimate Stupidity
Ron Jacobs
Iran
Through an Iraqi Mirror?
Mike Whitney
The
Guantanamo Mock Trials
Zvi Bar'el
Theater
of the Absurd in Iraq: Chalabi, Feith and Israel
John Blair
A
Culture of Waste
Sharmini Peries
Chavez
Triumphs; Crushes Opposition
Tariq Ali
The Importance of Hugo Chavez
Website of
the Day
Hurricane City
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
August 14 /
15, 2004
Justin Delacour
/ Diana Barahona
The
Venezuela Referendum: Can the Carter Center's McCoy be an Impartial
Observer?
Cockburn /
St. Clair
War
on the Poor: "A Risk No Sane Person Would Take"
M. Shahid Alam
The Civilizing Mission: Some Economic Results
Saul Landau
God and Botox
John Ross
Echoes of Mexico City, 1968
Fred Gardner
Is California Spying on Pro-Pot Doctors?
Jonah Girdin
The Opposition Strategy in Venezuela: Subvert Democracy in the
Name of Democracy
Katherine Lahey
"Uh!
Ah! Chávez No Se Va!": Democracy and Venezuela
Medea Benjamin
Hugo Chavez and the Poor of Venezuela
Yves Engler
The Media and the Venezuela Referendum
Zeynep Toufe
The NYTs and Chavez: More Than the Usual Bias
Mike Whitney
The Trouble in Najaf: What Was al-Sadr's Crime?
Eric Drooker
Gaza Stripped
Dave Zirin
Olympic Sized Horror in Greece: 150 Workers Died Building the
Facilities
Dave Lindorff
A29 Could be a Very Slow Day
Rebecca Brigham
The Aftermath of Guatemala's Strike: Promises Still Unfulfilled
Wayne Madsen
The McGreevey Scandal: an Israeli Connection?
David Krieger
Nuclear Disarmament in a Time of Globalization: the US Double
Standard
Tracy McLellan
The Illegality of Pot is a Crime: a Personal Account
Christina Gerhardt
Confronting Capitalism: What Has Changed Since Seattle 1999?
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert Vijayalakshmi, Gilliam
August 13,
2004
Lee Sustar
Report
from Caracas
Mickey Z.
McProtests R Us: Why are the Dems Trying to Gag Anti-War Protesters?
Stan Goff
There
He Goes Again: Kerry's "Energy" Plan
Norman Madarasz
Thoughts on Najaf: How Could the US Ever Be Considered a "Terrorist"
State?
Victor Kattan
Press Freedom, Censorship and the War on Terror
Oscar Heck
Is Mendoza Off His Rocker? Chavez Opponents Pledge to Post Results
Online Before Polls Close
CounterPunch
Wire
Military Families File "Stop Loss" Suit
Milan Rai
Najaf: Bush Started It
Website of
the Day
The Yes Men
August 12,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
How
Bush Got (and Lost) His Wings
Lenni Brenner
Take
It on Faith: Kerry's See-Through-Monk's Robe
Lee Ballinger
The Coors and the Kerrys: Drink Up, Kids!
Tariq Ali
The
Handover Fiction
Yves Engler
What's at Stake in Venezuela
William S.
Lind
Seeing
Through the Other Side's Eyes
Christopher Brauchli
Getting Bush's Goat
Website of
the Day
The Sucker Puncher
August 11,
2004
Ceylon Mooney
Who
Woke Up Sen. Joe?: Watchers of the NJ Turnpike
Voices in the
Wilderness
Hands
Off Najaf
Ray McGovern
Porter
Goss as CIA Director?
Robert Jensen
US
Supports Anti-Democratic Forces in Venezuelan Recall
Annie Higgins
In Memory of Nick Pretzlik: As Good as It Gets
Alexander Cockburn
Bush
v. Kerry: Not Even a Dime's Worth of Difference
Website of the Day
Nick Pretzlik
August 10,
2004
William A.
Cook
Silencing
the Voice of the People
Todd Chretien
California Greens at the Crossroads: Will It Be Nader or Cobb?
Dave Lindorff
Chicago on the Hudson?
Richard Gott
Loathed
by the Rich: Why Chavez is Headed for a Big Win
Toni Solo
Bluebeard's
Castle: Disappearing the Right to Development
Dave Zirin
Carl Eller's Plea
Rep. Ron Paul
Police State, USA
Patrick Cockburn
If the Chalabis Were Corrupt, They Weren't Alone
Website of
the Day
The Surveillance-Industrial Complex
August 9, 2004
Tito Tricot
Pinochet
Must Still be Tried: a Murderer and a Thief on the Loose
Ron Jacobs
In
Memory of Deep Throat: the Day Nixon Was Gone
Norm Dixon
Crisis in Sudan: Oil Profits Behind West's Tears for Darfur
Kurt Nimmo
The Politics of Entrapment
Elaine Cassel
Welcome to Bush's America
Gary Leupp
Why
Iraqi Christians are Moving to Syria
August 7 /
8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
August 6, 2004
Joshua Frank
David
Cobb's Soft Charade: the Greens and the Politics of Mendacity
Derek Seidman
An
Interview with Stan Goff
Mike Whitney
The
Arbitrary Imprisonment of Jose Padilla
William S. Lind
Corruption in the Marine Corps
David Price
In
the Shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 5, 2004
Mike Ferner
The Kerry Show: When Peace is Off
Message
Bruce Anderson
Two
Rejections
Robert Fisk
The Tale of Saddam's Cameraman
Todd Chretien
Florida
Comes to California: the Democrats' Plot Against Nader
Peter Linebaugh
Doing Time for Political Crime:
Paul and Silas, Bound in Jail
August 4, 2004
Mickey Z.
Two
Traditions: WMD and Disinformation
Justin Huggler
The Hunt for Bin Laden
John Ross
Mexico's
Dirty War Never Ended: Inside Puente Grande Prison
August 3, 2004
Uri Avnery
The
Oligarchs
Ray McGovern
The 9/11 Commission Chimera
Jack McCarthy
Sexual Politics in Jeb's Florida
Eric Ruder
Meet Barak Obama: the Democrats' New Liberal Star
John L. Hess
Crying Wolf: Orange Alert!
Elaine Cassel
Civil Liberties Elections: 1800 v. 2004
Jules Rabin
The Man Who Didn't Walk By
Website of the Day
No Wall
August 2, 2004
Robert Jensen
Kerry's
Hypocrisy on the Vietnam War
Joshua Frank
Greens, Kerry and the Politics of Mendacity
Mike Whitney
The 9/11 Commission and Civil Liberties: "We Need an American
Police State"
Gary Leupp
Beyond
Good and Evil: Some Thoughts on Invasions
July 31 / Aug.
1, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Kerry:
He's the (Any) One
Merlin Chowkwanyun
Five Questions with Noam Chomsky: "The Savage Extreme of
a Narrow Policy Spectrum"
David Lindorff
The Shame of the DNC
John Chuckman
The
Disturbing Words of John Edwards
Brian Cloughley
All Slam and No Dunk; All Blame and No Responsibility
Christopher Brauchli
"Being Poor is a State of Mind": the Frowning Face
of Compassionate Conservatism
Fred Gardner
A World of Pain
Michael Donnelly
How Big Pharma Bilks the Elderly
David Nally
Genocide in Darfur?
Joshua Frank
Forest Battles Escalate in Oregon
Sam Bahour
Colin Powell and My Grandmother
Diane Farsetta
The IMF and the Indonesian Elections: The Invisible Hand in the
Voting Booth
Harold Gould
Was Iraq a Mutual Charade?
Van Bergen / Stephens
Election 9/11: Surreal Political Theater
Lee Sustar
A New Model for the Labor Movement?
Ron Jacobs
The Lost Art of Hitchhiking
M. Junaid Alam
An Interview with Palestinian-American Rapper, The Iron Sheik
Poets Basement
Albert, Ford, Krieger, St. Clair
Website of
the Weekend
Cross Cultural Poetics
July 30, 2004
Kolhatkar /
Ingalls
Shattering
Illusions: Kerry's Speech Tells Anti-War Activists They're Not
Wanted
Dave Lindorff
Murder
Not So Foul?
Bruce Jackson
Walt Whitman on the Sound of Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Fidel Castro
The
Pathology of George W. Bush
Maximilien Robespierre
Memo to Kerry and Bush: Why They Resist
Saul Landau
Bush
Charges Castro with Sex Tourism; JFK Rolls Over in His Grave
July 29, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Hail,
the Conquering War Criminal: What Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
Frank Bardacke
What
Michael Moore Left Out of F9/11
Tom Barry
Shallow and Formulaic: Kerry's Latin America Plan
Ron Jacobs
Kerry
and Lennon: Hawking the CounterCulture
Robert Fisk
The Unreported War
Lichtman /
Kellis-Borok
What Kerry Must Do to Win (But Probably Won't)
William S. Lind
The 9/11 Commission Report: Cashing in on Failure
CounterPunch
Wire
Doonesbury Onto John Kerry in 1971!
Website of
the Day
Jabbing JibJab: Copyright Madness
July 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
The
Occupation at 114 Degrees: Baghdad is Swamped in the Smell of
the Dead
Kevin Mink
Kerry's Misperception of Palestine
Ray McGovern
Israel and the Iraq War: How the 9/11 Report Soft-Pedals Root
Causes
United for
Peace & Justice
An
Open Letter to John Kerry: Winter Soldiers and Summer Patriots
Mike Ferner
Vets Demand End to Occupation: "Pull the Troops or Face
Impeachment Mvt."
Imraan Siddiqi
Turning Tricks with Ann Coulter
Alexander Cockburn
Candidate
Kerry
Website of
the Day
Iraq Vets Against the War
July 27, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
the Democrats Deserve Nader
Dave Lindorff
Back to the 19th Century: Globalization's Coming!
Mike Whitney
Control Room: Inside Al Jazeera
Ali, Anderson, Bello, et al.
If We Were Venezuelan, We'd Vote for Chavez
Stefan Wray
Texas Plan to Grab Los Alamos Takes Hold, as DOE Shuts Down Labs
Louis Proyect
Reflections on Nicaragua: First Came the Contra Butchers, Then
the Sweatshops
Rick Giombetti
Faith in Freedom: the Challenge of Thomas Szasz
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
The
9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dogding Israel/Palestine;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism
July 26, 2004
Todd Chretien
Green
Resistance: a Reply to Normon Solomon & Medea Benjamin
Robert Fisk
Terror
by Video
Richard Forno
Security
Theater in Boston: Security Expert Harrassed by DHS for Exposing
Flaws at the Fleet Center
Mitchel Cohen
Report from a Boston Demo: Arresting the Curious
Richard Moreno
Rockers
for Justice: an Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
Alexander Cockburn
Boston
Awaits a Dead Party
July
24 / 25, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Democrats and Their Conventions:
Part One
Dennis
Hans
Those 16 Words Still Smell, Mr. Bush
Patrick
Cockburn
The Struggle for Iraq is Only Beginning
Josh
Frank
The War Path of Unity: Dems Reject
the Peace Movement
Justin
E.H. Smith
Christianity and the Left: the Latin
American Experience
Tariq
Ali
What's at Stake in Venezuela
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Pot: Year of the
Antagonist
Mark
Scaramella
There's Dope and There's Dope
Ron
Jacobs
The Weather Underground's Prairie
Fire Statement...35 Years On
July
23, 2004
Lee
Sustar
Revolution in Nicaragua: 25 Years
On
Dave
Lindorff
Battle for NYC: Bush 1, Protesters
0
Saul
Landau
Zaniest President in US History: Bush
Beats Reagan
Mike
Whitney
The 9/11 Whitewash: Blaming No
One
Mickey
Z
Get On the Bus: 150 Years After Elizabeth
Jennings
Gary
Leupp
The 9/11 Commission and the Looming
War on Iran
July
22, 2004
M.
Junaid Alam
Ten Ways to Build a Better Democrat
Brian
McKinlay
Rusted On Down Under: Howard, Bush and Sharon
Jason
Leopold
Cheney Lobbied for Easing of Sanctions on Terrorist Regimes While
CEO of Halliburton
Chris
Floyd
Mob Rule: Ripping the Lid Off of America's Pious Myths
Uri
Avnery
Chirac v. Sharon
July
21, 2004
Paula
J. Caplan
The Emotional Casualities of War:
Psychologists Can't Heal All the Damage
Joshua
Frank
Nader Sleeping with the Enemy? Let's
be Fair
Ron
Jacobs
American Exceptionalism
Reza
Ghorashi
The Elections, Iran and al-Qaeda
Amy
Martin
Will Congress Rearm the Guatemalan Generals?
John
Ross
Bush May Lose, But His Wars Will Go
On and On
July
20, 2004
Stan
Cox
The Bush / Kerry War Ticket
Chris
Randolph
An Open Letter to Dr. Ehrenreich: It's Over, Barb!
Forrest
Hylton
The Ghosts of Gonismo: "Popular
Patricipation" and Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Mark
Scaramella
It's Official! Mendocino County is Crazier and Fatter Than the
Rest of California
Sam
Bahour
The World is Knocking on Israel's Door
George
Reiter
A Defense of David Cobb
John
Ross
Burying Iraq, Burying Bush
John
L. Hess
Girlie Stuff: Media Tolerance of Arnold & Co.
Website
of the Day
This Land is Your Land
July
19, 2004
Uri
Avnery
Marie and the Ghosts: the Hoax of
Paris
Col.
Dan Smith
What Has Been Accomplished?
Mike
Whitney
Allawi: Our Puppet with a Pistol
Karyn
Strickler
Just Marriage, Not Gay Marriage
Robert
Fisk
The Crisis of Information in Baghdad
David
Swanson
Media Blackout of US Labor Opposition
to Iraq War
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
July
17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
Green Party in Reverse
Website
of the Day
Michael Moore and Israel: Blind or a Coward?
June
30, 2004
Kurt Nimmo
Nicholson
Baker's Checkpoint: a New Kind of Anger About Bush
Tariq
Ali
Getting Away with Murder in Iraq
Jennifer
Van Bergen
Bush and the Detainees
Douglas
Valentine
Apotheosis of the Psychopaths: Instead of Fahrenheit 9/11, Rescreen
The Quiet American
David
Price
Fahrenheit 9/11 Through the McCain-Feingold Looking Glass
Roger
Normand
America's Criminal Occupation of Iraq
Stan
Cox
Sanitized for Your Protection: Ashcroft's
War on Art
Henry
David Thoreau
On the Futility of Bush v. Kerry: All Voting is a Kind of Gaming
Ben
Tripp
Who Dast Call Him Liar: a Rebuttal to Nicholas Kristof
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
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August
18, 2004
Israeli
Nuclear Whistleblower Risks Arrest, Again
An
Interview with Mordechai Vanunu
By
AMY GOODMAN
Mordechai Vanunu worked as a nuclear
technician at Dimona, Israel's secret nuclear installation from
1976 to 1985. He worked there at a time when Israel was insisting
it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the
Middle East. What Vanunu discovered is that Israel had secretly
developed an extensive nuclear program, hiding its existence
from the Israeli people and parliament, and the world.
Vanunu leaked information and
photos of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the Sunday Times
in London. He was subsequently kidnapped by Israeli spy agency
Mossad in Italy and then jailed. He would go on to spend 18 years
behind bars including 11 in solitary confinement.
He was released on April 21
under strict government restrictions.
Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman
reached Vanunu on his cell phone in East Jerusalem where he has
been staying since his release in April. He defied the Israeli
government's restriction on speaking with foreigners to talk
with us.
The nationally syndicated radio
and TV program Democracy
Now! aired the first part of its interview with Vanunu on
its Aug. 18th broadcast. (The remaining portions of the interview
will be aired on Aug. 19th)
Below is a transcript of the
first part of the interview.
AMY GOODMAN: Hello? Is this Mordechai Vanunu?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Hi. This is Amy Goodman from Democracy
Now! And I would like to be able to talk to you. We are a public
radio and television program in the United States.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Good evening.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to be with you.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: How does it feel to be free? How
does it feel to be out of prison?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Well it is wonderful to be free.
But I am not allowed to speak to foreigners and I am not allowed
to leave the country. So I'm not so happy. But on the other side
I am very glad that I can at least enjoy some freedom.
AMY GOODMAN: The Israeli government has called
you a traitor. What is your response to that?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Well, I answer this. When I get out
of the prison, I am saying many, many times that I am very glad,
happy and proud to reveal its nuclear secrets to all the world
and to let all the world to see the stupidity of Israel's nuclear
weapons policy and the danger of a nuclear weapons policy in
secret by Israel. And I was not a traitor. The real traitors
are Israel's government who was behind this nuclear weapons policy
for 40 years, and continues. They are betraying the Israeli citizens,
and betraying the Arab community, and betraying all of humanity
and the world, the human beings of all the world. They are the
real traitors.
AMY GOODMAN: What are the secrets that you reveal
that you think were most significant?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Excuse me, but I could not understand,
hear you.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain, Mordechai Vanunu,
the secrets you feel were most significant for the world to know?
You were imprisoned 18 years ago. Can you say what you were trying
to reveal to the world?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Well, it was very open and very clear:
the secrets that were published by the Sunday Times in 1986.
The main points were: one, the amount of Israel's nuclear weapons,
how many Israel had, that no one could predict or know, including
the CIA. They were thinking about a number like 10 or 15. But
I came out with a number between 150 to 200. Second point is
no one here could predict or know that Israel was involved or
started producing the hydrogen bomb -- the most advanced and
powerful atomic bomb that can kill millions of people. And that
has no justification -- no need for Israel's existence. They
don't need hydrogen bomb. That was my revelation that was proved,
with photos, to all of the world. That was the very important
news that I brought to the world.
AMY GOODMAN: And how did you know this?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: I knew that because I worked in the
place, in the building where my job was producing the materials
for nuclear weapons. My job was to produce plutonium that was
used for atomic bomb. I knew how much they produced every day,
every year. So I could make out the amount and see exactly how
many bombs can they do. I also was producing, working on other
materials for the hydrogen bomb. They call it lithium-6 and tritium.
I was working on these and the only use for lithium-6 is the
hydrogen bomb. And I also take photos of hydrogen bomb, from
another part of the building. It was not part of my job, but
I succeeded to go and take photos of the hydrogen bomb. My revelation
was Israel [had] started producing a neutron bomb. I succeed
to take photograph of the model of the neutron bomb. This means
Israel was ready to use nuclear weapons in the next war, in 1986
if it had war with Iraq, or Iran or Syria. It could use them
against armies. That means the beginning by Israel using atomic
bomb.... That was the most dangerous point in the Middle East:
Israel, they could have used nuclear weapons like no other state
there...
AMY GOODMAN: So, Mordechai Vanunu, you say that
they had 150 to 200 atomic bombs, that they had developed them.
That they were building a hydrogen bomb, and a neutron bomb?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: And have they done that at this point?
It's 18 years later.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: I don't know what they did in 18
years. We can just assume they have much more and powerful, more
advanced technology, all the new computers, everything could
be much more easier and help them to build much more and many
more nuclear weapons. I just assume. I don't have any new information,
what happened in 18 years.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe what you did at
that point? You took photographs, you wanted to get the information
out. How did you end up doing that? And how did you end up being
captured?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: When I worked in Dimona in 1980's,
I decided I was going to bring this information to the world.
Because they were lying, cheating and no one predicted or knew
what exactly was happening. So, all the information was in my
brain. In my mind. I worked every day there, so I knew all the
details. But I needed only some proof. So the proof was photos.
I smuggled the camera, it was no problem to smuggle the camera
there. And I took 60 photos, two films, during the time when
there was no one in the control room, in the building. Night
shift or Saturday shift there are less people. After that I didn't
develop the films. I keep them closed because I knew that if
I develop them, someone can report me to the Shin Bet. So I decided
the only place I can speak to the world is from outside Israel.
So decided immediately to leave Israel as soon as possible. And
with the two films went on my way towards the United States.
But I decided then to take them to the far east because I knew
with speaking these secrets there would be danger to my life
and could end my freedom. So that was then. And I also did not
have much experience with the media. But on the way, I met someone
who brought me to the Sunday Times. And the Sunday Times made
the story. And I gave them the films, the photos. And that's
how we had the Sunday Times article.
AMY GOODMAN: And how, Mordechai Vanunu, were you
ultimately captured?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: When they heard, when they receive
the information about what I am doing in London. Even before
London they come, two agents of the Mossad come to Sydney, Australia,
when I first meet Peter Hounam, the Sunday Times journalist,
they started to follow me. They continued to follow me in London
and tried to stop the article by all they could do. So, what
they decide to do is to kidnap me. The way is to send someone
to bring me to Rome, because they did not want to kidnap me in
England. They sent an agent, a woman and American citizen working
for some US secret organization. They used her. They convinced
her to bring me to Rome. I decided that I should leave London
because I knew that they followed me in London. I said I should
run away from London. So after the Sunday Times published the
article I decided to go with her to Rome. When we arrived to
Rome, they were waiting for me in her home, and immediately they
jump on me and drug me and took me by car from that home to an
abandoned ditch -- where there was a yacht waiting in the sea.
From the sea came a boat with some Israeli commando soldiers
who took me by the commando boat to the yacht and put me on the
yacht. In the yacht I asked people, who are you. And they said
we are Israelis, French and British. I saw French men who speak
only French, I saw Israeli men who speak English, I never saw
any British. But they say there are British. There are much more
involved. Many more countries involved in the kidnapping. Like,
the Italian driver who drove us from the airport, the American
woman, Cindy. She is not Jewish. She is not an Israeli woman.
She is an American woman from Philadelphia. All these, this cartel
of spies who kidnapped me was the same group also involved in
the nuclear proliferation during the Cold War. They tried to
[inaudible] the man who tried to reveal their nuclear proliferation
to Israel and to try and stop this nuclear proliferation. So
they kidnapped me and sent me back to Israel. Israel silenced
me for 18 years.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you know Cindy's full name?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: No. She just used the name Cindy.
But if there is any real investigation, they can go to the British
airport and find the files they filled in 1986 in October. The
airplane is British Airways Flight 405 to Rome. There are files
that can reveal her own identity. I have the airplane ticket
from London to Rome with her signature. But Israel's Shin Bet,
the Mossad do not want to give it to me. They are holding it
[inaudible] at the moment.
AMY GOODMAN: So you weren't suspicious of her
from the beginning? Are you saying that she lured you with a
physical relationship?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: I wasn't suspecting her, because
I thought what they can do in Rome they can do anywhere. They
should not bring me to Rome. But her task was to lure me to Rome.
And I went with her to Rome.
AMY GOODMAN: So, when they captured you, you contend
that they drugged you, they brought you to Israel. Talk about
the famous photograph of you in the back of an Israeli vehicle
with your hand up. You'd written a number on it.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: When I arrived to Israel, they told
me you are not allowed to speak about the kidnapping, just secret.
I was very angry. I don't accept such rule. I said the kidnapping
is a crime. I have the right to speak about the crime done against
me. They didn't like me to speak about this crime. So I decided
to reveal it to the public. I also was worried that they are
spreading lies. They tried to say that I wasn't kidnapped. I'd
come back. It means if I'd come back to Israel, it means I was
a spy, a Mossad spy who had revealed some secret and come back.
So the kidnapping is the proof that what I said was true... So
I decided to let the world know this truth. So when I had the
opportunity to come to talk to public after 7 weeks in the ShinBet
jail, I wrote on my palm hand, Vanunu Mordechai kidnapped in
Rome. So I used the word hijacked, not kidnapping, because I
didn't know English very well at the time. And then we now added
to the press, I put my palm on the ground, and they saw the message.
And that message destroyed another conspiracy to cheat the CIA
and many [others] who didn't know the truth about how I ended
up in Israel. And those spies who kidnapped me tried to save
their face or their game, their spy game, by cheating the world
telling them the men who kidnapped you would return. So I destroyed
another cheating by the palm hand destroyed by a very big game.
AMY GOODMAN: We are talking to Mordechai Vanunu,
who is speaking out for the first time on a national broadcast
in the United States on Democracy Now!, the largest public media
collaboration in the country. You were imprisoned for 18 years.
Can you talk about your treatment in jail.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Well, the Shabak Mossad, ShinBet
Mossad were very very angry upset with my revelations. After
making a mockery [of them] to all the world... They were very
angry and they tried to destroy this man who made them zero in
all the world. The spy organization who was respected in all
the world find themselves naked. So they decided to get him to
give themselves the chance to change this man to destroy him
to make him ... to prove that they are still strong, this spy
organization. So from the beginning they put me in total isolation
for seven weeks after my kidnapping they even didn't admit I
am in an Israeli prison. No one knows where I am. Only by my
standing against the judge and all the Israelis who wanted to
keep me in administrative arrest. I demanded I should be in trial-no
administrative arrest-- so that forced them to admit I am in
an Israeli prison.
Next they decided to put me
in total isolation. The first two years, they keep me in a small
room, filled with light 24 hours and camera inside. I couldn't
sleep for two years, they tried to break my nerves. They used
a lot of psychology to brainwash. I demanded to meet a priest.
They give me a priest, but without able to speak to him or him
speak to me, only through notes. A ShinBet man sitting near the
priest, reading the notes. I'm sending him notes, they're reading
them. We couldn't meet as a human being. A woman came to Israel
from U.S. I had a girlfriend. She came to see me. And again they
did not let us meet, they said only by notes, you cannot speak
to her, touch her nothing, so I refused to this condition.
During the 11 and half years
I was in total isolation alone in a cell, only for two hours
everyday to go to walk in a courtyard also alone. The cell was
also isolated from all the prison. I was allowed to meet my family
every two weeks for a half hour. I wasn't allowed to use the
phone. My mail was delayed for three months and censored. Some
of it disappeared, some destroyed. The Ashkelon prison was controlled
by Shabak Mossad, because they have a section inside the prison.
Could you believe Shabak Mossad are sitting inside the prison
hiding themselves from the people. They used the guards to control
the prison so the real people who control the prison is the Shavak
Mossad
AMY GOODMAN: Where is the Ashkelon Prison?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Ashkelon prison is... about 40 miles
from Tel Aviv or 20 miles from Dalia .
AMY GOODMAN: How did you maintain your sanity?
You were completely isolated for how many years in solitary confinement?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: 11 years in total isolation. I decided
from the first weeks that it's going to be a big war between
me and the Shabak-Mossad who are now my enemy, and they will
do all they can to destroy me, and I shall do all I can to survive.
So I use my simple brain, and my initiative. Like if they say
I cannot speak to anyone, I decided I can speak, I spoke by reading
in a loud voice from the New Testament in English... I used to
do a lot of psychology exercises or physical exercise, I did
Yoga. I hear the BBC World Service, I hear the Voice of America.
I read books, and I used to follow anything that happened to
me there, anything that come by food, by letter, anything I knew.
The Shabak Mossad psychologic spy are fighting me and I should
follow them. That was my way, and I also use the music after
five years, I started hearing opera, opera, it was very good
instrument to keep the spirit very strong because you feel like
you are yourself singing opera, and I used to hear a lot of opera,
they send me tapes. I used to hear the opera Fidelio. That was
similar to my story. I used a lot of psychology for my initiative.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Mordechai Vanunu.
He is now out of jail after 18 years. Are you allowed to speak
on the telephone?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: I'm allowed to use the phone, but
I'm not allowed to speak to foreigners. Now when I am speaking
is contrary to the restriction. But I think because I have given
interview to the BBC and the day passed, nothing happened and
I think - what I'm talking is about my humanity, my human rights
and I think it's the government, or either a spy, who looks very
stupid to fight someone who is speaking about his freedom of
speech, freedom of movement, his human being, human rights. So
I don't think they will be stupid [enough] to arrest me or to
question. But if they can do anything - it is Israel. Israel,
all of the world knows, they're [able] to do anything.
AMY GOODMAN: Mordechai Vanunu can you talk about
the restrictions on you right now since you have left prison.
First of all where are you?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Since I left the prison April 21st,
I took straight car from the prison to Saint George Cathedral
in East Jerusalem, so I'm staying now in the Saint George Cathedral
guest house. The Bishop accepted me and is expecting me to stay
here, and since that day until now I'm sitting here, and the
restriction is not to speak to foreigners for 6 months, that
is a very stupid restriction. I can speak to any Israeli citizen
about anything, but not to foreigners. And I rejected this restriction
by speaking English to everyone. The other restriction is if
I want to move from Jerusalem to another city, I should [notify]
the police. Anywhere I want to move, I should [notify] the police.
If I want to sleep in other home, I should [notify] the police.
I am not allowed to go to any embassy, because they are afraid
I will go ask for asylum. Another important, very danger- or
important restriction is not to leave the country for one year,
I'm not allowed to leave Israel for one year, they are not giving
me a passport. So, those are the restrictions. We appealed to
the Supreme Court. The leader of the Supreme Court followed the
Shabak Mossad demand in fact they just give them another stamp.
The Supreme Court again proved to be injustice, and not respecting
the basics of democracy, the basics of human rights - to have
the right of movement and the right of movement and the right
of freedom of speech.
AMY GOODMAN: Would you like to leave Israel?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Absolutely. I want to leave Israel
after suffering seventeen and a half years in total isolation
and very cruel , barbaric treatment by the Mossad Shabac inside
the prison. Also because Israeli media damaged my image in all
of Israel amongst the Jewish people, and some of them hate me,
some of them threatened my life when I was released. Some of
them are anti-Vanunu because I became a Christian, so I am not
free and I am not safe in Israel. And I am demanding to leave
Israel to be free... It could only happen in a free state, the
United States or Europe.
AMY GOODMAN: Would you like to move to the United
States?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Yes. I would like to move to the
United States. I have adopted parents in Minnesota. I have many,
many friends in the United States, who used to write to me and
send me letters and cards for many years during eighteen years.
I read a lot of your history of United States and am very appreciative
of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. freedom.
AMY GOODMAN: What date were you released from
prison, Mordechai Vanunu?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: April 21.
AMY GOODMAN: So it's April 21, and now we're coming
on the end of August. May, June, July, August. Four months later,
why have you decided to speak out at this point? Which could
well risk your having access to a telephone or - well, it's not
clear what will happen now that you are violating the restrictions
that have been placed upon you.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: When I came out of prison, I was
ready to speak. But what happened is we met a very large riot
of rightwing people, religious Jewish people who threatened my
life. Then my brother was staying with me, and others say "Don't
speak. Stay in the center. Don't get out. Don't have any access
to the media." But I am now, since my two months of work
start speaking after the BBC interview, I am ready to speak.
Why does the media didn't come to me? I was ready to speak. Then
I start giving my phone number and meeting people... So I am
ready to speak because I used all my fight and want in seventeen
and a half years in prison was the demand for freedom of speech.
I believe the human being have the right to freedom of speech.
I don't have any secrets. All what I'm speaking about is my view.
My political view as a human has a right to express his view
in any subject. That is my risk speaking again and again, as
I am not speaking about secrets, because all the secrets have
been published by the Sunday Times. And all what I have to say
is my political view. And I have the right to speak them if Israel
is a real democracy. And I hope you in the United States will
support me, and support my right to freedom of speech. It does
not damage Israel. I have a right to say my view, and anyone
want to hear me, it's OK. If any one doesn't want to hear, they
have the right to not to hear.
AMY GOODMAN: The foreign affairs and defense committee
chair Yuval Steinitz of Likud party, said that you should be
returned to prison or placed in administrative detention or house
arrest to prevent you from revealing more of Israel's nuclear
secrets. He said that you broke the law by giving an interview
to the Arabic newspaper al Hayat and should be prosecuted for
it. He said that it's unfortunate that the defense establishment
doesn't take the committee's recommendation to place you under
house arrest as was done with Marcus Klingberg who was convicted
of espionage. And then you have the member of Knesset, Ophir
Pines-Paz of Labor, who said you are playing with fire and continuing
to hurt Israel's security, saying I don't know why this phenomenon
is being treated with equanimity. He said this is a professional
provocateur who's making a joke of the legal system. Your response.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: My view, there is people who make
jokes is they - those who put the stupid restriction not to speak
to foreigners, that I am allowed to speak to Israel, but then
not allowed to speak to foreigners. If they had said I have secrets,
then they should say you are not allowed to speak to anyone,
not only to the foreigners. If there is danger, they should say
from the beginning, "Don't speak to anyone." So they
make joke from themselves, not me. Second point, Marcus Klingberg,
the spy, was released from freedom before ending his sentence,
so he was under restriction because he was freed five years before
the end of his sentence, so they gave him this privilege to get
out and to live in freedom. If they had want me, they should
have done the same with me, take me out of prison five years
ago. But in my case I am after seventeen and a half years in
prison, served all my sentence, and I should be free and should
be allowed to leave the country. And the main point is I have
the right to speak my views. I'm speaking my political view,
my analysis. I have not revealed any new secrets. I do not have
any secrets. All that I'm saying it was repeating what have been
published at least eighteen years ago.
AMY GOODMAN: You said that Israel had 100 to 200
atomic bombs and was developing a neutron and hydrogen bomb but
at that point didn't have it.
MORDECHAI VANUNU: The hydrogen bomb was started to
be built in 1986 or 1985. I took the photo of part of the real
hydrogen bomb which was published by the Sunday Times.
AMY GOODMAN: [And Israel] had already made 100
to 200 atomic bombs?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Yes. They used to produce about 40
kilograms of plutonium each year which is enough for 10 atomic
bombs.
AMY GOODMAN: And what was your job at the Dimona
plant?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: At the Dimona plant my job was producing
plutonium, producing lithium-6, tritium and I also worked part-time
in the nuclear waste area where they are dealing with nuclear
waste. But my main job was to produce this material: plutonium,
lithium, tritium.
AMY GOODMAN: And how long did you work there?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Nine years.
AMY GOODMAN: When you spoke with your co-workers,
did other people share your feelings?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: No. No one. Maybe some of them were
concerned that Israel was producing nuclear weapons. But no one
there doubted what was the policy. Maybe some of them in their
hearts they were worried what was going on. But no one would
dare to go and speak. That is the difference.
AMY GOODMAN: And who did you see at that plant?
Did you see people from other countries coming through -- visitors
or even working there? Or government officials, perhaps from
the United States?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: No. I have no information about foreigners
working there... When I worked there they brought the prime minister
Shimon Peres in September 1985. In 1984 I saw... the Defense
Minister. Every new prime minister and new defense minister came,
the head of Mossad, the head of Shabak came to visit to see Israel's
nuclear power, not foreigners. Maybe there were but I didn't
know about it.
AMY GOODMAN: And how do you think Israel being
a nuclear power effects the Middle East?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: My view: the nuclear weapons Israel
built make it very aggressive and powerful. In 1962 Israel was
ready to deal to make real peace with the Arab world after the
independence war in 1948... But then I believe some people had
the idea to get Israel nuclear weapons, to build the French reactor
in Dimona. That power made Israel free not to make real peace
with the Arabs; made Israel free not to solve the Palestinian
refugee problem. ... they [took] the West Bank, Golan Heights
and Sinai and keep them until now. Now Israel is much more aggressive,
not to give anything to the Palestinians or to make real peace
with Syria or Lebanon or Jordan or the Palestinians. So the nuclear
weapon is used as a political power. Without even using nuclear
weapons, nuclear weapons help Israel do what it wants without
respecting international law or respecting the Middle East states...
But my view is that my revelation in 1986 it prevented Israel
from using nuclear weapons. Otherwise it is my view that they
were ready to use nuclear weapons in their next war, it could
have happened in the Cold War. My revelation let the world see
what they had and made it impossible for Israel to use nuclear
weapons.
AMY GOODMAN: Has Israel ever admitted that it
had nuclear weapons?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: You and others can find out. I am
like you, reading the newspaper, hearing the media. You and others
can see what they said. Everyone in fact thinks they have, but
they are playing games. My view is that they are cheating themselves.
Israel continues to cheat themselves and with the United States
play this cheating game -- to play like no one is watching them.
The king is naked but no one wants to see the king is naked.
That is the truth. And Israel is succeeding to impose on the
United States and all the world to play this game.
AMY GOODMAN: Did they ever tell you at the Dimona
plant not to speak about what you saw inside? AV: I signed a
secret document not to speak about anything. More than that no
one at Dimona were telling you that you are producing nuclear
weapons. No one mentioned the word 'atomic bomb.' Some of them
there don't know what they are doing --they are producing materials
without knowing exactly what those materials are used for. Everything
you are watching there you are not allowed to speak about.
AMY GOODMAN: if they do end up putting you back
in detention, if they jailed you again, how do you feel about
that?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: I would feel very bad but I will
continue to demand to be a human being, to believe and to behave
as a human being; to have the right to speak; the right to have
freedom of speech. And I will continue to demand my total freedom
to leave Israel. I hope they will not do not do such a mistake
and someone -- possibly from abroad, from the United States or
Europe -- will tell them that they should respect the human rights
of this man. And to end this game of tricking the world by claiming
there is no atomic bombs when all the world knowing exactly what
they do and exactly what they saw when I gave photos to all of
the world.
AMY GOODMAN: Mordechai Vanunu, do you have any
regrets about what you have done?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Well, what do you expect, if I am
strong enough to survive all that they have done to me, it means
that I have never regret. And much more, I all the time always
was convinced and convinced that I did the right thing. That
I was following my conscience and the right of the people in
all the world to know such teaching and the most danger atomic
bomb subject. And also when I saw the cold war ended and Russia
collapse and South Africa become free and the nuclear race ended
and the United States and Russia started destroying nuclear weapons
from 100,000 nuclear weapons to twenty nuclear weapons, all this
only was encouraging me that I did the right thing. And also
I think what Israel spy Shabak did to me in prison fighting me
that make it very clear that I did the right thing. I'm very
happy and glad that I revealed the true face of Israel and let
all the world and the Israeli people see the true face of Israel
who used to remind the world "holocaust, holocaust"
every hour, every day, but in fact Israel have a holocaust factory.
This Jewish state was producing holocaust weapons and they have
no right to speak about holocaust so I was very happy to reveal
this truth.
AMY GOODMAN: Mordechai Vanunu now your life every
day, are you confined to the house you are in? How do you spend
your days?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: Now I'm staying in St. George Cathedral
guest house in East Jerusalem, I decided not to visit the West
Jerusalem, not to visit any Israel state because if I'm not allowed
to leave Israel, I'm not allowed to speak to foreigners, so I
too will not go see Israel. So I'm staying in East Jerusalem,
walking around, going to restaurants outside, going to the old
city, meeting a lot of Palestinians. Many Palestinians are happy
to see me, and very - appreciate what I did, they saw me as a
hero. I'm staying in St. George, doing emails, trying to learn
computer, trying to read newspaper, watching TV and this summer
also enjoy to go to swim - it's very good psychological treatment
to swim everyday. And very happy and glad to meet human beings,
I like to meet human beings, to speak and to eat with them and
to be among the people. And point - the issue I want to remind
you why the Shabak-Mossad will not do anything because if I am
staying here in East Jerusalem among the Palestinians, those
Palestinians who are recognized by Israel as the enemy, so if
I have any secrets I could have passed to this enemy. So if I
am staying among Palestinians for three months, four months,
the Shabak-Mossad give up, they cannot expect from me anything
- so what they can do? So I am staying here in East Jerusalem
among Palestinians.
AMY GOODMAN: Mordechai Vanunu, you said that after
six months they would lift the restriction on you speaking on
the cell phone to foreigners and after a year you could travel.
So you're only two months away from that restriction being lifted
and yet you are risking a lot now by speaking on the cell phone
to a foreigner. Why take that risk now?
MORDECHAI VANUNU: I don't know if they will lift the
restriction after another two months, they have the right to
extend them or to end them, I don't know what they will do on
October 21st. Especially after the supreme court rejected my
appeal now they can do anything they want, no one can say anything,
they can extend them. The Supreme Court give them a blank check
to do what they want so I don't know. Again, I am not risking
anything because what I am telling you, I told to many Israeli
people here from the left who come to see me. I said the same
to the BBC that was broadcast in Israel TV. So all what I am
telling you is repeating what I already said and what I already
published 18 years ago. So that was the way to see it and I will
not see it as risking anything. I'm only trying to bring my case
to the United States to raise the awareness to my case in the
United States because I have no chance here in Israel that someone
will help me to get out or to receive my rights. I would like
that someone in the United States to do for me - to demand my
human rights. Imagine if a man like me was in another state.
Imagine, or remember what the United States - when Sharansky
was in Moscow. What you do, what the Congress in Washington -
Senate did - to Russia for nine years when Sharansky was in prison.
But when it comes to a man like me in Israel, all the Congress,
Senate in Washington is ignoring me and not doing [anything]
for my release, or [fighting] for my human rights. So I hope
you and others can bring my case and raise the awareness to these
situations and demand my human rights.
Amy Goodman is the host of
Democracy Now! and author of the new book, Exception
to the Rulers.
Weekend
Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004
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