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Today's
Stories
December
5, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Why the CFR Hates Putin
Sharon
Smith
The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden
and the Dead End Democrats
Ron
Jacobs
The Iran Charade
Dave
Zirin
Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor
John
V. Whitbeck
Two States or One? Time to Choose
Peter
Zinn
Covered in New Orleans
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Impeach Pelosi Instead
Alan
Farago
The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida
December
4, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in
Ann Arbor
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme
Court
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lies at the End of the American
Dream
Ray
McGovern
No-Nuke Iran
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are
Too Small
Allan
Nairn
The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just
Want Food"
Russell
Mokhiber
The USA v. Al Arian
Nikolas
Kozloff
As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American
Left
John
V. Walsh
Peace Movement Paralyzed
Ghada
Ageel
Will Peace Cost Me My Home?
Stephen
Soldz
The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist
Involvement in Interrogations
Website
of the Day
Hands Off the People of Iran
December
3, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Venezuela After the Referendum
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor,
Tax Credits for Developers
Eric
Walberg
The Bible and Middle East History
Uri
Avnery
After Annapolis
Marjorie
Cohn
Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed
Dave
Lindorff
Vengeance Isn't Sweet
Stephen
Fleischman
Homeless in Paradise
Martha
Rosenberg
Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile
Website
of the Day
So Just Lead!
December
1 / 2, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift
in a Sea of Booze
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
Mike
Whitney
"Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir
Rosen
Shemon
Salam
A Visit From the FBI
Roger
Burbach
The Battle in Bolivia
Benjamin
Dangl
New Politics in Old Bolivia
Brian
M. Downing
The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to
the Surge?
Greg
Moses
Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story
Sonja
Karkar
The "Never-Never" Peace Conference
Saul
Landau
Ethics and Evil in South Boston
Margaret
Kimberley
Black America Left Behind
John
Ross
What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution?
Reza
Fiyouzat
Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran
Judith
Scherr
Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays
Lance
Olsen
Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy
Christopher
Brauchli
Mr. Bush and the Despots
Robert
Fantina
Iraq as U.S. Colony
Dan
Bacher
Fish Triage on Prospect Island
Michael
Donnelly
Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency
Website
of the Weekend
Appalachian Voices
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
Wajahat
Ali
The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's
Former Minister of Information
Allan
Nairn
Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers
Alan
Farago
The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash
John
Ross
The Death of Latin America's First Revolution
Corporate
Crime Reporter
America's Corporate Crime Capitals
Lucia
Alvarez
Diego Gonzalez
Argentina's Political Future
James
Rothenberg
The Iraqi Miracle
Website
of the Day
Bio-Bling?
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
November
7, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Dollar's Fall Collapses the American
Empire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing
the Funding Bill to the Floor?
Vijay
Prashad
The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf
Alan
Farago
To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse
David
Macaray
The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker?
Nikolas
Kozloff
The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey
Charlotte
Laws
What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign
Daniel
White
Zahid's Story
William
Cook
The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby
Website
of the Day
Safe Lawns
November
6, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan
Revolution
Ralph
Nader
Who Determines the Price of Oil?
Andy
Worthington
The Torture of Ali al-Marri
Pam
Martens
Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Dark Future
William
Schroder
The Return of Water Torture
Stephen
Lendman
Punishing Gaza
William
Blum
Cuba and Original Sin
Former
US Intelligence Officers
A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey
November
5, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer
David
Macaray
How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer)
Gary
Leupp
General Musharaff's "State of Emergency"
Dave
Lindorff
Those Minot Nukes
Ludwig
Watzal
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine
Patrick
Cockburn
Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan
Peter
Stone Brown
John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past
Michael
Simmons
Yo! What Happened to Peace?
Website
of the Day
Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students
November
3 / 4, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night
David
Price
Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency
Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Splitsville
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American
Middle Class
Paul
Krassner
He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards
Rannie
Amiri
Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals
P.
Sainath
Indexing Humanity, Indian Style
Ayesha
Ijaza Khan
Pakistan in a Daze
Robert
Fantina
Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran?
Seth
Sandronsky
The Politics of Health Care in California
Ron
Jacobs
The Bebop of Baraka
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for Arab Dignity
Heather
Gray
When Capitalists Get a Free Ride
November
2, 2007
Dr.
Mary Pipher
Acting on Conscience: Psychologists
and Abusive Interrogations
Saul
Landau
How Pete Stark Became a Pariah
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo as House Arrest
Sharon
Smith
A Tale of Two Stadiums
Gary
Leupp
Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood
Gregory
Harms
The Chorus of Slander on Palestine
Christopher
Brauchli
Racism in High Places
Peter
Morici
The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit
Dave
Lindorff
The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran
David
Penner
Zombie Nation
Website
of the Day
Fall in Yosemite
November
1, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Wages of Hegemony
Patrick
Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Dam in the World
Dave
Lindorff
The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
Jonathan
Feldman
The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South
Mike
Ferner
They Met the Resistance in Iraq
William
S. Lind
A Question for Would-Be Presidents
Diana
Johnstone
"Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business"
Jacob
Hornberger
The War on Telephone Privacy
A..K.
Gupta
The Apocalypse will be Televised
Lyuba
Zarsky /
Kevin Gallagher
The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley
Felice
Pace
Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism?
Website
of the Day
This One's for You, Ed Abbey
October
31, 2007
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice
System
Rev.
William E. Alberts
A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News
Ray
McGovern
Attacking Iran for Israel
Eric
Walberg
Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War
V.
G. Smith
The Second Death of Guy Môquet
Luis
J. Rodriguez
"Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
Sheldon
Richman
Bush has Time to Run the World
Walter
Brasch
A Real Halloween Scare
Website
of the Day
Boogie Rocks!
October 30, 2007
David
Price
Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen.
Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual
M.
Shahid Alam
The Pakistan Question
Andy
Worthington
The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against
Gitmo
Patrick
Cockburn
The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba
Anthony
Papa
The Twisted Logic of Drug Laws
Floyd
Rudmin
What "All Options are on the Table" Really Means
Sherwood
Ross
Giuliani and Torture
Website
of the Day
The Worst Lobby? You Decide
October
29, 2007
Lisa
Hajjar
Inside Israel's Military Courts
Joe
DeRaymond
The Politics of Lethal Injections
Patrick
Cockburn
The High Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan
Isabella
Kenfield /
Roger Burbach
Corporate Murder in Brazil
Fred
Gardner
The Frivolous Investigation of Dr. Sterner
Farzana
Versey
Caricaturing Islam
Stephen
Fleischman
The Greening of the Oligarchy
Marcelle
Cendrars
The Congressional Rip Cord
Eamonn
McCann
Dan Keating, the Last of the Republican Irreconcilables
Martha
Rosenberg
For Halloween, Ann Coulter Dresses as .... Ann Coulter!
Website
of the Day
Campaign 2008
October
27 / 28, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
So Much for Islamo-Fascism Awareness
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Dam That Isn't There
James
Bovard
Breaking Down an Innocent Man: The FBI's Right to Threaten Torture
Ralph
Nader
Beyond the Rule of Law
M.
Reza Pirbhai
The Wahhabis are Coming, the Wahhabis are Coming!
Robert
Sandels
Pay the Invaders! Cuba, Claims and Confiscations
Jacob
G. Hornberger
Ruling By Decree
Missy
Beattie
The Arsonists in the West Wing
John
Ross
U.S. Eyes on Oaxaca
Robert
Fantina
Condi Rice, the Imperial Cheerleader
Ron
Jacobs
Labor at the Crossroads
Ali
Moayedian
In Search of Logic About Iran
David
Michael Green
What If We Had a President Who Didn't Give a Damn About Terrorism?
Poets
Basement
Block, Davies and Ford
Website
of the Day
Bring 'Em Home: a Music Video
October
26, 2007
Brian
Cloughley
Revenging Bloodshed
Saul
Landau
Portrait of Rudy
Ahmad
Al-Akras
Getting Justice in the HLF Case
Franklin
Lamb
Does "Loving" Lebanon Mean Never Having to Say You're
Sorry?
Mike
Whitney
Murdoch's Cuckoo's Nest
Dave
Lindorff
Home of the Brave? Reducing US Casualties By Killing More Civilians
Alan
Farago
A Castro Behind Every Bush
Yifat
Susskind
Conscripting Feminism into the War on Terror
Website
of the Day
Dead Life in a Political Prison
October 25, 2007
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December
5, 2007
Recalling the Fall
of Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
US
Meddling in Australian Politics
By HEATHER GRAY
On November 24, 2007 the Australian
Labor Party swept into power with Kevin Rudd replacing conservative
Liberal Party Prime Minister John Howard. I awoke that morning
with an email from a friend about this victory with the subject
line "about bloody time! John Howard was becoming an embarrassment."
I concur. George Bush's "coalition of the willing"
(or "killing" as I say) is rapidly fading out. This
news took me back, however, to 1972 and the Labor Party victory
of Gough Whitlam. I was also in a state of euphoria with that
win, but by 1975 the Whitlam government was dissolved by what
some said was a CIA coup. Americans seem not to know about this
important history.
You might ask the question "Why would the U.S. go after
a democratic ally?" Most people normally think that the
CIA business of ousting governments occurs in oil rich areas
like the Middle East; countries that fall directly under the
original Monroe Doctrine such as the beleaguered Latin Americans;
or former western colonies in Africa and Asia that the U.S. thinks
are fair game for the U.S. imperial ventures. But it appears
that if the Americans or the CIA are bothered by some government
they will go about its business of destabilization regardless.
The level of democracy or alliance with the U.S. seems to have
no meaning.
Being just out of Australia in 1972 and living in Singapore as
the wife of a junior Australian diplomat, I was elated when receiving
the news that Whitlam had become the first Labor Party Prime
Minister in 23 years. I knew he was opposed to the Vietnam War
and assumed that the alliance between Australia and the U.S.
on the war would be strained if not broken. Little did I recognize
at the time, however, the sweeping and significant progressive
domestic policy changes Whitlam would initiate in Australia.
Little did I realize how angry he would make the Nixon administration
and the CIA.
Whitlam's appointments for various ministries were filled with
highly respected Australians such as Rex O'Connor as the Minister
for Minerals and Energy, Dr. Jim Cairns who became the Treasurer
and Deputy Prime Minister, and Clyde Cameron as Minister for
Labour. While Whitlam was more moderate than some of his ministers,
still they all had a mission. For one, they wanted to "buy
back the farm," which was basically to establish control
away from multinationals of the oil and other minerals, that
then were 60% in the hands of foreigners, and to have it controlled
by Australians. This is not an unreasonable goal, which the Americans,
as you can imagine, did not appreciate.
In the early 1970's the war in Vietnam was raging. Australia,
under the conservative Liberal Party Prime Minister Harold Holt
in the 1960's, had sent Australian troops and advisers to Vietnam
even without the consent of the South Vietnamese. The action
was thought by some to have been primarily to please the Americans.
It was a sycophantic behavior. The Labor Party opposition, on
the other hand, was filled with those who were intensely opposed
with Holt's actions and to the war itself.
Tensions began to build between the Australians and the Americans
over the Vietnam War. Various labor politicians were openly calling
Nixon and Kissinger "mass murderers" and "maniacs."
In their fascinating article "Coup D'etat in Australia:
20 years of Cover-up" (New Dawn Magazine - 1996) Steve and
Adelaide Gerlach write that:
Dr. Jim Cairns called for public
rallies to condemn U.S. bombing in North Vietnam, and also for
boycotts of American products. The Australian dockers unions
reacted by refusing to unload American ships. While Whitlam was
more moderate than Dr. Jim Cairns, Clyde Cameron and Tom Uren
(prominent anti-Vietnam War Labor Ministers), he felt he had
to say something to the Americans. He wrote what he considered
a "moderately worded" letter to Nixon voicing his criticism
of the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in North Vietnam, on the
basis that it would be counterproductive. Nixon, needless to
say, was not amused. Some insiders said he was apoplectic with
rage and resented the implications that he was immoral and had
to be told his duty by an outsider.
Kissinger added that Whitlam's "uninformed comments about
our Christmas bombing [of North Vietnam] had made him a particular
object of Nixon's wrath." (Mother Jones, Feb.-Mar., 1984,
p. 15)
Soon after Whitlam took office, the American ambassador to Australia,
Walter Rice, was sent to meet with Whitlam in order to politely
tell him to mind his own business about Vietnam. Whitlam ambushed
Rice, dominated the meeting, and spoke for 45 minutes rebuking
the U.S. for its conduct of the Vietnam War. Whitlam told Rice
that in a press conference the next day, "It would be difficult
to avoid words like 'atrocious' and 'barbarous'" when asked
about the bombing.
The Prime Minister also appointed
Sir John Kerr as the Governor General of Australia. Kerr, while
a Labor Party member, was only marginally so in his politics.
The Governor General is supposed to represent the interests of
the Queen but Whitlam thought, of course, that Kerr would serve,
as had all others in his position, at the behest of the Prime
Minister's requests and interests. The position is thought to
be mostly ceremonial. Whitlam was mistaken on this score as Kerr
ends up playing the central role in finally ending the Whitlam
government.
Kerr was generally conservative and a monarchist. He, for one,
had been on the executive board of the Association for Cultural
Freedom and Law Association for Asia, which were largely thought
to be CIA front organizations.
In fact, in an October 15, 2000 article in Australia's "The
Age", author Andrew Clark writes that the Law Association
was helped by the Asia Foundation which was "exposed in
Congress 'as a CIA established conduit for money and influence
.The CIA paid for Kerr's travel, built his prestige, and even
published his writings through a subsidized magazine" (Clark
took this information from Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathon
Kwitny's book "The Crimes of Patriots").
What Whitlam accomplished the first 100 days of his government
is enough to make many of us drool over such vision. Steve and
Adelaide Gerlach (1996) outline some of Whitlam's profound policies:
In the domestic sphere, Labor
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's first 100 days put Bill Clinton
to shame. The Whitlam government ended conscription and ordered
the last Australian troops home from Vietnam. It brought legislation
giving equal pay to women, established a national health service
free to all, doubled spending on education and abolished university
fees, increased wages, pensions and unemployment benefits, ended
censorship, reformed divorce laws and set up the Family Law Courts,
funded the arts and film industry, assumed federal responsibility
for Aboriginal Affairs (health, welfare and land rights), scrapped
royal patronage, and replaced "God Dave the Queen"
as the national anthem with "Advance Australia Fair."
He is also credited for ending
the infamous "white Australia policy" so that finally
immigrants from neighboring Asian countries were allowed legal
immigrant status in Australia.
Whitlam's foreign policies were also quite remarkable and against
U.S. interests. He broke ranks with previous Australian Prime
Ministers by reaching out to other Asian leaders to create trade
and diplomatic relationships. He was one of the first western
leaders to attempt normal relations with Chinese leaders. He
also, in the midst of the war, established a consular relationship
with North Vietnam by opening an embassy in Hanoi and the allowed
the opening of a Cuban consulate in Sydney.
In other words, for all intents and purposes, Australia under
Whitlam was not serving at the behest of British or U.S. dictates.
It was independently establishing its own relationships. This
was not appreciated by the Nixon administration, least of all
Henry Kissinger who disliked the Labor leader immensely.
Prior to the Whitlam and since, American governments have considered
Australia as a strategic location and partner in its military
ventures. The Americans have bases in Australia, not the least
of which being the "secret" base known as Pine Gap
in the Australian dessert. Whitlam wanted to have more specifics
on what the Americans were doing there. He discovered that Pine
Gap (a satellite surveillance base) was run by the CIA and he
made a public announcement about this. In fact, Victor Marchetti,
former Chief Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director of the
CIA, and one of the drafters of the Pine Gap treaty, confirmed
this suspicion: "The CIA runs it, and the CIA denies it,"
he said (Steve and Adelaide Gerlach, 1996). Whitlam also asked
the Americans for a listing of all CIA operatives in Australia.
The Americans were supposed to share information with the Australians
from their satellite findings but since the Labor Party had won
it was thought that much of the information was being denied
the government. Whitlam threatened he would not sign an extension
of the Pine Gap lease due in December 1975 and this again infuriated
the Nixon administration. (It was thought by most that Whitlam
was posturing and that he was not likely to end the lease, but
this still concerned the U.S.)
The fact is that the infamous Pine Gap base activities were making
Australia vulnerable to attack and this angered Whitlam, as he
had no control over the base activities. Again, Steve and Adelaide
Gerlach (1996) write that:
There were at least three occasions
when the Americans did not share vital information about the
bases.
1) The transmitters at the North West Cape were used to assist
the U.S. in mining Haiphong harbor in 1972. The Whitlam government
was opposed to the mining of Vietnamese harbors, and would not
have appreciated U.S. facilities on Australian soil being used
to assist such an undertaking.
2) The satellites controlled by Pine Gap and Nurrungar were used
to pinpoint targets for bombings in Cambodia. Again this was
an activity to which the Whitlam government was opposed.
3) Whitlam was furious when he found out after the fact that
U.S. bases in Australia were put on a Level 3 alert during the
Yom Kippur war. The Australian bases were in danger of attack,
yet the Australian Prime Minister was not alerted to this. (Incidentally,
Kissinger was angered that Whitlam could be such a pest about
such matters.)
There's one other facet that
plays a role here in terms of foreign policy and it has to do
with Chile. A little known fact is that the Australian Secret
Intelligence Services (ASIS) was involved in the overthrow of
President Salvadore Allende in 1973. Clyde Cameron said that
the ASIS operatives were serving at the behest of the CIA to
help in the coup against Allende, as the CIA was not able to
work effectively in Chile under Allende. "They had to do
their dirty work through somebody else," Cameron noted,
"and they chose the Australian intelligence organizations."
When Whitlam discovered this he demanded that the ASIS be withdrawn
from Chile yet they paid no attention to his orders. When Whitlam
discovered they had not yet left Chile he was furious and, as
Cameron says "put the knife through a lot of these people
responsible for ignoring his directions." By that time,
however, Allende had been assassinated and Pinochet had taken
over ("CIA in Australia" Part 3, Melbourne, Australia
Public Radio News Service, 1986).
The American response to the Whitlam government was sinister,
which leads to another important character in this cast and it
was U.S. Ambassador Marshall Green. The U.S. State Department
appointed Green to Australia in 1973. For the most part U.S.
Ambassadors to Australia were rubber stamp diplomats who were
being given the post as a political favor. This was not so with
Green and the Labor politicians recognized this. Green was known
as the "coupmaster." Clyde Cameron notes that, "Marshall
Green was for many years a top CIA operative who orchestrated
the overthrow of the Sukarno government which led to the installation
of President Suharto. He was involved in the CIA intrigue in
Vietnam and in the overthrow of the government of Greece. He's
a very, very skilled operative in the art of destabilization
of governments that the United States doesn't approve of"
("CIA in Australia" Part 2, Melbourne, Australia Public
Radio News Service, 1986).
When Clyde Cameron was visited
by Ambassador Green at his office, he asked the question "what
would you do if our government decided to nationalize the Australian
subsidiaries of the various American multinational corporations?"
Taken aback Green quickly said "Oh, we'll move in."
Cameron asked if he meant the marines? And Green said that they
didn't do that kind of thing anymore but that "there are
other things." This is indeed the case ("CIA in Australia"
Part 2, Melbourne, Australia Public Radio News Service, 1986).
One other facet in the scheme of things was the Nugan Hand Bank
in Sydney, another CIA front organization, which was "founded
in the early 1970's by Frank Nugan, an Australian who had studied
law for a while in Canada, and Michael Hand, and American who
had fought with the Green Berets in Vietnam and then worked for
the CIA airline, Air America" (John Bacher, Peace Magazine,
1988). The Nugan Hand Bank never banked. It was filled with a
huge number of former military and CIA officers. Bacher says
its four main services were "a way to flout laws and move
money overseas; tax avoidance and schemes; extraordinarily high
interest rates; and international trade connections." The
bank was involved with "drugs and arms dealing," according
to Bacher, "in Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil and the whole
Rhodesian government of Ian Smith."
As Bacher and others have noted, the Nugan Hand Bank was in the
prime position to destabilize the Labor government. It "helped
finance bugging and forgery operations.(and) transferred $24
million to the Australian Liberal Party through its many associated
companies" (Bacher, 1988).
Whitlam at one point complained openly about the CIA meddling
in Australian domestic affairs.
As the Labor ministers were attempting to move forward with their
"buying back the farm" plan, the oil crisis of the
early 1970's impacted the Australian and virtually all the world
economies. A scandal ensued in an attempt to borrow money from
a Middle Eastern source that forced the resignations of Labor
ministers Cairns and O'Connor. Leaks about the negotiations for
a loan began appearing in the press implicating the ministers.
There were likely mistakes made by the Labor ministers but the
accusations as presented by the press appeared way out of proportion.
The Liberal Party, being in control of the Senate, used this
scandal as an excuse to deny passing Whitlam's budget and to
force an election, which occurred in December 1975.
In the meantime, Governor General Kerr stepped in, just before
Whitlam was about to make public more of the information he had
about Pine Gap and the CIA involvement and one month before the
decision would be made on the U.S. bases lease. Kerr had been
in conversation with the Liberal Party leader Malcolm Fraser
and others prior to his critical action.
On the fateful day of November 11, 1975 Kerr used his reserve
powers as Governor General and dissolved the Whitlam government
at 1:10 PM. Malcolm Fraser was given the position as caretaker
Prime Minister. The Liberal Party won the election in December
1975.
According to Clyde Cameron, Kerr had been in touch with the Australian
armed services and the U.S. Embassy prior to the Whitlam dismissal.
There was speculation that a labor strike might occur in response
to the Whitlam dismissal so the plan was for the Americans to
send in their Pacific fleet to bombard Sydney if it was needed
("CIA in Australia" Part 2, Melbourne, Australia Public
Radio News Service, 1986).
The whole "loan affair" controversy is filled with
questions, not the least of which includes strategically placed
leaks to the press about the Labor ministers' activities and
a signed letter by Dr. Cairns giving the go ahead for one loan
activity that has always been refuted by him.
Steve and Adelaide Gerlach (1996) report that, "In 1981,
a CIA contract employee, Joseph Flynn, claimed that he had been
paid to forge some documents relating to the loan affair, and
also to bug Whitlam's hotel room. The person who paid him was
Michael Hand, co-founder of the Nugan Hand Bank (The National
Times, Jan. 4-10, 1981)."
Many Australians have been seeking the smoking gun in the Whitlam
ousting. One of my Australian friends says that Kerr was simply
a megalomaniac. But as former CIA operative Ralph McGehee said:
"Well, my views are as
though what's the problem? I mean, we had a whole series of Agency
spokesmen who said, `oh, yes, there was an Agency role in the
overthrow of the Whitlam government'. I just don't know why Australians
can't accept that. And then the CIA National Intelligence Daily
said, `some of the most incriminating evidence in that period
against the ministers in the Whitlam government may have been
fabricated.' This is about as strong as you get them to say so.
It is quite obvious that information was being leaked about ministers
Rex O'Connor and Jim Cairns and some of it was being forged which
is a standard CIA process. Jim Flynn, who was associated with
elements who were involved with the Nugan-Hand bank, he said
that he was involved in manufacturing the cables and leaking
them to the press. You have the statements by Christopher Boyce
who was in a relay point for information from the CIA and in
his trial he said that `if you think what the Agency did in Chile
was bad, in which they spent 80 million dollars overturning the
government of Chile there, the Allende government, you should
see what they are doing in Australia' ("CIA in Australia"
Part 1, Melbourne, Australia Public Radio News Service, 1986).
Whitlam made the mistake of
thinking that the Australians had some control over their own
country and its policies. One of the critical factors resulting
in the end of his government was the likely expectation by him
and others that government employees would follow the dictates
of the newly elected government. The allegiances developed after
23 years of the conservative Liberal Party authority were obviously
still in place. To complicate matters further, the Australian
Secret Service was seemingly following the dictates of the CIA
rather than the Australian authorities. The CIA was obviously
able to make good use of these well-established relationships.
Former CIA officer Marchetti says it best: "in essence this
is like the old days in Europe where the nobility of various
countries had more in common with each other than they did with
their own people. This is true of intelligence services. They
tend to have more in common with each other and their establishments
which they represent than they do with their own people ("CIA
in Australia" Part 3, Melbourne, Australia Public Radio
News Service, 1986).
Also, when it comes to strategic interests, the U.S. does not
seemingly want to be bothered with the interference of democratically
elected officials.
Whitlam was threatening to not extend the lease for the U.S.
bases in Australia. This also harkens back to the 1980's destabilizing
efforts on the part of the U.S. against the anti-bases movement
in the Philippines. The U.S. was noted in this period for the
launching of an intense anti-communist campaign in the Philippines
and the funding a paramilitary groups or deaths squads to destroy
the Filipino activism. The Filipino movement against extending
the U.S. bases agreement (primarily for Subic Naval Base and
Clark Air Force Base) resulted in the deaths and torture of countless
Filipinos who fought against the U.S. presence and to encourage
the Filipino Senate not to allow for the lease extension.
What the Australian Labor Party
was attempting at the time was in keeping with many of the anti-colonial
movements after WWII, which was primarily to claim independence
and have a modicum of control and benefit from their own natural
resources. This is what Salvadore Allende was attempting at the
same time period in Chile and what Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and
others in South America, Asia and Africa are engaged in presently.
Unlike Allende in 1973, Whitlam was not assassinated yet the
demise of his government was as symbolic and devastating for
many of us around the world.
You've got to hand it to Whitlam, though. He certainly did his
best!!
Heather Gray produces "Just Peace" on WRFG-Atlanta
89.3 FM covering local, regional, national and international
news. She can be reached at hmcgray@earthlink.net.
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