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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! General Petraeus' Fake War
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
General Petraeus' Fake War
How the Press and Congress Eagerly Swallowed It
EXCLUSIVE to subscribers in our latest newsletter, Gareth Porter dissects two years’ worth of successful lying by Gen Petraeus and his propaganda team. Guess what? The FBI AND DOJ didn’t specially target Muhammad Ali. Those G-men were just following normal procedures! Alexander Cockburn reviews the latest effort to “revise” the Sixties. Dick Cheney “didn’t understand the legalities.” James Abourezk describes his efforts to close down the lethal liquor operators that prey on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Whatever happened to the class war? Read Serge Halimi and find out. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories July 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn June 30, 2008 Peter Lee Jeff Sommers David Macaray Martha Rosenberg David Price Alexandra Early June 28 / 29, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Joan P. Mencher Nikolas Kozloff Jason Hribal Alan Maass Robert Fantina Bill Moyers / Mike Whitney Justin E. H. Smith Pham Binh David Yearsley Christopher Ketcham Jeremy R. Hammond Kathleen M. Barry Walter Brasch Brett Drugge Susie Day Website of the Day June 27, 2008 Franklin C. Spinney Jonathan Cook Brian Cloughley Saree Makdisi Liliana Segura Paul Krassner William S. Lind Candace Cohn Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day June 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff William P. O'Connor Saul Landau Ashley Smith Dave Lindorff David Macaray Binoy Kampmark Matt Reichel Remi Kenazi Website of the Day
June 25, 2008 David H. Price Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Marjorie Cohn Joanne Mariner Ralph Nader Robert Weissman Christopher Brauchli Suren Pillay Seth Sandronsky Website of the Day June 24, 2008 Ishmael Reed P. Sainath Nikolas Kozloff Gregory Kafoury Betty Shamieh Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Bill Christison Philippe Marlière Website of the Day June 23, 2008 Michael Hudson John Ross Peter Montague Ramzy Baroud Robert Fantina Robert Weitzel David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Richard Rhames Gail Dines Tim Matson June 21 / 22, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Mike Whitney Chris Floyd Tim Wise Paul Craig Roberts Michael Winship Ron Jacobs Ramzy Baroud Alan Farago Michael Yates Dave Lindorff Bernard Chazelle Linda Mamoun Jo-Shing Yang Robert Jensen Website of the Weekend
June 20, 2008 Robert Oscar Lopez Paul Craig Roberts Bouthaina Shaaban Bill Quigley Moshe Adler Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Norman Solomon Martha Rosenberg June 19, 2008 Ralph Nader Chellis Glendinning Neve Gordon Dave Lindorff Sheldon Richman George Bisharat Jackie Corr Farzana Versey Website of the Day June 18, 2008 Nicole Colson Rev. William E. Alberts Vijay Prashad Parvez Ahmed Bob Moss Dave Lindorff David Wilson June 17, 2008 Conn Hallinan Wajahat Ali Marjorie Cohn Uri Avnery David Macaray Rannie Amiri Website of the Day June 16, 2008 Uri Avnery Corey D. B. Walker Howard Lisnoff Dennis Loo Paul Craig Roberts June 13 / 15, 2008 Douglas Valentine Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Peter Linebaugh Ishmael Reed Joe Bageant Harry Browne Andy Worthington Jeff Sharlet Binoy Kampmark Alan Farago Brian Cloughley Manuel Garcia, Jr. Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Bond / David Yearsley Niranjan Ramakrishnan Ronnie Cummins Dan Bacher Michael Dickinson Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 12, 2008 Judith Levine Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Christopher Brauchli Norman Solomon Helen Redmond Laura Carlsen Jeremy R. Hammond Anne Landman Website of the Day June 11, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Joshua Frank Clifton Ross Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Stephen Lendman Diane Farsetta Ron Jacobs Deborah Rich Hop Wechsler Website of the Day June 10, 2008 Alan Farago James G. Abourezk Saree Makdisi Malini Johar Schueller John Ross Wajahat Ali Peter Morici Jordan Flaherty Gary Macfarlane Joanne Mariner Website of the Day June 9, 2008 Uri Avnery Nikolas Kozloff Allan Nairn Dennis Loo Harry Browne C. Hand Peter Morici Kenneth Couesbouc Martha Rosenberg James L. Secor Website of the Day June 7 / 8, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Dave Lindorff Robert Fantina Conn Hallinan Neve Gordon Tom Barry Patrick Irelan Tim Wise David Ker Thomson Joshua Frank David Yearsley James T. Phillips Joe Allen P. Sainath David Macaray B.R. Gowani Fred Gardner Peter Harley Michael Dickinson Jen Roesch Poets' Basement Website of the Day
June 6, 2008 Frank Barat Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp James Abourezk Peter Morici Faheem Hussain Andy Worthington Ayesha Ijaz Khan Dave Lindorff Website of the Day June 5, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Sharon Smith Nikolas Kozloff Linn Washington, Jr. Omar Barghouti Scott Pellegrino John Walsh Dan Bacher DC Larson Robert Jensen Website of the Day June 4, 2008 Eric Walberg Gary Leupp Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff George Wuerthner Victor M. Rodriguez Remi Kanazi Stephane Luçon Farzana Versey Laray Polk Website of the Day June 3, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts / Mike Whitney Steve Early Manuel Otero George Bisharat Nikolas Kozloff Dan Bacher Website of the Day June 2, 2008 Uri Avnery Nikolas Kozloff Allan J. Lichtman Malini Johar Schueller Robert Weissman Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. John Ross Ahmad Al-Akhras Website of the Day May 31 / June 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Gary Leupp Stan Cox Rannie Amiri P. Sainath Binoy Kampmark Robert Fantina Seth Sandronsky Corporate Crime Reporter Anthony DiMaggio Karl Grossman Matt Reichel Paul Myron Hillier Andy Worthington David Yearsley Daniel Cassidy Charles Thomson Gary Corseri Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Poets' Basement Website of the Day
May 30, 2008 Bassam Aramin Andrew Cockburn Saul Landau Nikolas Kozloff Robert Sandels Dave Lindorff Martha Rosenberg Harvey Wasserman Doug Giebel Shaun Harkin Website of the Day May 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Col. Dan Smith Karl Grossman William S. Lind Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff David Macaray Chris Genovali Laura Carlsen Website of the Day May 28, 2008 Wajahat Ali Ralph Nader Brian McKenna Corporate Crime Reporter Brian Cloughley Eric Walberg Michael Dickinson Ijaz Khan Website of the Day May 27, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Greg Kafoury Jean Bricmont Tim Wise Ricardo Alarcón Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Alan Singer Richard Neville Susie Day May 26, 2008 Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Marjorie Cohn Fred Gardner Raymond J. Lawrence Harvey Wasserman Moncia Benderman David Rovics Website of the Day May 24 / 25, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Barbara Rose Johnston Nikolas Kozloff Adriana Kojeve Robert Fantina Dave Lindorff David Yearsley Nelson P. Valdés Kathleen M. Barry John Ross Allison Kilkenny Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Daniel Gross Christopher Brauchli Richard Rhames Daniel Cassidy Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
May 23, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Alan Farago Conn Hallinan Mark Engler George Wuerthner Kamran Matin Sandy Boyer / Robert Weitzel Cindy Sheehan Liaquat Ali Khan Website of the Day
May 22, 2008 Vijay Prashad Joanne Mariner Sharon Smith Jeff Birkenstein Brendan McQuade Peter Morici Niranjan Ramakrishnan Dave Zirin Ron Jacobs Stephen Lendman Website of the Day May 21, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Alan Farago Dave Lindorff David Model Eric Walberg Franklin Lamb Kenneth Couesbouc Website of the Day
May 20, 2008 Ralph Nader Uri Avnery Patrick Irelan Ray McGovern David Macaray Chris Genovali Ibrahim Fawal Christopher Ketcham Andy Worthington Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day May 19, 2008 Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Brian McKenna Patrick Cockburn B. R. Gowani Dr. Trudy Bond Cindy Sheehan John Mohawk Remi Kanazi Robert Day Website of the Day |
July 1, 2008
Arrogance, Ignorance, Resistance Fighting the NAFTA Super-HighwayBy STEVEN HIGGS The day after John McCain flew to Canada to glorify the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 73-year-old Rosie Edwards repeatedly laughed about her flood-ravaged home in Martinsville, Ind. "I've cried all I can cry," the grandmother of 55 grand and great-grandchildren said on June 21 in her moldy, now-gutted home of six years. "I've lost everything." Just across State Road 37, which Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and his Democratic opponent Jill Long Thompson envision as an extension of the Interstate 69 NAFTA Highway, Bill Bergman likewise chuckled. He became a minor media star after painting "Mitch, Make Me an Offer?" on the side of his home and signed it "I-69 Backer." "If I don't hear from him soon, it's going to be 'Ditch Mitch' on the roof," said Bergman, who sees I-69 as "part of progress." In response to the flood and declining economic conditions, long-time highway opponents argued the I-69 NAFTA Highway is now even more economically unfeasible in a state where the transportation research group TRIP says 32 percent of its "major roads are in poor or mediocre condition" and 22 percent of its bridges "are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." On June 20, the day McCain spoke to the Economic Club of Canada, Daniels also sicced state and local police agencies on I-69 NAFTA Highway opponents in Gibson County, dislodging two from a tree-sit protest. In response to the arrests, youthful protesters engaged in civil disobedience around Indiana that led to at least six more arrests. About 50 took over the streets of downtown Bloomington on June 21, carrying torches, banging drums and chanting anti-authoritarian incantations such as, "You can't put our friends in jail, we will drive the final nail." *** The Martinsville flooding only amplifies the arrogance that underlies the mindset of McCain, Daniels, Long Thompson and NAFTA Highway supporters, according to Tom and Sandra Tokarski from Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads (CARR). I-69 currently runs from the U.S.-Canada border at Port Huron, Mich., to the north side of Indianapolis. The highway lobby’s plans are to extend it from Indianapolis’s southwest side to the U.S.-Mexico border at Laredo, Texas. Consistent with Daniels's life's work -- from his career as a drug company executive to his role in bankrupting working-class investors at the Indianapolis Power and Light Co. (IPALCO) to his stint as George W. Bush's budget director to his three-and-a-half years as governor -- his interest in I-69 is reactionary. "He wants the big money from the highway construction lobby," Sandra Tokarski said. "That is the bottom line. If there weren't big highway construction lobby money coming in to all these politicians, especially Mitch Daniels, this thing would have been dead many years ago." Tom Tokarski argued that an array of factors, of which the flooded highway is but one, have converged this summer to highlight the arrogance behind Indiana's determination to build I-69. With gasoline surpassing $4 a gallon and no prospect of coming down, citizens are driving less, which means the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is receiving less revenue from gasoline taxes, the state's primary source of funding for highway and bridge construction and maintenance, Tokarski said. "We think INDOT's funding levels are away down," he said. And as with fuel, food and everything else, highway construction costs are skyrocketing. "Everybody is saying the costs are just through the roof," he said. But, even though the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the cost of crude oil has jumped 68 percent from 2007-2008, Daniels, the highway lobby and Indiana media continue using five-year-old INDOT propaganda that estimated I-69 construction costs at $1.8 billion. "It's a miracle highway because the cost never goes up," Sandra Tokarski said. *** With the now-undeniable proof that State Road 37 -- the planned I-69 corridor through Martinsville -- is in a floodplain, the NAFTA Highway's real costs have risen again, Tom Tokarski said. To avoid becoming a "dam" that would exacerbate flooding, the highway will have to be elevated, perhaps built on pillars, he said. "I can't imagine what that's going to cost," he said. INDOT spokesman Andy Dietrick responded that the flood will have no impact. "An analysis of the flood plain pertaining to the I-69 corridor in the Martinsville area was conducted long before the recent flooding, as part of the Tier 1 environmental study," he wrote in an e-mail to the Alternative. "The latest flooding validates the data gathered during that study." Tokarski responded that the Tier 1 study offers no guidance. "The Tier 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) says that existing SR-37 will be used through Martinsville," he said. "State Road 37 washed out during the flood. If that roadway is used, as it exists, for I-69 then INDOT will be building in a known floodplain that has already washed out once. The FEIS also says a raised urban section through Martinsville would be 'considered.'" The FEIS says the proposed route from SR-39 south of Martinsville to I-465 in Indianapolis may require reconstruction of existing SR-37, Tokarski said. "This tells me that the corridor through Martinsville has not been evaluated to handle the now-known flood threat," he said. "Bottom line: Andy Dietrich is mistaken. The plans are not fixed, and the cost is not known." *** Bergman, who said his home is situated at a planned highway intersection, pointed to his kitchen sink to illustrate how high the flood was without a highway dam. "The spigot, it's got mud on it," he said. "That's how high it was in here." And while Bergman doesn't use the term "ignorance" while explaining how water got from nearby Indian Creek into his sink, he doesn't mince words. "I'll just be blunt," he said. "The city planning department and the city engineers, they've built a slab of concrete and pavement from the top of the hill all the way down." Specifically he referred to the sprawling development along SR 37 that includes Martinsville High School, Wal-Mart, two car dealerships and "all those restaurants." With nothing to absorb the flood water, it overfilled the Sartor Ditch that parallels the roadway and flooded homes for hundreds of yards on both sides. In response to Bergman's highly publicized offer to sell his property to the state for I-69, INDOT issued a news release on June 17 saying, "Governor Mitch Daniels has asked the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to begin purchasing homes along State Road 37 in Martinsville that will eventually be impacted by the construction of Interstate 69." INDOT said it would begin making contact with homeowners whose properties would be impacted by I-69 construction "by the end of the week." But Jeff Hurst, whose home may be in the I-69 right-of-way, said he hadn't heard anything. "They're supposed to buy 25, but we haven't heard what 25," he said on June 21. "Rumor has it's just across the street." Dietrick said INDOT representatives were in Martinsville on June 18 to assess which flood-damaged homes would be eligible for early acquisition. "Twenty-eight homes were identified, and coordination has begun on the optional acquisition process," he wrote. "Inquiries from other homeowners in the Martinsville area, and throughout the I-69 corridor, are being reviewed on a case-by-case basis." The homes, he said, "will be appraised on pre-flood condition." The Tokarskis question whether INDOT will pay the homeowners what their properties are worth and see the move as little more than a cynical, public-relations ploy. "What will INDOT offer to pay for them?" Tom Tokarski asked. "An appraisal is not the same as an offer to buy. Their appraisals tend to be low in regular situations. What will they be here?" Sandra Tokarski said Daniels will make a few Martinsville voters happy in an election year and send a signal that the I-69 NAFTA Highway is moving forward. "It's a public relations coup for him, if he can pull it off," she said. *** After 18 years of high crimes and misdemeanors being perpetrated upon Indiana citizens by politicians from both political parties, someone finally went to jail over the I-69 NAFTA Highway. Not surprisingly, it wasn't anyone from Democrat Frank O'Bannon's administration for brazenly ignoring the public will while giving millions of taxpayer dollars to an Evansville engineering firm that gave back 10s of thousands in campaign contributions. Nor was it anyone from the Daniels administration for effectively giving the people's most valuable assets -- its transportation infrastructure and natural resources, for example -- to multinational conglomerates and using the short-term profits to confiscate private property, destroy average citizens' lives and further his own political career. Nor was it any of their co-conspirators in these abuses of state power and law -- the 150 men and women in the State Legislature who are beholden to the highway lobby's interests, especially the NAFTA Highway's. Among the most guilty: State Sen. Vi Simpson and former State Rep. turned Mayor Mark Kruzan, both Bloomington Democrats. On June 20, two weeks to the day after Martinsville became a lake, two activists who occupied a tree-sit protest just off the highway's path in Gibson County were arrested. At least five more protesters have been arrested in actions in the Evansville and Bloomington areas since police destroyed the tree sit. The Evansville Courier & Press reported on June 21 that INDOT asked the police to remove the tree-sit protesters from the public land because "groundbreaking on the initial segment of I-69 (is) scheduled for mid-July." "Officers used a cherry picker to pluck the pair from the trees early Friday and lowered them to the ground to arrest them on trespassing charges," the paper reported. The "criminals" ranged in age from 20 to 25 and came to Southwest Indiana from across the country, signaling that the I-69 NAFTA Highway is a focal point for populist resistance against global corporations and their political enablers who will destroy anything, including citizen property and lives, in pursuit of wealth and power. The tree sit, which had been manned by a variety of activists since May 19, was just south of State Road 68, where the Daniels administration has destroyed the first four of 400-plus homes and businesses that will be demolished by the I-69 NAFTA Highway. The Roadblock Earth First! Web site described the protesters' removal. "One protester was not attached to a safety line during the eviction but was still hostilely handled by the Conservation Officers. As they reached her with the cherry picker, they pulled her, unattached to anything that would have prevented her tumbling to the ground, putting her life in great danger. "After evicting the first sitter, officers moved on to the second. They raised the cherry picker below the platform to threaten the sitter and then lifted the platform with the cherry picker. They proceeded to cut the support line that was holding it in the tree. This protester had locked himself onto the ropes using a 'lock box' device intended to help him evade eviction. The officers cut that rope, leaving this protester also without any form of safety." In addition to the Bloomington march, where another protester was arrested for taking pictures of a police car, the resistance spread to Northwest Indiana, where a "solidarity" march to an INDOT district office was held in Gary. On June 25, protesters shut down operations at the Gohmann Asphalt & Construction Co. in Princeton, also in Gibson County, after locking themselves to a truck leaving the facility. Gohmann has contracts to work on the I-69 construction. "Repression only breeds resistance," the Roadblock EarthFirst! Web site says. Steven Higgs is the editor of The Bloomington Alternative and a contributor to Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland. He can be reached at editor@BloomingtonAlternative.com. For more on the Interstate 69 NAFTA Hghway, see the Alternative’s archive of I-69 stories.
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