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Exclusive to CounterPunch Newsletter Subscribers! How Bill (and Monica) Saved Hillary from a Federal Indictment Here's the second in Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair's series as they describe Hillary Clinton's years in Little Rock and her narrow escape from federal charges that would have destroyed her political career for ever. PLUS KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY on how Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are failing Black America even as they hunt for votes in So uth Carolina's "Black Primary." Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Remember contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now Order CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year and Receive a Free Copy of "Imperial Crusades: a Diary of Three Wars" by Cockburn and St. Clair

Today's Stories August 22, 2007 Marc Levy Sleepless in Iraq August 21, 2007 Saul Landau The FBI's New Power Alan Farago Sand Houses and Missing Beaches John Stauber Iraq: the Gift that Keeps on Bleeding Phillip Rizk Gaza and the Jordanian Option Debbie Nathan Giuliani's Garden District Binoy Kampmark The Art of Sinning Martha Rosenberg The Fastow Economy Sunsara Taylor Back to School During Wartime Website of the Day Coffee with the Troops   August 20, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Padilla Jury Opens Pandora's Box Uri Avnery Stumbling Toward Another War Rannie Amiri Nasrallah's Surprise: a Warning from Beirut's No Bluff Zone John Ross The Fine Art of Bad Elections Harvey Wasserman The Senate's Radioactive Rip-Off Robert Billyard Canada's Disgrace: the Cases of Maher Arar and Omar Khadr Dave Lindorff Excuse Us, Nancy Pelosi James Rothenberg Why Your Vote Will Never Matter David "DC" Larson To Smear a King Website of the Day Bird Cinema August 18 / 19, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Exit Karl Rove, Everyone's Useful Demon Saul Landau The FBI in War and Peace Ralph Nader Greed and Folly on Wall Street Patrick Cockburn A Bloody Week in Iraq Robert Fantina Cannon Fodder: Beau Biden and other "Deployable Assets" Robert S. Eshelman Azar's Story: an Iraqi Refugee Living in Syria P. Sainath The Last Battle of Laxmi Panda Dave Lindorff Tossing Fuel on a Fire: US Military Aid to Israel Anthony DiMaggio Iraq, Iran & the Vanishing Context in American News Fred Gardner The Politics of Schizophrenia Ron Jacobs The Virtues of Resistance Tom Turnipseed War Profiteering and Corruption: From Lexington, S.C. to the White House Paul Krassner Assholes of the Week: Special Preachers, Priests and Clerics Edition! Ben Tripp I'm So Screwed Andrew Wimmer Living With Grief Nancy Oden Where Inmates Can Grow for Free N.D. Jayaprakash India Backtracks on Disarmament Rick Smith Reflections on Cuba: an Interview with Doug Morris Missy Beattie The Suicide Bomber Poets' Basement Engel, Ford, Orloski and McLellan Website of the Weekend Imperial Storm Troopers in Action August 17, 2007 Joanne Mariner Terrorizing Social Protest Paul Craig Roberts China is not the Problem Shepherd Bliss Returning to the Scene of the Crime: Chile, 30 Years Later Dave Lindorff Convicting Padilla: Bad News for All Americans John Muthyala The Water and the Road: Katrina, Poverty and the American Dream Patrick Cockburn Deepening Divsions in Iraq Sherwood Ross Military Interrogators are Posing as Lawyers at Gitmo Phil Doe The Old West Moves East: the Political Science of Colorado River Water David Michael Green Karl Rove and the Damage Done Website of the Day Gorilla Slaughter: a Personal Account August 16, 2007 Jonathan Cook The Second Lebanon War, a Year Later Christopher Brauchli Babes in Toxic Toyland Norman Solomon Backspin for War Lee Sustar / Orlando Sepuldeva Victory on the Picket Line: How Immigrant Workers Won Their Strike Against Cygnus George Bisharat Boycott Movement Targets Israel Binoy Kampmark Tasteless: Gordon Ramsey and the Death of Gastronomy Evelyn Pringle Protection Racket?: the FDA and Avandia Hugo Blanco The Epic Struggle of Indigenous Andean / Amazonian Website of the Day Burning Man: the Field Recordings   August 15, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts "No American President Can Stand Up to Israel" Michael Neumann In Memoriam: Raul Hilberg Jordan Flaherty The Struggle to Free the Jena Six Sonja Karkar Can You Hear the Cries from Gaza? Felice Pace NPR Watch: Will Linda Gradstein Go to Gaza? Joshua Frank On Censoring Pearl Jam Dave Lindorff Terrorist Nation? Carla Blank Elvis Presley: King or Apprentice? David Vest Guralnick, Elvis and Racism Harvey Wasserman Why the Neocons Won't Miss Karl Rove Peter Rost, M.D. FDA Approved Drug Makes You Hypersexual and a Compulsive Gambler Russell Mokhiber An Arab American's Pocket Political Dictionary Website of the Day Stoners Busted   August 14, 2007 Paul de Rooij Humanitarian Wars and Associated Delusions Winslow T. Wheeler Congress's Busted September: Disingenuous Gestures Amid Catastrophe David Rosen The Case of Genarlow Wilson: Racism, Justice and Age-of-Consent Laws in America Gary Leupp Bush Warns Puppets Not to Praise Iran Clifton Ross Latin America at the Crossroads Muhammad Idress Ahmad The Politics of Democracy Promotion Jacquelyn Godin A Circle of Poison: Pesticides in the Plantations Uri Avnery Oslo Revisited Ramzy Baroud A Palestinian Miracle at the UN? James McEnteer Philistines as Cultural Critics Website of the Day When Cheney Called Iraq a Quagmire   August 13, 2007 Jeremy Scahill The Mercenary Revolution F. William Engdahl The Hidden Agenda Behind Bush's Biofuel Plan Alexander Cockburn The Veldt Will Never Be the Same Kathy Kelly Iraq's Refugees: "et to Work" Chris Floyd No Light, Light Tunnel: the Bipartisan Guarantee of More War in Iraq Paul Craig Roberts Hegemony of the Cockroach William Blum First Pullout, Then Bloodbath? Kenneth Couesbouc The Language of Dominion Rannie Amiri Tancredo's Screedo: a Lethal Mix of Ignorance and Insanity Brenda Norrell Priests Expose Secret Cycle of US Torture Fran Shor All Fall Down Ron Jacobs Dr. Strangelove Meets Dubya's Double Buzz Twofer Website of the Day The Beauty of Defiance   August 11 / 12, 2007 Alexander Cockburn How the Democrats Blew It in Only 8 Months Stan Goff The Cover-Up of Pat Tillman's Death Ralph Nader GM Radio: Payola to Rightwing Talk Shows? Vijay Prashad Destination Darfur: a New Cold War for Oil Greg Moses SubPrime People: Behind the Banking Crisis Alan Farago The Cratering Mortgage Market, WCI Communities and Amb. Al Hoffman Patrick Cockburn The Cracks in Saddam's Dam Ben Tripp On Fleeing the Country Robert Fantina Romney's Dance: The Rightwing Flip-Flop John Ross The Guelaguetza Strategy in Oaxaca Seth Sandronsky Organizing Nurses Paul Krassner Assholes of the Week: From Mitt Romney to Bill Richardson Website of the Weekend Pearl Jam: Censored by ATT   August 10, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts China's Threat to the Dollar is Real Stan Goff How Pat Tillman Died Marjorie Cohn A Blank Check for Domestic Spying Saul Landau In the Age of Immigrant Panic Chris Floyd Goading Xerxes: the Coming Strike on Iran Daniel Ellsberg A Vision for Cindy Sheehan's Campaign Anthony Papa The Upside Down Flag: a Country in Distress Farzana Versey On the Heels of Sir Salman Sgt. Kevin Benderman Freedom or Totalitarianism? Nuri Nuri Memories of T99 Nelson Website of the Day Lessons in Obfuscation from Sen. Larry Craig: How to Talk About Looting the Public Domain   August 9, 2007 Stan Goff The Fog of Fame: Pat Tillman as Everyone's Political Football Paul Craig Roberts In the Hole to China Alan Farago The Terror of the Mortgage Pools William S. Lind The Surge's New Math: One Step Forward, Two Back Doug Giebel Letter from Montana: What the Bushvolk Have Done to America Harvey Wasserman Radioactive Bailout in Advance Jacob Hill The Tail End of Free Trade: NAFTA's Impact on the Manufacturing Sector Raul Zibechi The Dark Side of Agrofuels Dave Zirin The Making of Barry bin Laden Website of the Day "Babies Just Come with the Scenery"   August 8, 2007 Andy Worthington Backing Up Lt. Col. Abraham on Gitmo Abuse Jeff Halper The Catch in Israel's "Generous Offers" at Jericho Greg Moses No Light in August for Texas Refugees: Judge Orders Baby Sent to Palestine Nurit Peled-Elhanan The Murder of Abir Aramin, 9 Years Old Sukant Chandan British Prisons as Islamic Universities Robert Fisk A Lebanese Surprise George H. Strauss The Military Society D.K. Wilson Bonds, the Haters and 756: Why Bob Costas Can't be Trusted Bill Day Leonardo DiCaprio's Baggage: the Perils of Celebrity Environmentalism Tim Campbell Monkey See, Monkey Do Politics Website of the Day Periodic Table of Visualization Methods   August 7, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Why the Surge Has Failed Andy Worthington Why Do We Need the Democrats?: They Have Failed to Restrain Bush on Gitmo, Iraq and Domestic Spying Kathy Kelly The Little Girl of Hiroshima Stan Cox The Antiwar Majority: Look Quickly, You Might Miss It Sonja Karkar Israel's Settlement Project Sen. Russ Feingold A License to Wiretap--Anyone Alan Farago Dancing in the Light of Florida Norman Solomon Let Us Now Praise an Infamous Woman Binoy Kampmark Giving Good Face: What Jeremy Bentham and Facebook Have in Common Dave Lindorff The Gelding Congress John Stauber Coffee with the Troops at Yearly Kos Website of the Day George Carlin on Education August 6, 2007 Bill Quigley Fighting for the Right to Learn in New Orleans Kathy Rentenbach Guatemalan Gold, Guatemalan Bones Uri Avnery White Elephants: Bush's Middle East Arms Deals Col. Dan Smith Of Time and Iraq Ralph Nader Cruise Ship Blues James Neshewat War? What War?: a Report from the New SDS Confab in Detroit D.K. Wilson Barry, Bud and 755 Greg Moses Safe Passage for Willie Nelson Fidel Castro Hard and Obvious Realities Mike Whitney Judgment Week on Wall Street   August 4 / 5, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Rupert Murdoch and the Luck of the Bancrofts Peter Linebaugh Speaking in Irish Tongues Saul Landau Faith-Based War Alan Farago The Candidates and the Collapsing Economy Dave Zirin When Domes Attack: Even in Minnesota Barucha Calamity Peller Oaxaca is Not Over Anthony DiMaggio Double Standards in U.S. Aid to the Middle East Dave Lindorff Spy Power: Bush Demands, Democrats Deliver--Again and Again and Again Fred Gardner Write Off Your Congressman Nicola Nasser The Iranian Option Benjamin Dangl Privatizing Repression in Paraguay Rannie Amiri Bribe, Divide and Conquer Daniel Gross CSR on Trial: Starbucks Behind the Brand Sherwood Ross Obama Renounces Use of Nuclear Weapons Manuel Garcia, Jr A Bridge Truth Movement?: From 9/11 to Minneapolis Missy Beattie The First Mannequin and the "Crime Scene" Ron Jacobs The Outlaw Trip to Mexico: Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad Website of the Weekend Photos: Texas Immigrant Prison   August 3, 2007 Gabriel Matthew Schivone An Interview with Noam Chomsky on Responsibility, War Guilt and Intellectuals Jonathan Cook Israel's Jewish Problem in Tehran Patrick Cockburn Sunnis Walk Out of Iraq Government Little Steven Van Zandt Die, Greedy Swine! Die! Die!: How the Record Companies are Killing Rock Music Christopher Brauchli Bush Makes Putin Look Like James Madison D. K. Wilson Two Sides and a Middle: Michael Vick Ain't the One to Ask Linda Ford and Ira Glunts Maxwell's Silver Hammer: Syracuse University Enlists in the Global War on Terror Kelly Overton The Casualties of Green Scare: the Feds' War on the Animal Rights Mvt. Monica Benderman In Freedom's Name Manuel Garcia, Jr. Minneapolis Bridge Collapse: Was Cheney at the Scene? Website of the Day A Cinematic Look at the Police State in Action   August 2, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts The Return of the Robber Barons Stanley Heller Report from the Land of Apartheid Eric Ruder Fighting PTSD; Fighting the Army Robert Fantina Still Getting It Wrong: the NYT and Iraq Alan Farago The Toxic Mortgage Waste Crisis Chris Floyd Chertoff, Chiquita and Death Squads Franklin Lamb Lebanon's Crucial Special Elections Sen. Russ Feingold Closing the Book on the Abramoff Era Anthony Papa Drug Treatment isn't a Silver Bullet Norman Solomon The Big Guns of August Website of the Day Louie, Louie Video Contest   August 1, 2007 Debbie Nathan More Secret Payments by Former NYT Reporter to Web Porn Star Surface in Nashville Courtroom Fred Gardner Ciao, Michelangelo Gary Leupp Why Iraq's Best-Loved Athlete Can't Go Home David Rosen America's Top 10 Political Sex Scandals Winston Warfield Is the Tillman Case Still a Coverup? Daniel McBride Lessons from Bomber Harris: If the US Strikes Pakistan Glen Ford The Corporate Plan to Crush Black Resistance Thomas P. Healy The Toxic Career of Indiana's Environmental Commissioner John V. Whitbeck The Five Percent Solution David Krieger Nuclear Weapons and the University of California Website of the Day The Tragic Story of Hisham Mohammed   July 31, 2007 Kathy Kelly Dancing in the Darkness: the Story of Abu Mahmoud Clancy Sigal The Ghosts of Passchendaele Paul Krassner Assholes of the Week: From Baby Doll to Cheney Joe DeRaymond Return to the Republic of Death? Diane Christian "Winning": What Bush Could Learn from the Shade of Achilles Chris Floyd Good News is No News: Why the Bush Adm. Buries Accounts of Extremist Recantations Ramzy Baroud Bush's Real Agenda in Palestine Alan Farago Battle for the Soul of Florida Fidel Castro In Spite of Everything: Reflections on the Pan American Games Dan Bacher The Fish Terminator: Schwarzenegger's Campaign to Build the Delta Canal and More Dams   July 30, 2007 Marjorie Cohn: Independent Counsel Time Patrick Cockburn Four Million Iraqis on the Run Peter Quinn Irish in America Uri Avnery A Warning to Tony Blair John Ross Zapatista Intergalatica Lands on Earth Ron Jacobs Free the San Francisco 8 David Vest Farewell, Old Friend: Another Legend of the Blues is Gone Jeffrey St. Clair T99 Nelson: Seduced by a Legend of the Blues Website of the Day Collateral Repair Project   July 28 / 29, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Now the NYT is Selling "Bloodbath" as a Rationale to Stay in Iraq Ralph Nader Rotten Justice Robert Fantina American Lies and Iraqi Nationalism Fred Gardner Prohibitionists Attack, Reformers Fundraise   July 27, 2007 John Ross Bombing Pemex--or Not? Arthur Neslen Gaza was a Gas for Blair Dave Lindorff Declaring the US a Battlefield: Martial Law is Now a Real Threat Julene Blair The Environmentalist Within Christopher Brauchli Bush Uses Children as Shock Troops in His War on Socialized Medicine Jesse Hagopian Fund the Wounded, Not the War Charles Modiano Manufacturing a Villain: Sports Illustrated's Vilification of Barry Bonds Bill Day The Hollow Environmentalism of Leonardo DiCaprio Walter Brasch Leaders Afraid to Lead M.D. Mitchell Farm Based Camps Website of the Day Fighting Sarcoma   July 26, 2007 Kathleen Christison The Siren Song of Elliot Abrams Andy Worthington Why the Pentagon's Gitmo Study is a Joke Clancy Chassay How the Bush White House Seeks to Destroy Lebanon Marjorie Cohn Showdown Over Executive Privilege Susie Day Apartheid Americana David Price Tour de Witch Hunt: Drugs, Diaries and Purges Marie Trigona Argentina's "Dirty War" Crimes Trial: The Torturer Priest Norman Solomon Media Spin on Iraq: We're Leaving (Sort Of) William S. Lind How to Win in Iraq Natsu Saito Ward Churchill and the Regents at the University of Colorado John Stauber Netroots and the Iraq War: Does Ending It Matter to Them Anymore? Website of the Day Sticking It to the Man   July 25, 2007 Andy Worthington Gains and Losses at Gitmo Gary Leupp Bush Speechwriter, Michael Gerson, Calls for Attack on Syria Ray McGovern The Sad Decline of John Conyers Dr. Susan Block Bonobo Bashing in the New Yorker Joshua Frank Hillary's Neocon: the Imperial Vision of Richard Holbrooke Tina Richards What Harry Reid Doesn't Know About His Own Bill Ben Terrall Indonesia's Bloody Brand of CounterTerrorism Farzana Versey God Acquitted!: Lessons from the Case of Darwood Ibrahim Mohammad Ali Salih A Bomb in My Briefcase? Laura Carlsen A Strange Homecoming: Reflections on the First US Social Forum Ron Jacobs Come to Kennebunkport! Sunsara Taylor Knocked Up is F**ked Up Website of the Day Wal-Mart's Flip Flops: Feet Killers July 24, 2007 Saul Landau How to Walk in Bushtime Kathy Kelly The Plight of Iraqi Refugees in Jordan Russell Mokhiber The Michael Vick / George Bush Thing M. Shahid Alam Islam Now, China Then Patrick Cockburn and Anne Penketh Meeting in Baghdad Dave Lindorff Overcoming John Conyers Binoy Kampmark You Tube You Can't: Failure of a Medium Richard Neville Murdoch's Transplant: a Warning to the Wall Street Journal Cindy Sheehan We Must Move Beyond Politics as Usual Evelyn Pringle Anti-Depressants and Birth Defects: Why is the CDC Downplaying the Risks? Norman Solomon Media Corrections We'd Like to See CP Newswire Reading Harry Potter Not Sinful Website of the Day Sea Islands Black Heritage Festival   July 23, 2007 Andy Worthington Narcolepsy on Gitmo Detainees Uri Avnery A Trap for Fools Patrick Cockburn Turkish Prime Minister Threatens to Invade Northern Iraq Sousan Hammad The Children Without a Title John Walsh Todd Gitlin's Nader Fixation Harvey Wasserman Spinning Kashiwazaki: PR Flacks Rush to Aid of Crippled Nuke Martha Rosenberg The Life and Times of a Hog-Hanging Farmer Collin Baber Here Come the MRAPs: Resurrecting Apartheid Armor for Iraq Reza Fiyouzat Iran's Forgotten Anti-Nuke Movement Stephen Lendman Saving a President: Scare-Mongering and Executive Orders Website of the Day The Port Huron Project   July 21 / 22, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Giuliani and the Dogs of War Werther How to Read a National Intelligence Estimate Ralph Nader Atomic Blowback David Keen Buy Hard: How to Sell an Endless War Fred Gardner Karl Rove, Pothead: When Good Drugs Happen to Bad People Gary Leupp Edelman's Edict: Is Hillary "Reinforcing Enemy Propaganda?" Robert Fantina Fear in Iraq Saker The Future of Palestine: an Interview with Jonathan Cook Rannie Amiri Nasrallah in the Crosshairs: How will the Third Lebanon War Start? Mike Whitney The Crisis in Hedgistan Dr. Susan Rosenthal, MD The Hidden Injuries of Powerlessness: Linking Alienation and Dissociation Monica Benderman Facing the Truth Dan Bacher Deltagate: the Politics of Fish Kills Michael Baney Fujimori's Long Race From Justice Missy Beattie Here, There and Everywhere Ron Jacobs Tremble, Tyrants Adam Engel Radical Language: an Introduction Thomas Naylor California Split: an Open Letter to Schwarzenegger Poets' Basement Landau, Ford and Engel Website of the Weekend Surge in Action   July 20, 2007 Eliza Szabo Fatal Neglect: Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan Pam Martens Doctoring the News: CNN's Sanjay Gupta, Laura Bush and Merck Alan Farago Winners and Losers in the Housing Market Crash Harvey Wasserman Lies and Leaks: The Earthquake That Screamed "No Nukes!" Marjorie Cohn Iraqis will be the Deciders Dave Zirin White Noise and the Black Athlete Anthony DiMaggio American Public Opinion and Israel Scott Liebertz Oaxaca on Edge Linn Washington, Jr. British Cops Assault Rape Allegations Bill Piper / Anthony Papa Flying High?: The Political Junkets of Bush's Drug Czar Ramzy Baroud Bush's War Policy: When Time Heals Nothing Website of the Day The Prankster Art of Mark Jenkins   July 19, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The Next Invasion of Iraq Remi Kanazi Is This Ben Gurion or Hell?: a Palestinian Adventure Through Israel's Largest Airport Winslow T. Wheeler The Surging Costs of the Iraq War Sharon Smith Democrats and Health Care: Behind the Rhetoric Dave Lindorff Killing Cabbies in Iraq Conn Hallinan Have Gun, Will Travel: Mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan D. K. Wilson The Michael Vick Case Pulls Back the Veil on Who We Really Are Joshua Frank Democrats as Leviathan: Another Step Toward War with Iran Norman Solomon The Ghost of Wayne Morse Russell Hoffman Rattling the Reactor: Quakes, Fires and Leaks at the World's Largest Nuke Ray McGovern Bush's Wooden Headedness Kills Website of the Day Protesting Power July 18, 2007 Brenda Norrell Spy Towers on the US Border Col. Dan Smith How the US Could "Lose" Saudi Arabia Martha Rosenberg Lord of Crookharbour: the Trial of Conrad Black Conn Hallinan Bombing and Spraying Afghanistan Binoy Kampmark The SIM Card Terror Case Patrick Bond / Rehana Dada Who Killed Sajida Khan? Tom Johnson The Long Road ... to Nowhere Paul Craig Roberts A Free Press or a Ministry of Truth? Bob Quellos Pushing the Poor Out of House and Home Felice Pace Falling for Lieberman's Iran Resolution Robert Weissman National Health Insurance: More Humane and More Efficient CP Newswire Shocking Report Showing Involvement of US Psychologists in Torture Website of the Day Gilad Atzmon Live!   July 17, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Just Another Day in Iraq: 100 Fathers, Mothers and Children Killed Marjorie Cohn Out of Control: Executive Power Plays Evelyn Pringle Inside Bush's FDA David Rosen Moral Hypocrisy on the Hill: the Christian Right, Sexual Scandal and the Pleasures of the Courtesan Susan Miller Width Matters: Displacement and Israel's Wall Franklin Lamb Did the UN Cave to Israel on Lebanon's Shabaa Farms? Don Monkerud Considering Victory in Iraq Harvey Wasserman Nuclear Surge Russell Hoffman Japan Dodges a Radioactive Bullet Dave Lindorff Feingold Turns to Dross Dave Zirin Reclaiming Sports as True Fiction Website of the Day Che at the UN: 1964   July 16, 2007 Gary Leupp Cheney Urges Bush to Strike Iran Ellen Cantarow The Untold Story of Iraqi Women Paul Craig Roberts Impeach Now Allan J. Lichtman The D.C. Madam's Public Service Dan Bacher Cheney and the Klamath: Was the Veep Behind the Nation's Worst Salmon Kill? Patrick Cockburn The Killing of Khalid W. Hassan Manuel Garcia, Jr. Property is Racism James Brooks AIPAC and Mahmoud Abbas: the Undemocratic Road to Defeat Liaquat Ali Khan The Judicial Crisis in Pakistan Julie Flint Suleiman Jamous in Limbo Website of the Day Free Suleiman Jamous!   July 14 / 15. 2007 Alexander Cockburn Support Their Troops? Andy Worthington Gitmo's Tangled Web: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Majhid Khan, Dubious US Convictions and a Dying Man Ralph Nader Lawlessness, Waste and Incompetence Robert Fantina The Illegalities of the Iraq War Ron Jacobs Architecture as Military Strategy Joshua Frank Eat, Fight, Screw, Pray: An Interview with Joe Bageant Conn Hallinan Guns, Foundations and Free Trade: How the Right Targets Africa Dr. Susan Rosenthal, MD War and Dissociation John Ross No En Nuestro Nombre!: a Letter to the Mexican Antiwar Movement Fred Gardner Who's Afraid of Cannabidiol? Rannie Amiri A Primer on Israeli Doublespeak Charles Modiano ESPN's Rap Sheet: Pacman as Black Man Anthony DiMaggio America's Parochial Press China Hand Executive Orders and Coercive Diplomacy Missy Comley Beattie Reprobate Rhetoricians Dr. James J. Murtagh, Jr. Harry Potter Battles Big Brother Kenneth Rexroth On Thomas More's "Utopia" Poets' Basement Engel, Davies and Orloski Website of the Weekend GOP Sex Hypocrites: a Slideshow   July 13, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The Decider in Denial Winslow T. Wheeler Bush's Iraq Benchmarks Assessment: Grading on a Curve for the Wrong Test Imran Khan When Dictators Serve US Interests Todd Chretien The Wal-Mart of Garbage Sam Husseini Killing the Constitution Dr. Herman Mindshaftgap Why, in Truth, There is No Surge Anthony Papa The Hard Road Home D. K. Wilson The Wonderful World of Mike Greenberg and Barry Bonds David Michael Green In the Last Throes, Judiciously Website of the Day Strange Attraction: Mrs. Thompson and Mr. Wolfowitz   July 12, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Restoring the People's Power Robert Jensen Lessons from the Lal Masjid Tragedy Dr. Susan Block Hookergate II: The Senator and the Veep Joshua Frank The Liberal Thrashing of Ward Churchill John Chuckman How Terror Lost Its Meaning Corporate Crime Reporter The Problem with Bribeline Mike Whitney Demonizing Putin Nicola Nasser Will New Delhi's Palestinian Policy be Neutralized? Richard Rhames Requiem for the Paxilated William S. Lind Not Fourth Generation Warfare Website of the Day Video: World's Largest Nuclear Explosion     July 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The Benchmark Blame Game Richard Neville Is This Man a Psychopath? Bomber McNeill, the Faceless Pol Pot of the Sky Debra McNutt Privatizing Women: Military Prostitution and the Iraq Occupation John V. Walsh A Plea to Ralph Nader Scott Liebertz Where's the Outcry? Mexico's Monitor Radio vs. RCTV George C. Wilson Beware the Iran Hawks James McEnteer My Impossible Dream Candidate Philip Rizk Submission or Resistance in Gaza? Johnny Hazard Mexico Commemorates a Fraud Dave Lindorff On the Road with Impeachment Website of the Day Sly Stone's Higher Power   July 10, 2007 James Ridgeway True North: Big Oil in the Arctic Tariq Ali New Clashes in Islamabad: Judges and Jihadis Torment the Regime Javed Hussein Pakistan's Waco?: The Storming of the Red Mosque William Blum Neocons, Theocons, Demcons, Excons and Future Cons Ralph Nader Grown in China Jay Arena New Orleans, Public Housing and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex Anthony DiMaggio A Begrudging Reversal: The New York Times and the "Anti-War" Turn Eva Liddell Has Ann Coulter Got the Hots for John Edwards? Jerry Kroth Democratic Defectors and the Israel Lobby Alice Woodward White Supremacy and the Jena Six Nikolas Kozloff Where's Jerry?: On Cheney Impeachment, Rep. Nadler's a No Show Paul Shannon It's Time to Reform Sex Offender Laws Website of the Day March for Remembrance   July 9, 2007 Fidel Castro The Killing Machine: Reflections from a Target of the CIA Diana Johnstone King Sarko the First John Walsh Will the Greens Seize the Moment? Uri Avnery The Jordanian Option Ramzy Baroud The Palestinian Left: a Lost Opportunity? John Ripton The New West Bank Palestinian State Stephen Lendman Making Gaza Scream Bruce Jackson Bush Going Down: the Correct Way to Affix a Stamp Michael Donnelly What's the Matter with Winchester? Doug Giebel Wanted: Old Men with Nothing to Lose Website of the Day Ron Paul on This Week with George   July 7 / 8, 2007 Saul Landau Blame the Puppet Ismael Hossein-zadeh Parasitic Imperialism Fawzia Afzal-Khan What Lies Beneath: Dispatches from the Frontlines of t he Burqa Brigade Alan Maass Will "Sicko" Spark a Movement?: a Film, Militant Nurses and a New Opportunity for Single Payer Health Care John Ross The Fire Last Time Pat Williams The Supreme Court and Mr. Peanut Rannie Amiri The Unbreakable Mordechai Vanunu Farzana Versey Does the Taj Mahal Deserve to be a Wonder of the World? Bart Gruzalski Bush, the Revolution and the Iraq War Paul Rockwell An Army of None Reza Fiyouzat Tax Cuts for the Rich Only Benefit the Economy of the Rich Monica Benderman Americans, Honestly! Kenneth Couesbouc Total War: From Clausewitz to Clinton and Bush Dave Lindorff Poll: Impeach the Bastards Charles Modiano History's Hit Job on Thomas Paine Missy Beattie King Cretin Dal LaMagna A Peacemaker's View of Baghdad Jean Gerard Those So-Called Oil Contracts in Iraq Anne Dachel Autism: an Epidemic of Fairly Recent Origin Ron Jacobs Modes and Melodies of Resistance Poets' Basement Gibbons, Orloski, Engel and Buknatski Website of the Day Van Morrison and Bob Dylan in Athens July 6, 2007 Daniel Ellsberg When the Crimes of the White House are Unpunishable Gary Leupp The Cracks in Cheney's World Harvey Wasserman Leonard Peltier vs. Scooter Libby: the Hero and the Henchman Omer Subhani Our Dead are Not the Same: Ignoring Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan Marjorie Cohn Compassion, Conspiracy and Commutation Christopher Brauchli Kingly Edicts: Bush's Executive Orders David Michael Green Scalia Time: the Wrecking Ball Court China Hand Catfish Blues: Food Safety, the FDA and the Emerging Trade War with China Renee Saucedo and Todd Chretien The New Challenges Facing the Immigrant Rights Movement Corporate Crime Reporter The Crime Wave Behind the Media Curtain Website of the Day Jean Bricmont on the Humanitarian Interveners   July 5, 2007 Andy Worthington Two Americas, Both Unjust: Scooter Libby vs. the "Enemy Combatants" Mike Stark Double Standards of North Carolina "Justice" Norman Solomon The Keyboard Hawks: a Bloody Media Mirror Michael Schwartz Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month Susie Day Killer Lesbians Mauled by Killer Court (and Media Wolfpack) Jacob Hornberger A Tangled Web of Lies: Bush and the Libby Case Bill Hatch Smoking with Arnold: The Strange Return of Toxic Mary Nichols Don Fitz When Building Green Ain't So Green John Wright The Crisis of Imperialism Website of the Day Anti-Flag and Tom Morello: "This Land is Your Land"   July 4, 2007 St. Clair / Frank Obama's Nuclear Ambitions Vijay Prashad Democrat (Punjab): Obama and Outsourcing Carl G. Estabrook The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Exist Ron Jacobs Texas Wants to Kill Another Man, the Law be Damned: the Disturbing Case of Kenneth Foster David R. Dow The Quality of Bush's Mercy: the Ghosts of Texas Claudia Johnson Is My Doctor a Terrorist? William S. Lind What Israel's Defeat in Lebanon Means for Defense Industry Fat Cats Gregory Afghani Truth and Tenure: Finkelstein and the Perils of Impeccable Scholarship Paul Edwards End It Now! D. K. Wilson The Sliming of Tank Johnson Niranjan Ramakrishnan Thank You, Mr. President: Bush/Cheney for Dummies Thomas Jefferson The Spirit of Resistance: Lethargy is the Forerunner of the Death of Public Liberty Cindy Sheehan Call Out the Instigator Website of the Day Springsteen: 4th of July, Ashbury Park July 3, 2007 Bill Quigley Injustice in Jena: Black Nooses Hanging from the "White" Tree Gary Leupp Civil Strife in Palestine: a Broader Context Lynda Brayer Norman Finkelstein and the Catholic Church Richard Thieme Mind Wars: Brain Research, Nanotech and the Military Helen Redmond They Don't Come Back the Same: the Mind of the Returning Iraq War Vet David Swanson Scooter and the Commuter: When Presidents Pardon Their Own Crimes Jacob Hornberger Martha Stewart vs. Scooter Libby: Commutation as Cover-Up Ayesha Ijaz Khan Pakistan's New Jihad Franklin Lamb The Edginess of Lebanon Ray McGovern Unimpeachably Impeachable: Start with Cheney Kevin Zeese The Air Force vs. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Dave Lindorff Nancy Pelosi and the Low Bar Democrats Website of the Day A Military Guide to the Iraq War         Subscribe Online

August 22, 2007 RX for Disaster Sleepless in Iraq By MARC LEVY RAMADI, Iraq: Troops swallow diet pills and slurp can after can of Red Bull, fighting to stay awake as they peer from armored Humvees into the pre-dawn darkness. Twangy country music pours from some vehicle sound systems, angry rap from others. Associated Press, December 8, 2006 Exhaustion and combat stress are besieging US troops in Iraq as they battle with a new type of warfare. The Observer, August 12, 2007   DAV in Gloucester, MA 2004 It's 7p.m. I'm sitting at the monthly Disabled American Veterans meeting, held in a wide open room with a low ceiling, big tables and cheap chairs. Our chapter is composed of twenty-five Vietnam, Korean and World War II vets. All have seen combat. Tonight we focus on what to send the troops in Iraq. The men deliberate, then settle on Girl Scout cookies. "Boys, boys," says the burly chapter president. "Everyone chips in twenty bucks we can send a hundred boxes." He pauses a moment. "All in favor..." Standing up, I say, "Hold on a second. The troops want flea shampoo, insect repellent, sun screen, foot powder. And tampons. That's right. They haven't got enough bandages for gun shot wounds." I speak loud and clear to this well meaning but straight-laced bunch. "That's what they want. Not your damn cookies." Silence. Then from the back of the room, a Nam vet shouts, "They need condoms to stretch over the 50-cal machine gun barrels to keep the sand out. When the shooting starts they fire straight through them." You'd think that would bang the nail home but the president is adamant. "Too much trouble, too expensive," he says. "And besides, the Girl Scouts know where to send the packages. Let's keep it simple, boys. Let's keep it simple. All in favor..." "Wait!" I pipe up. My voice is not pleasant. "At least have the damn Girl Scouts send the damn condoms with their goddamn cookies." Only one man chuckles. Later I heard they thought I was strange. Phnom Penn 1995 A dozen years ago I backpacked in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. In Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, in both busy and remote market places, rows of small brown bottles touted increased energy. Cambodia's crushing heat lead me to pay seventy-five cents for a bottle with two red bulls on the label. Sugar, B vitamins, caffeine, and extract of nicotine were the main ingredients. It tasted like candy but in twenty minutes I could walk, hitch, bike or ride buses and not eat for hours. And I felt great. Back in the US, I found and bought Red Bull in New York's Chinatown. Same label, same taste but no soothing rush from the tobacco extract. All that remained was the caffeine kick. Iraq 2007 Thanks to an impressive PR campaign, energy drinks are doing exceptionally well in the United States and throughout the world. Demand is especially high in poor, bombed out, bullet ridden, kidnap addled, socially disintegrating and otherwise despoiled Iraq. And Afghanistan. The customers: the American army. Mark Brinkley, a staff writer for Army Times, put it this way, "They're certainly getting enough of the amber energy cocktail, buying more than 138,000 cans each month from the 54 military exchanges supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. All told, four of the top eight sellers in combat exchanges are human rocket fuels. Either snazzy energy drinks or super-sweet shots of cold, condensed coffee. Not since Popeye put back the spinach has such a big boost been promised from such a tiny package." High demand has led Bawls Guarana, a high-caffeine soft drink that packs twice the punch of Pepsi or Coke, to develop The Bawls Military Gift Pack. Regarding the muster for Red Bull, Monster Energy Drink, Bawls et al, Brinkley posits, "Maybe it's sleep deprivation." Indeed, a stunning report by Peter Beaumont (The Observer, August 12, 2007) paints a bleak portrait of US troops, pushed to their physical limits and exhausted. A desperate low tech way to prop the eyelids open until the day's tense patrol, the night's careening convoy, or the checkpoint guard shift ends, is to chug can after can of Red Bull, Rip It, or Bawl's, and cat nap when possible. Only after the worn out, sleep-deprived soldier is back at base is there a chance for undisturbed slumber. But the cumulative effect of multiple and extended tours, extreme over-work and sleep deprivation appears to be a growing army of none, with no end in sight. Ranger in a Strange Land Elite military forces have long used certain drugs to increase combat effectiveness. My best friend, a heavy combat Army Ranger (see counterpunch.org/levy02162007.html) relates that prior to missions in Vietnam, he and his men were issued Dexedrine and paregoric tablets. The former increased self-confidence, concentration, risk taking, and reduced pain, hunger, thirst, and the need for shuteye. The latter induced constipation. Think about it: men who do not defecate cannot be tracked by the scent of their shit, and can walk, march, crawl or lay in wait for hour and hours. Three days or three weeks later, once back at base, they crashed, drank, smoked pot, decompressed. A week later they choppered out; the cycle began again. Thirty-seven years later, my Ranger pal does not sleep well. Broken sleep, he calls it. And his nightmares are not pleasant. But Rangers are a self-selective bunch. Their training is ferocious. Through interrupted sleep, brutal physical training, and fearsome harassment, the Army does its best to physically and psychologically break a man down. Those who graduate have extraordinary endurance. The same cannot be said for the average American soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq. Patriots who think otherwise are just plain wrong. And one more thing. Returned home, my Ranger pal went through a long period of being short-tempered, violent, prone to taking extreme risks, did ten years hard time, but most importantly, to this day feels that he cannot accept the moral wrongfulness of his actions in war and afterwards. Why? Because the US government ordered him to take amphetamines, the better to do his dirty work. The Pilots of Penzance In the 19th century the Germans invented methamphetamine. By the Second World War the German army was using it widely. In 2002, Air Force pilots Major Harry Schmidt (call sign 'Psycho') and Major William Umbach misidentified a target in Iraq. After the mission, they complained of exhaustion. They felt the "common-sense" rule of 12 hours off between flights was being ignored. They were advised to shut up and see the flight surgeon for "go/no-go" pills, i.e. Dexedrine. Days later Schmidt and Umbach dropped a precision bomb on Canadian troops, killing four, wounding eight. Court-martialed, each was charged with negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, and dereliction of duty. Their lawyers blamed Air Force issued Dexedrine. Umbach's case was dismissed. Schmidt was found guilty of dereliction of duty, fined nearly $6,000, and reprimanded. In a subsequent news conference, Air Force physician and pilot Dr. Pete Demitry said, "Air Force has used Dexedrine safely for sixty years" with "no known speed-related mishaps." The need for amphetamines, Demitry noted, "is a life-and-death issue for our military." (Wired Feb 10, 03). But John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, thought otherwise. "Better bombing through chemistry," he said. "I think enquiring whether amphetamine use had a role in the bombing errors is an obvious question to ask. I am surprised that the question has not been asked before." (The Independent, August 3, 2002) The English are equally prudent. In March 2003, an A-10 Thunderbolt, co-piloted by National Guard Lt. Colonel Gus Kohntopp (call sign 'Popov 36'), killed Lance Corporal Matty Hull of The Blues & Royals, in Iraq. After an American cover-up and British expose, Air Marshal and MP Lord Garden hoped further investigation would consider possible drug use on the part of the A-10 pilots. (Scotland On Sunday, 11 Feb 2007). The British Are Going! The British Are Going! Brit combat troops serve 6 months at war, then 24 off. A 4:1 ratio. By contrast, American soldiers serve a 4:5 ratio of 15 months in combat, with less than a year's rest. The British high command believes anything over a 4:1 ratio could "break the army." (The Guardian, August 13, 2007). It seems it will not get better soon. Army Times reports that 15 month deployments will hold until the Army can switch to one year of combat, one year at rest. "The only way shorter tours will be possible is when demand for combat power drops...12 months of boots on the ground will not happen overnight," a senior Army official said. (Army Times August 13, 2007). Even with an ultimate goal of one year deployed, two years at home, that ratio may "break the army." All Aboard The Chew Chew Train According to Army Times, Dr. Gary Kamimori is a research physiologist at Walter Read Army Institute of Research. Tasked to chew on the problem of sleep deprivation and combat effectiveness, Kamimori discovered that after forty-eight sleepless hours a combat soldier is kaput. Not exactly post-doctoral material but Kamimori's most recent unpublished government study concludes that caffeine, delivered by chewing gum, is an excellent way to ward off zzzz's. Here is the back story: In 1998 Wrigley's launched "Stay Alert Gum." The product fizzled but it caught Kamimori's eye. In 2000 Congress funded the initial research, which showed quick absorption rates of the stimulant, which lead to testing the gum as an antidote for sleep deprivation in combat. The results were encouraging: "Alertness, marksmanship (both simulated and live fire), vigilance on observation and reconnaissance tasks, and physical performance during simulated operations was either maintained or improved as compared to those soldiers receiving a placebo chewing gum." Stay Alert could be optimally dosed: at 200mg every two hours, for up to eight hours straight, though after 68 hours the caffeine lost its effect. The gum was recently approved for use in First Strike Rations, an experimental meal for Special Operation Forces (Army News Service, January 17, 2006). In the meantime Jolt Gum (which sold 64,000 packs in war zones in one year) is sold in US military exchanges and combat outposts. By comparison, approximately 30,000 cans of Red Bull are sold in Iraq and Afghanistan each week. Kamimori notes that until Stay Alert is officially available, combat commanders can purchase it by contacting the company at (800) 826 2526 or by visiting www.stayalertgum.com. "It's been like gold for them," said Kamimori, about the units that have field-tested Stay Alert in the Middle East. "This is something that's going to help the average soldier." Perhaps. Perhaps not. Rx for Disaster: 100mg = 1 cup Dr. Kamimori suggests that combat troops chomp the equivalent of one cup of coffee an hour for eight hours straight. But according to MayoClinic.com, six cups of coffee a day constitutes heavy intake. And many GIs may drink Red Bull and smoke cigarettes. After a break (not specified by Kamimori) the caffeine cycle begins again. Prolonged and repeated caffeination translates to extended stay-awake time but the price is severe loss of sleep, which kicks in when an individual gets less than 8 straight hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Call It Sleep The National Sleep Foundation states, "Sleep experts say most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night for optimum performance, health and safety." Inadequate sleep has been linked to "obesity and high blood pressure, negative mood and behavior, decreased productivity, and safety issues in the home, on the job, and on the road." The US Army War College Guide to Executive Health and Fitness confides, "Sleep sustains effectiveness. Sleep deprivation, whether total or partial, impairs the ability to stay awake, under boring or non stimulating conditions. Even under highly stimulating or challenging conditions, sleep deprivation impairs complex mental operations, including the ability to judge one's own mental level of effectiveness. (Barko, Vaitkus et al 2000). Closer to home is the May 2006 Patient Handbook, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Program, VA Medical Center, Northampton, MA: "If you are drinking more than 4-5 cups of coffee daily, you probably are addicted to caffeine. Symptoms of caffeinism include anxiety, "restless legs," insomnia, and bowel and stomach problems. Caffeinism and other dietary or lifestyle issues may worsen PTSD symptoms. Try reducing your daily coffee (and other caffeine drinks such as tea and soft drinks) to less than four cups daily." The Army's Field Manual 7-93 Long-range Surveillance Unit Operations is compellingly simple. Appendix C, Geographic Environments, Section C-2, Desert Operations states: 1) Soldiers must avoid alcohol, tobacco products, and caffeine. These substances cause dehydration. 2) Soldiers need at least 6 hours of sleep each day. (Headquarters Department of the Army Washington, Dc, October 3, 1995). GIs once read the eponymous and wildly errant Stars and Strips. Today, the Military Times Media Group (publisher of Army, Marine, and Navy Times) shoots straight from the hip. "Soldiers' abilities to think clearly, make smart decisions compromised by fatigue" blares the headline of a recent full page article. "Working long hours on little sleep is common for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some Army medical specialists and leaders, however, say that sleep deprivation is dangerous and unnecessary." A final quote: "Sleep deprived subjects take longer to make the correct moral judgements," said Dr. Balkin, Chief, Behavioral Biology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. "What would be affected would be your ability to determine if it was a friend or a foe." Over There Multiple and extended combat tours without adequate down time. Command encouraged or enforced sleep deprivation. Ordinary soldiers inadequately trained for such demands. Wired, trigger-happy pilots. The likelihood of increased friendly fire incidents and non combat accidents. Scarce, broken or sub par equipment. Missing, stolen or black-marketed weaponry. Desertions. AWOLs. Rumors of mutiny. Civil war. Mass civilian wounded and dead, refugees in the millions. A litany of failed promises. An army of occupation caught in a quadruple cross fire of Shiites and Sunnis, armed tribes, criminals, Al Qaeda. This is not a happy picture. Send The Word Drag an ill-equipped Army into a chosen war. Disregard all signs that speedy triumph equals rose-petal fantasy. Over and over inform the weary civilians that war is hell but we're almost done. And what does the Pentagon propose to uplift the sagging brows and soul dead spirits of overworked, brain shaken, caffeinated and RPG'd troops in times of arid slaughter? After much time, financial expense and young blood spilt, what bold curative, what magic bullet is thus pronounced? Coffee. Combat coffee. Good god, what next? Kevlar donuts? Girl Scout Cookies? Say A Prayer Have pity for the broken and quartered army whose commander in chief lies asleep at the wheel. Bring them home. Bring them home. And compel our Lord High Executioner to view at length the horrid morgues of Baghdad, to walk its bloody streets. Then demote and promote him to Chief of Ground Crew, Arlington National Cemetery. Make him see what he has wrought. n.b. DAV This writer contacted Gumrunner's (www.gumrunners.com) makers of Jolt caffeinated chewing gum. "Absolutely," said amiable sales rep Maurice Green. Gumrunner's would gladly offer the Disabled American Veterans a hefty discount off the $1.49 retail price if bought in bulk and sent to Iraq. "Just ask for the pallet price," said Maurice. So much for cookies. Marc Levy was an infantry medic with the First Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Email him at silverspartan@gmail.com Your Ad Here

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