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PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ON HOW THE 'FREE TRADE' CASE FOR OFFSHORING AMERICA'S JOBS HAS COME UNGLUED Roberts on the sensational exposure of the faked "gains" and phantom stats of the free traders. Who was America's most anti-imperialist president? Try Grover Cleveland! JoAnn Wypijewski on the unlikely hero of Hawai'i's restoration movement. Alexander Cockburn reports on evangelical Christians in crisis amid fresh onslaughts by forces of darkness. The Warbler's Parable: Rosa Miriam Elizalde on the black-masked visitors to Cuba defying the US economic blockade.
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Today's Stories June 22, 2007 Andy
Worthington June 21, 2007 Peter
Linebaugh Natsu
Saito Ron
Jacobs Saree
Makdisi John
Stauber Scott
Liebertz Tom
Clifford Robert
Jensen Michael
J. Smith Jeb
Sprague Website
of the Day
Omar
Barghouti Andy
Worthington Margaret
Kimberley Robert
Weissman Russell
D. Hoffman Rannie
Amiri Stephen
Lendman Dave
Lindorff David
Swanson Anne
Dachel Website
of the Day
June 19, 2007 Ralph
Nader Dr.
Shepherd Bliss Bill
and Kathleen Christison Jeff
Leys Dave
Zirin Chris
Floyd Ben
Terrall Anthony
Papa VIPS Linda Flores Website
of the Day
John
Ross Paul
Craig Roberts Martha
Rosenberg Norman
Solomon Don
Santina Isabella
Kenfield James
Brooks Eva
Liddell Sam
Husseini Akiva
Eldar Website
of the Day
Alexander
Cockburn John
Halle Robert
Fisk Andy
Worthington Uri
Avnery Fred
Gardner Saul
Landau P.
Sainath Missy
Comley Beattie Alan
Gregory Walter
Brasch Website
of the Weekend
June 15, 2007 Alan
Farago Andy
Worthington Michael
Simmons Franklin
Lamb Gary
Leupp John
Ross Website
of the Day
June 14, 2007 Michael
Donnelly
Faisal
Kutty Harry
Browne Charles
Jonkel Steven
Higgs Bruce
Dixon Bruce
K. Gagnon
Website
of the Day June 13, 2007 Glen Ford Marjorie Cohn Bill Christison Charles Jonkel Silvia Cattori Richard Gott Firmin DeBrabander William S. Lind Keith Rosenthal Website of the Day June 12, 2007 Jeffrey St.
Clair Paul Craig
Roberts P. Sainath Ralph Nader Omar Waraich Dave Lindorff Harvey Wasserman Malini Johar
Schueller Ramzy Baroud Website of
the Day
June 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Uri Avnery Norman Solomon Eva Liddell Rannie Amiri Rachel Voss Christopher
Brauchli D. K. Wilson Website of
the Day
Alexander Cockburn George Ciccariello-Maher Saul Landau Robert Fisk Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Ward Boston Conn Hallinan Leonard Peltier Lawrence Davidson John Ross Kate Allan Fred Gardner Stephen Fleischman Monica Benderman Geoff Bailey Missy Beattie Patrick Dyer Tim Lengerich James Irani
Gary Leupp Michael Tillery Michael Simmons Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
June 8, 2007 Serge Halimi Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair
Paul Craig Roberts William Blum Joshua Frank Lance Selfa Dave Lindorff Lawrence Ferlinghetti Website of the Day
Marjorie Cohn Soldz, Reisner
and Olson: Soldz, Reisner
Paul Craig Roberts Bill Quigley Silvia Cattori Carl G. Estabrook Ellen Taylor Corporate Crime
Reporter Brenda Norrell D. K. Wilson Kevin Zeese Website of
the Day
Alain Gresh Gary Leupp Steven Sherman Bruce Dixon Corporate Crime Reporter Brian M. Downing Ron Jacobs George Bisharat Nicole Colson Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
June 5, 2007 Michael Neumann Jonathan Cook David Vest Robert Fantina Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury John V. Walsh Richard Cretan Adam Engel William S. Lind Myles Hoenig Jim Minick Website of
the Day
Nizar Latif Diana Johnstone Gregory Wilpert Paul Watson Susan Rosenthal,
MD Richard Ward Eva Liddell Zahi Khouri Evelyn Pringle China Hand Karyn Strickler Website of the Day
June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Marc Levy Martin Smith Diana Johnstone John Ross Uri Avnery Sunsara Taylor Richard Neville P. Sainath Missy Comley
Beattie Nisrine Abiad Rannie Amiri Margot Pepper Eric Stewart Ralph Nader Dan Bacher Shaun Harkin Richard Rhames Frederick Hudson Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Dave Marsh Saul Landau David Phinney Robert Jensen Stanley Heller Yifat Susskind Robert Weissman Paul Buchheit William S.
Lind Sherwood Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Robert Bryce Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Kathy Kelly Marjorie Cohn Chris Kutalik
Corporate Crime Reporter Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway Franklin Lamb Terrence E. Paupp Uri Avnery Alan Maass Rock and Rap
Confidential Ralph Nader Nirmal Ghosh Jean Daniels Tom Barry Website of the Day
Stephen Soldz Eliza Ernshire Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Mike Whitney David Swanson John Holt Cynthia McKinney Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day
Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Dr. Susan Block Jeeni Criscenzo Douglas Valentine Website of the Day 
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June 22, 2007 Why the School of the Americas is a Black Eye on DemocracyThe Torture AcademyBy ELIANA MONTEFORTE In the next few hours, Congress is scheduled to vote on the McGovern-Lewis amendment that, if passed, could close down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly and better known as the School of the Americas (SOA). The SOA, an immensely controversial U.S. military training facility, for decades has been used to instruct Latin American military personnel in order to professionalize their skills. It officially had its name changed by Congress in December 2000, to be reopened the following month as WHINSEC. The name-change was entirely at the Pentagon's request, and was selected upon the recommendation of private political consultants as a public relations stunt to get rid of the poor public image that the acronym SOA instantly conjured up. At the same time, Pentagon officials were sending out a barrage of phone calls in a full press campaign on the Hill to save the institution from being discarded by Congressional reformers. The Military Academy Where
the Gothic Arts Have Been Taught Military of Terror The military educational facility has been continuously referred to as the "School of Assassins", since the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa first labeled it as such. It also has been revealed that torture techniques and coup procedures, prepared by Pentagon personnel, had become part of the SOA's regular curriculum. The school also has been dubbed the "School of Dictators" and the "Nursery of Death Squads," since rumors first circulated that training manuals promoted interrogation techniques that violated human rights and habeas corpus standards as defined by the U.S. military's own protocol. Since its founding, SOA graduates have never entirely escaped notoriety for authorizing the raping, torturing and assassination of upwards of tens of thousands of Latin American civilians who had been victimized by death squads under the command of SOA alumni. Former Panamanian President Jorge Llueca stated when the SOA was located in Panama, it was "the biggest base for destabilization in Latin America." Also, education organizations such as Third World Travel were among those who had observed that "today, America's image as a defender of democracy and justice has been further eroded by the SOA." SOA graduates have been implicated in atrocities committed in almost every Latin American country, including El Salvador, Honduras, Argentina, Peru and Guatemala, especially during the 1980s, when savage military dictatorships controlled the region. For example, this included Robert D'Aubuisson, who according to a 1993 United Nations Truth Commission Report, was a central figure behind the death squad activities which were implicated in many extrajudicial killings in El Salvador, including the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. D'Aubuisson attended the SOA in 1972. The 1980 massacre of El Mozote, which took the lives of 900 men, women and children in El Salvador, was carried out by the Atlactl Batallion much of whose leadership received training at the school. Former leader of the Argentine junta Leopoldo Galtrieri was also a SOA graduate and has been judged as one of those most responsible for the "disappearance" of thousands of Argentine citizens who opposed repression as well as supported the right of dissidents to speak out. Honduran General Humberto Regalado Hernandes, also a SOA alumnus, has been connected with Colombian drug cartels and became one of the highest ranking officials of a Honduran death squad active in the early 1980s. Additionally, foreign Jesuit priests and two Salvadorian women on the Central American University Campus, were murdered by a small band of Salvadorian security forces and their SOA-led command. An Initiative to Fight Back The Center for International Policy has estimated that the current annual cost of keeping WHINSEC's doors open is $7.5 million, much of which is funded by U.S. tax dollars. Since WHINSEC's finances are mainly provided by the U.S. Defense Department, the Pentagon has engaged in frantic lobbying on the Hill in order to maintain the organization's annual budget. Currently, the School of Americas Watch (SOAW), a non-profit human rights initiative based in Washington, is campaigning to close down WHINSEC due to its tawdry past. If history is any guide, some of its students undoubtedly will continue to march away from the institution having learned the wrong kind of skills. The human rights abuses that WHINSEC graduates went on to commit within their home countries, are simply too many for the impact to be considered only coincidental and not organically linked to the very core of the institution. The goal of SOA Watch over the years has been to shut down this training facility by calling for legislation to cut its budget. This year an initiative has been launched to draft an amendment which has now been attached to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill by Congressional Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass) and John Lewis (D-GA) which advocates curtailing funds for the military school-in effect closing it. This is the vote that is scheduled for today. In previous years, this had been a battle that was carried on by Representative Robert Kennedy (D-Mass) who has made the fight against the SOA one of his most committed causes. A vote to shatter WHINSEC was taken last year but failed by 15 votes due to the opposition of 35 congressional representatives, some of whom eventually lost their seats in last year's mid-term elections. Apologists for the SOA argue that despite its questionable past, the school's current curriculum now emphasizes human rights as a critical component of the institution's military philosophy. SOA's defenders also scold the institution's critics for not presenting convincing evidence to prove that human rights violations actually have been committed by SOA graduates. They also insist that even so, the entire school should not be held responsible for the inappropriate actions of a few of SOA's bad apples. But the SOA Watch and others mobilizing to close the institution have brought a sufficient amount of national attention to challenge its right to exist. For instance, a lack of transparency afflicts WHINSEC's legacy. Despite funds allocated to track the professional conduct of SOA graduates over the past four years, WHINSEC has failed to monitor these tracking obligations. The Terrorism Factor In recent years, the U.S. has used the threat of terrorism to justify the importance of U.S. lead training of Latin American armed forces. The Bush administration has supported the expansion and modernization of the region's armed forces and linking them to U.S. security requirements. The U.S.-leased base situated at Manta, Ecuador is an example of this. The SOA is part of the rationale of the U.S. using such host country facilities, as the one located there and which Quito insists must close down by 2009 when the U.S. lease is over, for Washington's security purposes. Another cooperative effort in jeopardy is the annual Pacific Ocean naval maneuver, UNITAS, and various other joint exercises aimed at stopping the infiltration of drugs, gangs and terrorism from Latin America into the U.S. The aforementioned UNITAS Pacific naval exercises are also being used as a means for the U.S. to establish better relations with Latin America's military establishments. Ironically, the current support being mobilized to save WHINSEC has resulted in the activation of some undemocratic extremist militants who, under the banner of anti-U.S. nationalism, may be prepared to commit terrorist atrocities against their own people, and perhaps some day to turn their newfound skills against the U.S. The continuation of White House backing for the SOA and its Fort Benning heir, not only goes against America's legacy of democracy and civilian control over military forces, but contradicts other U.S. foreign policy initiatives aimed at stressing the peaceful resolution of conflict. It further symbolizes a possibly major political setback to Latin America's current quest for substantive democracy rather than the faux version which Washington seems to favor with its continued operation of WHINSEC. Eliana Monteforte is a research associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
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CounterPunch Books of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy  Click Here to Buy! How the Press Failed The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn   Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont               CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
