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Today's
Stories
October 11,
2004
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Debates and the Big Lie
October 9 /
10, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
"There
Are No Innocents"
Paul de Rooij
Northern Ireland is Still the Issue: a Conversation with Gerry
Adams
M. Shahid Alam
Making Sense of Our Times
Laura Carlsen
Protest and Populism in Latin America
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: ASA Goes to Court
Col. Dan Smith
Bush's Credibility Gap
Paul Craig
Roberts
Faith-Based Economics
Greg Bates
What If Nader Critics Get What They Demand?
Joshua Frank
Cobb, the Greens and the Collapse of the Left
Felice Pace
Wilderness, Politics and the Oligarchy: How the Pew Charitable
Trust is Smothering the Grassroots Environmental Movement
Walter A. Davis
Of Pynchon, Thanatos and Depleted Uranium
William A.
Cook
The Agony of Colin Powell
Phyllis Pollack
Twas No Crank Call Love Affair: London Calling, 25 Years Later
Poets' Basement
Klipschutz, Albert, Ford
Website of the Weekend
Abu Ghraib: the Taguba Annexes
October 8,
2004
Jennifer Loewenstein
The
Israeli Invasion of Gaza
Moshe Adler
Edwards' Gambit: He Hoped No One Would Notice the Similarities
David Swanson
Media Blackout: Press Continues to Ignore Labor's Opposition
to Iraq War
Dave Zirin
CounterPunch Contest: Let's Name the New DC Baseball Team!
Rep. Ron Paul
The Draft is a Form of Slavery
William S. Lind
Keeping Our SA Up
Samar Assad
Kerry v. Bush: No Difference When It Comes to Israel / Palestine
Jim Ingalls
and Sonali Kolhatkar
The Elections in Afghanistan
October 7,
2004
Dave Lindorff
All
Out of Volunteers: A Draft is in the Air
Masha Hamilton
Fear in Kandahar
Christopher
Brauchli
Master of Corruption: the Ripening Scandals of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Is There Still Time to Impeach Bush?
Bruce K. Gagnon
Bombing the Panhandle: Fighting the Pentagon in Rural Florida
Meredith Kolodner
Where
is the Urgency?: The Anti-War Movement's Election Year Challenge
October 6,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
"Please,
Dude, Can I Take Them Out?": Targeting Civilians in Fallujah
Ron Jacobs
Going
Nuclear: the Ghost of Edward Teller Lives
Michael Colby
The National Flip-Flop: Suddenly Bush is Unfit to Lead?
Tarif Abboushi
More of the Same: Israel Wins the Debates
Matthew Behrens
Canadian Firms Profit from Iraqi Blood
Mike Whitney
Rethinking WMDs
John Pilger
Stealing Diego Garcia
Ben Tripp
Kerry's "Triumph"
Kevin McKiernan
Cheney's Poison Lab: Wrong Time, Wrong Target
Patrick Cockburn
Elections
Will Not End the Fighting in Iraq
Website of the Day
Is There an Islamic Problem?
October 5,
2004
Anthony Loewenstein
Rupert
Murdoch and the Marginals: "Personally Creating Outcomes"
Mark Clinton
and Tony Udell
The
Suicide of an Iraq War Veteran
Greg Bates
Trading
Idiots: an Open Letter to Eric Alterman
Dave Lindorff
What's
the Frequency, Karl?
Norm Dixon
Why Washington Won't Save Darfur Villagers
Larry Kearney
God Talk and Burning Children
Bill Linville
Dirty Politics in the Land of "Clean" Government
Gary Leupp
What
Edwards Should Ask Cheney
Website of
the Day
A Guide to Halliburton for Tonight's Debate
October 4,
2004
Diane Christian
The
Gates of Hell
Joshua Frank
An Interview with David Cobb
Doug Giebel
Incurious George: What If Bush Didn't Lie?
John Chuckman
Strange Victory: Sen. Obvious and the Pathetic Lump
Ramzy Baroud
Reverse the Picture: Anatomy of a Palestinian Outrage
Julia Stein
Remembering Mario Savio and the FSM
Sean Donahue
Outsourcing
Terror: Kerry and Special Forces
Website of
the Day
Mapping
Mt. St. Helens as She Rocks
October 2 /
3. 2004
Paul Wright
John
Kerry on Criminal Justice
Kathleen and Bill Christison
An Exchange with Israeli Historian Bennie Morris
Kathie Helmkamp
My Son Trent: a Marine Who Doesn't Want to Kill
Phillip Cryan
Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Lenni Brenner
The First Ex-Catholic Saint: Memories of Mario Savio
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: In Case You Missed "Montel"
Ron Jacobs
It Did Happen Here: When Neo-Nazis Terrorized Olympia
Ben Tripp
Sticker Shock
William S.
Lind
The Grand Illusion: Iraqi Security Forces
Dave Zirin
The Swindle of the Century: Baseball Comes to DC
Dave Lindorff
Lies from the Great Debate
Luscon Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Elections: a High-Tech Sham is Underway
Zoe Moskovitz
& Sasha Kramer
Separating Lies from Truth About Haiti
Nelson P. Valdes
Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas: 61 Banned
Cuban Academics
Alan Farago
The "Ownership Society" and the End of the Everglades
Nancy Haley
What is the Historical Jesus Trying to Tell Us?
Alex Billet
Long Live The Clash: London Still Calling After 25 Years
Steve Fesenmaier
Save and Burn: The War on Libraries
Poets' Basement
Smith, Holt, Albert
October 1,
2004
Steve Breyman
Kerry's
Missed Opportunities
Rose Gentle
My
Son Died for a Lie
Lee Sustar
Iran
in the Crosshairs
Ralph Nader
What
We Didn't Hear at the Debate: Where's the Exit Strategy?
Walter Andrews
We Are Less Secure Now Than Ever
Mike Whitney
Pandora's
Government
Mickey Z.
Debate
This
Saul Landau
The
Iraq Invasion: Lessons from the Pinochet Cases
September 30,
2004
Ralph Nader
10
Ways to Beat Bush: a Gift to the Kerry/Edwards Campaign
Patrick Cockburn
The
Kidnap Capital of the World: Iraq's One Growth Industry
Gideon Levy
When You Have Breast Cancer in Gaza
Joshua Frank
Presidential Debates? Pass the Remote
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
I Dreamed They Had a Debate
Ali Khan
Dershowitz's
Jihad: Inventing Exceptions to International Law
Steve Perry
An Interview with Sibel Edmonds
September 29,
2004
Behrooz Ghamari
Playing
Politics with Nukes: A Collision Course with Iran?
Ray McGovern
More
Troops to Iraq...After the Election
Walter Brasch
Tinseltown
Traitors?: Applauding Only the Right Entertainers
Chris Floyd
The
Deceivers: Chronicle of a Quagmire Foretold
Stacey Reynolds
The Story of a Mercury-Poisoned American
M. Junaid Alam
Disrupting America's Fateful Non-Debate on the Roots of Terrorism
John L. Hess
They've Already Called It
Paul Craig
Roberts
Delusion
Rules: War, Outsourcing an Debt
September 28, 2004
Mike Whitney
Kerry's
Moral Compass
Fred Gardner
Pot
Shots: the Civics Teacher
Dan Meek
How Democrats Kicked Nader Off the Oregon Ballot
Greg Bates
Choking on Progressives for Kerry
Alan Farago
Jeanne in Haiti: Where is the World?
Lori Berenson
The Cajamarca Protest
Wayne Madsen
Where
is the Florida National Guard?
Robert Fisk
Why Have We Suddenly Forgotten Abu Ghraib?
September 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Expulsion of Cat Stevens
Patrick Cockburn
As British Muslims Plead for Bigley's Life, US Airstrikes Pound
Fallujah
Sam Husseini
The Problem with Public Opinion Polls
Lee Sustar
Putting Bosses First: Latter Day Democrats and Labor
Dave Lindorff
A Progressive Case for (Gag) Kerry?
Norman Madarasz
Talking International: Contra Kerry
Kevin Pina
The Tragedy of Gonaives, Haiti
September 25
/ 26, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
C'mon
Ralph, You've Got Nothing to Lose
Dave Zirin
The Courage of the NBA's Etan Thomas:
"I Am Totally Against This War"
Saul Landau
The Reality of Empire and Campaign Rhetoric
Dave Lindorff
Our Heroic Baby-Killers
Brian J. Foley
Bush at the UN: the Sound of No Hands Clapping
William Blum
Progressives and the Election
Alan Maass
Why is Kerry Running Such a Lame Campaign? You Can't Blame It
All on Bob Shrum
Lucson Pierre-Charles
Haiti: Another Lost Story
Solange Echeverria
An Interview with Kevin Pina on the Floods in Haiti
Nicole Colson
What About the Supreme Court?
Justin Smith
The New Sparta
Joshua Frank
Iraq: From Clinton to Bush
Karyn Strickler
Momma, Don't Let Your Babides Grow Up to be Cannon Fodder
Michael Donnelly
Rather Disingenuous: "Remember in November"
Greg Bates
The Politics of Nader's Republican Support
Todd Chretien
Lesser Evilism: We Are Living in the Logical Conclusion
William Loren
Katz
Dire Warnings from the Past: From Wilson to Bush
Omar Barghouti
Americans, You've Lost Your Alibi!
Poets' Basement
Holt, Clarke, Albert, Laymon and Ford
Website of the Weekend
Carnival of Chaos
September 24,
2004
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
The
Value of One Life: Keeping Up Appearances and Leaving Hostages
to the Wolves
William S.
Lind
Destroying
the National Guard
Mike Whitney
The Bush Tent Show
Nancy Welch
What's
at Stake for Women in 2004?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Logical Limbo
Joshua Frank
Fear Mongering 101
Victor Kattan
An Interview with Afif Safieh
Ben Terrall
Kerry and Haiti: Will He Stand Up?
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
"Finally
It Broke My Heart": Random Impressions from Palestine
September 23,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Are They Still Holding "Mrs. Anthrax?"
Christopher Brauchli
Ashcroft's "Distressing Lack of Care": Hamdi and the
Phony War on Terrorism
Derek Seidman
Fighting for a Union at Starbucks: an Interview with Daniel Gross
Michael Neumann
Three
Years and Counting? How Time Flies
September 22,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Zarqawi's
War: the Mysterious Sadist from Jordan
Neve Gordon
The
Wall, the Court and Sharon
Joshua Frank
History Repeating: New York, 1832 and Now
Ron Jacobs
Stormy Seas on the Citizen Ship
Jack Random
Defending Dan? Rather Not
Tarif Abboushi
Kerry's Final Straw: Confessions of a Despairing Voter
Mickey Z
Stupid White Guy Quiz
John L. Hess
Faking the Difference: a Serious Debate?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: The House Rules
September 21,
2004
Gary Leupp
"We
Are Not Secure": Kerry's "Unwavering Commitment"
to Securing a Middle East Realm
Robert Jensen
Large
Dams in India: Temples or Burial Grounds?
Elaine Cassel
Fourth Circuit to Moussouai: Ask Your Questions; Prepare to Die
Stanley Heller
Reagan and the Killing Fields of Lebanon
Adam Federman
America Will Disappoint the World, Again
David Whitehouse
What's Behind the Horror in Darfur?
M. Junaid Alam
How to Avoid Becoming an Anti-American
Paul Craig
Roberts
Attention
Deficit America
Website of the Day
True American War Heroes: the Iraq Refuseniks
September 20,
2004
Cockburn /
Buncombe
Get
Fallujah
David Price
Relying
on Phonies: What If The Problem with Phone Polls is That They
Are Phone Polls
Dave Lindorff
How
Dems Fight: Tigers Against Nader, Pussycats Against Bush
Harry Browne
Pre-Nup at Leeds: Talked Out, But Does IRA Give Up?
Mark Wesibrot
Bush's
Ownership Society: No Taxes for Owners, Only Workers
Karyn Strickler
The Keys to the White House v. the Shrum Curse?
Uri Avnery
The Temple Mount Bombers
September 18
/ 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Forgeries,
Fingerprints and Forensic Fakery
Jeffrey St. Clair
High Plains Grifter: Bush's Mask of Anarchy
Patrick Cockburn
Into the Abyss: the Week Iraq's Dream of Peace Fell Apart
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Financial Torture (Asset Forfeiture)
Joe Allen
The Comrades Kerry Abandoned: the Real Story of Vietnam Vets
Against the War
George Corsetti
Poletown Revisited: Finally, Some Vindication
Scott Handleman
The Knock-Knock of a Sledgehammer: Sequestered in Nablus
Richard Ward
Two Weeks in Beit Arabiya
Conn Hallinan
Ashcroft and Indonesia
Lori Smith
Health Care in America: And Then I Got Sick...
Dave Zirin
Hold the Booyah!: SportsCenter Out of the Middle East
John L. Hess
Rather Will Take the Heat, As Bush's War Deteriorates
Brian J. Foley
W is for Wimp: So Why do Manly Men Love Him?
Mickey Z.
Pat Tillman and Osama bin Laden: Odd Juxtapositions
Poets' Basement
Vest, Landau & Albert
Website of the Weekend
Eye on the NYTs
Septemeber
17, 2004
Ray McGovern
Gossing
Over the Record
Patrick Cockburn
The New Iraqi Economy: Baghdad's Thriving Kidnapping Industry
Lee Sustar
The State of Working America: an Autopsy of the American Dream
Mike Whitney
John Kerry: 195 Lbs. of Political Helium, Not an Ounce of Sincerity
Victor Kattan
Black September
Ray Hanania
Israel's Demographics
Greg Bates
Nader's Victories: a Mid-Campaign Assessment
Website of
the Day
The Road to Hell
September 16,
2004
Landau / Hassen
Meet
the New Villain: Syria
Joanne Mariner
Inside
Darfur: a Photo Essay
Patrick Cockburn
US
Offers Conflicting Accounts of Baghdad Bloodbath
Greg Moses
Four Million Children Might Be News
Joshua Frank
Nader in the Battleground States
Christopher Brauchli
The Bush Drug Lottery Flops
David Himmelstein
Folke Bernadotte: a Rosh Hashonah Remembrance
Website of the Day
The Abu Ghraib Index
September 15,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Hell
on Haifa Street
Ron Jacobs
Oppose War, Not Just Bush
David Lindorff
Blanking Out Dissent
Joanne Mariner
Talking About Darfur: Is Genocide Just a Word?
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein
An Open Letter to Madonna: Please Don't Support Israeli Apartheid
Dave Zirin
Is the NFL Ready for Us?
Yigal Bronner
"They
Are Building Walls Around Us"
September 14,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Problem of Chechnya
Jennifer van
Bergen
What's
Wrong with Torture?
Stan Goff
Wake Up and Smell the Jungle Rot
Patrick Cockburn
The
Punishment of Fallujah: US Precision Strickes...on Ambulances
Anis Memon
Nader
in Michigan
Michael Donnelly
The Nuance Comes Off: Former Naderites Beg for Kerry Votes
Werther
Zell Miller: the Peckerwood Pericles
Website of
the Day
Osama Bin Forgotten?
September 13,
2004
Gabriel Kolko
Elections,
Alliances and the American Empire
Phillip Cryan
How Do You Say "Death Squad?": Language in Colombia's
War
Patrick Cockburn
One of Baghdad's Bloodiest Days: "I'm a Journalist! I'm
Dying! I'm Dying"
Noah Leavitt
The War on Civil Liberties
Robert Jensen
Highjacking Catastrophe: Bush, the Neo-Cons and 9/11
Mike Whitney
Alan Greenspan: Fed-Master to the Wealthy
John Chuckman
Stop Talking About the "Election"
Mike Burke
Kerry/Edwards Website Censors Discussion of Israel/Palestine
Issues
CounterPunch
Wire
The Quotations of David Cobb: "I Don't Care How Many Votes
I Get"
Website of the Day
Keep It In Your Pants: the Bush Plan to Combat Teen Promiscuity
September 11
/ 12, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Swatting
at Flies
Fred Gardner
Yet Another Prozac Scandal
Saul Landau
When Our Assassins Go Free
Jennifer Van Bergen
How to Beat Bush: a Simple Strategy for the Average American
Roger Burbach
/ Jim Tarbell
The Real Dead Enders: Iraq and the Crisis of Empire
Christopher Reed
9/11 in an Historical Context: a Minor Event When Compared to
Worldwide War Casualties
Francisc Catalin
An ABC of American Interventions
Carl Estabrook
Big Science and Government Terror
Bernard Chazelle
Anti-Americanism: a Clinical Study
Sharon Smith
Third Party Blues
Dave Lindorff
Perhaps This Time We're the Silent Majority
Mike Whitney
Fallujah: an Iraqi Beslan?
Frederick B.
Hudson
Their Sons Perished in the Flames, But Not Their Faith
Mickey Z.
Round Up the Usual Suspects: a Look Back at 9/11
Ron Jacobs
Redneck Music for the New Century
Greg Moses
Soap Opera Moments in Texas School Funding Trial
Benjamin Dangl
/ Andrew Kennis
An Interview with Leslie Cagan
Poets Basement
Del Papa, Albert, Gelman
September 10,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Disappointment
at Samarrah?
Michael Donnelly
Democrats v. Democracy
Alan Farago
Mosquitoes in a Hurricane
Doug Giebel
Karl Rove's Terror Playbook
Mike Whitney
Bob Graham's Political Tsunami
David Domke
God's
Will, According to the Bush Administration
September 9,
2004
Joe Bageant
Karaoke
Night in Bush's America
Ed Kinane
Abducted in Baghdad
Peter Bohmer
The Cuban Revolution: Present and Future
Todd May
The Emerging Case for a Single-State Solution
Jeremy Scahill
The New York Model: Indymedia and the Text Message Jihad
Joshua Frank
Green House Party Gasses
Fran Shor
The Crisis in Public Dissent: When Protest is Considered a Terrorist
Act
Patrick Cockburn
Welcome
to the Dirtiest City in the World: Despair in Baghdad
Website of
the Day
Liberty Street Protest: No to War at Ground Zero
September 8,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
This
Doesn't Smell Like Victory: A War on Two Fronts in Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Bush Confuses; Kerry Mute: Spinning 1000 Dead
Bulent Gokay
Russian and Chechnia After Beslan
Lisa Viscidi
Land Reform and Conflict in Guatemala
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Byrd's Eye View
Mike Whitney
Afghanistan: American's Drug Colony
Stan Goff
Body
Count: 1001
Website of
the Day
Bush and the Love Doctors
September 7,
2004
Diane Christian
Hostage Tactics: a Game of Mortal Poker
Joshua Frank
Greens
Unravel from Within
Patrick Cockburn
Fallujah
Erupts Again: US Death Toll in Iraq Nears 1000
Ron Jacobs
Bush and Putin: "We're Not Girlie Men"
Chris Floyd
Cry Havoc: Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed
Dr. Carol Wolman
No Blood for Oil at Paul Bunyan Day Parade
John Ross
The
Politics of Darkness North / South
September 6,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
An
Anti-Labor Day That Lives in Infamy: How Many Democrats Voted
For Taft-Hartley?
Ralph Nader
The
Cruel Legacy of Taft-Hartley: a Labor Day Call for Rights for
Working People
Lee Sustar
What's Driving the Attack on Pensions?
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
Dual
Loyalties: the Bush Necons and Israel
September 4-5,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
Elephants
and Gramsci
Ted Honderich
The
Way Things Are
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The
Holy Empire: Who We Are and What We Do
Douglas Valentine
What the World Should Know About Guantanamo
Patrick Cockburn
New Iraqi Police State Flexes Its Muscles
Gary Leupp
Neo Cons Under Fire
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: the Hempstead T-Shirt
William A.
Cook
The
Day of the Lemming
Dave Zirin
Kobe Bryant and the Price of Freedom
John Chuckman
The Day the World Ended
Karyn Strickler
God Save the Endangered Species Act
Vanessa Jones
Bad Day with an Ikea Cup
Mike Whitney
Kerry: the "Better" War Candidate
Mark Donham
Dear John (Kerry): Start Explaining and Fast
Mickey Z.
McBypass Nation: Feeling Clinton's Pain
Alan Farago
Can the Everglades be Fixed?
Poets' Basement
Landau and Albert
September 3,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Jesus Told Him Where to Bomb
Rahul Mahajan
Bush's RNC Speech: an Annotated Response
Carl Estabrook
The
Book of Slaughter and Forgetting
Joshua Frank
The Florida of the Northwest: Oregon Dems Sabotage Nader Again
Gary Leupp
Music to My Ears: Sunday's March
James Hollander
Deja Vu in Manhattan: Assisted Political Suicide?
Mark Engler
Republicans
Among Us: a Week at the RNC, Inside and Out
Jesse Sharkey
Making Students and Teachers Pay for the Crisis in Education
Jane Stillwater
Calling the Cops on Your Own Kid
Stephen Green
Serving
Two Flags: the Bush Neo-Cons and Israel
September 2,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part 3: More Pricks Than Kicks
Max Gimble
Et Tu, Menchu? Extrajudicial Killings and Clandestine Graves
in Guatemala
James Petras
President Chavez and the Referendum: Myths and Realities
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush and the Afghan Electoral Model: "If They Want to Vote
Twice, Let Them"
Todd Chretien & Jessie
Muldoon
Will the Democrats Expel Zell Miller?
Jack Random
Spite and Venom Day: the Turncoat and the Profiteer
Alan Maass
The Real Vietnam
Christa Allen
Contre Bush
Website of
the Day
[Redacted]
September 1,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Stench of Doom
Kathleen and Bill Christison
Poor Larry Franklin
Dave Lindorff
Kerry's Litmus Test
Josh Frank
Protest in White: Not All of New York Rises Up
John L. Hess
Moles, Scoops and Flip Flops
Mike Whitney
Deconstructing Arnold
Jack Random
Kindergarten Night at the RNC
Andrew Wilson
War on the Pachyderms: Why Do Elephants Hate Us?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words
August 31,
2004
Joseph Nevins
Escapism
and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs
Matt Vidal
Beyond
Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy
Neve Gordon
Kerry and the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Bush
the Peace Candidate?
Mike Whitney
NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran
Jack Random
Opening Night: Playing the War Card
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One)
CounterPunch Photo of the Day
Pete Seeger in NYC
August 30,
2004
Justin Podhur
The
Disappeared Mayor
Shaun Joseph
The
Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com
Mike Whitney
Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly
Want?
Ron Jacobs
Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate
David Lindorff
Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy
Dave Zirin
USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate
Sam Husseini
Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History
August 28 /
29, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Zombies
for Kerry
Patrick Cockburn
Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US
Ray McGovern
Blowing Smoke on Intelligence
Dr. Juan Romagoza
From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor
Ray Hanania
An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous!
Fred Gardner
Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot
Diane Christian
Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live
William S. Lind
The Desert Fox
Paul D'Amato
The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry
Joshua Frank
Greens at the Crossroads
Mickey Z.
Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests
Winslow T. Wheeler
Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange
Justin E.H.
Smith
The New Age Racket and the Left
Thomas St. John
Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God"
Ali Tonak
Help the NYPD?
Mark Engler
New York Says "No"
Justin Felux
Haiti: the Attica of the Americas
Poets' Basement
Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod
August 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
Neocon
Musings
Robin Cook
The
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Diane Christian
Disarming
Michael Donnelly
Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party?
Jack Random
4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters
Mike Ferner
"To the Swift Boats!"
Mazin Qumsiyeh
7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners
Veronza Bowers, Jr.
"You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"
August 26,
2004
M. Shahid Alam
The
Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology?
Diane Christian
War
Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu
Derek Seidman
"They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get
Organized
David Lindorff
Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally
Christopher
Brauchli
Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble
Stew Albert
Reporting Suspicious Activity
Mark Donham
Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court
Saul Landau
Pinochet:
the Al Capone of the Southern Cone
Website of
the Day
The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See
August 25,
2004
Amelia Peltz
Can
I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time?
Noah Leavitt
Defining and Redefining Torture
Ron Jacobs
Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About
Democracy
James Brooks
Coronado Crosses the Jordan
Akiva Eldar
How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan"
Gemma Araneta
Chavez's New Brand of Populism
Philip Cryan
Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia
CounterPunch Wire
Cheney Opens the Closet Door
August 24,
2004
Jeremy Scahill
John
Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate
Gary Leupp
"We
Want Them to Go Away"
David Domke
God
Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism
William Loren Katz
The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in
Venezuela
Jonah Gindin
With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media
Fran Schor
Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah
Joe Bageant
Driving
on the Bones of God
Website of the Day
The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC
August 23,
2004
Winslow Wheeler
Don't
Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror
John Pilger
Bush
May Be the Lesser Evil
Stan Goff
Swift
Boat Dogfight
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Notes
from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild
Mike Whitney
The Unraveling of Afghanistan
William Blum
Brave
New World of Iraqi Sovereignty
Ralph Nader
A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial
August 21 /
22, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
"They
Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on
Drugs
Landau / Hassen
Failing
the Mission? Form a Commission
Brian Cloughley
The
Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts
Josh Frank
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October 11, 2004
An Interview
with Dov Weisglass, Sharon's Lawyer
He
Talks to Condi Rice Every Day
By
ARI SHAVIT
In a certain sense, a superficial one,
Ariel Sharon and Dov Weisglass are an odd couple. Sharon is a
rancher from the western Negev, Weisglass a lawyer from Lilienblum
Street in Tel Aviv. Sharon is the son of a Russian agronomist,
Weisglass the son of a Polish fur merchant. Sharon is flesh of
the flesh of the fighting rooted land-settlement movement, Weisglass
is the embodiment of the speculator immigrant bourgeoisie. Sharon
is brutal frontier Zionism, Weisglass is urban real estate Zionism.
However, in another, deeper
sense, the source of the soulmates' alliance between the farmer
and the lawyer is perfectly clear. Between the fighter and the
fixer. Between the crass authenticity of Sharon and the wheeling
and dealing of Weisglass, because when Sharon was a leper, after
Sabra and Chatila, Weisglass stood by his side. When Sharon found
himself in new battlefields in which he was at a complete loss
(commission of inquiry, courts, hostile press), Weisglass fought
his battle. When Sharon understood that the world had changed
and was ruled by new mega-authorities (Aharon Barak, Time magazine,
Yedioth Ahronoth), he also understood that Weisglass was the
person who would know how to represent him before those new super-authorities.
He understood that Weisglass supplemented him.
So that over the years the
rural commander developed a growing dependence on his Tel Aviv
lawyer who became a personal advocate, a family advocate, a policy
advocate. The advocate who for the past 30 months has represented
Ariel Sharon vis-a-vis the American mega-authority, the advocate
who in the past 30 months, in his official capacity as a senior
adviser to the Prime Minister , has almost single-handedly conducted
the delicate relationship between the White House and Sycamore
Ranch. Which is to say, between the United States of America
and the State of Israel.
Is it Dov Weisglass who brought
about Sharon's reversal of policy? Is he the eminence grise who
imposed on the emperor of the settlements the decision to evacuate
settlements? The settlers themselves are convinced that he is.
They are certain that Weisglass is a devious Rasputin who found
some dark way to make the czar do things that the czar himself,
by himself, would never do.
However, Weisglass himself
shrugs off these contentions. He doesn't deny that he supported
the disengagement from the start. He doesn't hide the fact that
he placed the facts on Sharon's desk. The political problem,
the economic problem, the problem of refusenik soldiers. And
he made it clear to the boss that the international community
will never let up. That the Americans will not be able to support
us for all time. But in the end I wasn't the one who made the
decision, Weisglass says. The prime minister made the decision.
While he, the bureau chief, was simply there at his side. He,
the faithful advocate, simply sat with his client in the room
throughout the entire process.
Weisglass was born in October
1946, in Tel Aviv. He grew up and was educated in 1950s Ramat
Gan, in a family that moved quickly from poverty to affluence.
At age 19, draft age, he was already studying law. At age 24,
he was working in the Moritz-Margolis law firm. Thirteen years
later he (along with his partner, Ami Almagor) bought the practice
from its founders and made it one of the country's leading law
firms. In 1980 he represented Yitzhak Rabin against the French
magazine L'Express. In 1983 he represented Sharon against the
Kahan Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the Sabra-Chatila
massacre. In 1985-86 he represented Sharon in his suit against
Time magazine (Sharon sued the magazine over a report implicating
him in the massacre). At first he specialized in representing
security personnel who testified before commissions of inquiry
(Yossi Ginossar, Shaul Mofaz, Hezi Callo, Alik Ron). He then
also specialized in representing ministerial directors-general
accused of corruption (Shimon Sheves, Moshe Leon, Avigdor Lieberman).
Also among his clients: Ehud Yatom, Rafi Eitan and Avigdor Kahalani.
And the Shin Bet security service and the Mossad espionage agency.
Not to mention the kibbutz movement.
Weisglass's critics claim he
is not a distinguished lawyer, that he's messy, superficial,
shoots from the hip, lacks an aura of dignity, is without a moral
center of gravity. Others, though, note his common sense, his
humane understanding. And no one doubts his ability to charm
people he considers important. Or his ability to conclude a deal,
tie up loose ends, make the right call to the right person. Because
the lawyer with a thousand hats is not only a very cordial fellow,
he is also very well-connected, across the length and breadth
of the Israeli establishment.
We begin our conversation at
a Tel Aviv cafe and then go on to his run-down office on Lilienblum
Street. Dressed in gray trousers and a white shirt topped by
a shiny bald pate, he looks older than his age. Quickly, though,
he floods me with his historical knowledge and musical education.
He is in total control, and one can accept that or not, but it
can't be ignored, because it is now shaping the reality we are
living.
Daily call to Rice
Tell me about Condoleezza Rice.
What sort of woman is she?
"She is an amazing woman.
Intelligent, smart, very fair. Both educated and extraordinarily
pleasant. But beneath that deep courtesy and culture, she can
also be very firm. She can be decisive."
Does she ever raise her voice
at you, yell at you?
"What do you mean, raise
her voice? I'm older than she is, you know. The Americans don't
talk like we do here."
Tell me about the dynamics
of the relationship between you, and whether it's an unusual
relationship.
"I am in ongoing and continuous
contact with Rice. In complex times it could be every day, by
phone. In less complex times it's a phone call a week. On average,
I meet with her once a month. Since May 2002 I have met with
her more than 20 times. And every meeting is a meeting. The shortest
one was an hour and a half."
What does she call you?
"Dubi."
What do you call her?
"Condy."
And how does it work between
you?
"The channel between Rice
and me has two main purposes. One is to advance processes that
are initiated, to examine our ideas and their ideas. The road
map, for example, or the disengagement plan. But there is an
equally important function, which is troubleshooting. If something
happens - an unusual military operation, a hitch, a targeted
assassination that succeeded or one that didn't succeed - before
it becomes an imbroglio, she calls me and says, `We saw so-and-so
on CNN. What's going on?' And I say, `Condy, the usual 10 minutes?'
She laughs and we hang up. Ten minutes later, after I find out
what happened, I get back to her and tell her the whole truth.
The whole truth. I tell her and she takes it down: this is what
we intended, this is how it came out. She doesn't get worked
up. She believes us. The continuation is damage control."
Rice looks like a tough cookie.
Can you really talk to her freely? Can you tell her the jokes
that you like to tell so much?
"We are always joking.
Always. Whenever I come to Washington, I tell her stories about
what's going on in Israel. I speak freely. Almost the way I'm
talking to you. There is no awe, no honor. Each of us cuts into
the other. I wouldn't say we are pals, but our working relationship
is very friendly."
Would you say that the Weisglass-Rice
channel is a strategic asset? Has it made Dov Weisglass indispensable?
"As you know, the cemeteries
are full of indispensable people. I don't want to boast. But
the importance of this relationship is that it enables the president
to speak with the prime minister and the prime minister to speak
with the president without their speaking to one another. You
have to understand that presidents and prime ministers don't
prattle every day. For the president to phone the prime minister
is an event. It is an act of state significance. So those conversations
are very heavy. In large measure they are constrained. Whereas
in this channel everything is more direct. Immediate.
"For the Americans, it's
convenient. They know they have someone who is ensconced not
in the jaws of the lion but in the very gullet of the lion. It's
also convenient for us. It makes it possible for us to talk to
them in real time, informally. When my conversation with Rice
ends, she knows that I walk six steps to Sharon's desk and I
know that she walks twelve steps to Bush's desk. That creates
an intimate relationship between the two bureaus and prevents
a thousand entanglements."
Have you become one of the
family at the White House?
"Look, the first time
you enter the White House your heart skips a beat. Anyone who
tells you different is not being truthful. After all, that's
where the world's chief executive sits. But today, after 20 visits,
I walk about pretty freely there. They know me well, from the
Marine who stands at the entrance to the secretaries and the
girls. And that makes my job at lot easier. When you are in awe,
like a lawyer making his first appearance before a court, you
stammer and you forget the remarks you prepared. After a time,
when you feel free and relaxed, that is a tremendous advantage.
We speak totally freely. I tell her that something is right or
that it's not so. Completely freely."
Have you ever had occasion
to see President Bush?
"I have, but I won't talk
about that. Unplanned meetings with the president are not something
one talks about. For them, the concept of dropping in is the
holy of holies."
What impression did you form
of him?
"The president is a person
of great personal charm. Focused. In control of himself. A great
sense of humor. He likes jokes."
Does he like your jokes? When
he sees you, does he expect a good joke?
"He has told some of my
jokes to others. We heard about them afterward at second and
thirdhand."
He's said to be limited.
"Why limited? Because
he didn't remember the name of the president of the Czech Republic?
That's very primitive criticism. President Bush is a person of
character, with his own inner truth. He is sure of himself, cool,
smiling. He is aware of his power. There is a lot of similarity
between the way he and Arik [Sharon] manage things. They are
both people with a certain inner maturity."
What about the great gap in
age and experience?
"True, and I can't tell
you how the president handles the question of health insurance
in America. But on the issues having to do with us he has a very
clear worldview. Like Arik, he has a loathing of violence; a
loathing of everything having to do with terrorism and the use
of force. And he has a loathing for untruthfulness and for failure
to carry out commitments. He doesn't accept the Middle Eastern
political style in which you come and say something and then
forget what you said. From that point of view he is very American.
He doesn't tolerate nonsense. He can't stand the Middle Eastern
jabbering with nothing underlying it."
Are you saying that at a certain
point in the past two years the Palestinians simply lost him,
that they were erased from his map?
"I will not tell you anything
that has not been published. But according to what has been published,
two things happened. The first was the `Karine A' weapons ship.
The second was a certain piece of intelligence that I sent them
that shows clearly Arafat's full awareness of financial aspects
of the perpetration of terrorist acts. When those things became
clear about a person who swore 16,000 times to the Americans
that he would make every effort to fight terrorism, he was erased.
From that moment he was as good as dead."
If so, you were the one who
prompted the Americans to adopt a political policy that is very
close to yours: without Arafat, without terrorism, without the
present Palestinian government.
"The Americans were here
for four months in 2003. Through [assistant secretary of state]
John Wolf they were involved in the process in the most intimate
way. Wolf reported directly to Rice. Those four months had tremendous
pedagogical value. The Americans saw for themselves what the
Palestinians' most solemn promises really meant. They saw the
Palestinians' detailed working plans and their splendid diagrams
and they saw how nothing came of it. Nothing. Zero. When you
add to that the trauma of September 11 and their understanding
that Islamic terrorism is indivisible, you understand that they
reached their conclusions by themselves. They didn't need us
to understand what it's all about. So, when we came to them and
told them that there is no one to talk to, we didn't have any
problems. They already knew that as of now, there is no one to
talk to."
The formaldehyde formula
Is that what you really think
- and Sharon, too - that there is no one to talk to?
"We reached that conclusion
after years of thinking otherwise. After years of attempts at
dialogue. But when Arafat undermined Abu Mazen at the end of
the summer of 2003, we reached the sad conclusion that there
is no one to talk to, no one to negotiate with. Hence the disengagement
plan. Because when you're playing solitaire, when there is no
one sitting across from you at the table, you have no choice
but to deal the cards yourself."
In 2001 you were still of a
different opinion - you tried to reach an agreement with the
Palestinian leadership.
"Because of his trenchant
realism, Arik never believed in permanent settlements: he didn't
believe in the one-fell-swoop approach. Sharon doesn't think
that after a conflict of 104 years, it's possible to come up
with a piece of paper that will end the matter. He thinks the
other side had to undergo a deep and extended sociopolitical
change. But when we entered the Prime Minister's Office, he still
believed that he would be able to achieve a very long-term interim
agreement. An agreement of 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 years. There were
some Palestinians who preferred that approach to the approach
of [former prime minister Ehud] Barak. They were the ones we
talked to. But very quickly we discovered that we were up against
a stone wall, that when you get to the decision-making center,
nothing happens."
Still, in 2002 you accepted
the initiative of President Bush, the road map, and the principle
of a Palestinian state, didn't you?
"For a great many years
the accepted view in the world was that people turned to terrorism
because their situation was bad. So that if you make things better
for them, they will abandon terrorism. The Palestinian assumption
was that when the Palestinian majority gets national satisfaction,
they will lay down their arms and the occupiers and the occupied
will emerge from the trenches and embrace and kiss. "Arik
thought differently. He understood that in the Palestinian case
the majority has no control over the minority. He understood
that the ability of a central Palestinian administration to enforce
its will on the entire Palestinian society is all but nonexistent.
He understood that Palestinian terrorism is in part not national
at all, but religious. Therefore, granting national satisfaction
will not solve the problem of this terrorism. This is the basis
of his approach that first of all the terrorism must be eradicated
and only then can we advance in the national direction. Not to
give a political slice in return for a slice of stopping terrorism,
but to insist that the swamp of terrorism be drained before a
political process begins.
"President Bush's speech
of June 24, 2002, expressed exactly that approach. We didn't
write it, but it articulated in the best way what we believed.
That is why Sharon accepted the implicit principle of the speech
immediately. He saw it as a historical turnabout. He saw it is
a paramount policy achievement. For the first time the principle
was accepted that before we enter the negotiating room, the pistols
have to be left outside."
But didn't the road map translate
that principle into a very crowded timetable?
"Arik would have preferred
that the first stage of the road map go on for three years, the
second stage five years and the third stage six years. But because
the road map stipulated that it was based on performance and
not on sacrosanct dates, he was able to accept it. He understood
that the important thing was the principle. What's important
is the formula that asserts that the eradication of terrorism
precedes the start of the political process."
If you have American backing
and you have the principle of the road map, why go to disengagement?
"Because in the fall of
2003 we understood that everything is stuck. And even though
according to the Americans' reading of the situation, the blame
fell on the Palestinians and not on us, Arik grasped that this
state of affairs would not last. That they wouldn't leave us
alone, wouldn't get off our case. Time was not on our side. There
was international erosion, internal erosion. Domestically, in
the meantime, everything was collapsing. The economy was stagnant,
and the Geneva Initiative garnered broad support. And then we
were hit with letters of officers and letters of pilots and letters
of commandos [letters of refusal to serve in the territories].
These were not weird kids with green ponytails and a ring in
their nose who give off a strong odor of grass. These were people
like Spector's group [Yiftah Spector, a renowned Air Force pilot
who signed the pilot's letter]. Really our finest young people."
What was your main concern
in those months, what was the main factor that pushed you to
the disengagement idea?
"The concern was the fact
that President Bush's formula was stuck and this would lead to
its ruin. That the international community would say: You wanted
the president's formula and you got it; you wanted to try Abu
Mazen and you tried. It didn't work. And when a formula doesn't
work in reality, you don't change reality, you change the formula.
Therefore, Arik's realistic viewpoint said that it was possible
that the principle that was our historic policy achievement would
be annulled - the principle that eradication of terrorism precedes
a political process. And with the annulment of that principle,
Israel would find itself negotiating with terrorism. And because
once such negotiations start it's very difficult to stop them,
the result would be a Palestinian state with terrorism. And all
this within quite a short time. Not decades or even years, but
a few months."
I still don't see how the disengagement
plan helps here. What was the major importance of the plan from
your point of view?
"The disengagement plan
is the preservative of the sequence principle. It is the bottle
of formaldehyde within which you place the president's formula
so that it will be preserved for a very lengthy period. The disengagement
is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde
that's necessary so that there will not be a political process
with the Palestinians."
Is what you are saying, then,
is that you exchanged the strategy of a long-term interim agreement
for a strategy of long-term interim situation?
"The American term is
to park conveniently. The disengagement plan makes it possible
for Israel to park conveniently in an interim situation that
distances us as far as possible from political pressure. It legitimizes
our contention that there is no negotiating with the Palestinians.
There is a decision here to do the minimum possible in order
to maintain our political situation. The decision is proving
itself. It is making it possible for the Americans to go to the
seething and simmering international community and say to them,
`What do you want.' It also transfers the initiative to our hands.
It compels the world to deal with our idea, with the scenario
we wrote. It places the Palestinians under tremendous pressure.
It forces them into a corner that they hate to be in. It thrusts
them into a situation in which they have to prove their seriousness.
There are no more excuses. There are no more Israeli soldiers
spoiling their day. And for the first time they have a slice
of land with total continuity on which they can race from one
end to the other in their Ferrari. And the whole world is watching
them - them, not us. The whole world is asking what they intend
to do with this slice of land."
Maneuver of the century
I want to remind you that there
will also be a withdrawal in the West Bank.
"The withdrawal in Samaria
is a token one. We agreed to only so it wouldn't be said that
we concluded our obligation in Gaza."
You gave up the Gaza Strip
in order to save the West Bank? Is the Gaza disengagement meant
to allow Israel to continue controlling the majority of the West
Bank?
"Arik doesn't see Gaza
today as an area of national interest. He does see Judea and
Samaria as an area of national interest. He thinks rightly that
we are still very very far from the time when we will be able
to reach final-status settlements in Judea and Samaria."
Does the evacuation of the
settlements in Gaza strengthen the settlements in the West Bank
or weaken them?
"It doesn't hurt the isolated,
remote settlements; it's not relevant for them. Their future
will be determined in many years. When we reach a final settlement.
It's not certain that each and every one of them will be able
to go on existing.
"On the other hand, in
regard to the large settlement blocs, thanks to the disengagement
plan, we have in our hands a first-ever American statement that
they will be part of Israel. In years to come, perhaps decades,
when negotiations will be held between Israel and the Palestinians,
the master of the world will pound on the table and say: We stated
already ten years ago that the large blocs are part of Israel."
If so, Sharon can tell the
leaders of the settlers that he is evacuating 10,000 settlers
and in the future he will be compelled to evacuate another 10,000,
but he is strengthening the other 200,000, strengthening their
hold in the soil.
"Arik can say honestly
that this is a serious move because of which, out of 240,000
settlers, 190,000 will not be moved from their place. Will not
be moved."
Is he sacrificing a few of
his children in order to ensure that the others remain permanently
where they are?
"At the moment he is not
sacrificing anyone in Judea and Samaria. Until the land is quiet
and until negotiations begin, nothing is happening. And the intention
is to fight for every single place. That struggle can be conducted
from a far more convenient point of departure. Because in regard
to the isolated settlements there is an American commitment stating
that we are not dealing with them at the moment, while for the
large blocs there is genuine political insurance. There is an
American commitment such as never existed before, with regard
to 190,000 settlers."
If what you are saying is correct,
the settlers themselves should organize demonstrations of support
for Sharon, because he did a tremendous service to the settlement
enterprise.
"They should have danced
around and around the Prime Minister's Office."
And Sharon himself actually
didn't undergo a de Gaulle-type reversal. He didn't make a U-turn.
He remained loyal to the approach of the national camp.
"Arik is the first person
who succeeded in taking the ideas of the national camp and turning
them into a political reality that is accepted by the whole world.
After all, when he declared six or seven years ago that we would
never negotiate under fire, he only generated gales of laughter.
Whereas today that same approach guides the president of the
United States. It was passed in the House of Representatives
by a vote of 405-7, and in the Senate by 95-5."
From your point of view, then,
your major achievement is to have frozen the political process
legitimately?
"That is exactly what
happened. You know, the term `political process' is a bundle
of concepts and commitments. The political process is the establishment
of a Palestinian state with all the security risks that entails.
The political process is the evacuation of settlements, it's
the return of refugees, it's the partition of Jerusalem. And
all that has now been frozen."
So you have carried out the
maneuver of the century? And all of it with authority and permission?
"When you say `maneuver,'
it doesn't sound nice. It sounds like you said one thing and
something else came out. But that's the whole point. After all,
what have I been shouting for the past year? That I found a device,
in cooperation with the management of the world, to ensure that
there will be no stopwatch here. That there will be no timetable
to implement the settlers' nightmare. I have postponed that nightmare
indefinitely. Because what I effectively agreed to with the Americans
was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all,
and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn
into Finns. That is the significance of what we did. The significance
is the freezing of the political process. And when you freeze
that process you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state
and you prevent a discussion about the refugees, the borders
and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package that is called
the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed
from our agenda indefinitely. And all this with authority and
permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification
of both houses of Congress. What more could have been anticipated?
What more could have been given to the settlers?"
I return to my previous question:
In return for ceding Gaza, you obtained status quo in Judea and
Samaria?
"You keep insisting on
the wrong definition. The right definition is that we created
a status quo vis-a-vis the Palestinians. There was a very difficult
package of commitments that Israel was expected to accept. That
package is called a political process. It included elements we
will never agree to accept and elements we cannot accept at this
time. But we succeeded in taking that package and sending it
beyond the hills of time. With the proper management we succeeded
in removing the issue of the political process from the agenda.
And we educated the world to understand that there is no one
to talk to. And we received a no-one-to-talk-to certificate.
That certificate says: (1) There is no one to talk to. (2) As
long as there is no one to talk to, the geographic status quo
remains intact. (3) The certificate will be revoked only when
this-and-this happens - when Palestine becomes Finland. (4) See
you then, and shalom."
Dramatic consequences
Dubi Weisglass, will the disengagement
plan be implemented?
"I can give you a definitive
answer regarding Sharon's intention. His intention is entirely
sincere. He has determination and he has complete resolve. But
contrary to what some say, he is not a dictator. Everything depends
on the Likud Central Committee and the party convention. I don't
know what is liable to happen in those bodies. I see a political
alignment that is not supplying the credit a leader needs, that
doesn't trust him to know where he's going or what's best for
the country."
Does Sharon know where he's
going? Can we rely on him?
"He has a very coherent
worldview. And he has done everything, seen everything, had experience
in all situations. So with him everything is under control. Everything
is conducted quietly, in proper language, with no raising of
voices. And that quiet projects a tremendous sense of confidence.
A sense that there is someone there to rely on. Someone who knows
what he is going to do."
Is there anything hesitant
in him?
"No, he is not hesitant.
He is very sure of himself. But with him the processes are organic.
They are not oranges. There is a matter of ripening. And here
he had, after all, the sentiment for the people, the land, the
landscape. But there was no struggle between mind and heart.
With him the heart is always dominant. And when the mind reached
the conclusion that this is what had to be done, it was clear
that he would do it. At bottom he's a bit'honist [one who sees
things through the prism of security]. He has a deep relation
to the homeland and to history and to places, but his overriding
principle is rational. The axiom is to safeguard the lives of
the Jewish people. All the rest is subordinate to that. All the
rest is in descending order."
Aren't you worried, nevertheless,
that all of this won't happen? That political opposition or a
violent revolt will thwart the disengagement plan?
"That could happen. When
I hear the voices and the threats, I am fearful. It's far from
clear what will happen. Similarly, when you see the prime minister
being forced to cope with all kinds of [Likud] faction members
who got to the Knesset on his coattails, it's frustrating. And
when you hear this one shouting and that one screaming and another
who is affronted. When you see that such an essential move is
liable to be blocked because of personal and emotional considerations
that are simply not to the point. Because people don't understand
how dramatic the decision we face is. And because no mechanism
has been found that will manifest politically the desire of the
great majority that supports the plan."
Is it really all that dramatic?
"If Sharon's disengagement
plan is torpedoed, politically it will be cause for everlasting
regret. Our achievements will be lost. The international community
will lose patience with us. It will take the same attitude toward
us as it does toward Arafat. We will very quickly find ourselves
up against a Palestinian state that uses terror against us and
up against a world that is becoming increasingly hostile. We
will find ourselves in a tragedy."
Ari Shavit writes for Ha'aretz, where this interview
originally appeared.
Weekend
Edition Features for September 18 / 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Forgeries,
Fingerprints and Forensic Fakery
Jeffrey St. Clair
High Plains Grifter: Bush's Mask of Anarchy
Patrick Cockburn
Into the Abyss: the Week Iraq's Dream of Peace Fell Apart
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Financial Torture (Asset Forfeiture)
Joe Allen
The Comrades Kerry Abandoned: the Real Story of Vietnam Vets
Against the War
George Corsetti
Poletown Revisited: Finally, Some Vindication
Scott Handleman
The Knock-Knock of a Sledgehammer: Sequestered in Nablus
Richard Ward
Two Weeks in Beit Arabiya
Conn Hallinan
Ashcroft and Indonesia
Lori Smith
Health Care in America: And Then I Got Sick...
Dave Zirin
Hold the Booyah!: SportsCenter Out of the Middle East
John L. Hess
Rather Will Take the Heat, As Bush's War Deteriorates
Brian J. Foley
W is for Wimp: So Why do Manly Men Love Him?
Mickey Z.
Pat Tillman and Osama bin Laden: Odd Juxtapositions
Poets' Basement
Vest, Landau & Albert
Website of the Weekend
Eye on the NYTs
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