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November 14, 2007 Cockburn
/ St. Clair November 13, 2007 Alexander
Cockburn Jeffrey
St. Clair Robert
Bryce David
Macaray Mike
Whitney Ralph
Nader Nikolas
Kozloff Jordan
Flaherty B.
R. Gowani Website
of the Day
November 12, 2007 Vicente
Navarro Ben
Brown Omar
K. Sadia
Abbas Farzana
Versey Richard
W. Behan Paul
Krassner Cindy
Sheehan Peter
Stone Brown Dave
Lindorff Website
of the Day
November 10 / 11, 2007 Alain
Gresh Mike
Whitney Ron
Jacobs Jeffrey
St. Clair Alan
Farago Binoy
Kampmark Robert
Fantina Fred
Gardner Ayesha
Ijaz Khan Nicola
Nasser Philip
Rizk Michael
Dickinson Joel
S. Hirschhorn Paul
Krassner Wadner
Pierre /
November 9, 2007 Patrick
Cockburn Mohammed
Hanif John
Ross Mike
Whitney Tom
Barry Corporate
Crime Reporter Badruddin
Khan David
Macaray Martha
Rosenberg Website
of the Day
November 8, 2007 Kathleen
& Bill Christison William
Loren Katz Mike
Whitney Sheldon
Richman Liaquat
Ali Khan Marc
Gardner Jackie
Corr Brenda
Norrell Dave
Lindorff China
Hand Sen.
Russ Feingold Website
of the Day
November 7, 2007 Paul
Craig Roberts Russell
Mokhiber Vijay
Prashad Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Alan
Farago David
Macaray Nikolas
Kozloff Charlotte
Laws Daniel
White William
Cook Website
of the Day
November 6, 2007 Mike
Whitney Ralph
Nader Andy
Worthington Pam
Martens Liaquat
Ali Khan William
Schroder Stephen
Lendman William
Blum Former
US Intelligence Officers
November 5, 2007 Alexander
Cockburn Russell
Mokhiber David
Macaray Gary
Leupp Dave
Lindorff Ludwig
Watzal Patrick
Cockburn Peter
Stone Brown Michael
Simmons Website
of the Day
November 3 / 4, 2007 Tariq
Ali David
Price Jeffrey
St. Clair Alan
Farago Paul
Krassner Rannie
Amiri P.
Sainath Ayesha
Ijaza Khan Robert
Fantina Seth
Sandronsky Ron
Jacobs Ramzy
Baroud Heather
Gray
November 2, 2007 Dr.
Mary Pipher Saul
Landau Andy
Worthington Sharon
Smith Gary
Leupp Gregory
Harms Christopher
Brauchli Peter
Morici Dave
Lindorff David
Penner Website
of the Day
November 1, 2007 Paul
Craig Roberts Patrick
Cockburn Dave
Lindorff Jonathan
Feldman Mike
Ferner William
S. Lind Diana
Johnstone Jacob
Hornberger A..K.
Gupta Lyuba
Zarsky / Felice
Pace Website
of the Day
October 31, 2007 Bill
Quigley Rev.
William E. Alberts Ray
McGovern Eric
Walberg V.
G. Smith Luis
J. Rodriguez Sheldon
Richman Walter
Brasch Website
of the Day
David
Price M.
Shahid Alam Andy
Worthington Patrick
Cockburn Anthony
Papa Floyd
Rudmin Sherwood
Ross Website
of the Day
October 29, 2007 Lisa
Hajjar Joe
DeRaymond Patrick
Cockburn Isabella
Kenfield / Fred
Gardner Farzana
Versey Stephen
Fleischman Marcelle
Cendrars Eamonn
McCann Martha
Rosenberg Website
of the Day
October 27 / 28, 2007 Alexander
Cockburn Jeffrey
St. Clair James
Bovard Ralph
Nader M.
Reza Pirbhai Robert
Sandels Jacob
G. Hornberger Missy
Beattie John
Ross Robert
Fantina Ron
Jacobs Ali
Moayedian David
Michael Green Poets
Basement Website
of the Day
October 26, 2007 Brian
Cloughley Saul
Landau Ahmad
Al-Akras Franklin
Lamb Mike
Whitney Dave
Lindorff Alan
Farago Yifat
Susskind Website
of the Day
Jeffrey
St. Clair / Manuel
Garcia, Jr. Paul
Craig Roberts Col.
Dan Smith Alan
Farago Chris
Kutalik Brian
McKinlay Cindy
Sheehan Website
of the Day
October 24, 2007 Natalie
Washington-Weik Andy
Worthington Michael
Birmingham Corporate
Crime Reporter Tariq
Ali Farzana
Versey Dave
Zirin James
Murren Todd
Chretien Martha
Rosenberg Website
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October 23, 2007 Ralph
Nader Lawrence
R. Velvel Vijay
Prashad Bonnie
Bricker / Dave
Lindorff Mike
Whitney Farzana
Versey Stanley
Heller / Marcelle
Cendrars Regan
Boychuk Website
of the Day
October 22, 2007 Ishmael
Reed Marjorie
Cohn Rannie
Amiri Diane
Farsetta Todd
Alan Price Robert
Jensen Stephen
Lendman Jemima
Khan Sunsara
Taylor Binoy
Kampmark Website
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October 20 / 21, 2007 Alexander
Cockburn Tariq
Ali Jeffrey
St. Clair Andy
Worthington Mike
Whitney Daniel
Wolff David
Rosen Saul
Landau Ron
Jacobs Robert
Fantina David
Heleniak Joe
Allen Prairie
Miller Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
October 19, 2007 John
Ross Sheldon
Rampton Rahul
Mahajan Devra
Davis Christopher
Brauchli Wadner
Pierre Bill
Quigley Website
of the Day
October 18, 2007 Saree
Makdisi Meg
Dwyer Alevtina
Rea Norman
Solomon Kristoffer
Larsson Harvey
Wasserman Website
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October 17, 2007 Steve
Niva Andy
Worthington Alan
Farago Russell
Mokhiber Sharon
Smith Mike
Whitney Robert
Fantina Chris
Irwin Website
of the Day October 16, 2007 Peter
Linebaugh Paul
Findley Robert
Bryce Uri
Avnery Paul
Craig Roberts Ray
McGovern Norman
Solomon Martha
Rosenberg William
S. Lind Joel
S. Hirschborn Website
of the Day
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November 14, 2007 A Veteran Re-Reads The Naked and the DeadNorman Mailer and the "Good War"By MARTIN SMITH The media memorialized Norman Mailer after his death last week with accolades about his stature as a literary giant, two Pulitzer Prizes, larger-than-life celebrity persona and reputation as an egotistical curmudgeon. But the substance of his ideas and his life beyond the image and the awards got little attention. Mailer grew up in a working-class family in Brooklyn. His life was shaped by his service in the Army in the Philippines and during the Second World War, and the disaffection he felt. He identified with the 1950s beat counterculture and 1960s antiwar movement, both in his writing and as a participant in social protests. Mailer's political engagement came through in non-fiction books like? Armies of the Night, St. George and the Godfather and Miami and the Siege of Chicago, which combined journalism with his own highly personal reflections as a participant-observer in the tumultuous protests of the antiwar movement. Also missing from many mainstream tributes to Mailer was any acknowledgement of his disturbing streak of sexism. Mailer cultivated a "macho" image and declared himself an enemy of the women's liberation movement. In his rants against feminism, he attempted to justify opposition to birth control, and he blamed the struggle for equality for destroying the "mystery" of sex. EACH OBITUARY did at least mention The Naked and the Dead, Mailer's first and most important novel. It is one of the great antiwar classics in literature and a book that speaks to all activists committed to ending the brutality of wars for empire. Yet The Naked and the Dead is barely known today outside of academic circles--because it challenges the standard assumptions about the Second World War as "the good war," and unmasks the hidden motives of U.S. involvement. The Naked and the Dead is the story of a suicide mission by a reconnaissance patrol that is ordered to assess a Japanese rear position on the island of Anopopei. If the soldiers survive and return, General Cummings plans to send out a company for a surprise attack, a daring tactical move that would likely lead to his promotion. However, from the beginning, the mission is fraught with problems. Lt. Hearn, the newly assigned platoon commander, has no field experience; Wilson, married with a daughter, has contracted a painful case of gonorrhea and can barely function; and anti-Semitism directed at Roth and Goldstein divides the platoon. Other obstacles develop as tensions mount between Lt. Hearn and Staff Sgt. Croft over leadership of the platoon. Fatalities, a near mutiny, exhaustion and finally a furious hornets' attack cause the mission to be aborted. Nakedness is a theme throughout the work. Mailer, in his distinctive realist style, undresses the characters and reveals the material conditions behind their motivations and fears. Mailer shows how the grunts in Staff Sgt. Croft's platoon elected to join the Army not out of a patriotic fervor to fight fascism, but because of dire circumstances and the lack of opportunities at home. As Gallagher, an Irish Catholic from South Boston, bragged to one woman, "I'm tired of my job, I'm getting' a better one...Something big...I'm on my way, I'm going places." Others have joined the military to escape. Red, for example, grew up in a company-run mining town in Montana and lost his father in a mining accident. He decides while working at a flophouse to join up rather than get married. Similarly, Martinez, a Mexican
American from San Antonio, gets Rosalita pregnant and enlists.
He ultimately finds himself reliving the racism he experiences
in the civilian world, as he weeds the officers' yards and serves
as a houseboy at their parties. In a dramatic scene, one member of the platoon, Wilson, dies from a stomach wound. Symbolic of the deeper feelings of loss and despair among many, another platoon member, Ridges, weeps "from exhaustion and failure and the shattering naked conviction that nothing mattered." Red expresses the feeling that many of the soldiers have come to hold about the war: "What have I got against the goddamn Japs? You think I care if they keep this fuggin' jungle? What's it to me if Cummings gets another star?" MAILER POINTS out the stark differences between the working-class troops and their officers. As in all wars, "workers in uniform" must labor for generals who are out for promotion and popularity, rather than protecting the welfare of their men. "They slept with mud and insects and worms," Mailer writes, "while the officers bitched because there were no paper napkins, and the chow could stand improvement." In particular, the character of General Cummings, with his silk monogrammed handkerchiefs, represents the emerging military-industrial complex. At one point, Cummings divides the meat rations to the unit so that half go to the 180 enlisted men--and the other half to the 38 officers. Cummings explains his grander purpose: "Break them down. Every time an enlisted man sees an officer get an extra privilege, it breaks him down a little more...they also fear us more...Every time there's what you call an Army injustice, the enlisted man involved is confirmed a little more in the idea of his own inferiority." Thus, Mailer lays bare the class realities that separate the officers and the enlisted men and challenges the idea that all Americans were united for a common cause. In a series of dialogues between General Cummings and Lt. Hearn, Mailer reveals the twisted ideology of the ruling class. "There's one thing about power," Cummings explains. "It can flow only from the top down. When there are little surges of resistance at the middle levels, it merely calls for more power to be directed downward, to burn it out." This attitude, still prevalent among the generals and war planners to this day, explains the mindset behind the atrocities committed by the U.S. and other Allied powers during the war--such as the terror bombing of the German city of Dresden, which killed more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians, and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed more than 210,000 people instantly, with another 130,000 dead from radiation and illness over the next five years. The terror unleashed by the U.S. during the war is accepted today as a necessary evil, committed in the goal of fighting fascism. Yet the U.S. had deeper war aims. As General Cummings explains to Lt. Hearn about "the good war": For the past century, the entire historical process has been working toward greater and greater consolidation of power...Your men of power in America...are becoming conscious of their real aims for the first time in our history. Watch. After the war, our foreign policy is going to be far more naked, far less hypocritical than it has ever been. We're no longer going to cover our eyes with our left hand while our right is extending an imperialist paw. The General and policymakers like him are the product of a system that has always created--and will continue to create--atrocities and war crimes. If you're looking for a brilliant novel that debunks the mythology of "the good war," read Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead. You'll discover a book that the Bushes, the Clintons and the Obamas, with their talk of potential nuclear threats from Iran and Pakistan and an endless "war on terror," would prefer to bury. Sgt. Martin Smith is a member of Iraq Veterans Against
the War. He can be reached at: martin@ivaw.org
Contains the Explosive Investigation That Rocked the Pentagon! General Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual Anthropologist DAVID PRICE exposes how the fabled Counterinsurgency Manual contains a chapter filled with "borrowed" quotations. Price reveals the crucial role in the debacle played by anthropologist Montgomery McFate. The University of Chicago Press is badly compromised. And much more. 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 ![]()
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