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What You're Missing in Our Subscriber-only CounterPunch Newsletter Special Investigation: Have Journalists Been Deliberately Murdered in Iraq by the US Military? Our new CounterPunch newsletter, just out, Christopher Reed examines the growing body count of journalists in Iraq and documents numerous incidents where US troops have deliberately targeted reporters. Charles Glass offers a stark comparison of the uprooting of Palestians in the Galilee during the 1948 war to the lush compensation of Israelis living on the same land who were displaced by the war on Lebanon. Remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation towards the cost of this online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now Get CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year

Today's Stories December 5, 2006 Virginia Tilley Apartheid Israel: a Beacon of Hope? Sharon Smith The New Washington Consensus: Blame the Victims in Iraq Ron Jacobs A War Washington Can't Win   December 4, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Gaza and Darfur George Ciccariello-Maher Tears of the Escualidos: Election Diary, Venezuela Ray McGovern Lame Ducks, Hold That Nomination!: a CIA Insider's Take on Gates John Ross Repression on the Menu in Mexico Walden Bello Hurricane Milton: Friedman, Bayonets and Markets Peter Rost, MD Pfizer's Clueless Executives Stephen Lendman The Withering of the Bush Dynasty Gideon Levy This Ceasefire will Go Up in Flames Website of the Day The "Babes" of Hizbullah?   December 2 / 3, 2006 Weekend Edition Barucha Calamity Peller The Dirty War of Oaxaca Paul Craig Roberts Is Bush Sane?: When Denial Goes Pathological Ralph Nader The Big Boys of Financial Crime Winslow T. Wheeler Committee of Enablers: Is Gates Fit to Serve? Are the Senators? Amira Hass The Checkpoint Generation Maymanah Farhat Depoliticizing Arab Art: Christie's and the Rush to "Discover" the Arab World Dave Lindorff Fighting the Iraq War--At Home Fred Gardner Dr. Jimenez Defends His Practice Methods Col. Dan Smith The Semantics of Civil War Raed Jarrar Maliki's Monopoly of Power Seth Sandronsky US Prison Nation: Locking Up Surplus Labor K.-Y. Taylor The Bride Wore Black: the Shooting of Sean Bell and the Resurgence of American Racism Yifat Susskind Greed, Dogma and AIDS David Rosen Made in China: the Global Trade in Sex Toys Ron Jacobs All Hands on Deck!: the New Pirates of the Caribbean Nikolas Kozloff Venezuela Prepares to Vote Talli Nauman Fighting La Choya: the Secret Toxic Dump on the Border Alan Gregory Shadow Trout: Why Hatchery Fish Aren't Real Joe Allen RFK and Hollywood Mythmaking: Emilio Estevez's Beatification of Bobby Kennedy St. Clair / D'Antoni Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Davies, Engel, Ford and Orloski Website of the Day Demo for Oaxaca   December 1, 2006 Greg Grandin Midnight in Mexico: Calderón's Inauguration Behind Closed Doors Linn Washington, Jr. The Mumia Case After 25 Years: Still More Keystone Kops Antics George Ciccariello-Maher Sleeping with the Enemy: At Home with the Anti-Chavistas Brian J. Foley Taking Responsibility for Iraq Dave Zirin Rebel Athletes: Organizing the Jocks for Justice Joshua Frank The Montana Formula: Jon Tester's Neopopulism Chris Floyd Hideous Kinky: Thomas Friedman Comes Undone Ingmar Lee Atomic Porker Strikes Indian Point Nuke Plant Manuel Garcia, Jr. Dark Fire: the Fall of WTC 7 Website of the Day No Gun Ri Revisited Video of the Day Drunken Hack Goes Ape at Aussie "Pulitzers" November 30, 2006 Jonathan Cook Palestinians Are Being Denied the Right of Non-Violent Resistance Tariq Ali Axis of Hope: Venezuela and the Bolivarian Dream Winslow T. Wheeler Confirmation Hearings as Kabuki Dance Manuel Garcia, Jr Heat and Steel: the Thermodynamics of 9/11 William S. Lind More Troops Into a Lost War? Ray McGovern Gates is Rumsfeld Lite Fidel Castro "It is Our Duty to Save Our Species" Agustin Velloso Equatorial Guinea: So Close to the West, So Far From Democracy CP News Service The Arrest of Gerardo Bonilla: Muralist Among Oaxaca's Disappeared Website of the Day The Life and Times of H-Bomb Ferguson November 29, 2006 Glen Ford Barack Obama and the Winds of War Chris Sands Blood, Snow and NATO: the Latvian Summit Viewed from Afghanistan Rochelle Gause Dispatch from Oaxaca: Where Murderers Still Stalk the Streets, Protected by Police Manuel Garcia, Jr. The Physics of 9/11 Norman Finkelstein HRW's Shameful Press Release on Palestine Peter Rost, MD Pfizer's Shell Game: the Contraction Begins Gary Leupp CIA Report: No Evidence of Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program Joe DeRaymond From Norman Morrison to Malachai Ritscher: Self-Immolation as Anti-War Protest Christopher Fons Prostituting Democracy: History, Latvia and Bush's Night on the Town in Riga Sibel Edmonds Auctioning Off Former Statesmen and Dime-a-Dozen Generals Website of the Day Bombing a Mosque   November 28, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Iraq Nears the "Saigon Moment" Winslow T. Wheeler SASC-ing Robert Gates Michael Ratner The War Crimes Case Against Rumsfeld: a Q&A John Ross The War on Rebel Journalists Molly Secours Racism Kills: From Michael Richards to the NYPD Peter Rost, MD Big Pharma and "the Pill": Profits, Branding and Experimentation on Women Lucinda Marshall War Chic Website of the Day "Action" in Iraq   November 27, 2006 Kathleen and Bill Christison Genocide or Erasure of Palestinians: Does It Matter What You Call It? Uri Avnery An Evening in Jounieh Nikolas Kozloff The Rise of Rafael Correa: Ecuador and the Contradictions of Chavismo Michael Donnelly Freedom Air: Keeping the Skies Safe from Nipples and Muslims Ben Terrall / John Miller Bush's Big Indonesian Photo-Op Robert Jensen Digging In and Digging Deep Sol Littman Missing Canada's Health Care System in Tucson Website of the Day State Minimum Wages: a Policy That Works   November 25 / 26, 2006 Gabriel Kolko Factors in Our Colossal Mess Saul Landau Republic of the Repressed William Blum New Congress, Same Quagmire Ralph Nader The Trouble with the Bubble Fred Gardner The War on Us: Another 1.9 Million Victims Daniel Wolff Return to District 8, New Orleans M. Shahid Alam Pitting the West Against Islam James J. Brittain Censorship in Colombia: the Arrest of Freddie Muñoz George Ciccariello-Maher Contingency and Counter-Contingency in Venezuela Aseem Shrivastava India on 20 Cents a Day Seth Sandronsky The Washington Post's War on Social Security Julian Assange The Curious Origins of Political Hacktivism Christopher Brauchli The Rout and the Honeymoon: In and Out of Bed with Bush Michele Naar-Obed A Letter to the Judge Who Sentenced My Husband to Federal Prison for Protesting Nuclear Weapons Ramzy Baroud Reclaiming America Christiane Passevant / Larry Portis Women in the Israeli Army: Two New Films Adam Engel Striving of His Day-Days: a Prose Poem Jeffrey St. Clair / David Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Davies, Gibbons, Louise, Buknatski, Orloski Website of the Weekend The Black Agenda   November 24, 2006 Charles Glass How to Let Lebanon Live Gideon Levy A Prayer in Paradise Jonathan Cook Syria as Fallguy Ron Jacobs Build a Fire on Main Street: Stop the War, Now! Brian McKenna Native Resurgence Spurs Hope: Giving Thanks to America's Indians Kim Ives The UN Fails Haiti, Again   November 23, 2006 Alexander Cockburn The Democrats and the Slaughterhouse November 22, 2006 Kathleen Christison The Massacre at Beit Hanoun Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Lone Victory: Defeating the Bill of Rights Mike Roselle Green Muscle on Election Day: Now is the Time for Boldness Dave Lindorff The First Task of the New Congress Greg Moses Up From Chiapas: Giving Thanks to Women's Revolution Dave Zirin Born Under Punches: the Pimping of Mike Tyson Nadia Martinez Dealing with Ortega Sherwood Ross Why the World Needs Trade Unions Now More Than Ever David Kalbfeisch I Am A Navy Veteran Against Wars Gilad Atzmon Palestinian Solidarity in a Time of Massacres Website of the Day Sorry, Charlie: No Draft   November 21, 2006 Robert Bryce The Ongoing Myth of Energy Independence John V. Walsh Spoilers of the World Unite! Luis Hernandez Navarro Lessons from the Teachers of Oaxaca Kevin Zeese An Interview with Michael Isikoff on Iraq Peter Rost, MD Rules of the Game: How Big Corporations Avoid Paying Their Taxes Evelyn Pringle Drug Your Fetus: How Big Pharma Hits on Pregnant Women Roger Morris Reason in an Age of Folly (and Felony) Don Monkerud Here Come the Democrats ... So? Website of the Day The Grind   November 20, 2006 David H. Price American Anthropologists Stand Up Against Torture and the Occupation of Iraq Col. Dan Smith Usurpation of Power Katherine Hughes Compassion on Trial in War on Terror: Muslim Charities and the Case of Dr. Rafil Dhafir Dave Himmelstein Ziodammerung: Netanyahu and the End Times Robert Jensen Opportunities Lost Joe Mowrey America's Progressive Nightmare: Here Come the Armani Democrats Mike Whitney Housing Bubble Smack Down: Alan Greenspan, Homewrecker Carl N. McDaniel Living Within Limits Robert Fisk Shia Walk Ramzy Baroud Killing Hope in Beit Hanoun Website of the Day Iraq: the Hidden Story   November 18 / 19, 2006 Weekend Edition Alexander Cockburn Top Dems to Voters: "Shut Up! We've Got a War to Run!" Ralph Nader The Hole in Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Lost the Senate Barucha Calamity Peller Who Will Live on in the Oaxaca Uprising? John Ross Halliburton Wrecks Mexico Dave Lindorff The Albatross: Why the Democrats Should Cut Loose Joe Lieberman Fred Gardner The Adverse Effects of Marijuana: California Medical Survey Ron Jacobs Back in the Aether Again: Thomas Pynchon's Stunning Return Larry Portis The Songs of Basilio Martin Patino: Father of the New Spanish Cinema Frida Berrigan The Weapons Bonanza: a Perfect Storm of Profit Wes Enzinna Ghosts of Dictatorships Past: the School of the America's and Memory in Latin America Elizabeth Schulte The Fall of Donald Rumsfeld: Architect of a Disaster Peter Rost, MD The Credit Card Trap Martha Rosenberg We're Drinking What? Milk, rBST and Monsanto's Rats Seth Sandronsky University Unity: California's Professors and Students Unite Missy Beattie Explore This! Adam Engel Data Days Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Newberry and Curtis Website of the Weekend A Modest Proposal for the Art World   November 17, 2006 Greg Grandin The Road from Serfdom: Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire Joseph Massad Pinochet in Palestine: Fateh's Unholy Alliance Kevin Zeese George McGovern's Return to Capitol Hill: "A Down-to-Earth Disengagement Plan" Gideon Levy After the Rain of Death Bill Quigley WMDs Protected!: Blood-Pouring Anti-Nuke Clowns Sent to Prison David Swanson Last Chance for the Democrats?: a Tale of Two Conyers Sherry Wolf Gay Rights: When Will the US Catch Up with Africa? Jerry Beisler What James Webb Knows Website of the Day Thanks for the False Memories!   November 16, 2006 Kathy Kelly Sources of Violence Col. Douglas MacGregor Was It Only Rumsfeld? Norman Solomon Operation Last Resort: the Media Offensive to Prolong the Iraq War Nikki Thanos From Oaxaca to Portland Cindy Sheehan Impeachment Proceedings Lena Khalaf Tuffaha Jimmy Carter and the "A" Word: Will the Democrats Listen to Carter on Palestine? Gloria La Riva Where is the Justice? Anti-Castro Terrorist Gets Only 4 Years Pat Williams How the Democrats Won the West Kerry Joyce From Rummy to Rahmmy: Bob Novak's New Source CP News Service Wal-Mart Charged with Selling Non-Organic Food as "Organic" David Letterman Top 10 Slogans for Wal-Mart Wine James Ridgeway Did Robert Gates' Planning Help Bring Black Hawk Down? Website of the Day A Conversation with West Point Grads Against the War   November 15, 2006 Jennifer Loewenstein Alice in Erez: the Gaza Crossing David Rosen Rev. Ted Haggard and the Eclipse of Evangelical Fury Ashley Smith A Socialist in the Senate? Landau / Hassen Talking Tough on Iraq Isn't Courageous Walden Bello Iraq After November 7: New Challenges for the AntiWar Movement Sibel Edmonds The Highjacking of a Nation Austin / Bernstein Why Bill Cosby is Wrong to Link Black Culture to Economic Decline Yitzhak Laor This Merchandise, Security James Rothenberg Unimpeachable: a Brief Argument Why Gail Dines "Borat": It's a Guy Thing Website of the Day Kakistocracy November 14, 2006 Werther Beltway Bromo-Seltzer: a Sneak Peak at the Baker Report Ray McGovern Benching Scowcroft John Walsh Korea, Vietnam and Iraq Syndrome: Alive, Well and Gaining Strength David MacMichael Gates to the Pentagon William S. Lind Lose a War, Lose an Election Sharon Smith Democrats, Born to Compromise Laura Carlsen Oaxaca Fights Back Ron Jacobs The Perishing Republic Peter Rost, MD Whistleblowers: Who Are They? Carol Norris Post-Campaign Ad Stress Disorder? Website of the Day A Map of the US Nuclear Arsenal     November 13, 2006 Kathleen and Bill Christison Screw the Palestinians, Full Steam Ahead Bill Quigley Robin Hood in Reverse: the Corporate Looting of the Gulf Coast Paul Craig Roberts The Democrats and Civil Liberties: Will They Turn a Blind Eye? Uri Avnery Call It What It Is: a Massacre! Joe DeRaymond The Strange Return of Daniel Ortega Norman Finkelstein Jimmy Carter's Roadmap Col. Dan Smith The Pentagon's Revolving Gates: Out with the Old, In with the Old Shepherd Bliss After the Party Dave Lindorff What Vote-Theft Conspiracy? Missy Beattie For Better / For Worse: Will Laura Stay the Course? Trenticosta / Fleming Vindication for the Angola 3   Weekend Edition November 11 / 12, 2006 John Walsh Rahm's Losers Barucha Calamity Peller Oaxaca at Any Cost Al Krebs Be Careful What You Wish For Niall Meehan Ireland's Freedom Struggle and the Foster School of Historical Falsification Conn Hallinan The Ills of War: Shafting the Vets Patrick Cockburn "We Worry About Staying Alive, Not the U.S. Elections" Gary Leupp Democrats Can Be NeoCons, Too P. Sainath India High and Low: the Anatomy of a Tiger Nikolas Kozloff The Return of Tom Lantos: Beware Venezuela, Here Come the Democratic Hawks Lawrence R. Velvel Throwing Rumsfeld Under the Bus Fred Gardner Marijuana, the Anti-Drug Ralph Nader Taking on the Boss: Claybrook vs. the Chamber Ben Terrall / John Miller East Timor: 15 Years After the Massacre Mike Whitney Cheney in a Box Joshua Frank Post-Electoral Deliriums Mukul Dube The Death Penalty Case of Mohd. Afzal Jason Hribal Jesse: Eulogy for a Working Dog Daniel Wolff The Unseen Springsteen Michael Donnelly Red Rock Blues: the Moab Folk Festival Lord Montague A Dissenting Note on the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 Poets' Basement Davies, Louise, Buknatski and Orloski   November 10, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Lame Duck Marjorie Cohn The War Crimes Case Against Rumsfeld Jorge Mariscal What Veterans See Gregory Elich The Trial of Saddam: Who Will Pass Judgment on the Judges? Joshua Frank Blue Dog Group: Bye-Bye Coke, Hello Pepsi Megan Boler The Joke is On Us: How "Borat" Lowers the Bar of Political Satire Ramzy Baroud The Treacherous Road to Oslo Begins Here Farzana Versey An Iraqi in India Roberto Rodriguez A Thumpin' or a Whippin'? Cartoon of the Day Splat!   November 9, 2006 Jennifer Loewenstein How Gaza Offends Us All Patrick Cockburn War of the Snipers Paul Craig Roberts Will Democrats Become Part of the Problem? Manuel Garcia, Jr. The Roots of Corruption Mike Whitney Bush's Chernobyl Economy Alan Maass The Repudiation of One-Party Rule Robert Jensen Blood on the Tracks: the Elections and the Coming Train Wreck Nicola Nasser Saddam's Trial in Context John Chuckman As I Lay Dying: Watching the US Elections from Canada Jamal Juma Between Resistance and Deception in Palestine Felice Pace Can the Klamath be Restored? Website of the Day The Robert Gates Files   November 8, 2006 Alexander Cockburn / Jeffrey St. Clair Count Your Blessings: NeoCons and NeoLibs Take Big Hit as Voters Say No to Bush, War and Free Trade Lawrence E. Walsh Robert Gates and Iran/Contra: Lies, Cover Ups and Slanted Intelligence Bruce K. Gagnon What's Next for the Peace Movement?: Confront the Democrats, Now! Neve Gordon Anti-Semitism? Mr. Dershowitz, You Just Don't Like What I Say Dave Lindorff Election Post-Mortem: What's Next? Arthur Neslen Another Tragic Day in Palestine Joshua Frank An Election Hangover: Thank God It's Over James Goodman The Corporate Food System is Broken Charles Sullivan Voting in the Absence of Choice David Swanson Subpoena Envy: The Dems Have the Power, But Will They Use It? Missy Beattie The Electorate Speaks and Barney Barks! Dr. Susan Block American Voters Say, "Bush Sucks!" Website of the Day Stealing Olive Groves from Palestinians   November 7, 2006 Michael Neumann Cut and Run from Iraq: Sooner Rather Than Later Paul Wolf Saddam Must Die: A Pre-Ordained Verdict Nikolas Kozloff In Nicaragua, a Chavez Wave? Eliza Ernshire The Women of Beit Hanoun William S. Lind The Smile on Saddam's Face: He's Tan, Rested and Ready Mike Ferner Pick a Number: Greater Than 47,615 Felice Pace Pumping the Klamath Dry Chris Genovali The Problem with PBDEs: Why Canada's Proposed Ban Won't Protect People or Wildlife Gilad Atzmon Watching Borat Dick J. Reavis Going to Class War with the Proletariat We Got ... Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Lives (and Votes) Lost: the Ordeal of Larry Peterson Website of the Day Magic Sam: a Sure Cure for the Election Day Blues Question of the Day Is Bush Gay?   November 6, 2006 Alexander Cockburn The Message of Campaign 2006 Norman Solomon Saddam's Unindicted Co-Conspirator: Donald Rumsfeld Robert Fisk A Guilty Verdict on America, as Well Marjorie Cohn The Banana Election: From Hanging Chads to Hanging Saddam Paul Craig Roberts The Goose and the Gander: Is Bush Next? Nikolas Kozloff Election Eve Jitters: the Chavez Factor Newton Garver The Progress in Bolivia: Morales' Stunning Victory Over Big Oil Mike Whitney Bush's Carnival of Blood Jesse Hagopian From the Black Panthers to the Green Party: an Interview with Aaron Dixon Dr. Peter Rost, MD The Genocide Election: When a Life Saving Industry Cheats, People Die Website of the Day Robert Pollin vs. Rick Wolff: Is Pomo Marxism Marxism?   November 4 / 5, 2006 Dave Zirin Political Players: Where Athletes Give Their Money Patrick Cockburn When Does Incompetence Become a Crime? Sanho Tree War Timing and Opportunism Ralph Nader Failure Across All Fronts Lee Sustar The Obama Myth Dr. Shepherd Bliss Torture Memories Adam Elkus Babies and Banks: Celebrity Colonialism in Africa Seth Sandronsky Is Another Recession Looming? Fred Gardner 10 Years of Medical Pot in California: Dr. Mikuriya's Observations Joshua Sperber How the US Lost Latin America Evelyn Pringle Ohio Redux: Mr. Blackwell and the Henhouse Mitchel Cohen The Left and the Environment: Notes on the Ecological Dimension Missy Beattie The Medium is the Massage Michael Dickinson Watching the Guards: a Prison Diary John Holt The Silk Road to Ruin Dr. Susan Block The Beastly Bombing Poets' Basement LaMorticella, Engel, Orloski and Davies November 3, 2006 Laura Carlsen Day of the Dead in Oaxaca Stephan Said Honoring Bradley Will John Stauber "Victory in Iraq:" The PR Machine Behind Bush's Favorite Slogan Mike Whitney Baghdad is Surrounded Joshua Frank DNC Deja Vu Victoria Furio More Than Timetables Tammara~85,441 They Say He is Coming Home Stuart Croswaithe Beatings and Sugar Plums: New Labor's War on the Kurds Missy Beattie Bush Shock Website of the Day Howlin' Wolf November 2, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler The US Body Count in Iraq: an Analysis of Who is Dying and How Paul Craig Roberts Evil is as Evil Does Dave Lindorff Kerry Out: the Joke's Still on Us Uri Avnery The Lovable Man? Lieberman and the Decline of Israeli Democracy Jeff Birkenstein Smearing Harold Ford in Black Face John Ross Slave Labor in Private Prisons Zoltan Grossman Recharging the Anti-War Movement Eveyln Pringle The SEC's Probe of Halliburton: Is Cheney Being Fitted for a Striped Jumpsuit? Christopher Brauchli Drug Profits and PACs: Why Big Pharma Pushes the GOP   November 1, 2006 Alan Dershowitz v. Bruce Jackson On Torture Brian Tokar Running on Hype: the Real Scoop on Biofuels Fred Leonhardt Democrats, Sex Crimes and the Press: the Goldschmidt Affair Richard W. Behan Triumph of the Petropublicans: Bush's Other Civil War Brenda Norrell Indigenous Opposition to the Border Wall Charles Sullivan Spoils of Corruption: Who Will Stand Up When America Goes Wrong? Ron Jacobs Hell is Rising in Oaxaca: interview with a Oaxacan Rebel Mike Knapp Green Stench in Minnesota: the Commissioner and the Hog Lot Moshe Adler The Temptations of a Union Boss: the Case of Brian McLaughlin Walden Bello Chain Gang Economics Lee Ballinger The Collapse of Hip Capitalism: How Tower Records Committed Suicide Joshua Frank Party in a Cage: Snake Oil and the Midterm Elections Carl Gelderloos Cheerleading the Massacre in Oaxaca: an Open Letter to the Washington Post Peter Rost, MD Panic in Big Pharma Saul Landau Bush's Anti-Terrorism Record: Don't Look Too Close Website of the Day The Meatrix   Subscribe Online

December 5, 2006 "I Was Just About to Change Everything ... " Rumsfeld's Final Snowflake By MIKE WHITNEY By now, everyone has heard about Rumsfeld's memo. It was leaked to the New York Times supposedly without Rumsfeld's knowledge. It makes the case that Rumsfeld was just about to make major changes in Iraq because he could see that the strategy was failing and had created a disaster. Everything about the memo reeks of deception. In fact, the Times even admits that, "Rumsfeld may have been trying to shape the coming discussion and present himself as open to change'". Why? Because, according to the article, "President Bush interviewed Texas A&M University President Robert Gates as a potential successor to Rumsfeld a day before the midterm elections." Do you think that Rummy, who controls 80% of the US intelligence budget and listens in to the conversations of Quakers, antiwar protestors, and other unsuspecting citizens knew that he was going to be canned? You bet he did. And now he's rewriting history to cast himself as a flexible and open-minded military leader who could change course when the situation warranted. It's just another way of patching together a legacy before tottering off into retirement. Nothing Rumsfeld says can be trusted. He spies on Americans' phone calls, computers, medical records, bank records and groups. He has been a stanch supporter of planting propaganda in newspapers and TV. He introduced a program that created a "rapid response" team to rebut information that is critical of US foreign policy appearing on blogs, web-sites and letters to the editor. He controlled the flow of information coming out of Iraq and managed to silence many of the war's critics. He developed a plan for "Total Information Awareness" that is designed to control everything that the public sees and hears from cradle to grave. Now he is trying to write his own legacy. It is just another in a long list of deceptions; a smokescreen created to conceal his responsibility in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. The memo states that Rumsfeld was planning to make major adjustments and that "Clearly, what US forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough". But "what US forces were doing" was exactly what Rumsfeld told them to do; nothing more, nothing less. When he told them to bomb Falluja to the ground, they followed his orders; and when they tortured and stacked naked prisoners on top of each other, they followed his orders. And, when they trained the Shiite death squads to kill and maim Sunni suspects, they followed his orders. Every major decision in 4 years of conflict bears Rumsfeld's imprimatur. It's his policy; it's his war. If Rumsfeld continued as Secretary of Defense, then nothing would change, because he has absolute confidence in violence and deception as the two main instruments for political transformation. Rumsfeld's memo is great reading for fiction-lovers. It provides a revealing snapshot of a leader who carefully considered every alternative before making a decision. It's a stark contrast to the intractable narcissist who ignored his advisors and bullied his generals. But, like I said, it's great fiction. Excerpt: "Announce that no matter whatever new approach the US decides on, the US is doing on a trial basis'. This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, and therefore not lose'". In other words, keep moving the goalposts while people die and the public will never catch on. That's a whole new take on cynicism. Rumsfeld has enjoyed his 6-year tenure as Sec-Def. He probably thought it would never end. Now what he needs is a good biographer, like Bob Woodward, who can invent a story about his exploits fighting "radical Islam's" attack on the "land of the free and the home of the brave". No doubt, there'll be a photo of the square-jawed Rummy plastered atop the muscled torso of Favio staving off the swarthy Middle Eastern males' with his trusty DOD-issue scimitar. Enough said. The memo is just more gibberish; the empty dissembling of a con-man trying to hoodwink the public before scuttling off into political oblivion. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Don. Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com

Coming Soon from CounterPunch Books / AK Press Buy End Times Now! "The Case Against Israel" Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair     CounterPunch Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"