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Today's
Stories
May
5, 2004
Gilbert
Achcar
Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quaqmire
May
4, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
A Timeline of Torture and Abuse Allegations
and Responses
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Privatized Torture
David
Peterson
CBS, Self-Censorship & Iraq
Barry
Lando
CACI's Private Torture Chambers
Patrick
Cockburn
Torture: Iraqis Disgusted, But Not Surprised
Dr.
Susan Block
Indecent Insurgents: Watch What You Say
Fidel
Castro
A Mindless, Unnecessary War
Mike
Whitney
Empire of Torture
Sonali
Kolhatkar
How to Stop the War: Demonstrate Against
John Kerry
Josh
Frank
The Lost Sierra Club
Stan
Goff
The Role: Another Open Letter to US Troops in Iraq
Agustin
Velloso
Spare Us Your Disgusting Ethics
Stew
Albert
American Know-How
Website
of the Day
Scenes from a Cover-Up
May
3, 2004
Virginia
Tilley
Let the Wall of Silence Fall
May
1 / 2, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
An Army in Disgrace, a Policy
in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat
Robert
Fisk
"Good Guys" Who Can Do No
Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders,
Useless Spies, Angry World
Heather
Williams
Gringo, We're Going Home: Latin
American Troops Flee Iraq
Diane
Rejman
An Army Vet on Torture in Iraq:
Abu Ghraib as My Lai?
Diane
Christian
Blood Spilling: Osama, Bush and
Sharon Speak the Same Language
Patrick
Cockburn
Seems Like Old Times in Fallujah
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Torturous Logic: Shocked,
Shocked, Shocked
Chris
Floyd
Suicide Bomber: Neocons, Nihilists
and Annihilation
April
29 / 30, 2004
Dave
Zirin
A Pawn in Their Game: the Unlonesome
Death of Pat Tillman
Kathy
Kelly
The Warden's Tour
Greg
Weiher
Fallujah and the Warsaw Ghetto: the
Banality of Evil
Michael
S. Ladah
Terrorism and Assassination: the
Ultimate Depception
Patrick
Cockburn
The Fallujah Mutinies
April
28, 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
Meet Congressman Know-Nothing:
Tom Tancredo
Wendy
Brinker
The Politics of the Numb
Faisal
Kutty
The Dirty Work of Canadian Intelligence
John
Chuckman
Seeking the Evil One
Mike
Whitney
Flag-Draped Coffins and the Seattle Times
Tom
Mountain
Rwanda and the F***** Word
Graeme
Greenback
The Iraqi Alamo: a CNN/CIA Production
Tracy
McLellan
The War Comes Home
M.
Junaid Alam
We are the Barbarians
William
Loren Katz
Iraq, the US and an Old Lesson
April 27, 2004
James
Davis
The Colombia 3 Acquitted
Dave
Lindorff
Chalabi as Prosecutor
Bruce
Schneier
Terrorist Threats and Political
Gain
Cockburn
/ Sengupta
British Generals Resist Calls for
More Troops to Aid Americans in Iraq
Walt
Brasch
Presidential Letters: The Day I
Was Asked to Feed an Elephant
Saul
Landau
The Empire in Denial and the Denial
of Empire
April 26, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Crossing the Shia Line: US Troops
Prepare to Enter Najaf
Wayne
Madsen
Trading Places: Will the US Go the Way of the USSR?
Grover
Furr
Protest, Rebellion, Commitment
Elaine
Cassel
Lies About the Patriot Act
Mickey
Z.
Inspired by Pat Tillman?
Greg
Moses
Bremer's De-De-Ba'athjfication Gambit
Gila
Svirsky
Anarchy in Our Souls
Uri
Avnery
Vanunu and the Terrible Secret
April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
A Warning to Those Who Dare Criticize Israel in the Land of Free
Speech
Ben
Tripp
October Surmise: a Case of Worst Scenarios
Nelson
Valdés
"Submit or Die": Iraq and the American Borg
Lucson
Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Return to the Future
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Killed Pat Tillman
Mark
Scaramella
Does Anybody Know Anything?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
April 23, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
The Only Solution is Immediate Withdrawal
Dave
Lindorff
Imagination Deficit Disorder
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Contractors and Mercenaries: the Rising Corporate Military Monster
Norman
Solomon
Country Joe Band, 2004: "What Are We Fighting For?"
Cynthia
McKinney
All Things Are Not Equal: the Perils of Globalization
CounterPunch
Wire
A Bitch Called Wanda
Karyn
Strickler
Sierra Club, Inc.
Hammond
Guthrie
Yellow Caked in the Face
Paul
de Rooij
Graveyard of Justifications: Glossary
of the Iraqi Occupation
April 22, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
When Terror Came to Basra: "I
Saw a Minibus of Children on Fire"
Tanya
Reinhart
The Wall Behind Disengagement
Lance
Selfa
Why is Kucinich Still in the Race?
Josh
Frank
Street Fighting Man? Kucinich's Pulled Punches
Sen.
Robert Byrd
Bush Owes America Answers on Iraq
William
S. Lind
Why We Get It Wrong
Mickey
Z.
Undoing the Latches
Robert
Jensen
Why They Fast: Remembering the Victims of the World Bank
John
L. Hess
The New York Times from 30,000 Feet
April
21, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Yeats on Iraq
Alfredo
Castro
Colombia's Forgotten Prisoners
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's Taliban Drug Deal
William
A. Cook
George 1 to George 2
Jack
Random
Iraq and Vietnam
Jean-Guy
Allard
Alarcon Meets the Editors
Mike
Whitney
Charade in the Desert
Bill
Christison
Only Major Policies Changes Can
Help Washington Now
April 20, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Bush and Kerry Share a Problem
Stan
Cox
Wal-Mart's Magic Numbers
Bruce
Anderson
On Listening to Air America
Joseph
Kalvoda
Czech Mate for Condi
Greg
Moses
Yesterday's Intelligence
Stan
Goff
The Democrats and Iraq
Website
of the Day
Santorum Happens
April 19, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The "Central Hand" of the
Resistance
Mike
Whitney
Bob Woodward's Imperial Trifles
Douglas
Valentine
52 Pick-Up and the 100-to-1
Rule
John
Chuckman
The Sharon Annex: Evil Does Often
Triumph
Doug
Giebel
Welcome to the Club
Rahul
Mahajan
Hospital Closings and War Crimes
April
16 / 18, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Bush Legitimizes Terror
Saul
Landau
Subverting Brazil and Cuba
Dave
Lindorff
Paying for War: $2,150 per Family
and Counting
Brandy
Baker
Fallujah's Collateral Damage
Mickey
Z.
The Left Attacks from the Right
Bruce
Jackson
The Bush Press Conference: Gott Mit
Uns
Norman
Solomon
How the "NewsHour" Changed
History
Alexander
Cockburn
Bush, Kerry and Empire
April
15, 2004
Greg
Moses
Follow the Families, Not the Script
Virginia
Tilley
The Carnage According to Gen. Kimmitt:
Just Change the Channel
Ron
Jacobs
They Coulda Been Champions of the
World: Hurricane Carter and Ron Kovic
Michael
Neumann
A Happy Compromise: Hate Crimes
Reporting in the Toronto Globe and Mail
April
14, 2004
Tom
Reeves
Return to Haiti: an American Learning
Zone
Reza
Fiyouzat
Japan and Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
What Bush Really Said
Diane
Christian
The Real Passion
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Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
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Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
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Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
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Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
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The
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Francis Boyle
Impeach
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Click
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May
5, 2004
A Deal with
the Devil
A Palestinian
Zionist and the End of the World
By WILL YOUMANS
The latest character making waves in
America's pro-Israeli Right demonstrates the special relationship
between the "war on terrorism" and Israel's rabid supporters
in the United States. During this "war on terrorism"
that transformed America's legal and political landscape, it
might be hard to believe that a Palestinian immigrant to the
United States publicly confesses to being a former PLO activist
and "terrorist" who personally attacked Israelis. This
figure unabashedly repeats stories of his own vicious hatred
and violence against Israelis during well-publicized speaking
tours at universities and synagogues, and on radio and television
shows.
Yet, he has enjoyed immunity
from the Department of Homeland's Security's machinery, which
has been actively churning out victims in the Arab and Muslim
community in the United States. This seems odd. Activists around
the country have to fight to free secretly detained individuals
held captive for nothing more than a past association with a
known terrorist.
Walid Shoebat, from Beit Sahour,
in the West Bank, is paraded by pro-Israeli organizations on
speaking tours, in articles, and radio and TV interviews. An
article in Jewish Week announces the secret of his magic: "a
former terrorist repents and discusses his metamorphosis on six-city
speaking tour." Articles on BBC's website, as well as pro-Israeli
organs such as WorldNetDaily and FrontPageMag depict Shoebat
on his own terms, as an ex-terrorist now fully supportive of
Israel. In Arlene Pecks' words, he went "from terrorist
to zionist."
Regularly, during his talks,
he describes openly his past crimes and his jailing by the Israeli
authorities. He admits to stoning Jewish worshipers at the kotel
(the western wall), having "worked with Fatah bomb makers
in Jerusalem," and even going on a bombing mission to destroy
a branch of Bank Leumi. Shoebat abandoned it after noticing that
Palestinian children were nearby. He speaks of the time he and
other rioters mauled an Israeli officer. They "clubbed and
pounded his head with a nail-studded stick, until the officer
became a bloody gore."
After immigrating to the United
States, he continued to be a "hard-line PLO activist."
He raised funds and recruited for the PLO on college campuses.
In 1993, when most other Palestinians were optimistic about the
prospects of the Oslo peace process, Shoebat converted to Christianity
and began to support Israel's exclusive claim to that land, all
of it. As he attests, his new wife (his third) "challenged
me to find any mistakes in the Bible." After a "six-month
journey to do that" he failed and decided to change religions.
Taking the word of the Bible
as literal, he subscribed to the view that "the Jews have
the Biblical right to the Holy Land, Israel." In his public
campaign he not only defends Israel across the board, on every
account, but espouses positions widely held as extreme. For instance,
he told a crowd at the University of Toronto that Israel should
"Please take back the holy Temple Mount" despite
the obvious implication that such a total measure against a Muslim
holy site would provoke a holy war.
This bizarre tale contrasts
sharply with the story of another Palestinian immigrant to the
United States. Michel Shehadeh, and another Palestinian, Khader
Hamide, are currently facing deportation proceedings for being
affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP), which the United States designates as a terrorist organization.
Shehadeh has denied any association with the organization.
In 1987, thirteen armed Immigration
and Naturalization Services (INS) officers stormed his apartment.
Since his initial detention, the case was dropped several times,
as judges ruled it unconstitutional to target individuals for
First Amendment activities. According to David Cole, a professor
of Law at Georgetown, and his one time attorney, he is being
deported for "for distributing Palestinian magazines and
raising humanitarian aid in Los Angeles more than twenty years
ago."
The legal crusade against Shehadeh
has taken different turns. Most recently, the Department of Homeland
Security tacked on retroactive provisions in the PATRIOT Act.
Those First Amendment activities at the center of the proceedings
have been re-defined as giving "material support" to
a terrorist group under the PATRIOT Act even though the
alleged activities and affiliation occurred nearly two decades
ago. It also continues to rest its case on the McCarran-Walter
Act, which was "declared unconstitutional fourteen years
ago and was repealed by Congress thirteen years ago."
Still, no authorities allege
that Shehadeh participated in any criminal acts. The Washington
Post reported that then-FBI Director William Webster told Congress
in 1987 that Shehadeh had not engaged in any terrorist activity
and he would not have been detained if he were a US citizen.
For the past seventeen years,
Shehadeh faced these charges along with seven others in what
has been termed the "LA 8" case. During that time,
he remained an outspoken and highly transparent activist as the
Western director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
(ADC), which was founded by ex-Senator James Abourezk.
Compared with Walid Shoebat's
self-described record of violence, Michel Shehadeh's first amendment
activities are trivial. So trivial in fact that another Palestinian-American
activist with a similar history, Imad Hamad, was going to be
awarded the "Exceptional Public Service award" by the
FBI.
It was revoked after a New
York Post article by Debbie Schlussel condemned him for being
subject to past deportation proceedings himself, as well has
speaking out in defense of other "suspected terrorists."
In the Schlusselian plane of logic, Arabs and Muslims, especially
politically outspoken ones, are presumed guilty. Acquittals and
other legal failures to establish guilt just do not matter to
her; being tried is a crime itself. After all, she reasons, it
was "political pressure from Michigan politicians"
that saved him from deportation, not, we are to believe, the
lack of conclusive evidence plus the feeble legal theory holding
the case together.
The FBI officially stated that
evidence being used against Shehadeh referenced Hamad. As David
Cole explained it, "[i]t would have been too much of an
embarrassment to honor a man (Hamad) who had once been affiliated
with the same Palestinian groups, while trying to deport two
men for the same affiliations." John E. Bell Jr., the special
agent formerly in charge of the FBI's Detroit office, called
the FBI's decision to rescind the award "embarrassing to
the FBI and Hamad." Hamad's past role with the PFLP does
not differ substantively from Shehadeh's, and both became regional
directors of the same mainstream organization. Going after Shehadeh
based on charges of terrorism, then, appears to be a stretch
to the say the least.
The double standard is obvious.
Publicly, Shoebat boasts of a criminal past with an apparent
immunity. The key difference between the two is that Shehadeh
remained an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights, whereas
Shoebat became a Christian Zionist lauded by pro-Israeli organizations
as well as Televangelist Pat Robertson, who interviewed Shoebat
on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). As for his violent
background, the pro-Israeli community not only turns a blind
eye, they actually welcome it. They see it as legitimizing. Central
Connecticut State University Professor Jay Bergman, said it gave
"his testimony a special credence and credibility that it
might otherwise lack." Shoebat's pro-Israeli supporters
then validate and benefit from Shoebat's past anti-Israeli violence.
While Shehadeh worries about his future and where his family
will go in the case of his deportation, Shoebat freely tours
synagogues, Hillel centers, and universities where he flaunts
his militancy in Palestine. With supporters like Pat Robertson,
and close friends of Christian fundamentalism leading the "war
on terrorism," it is no surprise this double standard exists.
The last thing I want to suggest
is that Walid Shoebat should be deported. The American government
should not be prosecuting partisans in the Israel-Palestinian
conflict who have never directed violence in or against the United
States. Ideologues behind the expanded war on terrorism have
used it to do Israel's bidding, to direct legal measures against
critics of Israel such as Michel Shehadeh. Thus, Shoebat
enjoys a de facto exemption that he would not have had he emerged
as a pro-Palestinian activist. It does not take an active imagination
to picture the legal consequences if someone with Shoebat's history
publicly discussed his record of violence while defending the
rights of Palestinians to self-determination on college speaking
tours.
To move on to another point,
there is an underlying irony in Walid Shoebat's new found popularity.
This celebrated political convert adopted a form of religious
fanaticism known for its historical Anti-Semitism. A review of
his website, www.abrahamic-faith.com, reveals the roots of his
views. His ultimate expectation is that Jewish control of Israel-Palestine
is essential for Armageddon. Then, rapture will come. The Messiah
will destroy the enemies of Israel, but the "many countries
who confess Jesus as their saviour will be amongst God's people,
called as his people, and will all personally know the Lord Jesus
Christ." In short, the Jews will be forced to accept Christ
or perish in hell a deeply and traditionally Anti-Semitic
view.
Pro-Israeli groups are relying
on a speaker who, first, is motivated by a fundamental Anti-Semitism
and, second, has actually perpetrated malicious acts of violence
against Jews. These also happen to be the two most significant
charges they levy against critics of Israel. With the latter,
they very rarely find an outspoken critic of Israel in the US
who actually committed any violence themselves, rather they lower
the charges to rhetorically supporting terrorism, or in the case
of Sami Al-Arian, financing it.
It is telling that the most
prominent Palestinian supporter of Israel is a religious fundamentalist,
whereas Jewish supporters of Palestinian rights range from the
religious anti-Zionist orthodox Jews to secular Jews who oppose
Zionism for secular reasons. The hospitality Jewish groups are
giving Shoebat is a counter to the growing visibility of Jews
openly critical of Israel. For example, the Jews for a Free Palestine
(JFFP) is sponsoring a campaign for Jews renounce Aliyah, in
effect, Israel's anti-Palestinian "Law of Return."
Some would expect that a warm
embrace of a religiously extreme Anti-Semite by pro-Israeli groups
would be embarrassing. However, leading advocates of Israel's
anti-Palestinian policies welcome this arrangement given the
power of Christian fundamentalism in the American polity. Abraham
Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL),
said that American Jews should be "highly appreciative of
the incredible support" from such religionists, even if
their support looks forward to the vast conversion or eternal
damnation of all Jews. Their views, he reasoned, "speak
to an unknown future (indeed one that Jews do not envision)."
He also argued that ADL polls show that Christian fundamentalists
harbor no more Anti-Semitism than the American population at-large.
The one area of concern he shared was with Evangelical efforts
to convert Jews.
Shoebat represents the ominous
collusion between Christian fundamentalists and supporters of
Israel; a recipe for disaster. Though he offers no compelling
secular framework, his talks mostly demonize Palestinians and
Islam in the kind of language that only affirms the pro-Israeli
community's more ignorant misconceptions. He talks about the
inherent hate of Islam, being taught to oppose violently Jews
and Israel, and the eternal Jewish right to the land. None of
his points give audiences the slightest perspective into the
movements for peace among Palestinians, nor the substance of
their claims against a state that occupies and controls their
daily lives (whether or not the Old Testament justifies it).
His goals are deadly. Clearly,
he seeks to further polarize Palestinians and Jews with his extremist
positions. As with the overall influence of Christian fundamentalism,
his theological tenets make reconciliation in this conflict less
likely. Peace forestalls the End of Times the end of the
World, which some Christian fundamentalists such as Shoebat look
forward to enthusiastically. His personal and religious stake
is in helping speed along Armageddon ideological maneuvering
ultimately much more deadly than anything Shehadeh preached or
did. I fear that in their ideological zeal to defend Israel against
criticism, American Zionists are making a deal with the devil.
Will Youmans is a California-based writer. He has
contributed to 'The Politics of Anti-Semitism,' and the recently
released 'Civil Rights in Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims.'
youmans@boalthall.berkeley.edu
Weekend Edition
Features for April 24 / 25, 2004
William
A. Cook
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Kerry
and Bush Melt into One
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Stryking Out: a General, GM and the Army's Latest Tank
Brandy
Baker
A Revitalized Women's Movement? Let's Hope So
Robert
Fisk
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Nelson
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Lucson
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Mark
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Patrick
Cockburn
The Return of Saddam's Generals
Gary
Engler
Welcome to La Paz: a Vacation in Tear Gas
Col.
Dan Smith
Whistling in the Dark: Israel, Palestine and Bush
Greg
Weiher
Iraq is Utterly Unlike Vietnam...
Elaine
Cassel
Life on the Outside: a Review
Vanessa
Jones
Letter from Australia: Why an Independent Won Sydney
Jim
French
Agriculture's Bullied Market
Hammond
Guthrie
Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Holt, Albert, LaMorticella
|